Current times require trusted ‘Center of Excellence' partner to deliver cutting-edge tech solutions
Big budget, big team, & multi-year projects delivery model of outsourcing that worked well a decade ago, doesn’t work at all in the current environment. The rapid emergence of new technologies and tools including Distributed Cloud, AI engineering, Cybersecurity mesh, and many more have changed the outsourcing landscape forever. Users have become more demanding about the latest technologies, forcing companies to figure out on staying with the trend while balancing key metrics like budget, talent pool, security, and time to market strategy. This also requires the company to consider “Total Experience’’ along with the customer first philosophy. In today’s world, in addition to customer; the focus is on employee experience, vendor experience, other stakeholders’ experiences matter with the same degree of intensity. The goal is now to improve the overall experience where mutual interest converges. To meet such demand, the technology team now have more challenges than what the delivery team faced a decade ago.
A typical Center of Excellence (CoE) provides deep expertise in specific business operations and technology domains, hands-on experience in the execution of mission-critical projects with a good engineering talent base. CoE provides access to a rich talent pool without having to have any investment overheads. You pay only when you use services.
Before selecting a CoE, the enterprise must check the historical track record of the CoE for its on-time, in-budget quality delivery. The risk associated with assessing performance about the latest technology tools can be minimized based on the deployment of the latest technologies of the past. Though past performances are no guarantee of future success, it’s a better tool than not doing any homework at all.
The concept of CoE of an IT services company revolves around the fact that a team of dedicated engineers provides leadership, best practices, research, support, and training for a certain focus area. The focus area may be Edge Computing, Virtual Reality, 5G, cybersecurity, IoT, or a host of other specialized technology domains. Such laser-sharp focus on specialized technologies makes it an ideal center for businesses to co-innovate customized products or solutions by using the expertise of the IT firm. The enterprise also receives a host of benefits for working with an IT services firm that operates a CoE. Firstly, the core technology work can be outsourced to the CoE partner without any risk as expert engineers can handle the operations without any disruption. Privacy and security are assured when the team at the CoE partner handles the project work due to restricted access. Moreover, customized solutions can be designed, tested, piloted before its full fledge implementation at such a center with the help of expert talent. Usually, outsourcing work to a CoE also saves critical time and cost as most solutions can be developed and implemented within a short span. Also, urgent projects in a specific domain can be delivered in record time by such a center.
Some traditional development center organizations are trying to accelerate their growth in this space through acquisitions. For example, earlier this year, Cognizant acquired Magenic Technologies to gain strategic advantage in areas like AWS, Azure, VMware Tanzu, Dynatrace and Google Cloud Platform. Likewise KBR acquired Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd. for its speciality with cybersecurity among other things. KBR paid 14.7 times the EBITDA for such acquisition.
At ITShastra, we excel in providing specialized technology solutions to our clients through our Center of Excellence. With two decades of experience, we enable our clients across the spectrum to navigate through their digital transformation journey. We have unmatched experience in the BFSI sector with more than 3 million hours of hands-on turn-key project management experience. Our marquee client list include many Fortune 500 companies in the residential mortgage services of the USA. Our CoE team of dedicated engineers and support staff stands for on-time delivery with cost efficiency.
As the COVID pandemic accelerates the pace of digitalization, enterprises must adapt to the new environment for their very survival and growth. In this context, the right technology partner is a must to make this digital transformation journey seamless. For making this happen, IT firms with CoE can play a critical role and are the best fits for the outsourcing world.
By Sanjeev Dahiwadkar
CEO, ITShastra