New-age ADM and a new direction for your business

With the advent of new technologies (Digital, IoT, aaS) and processes (DevOps, Scaled Agile), there’s a lot of buzz in the ADM world. While the core operating principles of ADM remain unchanged (a focus on keeping the lights on), everything around the core has changed – and this represents immense potential for your business.

Expanding the boundary of ADM services – expanding opportunity for your business

For most, the key to harnessing this potential lies in selecting the right ADM services partner. It’s imperative that they speak the language of your business. But when you envision this partnership, the real thing to consider is the boundary of ADM work. Is it limited to the fixing of tickets and the solving of service requests (traditional thought) or is there a clear avenue to add value to your business? Should they be order takers or proactive problem solvers?

This is why Capgemini is redefining the boundaries of ADM services – with the goal of helping you embrace and thrive on this digital change. This four-part blog series unearths these change agents and provides a fresh perspective on ADM services. We also look at the new skill sets required and how you can anticipate and prepare for tomorrow.

In almost every large enterprise today, the business value that IT delivers comes exclusively in the form of applications – and everything else is merely incidental. Coupling this reality with the advent of newer technologies (IoT, everything digital, everything Cloud, AI-ML use cases that touch every business area), and newer processes (Devops, Scaled Agile, DevSecOps), it’s essential that you look at classical ADM through a fresh lens.

Seeing ADM services in a new light

While the orthodox view of ADM services has always placed top priority on “keeping the lights on,” leaders in the space are looking to define “new lights” and what it will take to keep these on. And with functionable censors now available at cheap prices, these lights can be turned on when needed – instead left on!

Applications in the Covid era

The applications that have been born or transformed during the Covid era have been designed to be “smart by default.” The usage of Devops tool chains, test automation, containerization, and microservices have all been used in these newborns. Unlike the old monolithic applications, these smart, nimble applications have been built on the principles of fail-fast, fail-early, which are typically used in product startups. Managing these applications, which are a result of extraordinary circumstances, requires new thinking and a completely new perspective on ADM.

Saying “yes” to systems of engagement

Traditionally, a large enterprise’s applications were primarily used as “systems of records” that were backward looking and would capture company business transactions and activities. In today’s context, applications are used as systems of engagement or systems of innovation where a lot of business modelling, analytics, and forward decisions are made using applications.

So, let’s look at some of the characteristics of applications that are typically used as systems of record. Firstly, they usually fall under the purview of the CIO, where the primary objectives are to keep ADM services running, ensure defects are fixed on time, and address and measure service requests quickly on classic parameters like response and resolution times. Essentially, there is no real business value added from these types of services.

ADM for all: why everyone is now an ADM services stakeholder

Now, contrast this with the modern-day ADM services of a large enterprise. With applications at the helm acting as systems of engagement and innovation, the stakeholder is not the CIO, but rather a group of stakeholders spanning the C-suite – CMO, CPO, CHRO, CFO, and the like. These individual decision makers have very different business goals, success criteria, and key KRAs to be measured within the enterprise. Hence, their perspectives and success criteria with regards to IT are completely different.

For example, A CMO needs IT services quickly, looks forward for speedy deployment of new solutions, and would want to influence customers and leverage social media at every possible opportunity. The CTO is focused on getting the latest and greatest technology to the enterprise quickly, building a formidable business case, and churning out proof of concepts and converting them to large scale implementations ASAP. While the CFO almost certainly wants to re-imagine the finance function, increase the CSAT (both internally and externally), and work to enable improved business performance.

This means that ADM services that only focus on the CIO, cost reductions, offshoring, and “your mess for less” are not going to cut it anymore. It’s essential that your ADM services partner brings a comprehensive, business-value-oriented approach to the table. This means an approach that’s focused on the CxOs and creating innovation, agility, and business relevance, along with enabling your enterprise to release products and services to the market a lot quicker.

This is exactly what ADMnext is focused on in 2021. In the next post of this series, we’ll look at the growing nature of ADM services – and how shifting and expanding from an IT services mindset to a technology services one is crucial. In the meantime, to get started on your new-age ADM services roadmap immediately, contact me here.

This blog is authored by Pavan Prabhakar, Senior Director – Solution Architect for ADM deals.