Why I decided to Run with the Horses<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAt the start of April every year my fellow Brits gather in their homes (and the lucky ones, in the pubs) to enjoy one of the greatest spectacles in the horse racing calendar: The Grand National.<\/p>\n
Horse racing may well be the sport of Kings, but compared with the Kentucky and Indian Derbies or the Melbourne Cup, the Grand National is the most royally gruelling race, with 30 fences set over a distance of four and a half miles.<\/p>\n
Days gone by saw horses and their riders suffer terribly on the National\u2019s staggeringly high jumps. I remember watching in 2001 as only 4 horses finished out of a 40 strong field as the bad weather coupled with the course\u2019s treacherous jumps took their toll\u2014that year a 33\/1 outsider won and by luck I liked the name so I backed it. Last year, the bookies favourite won but plenty of times I\u2019ve seen upstarts enter the race and collect the trophy after a spell-bounding 10 minutes later\u2026.<\/p>\n
In my eyes I see HfS as the young upstart in the research business with its analysts (horses) full of vim and vigour and chomping at the bit to challenge with leading content, robust analysis and long reach into the crowds that come to watch us.\u00a0 But enough of the horse analogies\u2014I have made (and heard) enough already\u2014let\u2019s just say I am delighted to beat HfS.<\/p>\n
Readers of my blogs here will find collective thinking into how the evolving services landscape will shape demand and how service providers will respond. I intend to connect tech savvy business leaders, enterprise architects and sourcing executives together with the wider universe of IT\/BPO providers to explore the key issues impacting the demand and supply of IT services. HfS provides a platform to share ideas, in addition to\u00a0broadening \u00a0the debate.<\/p>\n
My research here will focus on three themes that we feel really matter for buyers and sellers of IT\/BPO services\u2014<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Making multisourcing and service integration work<\/strong>. Those of you that have read my research will know how fascinating I find multisourcing and the governance needed to enable it. We are moving to a multi-provider eco-system and customers want their providers to share, collaborate and cooperate together rather than upselling and competing with one another.<\/p>\nMy thinking is that some of the larger IT\/BPO services firms will morph into collaboration hubs for their clients. They will become \u201cservice integrators\u201d and drive the collaboration and cooperation between providers that effective multisourcing needs to drive value. And, as Cloud grows in its maturity\u2014and it will\u2014the role of the service integrator will become really important in minimizing risk, and guaranteeing operability and performance.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sourcing through the Cloud<\/strong>. What analyst worth their salt is going to ignore the biggest game changer in the IT\/BPO services industry?! Through all of the jumbled thinking customers get it. New and fresh buyers are emerging from business rather than IT that are keen to experiment. I reckon we\u2019ll see a new generation of business leaders navigating through all the security, risk and compliance issues to create new revenue models based around agile processes that hang around the cloud. As a jaded ex-ASP analyst (remember that?), I was dubious when I first saw the vendors all jump at once, but you know what changed my mind? The iphone\u2026.Voucher Cloud changes how and where my family spends its money and the possibilities are endless for other location based services. So many companies are asking questions concerning how they can \u201cCloudify\u201d their contracts that it\u2019s right that I focus here. We\u2019ve just finished a cloud survey with the London School of Economics to over 1000 IT and business professionals and the results are startling\u2026I will be running excerpts of this study over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 IT and BPO services. <\/strong>As a \u201cBITs\u201d analyst (BPO and IT services) of many years I will be continuing coverage of the European IT and BPO landscape. Expect to see HfS cover the main markets for readers that want a global view. Infrastructure and application services, business process outsourcing, and transformation services fall under my European coverage. I will support customers with their service provider evaluations to figure out which the right global delivery acumen for their needs. I will be developing new tools for HfS customers that will allow you to select the right provider for an engagement in an open and easy way.<\/p>\n