Building effective commerce platforms are important to meet the sophisticated needs in the digital age. The undertaking is very complex as it requires work on the strategic, tactical and operational level. Looking only at technology is a frequent shortcut to failure.
Every larger company should consider working with a service provider that can ideally address all aspects of this complex undertaking.
Based on previous projects, I provide you with a check list of key areas and recommendations.
Vision, strategy and business model
Your service provider (SP) should be able to help you develop/ refine your digital vision, strategy and business model. Your SP should be able to help you build a roadmap for transforming your organization.
Management, business and technology consulting
Your SP should not only speak tech-language, but truly understand your business needs from top to bottom. Throwing technology at problems, before clarifying/ solving the business side, often only creates more problems.
The SP should provide true vertical domain knowledge, including customer behavior & 360 degree view, Omni-channel objectives, partner models, inventory, pricing and sales.
Operations
Many areas are obvious candidates for outsourcing. Your SP should be able to take you through various options such as hosted, managed services, performance based pricing models, staff outsourcing, etc.
As requested, the SP should be able to provide commerce infrastructure and operations services (advanced automated site testing, performance management, security testing on cloud platforms)
Systems
Often upgrades to ERP and order management systems are necessary. The SP needs to be able to integrate disparate internal client systems (legacy, home grown ecommerce systems, etc.) and advise on design and architecture.
Technology
Ability to implement the technology flawlessly has become a basic requirement. The SP need to implement a solid commerce technology infrastructure able to meet the expected demands in the future. It involves upgrading and optimizing existing sites and integrating diverse technology programs to enable a comprehensive digital experience. As needed ecommerce, call-center, in-store and other areas need to be fully brought together; applications, mobility wisely integrated.
Big Data & Analytics increasingly drive the marketing of the digital age. XaaS and Cloud enable faster, better and more efficient business and operations. The SP needs to understand these areas and incorporate those effectively into the overall solution.
The SP should offer accelerators and own of the shelf software and solutions to minimize time/ cost to market and maximize value of the new commerce applications. Further the SP must be able to provide solid post-implementation support.
Organizational alignment and Program Management
Markets, Customers and Competition are rapidly evolving. Realignment of the organizational structures, roles, processes, policies, procedures and metrics is unavoidable. The SP should provide guidance in organizational design, transformation & change management. Solid Program management and project execution should support all efforts.
Innovation and agility
The SP should be able to drive innovation and offer best practices from across the industry; leverage insight and solutions from its own innovation labs.
The SP should practice agile methodology and should drive agility throughout the organization.
Price/ Costs
Be aware that the price quoted is not the total cost! Some service providers may be considerable cheaper, but also come with substantial burden on the client organization in terms of increased management time and other overhead. The biggest – often unaccounted - expense – is that of missed revenue and business opportunity.
Engagement
Last but not least the SP should really support a collaborative arrangement and offer various pricing and operating models in line with the client’s needs and performance metrics.
Finding the right Service Provider
Not all Service providers (SP) obviously have breadth and depth of experience to provide the mentioned necessary service. Nevertheless, a good number of companies, also called Global Commerce Service Providers, are able to address most of those needs and provide full client solutions.
Accenture Digital, Sapient Nitro, Deloitte Digital, Razorfish Global, Cognizant and IBM GBS are among the leaders of GCS Providers. Strong contenders are Tata Consulting Services, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and others.
Finding and selecting the right Service Provider for your company is both a science and an art. This guide has given you some key pointers. For questions and thoughts, please let me know.
+++
To share your own thoughts or other best practices about this topic, please email me directly to alexwsteinberg (@) gmail.com.
Alternatively, you also may connect with me and become part of my professional network of Business, Digital, Technology & Sustainability experts at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwsteinberg or
Xing at https://www.xing.com/profile/Alex_Steinberg or
Google+ at https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AlexWSteinberg/posts
Every larger company should consider working with a service provider that can ideally address all aspects of this complex undertaking.
Based on previous projects, I provide you with a check list of key areas and recommendations.
Vision, strategy and business model
Your service provider (SP) should be able to help you develop/ refine your digital vision, strategy and business model. Your SP should be able to help you build a roadmap for transforming your organization.
Management, business and technology consulting
Your SP should not only speak tech-language, but truly understand your business needs from top to bottom. Throwing technology at problems, before clarifying/ solving the business side, often only creates more problems.
The SP should provide true vertical domain knowledge, including customer behavior & 360 degree view, Omni-channel objectives, partner models, inventory, pricing and sales.
Operations
Many areas are obvious candidates for outsourcing. Your SP should be able to take you through various options such as hosted, managed services, performance based pricing models, staff outsourcing, etc.
As requested, the SP should be able to provide commerce infrastructure and operations services (advanced automated site testing, performance management, security testing on cloud platforms)
Systems
Often upgrades to ERP and order management systems are necessary. The SP needs to be able to integrate disparate internal client systems (legacy, home grown ecommerce systems, etc.) and advise on design and architecture.
Technology
Ability to implement the technology flawlessly has become a basic requirement. The SP need to implement a solid commerce technology infrastructure able to meet the expected demands in the future. It involves upgrading and optimizing existing sites and integrating diverse technology programs to enable a comprehensive digital experience. As needed ecommerce, call-center, in-store and other areas need to be fully brought together; applications, mobility wisely integrated.
Big Data & Analytics increasingly drive the marketing of the digital age. XaaS and Cloud enable faster, better and more efficient business and operations. The SP needs to understand these areas and incorporate those effectively into the overall solution.
The SP should offer accelerators and own of the shelf software and solutions to minimize time/ cost to market and maximize value of the new commerce applications. Further the SP must be able to provide solid post-implementation support.
Organizational alignment and Program Management
Markets, Customers and Competition are rapidly evolving. Realignment of the organizational structures, roles, processes, policies, procedures and metrics is unavoidable. The SP should provide guidance in organizational design, transformation & change management. Solid Program management and project execution should support all efforts.
Innovation and agility
The SP should be able to drive innovation and offer best practices from across the industry; leverage insight and solutions from its own innovation labs.
The SP should practice agile methodology and should drive agility throughout the organization.
Price/ Costs
Be aware that the price quoted is not the total cost! Some service providers may be considerable cheaper, but also come with substantial burden on the client organization in terms of increased management time and other overhead. The biggest – often unaccounted - expense – is that of missed revenue and business opportunity.
Engagement
Last but not least the SP should really support a collaborative arrangement and offer various pricing and operating models in line with the client’s needs and performance metrics.
Finding the right Service Provider
Not all Service providers (SP) obviously have breadth and depth of experience to provide the mentioned necessary service. Nevertheless, a good number of companies, also called Global Commerce Service Providers, are able to address most of those needs and provide full client solutions.
Accenture Digital, Sapient Nitro, Deloitte Digital, Razorfish Global, Cognizant and IBM GBS are among the leaders of GCS Providers. Strong contenders are Tata Consulting Services, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and others.
Finding and selecting the right Service Provider for your company is both a science and an art. This guide has given you some key pointers. For questions and thoughts, please let me know.
+++
To share your own thoughts or other best practices about this topic, please email me directly to alexwsteinberg (@) gmail.com.
Alternatively, you also may connect with me and become part of my professional network of Business, Digital, Technology & Sustainability experts at
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwsteinberg or
Xing at https://www.xing.com/profile/Alex_Steinberg or
Google+ at https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AlexWSteinberg/posts
No comments:
Post a Comment