Remember Tom Cruise’s 2002 movie Minority Report? Set in the futuristic world of 2054, the film featured self-driving cars, autonomous manufacturing robots, and multimedia advertising billboards that broadcast personalized messages to individuals as they passed by. What seemed like science fiction in 2002 is now a reality, with personalized and targeted social media and marketing, smart technologies such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, and 3D printing – not to mention digital machine-to-machine hyperconnectivity of the Internet of Things (IoT). Digital transformation means that all of these things will become the norm in the next few years. The future of many enterprises will depend on their ability to embrace these technologies and innovations.
Over the last two decades, many companies have built large, complex IT landscapes to support traditional business processes. The legacy systems in these landscapes were not designed for the age of Internet hyperconnectivity and the resulting high data and transaction volumes. Extending these landscapes to support new, digitally connected processes and models will further complicate IT landscapes and inhibit business innovation and agility.
The architecture of the digital enterprise will not only need to support Big Data and analytics, but a host of other things. It must also use the datastream from evolving digital technologies to trigger actions and alerts in new and existing business processes, enabling increased revenue, improved customer experience, enhanced supply chain efficiencies, and innovative business models.
To keep pace with rapid change, businesses like yours need to do three things:
- Simplify your IT landscape.
- Transition to modern platforms such as cloud-based solutions and a “digital core.”
- Build innovative business solutions using the latest digital capabilities to strategically differentiate from both current and future new competitors.
Yet most organizations lack the skills to tackle these tasks alone. So who can best help you navigate this shift?
Support for a strong foundation
Surprise! Your best choice may be the support organization of your enterprise software and solutions provider. Over the past 15 years, many enterprise support organizations have evolved beyond providing reactive break/fix support to acting as an architectural quality advisor that can oversee the complete software lifecycle. The support provider is a smart partner for both proactive landscape simplification and co-innovation initiatives. That’s a fundamental shift driven by the market forces of this “new normal” of digital transformation.
Support providers tend to be close to their customers, understanding their existing technologies, business processes, and revenue models. And because software solution providers often lead in the introduction of new solutions based on the latest innovations and technologies – such as IoT, cloud, robotics, autonomous cars, and 3D printing – their experienced support teams can architect solutions that will give you a strategic and sustainable advantage over your competitors.
The proof is with customers. For example the Global Service & Support organization at SAP is working with a Fortune 100 chemical company on an IT simplification initiative. After numerous mergers and acquisitions over the years, this company needed help consolidating four unique IT landscapes into one. What is an overly complex, burdensome infrastructure will be a simplified, modern solution architecture.
SAP is also working with a large energy distribution company to co-engineer an innovative Big Data, IoT data management solution. The solution is structured to deliver fast, responsive analytics from a data store of 120 terabytes of smart meter data. The utility will use predictive analytics to anticipate demand, allowing buyers to make smarter wholesale energy purchases. In the future, this Big Data and analytics platform will be extended to support innovative solutions for the utility’s customers.
Minimize risk and maximize outcomes
Working with support organizations to simplify and innovate offers clear benefits, too. These teams are naturally close to their development organizations. They understand cutting-edge technology and they have direct access to the best talent for building new solutions. Support organizations also have extensive experience working in high-volume, high-velocity transaction and data environments.
Because they already know your business and your technology infrastructure, partnering with your software and solutions support provider can reduce risk. Remember that support organizations are measured on their ability to help their customers succeed, not on maximizing billable hours. In a world of “outcomes-based” solutions, that’s a true win-win for all.
When building innovative solutions, support teams develop in short cycles, conduct proof-of-concept exercises, and take steps to minimize cost and risk. And they can do all of this while helping you continue supporting your traditional business operations, looking for opportunities to optimize processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
We may not be able to predict what innovations and new technologies will exist in the year 2054, but we know that there are technology advancements available now that will have a significant impact on our world. Work with your enterprise software provider’s support organization and start planning your digital transformation.
Click here to learn more how Global Service & Support can provide support services to help you prepare for the digital economy and realize rich value. Visit us at www.sapsupport.info.
