Blog Archives - Page 3 Of 166

Leveraging Contract Benchmarking: Strategies for Negotiating with Veeva Systems | Blog

March 5, 2024

This blog shares how Everest Group helped a large life sciences company negotiate best-in-class rates for Veeva Vaults and CRM during contract renewal negotiation. Continue reading to discover how contract benchmarking can empower your enterprise to make effective deals, or get in touch.

Veeva Systems, a cloud-based software provider, has established a prominent market position in the global life sciences industry. The business’ market success often leaves customers with limited to no leverage during commercial negotiations, with prohibitively high costs of switching to a different provider and few other viable market alternatives. This leads to difficulty when attempting to negotiate better contract prices with Veeva.

However, by gathering accurate contract benchmarking data for the various Veeva products, procurement teams can negotiate top-tier rates and contract terms.

Let’s explore an example of how Everest Group helped this large US life sciences company identify savings opportunities in their Veeva Vaults and CRM contract renewal negotiation.

The supplier background

Veeva Systems offers several software products to help clients capture clinical trial data, enhance regulatory compliance, control quality, manage adverse events for clinical and post-marketed products, and more.

In addition, the company’s full-fledged CRM suite, Veeva Commercial Cloud, enables sales, medical, and marketing teams to work together more seamlessly. Customers also use Veeva professional services to implement Veeva products, manage programs, configure applications, integrate or migrate data, and garner sampling expertise.

Veeva has created a strong foothold by leveraging its state-of-the-art product suite. Most major pharmaceutical companies use one or more Veeva products. We have observed that Veeva’s wallet share has significantly increased with most customers over the years, due to the widespread adoption and use of their software products.

How we helped the customer

Like many other existing Veeva customers, our client’s spending with Veeva increased significantly over time. The renewal proposal was nearly 2.5 times their current spend. To help the client get the best rates, we leveraged our internal contract database to identify similar large Veeva deals for the same Vaults, CRM, and professional services.

We followed our standard rigorous normalization approach to identify deals in our contract database that were similar in nature and size to the client’s deal with their software provider. This ensured a like-to-like comparison and offered contextual benchmarks for the client.

In addition to providing the client with the price benchmarks for various Veeva products and services, we also shared some tactics to help them negotiate effectively with Veeva.

Some of the key recommendations were:

To seek a ramp-up plan instead of further negotiating peak prices. This provides the customer with the flexibility to pay a fee lower than the peak price for the initial one or two years, allowing them to optimize the total contract value (TCV)
To leverage year- and quarter-end sales team targets to get extra discounts. Veeva may agree to higher discounts in contracts signed during the close of their fiscal year or quarters than other times

While each relationship with Veeva is unique, we firmly believe these recommendations and the right contract benchmarking can put any enterprise in a better negotiating position.

To discuss software contract negotiation or for a detailed analysis, contact Rahul Gehani and Udit Maheshwari or [email protected]. Explore Everest Group’s contract benchmarking offerings, or join our LinkedIn Live discussion on delivering commercial value in outsourcing contracts on.

Leveraging Strategic Partnerships to Unlock the Potential of Gen AI in Customer Experience Management | Blog

February 27, 2024

By strategically partnering with third-party providers, enterprises can fully harness the potential of gen AI in customer experience management. Learn insights from our latest survey on enterprise readiness for gen AI adoption and how collaborating with providers can help overcome the major obstacles.

Reach out to us for more information or to further discuss this topic.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) is emerging as a game-changer in customer experience management (CXM) by offering the potential to personalize customer interactions, enhance operational efficiency, and provide a competitive edge. As enterprises adopt gen AI, third-party providers have an increasingly vital role. Let’s explore this further.

Current demand for gen AI

Demand for gen AI solutions is skyrocketing among enterprises across industries. According to a recent Everest Group survey of top executives and CXM leaders of 200 enterprises worldwide, nearly 75% believe gen AI will significantly impact their CXM strategies within the next two years.

Enterprises highlighted personalized interactions, cost reduction, and operational efficiency as the top three drivers for gen AI adoption.

Personalized customer interactions: Gen AI can produce customized content, product recommendations, dynamic pricing, and marketing campaigns tailored to individual customer preferences, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty
Increased efficiencies and automated CXM processes: Gen AI can empower customer support agents with intelligent tools such as agent assist, next-best-action recommendations, language translation, and accent neutralization. These tools enhance productivity, reduce response times, and enable agents to focus on more complex and value-added tasks. Using gen AI to automate routine tasks and repetitive processes can further boost operational efficiency
Reduced cost: By automating repetitive tasks, streamlining processes, and enabling advanced data and analytics capabilities, gen AI adoption can increase operational efficiency and productivity, optimizing cost

Current enterprise capabilities

Despite growing gen AI demand, the technology is still nascent. Most enterprises and service providers are investigating gen AI operations use cases or piloting solutions to test feasibility. Given the technology’s evolving nature, enterprises currently face or will likely encounter challenges in adopting and implementing it effectively.

Our survey asked enterprises about their readiness to adopt gen AI to identify significant areas where enterprises need specialized support. Below are the results of the preparedness of enterprises across industries and key parameters:

EXHIBIT 1, Enterprise readiness for gen AI by industry, Source: Everest Group (2023)

Challenges in gen AI implementation

Based on the readiness levels and significant challenges identified by enterprises in the survey, the following overarching issues for enterprises emerged:

55% of enterprises reported a shortage of the right talent pool, including AI/ML engineers, data scientists, and software developers needed to integrate gen AI with existing tools and create agent interfaces
56% of enterprises highlighted the scarcity of high-quality training data required for training and testing models
Between 45-50% of enterprises expressed concerns about computing power required for gen AI adoption and their ability to scale
Regulatory compliance concerning the fairness of the output, data security, and privacy, and misuse of the models also stood out as significant issues for enterprises

How can enterprises navigate these challenges?

The gaps in enterprise capabilities identified in our survey underscore the need for strategic partnerships to ensure successful implementation. While executing gen AI in-house offers greater control over the development and implementation process and allows enterprises to tailor solutions to specific needs, it requires significant internal expertise and resources that may be limited. Outsourcing gen AI implementation can provide access to specialized knowledge and resources, accelerating the implementation process and reducing the time to market for these solutions.

Our survey revealed that nearly 89% of the enterprises are looking to either outsource the implementation of gen AI in customer experience management to specialized AI companies or contact center providers or follow a hybrid approach involving in-house and outsourced development.

EXHIBIT 2, Implementation plan for Gen AI solutions within CXM, Source: Everest Group (2023)

The top three areas where enterprises are seeking service providers’ support are:

Building gen AI solutions and enhancing technical capabilities: Enterprises need partners who can help train gen AI models on enterprise data, customize foundational models to build tailored solutions, and set up necessary computational systems to run these solutions
Integrating gen AI solutions with existing technologies: Enterprises need partners who can create necessary bridges to integrate gen AI with existing business intelligence tools, providing a more comprehensive view of customer interactions
Supporting and complimenting in-house teams: Enterprises need partners who can support in-house technical teams, aid in maintenance, troubleshoot activities, and supervise the functioning of gen AI solutions

Future outlook

Gen AI has the potential to revolutionize CXM, enabling enterprises to deliver personalized, efficient, and innovative customer experiences. However, successfully adopting and implementing gen AI requires overcoming expertise, data quality, and change management challenges. Strategic alliances with third-party providers can bridge these gaps, providing enterprises with the necessary industry-specific knowledge, resources, and guidance to unlock the full potential of gen AI.

Third-party providers have a crucial role in helping enterprises translate the perceived potential of gen AI into practical applications. These partners can help enterprises identify specific CXM use cases where gen AI can deliver tangible benefits, develop gen AI strategies, design and implement solutions, and provide ongoing support to ensure successful gen AI adoption.

Read Everest Group’s Generative AI in CXM: Assessing Enterprise Readiness for this Disruptive Transformation to better understand gen AI in Customer Experience Management and how providers can help enterprises adopt gen AI. If you have questions or want to discuss digital CX strategies and solutions, contact Anubhav Das at [email protected] or Mohit Kumar at [email protected].

Don’t miss our LinkedIn Live, How Will Next-gen Technologies Be Financed in CXM Delivery?

The Capital One Merger with Discover Potentially Signals a Shift in the US Banking Landscape | Blog

February 26, 2024

Capital One’s planned US$35.3 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services would combine two of the largest credit card companies, creating the most dominant US credit card firm. This deal holds the potential to significantly impact the banking and financial services (BFS) IT services market and providers. Read on to learn the looming risks and what to pay attention to.

Acquiring Discover would give Capital One access to a credit card network of more than 300 million cardholders. If the Capital One merger clears antitrust regulations, the combined entity would become the sixth-largest US bank by assets and a leading card issuer and network provider for the US payments market.

Let’s explore the following four implications of the Capital One merger on the BFS technology and IT services sectors.

Increased deal activity will help banks sharpen their focus on core operations

Macroeconomic uncertainty and rising interest rates slowed financial services dealmaking in 2023. However, S&P predicts regional and community banks will be interested in mergers of equals this year. In these challenging times, banks want to understand the potential synergies of the merged entities clearly. They also require deeper due diligence than in the past, as exemplified by the failed merger of TD Bank Group and First Horizon.

Traditionally, acquisitions were an opportunity to enter new product lines and geographies, gain new capabilities, and achieve cost savings and operational efficiencies through technology modernization and streamlining processes and systems.

Recent banking sector acquisitions underscore a clear strategic focus on directing resources to targeted areas. Banks are divesting or seeking partners for non-core or insufficiently scaled units that lack a distinct competitive edge and demand substantial investment.

Investments in data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML) will rise

Our analysis indicates that merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among regional and community banks will increase, driven by the need to achieve greater scale. This strategic move is essential for these financial institutions to compete effectively with larger players, particularly as customer engagement transitions from physical to digital platforms.

By joining forces, these banks will be better positioned to develop new competencies in data management, AI/ML, open application programming interfaces (APIs), and advanced analytics, aligning with the growing digitalization of banking services. The merged entities will benefit from larger resource pools, facilitating improved alignment between skills and talent.

Service provider portfolios will likely reshuffle

Discover and Capital One have traditionally relied heavily on outsourcing to two or three major service providers. In mergers, providers with significant contracts with both entities typically stand to lose revenue because spending by the merged entity will not be as large as it was under the separate relationships unless they gain wallet share from competitors.

Suppliers that solely provide services to Discover are at risk of having their portfolio consolidated and moved to Capital One. However, providers who bring intellectual property or a niche capability may maintain the business through the consolidation.

Discussions about increased regulatory scrutiny are emerging, as even the regional banking market is at the cusp of such transactions. Moreover, this transaction can potentially increase competition for giants Mastercard and Visa.

Banks will require substantial consulting and system integration support

M&As spur increased short-term spending on post-merger integration and consulting services. By rationalizing vendor portfolios and IT infrastructures, merged entities can substantially cut costs by eliminating redundant applications and platforms. BFS firms will need partners to devise modernization roadmaps to create long-term value.

Merged entities must swiftly adapt their operational models, delivery strategies, and sourcing decisions to excel in the evolving landscape. Investing in specific technologies and tools is essential to foster growth and ensure operational continuity. Emphasizing core operations becomes a prerequisite as firms assess the appropriate valuation before crafting their integration strategy.

The road ahead for the Capital One merger

Richard Fairbank, founder, chairman, and CEO of Capital One, has emphasized that the merger with Discover presents a unique opportunity to unite two highly successful companies with complementary strengths and franchises.

The Capital One merger aims to establish a payments network capable of rivaling the industry’s most extensive networks and companies. However, the potential impact of increased market concentration from this combination will face regulatory scrutiny.

Providers should closely monitor system integration opportunities, as Capital One plans to expand its 11-year technology transformation initiative to encompass all of Discover’s operations and network.

The new entity will invest in growth initiatives, including faster time-to-market, innovative products and experiences, and personalized real-time marketing efforts. Operationally, underwriting, efficiency, risk management, and compliance enhancements will drive data and technology investments.

We are closely watching the market and regulatory actions. To discuss the Capital One merger and its impact on the US banking landscape, reach out to Ronak Doshi, [email protected], Kriti Gupta, [email protected], or Pranati Dave, [email protected].

Join this webinar to hear our analysts discuss Global Services Lessons Learned in 2023 and Top Trends to Know for 2024.

Kickstart Your Hybrid Copilot Journey with M365 Copilot | Blog

February 22, 2024

M365 Copilot is rapidly becoming the go-to solution for enterprises to boost employee productivity. The future lies in adopting a hybrid approach, combining buying prebuilt solutions and building custom offerings. Delve into this transformative shift and potential opportunities for enterprises and service providers in this blog.

Reach out to discuss further.

“Our vision is pretty straightforward. We are the Copilot company.”

— Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft

Microsoft’s recent rollout of its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled digital assistant Copilot, coupled with Nadella’s above statement, has generated much buzz in the enterprise sphere, igniting discussions about its potential impact on the IT industry and the expected employee benefits.

In the ever-evolving IT landscape, enterprises have always prioritized productivity and aim to provide digital counterparts to assist and augment employees’ day-to-day tasks.

Everest Group research found enterprises ranked productivity as a top three expectation from service providers in 2024.

Copilot marks a significant leap towards this pursuit. Next-gen technologies such as ChatGPT and Copilots are frequently interlinked with productivity gains that replace humans and lead to job loss. The human-in-the-loop concept ensures governance and accountability, representing a crucial shift toward responsible AI implementation.

Consequently, Copilots and other generative AI tools are not intended to replace humans but are built to empower them. Inevitably, this will lead to a future where “Employees with Copilots” replace “Employees without Copilots.”

Deciphering the significance of M365 Copilot: Navigating the distinction between different Copilots

Having firmly established the importance of Copilot in the IT landscape, enterprises are now left with the pivotal question of which Copilot should spearhead their transformation journey.

Within the expansive realm of the Microsoft stack alone, many out-of-the-box Copilots with distinct capabilities abound, coupled with out-of-the-box Copilots from other vendors such as Google, AWS, Moveworks, Salesforce, and more. This crowded market makes decision-making daunting for enterprises.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the available options:

Even the Microsoft stack alone has a multitude of Copilots with distinct capabilities abound:

Microsoft 365 Copilot: Helps users streamline knowledge management and generate content based on data from Microsoft Graph (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook)

Microsoft Security Copilot: Combines AI with cybersecurity to offer users more advanced protection against attacks

GitHub Copilot: AI tool that helps in code completions by turning natural language prompts into coding suggestions

Google Gemini: Helps users find information and generate answers from data all over the web

Moveworks’ AI Copilot: Helps employees automate tasks such as enterprise search and knowledge management

M365 Copilot offers the most extensive use cases to enhance employee productivity. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft’s productivity suite, including Office 365, which has unparalleled market dominance with 400 million paid users. For these reasons, M365 Copilot is emerging as the leading choice for enterprises to kickstart a Copilot journey.

In two months, adoption for M365 Copilot has been faster than E3 or E5 suites, Microsoft announced in its second quarter earnings call.

Evidence from early adopters such as Lumen Technologies, Goodyear, Chevron, and Avanade reinforces the preference for the M365 Copilot.

Hargreaves Lansdown reported the following benefits after the implementation of M365 Copilot:

Employees expect to complete tasks such as client documentation four times faster and save an estimated two to three hours weekly
96% of employees find Microsoft 365 Copilot useful in simplifying daily tasks

Early Copilot for Microsoft 365 users were 29% faster in a series of tasks like searching, writing, and summarizing, according to the company.

The potential for innovative service offerings is immense, presenting opportunities for enterprises and service providers alike to capitalize on the expanding Copilot market.

The exhibit below captures M365 Copilot value creation opportunities for enterprises and service providers:

For Enterprises	For Service Provider
Knowledge Managament	Data readiness
Document creation on Word and PPT	User readiness and training
Excel data analysis and visualization	Change management
Meeting summarization	Proof of concept
Personalized replies on Outlook	Extensibility

The way forward

While out-of-the-box Copilots like M365 Copilot hold significant value, they represent only one facet of the coin. Moving ahead, enterprises should exercise due diligence to check the alignment between the M365 Copilot offering and their employees’ needs.

Out-of-the-box Copilot such as M365 Copilot might not be a good fit for all employees due to the following reasons:

High price tag – The steep cost of an out-of-the-box Copilot such as M365 Copilot ($30 per user/month) may not be justifiable for every employee
Underutilization of Copilot offerings – While out-of-the-box Copilot, such as M365 Copilot, provides a vast array of use cases, many employees may not utilize them all. Instead, a tailor-made Copilot might be an ideal fit
Limited customization – Custom built Copilots offer more personalization
Limited integration with custom business apps – Integrating Copilots with custom business apps and data is restricted
Less control in Copilot roadmap development – Clients have less control over future development when buying than building a solution

Adopting a hybrid Copilot strategy that combines out-of-the-box (Buy) Copilot(s) and tailor-made (Build) Copilot(s) based on unique employee and business needs is the ideal solution.

While starting with Buy Copilot(s) is effective initially, this is a suboptimal strategy in the long run. Ideally, the future of enterprise Copilot strategy should move beyond buy versus build and, instead, toward a hybrid Copilot strategy.

The next blog in this series will explore the hybrid Copilot strategy in detail. To discuss your Copilot journey or for help on a Copilot strategy, please reach out to [email protected] and [email protected].

Watch the webinar, The Generative AI Odyssey: A Year in Review and What’s Ahead in 2024, to learn about actual production-level use cases and get a glimpse into the future of this transformative technology.

Navigating the New Landscape: How DORA Regulations Will Reshape the Future of Financial Services | Blog

February 22, 2024

With the deadline for the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) less than a year away, financial entities and service providers need to begin acting to reach compliance. Learn the steps organizations should take to prepare now and discover how the new DORA regulations will strengthen digital operational resilience.

Financial institutions’ reliance on information and communication technologies (ICT) for core operations brings immense opportunities in today’s digital world but also exposes banks, investment firms, insurers, and other financial entities to significant cyber threats and operational risks. To address these growing vulnerabilities, the EU has enacted DORA.

The DORA regulations are expected to significantly enhance the digital resiliency of the EU’s financial sector and foster greater stability, consumer protection, and trust. Financial institutions and authorities are working toward meeting the implementation deadline of January 17, 2025. Let’s explore this further.

DORA addresses two critical concerns:

Rising cyber threats: DORA mandates robust cybersecurity measures to protect financial systems from increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyberattacks that steal sensitive data, disrupt operations, and erode trust
Potential financial instability: DORA aims to prevent ICT incidents from cascading through the financial system, jeopardizing its stability and impacting consumers and businesses. The regulations ensure financial institutions can withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT-related incidents

Who will be impacted by DORA regulations?

DORA will impact all financial institutions and ICT third-party service providers. This includes banks and credit institutions, investment firms, trading platforms, and providers delivering critical services like cloud computing, data centers, credit ratings, and data analytics. It applies to over 22,000 financial entities in the EU and ICT infrastructure support outside the EU.

DORA framework

DORA establishes a comprehensive framework for managing digital operational resilience across the financial sector. Some key provisions include:

Enhanced ICT risk management: Financial institutions must implement robust ICT risk management practices, including threat identification, vulnerability assessments, and incident response plans
Mandatory incident reporting: Major ICT-related incidents and significant cyber threats must be reported to authorities, enabling faster response and improved threat intelligence sharing
Regular digital operational resilience testing: Financial institutions must conduct regular ICT systems testing to identify and address vulnerabilities
Strict oversight of ICT third-party providers: Financial institutions are accountable for the resilience of their third-party ICT service providers, with DORA outlining clear oversight and risk management requirements

DORA requires third-party providers to maintain robust cybersecurity measures and operational resilience capabilities to mitigate risks from potential vulnerabilities and disruptions. Moreover, financial institutions must ensure their current and future contracts with providers are compliant.

DORA focuses on five strategic pillars centered around data: risk management, third-party risk management, incident reporting, information sharing, and digital operational resilience testing. However, financial institutions still have many technology legacy systems that could create obstacles to data management.

How can financial institutions comply with DORA regulations?

Immediate next steps financial institutions should take to prepare for the January 2025 deadline include:

Conduct a gap analysis and develop an operational resilience framework, business continuity plans, and governance policies
Assess risks with third-party providers in the sourcing portfolio and review existing contracts that may be at risk of termination by authorities
Ensure risk and compliance leaders are represented on management boards, as the board will have full accountability for ICT risk management
Establish systems for managing, logging, and reporting ICT incidents to regulators

How can providers help financial institutions achieve compliance?

By leveraging their deep understanding of enterprise technology footprints, providers should proactively assist enterprises in meeting the regulatory deadline. We recommend providers take the following actions:

Develop a perspective on how DORA will impact financial institutions to ease clients’ worries and gain mindshare with new customers
Identify accounts needing support to determine current and future states, business continuity plans, risk management frameworks, etc.
Evaluate incumbency status and competitive landscape threats. Acknowledge financial institutions will need to reduce their reliance on a single or small group of providers and have open discussions with clients to ensure transparency and collaboration
Develop effective rules, procedures, mechanisms, and arrangements to manage ICT risks to financial entities
Review contracts and proactively identify clauses needing changes to incorporate DORA compliance
Prepare to undergo threat-led penetration testing with financial institutions if deemed critical by regulators

In the near term, we foresee the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry in the EU being impacted in the following ways:

Spiked demand for security services as financial institutions run security services maturity assessments to review the current state of DORA compliance
Revamped sourcing portfolios as financial institutions assess concentration risk of functions deemed critical under DORA
Increased demand for a qualified talent pool to conduct vulnerability assessments, performance testing, penetration testing, etc.

With the deadline fast approaching, enterprises and providers cannot afford to wait for the regulatory process to conclude and must begin to take these recommended steps to reach compliance by 2025.

To learn more about the Digital Operational Resilience Act and how to achieve compliance with the DORA regulations, contact Kriti Gupta, [email protected], Pranati Dave, [email protected], and Laqshay Gupta, [email protected].

To learn about Global Services Lessons Learned in 2023 and Top Trends to Know for 2024, don’t miss this webinar.

Changes in Funding Gen AI and Other Technology in 2024 | Blog

February 16, 2024

I believe 2024 will be the year of focusing on business value. That applies to gen AI, but it goes further than that. Most companies are now more than ten years into their digital transformation journey. Having already picked the low-hanging fruit, they now want to get more value and return on those investments. However, there are fundamental sentiment shifts in the appetite to invest more to get more value.

Broadcom’s Acquisition of VMware Sparks Unprecedented Chaos in the Virtualization World | Blog

February 8, 2024

Broadcom’s staggering US$61 billion acquisition of VMware in January marked one of the largest technology deals ever. Broadcom’s reputation for radical cost-cutting and focus on short-term shareholder value following acquisitions has raised concerns about VMware’s future direction. Read on for recommendations for enterprises, service providers, and competitors to deal with the aftermath of the acquisition of VMware.

Connect with us to discuss this acquisition further.

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has ignited worries that Broadcom’s aggressive cost-slashing and financial optimization measures will harm VMware’s reputation as a trusted partner and hinder its ability to innovate.

Let’s look at Broadcom’s troubling past track record of taking over companies and then selling off non-core assets:

Broadcom acquires CA Technologies: After Broadcom bought CA Technologies for US$18.9 billion in 2018, it sold the software company’s Veracode platform the following year for US $950 million and intermittently laid off CA Technologies employees. Moreover, CA Technologies’ mainframe business customers regularly expressed dissatisfaction post-acquisition, citing a lack of client focus, with many looking for a way out. Everest Group followed the acquisition of CA Technologies in detail in our blog, Broadcom, CA Technologies, and the Infrastructure Stack Collapse
Broadcom buys Symantec’s enterprise software business: Following its purchase of Symantec’s enterprise software business for US$10.7 billion in 2019, Broadcom sold Symantec’s cybersecurity services business to Accenture and the enterprise consulting group to HCL Technologies in 2020

Broadcom might be treading a similar path with VMware. As its acquisition history suggests, Broadcom’s actions will likely be drastic and swift. Within only a month, Broadcom has already created worrying disruptions, posing serious concerns for VMware clients and partners as outlined below:

A brief history of VMware and Broadcom

Founded in 1998, VMware pioneered virtualization technology, allowing multiple virtual machines to run on a single server, eventually creating the multi-billion cloud market. Over the years, VMware grew its product offerings, such as vSphere, ESXi, and Workstation, to become a dominant cloud and infrastructure player. VMware created multiple software solutions for data center management, networking, security, and the digital workplace. The company has maintained a reputation for innovation, working closely with its service partners and creating a positive client experience.

Established in 1991, Broadcom initially specialized in developing semiconductors, focusing on communication and networking chips. The company expanded over the years into many other areas, including security, infrastructure storage and management, and industrial solutions. In recent years, Broadcom consolidated its portfolio and now reports revenue in two areas – semiconductor solutions and infrastructure software. Broadcom is known for its aggressive acquisition strategy and focus on financial returns, often raising concerns about its commitment to product innovation and long-term support.

VMware and Broadcom merger leaves enterprise CIOs flummoxed

Since its launch over a decade ago, VMware has held massive dominance in cloud computing, with nearly all enterprises licensing its virtualization technology. Its slowdown started when the giant hyperscalers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, developed public cloud offerings with multiple advantages beyond VMware’s in private cloud settings.

However, most enterprises eventually realized that both public and private clouds had their advantages and drawbacks and settled for a hybrid environment to leverage the strengths of each cloud type.

Enterprise recommendations

CIOs who had settled on hybrid cloud strategies have been left with pressing questions by Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware. They must decide whether to stay with VMware, immediately look for alternatives, or wait and watch what peers do. This also allows organizations to reevaluate service providers’ innovative problem-solving abilities or rebalance hybrid cloud portfolios.

While the answers to these critical questions will depend on their specific situations, all enterprises should take the following steps:

- Reexamine the hybrid cloud portfolio mix – Most enterprises today have an ineffective blend of workloads on public and private clouds, leading to low-value realization. Enterprises should first reevaluate workloads and create a strategic migration and modernization plan
- Assess the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) need – VMware and Citrix have been the leading VDI vendors despite the technology’s performance challenges. Fortunately, managing the VMware disruption in the VDI space should be relatively straightforward given the low penetration of VDIs among employees and a flurry of VDI-as-a-service offerings from BigTechs such as Azure Virtual Desktop, AWS WorkSpaces, Citrix DaaS, and specialist players like Anunta, Dizzion, and Parallels
- Evaluate the implications of staying with or leaving VMware – While each organization should undertake a thorough cost-benefit-impact analysis, they should consider the following factors:
  - Expect an increase in total cost of ownership (TOC): Broadcom’s move from perpetual licenses to membership-based pricing will likely result in higher TOC
  - Consider the impact on customers engaged with Dell: Organizations engaged with Dell as the VMware reseller will see an even higher price impact since Broadcom eliminated Dell’s preferred pricing with VMware
  - Recognize the cost of change: Most enterprises have been using VMware software for a long time. Shifting away will require a significant transformation with upfront investment, talent management, and business continuity planning
- Engage actively with service provider partners – Most enterprises have adopted VMware solutions through third-party service providers. Clients should accept their help to understand the alternatives, advantages, limitations, and integration risks and engage them to create innovative options.

Service provider recommendations

Service providers play a critical role as the conduit between technology providers and enterprises in helping provide guidance and the next steps to navigate this uncertainty.

While service provider partners are also grappling with sudden, unexpected terminations of partner agreements with VMware, they must act quickly to determine the best step for their enterprise customers. Delaying and watching is not an option, and we recommend the following actions:

- Understand and evaluate all alternatives – A thorough understanding of all available alternatives to VMware is the first step to retaining credibility with enterprises. Nutanix, Microsoft, Citrix, Scale Computing, and ComputerVault are options for virtualization, while Microsoft Azure virtual desktop, Amazon workspaces, and Citrix workspace are contenders for VDI. Not to be forgotten, hyperscalers, including AWS, Azure, GCP, Oracle, and IBM, also offer virtual private cloud and full-stack solutions
- Refine and accelerate hybrid cloud go-to-market – Every cloud has a silver lining, and the VMware uncertainty has created an opportunity to add new energy to a stabilized cloud go-to-market and messaging. Many enterprises claim a lack of service provider cloud innovation over the last two or three years, and this is an opportunity to start new conversations and deepen relationships
- Push Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) offerings – DaaS or VDI-as-a-service offerings have been available from vendors, including hyperscalers, BigTechs, service providers, and specialists, but haven’t taken off. Despite the many DaaS benefits, enterprises have shown interest spikes but lacked an external stimulus to kickstart large-scale transition. The VMware frenzy could be a catalyst for the transition to DaaS
- Collaborate with Broadcom without biases – The sudden and shocking actions by Broadcom have led to many preconceived negative perceptions. However, service providers should be open to what Broadcom will offer as it aims to set a level playing field for VMware’s partners. Keeping an open mind will allow providers to leap ahead of their peers on VMware partner status. VMware’s huge client base cannot be ignored despite the current upheaval

Competitor recommendations

Since VMware has shown its belly to competition, it’s now a mad rush. VMware’s competitors have a rare opportunity to grab its clients, potentially giving them considerable future revenue. Competitors understand this and have launched a scathing attack on VMware through email and social media campaigns, as well as direct outreach. While the desire to capture a larger market share is understandable, competitors should take a more balanced and pointed approach for higher conversion rates. We recommend the following strategies:

- Create a structured attacker strategy – Going after as many clients as possible might sound attractive but is most likely inefficient. Identify a long list of accounts to target, prioritize them based on relevance, and create dedicated teams with established Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Build deeper account intelligence to win more clients – Winning new clients requires a more nuanced approach beyond the marketing tactics to connect with distressed clients initially. Understanding the specific context of each potential client, including pain points, decision-making stakeholders, existing software, integration challenges, etc., can significantly increase deal conversion rates
- Maximize channel partner leverage – Develop joint attacker strategies in collaboration with service providers who often understand clients’ needs better. Aggressively expand partnerships with service providers

We will continue to follow this space and watch how Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware unfolds. If you would like to discuss this further, reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].

Catch our upcoming webinar, Engineering Services in 2024: The Market Outlook and Commercial Trends, for insights into the pricing outlook, commercial dynamics, market attractiveness, and evolving buyer expectations for engineering services.

Call Center Technology Needs a Platform Approach | Blog

February 8, 2024

It feels like the more technology a company deploys in its call center, the more it results in the worst customer experience possible. What used to be a personal conversation with a specific person is now a proliferation of technology channels that create more complexity for the customer and the company. Whether companies recognize it or not, in making these investments, they have assembled a digital platform operations model where the technology and the people in call center operations have become more intertwined. The problem is they did not adopt platform thinking.

Consulting Playbook: Organizational Readiness for Gen AI Adoption | Blog

February 6, 2024

While most enterprises today want to adopt generative AI (gen AI), they struggle to embrace it because of organizational unpreparedness. Consulting service providers can play a key role in this transition. Discover Everest Group’s Organizational Gen AI Readiness Framework, which includes critical strategy and operations components for successful gen AI adoption.

Reach out to us to further discuss gen AI.

The challenge of embracing change

Enterprises that have successfully embraced automation and digitization now face another technological challenge: gen AI. A recent Everest Group survey of over 200 enterprises reveals contrasting sentiments about gen AI adoption. Despite as many as 90% expressing a desire to adopt gen AI, only about 10% of respondents indicated they would significantly invest in the technology during 2024. Most enterprises plan to implement gen AI in small areas, run pilots, or begin building strategies this year.

Additionally, when asked about key challenges with gen AI adoption, more than half (57%) cited organizational readiness as the top obstacle, which was unsurprising. Here are the results:

Survey on gen AI adoption challenges

The survey findings underscore a broader enterprise sentiment where excitement for the future is tempered by the challenges of adopting gen AI into established business models. It reflects a blend of eagerness and trepidation, with significant concerns about organizational preparedness for this change.

In this transition, consulting service providers become crucial in bridging these gaps and ensuring smooth adoption into existing operation frameworks. Let’s delve into this further.

Everest Group Organizational Gen AI Readiness Framework:

Crafting a blueprint for a gen AI-driven future

The ease of using gen AI from an end-user’s perspective often belies the complexity of building and operating gen AI models and applications. Consulting service providers can play a critical role in assisting clients in comprehensively understanding their internal capabilities for gen AI.

Leading consulting organizations have developed unique gen AI readiness frameworks that can add significant client value. These frameworks are essential to help organizations analyze their current state in-depth, identify areas needing enhancement, and craft tailored strategies for effective gen AI deployment.

In guiding organizations through gen AI adoption, a consulting firm’s approach is anchored in two principal tenets:

Strategy involves shaping a visionary outlook, navigating market trends, managing risks, and identifying innovative opportunities
Operations focuses on refining processes, building a skilled team, enhancing technology infrastructure, and implementing effective performance metrics. Together, these elements form the backbone for successful gen AI adoption

Gen AI readiness framework

The strategy

Vision

For gen AI consulting providers, it’s vital to engage clients in a thought-provoking dialogue about their gen AI objectives. Instead of prescribing a set path, encourage clients to consider the following:

Clarify the end objective with gen AI: What do clients hope to achieve through gen AI? Guide them to ponder whether they see it as a strategic tool transforming their business model or merely as a means to fill specific capability gaps
Alignment with organizational goals: Assist clients in aligning gen AI initiatives with their broader organizational goals. Is gen AI a step toward future innovation, or is it addressing immediate operational needs?
Crafting an integration roadmap: Encourage clients to consider their gen AI integration roadmap. This should encompass not just the immediate technological requirements but also longer-term industry trends, potential disruptions, and opportunities for innovation.

Organization and culture

Culture as the cornerstone of gen AI adoption

Corporate culture can accelerate or impede gen AI adoption. The same cultural traits underpinning organizational success – such as adaptability, agility, and innovation – are now the bedrock for gen AI adoption. Creating an environment where transparency, connectivity, and continuous learning are not just buzzwords but the essence of the organizational ethos is crucial.

Cultural changes needed for gen AI adoption

Governance, security, and compliance

For gen AI consulting providers, navigating governance, security, and compliance is a multi-faceted challenge in a domain where innovation often outstrips regulation. Consultants must guide clients in developing robust governance strategies, enhancing security measures, and ensuring compliance to build trust and manage risks associated with gen AI.

Integrated framework for governance, security, and compliance in gen AI

Return on investment (ROI)

Understanding the economic impact of gen AI is crucial. Consulting firms should help clients evaluate the ROI of gen AI initiatives. This involves cost-benefit analyses and identifying areas where gen AI can drive revenue growth and efficiency gains. As part of the readiness assessment, enterprises must establish clear, measurable metrics for gen AI adoption that align with their strategic objectives, such as efficiency gains, revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and innovation. This can provide data-driven insights into the effectiveness of gen AI solutions.

Operations

Talent

The impact of gen AI spans all levels, from enhancing the employee experience to empowering managers, as well as requiring a new leadership paradigm focused on fostering gen AI adoption and integration. Consulting providers will become essential in helping enterprises adapt and evolve their talent strategies.

Talent strategy transformation needed for gen AI adoption

Impact category	Examples	Description
Roles that will become extinct	Traditional Data Analysts, Basic IT Support Technicians	These roles, primarily focused on repetitive tasks and manual testing, will likely become obsolete as gen AI automates these processes.
Roles that will emerge	Gen AI Ethics Officer, Gen AI Integration Specialist	New positions like Gen AI Ethics Officer will arise to address ethical considerations of gen AI use. Gen AI Integration Specialists will be needed to blend gen AI solutions effectively into existing tech infrastructures.
Roles that will evolve	Software Developers to Gen AI-enhanced Developers, HR Managers to AI-Driven Talent Strategists	Existing roles like Software Developers will evolve into Gen AI-enhanced Developers, focusing more on AI-driven solutions, while HR Managers will transition to AI-Driven Talent Strategists, leveraging gen AI for talent acquisition and management.

Tech

Consulting providers must have a nuanced understanding of the organization’s current gen AI capabilities. They should enable clients to discern where they stand on the gen AI integration spectrum – whether they are at the stage of creating gen AI solutions from scratch (Do It Yourself), using ready-made components (Do It With Me), or adopting fully developed gen AI products (Do It For Me).

Gen AI tech stack readiness categories

Data

For most enterprises, the immediate priority lies in addressing gen AI’s data-related risks. Confidentiality, data leakages, reliability, and plagiarism are the four horsemen of the gen AI apocalypse, each capable of causing financial, legal, and reputational damage. The solution? Getting the data house in order. This involves scalable data management, prioritizing discovery, acquisition, and curating data to effectively feed into the gen AI models.

Ecosystem

The ecosystem aspect is pivotal in preparing organizations for gen AI. Consulting service providers play a critical role in:

Strategic partnerships: Assisting clients in forming alliances with technology providers and industry experts to access essential gen AI resources and knowledge.

Seamless integration: Helping clients blend gen AI into their existing business and technological frameworks, ensuring that gen AI efforts align with broader organizational strategies.

Fostering innovation: Encouraging clients to engage with innovation networks supporting continuous gen AI development, idea sharing, and collaborative growth.

Conclusion

As the gen AI wave gains momentum, consulting providers are uniquely positioned to guide enterprises. By focusing on providing services around technological, cultural, and structural transformations, they can lead these organizations not just in adapting to gen AI but also in harnessing its full potential for innovation and growth.

Read more Everest Group Research on Consulting and gen AI in our reports:

If you would like to reach out to us to learn more, email Sandeep P, [email protected], Alisha Mittal, [email protected], and Parul Trivedi, [email protected].

Going Gig? Not Like Eating a Piece of Cake | Blog

February 5, 2024

You’ve left or retired from your glorious career at a consultancy or in an enterprise. You’ve made the assumption that the world—or at least big, important companies—will beat a path to your door, offering you all manner of interim roles because of your experience. And it seems both enticing and entirely within your grasp—the opportunity to take umpteen years of success solving problems/transforming businesses/leading large teams then selling it to the highest bidder on your terms—40-hour weeks, no PowerPoint, advising and warning folks who you think just haven’t a clue how to run their business.

Think it’s easy to waltz into the world of successful interims? Well, it’s not like eating a piece of cake.

In a post-COVID world, the talent markets are, in the words of an Elvis Presley song, “all shook up.” No more wholesale war for talent; it’s now point buyer. Compensation levels have become less exuberant. Cost pressures have pushed out hiring. And corporate strategies are evolving rapidly in response to churning business conditions.

As a result, the concept of hiring interims, especially for transformative roles in areas such as global business services or technology implementation, is taking hold. Why put someone on a permanent payroll when the job at hand may only last 12-18 months? Why suffer through extended hiring processes when interim search firms or professional employment organizations can source and onboard at pace? Why appoint an internal who doesn’t have critical capabilities when the market is replete with strong senior talent who have “been there, done that?”

At the same time, we’re seeing an increasing supply of experienced folk on the market. Talented transformers and operators are retiring from their corporate roles but are not yet ready to hang up their spurs. Enterprises are recalibrating their operating model’s post-COVID hiring spree, putting accomplished leaders on the street. And the concept of work-life balance is reshaping expectations about career paths, making gig work more attractive.

Why are enterprises embracing interim employment?

Need for specialized expertise Sometimes the corporate talent bench does not have the right capabilities to solve a specific problem at hand. An interim with the exact profile, especially one who has “been there done that” with a track record of success in an analogous situation can move the dial.
Temporary nature of the work Enterprises often need to deliver a program or project with a deadline, fill a short-term leadership gap, or make a change that requires particular skills at a high level. Interim hiring allows them to obtain the capability without a long-term commitment.
Valuable perspective Enterprises are insular institutions. Often, a different perspective from an external who has worked on similar initiatives in other organizations is just the ticket, bringing valuable war stories and lessons learned with them.
Speed By avoiding lengthy recruiting, posting, and onboarding processes, talent can be on the ground quickly. Another plus is the ability of experienced interims to quickly get the lay of the land and have an immediate impact.
Reduced risk If conditions change, programs stall or are discontinued, or an interim is not delivering as expected, they can be “rolled off” more easily—for less cost.
Consultant fee fatigue Rather than bringing in a team of consultants, an interim who can work alongside the enterprise team and harness internal capabilities may be a more cost-effective and durable option.

But as we said in our tee-up, it can be hard for career employees to easily pick up interim roles:

It’s a jungle out there Competition is becoming fierce. There is a rising class of experienced career interims. They can go into a new business, often in challenging circumstances, forge new connections and add immediate value. They know how to hit the ground running without taking two to three months to understand the challenge and figure out their role in driving change.
Generalists (usually) need not apply The most desirable interims tend to specialize in a specific area—think function/industry/challenge—not something undefinable called “transformation.” That is what makes them more attractive to clients; they know that their reputation is everything (this is how they will secure their next interim role), and it is far easier for them to stand out as an interim if they specialize in a specific area.
Variety is the spice of life Desirable career interims have worked in a range of businesses. They can adapt to diverse ways of working across different industries and have a wealth of relevant experience gained from operating in various corporate contexts.

Takes work to get the work Career interims are skilled in business development; they know how to find their own clients and projects. Having skills such as networking, marketing, and proposal writing are critical to get a gig. If you are looking to go interim, or are fortunate enough to snag an interim role, here are a few tips to be wildly successful:

Be realistic about compensation Don’t think you can waltz in and get compensation equivalent to your former package: base plus bonus plus long-term incentive. The client will look at both the market and equivalent internal compensation. For many transformation roles, market rates act as parameters for what an enterprise will pay. And do not compare interim rates to those of independent consultancy; interim work has less financial risk.
Don’t place undue conditions on the role Sure, you’ve planned three vacations, want weekends off (don’t we all?), and hate to get on Teams calls after 6 pm. But one of the value props of interim for an enterprise is flexibility—and that can include the way you work. An interim gig is rarely a work-when-you-want role.
Refrain from patronizing the client team Riding in on a white horse to save the enterprise from itself is not part of the brief for the vast majority of interim roles. You are there to help them achieve their objectives, not play smartest-man-in-the-room or impose your ideas.
Don’t expect permanent employment Too many interims think that an interim role is a try-then-buy. While interim work may very well turn permanent, likely you are there to facilitate a change or function as a bridge until an internal team can be assembled. There’s no implicit promise of a long-term relationship.
Understand your decision rights Take time to understand how the enterprise makes decisions and which, if any, you are empowered to make.
Don’t impose your point of view at every turn Ultimately, the enterprise you are working for makes or ratifies decisions. Coming across with a “I’ve always done it this way” when you don’t understand everything about the context or have all the facts is not an endearing way to operate. Having a trainable point of view is imperative.
Adopt the enterprise’s language and ways of working Every enterprise has its own ways of working and communicating. Coming off as one of the team is critical to interim success; communicating the way the client team communicates and engages is key.
Avoid thinking your role is solely advising and warning Your job is to get work done, not sit back and pontificate or criticize. Roll up your sleeves and focus on delivery. If the client wants an adviser who can’t do PowerPoint slides, they will hire one rather than you!

The cynics among us could argue that all corporate employment mimics interim arrangements, given constant restructurings, layoffs, and an ever-changing compact between employer and employee. Today, we are all journeymen and women working for companies that hire and fire us at will. Mastering the art of working as an interim can be a career advantage.

Deborah regularly pontificates about talent and operating models in business services organizations. This month, her partner in crime is Paolo, director of Green Peas Resourcing, an interim agency focused on transformation roles.

Category: Blog