(Ce.cn)
Updated: 2007-12-20 14:45

After the experience "from service standardization to service individuation", China IT service business is developing into a new stage of "service performance-orientation", and will gradually step towards "service standardization", according to a white paper for China's IT service industry.

The document, jointly issued by CCID Consulting and the Global Technical Support Center of Microsoft on December 4, is the first white paper in China's IT service industry. 

While believing that IT service industry enjoys great commercial opportunities in future, the white paper said the industry has to face the challenge on how to carry out more efficient services by using resources around the world.

China's IT service industry should utilize good chances and quickly join into the procedure of internationalization so as to offer more professional services to the customers which will enable them to adapt to the information and technology requirements for the fast development of global economy.

Generally speaking, all services that run through the whole lifecycle of IT application system are called IT service, including IT consulting, system integration, IT education and training, IT system out-contract, business flow out-contract, and maintenance & support for software and hardware.

Since the appearance of the PC service supplier "Blue Express" authorized by IBM Corp in January 1996, it has been ten years regarding the history of independent service suppliers who major in IT services.

During the ten years, China IT service market has developed into a considerable scale from scratch. It is estimated that in 2007 the whole market scale will reach 70 billion yuan ($9.49 billion). IT service industry has become not only an important part of China IT industry, but also the growth engine of China enterprise-level IT market.

After the ten-year development, Chinese customers have further demands on services. From passive technical matter inquiry to active IT service purchase and plan, the inner driven force in China IT service industry began to set free.

At the same time, the globalization and flat-structure of world economy has also brought commercial opportunities to China IT service industry. Besides, China's IT service suppliers are becoming stronger and larger continuously.

The cross-national service suppliers including the first IBM "Blue Express" has brought us globalization customers as well as advanced service theories and internationalized operation experience at the same time.

Citing the example of the Global Technical Support Center set up by Microsoft in Shanghai, the white paper analysed that, as for this center, establishment experience and the business expansion from local service to global service could be seen as both its own development process and the representative of development in China IT service industry; what's more it is also an epitome of the China IT service industry development.

According to the latest research result of CCID Consulting, China IT service market has entered into a fast track of structural adjustment from 2006, which is represented by steady growth of system integration service and prosperous market demands for services like out-contract, consulting, education and training.

This adjustment indicates that the informatization in the whole society of China has developed gradually from the purchase and using phase of basic system to the business application phase.

In the business application phase, the key industries and key application are the major force for the fast development of IT service market. As IT system has established the strategic demands for key industry customers like finance, telecommunication, manufacturing and retail, the priority of these industry customers in IT system investment has also been raised to the top level, which promoted the development of IT consulting industry basically.

The security problems caused by the system application expansion, and the fast exaltation of requirements for anti-virus, anti-intrusion, data backup and disaster backup will all become the key business and new field for IT consulting industry.

Besides, the application of IT out-contract, especially its expansion from IT system to other business procedures, has put more requirements on customers for related experience in hackling procedures, planning out-contracts and choosing management service suppliers. Therefore the dependence of out-contract on professional consultants has also promoted the prosperity of IT service market.

Because of the obvious benefit brought by out-contract to customers on cost and income, the out-contract market of IT service industry has grown fast.

On the other hand, when services have changed from the only mode of face-to-face to the variety of telephone, email and remote on-line business, the geographical separation between service supplier and accepter becomes available, in other words, the appearance of internet has made it possible to offer service in much lower cost.

Compared with manufacturing industry, the service industry can be regarded as horizontal.

In fact, since Microsoft set up the first service center of cross-national company in China, the cross-national IT service suppliers have made vast investment for their global service support institutions in China.

In these institutions, Chinese employees are offering a set of services from technical support to financial out-contract for customers throughout the world of different manufacturers by using different languages.

Research shows that China IT service industry will enter into its golden development period in the next five years. The market scale of IT service industry will reach 132 billion yuan by 2010.

China IT service companies should, on one hand, quickly find Chinese-style survival point, because it is ourselves that know best the application features of Chinese companies.

On the other hand, they need to learn from the cross-national companies like Microsoft about the standardized services brought by product-ended service, aiming to make IT service bring to customers real effective performance, so as to support customers' business development and programming.