{"id":1093,"date":"2014-11-09T16:18:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-09T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/provider-investments_110914\/"},"modified":"2014-11-09T16:18:00","modified_gmt":"2014-11-09T16:18:00","slug":"provider-investments_110914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/provider-investments_110914\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your Service Provider genuinely investing in As-a-Service Capabilities?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, we’ve bemoaned the stubbornness<\/a> of some service providers, which are protecting the profitability and predictability of their labor arbitrage businesses, and laid out the key tenets<\/a> of the emerging As-a-Service Economy. \u00a0So what steps can we now take to figure out who’s on the As-a-Service train, and who’s just pretending to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to access the new POV "Does Your Service Provider Have A Winning Investment Strategy for the As-A-Service Economy?" by analysts Charles Sutherland, Barbra Sheridan McGann and Phil Fersht<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the As-a-Service Economy, the service provider will not be a stand-alone entity; the cost of doing business this way is simply too high. The partnership ecosystem of how technology vendors and service providers forge workable alliances over the long term, with effective investment practices and product management, will be a key factor in having a portfolio of As-a-Service options that are flexible, scalable, and in tune with these evolving times.<\/p>\n

But how<\/em> can buyers really see past the pretty PowerPoint and claims of future value<\/em>? \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Simple: Here are nine key questions that can quickly clarity what’s really going on behind the scenes, when it comes to service providers making the financial commitments needed to be effective in the emerging As-a-Service Economy. \u00a0Find answers to these and you’ll have a much more realistic picture of where a service provider’s future direction is heading:<\/p>\n

1) Is this As-a-Service platform, or new capability, funded year-to-year, or with a multi-year commitment, including CAPEX?<\/p>\n

2) How is the first (or first few) client(s) of your As-a-Service platform being charged – and do they bear an excessive level of initial investment?<\/p>\n

3) Are you defining and measuring the success of this new As-a-Service capability against clear quantitative metrics, or is this more of a \u00a0\u201cfast and loose\u201d gut-feel?<\/p>\n

4) Are you really making big bets for investment, or just parceling out small bits here are there for Proof of Concepts?<\/p>\n

5) Are you getting input from younger talent in your organization, and not just with the submission of ideas, but also with the evaluation of the decisions?<\/p>\n

6) Has the level and focus of investment kept pace with the number of emerging \u00a0areas that\u00a0need further investment and attention?<\/p>\n

7) Is there an investment \u2018bank\u2019 of some kind for quick response to industry changes and challenges?<\/p>\n

8′) How effectively do you partner with technology vendors to weave their services, namely wrapping the product management, support and innovation over time?<\/p>\n

9) Do you have a focused talent development plan to provide analytical, consultative and value-add skills to\u00a0 customers beyond transactional support functions?\u00a0 And how will this talent plan be funded without passing on major incremental fees into the clients?<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line: Service providers must find their balance between growing their legacy revenues and investing in next-generation of As-a-Service solutions<\/span><\/p>\n

In the subscription-based, plug and play, collaborative As-a-Service Economy, service providers are touting their toolsets, their industry and functional expertise, and their alliances – and all of this requires investment<\/em> over the long-term to maintain progress and drive ongoing innovation. To achieve a true one-to-many approach, it also means increased internal<\/em> collaboration and transparency, with some give-and-take on priorities near – which is a major challenge for a service provider seeking to protect and grow its legacy cash-cow business, while growing its next-generation capabilities.<\/p>\n

In addition, there needs to be flexibility with funds to address the unexpected and provide fast and furious value to address the issues of the day. Xerox for example, responded quickly to the need for tracking and reporting on people exposed to and having contracted the Ebola virus, by releasing an update of their disease surveillance and outbreak management software, Maven\u00ae. With greater investment comes greater value. Transparency into the investment decision 3Ps of processes, priorities, and partners can help services providers and buyers take full advantage of the As-a-Service Economy.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to access a copy of the POV “Does Your Service Provider Have A Winning Investment Strategy for the As-A-Service Economy?” by analysts Charles Sutherland<\/a>, Barbra Sheridan McGann<\/a> and Phil Fersht<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, we’ve bemoaned the stubbornness of some service providers, which are protecting the profitability and predictability of their labor arbitrage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,51,57,78,81,838,90,91,832,830,98],"tags":[],"organization":[],"ppma_author":[19],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-process-outsourcing-bpo","category-cloud-computing","category-digital-transformation","category-hfsresearch-com-homepage","category-it-outsourcing-it-services","category-kpo-analytics","category-robotic-process-automation","category-saas","category-sourcing-best-practises","category-sourcing-change","category-the-as-a-service-economy"],"yoast_head":"\nIs your Service Provider genuinely investing in As-a-Service Capabilities? - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/provider-investments_110914\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is your Service Provider genuinely investing in As-a-Service Capabilities? 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