Everything-as-a-Service Changes Everything
I’ve spent the last 25 years of my career in IT services – from the inside of a large enterprise (American Airlines, now Sabre), to being a supplier of outsourced services (ACS, now Atos), to standing in the middle of buyer and seller as an advisor (TPI, now ISG). This experience left me wanting more, knowing there must be a better way for organizations to create sustainable value.
In 2008 I decided to take a chance and create my own business. I wanted more than just a paycheck. I wanted to make a difference in an industry that seemed determined to continue exploiting an outsourcing model designed for success in the 1980’s. I had experienced too many occasions where “getting the deal done” defined success, only to hear months later that “the deal” was heading south.
Now, in 2016, we live in a completely different world. Technology is disrupting business at an unprecedented pace. Command and control organizations and managed service deal structures are ill equipped to provide the speed, agility, and cost competitive edge that is now required. Businesses and business models must be reinvented or risk becoming irrelevant. Tweaking the old carrots and sticks model is no longer sufficient.
I believe there will be more change in the way IT services are delivered over the next five years than there has been in the last twenty-five years combined. The Everything-as-a-Service economy fueled by API’s changes the game. Digital integration, labor automation, and machine learning take this new subscription-based business model to the next level, where speed and cost are commoditized and curation and integration separate the leaders from the pack.
The future is exciting, the journey is the challenge. Most organizations will struggle along the way, running bimodal operations to leverage existing investments and adopt next-generation technology and services. This tension to keep the lights on, stay within budget, and transform operations to the As-a-Service economy is demanding.
This blog is about my experiences helping organizations along the journey, as well as sharing thoughts about the future and passing along insights, reflections, humor, and useful life hacks picked up along the way from books, blogs, and podcasts.