Traditional IT models—based on projects, applications, or services—are struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern, digital-first enterprises. These older approaches lack the adaptability, customer focus, and continuous delivery needed today. A product-centric approach addresses this by aligning IT around ongoing value, end-user outcomes, and full-lifecycle accountability.

🔄 Limitations of Traditional IT Models

  • Projects end at delivery, ignoring long-term support or evolution.
  • Applications are seen as static assets, not vehicles of value.
  • Services focus on uptime, not innovation or user experience.

This creates misalignment between IT output and business needs.

🚀 What Is a Product-Centric Approach?

It treats digital products (apps, APIs, platforms) as value-driven entities that evolve continuously. Key principles:

  • User-focused: Built for consumer outcomes.
  • End-to-end ownership: Persistent teams manage the full lifecycle.
  • Outcome-based: Success is defined by real business results.
  • Adaptable: Designed to iterate quickly.

📦 What Is a Digital Product (IT4IT v3)?

Defined as:

“Anything that runs code and delivers an outcome to a consumer, requiring active lifecycle management.”

Key traits:

  • Clear value proposition
  • Full lifecycle management
  • Consumer interaction and accountability
  • Integration-ready architecture
  • Outcome and performance measurement

Examples: Mobile apps, APIs, IoT services, AI bots.

🧩 The Digital Product Ecosystem

Digital products exist in multi-directional ecosystems with:

  • Internal consumers (e.g. HR, Finance using internal tools)
  • External consumers (e.g. customers using apps, partners via APIs)
  • Operational users (e.g. logistics or manufacturing systems)
  • Product-to-product interactions (e.g. APIs, microservices)

Each product acts as a value exchange mechanism across teams.

📜 From Promises to Contracts

Digital products move from informal “we’ll support it” promises to:

  • SLOs/OLAs: Defined internal expectations
  • SLAs/Contracts: Legal terms for external consumers
  • Cost models: Chargeback or monetization frameworks

This enables trust, accountability, and consumption governance.

🛠 Challenges with Legacy Structures

  • Projects are short-term and lack post-delivery ownership.
  • Application Portfolios miss cross-app products, APIs, and ML models.
  • ITSM Models don’t reflect continuous product evolution or UX ownership.

They clash with Agile, DevOps, and product-based value streams.

🧱 Transitioning to Product-Centric IT

Adopt the IT4IT v3 standard to guide transformation:

  • Digital Product becomes the core object for governance.
  • Teams are persistent and cross-functional.
  • Portfolios shift to products, not apps or projects.
  • Metrics focus on adoption, satisfaction, ROI, not just delivery.
  • Tooling integrates strategy, delivery, and operations.

✅ Practical Steps to Start

  1. Identify key digital products in your landscape.
  2. Assign dedicated product teams with clear scope.
  3. Fund products continuously—not just at launch.
  4. Measure success through customer and business outcomes.
  5. Use IT4IT v3 as a common framework for structure and governance.

🏁 Conclusion

A product-centric model transforms IT from a fragmented service provider into a strategic, value-driven partner. It’s not about better software—it’s about sustainable business impact.

Start with one product. One team. One commitment to deliver value—continuously.

Source:

  • Bodman, M. (2025, May 5). Why the Product-Centric Approach Is Needed. ServiceNow.
  • The Open Group. IT4IT™ Standard, Version 3.0.