CIO Archives - Page 3 Of 9

Accenture’s Eye-catching Acquisition of Genfour | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

April 7, 2017

It’s a safe bet that most enterprises as well as service providers pay attention to Accenture’s market moves and investments. After all, Accenture is the world’s largest independent consulting and IT outsourcing firm, so who wouldn’t think it wise to learn by observing the firm’s strategies? Let’s look at Accenture’s recent acquisition of Genfour. Interestingly, the two major considerations that typically drive acquisitions are not at play in this case; so, what is Accenture’s strategy?

Based in the U.K, Genfour has fewer than 200 employees. It’s tiny compared to Accenture, which has 401,000 employees and 6,600 leaders. So, the acquisition won’t have any material impact on Accenture’s revenues. And the acquisition will add mostly mid-size enterprises to Accenture’s client base.

Why Did Deloitte Acquire Day1 Solutions? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

April 6, 2017

Deloitte recently announced it acquired cloud consulting firm Day1 Solutions. Deloitte is one of the world’s largest service providers and has service relationships with most major U.S. enterprises. Day1 is a small firm. So, this raises the question: Why does Deloitte need Day1? And why should your enterprise care?

Deloitte needs Day1 for the same reason Accenture needs Genfour, Genpact needs Rage Frameworks and Infosys needs Panaya. The problem for Deloitte and for every traditional services company is that their clients do not believe they have the digital skills to lead the digital transformation journey the clients want their business to undertake.

IT Service Providers Increase Investment in Onshore Locations | In the News

January 9, 2017

The global sourcing industry has seen a surge in setup activity in onshore location in recent years, according to outsourcing consultancy and research firm Everest Group.

After seeing significant declines in onshore location expansion in 2013 and 2014 due to a global slowdown, the percentage of new onshore versus offshore delivery locations among the top 20 service providers rose from 45 percent in 2014 to 52 percent during 2015 and the first half of 2016, according to Everest Group. That brings the proportion of onshore locations to an unprecedented high in the industry.

Companies Consistently Run into Problems in Automation Efforts | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

July 30, 2016

It’s very clear that robotics process automation (RPA) and cognitive computing have tremendous capacity to digitize our workforce and reduce the number of back-office FTEs. Leading companies are looking at doing this in a big way, looking to automate thousands of jobs that have been performed by FTEs. But they consistently run into a problem.

The tools to automate a process exist. Admittedly, no tools come ready for use out of the box; they have to be adjusted and implemented. But the technology clearly exists to drive an advanced level of digitization or automation.

The problem is when organizations try to automate jobs, they achieve only very modest results. They stand up a team of 10 to 40 robotic engineers, for example, but run out of steam very quickly. If the plan is to automate 2,000 jobs, the first five — the low-hanging fruit — go very quickly. And then the process bogs down.

Read more at CIO online.

A Key Factor in the CIO’s Ability to Drive Change | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

May 25, 2016

I recently met with a major player in the Internet of Things (IoT) space, and the company is incredibly frustrated with how developments are evolving. They pointed out the promise of the IoT but said it’s not evolving much beyond the use case of predictive maintenance. It seems people are In Denial (ID). Why aren’t use cases and revenue opportunities in the IoT exploding? I believe the hindrance is the same as it is when trying to drive change through any new technology: the change is cross-functional.

The fact that it’s not evolving much beyond predictive maintenance types of use cases is frustrating to any CIO looking for the next big thing in technology-enabled competitive advantages.

Read more at CIO online.

Why Service Level Agreements are Dead | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

May 5, 2016

Service-level agreement (SLA) contracts can drive the wrong business outcomes. Some technology leaders want to move away from those SLA-driven contracts.

If you’re like many CIOs, the chances are your company compensates third-party IT service providers for something they didn’t do or pays them twice for something. Technology leader Nipa Chakravarti realized that’s what was happening at TransAlta (Canada’s largest publicly traded power generator and provider of renewable energy). I recently talked with Nipa, and she made an interesting comment: “I want to move away from SLA-driven contracts.”

As Nipa explained in a prior blog post, she successfully restructured TransAlta’s IT group to be more responsive to business needs, doing the things that the business users care about and doing them in a reasonable time frame and cost point. As detailed in that blog, she dramatically changed the value equation for IT at the company, making it much more cost-effective, achieving results much faster and at the same time delivering higher quality and more reliable work. That’s quite a formidable set of accomplishments. So it’s worth paying attention to her strategies for taking the organization to the next level.

Read more at CIO online.

The Perils of CIO Jobs, Remedies, and Case Studies — May 12, 2016 | Events

April 30, 2016

Peter Bendor-Samuel will be the featured speaker at the May 12 Tampa Bay Technology Leadership Association (TBTLA) meeting.

Peter will discuss with the perils of CIO jobs in today’s rapidly changing environment, and the gaps between business expectations and how CIOs are performing. He will also share remedies and case studies.

Featured Speaker:

Peter Bendor-Samuel, Founder and CEO, Research, Everest Group

When:

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Where:

The University of Tampa
401 W. Kennedy Blvd
Vaughn Center, 9th Floor
Tampa, FL 33602

Learn more and RSVP

How to Shape Your IT-as-a-Service Strategy | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

April 27, 2016

ITaaS is a game-changer, a radically different way to manage IT. Here’s what you need to consider before making the switch.

If you’ve read a couple of my blogs about the IT-as-a-Service model, you probably realize it’s a game-changer. To refresh your memory, it maximizes the value IT delivers because it aligns IT much closer with the business – a top objective for most CIOs today. It also enables agility, facilitates a consumption-based cost model and on-demand management. You probably think switching to ITaaS sounds wonderful. But you’re also likely asking, “What’s the catch?”

Machiavelli wrote, “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.” And IT-as-a-Service is a new order of things. It’s a radically different way to manage IT.

Read more at CIO online.

Do IT Groups Really Need to Move to a Software-Defined Environment? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

April 6, 2016

CIOs and their IT teams are bombarded with major changes on nearly every front these days. Shifting to a software-defined environment is one of the top agenda items in many enterprises. But what does this shift in operations really mean? Are the benefits really worth the headaches of major operational change?

We are in the early days of this shift to a software-defined world, and it takes me back 20–25 years to the talk about taking our offices paperless. The early motivations of saving paper and preserving the rain forests have given way to a focus on office productivity, collaboration and ease of use.

CIOs Need to Reconceive the Process Design for IT Support Services | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

March 31, 2016

I’ve been observing the end-user computing environment and believe it’s time for a complete rethink on how IT groups support their end users. What I usually find is that the support interactions are a lot like support interactions with cable companies – and most cable company customers feel that’s an infuriating experience.

Cable companies design their interactions with customers to be most efficient for the cable company. They seek to optimize or lower the cost of talking to their customers. They design the process to make the most efficient use of their installation and maintenance fees. They think about how best to maximize the revenue per customer and upsell.

That’s great for the cable company but infuriating for the customer.

Tag: CIO

Accenture’s Eye-catching Acquisition of Genfour | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Why Did Deloitte Acquire Day1 Solutions? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

IT Service Providers Increase Investment in Onshore Locations | In the News

Companies Consistently Run into Problems in Automation Efforts | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

A Key Factor in the CIO’s Ability to Drive Change | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Why Service Level Agreements are Dead | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

The Perils of CIO Jobs, Remedies, and Case Studies — May 12, 2016 | Events

How to Shape Your IT-as-a-Service Strategy | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Do IT Groups Really Need to Move to a Software-Defined Environment? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

CIOs Need to Reconceive the Process Design for IT Support Services | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

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