????這些新方法和顛覆性的市場策略可以使新興的企業軟件公司以極快的速度進行擴張，速度之快以前只在消費科技領域出現過。20年前，計算領域的上一波浪潮成就了SAP、微軟和甲骨文今日的霸主地位。而今天，我們也將看到許多新興公司崛起成為頂尖的軟件廠商。與此同時，整個信息科技領域的格局也將因此改變。

企業IT生態系統的價值變遷

????現在許多人都在問，云計算究竟會給IT功能和服務行業的未來帶來什么？當應用和基礎架構可以通過云端交付時，系統集成商、行業伙伴和IT專業人士又將何去何從？云計算的交付模式是由廠商直接向顧客交付，那么所謂的“中間人”還有生存的空間嗎？

????我認為對于當前系統集成商的可持續創新來說，仍然存在著“中間人”的生存空間，但是卻需要出現很多變革。業務模式仍和過去大同小異，但是IT執行的重要性和它所提供的實際價值卻大大提高了。企業不必再雇傭“專家”去打理一切，裝配服務器、把各種線纜插到機箱里，以及集成系統、部署應用等等無所不包，未來的IT是要為更高級的問題提供支持。用埃森哲（Accenture）公司高級主管凱文?坎貝爾的話說：“（云計算）為IT部門提供了集中精神創造商業價值的機會。）過去，數量繁多的系統往往還沒有集成成功，客戶的預算就花光了，更不用說利用企業的軟件和系統去創造令人感興趣的價值了。

????這樣一來，IT專家可以花更少的時間從事IT基礎策略的實施和維護，最終為企業業務流程的“核心”部分貢獻更多的價值。IT部門不必再在低效用的工作上浪費時間和精力，比如管理數據、運行電子郵件服務器、安裝CRM軟件等，而是在更舉足輕重的業務領域投入更多的時間。例如潘朵拉公司（Pandora）的IT團隊就從基礎的IT作業中解放出來，集中精力整合應用，為公司員工創造更好的價值、更快的速度和更高的靈活性。而在Dole公司，員工可以隨時隨地從個人的iPad上下載重要信息。寶潔（P&G）的IT團隊奉行以創新為中心，向世界各地的寶潔團隊提供云端服務，使他們可以隨時隨地更高效地工作，安全地與其他團隊進行聯系。

????得益于這些變革，客戶也將開始體驗到一種更加動態、更加民主的軟件環境。軟件公司不得不更頻繁地對解決方案進行更新，給所有客戶企業帶來更好的業績。工作的完成速度會加快，人們也會從技術中獲得更多的價值。另外隨著云技術的廣度、多樣性和覆蓋范圍的不斷擴大，整個行業生態系統也會發展壯大。

????在信息技術這樣一個不斷激蕩碰撞、推陳出新的市場上，微軟和甲骨文的領袖地位居然能保持這么久，不免讓人感到驚嘆。不過再次提醒大家，在過去25年里，世界從來沒有像今天這樣日新月異。變革勿庸置疑。各種平臺正在迅速成熟，上一代的顛覆者已經成了守成者，他們現在必須做出決定，究竟是為未來計，果斷打破自身的樊籬，還是墨守成規，任由新競爭者不斷涌現。

????作者阿隆?列維是Box.net的CEO兼共同創始人。

????These new approaches and disruptive go-to-market techniques can get new enterprise software companies to scale at a speed only previously seen by technology aimed at consumers. Just like the last great wave in computing that occurred over two decades ago -- putting companies like SAP (SAP), Microsoft (MSFT), and Oracle in the leadership positions they hold today -- we are on course to see a new set of leading vendors. And along with this, the entire information technology landscape will change.

A value shift across the enterprise IT ecosystem

????Many of the questions around what a utility computing world will produce pertain to the future of the IT function and services industries. When applications and infrastructure are delivered over the cloud, where do the business models of system integrators, ecosystem partners, and IT professionals go? With a direct-to-customer model, is there room to be a middle-man?

????I believe this is in the category of sustaining innovations for the current system integration firms, but with a lot of change to come. The business model remains very similar, but the execution and actual value provided moves higher up in the stack. Instead of hiring "experts" to do everything – from putting together servers, plugging cables into boxes, all the way to integrating and deploying applications – IT of the future will begin to support higher order problems. In the words of Accenture (ACN) senior executive Kevin Campbell, "[Cloud] provides the opportunity for the IT department to focus on delivering business value." In the past, client budgets often ran out well before the successful integration of multiple systems, and long before a business could begin to truly build interesting value on top of the software and systems that they had in their business.

????This leads information technology experts to spend less time implementing and maintaining the basics of an IT strategy, and ultimately adding more value to the 'core' business processes of a company. Instead of working on the necessary but lower utility tasks like managing data, running email servers, and installing CRM software, IT teams and service firms can spend times in high leverage areas of the business. We're seeing this happen across industry and markets with our customers. At Pandora (P), its IT leads are freed up to integrate applications to produce better value, speed, and flexibility for their employees; at Dole, individuals can work from their iPads to pull down critical business information from anywhere; and at Procter & Gamble (PG), their innovation-centric IT group is delivering the cloud to teams across the world, enabling them to work more productively from anywhere, and connect with other groups, securely.

????Because of all this change, customers are going to begin to experience a much more dynamic and democratic software environment. Solutions will be forced to update to the latest trends more regularly, and this will drive better business results for all enterprises. Work will be done faster, people will get more value from their technology, and the ecosystem will even grow as a result of the breadth, diversity, and reach of technologies availble.

????In a market as continually churning and revolving as information technology, one can easily marvel at how Microsoft and Oracle have maintained leadership for so long. But then again, the world hadn't fully flipped over in the past twenty five years as much as it has today. Change is undeniably here, platforms are rapidly maturing, and now the disruptors of a previous generation must now decide whether they will disrupt themselves in the name of future relevance, or cling to old paradigms as new players emerge.

????--Aaron Levie is the CEO and co-founder of Box.net.