Would you consider your electrical company a strategic technological partner, your water & sewage company a high tech supplier, or perhaps you see your fridge as a sophisticated piece of bespoke refridgeration technology that requires specialist installation, support and care to operate properly?
I didn’t think so because over time, these once high-tech and edge cutting
innovations have become what we perceive them like today; utilities and
appliances.
From breakthrough to infrastructure
Through standardization and harmonization, fierce competition and
groundbreaking ways to package, sell and deliver these everyday features to
you, basically make these technologies ubiquitous. Like air, water and
wifi (try to explain to a 3-year old why his or her entertainment device doesn’t
work on the far side of the garden) ;many of the incredible feats of technology
and civilization we enjoy in the privileged parts of the world technology
undergoes a process where the benefit and value becomes a commodity. We
obtain and purchase it differently over time and even adjust our perception of
it,from strategic to invisible (although still imperative for “everything else”
to work).
In a similar fashion, IT infrastructure for networking, storage, computing power and business applications have undergone a seismic shift over the past 10 years. Where we once considered in-house datacenters, server rooms, IT departments and development teams to be a strategic resource, many of these supporting functions are now considered a grindstone to carry when the accelerating pace of market preferences and competition force most industries and lines of business as the only way forward. Instead, cloud infrastructure, software as a service applications and outsourcing of non-core business functions (finance, IT, logistics, transport, manufacturing) have become the norm, richly rewarded by the market analysts.
A magical customer experience
The idea, concept and understanding of the customer, the customer
experience remain as the competitive edge. These artefacts have something
in common that can be boiled down into a single statement: They’re either
made up of or inherently dependent of data, information. With better data
and better information, you are able to serve your customer better, regardless
if it is through smoother shipping (1-day Amazon Prime, anyone?), superior
quality (LVMH, Apple, perhaps – although not my personal preference), or
competition-breaking pricing (Wish, Alibaba, Costco, Walmart etc).
Sometimes, clever technology can even seem practically magical. On a personal
note, an example of such a moment was the first time using BankID (two factor
authentication via mobile device) when logging into a governmental web service.
It just worked, was really smooth, and quick. Most Swedes today would struggle
to deal with everyday tasks without BankID, technology that works like
magic. You get used to it, and you get hooked. Like Arthur C. Clarke
coined, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic”.
The Fortune 500- or 100-companies of the world could once gain a tremendous
competitive advantage by investing in state of the art data collection and
analytics tools. When applied on a well curated data set, they could provide
insights on how to optimize logistics, purchasing and a positive experience of
customer returns, engage in a meaningful way with the user community. All those
things that we just know that we love when we get to experience it but
sometimes have a hard time pinning down what makes it different from other offers
or suppliers. A good customer experience. Good quality.
Excellent design. Smooth, accessible, easy to use. It doesn’t have
to be cheap. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt but is worth the price at
least. Sometimes we even like to pay a little extra for bells and whistles
knowing that we paid for but also got the premium product or service.
These massive investments required were made into bespoke infrastructure
(servers, data centers), technology platforms (licenses, application expert
teams) and software (applications and company specific development) that could
easily run into a 1MUSD price tag as a starting point, never mind the total
cost. Like any high stakes poker game, to sit down at the big table, you
have to have a lot of chips to throw down in the first place. In some
industries and businesses it isn’t even about finding a ROI; this is what is
known as a “moat”. If your investments in for example technology make the
stakes to enter the market too high and too uncertain for the competition, you
have a virtual monopoly or at least oligopoly in your hands.
Turning on the first lightbulb
Just imagine what the initial investment was to turn on the first lightbulb in New York, to make that first coast-to-coast telegraph connection or first transatlantic phone call. Luckily, we know that economies of scale work in our favour as consumers when tools and technologies become standardized, common commodities. We also know that the power or value of a network rises exponentially. The first user of a fax machine didn’t really see the benefit of it until there were two, three, and 3 million, once upon a time. The struggle to maintain technological superiority still rages, with Google, Amazon, Facebook, TenCent, Alibaba and other global supercompanies going into true AI, quantum computing and setting up their own currencies or global logistics services. The groundbreaking work and investments in technology, however, are ever faster becoming available to broader layers of users in the enterprise market as innovation and infrastructure access grows exponentially.
To draw upon these mechanisms and find ways of making sophisticated information management tools available for a wider audience, Enfo has been working for a long time on finding ways to offer cutting edge application tools and infrastructure, on a format that is accessible, affordable and most importantly of all,scalable, to allow our customers to approach adoption, implementation and operation in a step-by-step manner, where both annual investment budget and sensible ROI calculations can be followed each step of the way.
Laying the Foundations
Some conclusions can be summarised:
- Customers want to be able to start small, with a minimum viable product, and see the real impact in their business before taking further steps.
- This impacts the pricing model, and methodology.
- Customers want to be able to focus on their core business, leveraging every bit of cash flow into the competitive edge they have over other actors in the market, without heavy CapEx investment.
- This impacts delivery format and license management
- Customers want flexibility, agility and hassle-free information management to support their decision making process, and a better way of reaching, understanding and communicating with their customers.
- This impacts the IT landscape planning and choice of technology stack, and partners.
Technology can truly be magical, but sometimes it’s even more wonderful when you don’t have to think about it at all. It just works, like any flick of the lightswitch or your fridge.
Are you looking for ways to leverage technology to benefit your business and outsmart the competition? Get in touch - every step forward starts with a constructive and thorough discussion!
