Message from CEO

What software transformation really means

Most software businesses, especially those that have been around for a while will readily acknowledge that the only way they can survive in a disruptive landscape is by transforming and future-proofing their core software. Question is what sort of transformation are we talking about? The answer is neither simple nor binary. Transformation could mean different things for different businesses. The transformation trajectory and strategies to achieve it will be influenced by numerous factors including the nature of legacy challenges, the pace of technology adoption in the industry vertical, and competitive landscape. In this newsletter, my colleague Seshu Loka will present Apps, Saas, Platforms – a playbook for software transformation and outline the possible strategies one could pursue to achieve leadership and excellence.

What software transformation really means

Steven ten Napel
CEO

Contents
Thought Leadership
News you can use
Analyst corner
Blog Digest
Customer Buzz
News about coMakeIT

For any software business, there are three broad dynamics at play: experience, scale, ecosystems. Irrespective of your domain and legacy challenges, every software product/application must transform and pursue one of the following trajectories to achieve leadership and success:

Domain Leadership,
Technology Leadership, and
Market Leadership, which is a combination of domain and technology excellence.

Based on our extensive expertise in building enterprise-class applications for global markets, we developed a proprietary playbook – Apps, SaaS, Platforms (ASP), to help in choosing and executing the right strategy for software transformation. Whether it is a new product or an existing application in need of modernization, you will need a mix of strategies to achieve your objectives; you cannot have just an Apps strategy, or SaaS strategy, or a Platform strategy. It’s essential that you have a mix of all three strategies, as collectively they help in achieving technology, domain, and market leadership. Choice of strategy could vary based on the product legacy, current challenges, competitive landscape, and future opportunities. We developed a 2-dimensional product maturity canvas (shown below), based on technology and functionality, to help plot typical transformational trajectories.

Click Here to Zoom

Domain Leadership

If you have a legacy software product that is falling behind the competition, primarily due to a gap in meeting the evolving needs of customers/market, then this is an ideal approach. You can implement an incremental strategy to achieve domain leadership and continuous alignment with customer needs as outlined below:

Expand core functionality to address immediate customer/market needs
Integrate with 3rd party applications to expand the offering
Target functional decomposition to support mobility and interconnectivity
Build additional capabilities focusing on providing data-driven insights
Leverage emerging technologies that enable rapid application expansion and lead to enhanced product adoption
Increase release cadence and achieve rapid delivery of new functionality through low code platforms and CI/CD

Technology Leadership

If your product is suffering primarily due to tightly coupled architecture and legacy technology stacks, or, if one of your future goals is to add more capabilities faster – either in an organic or inorganic way, then this is an approach that will prepare you to overcome those constraints and achieve technology leadership.

Start with decoupling of technology layers
Achieve service decomposition and use APIs and microservices for communication between layers and with other components
Adopt modern frameworks, event-driven paradigms, and flexible architectures to transform into a reactive and adaptive application
Support mobility and cloud deployment
Leverage emerging technologies for a differentiated offering

Market Leadership

It will be naïve to assume that one can achieve domain leadership without technology change and vice versa. As I stated upfront, transformation choices for software businesses are rarely binary, and very often, the path to success calls for an approach that achieves both technology and domain excellence. In the next section, we present our transformation playbook, ASP: Apps, SaaS, and Platforms, which offers multiple approaches to transform your software business and achieve market leadership.

The playbook helps you define the roadmap for Apps, SaaS and Platforms vision of your product. Over the next few months, we will share our insights and expertise to guide the choice and execution of appropriate modernization strategy, and help in the adoption of the right technologies.

Appification

Appification implies a lot more than a mobile App, and for any legacy application, this is one of the important milestones towards modernization and transformation. As you can see from the quadrants depicted in the above image, this involves elements of technology and product modernization, and Apps are characterized by the following features:

Functional decomposition with separation of concerns
Self-contained, independent business functions
Mobility, pervasive spread, and personalized experiences

This enables increased focus on users and also lead to an increase in usage of the software with very specific functions. It also enables continuous increments to be delivered with minimum operations lag.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

This is perhaps the 2nd key milestone in the modernization and transformation journey of any software application. A SaaS application is the pivotal point, and is characterized by the following additional features:

Deployed on cloud
New revenue model
Modern frameworks and flexible architectures

Platform

This is the highest milestone in the modernization journey of any software application, with two possible scenarios. You can either evolve as a platform that is used by other businesses to build and offer differentiated applications, or you can be part of an ecosystem, where you coexist and deliver business value as part of a platform. A platform has the following differentiating features:

Open, collaborative systems
Deliver continuous business value
Support new business models/ecosystems

The playbook enables you to map this journey based on the current business drivers and future organizational goals. I would like to reiterate that you will need a mix of Apps, SaaS, and Platform strategies to achieve your modernization and transformation goals. Those that have it already will thrive and those that haven’t, must start ASAP. We are ready to help!

News you can use

Google and Amazon may face US antitrust investigations
News reports indicate that US Justice Department (DoJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are actively investigating potential antitrust violations by technology giants Google and Amazon. Apparently the two federal agencies have split oversight of these companies, with FTC investigating Amazon and DoJ taking on Google. The regulators actions are in response to numerous complaints of monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour by these giants and comes close on the heels of EU levying a record fine of $5.1 billion on Google for abusing its dominance in the smartphone industry with its Android OS.

U.S. blacklists China’s Huawei
The Trump administration hit Chinese telecoms giant Huawei with severe sanctions, adding another incendiary element to the U.S. China trade dispute just as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would visit China soon for more talks. The Commerce Department said it was adding Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and 70 affiliates to its ‘Entity List’ – a move that bans the company from acquiring components and technology from U.S. firms without government approval.

Australian businesses facing talent crunch amid scramble to transform
Australian businesses will create 35,000 new IT roles this year, as they scramble to transform operations and avoid being disrupted out of existence, a new survey has found. But there will be a significant amount of job churn, with one in 10 businesses predicting that some roles will be made redundant as a result of digital transformation.

Foursquare buys Placed from Snap
Foursquare, the location tech company acquired Placed from Snap Inc. on the heels of a fresh $150 million investment led by The Raine Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Placed is the biggest competitor to Foursquare’s Attribution product, which allows brands to track the physical impact (foot traffic to store) of a digital campaign or ad.

Alibaba pumps $100 million into Vmate to grow its video app in India
Chinese tech giant Alibaba is doubling down on India’s burgeoning video market, looking to fight back local rival ByteDance (TikTok), Google (YouTube) and Disney (Hotstar) to gain its foothold in the nation. The company stated that it is pumping $100 million into Vmate, a three-year-old social video app owned by subsidiary UC Web.

German chipmaker Infineon to buy US rival Cypress for €9 billion
Bavarian chipmaker Infineon is planning a multibillion-dollar takeover of United States competitor Cypress Semiconductor, the two companies said in a joint statement. Infineon said it would pay $23.85 (€21.35) per share, a 46% premium on Cypress’ average share price between mid-April and the end of May. That amounts to a €9 billion enterprise value, by far the most significant acquisition in the Bavarian firm’s 20-year history.

Grocery startup BigBasket becomes India’s newest unicorn
India has a new unicorn after BigBasket, a startup that delivers groceries and perishables across the country, raised $150 million for its fight against rivals Walmart’s Flipkart, Amazon and hyperlocal startups Swiggy and Dunzo.

Analyst Corner

Consumer Spending on Technology to Reach $1.3 Trillion in 2019
Consumer spending on technology is forecast to reach $1.32 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.5% over 2018. According to the inaugural Worldwide Semiannual Connected Consumer Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC), consumer purchases of traditional and emerging technologies will remain strong over the 2018-2022 forecast period, reaching $1.43 trillion in 2022 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.0%.

Healthcare Insurance Needs An Overhaul — Fast
The healthcare industry is being disrupted. Emerging tech and a widespread access to data will enable customer profiling, and healthcare reform and disruptors like Amazon entering the market add fuel to the fire. As the industry that ranks fourth to last in Forrester’s CX Index – a survey of more than 110,000 consumers across 300 brands in 19 industries – it’s clear that healthcare insurers have work to do to keep up with members’ evolving expectations. Forrester believes that an overhaul of the health insurance industries is needed now for insurers to survive.

11 million vehicles will be equipped with V2X communications in 2024
More than 11.2 million light vehicles equipped with some form of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) system will be produced globally in 2024, representing 12 percent of the light vehicle fleet, based on new research and forecasts from business information provider IHS Markit. It is expected that production of light vehicles equipped with V2X systems will be just under 15,000 units in 2019 and will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 277.5 percent in 2024.

coMakeIT Blog Digest

Software doesn’t age well
In a disruptive landscape, you can’t compete with aging stacks. Customers demand modular applications with flexible, modern architectures to support evolving business models. In the absence of modernization, you will not be able to leverage the power of emerging technologies and will fast become extinct like a dinosaur. At the same time, any modernization should be meaningful, and holistic.

Wake up, Table Thinkers!
IT has not given business owners a better abstraction than tables. First design your information object, then build a screen on top of it, and then please add some business logic. And take your pick: whether with “good old” 4GL tooling, modern day low-code platforms or coding based Entity frameworks – all of them take the basic “table” as starting point.

Business-value driven approach towards legacy application modernization
There is no universal panacea for legacy modernization, and different strategies are designed for different scenarios. You must choose the most optimal strategy that will enable you to derive the maximum business value, while mitigating your risks. Waiting on a ticking time bomb is not an option either, so put on your thinking hats and get started with the journey of modernizing legacy applications in your portfolio.

Legacy Modernization Imperative: Do or Die
To survive and thrive in a fast-changing digital landscape, application modernization should cover the entire product life cycle, use modern software architectures, and focus on end-to-end business capabilities. Legacy modernization must not be approached with a narrow perspective and must be continuous in nature. Legacy modernization is no longer a choice, but a vital business imperative. It is either Do or Die.

Application Modernization: Myths vs Reality
Challenges of legacy applications and the technology/business drivers for modernization are well known. Yet, there is no silver bullet for application modernization. It is important to understand the pros and cons of various modernization approaches, distinguish between myths and reality, and to formulate a holistic strategy for creating future-ready applications.

Legacy, once a burden, is now a new opportunity to transform
Modernization of legacy software applications cannot be achieved with a uni-dimensional approach. Legacy modernization has multiple dimensions, and one must choose the right strategy, based on the current state of the legacy software, competitive drivers, and broad business context.

Modernization is key to avoid the ISV death spiral
In a fast-changing technology landscape, where digital disruption is the norm, status quo is not an option for a traditional ISV, as it will lead to irrelevance, extinction, and a certain death. To avoid this death spiral, ISVs must embrace technology modernization and transform their legacy software into digital native applications, that can be deployed either as an enterprise SaaS or as part of a digital platform.

It’s never too late to modernize your legacy applications
It is futile to struggle with legacy frameworks, and delay taking the difficult, but necessary decisions on modernization. The risks of inaction and delay could be catastrophic, and the potential rewards are too obvious to ignore. It’s never too late to embrace change!

Customer Buzz

MP Objects CEO Martin Verwijmeren Accepted into Forbes Technology Council
MP Objects CEO Martin Verwijmeren has been accepted into the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. Martin was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

EFMA Accenture nominates Marketplace of CCS for Innovation in Insurance Award 2019
CCS Marketplace has been nominated for the EFMA Accenture Innovation in Insurance Award 2019. Together with 8 other innovations worldwide, Marketplace has been nominated in the Insurtech category. Marketplace is the open ecosystem of CCS where innovative third-party solutions can easily be purchased from an AppCenter. This allows insurers and the intermediary to innovate their services and optimize processes faster.

DeakinCo. is Diamond Sponsor of Melbourne’s Future Work Summit 2019
DeakinCo is Diamond Sponsor for Melbourne’s Future Work Summit 2019. The summit was a great chance to hear from an exciting line-up of industry-leading speakers and panellists. The focus of the summit was on emerging business, future tech and helping people to stay ahead of change in their careers and in their business.

News about coMakeIT

TaRanG: As part of our continuous drive to make coMakeIT a fun place to work, we hosted numerous employee engagement activities over the past quarter. These initiatives included playing host to our employees kids, competing fiercely in the T20 cricket league, and ushering in the Telugu/Kannada new year.

Kids week: We welcomed children of our employees to visit us along with their parents during summer school break. Kids from all age groups participated with lots of enthusiasm in activities ranging from painting competitions to exploring how basic science works with the help of toolkits, etc.

Ugadi celebrations: The arrival of Ugadi, the traditional new year for people across the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka was marked with gaiety and fun. Highlight of the celebrations was a competition for making the ‘Best Ugadi Pacchadi’, which is a traditional dish made to mark the arrival of a new year.

Cricket League: Summer is also the time to indulge in our national pastime, Cricket. We grouped ourselves into multiple teams and competed aggressively for the bragging rights of ‘coMakeIT Cricket champions’. Needless to say, that was loads of fun that reminded us to be fit and healthy!

Kids week: We welcomed children of our employees to visit us with along with their parents during summer school break. Kids from all age groups participated with lots of enthusiasm in activities ranging from painting competitions, exploring how basic science works with the help of toolkits etc.