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| Gartner Dataquest Survey Shows Strong Demand for Professional Services Providers |
| Survey Results Show Network Strategy and Business Planning Services to Have Largest Growth Rates |
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LOWELL, Mass., October 31, 2001 - While technology vendors look to cutback on production during the difficult economic situation, many of these vendors are looking to service providers (xSPs) to help them compete in the market. A survey by Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) found that 66 percent of those companies surveyed are using, or plan to use over the next year, external professional services vendors to help them bring new products to market.
"After years of furious spending and building out for public network and Internet infrastructure, some providers are publicly announcing a retrenchment in capital expenditures. What has not been related in these announcements is that these same carriers will increasingly look to external professional services companies to help them develop, support and manage their core infrastructure to aid them in bringing new services products to market," said Eric Goodness, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest's IT services worldwide group. The predominant focus for service providers (commonly referred to as xSPs) has been on communications and infrastructure services, such as telecommunications, network service providers (NSPs) and Internet service providers (ISPs). However, the emergence of application service providers (ASPs) has extended the xSP model into a higher level of the customer value chain by directly addressing business and consumer interests, such as business process and function sourcing. "The xSP acronym is a representation of a larger market space that refers to a wide-ranging category of service providers, of which ASPs are just a small element," Goodness said. "Like applications, many other support services and IT capabilities are offered over the Internet as 'sourced service.' Because of features such as monitoring, active administration and automation from an external, shared environment, xSPs offer access to best-of-breed services and applications that leverage the cost efficiencies of a one-to-many business model that is service fee-based, such as subscription or utility-type fee structures." Network consulting and business planning looks to be the hottest growth property on the professional services map. Increasingly, service providers are looking to provide added value to their customer engagements and will need expertise to identify target markets, determine optimal architectures and craft next-generation operations and billing support systems. "Historically, telecommunications organizations relied primarily on internal staffing to effect changes to the core network or to create new services products," said Goodness. "Use of third-party professional services vendors is often relegated to installation activities as part of network build-outs. The increased numbers of competitive operators, such as mobile, satellite, and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), and emerging xSP models have changed the way most operators consider using third-party organizations. External services vendors offer access to additional expertise and may help reduce operating expenses." Additional information is available in the Gartner Dataquest User Wants and Needs Report "xSP Network Services: Are you xSPerienced?" This report presents the survey results from 61 North American services providers including xSP participants from various sectors. This information is produced by Gartner Dataquest's IT services group. This group provides a complete picture of the IT services industry including network integration and support, hardware services, consulting and system integration, outsourcing, life cycle service, strategic partnering and services marketing, software support, and vertical markets, including communications, education, financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. To subscribe to one of Gartner Dataquest's IT services programs, please call 408-468-8000. Reports can be purchased on the Internet at www.gartner.com. Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry. Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 11,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,300 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in more than 90 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2001 revenue of $952 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
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Contact: Christy Pettey 408-468-8312 christy.pettey@gartner.com |
