In the Services Evolution, Do You Want to Stay a Client, or Take the Next Step and Become a Partner?
4 min read
Vague ideas like “moving to the cloud” or “experimenting with data analytics” have been in various states of development across enterprises for a couple of decades.
But it took an unfortunate landmark in human history to force vast swathes of global organizations to grow and change faster than they’d probably ever expected.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused the rapid, necessary digitization of many companies, then a further adjustment to the great resignation that followed, and it’s meant more and more companies have now permanently shifted their operations from product-based models, to embracing service approaches.
Either in the sense of what they actually sell, or simply for internal operations — such as in technology — many organizations made the jump in 2020 and haven’t looked back since.
The evolution has been fast, and complex.
As moving to the cloud matures strategically, AI and machine learning are used for meaningful data-driven decision-making, and at-scale roll-out of these services becomes a common process, the snowball effect is now in full motion.
It seems to be working out for those who fully embrace a service-based life. With the flexible, agile working practices of services comes the ability to provide higher quality services that meet the expectations of both customers and employees in terms of scale and competitive advantage.
If you’re targeting end-to-end delivery across your organization through service models, it shows. And it’s only going to help you to keep increasing your lead ahead of your product-based rivals.
Client … or partner?
But who is helping you shift to these successful service models? Often, it’s a company that knows how to build services! You may work with quite a few.
However, as enterprises have to focus more on costs and flexibility in the face of global financial challenges, many CIOs are starting to move away from outcome-based or revenue-sharing project contracts to time and materials, or dedicated team models.
This can mean increasing your focus away from being the client of many, to enjoying more of a partnership relationship with a few providers.
Choosing a partner who can offer you the maximum expertise and value as you keep growing your service operations is crucial. Someone who can amplify your innovative spirit with true insight, and start to feel truly a part of your company.
In a partnership, mutual trust and understanding are imperative, so knowing you’re working with people who ally with and complement your own is a must.
It’s also worth thinking about who your service partner answers to and, in turn, what may motivate them. Are they publicly traded, with shareholders, or are they a privately-owned company that can sink its profits back into R&D, as well as shaping the talent of tomorrow, rather than paying out dividends?
In fact, might your partner be more interested in rewarding its technological peers, building an IP with you, then offering it to others and sharing the profits between you?
The world is changing, but as the era of the service model begins to solidify, there are a wealth of unique and inspiring ways to do business with it.
We’d love to chat to you about some of the hugely successful partnerships SoftServe has grown and maintained, and some of the exciting technologies and ideas we can offer to help you keep evolving.