Written by
Shelly Sack
Shelly is Manger of Content Programs at AOTMP®

One of the main capabilities that cloud services and Software as a Service (SaaS) provide is making people’s ability to do their jobs more effective. To fully embrace this opportunity, enterprises must look to change management, according to Erik Bosman, change and transformation lead at Wipro Digital.

Change management must lead changes with cloud and SaaS

“Change management should be front and center every time you talk cloud and SaaS,” he said. “The only way to improve is to make things simpler. Revamp and rethink your organization with new functionalities rather than new technologies.

“Success doesn’t depend on technical capability; it needs an organization to change and transform. End users should understand how to use the technology available, collaborate, and communicate in a higher gear. Software as a service is available to anyone in the world, so you have ingredients for how an organization can change in the future.”

He told AOTMP, “The right rhythm that connects anything together isn’t technology, it’s how you run an organization, the people, and deliver work. I would love to see more IT operations in SaaS. I get that an organization still needs a hardcore engineer to start building a solution. But you shouldn’t have to worry about maintenance. Almost like electricity — it is just there.”

Gain in automation, data, flexibility leads to smarter organizations

Cloud services, simply by the connectability opportunities they present, create more opportunities for automation and to receive information through more data. This allows an organization to be more able to adapt and change in a fluid landscape by adjusting the services used in the cloud, Bosman said.

“Eventually, that can be a significant competitive advantage,” he noted. “The more functionalities are ‘hired’ by utilizing SaaS, the more flexible an organization will be. And with that, ‘smarter’ configurable organizations can be built.”

Bosman says many things have changed from how he began in IT as a technical engineer, building things and adapting to existing limitations such as mail servers.

“I feel that we are at a difficult point in the development of IT services,” he said philosophically. “I feel that organizations are starting to embrace that cloud is truly delivering SaaS. This statement won’t raise eyebrows, but organizations overlook the impact.

When it comes to technology management practices around key performance indicators (KPIs), Bosman doesn’t anticipate much will change around the practice of measuring but does anticipate increased performance will be captured.

“The main reason to embrace the new capabilities would be to make people more effective. However, that’s only partially measurable with KPIs,” he said.

He added that cloud services play multiple roles with connectivity, including accessibility of automation capabilities and availability of application programming interface (API). Both opportunities pave the way to increase information knowledge gained through data collection.

Outsourcing technology the way of the future?

Bosman used the following analogy to demonstrate how cloud and SaaS impact the way IT is managed today and will be in the future:

“In the early days, a driver had to know a lot about the inner workings of the car. He or she was also limited by the car and its capabilities. ‘Legacy’ IT makes the same problem visible,” he said. “The systems dictate a lot — how organizations work, how they grow, what can, and what cannot be done.

“With more SaaS, this becomes different. IT will see a shift — less technical to more business process focused. Maybe IT will merge into Information systems (IS), where the connected services provide useful information. Tech will go away like possibly will the car. You lease a car and just drive. Everything else is outsourced.”

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