Enterprise optimisers and their impact

JAIPUR, INDIA: You may think that impact happens only with the highest degree of optimisation, but a recent study could point the needle in another direction pulling in some more interesting levers to swing the outcomes - towards enterprise optimisers.

Samarth U Kholkar, Territory Services Leader, IBM and Sales Lead - SMAC, North & East, IBM India talked about how enterprise sourcing needs a seismic shift in mindsets by interpreting an intriguing matrix. The matrix outlined how the four genres of influencers in an organisation usually stack up when polarised across axes like degree of outsourcing and levels of innovation.

These four partnering strategies are - focused innovation, focused optimisation, enterprise optimisation and enterprise innovation.

The IBM market research that intended to scoop in the idea of substantive business benefits in these four bowls showed that of the respondents surveyed, 20 per cent leaned into focused innovation category, 34 per cent fell into the focused optimisation category, 27 per cent in enterprise optimisation, and 19 per cent turned out as enterprise innovators.

Despite the relatively lower percentage of this last ilk, enterprise innovators outperformed other types of influencers when it came to business outcomes like strongest impact on bottom lines.

Kholkar inferred the irony as an indication of the writing on the wall and urged CIOs to have a strong transformation mindset and take a leaf out of such innovators.

He also cited how AIMS or Application Integrated Management Services is much more than an IBM pitch and is indeed an output of industry reaction and expectations in the way it addresses the much needed equation of business and IT alignment. "That attitude and model of working can help in answering those evasive CEO questions and solve that eternal ‘how is IT going to help my business' puzzle.

He simultaneously covered dilemmas and future directions on outsourcing and IT service effectiveness goals during his session. Kholkar underlined challenges of managing heterogeneous IT environments while balancing innovation. He also stressed on the gains possible from aligning sourcing strategies with changes in outsourcing motivations given their impact on financial performance.