CSC recognizes the need to move away from "old world" thinking… but can it change with the times?
CSC has struck out in a new direction sketching out a long-term position as a “service integrator” and laying out a cloud strategy that goes beyond the usual hype.
CSC needed to realign and refocus as the large outsourcing opportunities declined and its customers transform and trigger demand for new, agile services. It’s a step change for the company— and the right one—as it looks to ditch the baggage from its large outsourcing business and emerge as a trusted partner for its clients. It understands that customers are sourcing cheaper and faster in a fragmenting market and that they want to consume services, while minimizing risk. The real test is whether CSC can channel its pricing and engagement models, its service management frameworks and—critically—its sales team in the same direction as the new IT services ecosystem emerges.
CSC has struck out in a new direction sketching out a long-term position as a “service integrator” and laying out a cloud strategy that goes beyond the usual hype.CSC needed to realign and refocus as the large outsourcing opportunities declined and its customers transform and trigger demand for new, agile services. It’s a step change for the company— and the right one—as it looks to ditch the baggage from its large outsourcing business and emerge as a trusted partner for its clients. It understands that customers are sourcing cheaper and faster in a fragmenting market and that they want to consume services, while minimizing risk. The real test is whether CSC can channel its pricing and engagement models, its service management frameworks and—critically—its sales team in the same direction as the new IT services ecosystem emerges. The vision is right but the implementation is critical…
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Posted in : Cloud Computing, Financial Services Sourcing Strategies, Healthcare and Outsourcing, IT Outsourcing / IT Services, Sourcing Best Practises
CSC is pursuing the right market offering, the challenge will be as to whether it backs it with the right solution-set and Intelectual Property assets.
It’s worrying that the proposition seems to be around ‘integration’ when our corporate clients are seeking ‘innovators’ – after all isn’t the whole point of the Cloud that there is universality of language so that traditional system integration challenges decline?
What’s CSC offering in terms of integration in the space – IBM and HP have made huge strides forward in a unified route map with demonstrably best / next practice components such as data centres and storage on-demand offers and products to create connected architectures – are CSC in that space of in catch-up?
The area where CSC has and continues to excel is in client intimacy – it listens to its clients and truly is a partner in helping their businesses advance their enabling technology. For my outsource clients I’d be asking “how does this offering fit into the long term contract agreement with CSC?”
If the answer is that it allows clients to migrate to new architectures – both service as well as technical – and that the outsource contract can be amended for change then its a winner. If the proposition means being shackled to the existing outsource contract / construct and this needs to be bought as an extra then its a loser.
Knowing CSC I think it will be the former, a winner – the issue is for outsource providers to think through how they can make revenues from the Cloud and the connected society / devices ecosystem it will produce. The Cloud presents particular revenue challenges to old outsource pricing models and profit streams which the big outsource providers are yet to address – just as software providers struggle.
Big information users such as retail banks , telcos and media corporates need technology partners who can help them master the Cloud – if CSC puts resource into solutions and templates for those industries it will be a winner.
The big test for CSC as with other majors in the market will be over the coming months when they come to pitch their wares to CIOs, CTOs and increasingly COOs – will they have learnt their lessons of a decade ago with the web when the just pitched a different flavour of what they were providing or will they offer a truly transformational proposition and service offering? Henry Ford’s adage comes to mind “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted they would have asked for a faster horse”.
The challenge to CSC, as with all outsource providers, is to make their offering in this space actually mean something to customers and be compelling.
CSC has the opportunity to be the market leader in the outsource space through the Cloud and to vault it competitors because at its heart its got some truly amazing and inspirational technologists residing in a firm with fantastic culture which clients love… its going to be interesting.
David von Ackerman – Partner, Copernicus Global Consulting