#8 – Defining the secret sauce will be critical
To thrive in a world where most things can be bought, enterprises will need to double-down on the things that can't
Should we own our logistics or buy it as a service? Should we train our own AI or rely on an open-source solution? Should we staff the project with remote gig-economy consultants or keep it closer to home? As the shift to the everything-as-a-service economy accelerates, tomorrow’s digital enterprises will need new maps to guide strategic make vs buy decisions.
What those maps will point towards will be an understanding of the enterprise as a small and closely protected core, surrounded by fluid and flexible networks of interchangeable parts. The core, which will remain a well-kept in-house secret, will be reserved for the differentiating sources of competitive advantages: the key assets – culture, CX, brand, data, physical assets, infrastructure – that serves to truly set the business apart from competitors. The rest will increasingly be outsourced and run on the back of open global platforms and services.
On the surface then, businesses regardless of industry will come to resemble each other much more. Operationally (systems, software, service providers etc.) they will largely be the same, with the layer of secret sauce on top accounting for all of the distinct flavor. For enterprises going forward, the key will be to define the precise ingredients of that sauce, and double-down on it.
3 tips to be ready
1. Approach “as-a-service” as default
Tomorrow’s future-proof enterprises will understand that while not everything should be bought as a service, most things probably should. Unless a process, system or service is deemed as a potential competitive differentiator (secret sauce), it will typically be both more flexible and resource efficient to source a given solution from global specialized enterprise software/platform as-a-service providers rather than developing it in-house. That way, enterprises will be able to free up time and energy to focus on the levers that will truly make a difference.
2. Re-assess skill sets for a post-legacy world
As legacy systems are replaced with a standardized toolbox of best-in-class enterprise software-as-a-service solutions, tomorrow’s future-proof enterprises will reassess their talent acquisition strategies accordingly. As tools become standardized and hyper-efficient, focus will shift towards the set of personal and intra-personal skills associated with the talent of ”getting things done”. With technical bottlenecks and inefficient legacy debt removed, determination, execution, speed and vision will have far greater room to shine.
3. Prepare for a war of talents on steroids
Traditionally, competition for talent has mostly been industry-specific in nature: agricultural enterprises desired one set of talent, automotive enterprises another. Going forward, tomorrow’s digital enterprises will realize that the old logic no longer applies. In a world increasingly driven by data, AI, cloud, and standardized software-as-a-service solutions, a data scientist up to speed with the latest AI software or a marketer up to date with the latest marketing platforms will be as valuable to a fashion-retail chain as to a bio-tech company. The future competition for the best talents will be global - and on steroids.
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This article is part of our report: 12 predictions for Tomorrow's Connected Enterprise read the rest of the predictions here:
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