The servitization of the IT function: Implications for the IT professional

This development paper notes that IT work has been increasingly subjected to processes associated with ‘servitization’ through managerial frameworks that espouse working practices managed according to principles of scientific rationalisation (specifically but not exclusively, ITIL). This has been (re-)shaping the experience of working as an IT technical professional, and thereby has implications for professional identity. In the following short paper, some of the literature in relation to this matter is discussed (as the basis for a future research project). This paper suggests how managerialism is embedded within the IT servitization discourse and this has implications for de-skilling and loss of professional autonomy.