Smart cloud-sourcing combines the sourcing mindset with cloud technology frameworks. Find out why it’s the next step in the evolution of outsourcing.
The latest market research shows there are three strategies that work when it comes to asset optimization: strategic sourcing, offshoring and operating a real-time infrastructure.
Robert Janssen, CEO of Outsource Brazil, has coined the term Smart Cloud-Sourcing and talked about it at the Midsize Enterprise Summit Fall 2017 conference in San Antonio.
In an environment where rapid change is constant, the need for adequate IT asset optimization became imperative, Janssen said, adding that smart cloud-sourcing combines the sourcing mindset with cloud technology frameworks. This new approach for IT asset optimization takes into account the new lean delivery platforms provided by cloud-based business models.
How did we get here?
If you go all the way back to the 1800s, you’ll find outsourcing taking place, Janssen said. “Businesses had to do well constantly, do more and do it better. And they had to be cost-effective to improve the bottom line. As it progressed, businesses realized there were certain things they didn’t do very well, but if they did them better, they would improve their bottom line.”
A big turning point came with the Y2K hype in the year 2000.
“In the end, for many of us, Y2K didn’t prove the flop many said it would be. But it woke us up. Two little digits could blow up the whole thing. A lot of people point to this specific date when outsourcing became offshoring. A lot of the code folks who had to rewrite code for Y2K were scattered around the world and you had to hire them quickly because that date was closing in.”
Janssen noted the 2000 book, Meta-Capitalism: The E-Business Revolution and the Design of 21st Century Companies and Markets by Grady Means and David Schneider.
“Going forward, many of us will focus on two major things for our business: brand equity and thought leadership. Instead of client obsession, going forward, it will be customer intimacy.”
Moving toward innovation
Janssen said that he was at a conference in India in 2008 the first time he heard of the title CIO standing for chief innovation officer. “(The speaker) talked about customer intimacy. Not because you sent the CIO’s wife a birthday card, but because you know their business so well that you can provide thought leadership and information needed to constantly evolve your business.”
Likewise, he said smart-sourcing isn’t just outsourcing, but knowing what your business is all about. “We’ve heard a lot about optimization. Going forward, it will be on everyone’s radar. With optimization, we hear about the cloud. More and more, this will be the trend. Find out who will be smart cloud-sourcing partners who can provide expertise and the backdrop we need to keep the business progression going forward.”
The search for SaaStifaction
Tying it all together, Janssen talked about how software as a service is a game-changer and when it comes to smart cloud-sourcing, businesses should look to Brazil. It offers the fifth largest internet and mobile economy in the world, one of the top eight economies overall in the world, and is among the 12 markets in the world with more than 100 million consumers and 60,000 IT companies.
“When you are looking to your next cloud vendor, look to Brazil. These are the organizations in the boardroom you will be going against. DoD no longer stands for Department of Defense. It stands for digital or die.”
Adapt or perish. The choice is yours.
