How to identify a strategic technology platform
Technological innovation suppliers and consumer organisations often tout the power of technologies platforms in driving business agility and client satisfaction, but not all platforms are strategic in mother nature.
Speaking at the Forrester Technology & Innovation APAC 2022 conference, Ashutosh Sharma, vice-president and analysis director at Forrester India, said even as strategic platforms assist organisations grow to be “future-fit” and should have the most focus and finances, the time period system has turn into overused.
“In an era wherever everybody’s contacting their software or product or service and assistance a platform, you truly don’t know how to distinguish a strategic system from a non-strategic system.” Sharma reported in a recorded presentation.
In Forrester’s check out, a strategic system has to be wide more than enough for it to be used by an total organisation, instead than a one section or purpose, and assistance a huge array of small business results.
An enterprise resource preparing (ERP) system may well in good shape the invoice, but Sharma sounded a phrase of caution on applying the strategic label on these units, which are normally presented by big suppliers that are capable of supporting several company capabilities.
“You’ll conclude up putting all your eggs into one particular basket, developing lock-in and silently struggling from the guarantee of function updates which consist of points that thousands of customers forward of you have voted for but are of no value to your business,” he claimed.
Strategic platforms, Sharma reported, ought to be open, modular and extensible through lower-code and no-code development, with a loaded ecosystem of technological innovation add-ons and companions that even further empower the platforms to be prolonged to third functions.
Whilst the technical factors of a system can be evaluated below the hood, organisations ought to also contemplate considerably less clear aspects, this sort of as a supplier’s innovation chops, its licensing practices and how it is letting other associates to contribute to its system, Sharma reported.
“The truly open up platforms make it uncomplicated for builders throughout communities to collaborate, and share code and ideas, reducing the danger of seller lock-in,” he claimed, adding that an open up platform is also no significantly less safe as open communities can discover and take care of security issues more rapidly.
But in some instances, identifying a strategic platform is not clear-cut, even if there is a person that ticks all the suitable bins.
“Sometimes, you might go to a comparatively unproven spouse or system that does not satisfy most of your specifications since you bought into its solution roadmap and have the ability to condition that roadmap as effectively,” Sharma stated.
When it comes to budget challenges, Sharma urged organisations to aim on benefit and not just the expense of their strategic platforms.
“Strategic companions will do the job with you to build the ideal charge model because you do not have an infinite spending plan and you require to create some thing that conforms to your spending budget and requirements,” he reported. “If you focus on benefit, your CFO will not bug you much, even if the value may be higher because you are driving worth for the business enterprise.”
Key procedures
To realise the comprehensive worth of a strategic platform, organisations will need to embrace some important methods, significantly agile advancement and DevOps, so that they can build and compose abilities to suit their requirements, reflecting what helps make their system strategic in the to start with area.
And even though undertaking so, they need to continuously undertake an “outside-in” frame of mind to guarantee what they are developing are usually aligned with company outcomes, Sharma explained.
Provided the versatile, modular and open character of strategic platforms, organisations will also have to have sound governance tactics, but not to the extent of stifling creativeness and innovation.
“Governance should not be way too free possibly, so you can keep away from producing a wild wild west circumstance exactly where it becomes difficult to manage what is going on,” Sharma mentioned.
Eventually, possessing the proper engineering and consulting companions, as nicely as metrics that matter will go a prolonged way to quantify the value of a strategic platform.
Sharma claimed complex metrics that use in an software-centric entire world will not utilize to platforms, and that organisations ought to think about business enterprise metrics this sort of as income development, client experience scores, staff retention and profitability.
