Differentiator or Commodity – the ING View
Nicholas Carr was cited again at Gartner, this time by Neil Buckley, CTO Operations and Banking at ING. ING Direct’s technology was a differentiator but is now becoming an enabler, and may move into core competence or commodity. Once a technology is a commodity, it can be outsourced.
“I don’t want to own a platform; I should be buying the services. If I am buying the service I will manage it in a totally different way. Do I care if it is PeopleSoft or SAP?”
Knowing where a technology falls is key to deploying people properly, he added. Firms want to put their most innovative people in differentiators, but once that becomes a core competency, move them out or they will get bored.
Customer service will be the differentiator in financial services, so firms need to improve their IT skills and educate IT staff in business issues.
“We need to focus on people.”
