INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
Glyn Yates, MEA Regional Director at
Axios Systems
to publish a new or changed service offering
when it can be done in minutes.
These previous methods meant expansive
capability equalled expensive complexity
and a major change to simplify design, build
and operation of systems was critical, so the
shift in recent years is understandable.
Of course, as you would expect, the market
reacted with out-of-the-box (OOTB)
packages, offering quick starts and pre-
defined deliverables. The subsequent
messaging that accompanied this promoted
it as quick and easy.
This all sounds very promising. That is until
we understand the customer – the one
paying the bills – is more knowledgeable
now and demands more from a system,
requiring it to be aligned to his specific
drivers and operations. The customer
demands competitive advantage and does
not want to just be pigeon-holed with his
competitors who are operating the same
OOTB technologies. Quite simply, the swing
to overly prescriptive packages has gone too
far and the unfortunate implication is that
the customer loses their uniqueness.
Yet, at an enterprise level, I haven’t engaged
with a single customer that is ‘out-of-the-
box’ and I find they are being pushed into a
particular operational method to meet the
needs of the software/system they are using
when it should be the other way around; that
being where the software/system is able to
meet the bespoke needs of the customer.
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IN TELLIGENTCIO
DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
AND THE
SUBSEQUENT
SERVICE STRATEGY
IS A DOUBLE-
EDGED SWORD.
Fortunately, not all CIOs want to be
manoeuvred into a position they didn’t
construct and they would rather create their
strategies to meet their needs and have
supporting technologies that can adapt as
they adapt, with agility and capability at
the core.
We are reaching the stage where even
adherence to accepted standards, such as
ITIL, is not seen as responsive enough for
our customers. An example of this is a recent
request by a CIO to cherry-pick the most
effective elements of various standards
including ITIL, COBIT, ISO, CMMI and a
few others to produce a comprehensive yet
bespoke best fit to meet the customer’s
bespoke operational business needs – there
is nothing ‘out-of-the-box’ about that.
Of course, this approach will take a little
longer. Understanding the business
operations is an integral part, followed by
mapping those needs into an underpinning
platform. However, the benefits are far
greater to organisations and their customers.
There has also been a noticeable increase
in CIOs understanding two key factors when
considering their technology investment.
1. Quick-start means quick-win only and
does not lay the foundations for long-
term strategic, objective achievement.
OOTB does allow something quickly and
easily; however, the compromise is in year
two when agility is key and, in a three-to-
five-year plan, year two onwards is vital
2. Land and expand tactics – employed by
many vendors to position a quick, cheap
initial offering knowing that their profit
will come a little later when you realise
the initial OOTB offering does not meet
the maturing requirements
But all is not lost, as there are technologies
that manage to provide the best of all
worlds, offering enterprise-class capabilities,
ease of management and maintenance
without programming or development
costs and the agility to enable today and
tomorrow’s policies with a few keystrokes,
all providing the strategy and investment
protection which is so important in today’s
business world.
So, in that next meeting or product
demonstration, when the vendor talks about
out-of-the-box, tell them you are not in one
and then come and talk to Axios Systems. n
www.intelligentcio.com