co-Creation is a paradigm shift in innovation
Steven ten Napel
CEO
Disruption is forcing your customers to innovate
You like to innovate, and your business model is about offering products and services to a specific market or an industry vertical. While you are focused on serving the perceived or discovered needs of your market, there is a perfect storm of disruption engulfing your customer. Established linear business models are fast disappearing and replaced by collaborative, platform-centric models. Exponential technologies are transforming how your customers interact and conduct business across their ecosystem. Your customers don’t have a choice; they have to innovate to withstand the forces of disruption; if not, they will become irrelevant and disappear in no time.
Are you prepared to support your customers’ innovation?
As an enterprise in addition to meeting your current business needs, you are in a continuous pursuit to convert your best practices into new software IP. As a successful software business, you are constantly trying to balance between supporting current software and executing new technology/product roadmap to align with evolving market/customer needs. Due to a variety of technology, engineering, and people constraints, you are not in a position to do both. If you focus only on supporting current software/business, you might be successful in retaining your existing business (for some more time); but in the absence of innovation, you are certain to lose out and will not win any new customers. In other words, you will be just delaying the inevitable.
Traditional product innovation processes are inadequate
In an era of fast-evolving technology and customer needs, you don’t have the luxury of depending on R&D, in-house innovation, or gradual skilling in new technologies. Traditional processes of elaborate product planning, eliciting customer feedback, and market surveys etc. are insufficient in the age of rapid disruption. Your product innovation must be agile and continuously in sync across all phases (from ideation to development) with evolving/discovered customer needs.
Collaborate, innovate, and co-Create with external stakeholders
If your internal processes are inadequate, you have no choice but to look outward. You must build collaborative partnerships with external stakeholders such as service providers with sophisticated product engineering capabilities. Embracing co-Creation will enable you to leverage your functional expertise, and add complementary strengths of an innovation partner to continuously align with customer and market needs. co-Creation represents a paradigm shift in innovation and has the potential to be a game changer.
Over the past decade, coMakeIT partnered with numerous innovative software businesses from across the world, to co-Create industry-leading applications in multiple domains. We will be happy to talk to you and share our insights and experiences of how co-Creation can deliver continuous business value in a disruptive landscape.
Linear software supply chains are disrupted
Over the past half-century, the traditional, linear software supply chains looked as shown in the below illustration. The key players/entities can be broadly classified as:
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Thanks to the unprecedented pace of technology and business model disruption, this linear software supply chain painted above is disrupted to the core. Entities such as technology platforms, ISVs, or SIs, are no longer central in the new universe, and their place is now assumed by software. In other words, the new universe is ‘software-centric‘ and ‘software-led‘.
Software is the new Sun
In the new, connected landscape, software is ubiquitous and is the new Sun powering a digital universe, which is marked by a few key trends:
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co-Creation, a new paradigm to tackle disruption and innovate continuously
In a landscape, where disruption is the new normal, enterprises and software businesses no longer have the luxury of depending on slow-moving, internal innovation processes. Often, the biggest hurdles are the long lead times needed to develop expertise in new/emerging technologies, and the technological, architectural, and organizational challenges of dealing with legacy applications. This is where co-Creation, represents a fresh, new approach that enables enterprises and software businesses to overcome internal constraints by collaborating with an external innovation ecosystem. co-Creation represents a paradigm shift in innovation and has the potential to be a game changer.
News you can use
IBM Acquires Red Hat for $34 Billion
IBM acquired Red Hat, a major distributor of open-source software and technology, in a deal valued around $34 billion. This deal is not only the largest acquisition ever for IBM, but is also the third-biggest in the history of U.S. tech. IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty stated: “IBM-Red Hat deal is all about resetting the cloud landscape, and becoming the no.1 hybrid-cloud provider”.
Amazon makes its own chips for cloud computing
Amazon announced that its cloud computing division created its own chips, named as Graviton to run customers’ websites and other associated services. Amazon stated that it took on the tricky business of chip design to better integrate the software and hardware inside its giant data centers, allowing it to offer new, cheaper services.
Data volumes set to hit 175ZB with a tectonic shift to the cloud
According to a study by IDC and Seagate, there will be more data in the public cloud than enterprise datacentres or consumer devices as data shifts location. The study also forecasts that the volume of data on earth will increase to 175ZB (zettabytes) by 2025, half of which will be stored in public cloud storage.
A new robot performs surgeries at Groningen hospital
Surgeons at the University Medical Center in Groningen (UMCG) successfully performed the first surgeries with the help of the hospital’s new surgical robot. One of the surgeries performed with the robot, was a complex operation in which a piece of pancreas and the spleen of a cancer patient was removed. The use of the robot enables extremely precise interventions.
Artificial intelligence being designed by biosecurity experts to keep Australia pest free
Scientists are experimenting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to protect Australia from some of the world’s most severe pests and diseases. A trial underway at Western Australia’s Murdoch University uses AI to digitally identify plants, vertebrates and insects suspected to pose a biosecurity threat.
Dublin can become Europe’s RegTech hub after Brexit
Dublin continues to emerge as a financial center with international gravitas. A good FinTech environment, Ireland’s reputation for high standards of technology excellence and proximity to UK and EU markets, make Dublin an attractive choice for RegTech companies. The decision by many major blue-chip tech and financial firms to open their European headquarters in Dublin acted as a catalyst for many RegTech companies to follow suit.
Future of internet is Indian
As of June 2018, nearly 512 million people in India are connected to the internet. This number is projected to explode to approximately 850 million people by 2025, which is more than the combined population of G7 group of nations. Mix of huge investment and rapid growth has turned India into a laboratory, spinning out ideas and products that will shape the internet way beyond India’s borders.
Germany to spend €3bn on boosting AI capabilities
Germany will spend €3bn to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities over the next six years, as part of a belated effort by Berlin to catch up with leading AI nations such as China and the US. The spending pledge is part of a national AI strategy approved by Angela Merkel’s cabinet and Berlin expects federal funding to be matched by the private sector, taking investment to at least €6bn.
Google parent company seeking to eliminate mosquito-spread diseases globally
Google’s parent company Alphabet is working to eradicate mosquito-borne diseases around the world, starting with Fresno, California. Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Alphabet, is releasing swarms of male mosquitoes infected with a common bacterium that will cause their offspring to never hatch.
Analyst Corner
Worldwide spending on Digital Transformation (DX) will be nearly $2 Trillion in 2022
Worldwide spending on the technologies and services that enable digital transformation (DX) of business practices, products, and organizations is forecast to reach $1.97 trillion in 2022, according to a new update to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Semiannual Digital Transformation Spending Guide.
Forrester Predictions 2019: Transformation Goes Pragmatic
As we move into 2019, Forrester predicts that transformation will go pragmatic. Businesses will refocus and tackle important foundational challenges, such as: Organizational readiness, technical debt, data governance, and aging brands. By pragmatically addressing these hurdles, leaders will create a more durable and potent foundation.
Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2019
Gartner identifies the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2019, which have the potential to drive significant disruption and also represent a significant opportunity. Enterprise architecture and technology innovation leaders must evaluate these top trends to identify opportunities, counter threats and create competitive advantage.
coMakeIT Blog Digest
AI powered DevOps for agile software delivery
We are on the cusp of a major disruption in how software is conceptualized, developed, tested, delivered, deployed, and supported. Automation and cognitive technologies will play an increasing role in reducing the scope of manual effort and enhance the reliability and repeatability of end-to-end processes in the software supply chain. It is an excellent opportunity for software businesses to leverage these emerging technologies, achieve true continuous delivery capabilities, and transform into high-performers.
A regenerative approach to legacy modernization
SecuRef is a unique, modernization strategy that enables extraction of business logic into a separate layer, even from monolithic applications; in other words, transforms a 2/3-tier legacy application into a reactive system, without a significant code rewrite.
co-Creation is the North Star and software is the New Sun
co-Creation is a powerful, new paradigm where a business seeks to complement its’ internal core competencies with an external innovation ecosystem; in this context, the technology/software capabilities of the innovation partner are leveraged to create new software IP and offer differentiated services.
Wake up, Table Thinkers!
There is a pressing need for a new conceptual approach to data visualization and abstraction. It is high time for IT professionals to come up with a better way to capture rich complexity of numerous interactions in a digital ecosystem, than just rows and columns, i.e., tables. It’s time for “thinking outside the table”
Customer Buzz
Visionplanner hosts Cloud customer day
Visionplanner, a leading provider of financial reporting and accounting solutions to accountants and small & medium businesses, recently hosted a 2-day customer event in The Netherlands. This Cloud customer day event witnessed very enthusiastic participation from nearly 800 customers from across the Benelux region.
MPO Recognized in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Multienterprise Supply Chain Business Networks
MP Objects (MPO), a unique cloud platform for supply chain orchestration, has been recognized by Gartner as a niche player in their latest Magic Quadrant for Multienterprise Supply Chain Business Networks.
Valsoft acquires Thermeon Worldwide to reinforce global car rental management leadership
Valsoft, a Montreal-based company that specializes in the acquisition and development of vertical market software businesses, acquired Thermeon Worldwide. Thermeon, headquartered in the UK and with regional offices in the United States and Australia is a leading provider of car rental software. Under the agreement, Valsoft will acquire Thermeon’s assets, including its brand name, CARS+.
Keylane acquires Innovita from APG
APG, the largest pension provider in the Netherlands, sold its subsidiary Inovita (and pension administration system Lifetime) to Keylane, which is a market leader in software solutions for insurance and pension markets.
Planon celebrates 10th anniversary of its Hyderabad-based Global Innovation Hub
“We started with a small team 10 years back in Hyderabad and now we are more than 150 people strong”, said a proud CEO of Planon, Pierre Guelen who participated in the celebrations with Planon’s Hyderabad-based employees and their families.
ROAMWORKS Cargo Security solution bags Transport & Logistics Middle East Excellence Award 2018
For the 2nd consecutive year, ROAMWORKS wins Cargo Security Solution of the Year Award 2018. This award is presented by Dubai Airports, and is organized by Transport & Logistics Middle East Excellence Awards.
DeakinCo. Launches Professional Education Centre
DeakinCo. announced the official opening of its new Professional Education Centre in Sydney. This centre provides opportunity for industry to gain greater access to learning spaces for either enterprise or accredited training outcomes.
News about coMakeIT
coMakeIT sets up an Australian subsidiary
We are pleased to announce the setting up of our Australian subsidiary coMakeIT Australia Pty Ltd. This fully-owned subsidiary of coMakeIT B.V. will help us to be optimally positioned to serve the needs of our clients and the fast-growing Australian ISV market.
Durga Prakash Kone joins as Head of Global Sales
coMakeIT strengthened its leadership team with the addition of Durga Prakash Kone, as Executive Vice President & Head of Global Sales. Durga is a seasoned technology professional with an outstanding track record of enabling success of various globally renowned IT businesses.
New customer wins
We are delighted to share that in the past quarter, there are two additions to our customer landscape, Ramtech Electronics and Mprise Agriware. Ramtech is a leading UK-based manufacturer of wireless safety, security, and communication systems used in the construction and leisure industries. Mprise Agriware is a niche provider of business software to the horticulture and agriculture industry.
Agile & DevOps Expo: In October, we participated in the Agile & DevOps Expo event held in London, UK. Sashikanth, our EVP Delivery & Customer Success delivered a well-received talk on AI Powered DevOps for agile software delivery.
Employee Town Hall: In November, we conducted our 2nd all-hands employee town hall event of the year. Our CEO Steven, Durga Prakash and Seshu Loka addressed the employees and shared an update on various initiatives that are underway across the company. On this occasion, a new internal knowledge-sharing portal was launched, which will serve as a platform for best practices and continuous learning.
TaRanG: Our employee engagement and cultural initiative TaRanG, conducted lots of fun events on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussera, which are major festivals across India. We continue to mix work with fun with a slate of activities including singing & art competitions.
10-yr club: Mahender Reddy is the latest employee to have successfully completed a ten-year tenure with coMakeIT. We are extremely proud that even in these times of quick job changes, so many talented people have stayed on with us.
There is indeed something special about us!