Thought Leadership Archive

Demand Management Is Made Possible through as-a-Service Model

Demand management has been the unicorn of enterprise IT – something frequently talked about but rarely seen and never captured. Every centralized IT organization would love the ability to accurately manage user demand. It would provide tremendous return if it were possible; but to date it has been largely or completely thwarted in large

Automation Bias

We’re at an inflection point in the ITO and BPO services world where we’re about to see a new level of technology: automation. On the whole, automation is a good thing. But there are some significant aspects we should be aware of. One is automation bias. And it’s dangerous. When we move to automation,

How Are Automation Services like Christmas?

The industry is abuzz with enthusiastic discussions around the potential for robotics, cognitive computing, and robotic process automation (RPA). You can’t go to a conference – whether it’s IT, BPO, or shared services – without hearing a vigorous and spirited discussion around service delivery automation (SDA). Given the promise of SDA for people replacement,

Why Is HP Breaking Up?

I’ve been blogging about why certain companies such as Accenture, ADP, and TCS are such successful service providers. In contrast, let’s look at HP and examine why it’s breaking up. I’ve explained in prior blogs that the most successful companies have six operational elements aligned, as shown in the Everest Group assessment framework below.

Three Ways Services Customers Can Switch to as-a-Service Model

As the services industry begins moving into the as-a-service era customers look for providers that change their traditional services to make them elastic or consumption based. We at Everest Group have spent some time studying this, and we believe there are three key ways to change take-or-pay (fixed costs oriented) services and make them

Dead Deal Costs Will Kill the Services Industry

I’ve blogged extensively on how the industrialized arbitrage market is maturing rapidly. One of the many frustrating aspects of a maturing services market is that a dominant portion of procurements for larger opportunities come through RFPs. These RFPs require sophisticated and elaborate responses with large deal teams and solutioning teams working at the provider’s

Why is TCS So Successful?

TCS has a sophisticated suite of apps and delivery tools. They accept small engagements with the intent to grow those accounts by being reliable and over-delivering. And they’re willing to shift away from their comfort zone. But this isn’t why TCS is a leader in the services industry. Why are they so successful? To

Why You Need to Buy Security Differently from Managed Services

In many newspapers these days, one doesn’t have to read very far without tripping over the latest sensational article on a security breach. The black hat community conducting security attacks is incredibly well funded and incredibly sophisticated and our traditional firewall security precautions are woefully inadequate. The implications of this for companies are stark

The Empire Strikes Back in the Services World

I’ve been blogging about the changing world of services and how the growth is in the SaaS and BPaaS space. However, capturing SaaS and BPaaS opportunities is incredibly frustrating for large service providers, especially incumbents. Their efforts to win these deals often end up like David defeating Goliath. That’s because, for the most part,

SaaS versus Enterprise IT as-a-Service

New business models are capturing growth and stand to reshape the services industry. Two of the most promising of these are SaaS and “Enterprise IT as-a-Service.” Buyers need to understand that each model takes a different approach to delivering services; their risks also are not the same, and each approach has different consequences. They