Everything as a service
Have been recently working, as my previous articles in this blog give an indication, with managed services and often on-demand. Found an interesting article by Owen McCall ”Insource, Outsource, Everything As a Service“ which explains everything my project is going through.
The article mentions some key areas:
- Is the process or functionality being discussed strategic and/or a source of competitive advantage for my organisation? (If NO then)
- Can the provider meet the service levels that I need?
- Are your services cheaper than what I can provide myself for the required level of service?
- Is the provider prepared to share my risk?
I would like to add, ‘If you only need milk , would you buy a cow ?’ 
. Found this interesting analogy related to cloud computing. My apologies if I have offended anyone.
- Would I like to manage the provider’s resources?
- Would I like to own the hardware and infrastructure?
- Would I like to own the software? (If for e.g. CRM?)
- How would I like the commercial part of the agreement to be met? If I do not want to own then I need to buy it as a service.
Owen McCall ends his article with: So, how do you decide? What will you have to pay in order to meet the required level of service?
I would like to add, “How would you like to pay in order to meet the required level of service?”. Are providers and customers mature for a partnership from owning (HW, infrastructure etc.) to where everything is bought as a service?
