tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59726828612841153982024-03-21T14:46:06.388-07:00Sourcing RealitiesOpinions, Observations, and Pontifications of Peter Allen
regarding the world of Managed Services (aka (Out)Sourcing)Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-88429755623490248672016-08-11T10:29:00.001-07:002016-08-11T10:29:07.418-07:00Business Case for Investing in Shared Services<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">To go Captive, or Outsource? That’s an increasingly common question among
CFOs and other business leaders.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"></span>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s become quite common for companies to
organize their business support functions into “shared services” operations for
a range of good reasons, notably around efficiency and effectiveness of common
processes. Shared Services may take varying
organizational and functional form depending upon the nature of the business
and the degree of similarity across business units.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s also quite common for the Shared
Services organization to carry responsibility for deciding whether, or not, to
outsource some or all of the processes they are charted with delivering to the
business. After all, the process owners
should be in the best position to weigh the relative merits of available alternatives
for driving continuous improvement in costs, capabilities and capacity.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Several years ago I adopted the view that
balance among those “three C’s” of cost, capability and capacity serve as the
best way to foster an objective evaluation of the range of service delivery options
that a Shared Services organization might choose among. My perspective was informed by a situation in
the consumer services segment where the CFO asked me to lead an evaluation of outsourcing
service providers for North America Finance & Accounting (F&A)
functions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">As is often the case in such evaluations, we started
with capturing the current state of play – the spectrum of resources and costs associated
with performing those functions, the volumes of services delivered and their
degree of commonality, and a qualitative sense of service benchmarks. What I
found was not surprising – an F&A team that was struggling to meet the
demands of varied business units, each believing that they carried unique
requirements, utilizing systems and tools that were substandard, and toiling
through manual processes for reconciliation, correlation, analysis, and
reporting. In essence, a tired
organization that was frustrated by the fact that their mission was not
supported by leadership commitment and required investment.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I wish I could say that this was an unusual
situation, or one that represents the far-ago past, but it is not. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Even with the increasing adoption of the
organizational convention of Shared Services, I find that many companies lack
the fortitude to weigh the merits of investing in themselves prior to choosing
to spend money with external parties.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">After completing the baseline assessment, the
CFO asked, “Should we just turn this over to an industry service partner to
bring best practices into our business, or is it better to solve this problem
for ourselves?” My reply surprised her –
I said that accountability for these processes would never be relegated to
anyone other than her, and that it was time to treat investment in the Shared
Services organization just like she would any other business investment. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">We set about to build the business case for
evolving the Shared Services function from its rudimentary form to that of a
true business-enabler. Where there had
been starvation for investment in the past, minds were opened to the merits of
bringing technology to bear alongside process rationalization to simplify the
business support functions across the firm.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The breakthrough for this company came
through two important factors:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Leadership of the Shared Services needed to step
forward and own the roadmap for incremental evolution through wave of iterative
cost/capability/capacity enhancement.
The CFO and the business leaders needed to know that there was a
responsible executive driving the strategy with full focus, and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">2)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">There needed to be a distinction drawn between process
ownership and technology programs. Like
many other companies, any program of change that sounded like a big ERP
deployment was met with great disdain and skepticism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The three pillars of cost levers, capability
enhancements and capacity agility were used to put forward the business case in
terms that the business would recognize and appreciate. It also provided a ready framework for
considering new opportunities for innovation – whether to be pursued internally
or via industry partnerships.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Outsourcing was held as a potential means for
achieving the future state of operations, but it was never positioned as the
end unto itself.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Reflecting back on this, having recently
reconnected with the people involved in that situation, I am amazed at what was
achieved. A proud organization emerged
from the process that took ownership of creating a business services utility
with direct linkage to the business results.
The business case structure was employed for both other support
processes and for deployment to other regions of the world, including for the
creation of a captive offshore delivery network, and outsourcing was used
strategically to address certain elements of the process ownership model.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I was most impressed by the degree to which
the build-versus-buy evaluation created a culture of enablement among the people
involved. They owned the assessment, and
the recommendation, and the implementation.
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Companies need to look at their Shared Services
organizations as change-makers, not as unfortunate back-office resources that
are handed a mess to sort out with sweat equity alone.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> applies many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of
operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of
all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is
now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for
Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-60651006453294212752016-07-19T08:24:00.001-07:002016-07-19T08:24:22.593-07:00Economic Game Planning for Services Evolution<div class="MsoNormal">
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I had a recent experience attending a round-table discussion with executives
who are sharing approaches for evolving their outsourcing strategies in the
face of changes occurring among the service provider landscape. Each of the participants represented leading institutions,
and all had considerable experience in the selection and contracting of
technology-enabled services.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
It’s always enlightening to me to participate in a candid exchange of
challenges and opportunities among some of the more accomplished practitioners
in the art of services contracting. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqeR1lMR3tmRqXOUHVcwTBWa7-rda1JQmMcaYIlFfUE9OpvQHSbSIYMqtrdPhZxsumKuHeYUWKLlePOiMRCPgzo1QrfzZsxMloea1OTWscXUmhH7zbbYgJfRVvyYVoioiYK9LnbLftOw/s1600/wind-up+toys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheqeR1lMR3tmRqXOUHVcwTBWa7-rda1JQmMcaYIlFfUE9OpvQHSbSIYMqtrdPhZxsumKuHeYUWKLlePOiMRCPgzo1QrfzZsxMloea1OTWscXUmhH7zbbYgJfRVvyYVoioiYK9LnbLftOw/s320/wind-up+toys.jpg" width="320" /></a>Much to my surprise, my greatest take-away conclusion centered on the degree
to which many companies continue to focus on staff augmentation or labor-based
capacity arrangements. Despite much of
the marketplace rhetoric to the contrary – notably promoted by yours truly –
around the shift to “As A Service” modes of contracting, this conversation gave
me pause.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Just about every one of the 12 global firms represented in the discussion
was more focused on matters relating to retention of talent, sizing bench
resources, and matters of cost-effective resource management. I found this odd, given my own experience in
seeing progressive strategies in other sectors.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Our discussion revealed the reasons for this apparent reluctance, among
these firms, to embrace new forms of services contracting.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>Buying “As A
Service” would require that requirements are well-understood and expressed, and
enterprise services interfaces are well-defined</b>. Most of the companies in my conversation admitted
that they lacked the confidence in the business direction and lacked the
investment in the required services architecture to allow for subscribing to
market-based offerings. As such, “As A
Service” is a strategy for only selected and specialized functions today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>Incumbent
providers aren’t paving the way to transition from labor-based arrangements</b>. There was a fair amount of disdain expressed
for the heritage ITO and BPO services providers when it comes to evolving
existing service models towards more market-based and leveraged
arrangements. The firms felt that the
rhetoric around outcome-oriented contracting is not yet mature among existing
services providers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--><b>Managers don’t
know how to operate in an “As A Service” world</b>. That is, the executives who are responsible
for business functions and services have grown up being trained to manage
people and effort and processes. They
have not yet acquired the skills to manage services interfaces. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Reflecting on these three obstacles to innovation in adopting market-defined
services, I can’t help but observe the self-fulfilling prophesy attendant to
the cycle. In my simple world of
expression, what I heard was:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->a)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->I can’t buy “As A Service” because I don’t know what to
ask for, or how to plug the service into my company’s operations;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->b)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Further, my existing providers aren’t investing in
services that reflect their awareness of my industry’s needs – which means that
there either isn’t much commonality or there isn’t a willingness of the market
to buy differently; and<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->c)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Even if there were built-for-purpose alternatives to
buying labor capacity, my organization isn’t prepared, equipped, or motivated
to do so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
I won’t overly generalize, but I sense that there’s something behind this
logic. This group of highly-experienced
practitioners felt constrained in the ability to drive greater value creation
by the lack of institutional commitment to running their businesses in a
different way. Instead, they are focused
on developing Service Level Agreements that are tied to performance and
retention … a weird intermingling of the <u>what</u> with the <u>how</u>. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
As I reflected on this conclusion, I was drawn to compare what I had heard
with other examples in my past of aggressive adoption of platform-based “As A
Service” modes of operating. What was
different?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The differences start with senior business leadership who are enlightened
around the fact that innovation in services demands that much of the sacred
legacy approaches need to be left behind, including many of the rituals that
have defined the role of managers. I can
recall, easily, a dozen or more really accomplished CIOs, CAOs, Shared Services
executives, or COOs of major companies who owned the strategy to reorient
functions away from effort and towards predictable outcomes. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
One such executive taught me a great lesson on how to operationalize this
shift in thinking about the contracting for services. She promoted the use of an “Economic Game
Plan” as the central nexus for managing a broad portfolio of business support
functions, including those outsourced in whole or in part.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The EGP is a means of expressing the handful of levers that are available
for any given business function to drive down costs, align capacity with
demand, and improve quality of performance.
She insisted that this technique be applied to all of the business
functions in her company, and that this form the basis for a multi-year plan
around standards, fixed/variable cost bets, disruptive innovations, and service
partner selection.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The EGP is not a procurement tool; it’s a management utility. What my client experienced through its
adoption was a steady improvement in the awareness and competency of her staff
to understand that they are managing moving pieces, and that a good leader will
develop keen awareness of the various levers available at any given time to
respond to change.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The executive who sponsored this liked to tell her team that the adoption of
standards and focused accountability was not driven by the desire to lock down
on what’s comfortable and convenient, but rather to enable agility and change
when the business required flexibility.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I’ve been a disciple of Economic Game Planning ever since that
experience. It’s a technique to foster a
conversation among the service recipients and service providers that enables
evolution.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I sense a great opportunity to educate companies in the art of the possible
when functions are assessed through an Economic Game Plan, rather than through
the lens of “can we find cheaper people to do this work?”<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> applies many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of
operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of
all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is
now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for
Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ceuhungary/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/ceuhungary/</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-948242074540636612016-06-22T06:59:00.002-07:002016-06-22T06:59:48.047-07:00The Eco-System EffectThere aren’t many companies that aren’t obsessively focused on strategies
for growth. Regardless of the industry,
even the most wildly successful businesses need to feed the monster by delivering
consistent and high levels of top-line expansion.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
One manager early in my career told me, “Growth solves all problems, and
hides most sins.” I didn’t fully appreciate
the substance of that wisdom when I first heard it, but I see it applied in
practice today.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I’ve observed an interesting common recipe for identifying and acting upon
new ways to expand services revenues. I
call it the Services Eco-System Effect.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0HzwL8Nsvb5np0ga2opCQ5O92KUIao8Hl3mm4968vQ9_KBkW56lS6w34WO4uNUtkjhnwh2kX4Su8OiORkNk3SkDTLB4jUTVKko-7Zx2A7YQd6Hjc4Q3iFhWHPv3Z0FjJzRQXA6-73JA/s1600/trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0HzwL8Nsvb5np0ga2opCQ5O92KUIao8Hl3mm4968vQ9_KBkW56lS6w34WO4uNUtkjhnwh2kX4Su8OiORkNk3SkDTLB4jUTVKko-7Zx2A7YQd6Hjc4Q3iFhWHPv3Z0FjJzRQXA6-73JA/s320/trees.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I spend a good percentage of my time on this topic – helping companies of
various sorts figure out ways to expand faster than they might on their own. It’s a privilege for me to work on such a
sensitive and urgent topic, with some really great companies.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
When I enter into a situation where senior leadership has elected to call an
intervention by having an outsider review the growth strategy, it’s often
because the tried-and-true techniques of the past aren’t yielding the expected
results. A new play is required, and
positions on the playing field need to be realigned.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
It is most common for companies to be looking inward for ways to drive
improvement in their sales effectiveness.
Some of the more common points of emphasis include:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Challenging demand generation models, often
focusing on digital marketing, brand promotion, and progressive techniques for
getting noticed by the prospective customers in their target markets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Enhancing the influencer community, with
promotions of rankings or assessments by analysts serving as the credentials
for new opportunities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Refinement of the channel network, looking to
align incentives for representatives to carry the proposition more prominently.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Modifying the sales coverage, compensation,
rewards, and recognition programs, with hopes that the sales force needs some
refreshed incentive to work harder.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->More purposeful application of market
development funding to enhance positioning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Investing in sales techniques and training to
help the feet on the street to engage more effectively.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Refining the account management practices to
allow for greater cross-sell and up-sell within existing customers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
Most sales leaders know how to assess and enhance their organizations in
these ways. So, while modest
improvements are possible through an internal intervention, I’ve found the
greatest improvement opportunities by helping to think externally.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
While this might sound trite, the most common missing dimension that I
encounter is near-sightedness in terms of service application. Most companies that describe their business
models as being “B-to-B” are short-changing their proposition. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I like to provoke new ways of thinking about the business by asserting that
all businesses are “B-to-B-to-B” or “B-to-B-to-C”. Every business has customers. And, they have suppliers, partners, and a network
of business partners. That’s the
Eco-System to which I refer.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
My operating thesis is that growth in B-to-B services is accelerated by a
refreshed positioning of relevance within the Eco-Systems that exist within every
industry segment. Often, this entails
converting a product offering into a services offering – selling the hole, not
the drill bit.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Just about every situation I’ve seen over the past several years has been
constrained by thinking of B-to-B in isolation.
Conversely, if a salesforce positions its offerings as central to the
economic network of its targeted customers, an entirely new universe of
opportunity emerges.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The idea is that each business in the "ecosystem" affects and is
affected by the others, creating a constantly evolving relationship in which
each business must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive, as in a
biological ecosystem.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Too often, businesses tend to constrict the value proposition of their
offerings to the domain of the buyer, and ignore the benefits of a network
effect within an Eco-System that exists around shared objectives, dependencies,
and relationships. Do your buyers really
need to own your product, or might they capture greater value through the
beneficial effect of your product delivered as a service?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The answer to the question around future sources of material growth may not
come from tweaks to the internal protocols for selling discrete products. The answer may come from a repositioning into
new propositions for relevancy to the Eco-Systems of your customers, often
through services. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> has many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now Senior Advisor for Alvarez
& Marsal, and Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> <a href="http://www.moyanbrenn.com/">http://www.moyanbrenn.com/</a> <i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-12184493845122109332016-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:002016-06-08T08:31:17.418-07:00The Fading Allure of Pure Play Services<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">In the long history of IT outsourcing, there
was a prominent strategy among many IT Services companies to position
themselves as “pure play” services firms.
This was meant to counter-act the competitive alternative offered by
companies that were simultaneously product manufacturers and services
companies. See: IBM, HP, Xerox, Fujitsu,
etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The paradox here is that product companies
tended to think that they need to have a services arm in order to optimize the
sales/service channel to the market.
Yet, that services arm tended to command lower profit margins than the
product business lines, and risked having the provider being seen as biased
with respect to servicing products that are not part of the manufactured
portfolio.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxSMM00eh2rOHacN4vy6-amr4VJAXtHvjkZq5f4vCdHPVB9h39KEccl55-rsEcRO4uUUFvpNbtkktKPxLOLXpv95YyfDhE00jvY-Z9z-l1kzt1jYH80ldzmyqU14mrQyBjCBlMa-wD24/s1600/Doors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZxSMM00eh2rOHacN4vy6-amr4VJAXtHvjkZq5f4vCdHPVB9h39KEccl55-rsEcRO4uUUFvpNbtkktKPxLOLXpv95YyfDhE00jvY-Z9z-l1kzt1jYH80ldzmyqU14mrQyBjCBlMa-wD24/s320/Doors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Pure Services companies, on the other hand,
promote their objectivity. They promise
to serve multiple product families brinigng efficiency through leverage of
process and scale. Some even advocate
agnosticism in terms of the products being serviced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">In my experience, the win rate for large IT
Outsourcing contracts wasn’t materially different among the pure play
contenders versus the product-plus-services providers. None the less, it was a healthy point of
competitive debate in the selection process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The question I am increasing asked is this: “What
does it mean to be ‘pure play’ in the era of ‘As A Service’, and will there be
a shift towards favoring a pure play proposition?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">I had the pleasure recently to experience a
sales pitch to a banking IT executive in which an IT services provider was
touting its objectivity and independence with respect to the cloud
infrastructure offerings it was suggesting to serve as the foundation for a
rather ambitious transformation. The
central assertion was that the bank should not be beholden to any particular
technology suite, but would be better-served by selecting a service provider
that was firmly established for services, and not selling products.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The bank executive listened for only a few
moments before he interrupted the pitch to say, “You guys don’t get it. We don’t care what products are under the
covers. Independence doesn’t matter when
we are buying outcomes.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The meeting ended abruptly, as the service
provider’s script was now turned on its head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Based on the interactions I am seeing in the
market, enterprises are increasing leaning towards buying/subscribing to turn-key
services solutions that unify the various component parts into holistic
offerings. The actual product
underpinnings are less relevant than the committed level of features,
functionality, and service integration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The effect of this shift in buying tendency
means that there is a third breed of service option. We have the emergence of service contenders
who are removing the complexity relating to underlying components of a
technology stack and bringing well-engineered services solutions to the table. Commonly labeled “Business Process as a
Service” or some variant thereof, these are platform-oriented “As A Service”
stacks that present a new proposition when considered alongside the traditional
product and pure-play service alternatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">So, the answer to the question of what it
means to be pure play in an “As A Service” world is that companies must compete
on the basis of built-for-purpose functionality, as opposed to general-purpose
run/operate. Independence has diminishing
relevance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Recent M&A within the industry that is
shifting non-differentiated service capabilities among companies is
considerably less interesting and less relevant than the development and scaled
deployment of BPaaS platforms, regardless of the heritage of the provider.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Call yourself pure play if you like, but the
market won’t care unless the play is built “As A Service.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> applies many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of
operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of
all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is
now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for
Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Image: <a href="https://flic.kr/p/nCYoHR">https://flic.kr/p/nCYoHR</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-56625651900000025432016-05-24T07:44:00.001-07:002016-05-24T07:44:34.676-07:00Playing the Innovation Card<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Playing the Innovation Card<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.i9z4merpb7bu"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f">
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court justice Potter
Stewart famously characterized pornography with the quote, “I know it when I
see it.” The same is true for innovation
in the art of commercial services.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorHtkkJ-jRRH1r0kAZAJTzU2VOmKi1RfWpi_t7Kpso7vj7dPZPqpX-bBGtQfODZ7Uz7xmbs2PBgKclBbcqhQo1-4aiZFWu_EM9n8aAWwYPHaDoshFmRAhyphenhyphenFxkkYadpvHI3K6aDGl5tXI/s1600/Cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhorHtkkJ-jRRH1r0kAZAJTzU2VOmKi1RfWpi_t7Kpso7vj7dPZPqpX-bBGtQfODZ7Uz7xmbs2PBgKclBbcqhQo1-4aiZFWu_EM9n8aAWwYPHaDoshFmRAhyphenhyphenFxkkYadpvHI3K6aDGl5tXI/s320/Cards.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">I’ve been party to hundreds of commercial outsourcing
arrangements – serving on the side of the buyer and on the side of the services
provider. Invariably, the topic of
innovation arrives at the table from one party or the other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Enterprise buyers seek to assure themselves that
any resulting contract won’t yield “same mess for less” by challenging the
contending providers to commit to a process whereby innovation in the services
is confirmed and committed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">In a reinforcing fashion, the industry
service providers, eager take the bait, offer up vague and unspecific promises
of future features and functions that evolve with the broader market. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">I liken these conversations to mutual
assured misunderstandings, and ultimately disappointment and dispute. In short,
both parties are speaking without communicating – and setting expectations that
will fail to be met. Buyers think that
evolution of the services is baked into the price, while providers think they’ve
locked down scope with a menu of future options available for additional fees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The guidance I apply to these situations
starts with the buyer, and the principle that nothing good comes without a
cost. If innovation in the services is important, then it is essential to
understand how that innovation is funded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Buyers/Subscribers to an outsourced service
are expecting that they are the beneficiaries of investment made by the
services provider to serve a market of customers. That is, there is leverage in the service
model that spreads costs relating to the design, evolution, and delivery of the
services across a multitude of like-minded buyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">With this model in mind, it is reasonable to
expect that the service provider is continually testing the market that it is
serving to understand future opportunities to enhance and evolve the features
and functions, drive down service costs, and improve the risk profile of the
services it is delivering. That’s just
good business practice, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Well, if the commercial arrangement is
viewed (by either party) as being “bespoke” (custom-made to fit a particular buyer),
then the economic logic erodes rather obviously. My caution to buyers: if you’re the only
subscriber to a service, then innovation will take the form of specific and
defined commitments that can be measured and priced distinctly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">But that’s not the way that most companies
want to buy innovation in a services arrangement. They don’t want to pay extra for unique and proprietary
enhancements. They want the innovation to come as the market evolves with new
capabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Once this economic reality is appreciated by
the buyer, it’s time to focus on buying “As A Service” offerings that are
established in the marketplace and which are serving multiple subscribers. That
orientation yields a very focused conversation with the contending service
providers and removes much of the ambiguity around the term innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The counsel I provide to ambitious service
providers is to be very well-prepared for this form of discussion with an
educated and informed buyer. Pretenders
will be smoked out quickly and failure to pass the test of a worthy innovation
model will likely result in disqualification for further consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">The successful services provider will frame
the topic of innovation through four dimensions that are directly relevant to
the buyer’s future-view of the services continuum. They include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The <i>reach</i> that
the service provider has as they serve markets and sense innovative ideas to
assess and invest in over time. This is an important test – whether the
provider is serving a broad enough base of customers with essentially identical
services.</span></li>
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The <i>cost</i> of
acquiring and developing those ideas, and the funding sources for such
investments. Service providers need to affirm that they have an investment
model in place.</span></li>
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The <i>risk</i> involved
in trying to turn them into marketable products, including processes for
customer engagement. The risk of innovation is worth emphasizing, and using as
a key selling point with the buyer. And,</span></li>
<li><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">The <i>speed</i> with
which the new features and functions can be brought to market. This often
entails promotion of partner relationships, innovation laboratories, lighthouse
clients, and the like.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Innovation need not be a four-letter
word. It is a central thesis of true “As
A Service” contracting conventions. Aspiring service providers can use this
topic to differentiate from lesser-prepared competition, but the sales process
must be genuine and transparent around the topic.</span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">Conversely, buyers who want assurance that
innovation is baked into the services need to insist that the principle of
buying market-defined offerings is applied in the source-selection process with
prominence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-no-proof: yes;">In these way, both parties will know
innovation when they see it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext;"> applies many</span></b></span><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor
for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled
business services. He is now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and
Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/125781032@N07/15433056769/in/photolist-9kgrGH-pvLs6F-eYP7w2-6ZQVaq-pN2mZe-nieBb4-552XV3-i1ge5L-4rom8Z-9J1XTj-a5XZNu-bd47XM-9Xuuay-pNLapX-aiyXon-dPD6BU-apPfmC-8d61gM-9tapiz-qsY1a7-edVa4W-82YAKf-cpw8RJ-otcpLW-qHfsJm-eLpTAN-8i1LRB-oRptQC-9ksfpP-ef8H87-7v8Pnx-7Kdwcw-9hxnVK-6sEgL9-qsY1jf-7zRiVR-59uC4W-6rMKtP-714D75-eLpTQS-edVga9-9AWqJz-hqzvh4-aTkQkB-qsYQVA-aKppS4-c3GRgW-nAY4Lg-6n25mL-FsLtqA/">Image: midwest.communications</a><br /><br /> <br /><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-89326095748701970402016-05-17T10:21:00.004-07:002016-05-17T10:21:35.330-07:00The Art of the Services Sale<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A few years ago I sat with a senior executive
of a global consumer products company reviewing our week’s findings.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We had just concluded a parade of prospective
services provider presentations, and it was time to reflect.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH00jvoa-Z5GJv3AEUv78QmYZEkORw1Yoz6M4gUo3WrEqMSPQsP2YDMSotHSfk0EjznDPhZ_elvAGf7HLzJmySc3Yllj1sAgZ3VUTW06g3qNF5jGuzKXII9Kkrs-HMGE6m0uk0948iMg/s1600/Sales+Pitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH00jvoa-Z5GJv3AEUv78QmYZEkORw1Yoz6M4gUo3WrEqMSPQsP2YDMSotHSfk0EjznDPhZ_elvAGf7HLzJmySc3Yllj1sAgZ3VUTW06g3qNF5jGuzKXII9Kkrs-HMGE6m0uk0948iMg/s1600/Sales+Pitch.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Dave was a finance executive, accustomed to quantitative
precision. Our week had been spent listening to six services companies try to
impress upon Dave their unique abilities to service his global operations.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Precision was as far from reality as one
could imagine.</span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As our reflections concluded, Dave asked one
final question of me. “Can you explain
to me why this industry is fixated on <u>capabilities</u>, when what we’re
trying to buy is <u>services</u>?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dave was frustrated by what he had just
experienced – broad and general claims about undefined and unmeasurable
expressions of effort that were entirely disconnected with his business
priorities. Not from a minority of
companies, but from all of them. Having heard from industry peers complaints
regarding the lack of innovation via outsourcing, Dave’s doubts about the outsourcing
proposition were only exacerbated by the experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dave compared what he had seen presented by
the leading companies in the fee-for-service outsourcing industry to what his
company had achieved for themselves via a Global Shared Services mode of
operation. He looked for a service
catalog, committed service levels, volume-based pricing, a talent management
utility, alignment of rewards for productivity … all of the traits that typical
service companies employ. He had hoped to find new sources of leverage that
would accrue new classes of benefits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Outsourcing is hardly a novel concept. It’s a business convention that has been in
play for over a hundred years. That
reality made Dave wonder how it could be that the IT Outsourcing and Business Process
Outsourcing industries could be so backward in the definition of services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In trying to explain what he had just
experienced, I noted that the ITO/BPO service providers generally trace their
roots to one of two heritages. Very few
providers are built-for-purpose service providers. The mindset and management muscle of these companies
are informed by a grounding in systems integration or offshoring.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Companies with a systems integration DNA are
very requirements-driven. They are literal.
They thrive in solving problems as if they’d never been solved before –
approaching each situation with an eye to building a unique and distinct solution. Commonly, the end result is a well-engineered
design but lacks scale or market-based application.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Conversely, companies that trace their
origins to the offshoring industry are much less fixated on the specific
requirements, opting to promote value by recruiting, cultivating, and deploying
the best talent. These providers rely on
the Client to define HOW a job is to be performed, and pride themselves on
finding excellent talent to complete the tasks.
The companies tend to standardize work very well and deliver with
predictable results. But, the scale
potential is limited. Wage arbitrage is a lever that can be pulled only a few
number of times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As one might imagine, both of these classes
of services companies tend to promote <u>capabilities</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In the commercial services industry, the term
“capabilities” is a red flag. A
capability is considered the inverse of a commitment. A systems integrator is certainly capable of
building an elegant solution to a set of requirements. And, an offshore services company is equally
capable of excellent human capital management.
Neither, however, conforms to the expected definition of a “service.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Today I guide both buyers and providers of
commercial services around the lexicon and terminology of alignment. Service
providers are using different words, and making new claims, around their commitment
to progressive forms of offerings. Some
are using the “As A Service” phrasing.
Some are promoting outcome-based pricing. Yet, the depth and reality of their
commitment to true services proposition are easily tested by discriminating
buyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">On the other side of the equation, many
companies profess to want to buy market-based service offerings yet insist on
imposing a spectrum of stale and constraining requirements on the prospective
service providers. Having it both ways rarely works.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’ve found that a handful of principles are
effective tools to foster the conversation around buying and selling/delivering
true “As A Service” relationships. One
of the more significant is “<b>Buy from a
Market</b>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The parties must recognize that buying
standard and industrial services is the foundation for a true “As A Service”
relationship. At its heart, prescription
of a solution by the buyer is to be avoided at all costs. The service provider’s ability to drive
leverage is central to making this model work.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Relatedly, a more comprehensive and
scenario-based business case format must be used to capture derivative benefits
that are not customary in traditional services contracting. And, there needs to apply different forms of
diligence, ultimately proving the Supplier’s commitment to a Services
life-cycle and existence of a market of like-oriented subscribers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">To drive this point, I often facilitate
conversations around the innovation investment model for the contracted
services. Clients are expecting their
providers to have a strategy for funding the evolution of their services over
time. If a provider stumbles on this
question, it’s a sign that they are not fully committed to being in the “As A
Service” business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">For a service provider to win in this
environment, they must break down the traditional silos of service capabilities
and show up with a unified offering in all respects. Showing up with a team of people who carry
the flags for their own parochial business elements only reveals the lack of
alignment and integration behind a built-for-purpose service proposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Acceptance of new forms of risk is table
stakes - and directly related to the fact that the provider is serving a
market, not a sole client. An effective
selling technique is for the service provider to be clear on the risks that
they are taking on by committing to the commercial services under
consideration. In earlier forms of outsourcing – whether via a systems
integration or offshoring worldview – the provider often allocated considerable
risk to the Client. “As A Service”
shifts this risk, and that fact should be clear in the sales process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Transparency requirements will increase, in
various forms. The term “Service Catalog” must be pervasive – in how the provider
thinks about and communicates its propositions, and how the Client will manage
variants in service classes. Further,
the approach to diligence on the Client’s environment is critical – the
provider must be expert at knowing whether it’s offerings are fit for purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In a fee-for-service world, Dave expects a market-based,
fee-for-service conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> applies
many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating
experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes
and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is now Chief
Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for Alvarez &
Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Image: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/esalesdata">https://www.flickr.com/photos/esalesdata</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-20371842148785866562016-04-22T07:35:00.002-07:002016-04-22T07:35:38.253-07:00From Effort to Outcomes<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As a 22 year-old, I was immersed into the eye-opening
experience of my first real job. While
the era was long ago, well before Silicon Valley defined the meaning of a
“startup” culture, I thrived at being fresh talent in a company that was
buzzing with energy for the work it was doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Based in Cambridge, MA, just outside the walls of Harvard and
MIT, the company was on a mission to change the world through the use of
innovation in networking technology.
Most of the employees were casual in appearance, wore sandals, and
enjoyed the free espresso that served as the focal point for conversations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This era was one where email had not yet been deployed as a
basic communication utility, so the potential of an interconnected universe of
companies, research institutions, and individuals was still being formulated.
The notion of connecting people via technology was at the center of the
company’s focus.</span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">With two years of experience under my belt, I was called to
meet the new Senior Vice President who had joined the company to lead the
business unit that I worked within. With
trepidation, I walked into the plush offices of one of the most senior people
in the company. Bob Halligan looked me
over and said, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzLxnPERx9L4RbrwQANO0k6AXSsPZm6Qe1Bu599jBnKeO1axRnA4KGizRJxHxmwbdHzJCqlp3ozb0JBssI96hmtktAQwmv-mHpgN4XR6Q2tck34viDRuds5HbCOInqoaVREauwvUbLRw/s1600/leading+herd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZzLxnPERx9L4RbrwQANO0k6AXSsPZm6Qe1Bu599jBnKeO1axRnA4KGizRJxHxmwbdHzJCqlp3ozb0JBssI96hmtktAQwmv-mHpgN4XR6Q2tck34viDRuds5HbCOInqoaVREauwvUbLRw/s1600/leading+herd.jpg" /></a><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">My reply was a rather sheepish, “Thank you. I try hard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mr. Halligan didn’t miss a beat with his response: “A lot of
people try hard. Your reputation is
framed by results.” Some encounters
stick with you for your entire life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Fast forward to today’s highly-interconnected economy whereby
individuals and businesses are able to interact and conduct their affairs with
almost frictionless ease thanks to the growing fabric of technology-enabled
services. As consumers, we are
conditioned to expect transactions of all forms to be effective and
efficient. We’ve lost tolerance for the
well-intended best effort, and have shifted our expectations towards fast and
perfect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">What matters most to us is the quality of the result, with
diminished concern for the path required to achieve that outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’ve developed perspectives that I’ve been
calling “The As a Service Economy” through the most recent years of a long
history in the Outsourcing and Shared Services industries. These operating conventions are used by
companies to drive cost efficiency in their business operations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Today, there continues to exist a
considerable percentage of corporate spend allocated to effort-based work. The popular use of offshore labor to execute
transactional work processes has perpetuated this mode of operating. Managers tend to define and direct work to
groups of people who are well-intended, toiling to execute tasks using the
collective knowledge and learnings of their work units. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tribal knowledge is still pervasive as the
way things get done in many, many companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The promised transformation of work processes
through the deployment of technology platforms for standardization of
workflows, and consistent organization of data, has not yielded the impact that
most executives imagined when they launched these deployments. ERP solutions
have not materially refactored the way that business processes are executed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There will be arguments to the contrary, but
my experience leads me to believe that “As A Service” is redefining the
corporate services architecture to remedy the shortfalls of offshoring,
outsourcing, and ERP adoption. There are
five truths that contribute to my worldview on this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Most
CIOs and heads of Shared Services are serving as the point of leadership for
the adoption of platform-based, industrial-grade Services. These are commonly components to the
enterprise digital transformation, as they are built-for-purpose elements that
require orchestration and integration among the service eco-system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">These
strategies commonly entail a migration from legacy resourcing models - people,
processes, and technology - to embrace adoption of new forms of operating. No big bang, but a purposeful evolution. Companies are chipping away at effort-based
work processes and embracing outcome-assured service utilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There
are readily-accepted proof points. </span><a href="http://salesforce.com/"><span class="Hyperlink0"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Salesforce.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">, AWS, WorkDay,
Coupa, and others are the trailblazers for the new way of running the enterprise. The objections to utilizing multi-tenant
platforms are being overturned in favor of market-based service offerings. Companies are dismantling their installed
base of facilities and organizations in order to adopt market-defined services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This
strategy is not constrained to back-office functions. Increasingly, we are seeing the bundling of
front-office applications with the attendant operating infrastructure into
turn-key business services. This is an
important shift away from optimizing the horizontal service categories like
storage, compute, payroll, and the like.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A
final summary observation - many of the companies that are employing “As A
Service” techniques for how they BUY services, are also looking to apply those
same mechanisms for serving their own markets.
What this means is that the essential skills for designing and implementing
a buying strategy for market-based services are valued for helping companies
evolve their market-facing propositions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This transformation of business operating
structures has considerable headwinds. Generations of managers have grown up
believing that their value is defined, in large part, by the number of people
they control, direct, supervise, or manage. Procurement leaders have been
trained to advocate for unique and special requirements, not buy “standard” as
a primary imperative. “As A Service” modes of operation challenge this
mindset. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Power and influence doesn’t accrue based on
the scale of effort one directs, but rather the magnitude of effect that one
assures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As I work with enlightened executives who are
committed to transforming the profile of their businesses, there are many
complications attendant to reorienting the functions around outcomes rather
than effort. Yet, most know they need to
embrace this opportunity and are developing the roadmaps for migrating their
organizations to a new form of service delivery. The old structures and modes of operating are
being chipped away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">All in all, the greatest obstacle to this
shift is comfort with the status quo. If
management rewards “span of control”, then executives will seek to build larger
and larger organizations. This is why, in my experience, leadership engagement
is central to reimagining how the business is organized and operated, and
embracing buy/subscribe over build/operate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">At the end of the day, outcomes matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> applies
many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating
experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes
and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is now Chief
Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for Alvarez &
Marsal. </span></b><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Image: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcutarellix/8034782416/in/photolist-df1mTj-2fySoa-gfY7Jt-4Zps3B-2fDeB3-2fyGxF-gfXNUo-df1mXY-2fyGLZ-pRbvr9-6qJqhB-5DhsZm-nXkv3p-kWNw7j-2fDKz1-9Vik97-2fD641-2fFgyW-f7C9cn-ceJoKs-2fD9Gw-nZqrec-6fEpxo-9Viq13-gfYkdB-2fDqUA-cWyQwd-kWLYK2-K1uHk-2fzb6e-nF9tP8-kWMBu4-9Ww6uX-2fD3XL-dZPqe8-9d1Ach-8aqSQr-abR5hS-7mLp2D-2fB7Qg-2fyEEB-cWyS9d-2fyD3K-bxR1eX-2fyGhz-6fAeHM-oLZABV-bpVhwm-fEm7Th-bpVg17">https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcutarellix</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-76610685984658674352016-04-07T09:55:00.001-07:002016-04-07T09:55:10.721-07:00Beware: Robots on the Cow Paths<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s
a growing volume of chatter in the outsourcing industry circles about the
breakthrough potential of Robotic Process Automation, or RPA. I’ve recently seen RPA in action for a few major
corporations and I’ve developed a concern over this trend. It’s a concern based on successful adoption.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o1mRXD9AT7Cdw34P8hlUF9KkonbHEXyx2OgbVFEuY2Fyx3Jj6LFiUMR-HwFocyJtUu7iJIkQWiWlfVdPGksW3Y7H-g7pRp7j3jIjgR6isQgmQ_v_KVqefRwBspb8358h5jizEvfbkAM/s1600/Robot_Cow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o1mRXD9AT7Cdw34P8hlUF9KkonbHEXyx2OgbVFEuY2Fyx3Jj6LFiUMR-HwFocyJtUu7iJIkQWiWlfVdPGksW3Y7H-g7pRp7j3jIjgR6isQgmQ_v_KVqefRwBspb8358h5jizEvfbkAM/s320/Robot_Cow.jpg" width="245" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
those who haven’t had the pleasure of a first-hand exposure to RPA in action, I
can tell you that it’s quite impressive.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Software-based “robots” (personally, I am not a fan of the term, but it’s
increasingly being used) run on servers and essentially perform the identical
tasks that humans otherwise would perform.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They login to various systems, review lists of tasks, lookup and correlate
information from varied sources, and execute well-defined procedures.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
benefits include 24x7 operations (no coffee breaks or absenteeism), predictable
quality of performance, speed of execution, and … obviously … lower labor
costs. Other benefits include the
ability to audit and measure the performance of tasks that might not otherwise
lend themselves to 100% verification.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These
virtues have great appeal to companies that use people today to execute rather
standardized processes. Lower cost,
higher quality, assured outcomes. Sounds
great, right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many
observers are worried that the rise of robots to perform transactional business
processes, such as accounts payable reconciliations, invoice verification,
account change processing, and the like, has the potential to displace
thousands of “knowledge workers”, leading to a greater level of social issues
around employment rates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some
of the more prominent corporate advocates among the outsourcing industry, many of
which operate with thousands of employees domiciled in lower-cost delivery
locations, are the most prominent adopters.
They argue that today’s labor arbitrage outsourcing models need the
ability to drive greater sources of benefits to their customers. The ability pull the lever of lower labor
cost is diminished, so we must shift to automation from these delivery centers
as the next wave of benefits for outsourcing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Well,
what I’ve seen of RPA in practice introduces, to me, a concern that dwarfs that
of displacing workers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
am old enough to recall the rise of Business Process Reengineering in the early
1990s. BPR was the brainchild, arguably,
of two consulting luminaries, James Champy and Michael Hammer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
central thesis of BPR was that “the usual methods for boosting corporate performance—process
rationalization and automation—haven’t yielded the dramatic improvements
companies need. In particular, heavy investments in information technology have
delivered disappointing results—largely because companies tend to use
technology to mechanize old ways of doing business. They leave the existing
processes intact and use computers simply to speed them up.</span>” <b>That was twenty-five years ago!</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Back
then, the BPR advocates argued that speeding up those processes does address fundamental
performance deficiencies. “Many of our job designs, work flows, control
mechanisms, and organizational structures came of age in a different
competitive environment and before the advent of the computer. They are geared
toward efficiency and control. Yet the watchwords of the new decade are
innovation and speed, service and quality.”
Those are the words of Michael Hammer printed in a prominent 1990 <a href="https://hbr.org/1990/07/reengineering-work-dont-automate-obliterate">HBR
article</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many
of the RPA examples I’ve seen are simply a repaving of the cow paths defined by
current systems, processes, and policies.
The RPA robots memorialize the existing procedures in ways that mimic
today’s human-based operations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While
today’s RPA initiatives are designed, largely, to be proof-of-concept and pilot
in nature, I think that great care should be taken to define the innovation
roadmap for the underlying business processes prior to shedding the people who
are the most knowledgeable about the processes being robot-enabled. We need to know that we can redesign,
replace, or retire those existing systems and processes – not be held hostage
to a robot’s execution of legacy procedures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Perhaps
this assignment is a worthy repurposing of the displaced knowledge workers?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ll
never argue against automation and the use of technology to drive efficiency, accuracy,
and cost effectiveness. Those are sacred
principles in an “As A Service” economy.
Yet, we need to be sure that we don’t lock ourselves into legacy ways of
running businesses as the ultimate price for near-term efficiencies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
robots will execute; they will not redesign.
Not yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> applies many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor
for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled
business services. He is now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and
Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/grimrobots">https://www.flickr.com/photos/grimrobots</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-62333403725981187422016-03-17T14:28:00.000-07:002016-03-17T14:28:00.427-07:00Managing Service Risks in the “As A Service” Economy
<br />
<div style="border-image: none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvG0ZJCECi7cRYaxe1T_QIkRy1eAbU73cM75wu-0GZh8nbqDY4RLCRnkZvrRF-xz1AVE5tmZBbdFW1dWYXp6a2ibtvI9SP819I6YMKvLqM_-0XKv-q4cb896hi9FbC-GNS3xmXuFirpJM/s1600/tightrope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvG0ZJCECi7cRYaxe1T_QIkRy1eAbU73cM75wu-0GZh8nbqDY4RLCRnkZvrRF-xz1AVE5tmZBbdFW1dWYXp6a2ibtvI9SP819I6YMKvLqM_-0XKv-q4cb896hi9FbC-GNS3xmXuFirpJM/s200/tightrope.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">The rule of
thumb for services contracting, proven over the past 20+ years, was that
companies tended to spend 3-5% of their services contract value on “governance.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>When a company awarded a $100M services
contract for outsourced IT or Business Process operations, they typically spent
$3-5M on the people and processes focused on service management and governance.</span></div>
<div style="border-image: none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">What did
these expenses provide?</span><br />
<br />
<ul style="direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Financial
Management – handling the authorizations and verifications of the financial
obligations of the parties;</span></div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Invoice Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Performance Credits, Earnbacks, & Critical
Milestones</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Financial Analysis & Planning</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Contract Pricing Adjustments</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Chargeback</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Performance
Management – reviewing service level and other reporting artifacts that track
attainment of committed qualitative performance;</span></div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Performance Analysis & Service Delivery
Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Service Requests and Authorization</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Change Management</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Relationship
Management – ensuring tight alignment among the buy-side and provider-side
expectations</span></div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Forecasting and Demand Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Project Spend Pool Manager</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Service Catalog Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Customer Satisfaction Measurement</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt;">Commercial
Management – accountable for the formal terms among the parties</span></div>
<ul style="list-style-type: circle;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Contract Administration</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Contract Change Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Contract Issue Management</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Dispute Resolution</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Service Provider Audit</span></div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Governance Library</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Invariably,
this level of expense and organizational construction resulted in debate on the
value returned for such investment, the buy-versus-build alternatives, and the
tendency to meddle in the delivery of the contracted services.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
am being asked more frequently about the effect that “As A Service” contracting
places on the Service Management & Governance competencies of companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my experience, the level of investment is
holding steady, but there is a shift among the functions embodied in the
progressive “vendor management” function of companies looking to subscribe to
market-defined offerings as a preferred alternative to directing the build of
solutions that are specific to the buyer.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
most visible new competency being promoted in this context is Vendor Risk
Management (VRM).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many companies are
deploying organizations and processes for continually monitoring the viability
of their supply base through the lens of “what if” analyses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you think about the “As A Service” fabric
of internal and external service participants, the modularity features of “plug
replaceable” services is an essential feature that requires active monitoring.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Regulated
industries, such as Financial Services and Healthcare, in particular, are
experiencing dramatic increases in the requirement to monitor and manage 3<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">rd</span></sup>-party
risks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These disciplines are analogous
to the rigor that other industries, such as manufacturing, have applied
commonly to their supply chain for tangible materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Now,
these inspections are being applied to information-based services with greater
rigor.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
increased investment in VRM within the Service Management framework is being
offset, to a degree, by adoption of more automation in the conduct of
performance management, financial management, and commercial management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The functions identified are still required,
but the implementation alternatives are more varied under a
subscription-oriented arrangement</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As
we see companies shift their services strategies to take advantage of the
growing portfolio of market-based “As A Service” offerings, I think we will see
an accelerated maturity in the professional disciplines around vendor risks,
including adoption of automation, analytics, and friction-less switching among
service participants.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> applies many</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and strategic advisor
for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled
business services. He is now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners and
Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ponch-o/3629584486/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">https://www.flickr.com/photos/ponch-o/3629584486/</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></i></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></em></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-71791855456049852352016-03-14T15:13:00.002-07:002016-03-14T15:13:11.577-07:00Diligent Diligence<div class="MsoNormal">
As companies step-up their consideration of new forms of Services
contracting, with providers that are touting their “As A Service” offerings, I
am seeing a revolution in the art of Due Diligence – the process whereby the
parties verify that they are entering into a relationship that is aligned in
its goals.</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirORPIwXqmuEfAV5l69CZkWCC1l1eGEw2-rdZu1rR3SXGBtJFm1bXB1hDtKEWXFSZYbqWWyiQBC6DAt-nZZi56Jirasrrfvb6QbpqqEh2klT_tc8fgc8Neo6hOSTp9hkfBirPa6pzjvow/s1600/misalign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirORPIwXqmuEfAV5l69CZkWCC1l1eGEw2-rdZu1rR3SXGBtJFm1bXB1hDtKEWXFSZYbqWWyiQBC6DAt-nZZi56Jirasrrfvb6QbpqqEh2klT_tc8fgc8Neo6hOSTp9hkfBirPa6pzjvow/s320/misalign.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The age-old approach towards Diligence in the consummation of a commercial
services agreement entails an <u>Inbound</u> element through which the Service
Provider reviews and validates the operating environment of the Client into
which its Services are meant to apply.
The <u>Outbound</u> element refers to the Client’s inspection of the
readiness of the Service Provider to take on the scope of service being
proposed.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
As the market moves towards adoption of propositions built to conform to “As
A Service” operating characteristics of industrial-grade, multi-tenant,
subscription-oriented, and mutualized operations, the processes for both
Inbound and Outbound Due Diligence are changing, and introducing new
challenges.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Service Providers who are truly bringing “As A Service” offerings to a
Client opportunity will use an Inbound Diligence process that is exceptionally
focused on the enterprise services architecture and the flow of work between
and among a myriad of internal and external service participants. The emphasis will be in how the Provider’s
built-for-purpose service solution will fit within the operating landscape. It
is decidedly future-oriented in its perspective.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In the past – largely via outsourcing considerations – the Inbound process
sought to verify and validate legacy technical factors, and counts of
assets. In essence, this was all about
verifying information provided by the Client.
Today, it’s less about inspecting the current state, and more about
ensuring that the roadmap to the future state is achievable.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
As for Outbound Diligence, the burden on the prospective Service Provider is
much greater today than it has been in the past. Previously, Outbound Diligence comprised site
visits, procedural reviews, and interviews with other Clients. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Today’s buyers of “As A Service” offerings are insisting on new evidence of
readiness, competence, and worthiness. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If you’re a Provider of “As A Service” offerings – regardless of the
application – you can expect to be asked to produce new forms of evidence that
you’re truly bringing solutions to a market of Clients, not merely offering to
solve a challenge for the next Client. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Some of the most compelling and essential evidence includes:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A <b>Service
Catalog</b> which enumerates the service gradients and market pricing for your
spectrum of offerings<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A <b>Services
Life-Cycle Management</b> process that conveys your market-based understanding
of demand for service features and functions, and the stages of development,
deployment, and decommissioning that you apply to your offerings<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->An <b>Investment
Model</b> that articulates the practices you apply towards developing and
deploying new capabilities to subscribers of your Services, with clarity on
what’s “in the price” versus supplementary<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A “<b>User Group</b>”
or similar forum for subscriber engagement that demonstrates the reach of your
services across the market and which commits to continual communication around
service evolution. This commonly
includes transparency around the numbers of subscribers, and changes to those
figures over time, and<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->5)<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->A <b>Business
Continuity Plan</b> that acknowledges the inherent risks to service continuity,
and your plans for responding.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
There are others, but I find that these five tend to be particular
challenges for the Service Provider community to address when a Clients team starts
its Outbound Diligence process.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Both of these dimensions – Inbound and Outbound – introduce enhanced
expectations of the Service Provider to produce evidence of commitment to
purposely-built Service offerings that reflect a deep understanding of target
markets, competitive positioning, and readiness for scaled adoption.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Prospective Service Providers would be well-served to invest in a strong and
positive Diligence experience as part of their sales process.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a></span><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> applies many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"> years of operating experience as a top
executive and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with
focus on technology-enabled business services. He is now Chief Evangelist at
Peter Allen & Partners and Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal. </span></b><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-marie-rockwell/4516929896/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/anna-marie-rockwell/4516929896/</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-77202363822258877932016-02-05T09:51:00.002-08:002016-02-05T09:51:14.662-08:00Evolve, or Disappear<div class="MsoNormal">
What dissatisfies a Client of a service?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
It is rarely bad service in some absolute sense of “bad.” A customer’s satisfaction is the gap between
what is expected and what is received.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Everything is relative. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
A typical service client cannot always tell when a service is performed
well. But, a typical client is very good
at sensing disappointment. In short, the
central fact in the services business is a frustrating one: It is much easier
to fail in a service than to succeed.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-amEsDoY9g-1WjjlYkbsAyNw83QzGYYV7dPne7Fm-exCmhmkwJJHvr0dqmXaF-cnLB6bhG3Nnf93ZaHiyJl11jlMKaZZsHjFeqPRaB4ja_QVHWPm_3N2nICR9xf9Tpae5Od4z30tuV4/s1600/camera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq-amEsDoY9g-1WjjlYkbsAyNw83QzGYYV7dPne7Fm-exCmhmkwJJHvr0dqmXaF-cnLB6bhG3Nnf93ZaHiyJl11jlMKaZZsHjFeqPRaB4ja_QVHWPm_3N2nICR9xf9Tpae5Od4z30tuV4/s200/camera.jpg" width="200" /></a>In an increasingly complex world with constantly shifting expectations, an
obsession with planning and detail can be more of a hindrance than a help in
sustaining high levels of client satisfaction. It can wed your teams and business model to
plans of action that are not working in the marketplace, and that are not reflective
of how your business has changed. Good
enough often isn’t in the eyes of the service recipient, despite all the
dashboards and metrics.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
We can’t let the presence of risk, or the absence of clarity, prevent us
from taking action. Whether that action
be an investment, a change of partners, or the retirement of a legacy business
model. Call it innovation if you must,
but services-based relationships must evolve or die. If you’re in the business of delivering a
service, you better have a plan to evolve.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The wave across companies to adopt “As A Service” modes of operating –
whereby best-effort is replaced with defined and measured service outcomes – is
a fundamental transformation of how businesses operate. It’s a lifestyle change of momentous
proportions.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
But, it’s a change that will occur purposefully and through phases of
change. With rare exceptions, we’re not
talking about a big bang shift in how large companies organize and operate. We’re chipping away at the familiar, and
replacing it with the progressive.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
“As A Service” is, increasingly, an expectation of service recipients. It’s defining “good” for the execution of
business functions. It can’t be
controlled or constrained. It is the new
normal for running businesses.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Leaders of corporate Shared Services operations, and providers of outsourced
services, are challenged alike to offer new forms of service delivery that
reflect the higher expectations of the service recipients. This is not a matter of waiting for new requirements,
or putting a veneer on the old service model.
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
What’s expected of those worthy of sustaining services-based relationships
is a commitment to market-based “As A Service” offerings. Your customers are watching.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> has many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now Senior Advisor for Alvarez
& Marsal, and Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/129574667@N06/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/129574667@N06/</a>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-67590424587982266672016-02-02T13:26:00.001-08:002016-02-02T13:26:32.023-08:00Venturing into the Gig Economy<div class="MsoNormal">
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I recently listened to a podcast by the venture capitalist <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/navalr?authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=_kBI&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CentityType%3AentityHistoryName%2CclickedEntityId%3Amynetwork_mynetwork_7335%2Cidx%3A0">Naval
Ravikant</a>, CEO of AngelList and founder of ePinions. His comments told me that I had crossed a
very important threshold, and did even know it.
I am living in the “gig economy.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljtiRnA_pKZ10fNSUbP1v_IJOWWjqVy2b2azurr74G9HQW4tHz909O47V4zWKKk1NAO3aGWdS4rXDIsdf4q-kU_hTLsIulRzDP7DvtrhIhqyLLUAeQi267ek5yn3wFsT3Rb7_J5a80SA/s1600/Gig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljtiRnA_pKZ10fNSUbP1v_IJOWWjqVy2b2azurr74G9HQW4tHz909O47V4zWKKk1NAO3aGWdS4rXDIsdf4q-kU_hTLsIulRzDP7DvtrhIhqyLLUAeQi267ek5yn3wFsT3Rb7_J5a80SA/s1600/Gig.jpg" /></a></div>
Naval was responding to a question regarding the impact of information
technology in driving a new form of economic model. As an investor in many forms of tech-enabled
business services, I was intrigued by his response.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Naval remarked that the industrial revolution of the 1900s brought people
together around minimal efficient scale, such as factories, to drive productive
collaboration. Today, innovations in
social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies are driving substantial
reduction in the cost of basic transactions, allowing disintermediation among
service participants. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Proximity to one another is no longer required for the consumer and the
producer of a service. One example is
the Uber driver who receives orders via mobile phone without any human
intermediary. <o:p></o:p><br />
He offered a better example in describing independent contractors using
Twitter and online sources (like LinkedIn) to find jobs. The podcast referenced the “<a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/460698077/goodbye-jobs-hello-gigs-nunbergs-word-of-the-year-sums-up-a-new-economic-reality">gig
economy</a>.” <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Whether it’s selling your arts and crafts on Etsy or Ebay, offering taxi
services through Uber or accommodating tourists in your spare room via Airbnb,
the world of work appears to be changing. This is the “gig economy” — where
incomes are earned or supplemented by trading individual goods and services
online.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
One survey issued in January suggests that some 45 million people, or more
than 1 in 5 adults in the US, participate in the gig economy, also known as the
sharing or on-demand economy. <a href="http://www.burson-marsteller.com/ondemand-survey/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">According to
the poll</span></a> by Time magazine, 14.4 million people derive a
majority of their income from the gig economy, defined as "contingent work
that is transacted on a digital marketplace."<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Naval’s commentary went beyond the business-oriented examples to advocate
for a more personal adoption of “gig living.”
He argued that each one of us has the opportunity to develop and exploit
our personal brands, and our unique expertise.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
This reminded me of a recent conversation with a senior executive in a large
company who said to me, “We are over-run by consultants. What we really need are experts.” And, expertise is a personal, not
institutional, trait.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Naval offered a recipe for success in the gig economy, comprising:<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Find something you love to do, and for which you
have a shot at being among the best in the world <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Build your independent brand around it – with
your name<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Only take up creative work – providing
opportunity for continuous learning, refinement, relevancy; building
competitive advantage<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Develop personal comfort with a boom-bust cycle
of demand<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
At the heart of this is the premise that it’s best to leverage what you do
best and hold tightly to your independence in the gig economy. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> has many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now Senior Advisor for Alvarez
& Marsal, and Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i> https://hacked.com/primer-gig-economy/<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-91929287365266313412016-01-13T07:17:00.002-08:002016-01-13T07:17:34.773-08:00Patience is No VirtueMost people I meet tend to think that organizations work on the principle of
inertia: structures and strategies tend
to stay as they are, either at rest or in motion.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PRGTSp0eADKl4dpDMQf7JNxRPE-gkOrydYr7GMTKXzcyVBk6tNea3WjVGsisx9DuFMaTWJI1vzcs8dCKPvY3OG1Objr6A4tqwNy4-hg9IR_zpKwvjIN9bePjmKRNJ_5DfTMO8rg8-qw/s1600/shark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PRGTSp0eADKl4dpDMQf7JNxRPE-gkOrydYr7GMTKXzcyVBk6tNea3WjVGsisx9DuFMaTWJI1vzcs8dCKPvY3OG1Objr6A4tqwNy4-hg9IR_zpKwvjIN9bePjmKRNJ_5DfTMO8rg8-qw/s1600/shark.jpg" /></a>But it appears to me that organizations actually are subject to the Law of
Sharks. If a shark does not move, it
cannot breathe. And it dies.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
A conversation with a senior executive of a global bank reminded me that
this principle cascades to personal ambition and career management. He is the #2 leader in a large organization,
with little movement among the ranks above him.
“A shark’s gotta swim,” he said to me when I asked what was next for his
career with the bank. Enough said.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Moving organizations tend to keep moving.
Dormant ones tend to run out of air and die.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Movement takes many forms, and involves many muscles. A continuously-evolving strategy is one form
of movement. So, too, is the insistence
on lean operations and avoiding bloat that brings weight which much be carried
about. Rotation of talent, especially at
the senior ranks, is an especially important form of muscle-building.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Realignment and refactoring of strategic partnerships is an area of common
neglect in building the strength of an organization committed to movement. Too often, companies tend to think that
yesterday’s decision is one that seals destiny, when actually it’s an
opportunity for building agility – the ability to flex and move.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
To worsen this problem, not-moving rarely causes any immediate pain to an
organization. This encourages even more
waiting. “It ain’t broken, so don’t fix
it.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Not-moving begets more not-moving. By
the time the delayed consequences of all of this not-moving occur – one of
which being that action-oriented people in the company flee for new situations,
making the company even more waiting-oriented – it is often too late to correct
them.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In the age of digital disruption, with nimble competition lurking around
every coral reef, it’s essential that your organization embrace movement,
change, and realignment. Purposefully,
and with a cadence of being a survivor for the long term.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Act like a shark. Keep moving.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> has many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled
business services. He is now Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal, and Chief
Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Image: </span></i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeeyolqpictures/">https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeeyolqpictures/</a></span>Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-78885455624919141122015-12-30T12:54:00.004-08:002015-12-30T12:54:46.229-08:00Nothing Ventured, Boring LegacyThere’s something about a new year that prompts many of us to reflect on our
course and speed. I’m no different. In my case, I’ve decided to make a change of
trajectory as we enter 2016.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCYNSsaF-XJwQqpAA7W5069OkssyJGHfbRcPItq0GSWNZZjcXOWFMB-yv1nM19OAzcg71kJ8-Mq0H9Nth9vtoIYs7Woa-qjKbstnT0WL_0p7chS3CzuG68BMRAl1W_dRy8HdBjVv7c9I/s1600/Boring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdCYNSsaF-XJwQqpAA7W5069OkssyJGHfbRcPItq0GSWNZZjcXOWFMB-yv1nM19OAzcg71kJ8-Mq0H9Nth9vtoIYs7Woa-qjKbstnT0WL_0p7chS3CzuG68BMRAl1W_dRy8HdBjVv7c9I/s400/Boring.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
My teenage daughters have stopped asking me what I do for a living. My explanations bore them, at best, and
confuse them in the most likely scenario.
Their generation has a hard time grasping the value in providing advice
to companies that are trying to find solutions to hard business problems. There’s nothing tangible in talk, and they
think that advice equates to talk.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
I often tell my girls about the start of my career – being a junior member
of the team that built the ARPAnet, the foundation of today’s Internet. They feign interest in this – it’s something
that they recognize as being central to their text messaging, apps-driven lives,
but it’s like breathing to them.<o:p></o:p><br />
They ask, what have you done lately?
What do you stand for? How are
your contributions measured?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Times like these prompt many of us to reflect on what gives us the greatest
satisfaction, and that which carries our passion. Fulfillment comes in many forms, and the
threshold from one year to the next is a natural place to reflect on the values
we value.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
My passion is centered on the “As A Service” economy that is revolutionizing
the ways that technology-enabled services come to reality. I have written, spoken, and advised on this
topic for most of the past five years. It’s
the next-iteration of many heritage operating structures. I’ve worked with some great buyers of “As A
Service” offerings, and some progressive providers of clever services.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
It’s time for me to make this my sole focus.
It’s time to measure my contributions in different ways – principally
around the creation of substantial and sustained innovations in business
models. <b>Peter Allen & Partners</b> (<a href="http://www.peterallenpartners.com/">www.peterallenpartners.com</a>) will
launch on January 1<sup>st</sup>.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
From this platform, I will help organizations retool their operating models
to take advantage of the disruptive potential of “As A Service” modes of
service. My network of like-minded
colleagues is deep, and together we will take on assignments that exploit our
expertise in the essential elements of service-based commercial models. We will bring new services to life.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
My girls may not know what this means now, but I intend to point to tangible
outcomes that we achieve through purposeful application of a unique
passion. Bring on 2016.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If you know of anyone who might benefit from my help – in buying “As A
Service” offerings progressively, or in building/selling/delivering “As A
Service” offerings with distinction, please let me know. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
May the New Year bring each of you great energy around your own particular
passion.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></b></a><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> has many</span></b><b><span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled
business services. He is now Chief Evangelist at Peter Allen & Partners. </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: </span></i><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/phoenixdailyphoto/"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">flickr.com/photos/phoenixdailyphoto/</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-14699726178915148922015-12-03T13:39:00.002-08:002015-12-03T13:39:22.692-08:00Using Burning Ambition to Drive Change
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
Most companies approach significant business decisions
through one of two opposing perspectives: ambition or desperation.<o:p></o:p></div>
I’m talking about those decisions that cut to the heart of sacred matters
such as structure, offerings, channels, and partnerships. Decisions that carry
overt ramifications.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
When I talk with senior executives about the potential for substantial
change to a business - such as new organizational models, outsourcing, alliance
relationship, or M&A - I start with questions that help me to understand
their motivation. Sometime the words that come back mask the true impetus for
making a change.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Initiatives motivated by ambition tend to involve a broader group of people
than those driven by desperation. They tend to rally the troops. The words
convey construction.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Desperate times tend to narrow the universe of executives focused on the
remedial actions, and they often take the form of secretive undertakings. The
vernacular is about dismantlement.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0m-UDRTwTajZ63R-1E5LH0HP06pQqjcheEyWbOJGbBHPJyUNldr1bUI59fUcQShp_Kwi4O2u8fDaHDigHU_J3i34sR_6VVKZR2FZWEaikAzrOSj_IwIdEgLk0ij877utGiF0KVrzZQR8/s1600/Burning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0m-UDRTwTajZ63R-1E5LH0HP06pQqjcheEyWbOJGbBHPJyUNldr1bUI59fUcQShp_Kwi4O2u8fDaHDigHU_J3i34sR_6VVKZR2FZWEaikAzrOSj_IwIdEgLk0ij877utGiF0KVrzZQR8/s400/Burning.jpg" width="400" /></a>For example, one recent conversation focused on a persistent pattern of
competitive losses for a company that believed its offerings were market
leading. Senior management wanted to sort through the conflicting rhetoric of
the marketing, sales, and offering teams. Why was the company not being
selected in competitive evaluations?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Once the facts were laid bare, senior management had some hard decisions to
make. They unearthed arbitrary qualification processes, lack of references,
substandard features, misaligned channel strategy, archaic pricing models, and
under-prepared sales teams.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Did the data tell management that the war was lost and that it was time to
exit the market for that particular offering? Or did the data reveal that the
market was hot and that excellence in execution would reap great rewards?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
It all depends on the perspective, but one thing is clear: being indecisive
about the competing extremes would relegate the company to a dumpster fire of
under-performance and frustration. No decision was a decision to fail.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If the conclusion revealed that these are desperate times for the offering,
management would either decide to exit the business or make substantial structural
changes.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
If, instead, the leadership decided that there were lessons to be leveraged
and that it was time to “double down” on the opportunity, management would
settle on a very different course of action. This might include leadership
changes, added investment in features, or new sales approaches. Ambition and
optimism would underlie the announcement of such changes. Alignment among the
team would be essential.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
As my good friend <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=AAkAAApWF3cBiq27J7Tx13TZPur4oYTTsJzMVCw&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=1U5q&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A173414263%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1449158370873%2Ctas%3Apeter%20fuda" href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=AAkAAApWF3cBiq27J7Tx13TZPur4oYTTsJzMVCw&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=1U5q&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A173414263%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1449158370873%2Ctas%3Apeter%20fuda"><span style="color: blue;">Peter
Fuda</span></a> likes to say, “When “good enough” isn’t good enough, it’s time to
organize transformation around a <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140623022857-173414263-from-burning-platform-to-burning-ambition?trk=prof-post" href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140623022857-173414263-from-burning-platform-to-burning-ambition?trk=prof-post" textform="false"><span style="color: blue;">burning ambition</span></a>.” While people tend to follow ambition with
much more vigor than desperation, both emotions motivate change.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
One last tip: deal with desperation quickly, but deal with ambition
collectively.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></a>
has many</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: benwatts/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-16018419649457412592015-10-28T12:58:00.001-07:002015-10-28T12:58:29.124-07:00Internet of Thinking: Why IBM Bought The Weather Channel
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Today’s sit-up-and-take-notice moment for
me was </span><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ibm-buys-weather-com-not-weather-channel-n453006"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">IBM’s
acquisition</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> of The Weather Channel’s digital properties.<span style="color: #333333;"> We are having more and more of these unusual maneuvers
occurring in the IT Services industry, and there are more to come as the
industry reinvents itself.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #333333;"></span></span><br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HWMWyQzlQ-k/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HWMWyQzlQ-k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a product of this industry. Genetically,
it is an industry wired around the development and integration of systems. Dating
back to the dawn of the computer age, companies such IBM have existed with the
value proposition of being adept at automating processes via computing
technologies (although few others have as deep a pedigree as IBM).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s an industry that ritualizes
requirements-driven design and implementation of capabilities that meet
specified “user” functions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the more instructive experiences in
my career was a U.S. Defense Department program that I led to modernize the
wholesale logistics (buying, storing, transporting, and delivering everything
from boots to bullets) processes for all branches of the military.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We had thousands of people working to
synthesize the needs of the user community, rationalize legacy systems
capabilities, model data sources and references, and write code to bring a new
“standard system” to life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This was the final government assignment in
my career, as I was dismayed by the political unraveling that led to the cancellation
of the program due to the lack of agreement among the military departments involved.
Consensus is a tough way to drive innovation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I moved on from this to the commercial services world - IT and Business
Process outsourcing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the commercial services segment, I found
much of the same: buyers and providers of IT Services tend to think in terms of
requirements at the present moment. There’s less political consensus-taking,
but decisions are still afflicted by thinking that is constrained by what’s
comfortable and familiar.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IBM’s move to “use the data provided by The
Weather Company's sensors to boost its analytics offerings for business clients”
is remarkable for its progressive potential. I doubt that this is a strategy
being driven by any specific client requirement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Henry Ford observed, “If I'd asked
customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse’.” To be an
innovator in your industry, you have to have a deeper understanding of the
future than do your customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ford’s observation is somewhat akin to a
market leader understanding that its legacy business is fading fast and that it
must make bets on new forms of value for the market of the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By my reckoning, IBM’s strategy here is to
create an “As A Service” suite of offerings that leverage the IoT assets of The
Weather Channel. You can be assured that this isn’t the only such move, but
merely a key component of a bigger ambition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“As A Service” isn’t a requirements-driven
approach where a service provider responds to a specific set of client needs. Rather,
it’s a market-driven approach that reflects informed anticipation of the needs
of multiple clients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the Internet
of Thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></a>
has many</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image: courtesy IBM via YouTube<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-18776065943677083012015-10-19T07:16:00.002-07:002015-10-19T07:16:12.431-07:00Bridging IoT and As-A-Service
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzOrhPrg_Hy_9hhVKa3earVlHDm3gbKiE8m-yZAsJNhZgEXXp0K5cE5m_oUAs4hYYF0hsX5fBP9IfYNN6oiv5tqWZupsEmdG1JwdZZZ-18vm49PViY_sdpbGPf5MsUcUiEv_sPpGH8CMk/s1600/bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzOrhPrg_Hy_9hhVKa3earVlHDm3gbKiE8m-yZAsJNhZgEXXp0K5cE5m_oUAs4hYYF0hsX5fBP9IfYNN6oiv5tqWZupsEmdG1JwdZZZ-18vm49PViY_sdpbGPf5MsUcUiEv_sPpGH8CMk/s1600/bridge.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the past year, I’ve written
extensively about two topics close to my heart: Internet of Things (IoT)
applications and the evolution of the “As A Service” Economy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In my mind, these two topics are inexorably linked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More accurately, the “business model” bullet
in my IoT Requirements framework is predicated on adoption of As-A-Service
modes of delivery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Few believe that IoT will take life as
islands of gadgets that exist with the marginal benefit of network connectivity
to “phone home” for updates to their software. Rather, IoT devices will be
knitted into a system that learns and evolves over time. Commercial pressures
will dictate that such systems are brought to reality as a service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">IoT will allow for new forms of decision-making
prompted by events and/or triggers that are initiated by IoT sensors. The
sensing IoT devices - whether monitoring the garage door, regulating Fido’s dog
food consumption, or watching for rainfall in a wheat field - will communicate
their observations. Some devices may take actions autonomously as well, but
they will still communicate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Once prompted by an IoT sensor, decisions
will be based on input from multiple sources. These sources will include other
IoT sources, contextual factors (e.g., time of day, environmental conditions,
etc.), and relevant sources of insight. That’s the “correlation” reference in
my requirements list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As each system records decisions and
related effects, it will learn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This simplistic portrayal, which can be
described for any number of examples, forms the ideal framework to
industrialize, standardize, and scale as a service. In fact, even via “As A
Service” models that exclude IoT - such as processing financial transactions,
administering payroll, or monitoring compliance with regulatory policies - the
same essential steps are taken. This is basic systems discipline: input,
process, output.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The IoT to “As A Service” linkage comes
most prominently at the point of defining the business model. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Every device manufacturer who is thinking
about Internet-enabling their products must define the ways through which their
devices are part of a new service value proposition.</b> That “As A Service”
ecosystem may be a proprietary platform that is unique to the manufacturer. More
likely, it will be part of a broader ecosystem that involves other forms of
devices and services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Does anyone think that the clever new
thermostats that provide remote control of room temperatures are going to
remain constrained to that functionality? I doubt it. Temperature-As-A-Service
isn’t bold enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am seeing more and more IoT examples that
carry the attributes of an “As A Service” mode of operation. These include a
broad set of features that I will describe more completely in a future post,
but which include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Anyone hoping to play in the IoT market must
develop expertise in the principles of operating “As A Service.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></a>
has many</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image:
</span></i><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/romanboed/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">romanboed</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-60760902570506650062015-10-14T05:42:00.000-07:002015-10-14T05:42:03.211-07:00How to Pitch As-A-Service Offerings
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve seen my fair share of sales pitches
for the outsourcing industry, and currently every aspiring service provider
touts their “As A Service” offerings. I can’t resist sharing some observations
on how these companies can best connect with the needs of enterprise buyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the spirit of “context matters,” let’s
start with the audience. Today’s buyer of commercial services is better
prepared than ever before. Indeed, they are forewarned about the pitfalls experienced
via prior generations of outsourced services. Most are working from a well-informed
basis of knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The majority of buying executives are adept
at networking; they are connected to their peers and they share experiences
readily. The best way for a service provider to position itself favorably is to
have a strong reference base from which to work. In the age of social networks,
reputation really matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The buyer generally organizes a process
around securing some form of value. The measure of value can take various methods,
and may even evolve over the course of the evaluation, but make no mistake –
value is the ultimate determinant of a decision to source services with a third
party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That may seem like an obvious and
well-understood tenet, but in the heat of a commercial transaction both buyers
and prospective service providers often lose sight of the core value
definition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be a bit more contentious
… in a competitive market, the lowest price is seldom a broad enough definition
of value.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond the fee-for-service dimension, common
elements of value for “As A Service” offerings include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Client confidence</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> that they
will receive the promises being made <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Strong market position</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> of the
provider<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Demonstrated commitment</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> to the
service category<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Candor and transparency</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> in the
resilience of the services<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Informed perspective</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> on risks and
high confidence in the vendor’s ability to mitigate them <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Cultural alignment</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> with regards
to unknown future events<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Growth potential</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> for the
relationship to evolve towards new sources of value <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For a prospective service provider to win
the right to serve one of today’s discriminating buyers, they must meet a high
standard of proof that is evidenced across a broad set of hurdles. Pretenders
are easily smoked out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I would urge any service provider to fully
commit to all of these five elements:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1. We are clear on the value we provide for our clients.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We create tangible value easy
for others to recognize and measure. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We understand our competition,
and are comfortable with our relative positioning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2. We are committed to be a leader in this service
category.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We are investing in the
provision of defined and scalable services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We have earned the right to
serve discriminating clients, and they are satisfied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We manage our offerings through
a services lifecycle that provides confidence in future relevancy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3. We are prepared to do business on terms that represent the
state of the market.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We offer commercial terms and
pricing that aligns with the needs of our market, and which conveys value to
our customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We are prepared with standard
scope of service that reflects our investment in proven, scalable offerings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l4 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We provide an engagement
interface that makes it easy to do business with us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4. We provide transparency in the future direction of our
services.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We publish roadmaps for our
offerings that reflect the perceived needs of our market, and the feedback of
our customers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We anticipate changes to our
offerings and communicate those candidly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We readily engage with others
in our industry to integrate our offerings seamlessly into the operations of
our clients.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5. We manage the inherent risks within our business.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We know where we have
vulnerabilities, and we mitigate those appropriately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We are prepared to assume the
liabilities inherent to being a market-leading service provider.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are a service provider offering “As
A Service” solutions, I suggest that this outline should be your agenda for
your next sales call. Beyond the sales conversation, this outline needs to form
the basis for your company’s go-to-market platform.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this way, your targeted customers will
see your offerings as being organized and integrated towards an expression of
value that they will more easily recognize and be able to evaluate. “As A
Service” means an end to the islands of misfit toys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></a>
has many</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> years of operating experience as a top executive and
strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image:
</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">kafka4prez/Flickr</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-458136037635158032015-10-12T12:21:00.004-07:002015-10-12T12:21:56.108-07:00Beware: As-A-Service Snake Oil
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In 2011, my team at CSC began using the
term “As-A-Service Economy” to characterize a transformation we detected in the
buying strategies and service integration approaches of our largest clients.
Today, almost every tech vendor and outsourcing service uses the “As-A-Service”
moniker to describe their offerings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The hard facts reveal that this
transformation is far from complete and will likely entail more disruption than
seamless transition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New behaviors take
time, and often require some degree of force.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am privileged today to be at the
intersection of the buying and selling of “As-A-Service” propositions. Most
enterprise buyers have mastered the art of contracting for outsourced services
of some flavor, with staff augmentation models prevailing in their portfolio.
This means the services under contract are largely limited to generating
benefits via lower-cost labor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The universe of service providers includes
both old guard and new age players. All are using the same terminology, but many
lack consistency in application. Sitting recently with a client listening to
the pitches of hopeful service providers, I realized that both the buy-side and
the provider-side need help in making the shift to a new form of commercial
contracting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To illustrate, think of your experience as
a consumer. As a cable or satellite TV subscriber, you pay for access to TV
programming. You don’t need to know how many servers the provider is running,
or what level of training they apply to their staff, or the tools they use to
configure their services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The same should be true in business
settings. In fact, it is for some classes of service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you contract with Amazon Web Services or
Salesforce.com, you aren’t invited to prescribe “how” they deliver the services
that they offer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet, with most business functions – both IT
and IT-enabled business services – the parties are still struggling with the
vestiges of yesterday’s “lift and shift” outsourcing approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clients don’t trust that they will receive
market-proven services.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providers can’t
resist customizing their “offerings” to the point of bespoke uniqueness and
associated loss of leverage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are
self-reinforcing behaviors that will defeat breaking away from all that we
dislike of outsourcing’s version 1.0. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Here are some of the top matters of
misalignment that I’ve seen from recent marketplace encounters:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The net of this: more often than not, the parties
are talking at cross-purposes and a potentially beneficial deal falls apart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, devolves to a more-familiar instance of “lift
and shift.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Buyers need to be firm on their intentions,
and be willing to trust (once verified) in the integrity of market-based
offerings. That shift is not trivial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Providers need to move beyond the hype and
show their conviction to market-based services across the dimensions of terms,
pricing, service models, and transparency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The sales teams know the language; now the rest of the organization
needs to line up to deliver industrial-grade services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We ask prospective providers to show up
with defined terms of service, a service catalog and well-established service
levels, transparency around their services roadmap for future innovations
(including committed investments), a clear sense of the market being served
(and metrics for demonstrating effectiveness in market penetration), and
evidence of alignment with the overall business strategy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">After all, the "As-A-Service
Economy" is all about the power of leverage that comes through serving a
market, not merely adding another logo to the marketing deck.To scale
“as-a-service” successfully, from either a buyer’s or seller’s perspective, you
need to be clear: what value is at the center of this transaction? If it’s a
mystery, you might as well be bickering over snake oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><span style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Peter Allen</span></a> has many</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> years of operating
experience as a top executive and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes
and sizes, with focus on technology-enabled business services. He is now a
Boston-based Managing Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez &
Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Image: </span></i><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com</span></i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-60588520485294767292015-10-12T12:20:00.002-07:002015-10-12T12:20:08.446-07:00Internet of Thinking: Computing Races to the Edge
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9BjFj0EHZeXC3Axu1lchvSRekcMDrQUIdUqkppu0USnHpy3BVTJfYWXM99TjrIsYHJgplJXz_H3XQFyE7P0zVMhQkROOjVyTbzaxYKj8qCwT9YsypWwlFlL5UMovHcIUdgtEcyGIhHg/s1600/edge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9BjFj0EHZeXC3Axu1lchvSRekcMDrQUIdUqkppu0USnHpy3BVTJfYWXM99TjrIsYHJgplJXz_H3XQFyE7P0zVMhQkROOjVyTbzaxYKj8qCwT9YsypWwlFlL5UMovHcIUdgtEcyGIhHg/s1600/edge.jpg" /></a></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have written previously about the five
core requirements that must be addressed for any IoT application to work in
reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By the way, most people call IoT the
Internet of Things, but I call it the Internet of Thinking, because it opens up
tremendous new possibilities for human <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thought</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVdw3_uj_YL2FRxWuVqzw69AJ19kMyZpgLoGvJrr3v4mU89-QHj4JVxR1S3fx5LozDer6IjDUwXa2SK6eaCh5nTMSaNZuEg3ZITjqvLKYpQJdXR2zFH7f4EgcTs7Z6BJLVZuygGqPGG4/s1600/IoT+Core+Requirements.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaVdw3_uj_YL2FRxWuVqzw69AJ19kMyZpgLoGvJrr3v4mU89-QHj4JVxR1S3fx5LozDer6IjDUwXa2SK6eaCh5nTMSaNZuEg3ZITjqvLKYpQJdXR2zFH7f4EgcTs7Z6BJLVZuygGqPGG4/s1600/IoT+Core+Requirements.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As I talk to people around the industry
about how companies are seeking to IoT-enable their businesses, these five
topics stand firm as the recipe for enabling remote collection and activation
of otherwise “dumb” devices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When you closely examine the
interdependencies of these elements, you realize that they often invert conventional
thinking and logic around managing complex systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Most organizations have evolved over time
with the fundamental understanding that centralization drives higher levels of
control and predictability. The notion of fewer variables led to the conclusion
that risks could be managed more effectively, and efficiently.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the world of technology-enabled business
processes, that’s what drove the creation of centralized “data centers” to
house the computers and the storage arrays that processed data and produced
essential information and services. It’s also what drove organizational design
that placed accountability for performance of processes into the hands of
designated experts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Simplistically, the model was to leverage
the precious computing power, and talent, that was organized and managed
centrally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In an IoT world we can anticipate a massive
explosion in the volume of information collected and/or generated by myriad
devices. The act of transporting that information to a point of central
processing will be arduous and cost-prohibitive. In fact, it’s likely that not
all the information being generated needs to be processed; some of it will be
noted and discarded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This will give rise to some exciting new
information models and services that enable the IoT model of operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Imagine that a device (i.e. a refrigerator,
dog house, or fence camera) not only has the smarts to detect, recognize, and
collect information, but also has the computing capacity to process that information.
And, make decisions or take actions as a result. This is known as edge
computing, where the first-line processing of the information occurs in a
distributed manner. No longer will the information be transported to some
central computational utility; it will be analyzed and evaluated by the edge
devices themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With resulting
actions potentially initiated autonomously. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This capability will rely on a material
reduction in the costs, power requirements, and physical profile of the edge
devices. If Rover is wearing an IoT collar, it will need to be small,
lightweight, and not reliant on power cords.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Venture funding is already supporting such
innovations. According to a recent report from research firm International Data
Corp., the market for IoT devices and services will nearly triple to $1.7
trillion by 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, a few weeks ago
Freescale Semiconductor </span><a href="http://iotworldmagazine.com/2015/06/28/167/freescale-introduces-worlds-smallest-integrated-smart-system-for-the-internet-of-things"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">announced</span></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> the world’s smallest single chip module for IoT applications. Follow
the money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Taken together with the shift that many
companies are making towards off-premise cloud-based computing and storage
services, the IoT rush to the edge has the potential to turn traditional data
center and IT service management models upside–down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Image:
Andreas-photography/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-20847910963802182472015-09-15T14:59:00.001-07:002015-09-15T14:59:23.229-07:00Max Headroom Highlighted IoT Risks
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Max Headroom Highlighted IoT Risks</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnyQNi5m8LCg8h0RusVpvHatQTC-JXyyjscbA9OsROiaHFh1-4Cz-pYp4vrilrPI670KWkY36vFz11g8ErqFIUzXgB0cYuXvrURkVMQYWCH4a05mOx1IPE5zsmeNLUMjzYz-gs_mdjZg/s1600/MaxHeadroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnyQNi5m8LCg8h0RusVpvHatQTC-JXyyjscbA9OsROiaHFh1-4Cz-pYp4vrilrPI670KWkY36vFz11g8ErqFIUzXgB0cYuXvrURkVMQYWCH4a05mOx1IPE5zsmeNLUMjzYz-gs_mdjZg/s320/MaxHeadroom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Max Headroom knew one reason why the
Internet of Things might fizzle out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The 1980’s TV show was saturated with remotely-accessible
cameras. Called "securicams" in the TV series, they seemed accessible
to any hacker who could merely determine their location number. Our IoT future
may be similarly vulnerable to a greater number of unauthorized points of
access.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It seems that every company is looking to
network-enable their products and services with the promise of increased
functionality and ease of use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I count myself among the throng of pundits
who is excited for the potential that we can control and manage physical
devices remotely, and use embedded intelligence to automate certain decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But we can’t deny the risks. It’s time to
use our imaginations to anticipate and head off problems before they stem the
flow of innovation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For example, privacy violations may become
a substantial objection to the deployment of IoT connectivity and accessibility.
Do you really want to be tracked everywhere you go? The primary objection to
traffic cameras in Los Angeles has been that they reveal cheating spouses in
the act of being unfaithful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Likewise, personal safety is a growing
concern. I was shocked to see recent video clips of a drone aircraft sporting a
handgun with remote-firing capability. If the bad guys are able to carry out
their ill will without the risks of being physically present, we have to thwart
the basic connectivity required to internet-enable those devices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A few years ago, I had a client in the mining
industry who was keen to change the way that his company bought large
earth-moving equipment. Such machinery was the most expensive capital expense
items of his business; they were difficult to operate, expensive to maintain,
and often killed people accidentally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">My client sought to move from a capital expense
that required his company to own and operate those huge pieces of machinery,
and shift to an operating expense model whereby his company contracted for a turnkey
service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The vision was to avoid taking ownership of
capital equipment and contract for autonomous vehicle operations. My client
wanted to pay for tons of earth moved. They would specify the geographic
coordinates of the desired hole to be dug, and the service provider would remotely
operate the digging operation as a contracted service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this way, the client would avoid the
costs, complexities and human risks of owning and operating equipment. The
service provider would take on all the risks customary with being in a
fee-for-service business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Making this concept happen required video
technologies, analytics engines, low-latency control networks, and some serious
expertise in integration. The resulting shift in economic model – notably
around the assumption of capital expense responsibility and operating risks –
was a material change for the buyer and provider of the “autonomous vehicle
operations” services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as significant was the reduction in
risks to the people who work in the mines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For now, these two visions remain in
conflict. On the one hand, IoT innovation can reduce risks and make business
safer. On the other hand, IoT has the potential to increase risks and make the
world more dangerous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We will be wrestling with such conflicts
for years to come. But if you follow the news carefully, you will see that
tensions are already rising between innovation for good and innovation that
could go very, very wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Image: </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Duncan/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-1169017993632000332015-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:002015-08-12T11:08:08.910-07:00Internet of Thinking: No More Fat Cats (or Dogs)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGEvdoe2bTt6PpGpzeWdtolYztMXlWqaedm-ONEa65xb52zg3SKUyMiKNzR7dZGoOW67GiZbZY-9Y6h6LTWy8K8aqufXRPcjYOYloxmSHXEufOpWPqxpxXYtIVn5flZSio_6AJhBcgRU/s1600/Fat+Dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGEvdoe2bTt6PpGpzeWdtolYztMXlWqaedm-ONEa65xb52zg3SKUyMiKNzR7dZGoOW67GiZbZY-9Y6h6LTWy8K8aqufXRPcjYOYloxmSHXEufOpWPqxpxXYtIVn5flZSio_6AJhBcgRU/s320/Fat+Dog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">54% of the dogs and cats in the United
States are overweight or obese, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;">according to </span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">The Association for Pet
Obesity Prevention. One of the key reasons for this is that owners fail to
recognize obesity.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I was introduced recently to a guy who is
applying the principles of Internet of Thinking (IoTh) to solve this problem.
If owners can’t recognize the problems that could shorten their pets’ lives,
then why not teach a food bowl and a pet collar to perform those tasks?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a good example of Internet of
Thinking (IoTh) logic, using new capabilities not to manufacture devices you
don’t need, but instead to solve a pervasive problem about which people care
deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=3705840&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=_8G8&locale=en_US&trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A3705840%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1438958748424%2Ctas%3Abill%20stewart"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">Bill
Stewart</span></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> is the founder of </span><a href="http://pettraxinc.com/"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: blue;">PetTrax</span></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">, which
is focusing on solving this – and similar – problems. He is knitting together
sensors, networks, data storage, and analysis to create meaningful business
value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For pet owners who want to understand and
improve their pets’ overall health, PetTrax promises to help owners remotely
monitor and manage their pets’ nutrition and health habits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">While currently operating in stealth mode (he’s
not ready to give away product details quite yet), PetTrax is developing
connected products and data analytics services that will help pet owners keep
their loved furry friends healthy and happy. The offering will provide
convenience and peace-of-mind to pet owners who live busy lives and cannot
always be at home to care for the on-going needs of their pets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The PetTrax solution collects and analyzes
data about pet behaviors and eating patterns. Connected products ensure that
pets stay within their proper daily calorie allowance and, when appropriate,
will alert the owner to potential health issues based on industry and
veterinarian-recommended best practices for the breed, age and current health
condition of each pet. The ability to operate in multi-pet homes is another key
capability.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is a great example of innovation
through thinking differently. IoTh will produce new solutions to age-old
problems. With a U.S. population of over 94 million cats and 83 million dogs, Bill
has identified a valuable market – last year, over $58B was spent on pets in
the U.S. and of that about $55B was categorized into food, vet care, supplies/meds,
and pet services – and a persistent problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bill’s venture has a distance yet to travel
in order to succeed as a business proposition, and there will surely be others
chasing this same market, but I love the use of varied technologies to create a
solution where none existed previously. PetTrax unifies sensors, mobile
devices, cloud-based processing, and relevant analytics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Beyond the benefit of improved pet health,
the economic potential comes from food waste avoidance and the lowered risk of
obesity related diseases (resulting in savings associated with veterinarian and
medication costs). His way of thinking is to create an entirely new capability,
rather than merely automating an existing process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the IoTh come to reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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everydaypants/Flickr<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br />Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-23413706300741450152015-08-10T09:21:00.001-07:002015-08-10T09:21:15.518-07:00Internet of Thinking: Beyond Clean Restrooms
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Internet of Thinking: Beyond Clean
Restrooms</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">Why would you want to connect a public
washroom to the Internet? Is this nothing more than an overly complicated way
to get the janitorial staff to do their jobs? After all, if they just check the
paper towels every two hours like they are supposed to do, can’t we just move
on to a more important subject?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">Yes, using sensors to detect low
stockage of paper products or soap products in public restrooms is pretty
basic. It sounds rather mundane as an Internet of Thinking (IoTh) use case,
doesn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">What if such application could do far more
than help schedule tasks for the workforce? What if it could provide value well
beyond the automation of an otherwise manual process?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">Let me offer two examples of a
different, more robust approach:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">1. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Pathogen
detection</b>: What if we use <span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">washroom
sensors to detect pathogens, and report those findings to public safety
organizations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In New York City, an
outbreak of </span></span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Legionnaires’ disease has
killed 10 and sickened more than 100. DNAinfo </span><a href="https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150810/morrisania/city-never-inspected-school-where-teacher-died-of-legionnaires-disease"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: blue;">reported</span></span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"> that “the city’s Health Department never inspected a South
Bronx public school after a teacher there died of Legionnaires’ disease in
April while hundreds of students were attending classes.”</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">Even better, what if the city had long ago installed
sensors on the water towers suspected of being responsible for this outbreak?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">2. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Insurance
compliance</b>: What if operators could provide insurance carriers proof that
restaurant staff are practicing good hygiene habits and following protocols?
This could reduce insurance claims, allow top operators to save money on their
insurance, and allow consumers to make better judgments about which restaurants
to patronize.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">Some might view this as an invasion of
personal privacy, since the restroom experience is among the most private moments
of our normal days. We need to decide whether the public good outweighs a
modest intrusion on personal privacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">The current focus of washroom Internet
of Things initiatives is to enable efficiency in the servicing of commodity
products that are dispensed in those locations. That’s not thinking big enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">The same IoT infrastructure might also
help us detect public health threats and drive down the costs of
hygiene-related food service industry insurance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, all of this new capability can be
brought to market “As A Service” – with the purveyor of the technologies
unifying all of this into a neat package of defined services. The data
collected, and correlated, is truly valuable. Think of a “command center”
coordinating the monitoring of restroom quality and service availability as
part of a broader public safety network.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tab-stops: 3.75in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">There will
be non-trivial cost to internet-enable such fringes of the information
eco-system as restrooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If it’s a
worthy thing to do, then there must be a social and/or economic case to be
made. Efficiency in deploying janitorial staff won’t be a sufficient source of
economic benefit. The thinking needs to be expansive around the return on
investment in multiple dimensions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;">Big opportunities come from thinking
beyond the customary use cases … creating capabilities that do not exist today.
They come from applying the Internet of Thinking logic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-30404051197893774302015-08-02T18:54:00.002-07:002015-08-02T18:54:32.435-07:00Internet of Thinking
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #131313; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">The Internet of Thinking</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For more than a decade, people
have been talking about the Internet of Things (IoT). But many “use cases” have
been a victim of limited imaginations, perhaps because so many possibilities
are way beyond our experiences … until now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">By connecting people and
devices and everything else, we open up tremendous new possibilities for human <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thought</i>. The primary opportunity for the
IoT is not to tell you when your laundry is done, but rather to unleash your
best <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thinking</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Thanks to these new
interconnections, we will increasingly understand reality, instead of a crude
approximation of reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Wild new applications are
taking flight (think drones) because of a few fundamental breakthrough
capabilities that are being knitted together in elegant ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There are five core
requirements that must be addressed to bring any IoT application to reality:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">1. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Data from Sensors and Controls</b>: IoT is all about enabling remote
collection and activation of otherwise “dumb” devices. We must specify what
those devices are, and how we want to interact with them. Yes, we want those
devices to provide us with data. But we also need to decide <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> data we really want. We risk being
overloaded if we aren’t purposeful in knowing what we want, and why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">2. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Access Network</b>: You must position properly the pathways that
control devices and retrieve the data they generate. An IoT application requires
that information be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">collected</i> for
post-process interpretation and analysis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Collection requires movement, and that’s the need for a network strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">3. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Data Storage</b>: Once moved, IoT application data has to be organized
and deposited in a logical repository. The sheer volume of this data stream presents
an immense challenge to the orderly indexing, storage, and retrieval of
information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can store all of this
data on high-cost spinning disks, or in memory, so … we need a tiered storage
strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">4. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Correlation</b>: The most clever IoT applications will be those that
combine data from one system (e.g., farmland equipment) with data from various
other sources (e.g., weather monitoring).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Call this “Big Data” if you must, but some innovative companies will
create immense value by combining one system’s data exhaust with others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">This will give rise to a new
discipline around protecting data rights in systems that combine data to draw
conclusions. Data will be a monetized asset. What data does your company
generate that might be of value to someone else in the IoT ecosystem? This is
the domain of innovative thinking! IoT brings access to new sources of
information that can be used in new and exciting fashions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">5. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Business Model</b>: Finally, all of this technology must come together
in business models that work in the real world. That means that they must
create value for consumers and businesses as a result of the combinations of
devices and services. Monetizing IoT can take many different forms, but it’s
important that the economic outcome be part of the design.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A recent client dabbled in IoT
for a commodity product … automating the process of monitoring supply levels
for a consumable consumer item.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The CEO
was unimpressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The business case was
shallow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Technologists, left alone, can
deploy clever sensors but lose sight of the bigger picture of value creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was data to be harvested … and
monetized!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Internet of Things is the
fulcrum for the Internet of Thinking (IoTh). We can reach beyond our historical
limitations by embracing new ways to control devices and to collect
information. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">IoTh is about thinking
differently, but not just to create some cool new app. It’s about enabling
people to think differently about the world around us, and in doing so to
better understand it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s gold in the
hills of IoT, but not without IoTh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, with focus on
technology-enabled business services. He is now a Boston-based Managing
Director at </span></b><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alvarez & Marsal</span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">. </span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Image: </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: rgb(254, 254, 254); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">karola riegler
photography/Flickr</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5972682861284115398.post-58383940762495084962015-06-24T10:01:00.000-07:002015-06-24T10:01:03.487-07:00Eight Ways Outsourcing Is Re-Inventing
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOz2YwV7236y84XyObNf0rS7gshyphenhyphenF_m6Dztt6gjr-NKiMdhWqurAFY-50tbpwVeh2ltvR6WU41rLkVxiGI5XghoEfj7OUBpY4fbXHMd9cycaTxR6y9NPBKdbSuypBsEEFC0fPOi3ucz9E/s1600/Evolution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOz2YwV7236y84XyObNf0rS7gshyphenhyphenF_m6Dztt6gjr-NKiMdhWqurAFY-50tbpwVeh2ltvR6WU41rLkVxiGI5XghoEfj7OUBpY4fbXHMd9cycaTxR6y9NPBKdbSuypBsEEFC0fPOi3ucz9E/s320/Evolution.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">If your company
is a buyer of outsourced services - or a provider of outsourced services - you
likely know that yesterday’s recipe for success no longer makes sense. It was a
nice business model while it lasted, but the forces of progress have moved
onward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Re-invention is at work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Like other
industries that rely almost entirely on technology, the outsourcing industry
has evolved at a rapid pace as each new wave of technological capability comes
to reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Many now
recognize that the outsourcing industry is the implementation arm for new
service models made possible by technological innovations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">For the past
twenty years, large services companies with a heritage in “systems integration”
found that their core competencies in knitting together a complex rubric of
pieces and parts were ideal for the outsourcing industry. You could succeed by
being good at managing complexity, either as a buyer or as a provider. You
could earn nice margins in the grey area between yesterday’s mess and tomorrow’s
promise of industrial-grade utilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">More recently,
many companies turned to the outsourcing industry to manage down their legacy
operations. The theory was this would free up time and resources for the
adoption of disruptive new capabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Today, the
outsourcing industry is spending more time than ever before at the front-end of
the technology adoption lifecycle. This is true for the development of
automation and for the application of analytics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">There’s a lot
of talk around robotics and automation of work processes. Superficially, this
is about replacing people with ‘bots’. That begins to challenge the fundamental
labor arbitrage lever of outsourcing. Much of the promised new world capability
never materialized because the industry stalled at squeezing wages for the
elusive margin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Here’s a
comparison of outdated outsourcing models versus the latest thinking from
progressive buyers and providers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">1. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Micro-scale specialized
arrangements for built-for-purpose services <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> large-scale contracts for generalized scope<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">2. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Transactional modularity providing
maximum flexibility to the buyer; rapid adoption of new service platforms <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> long-term commitments;
half the term devoted to transformational programs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">3. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Economies of automation
(eliminating work) with focus on productivity <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> economies of standardization (procedural
efficiencies) with focus on unit costs of effort<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">4. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Optimizing bundled business
services; measuring value delivered and total cost of operations <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> optimizing commodity
volumes with committed purchases of scale<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">5. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Integration of services platforms
that are specific to the functional domain <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus
the old:</b> holistic enterprise applications<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">6. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Bundled and turn-key services that
are paid for based upon attainment of desired effect <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> asset focus; counting and charging for pieces and
parts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">7. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Agility through a future state
model; flexibility to create new capabilities over time <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> lower cost for today’s environment; optimizing the
known<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">8. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New:</b> Ease of switching; maximum freedom
to realign the service components of the enterprise <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">versus the old:</b> transition & termination complexity;
hostage-taking<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">Each of the
“new world” characteristics enables the buyers of outsourcing to increase the
degree to which they run their companies on the balance sheets of their service
providers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make no mistake, that’s the
economic underpinning of any services proposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">More to the
point, the successful industry service providers will embrace this new
responsibility through confidence that their expertise in the bundling of
components into business-relevant services can yield higher margins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alas, that’s the litmus test that determines
survivors of reinvention versus those holding onto yesterday’s vapor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">To take
advantage of these new approaches, buyer organizations need new skills and the talent
for services integration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to
accelerate an IoT aspiration, for example, you’ll need built-for-purpose
partners that are linked up to deliver specialized services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">These shifts
are just getting started. We will continue to see exciting new forms of
outsourced services, new means of adoption and integration, and enhanced
commercial terms. We’ll also see many new players on the field of competition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="h.gjdgxs"></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/peter-allen"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;">Peter
Allen</span></b></a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-highlight: white; mso-themecolor: text1;"> has many years of operating experience as a top executive
and strategic advisor for companies of all shapes and sizes, and in assessing
sales and marketing effectiveness. He is now a Boston-based Managing Director
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Peter Allen in Charlestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13366748628323814438noreply@blogger.com0