For the past 30+ years organizations have purchased technology platforms and deployed them on-premises. Most of these legacy systems create a technical debt that organizations find is a nightmare to manage. Customizations, maintenance, hardware and even version control have put the organization at an operational disadvantage.
In comparison, SaaS and Cloud-enabled technology platforms make it easier for companies to do business because of their flexible personalized platforms: the 3rd platform aspects of mobile, social, big data/analytics and the innovation accelerators of Cognitive/AI, advanced security, ARVR and IoT.
While moving to the cloud sounds easy, it can be a nightmare to manage. It is much more than clicking an application on your phone and starting your workflow. Most technology vendors have yet to simplify the business processes to something this quick and efficient that can also maintain integration points within the technology across the business. While simplicity is the name of the game, cloud business applications are still lagging the consumer-driven world.
The complexity of models from a pure business and staffing standpoint is a huge differentiator, but organizations also need to understand configuration and mapping requirements from legacy systems to new. In large enterprises deployment made simple must be understood to do it right. In addition, testing of the applications and business processes will need to be put in place and managed throughout the implementation, go-live, post go-live and update scenarios.
Removing the nightmare means understanding the solution and what aspects need to be put in place to simplify the journey for your organization. Use IDC’s expertise to understand your SaaS and cloud journey from selection through implementation and post implementation to measuring the impact on your organization.
Ensure the success of your SaaS or cloud-based project with IDC’s new checklist, created from extensive interviews with IDC clients and from recent IDC research.
