SIAM co-design: When copy and paste just doesn’t cut it
 

One of the most common reasons organizations fail when implementing SIAM is an incomplete adoption of the associated changes. When talking to customers who have taken this path, it turns out that this is often an outcome of trying to impose a Copy and Paste SIAM approach. Little or no regard is given to managing the path to successful and relevant change for that customer. 

It’s a somewhat obvious fact that is rarely recognized: not all customers are the same. Naturally, this means each one should be treated as a specific entity with individual circumstances, needs, and culture. You cannot simply take the approach used when engaging one and apply it to another. The problem is knowing which actions should be taken and when.

The alternative to the Copy and Paste approach

These days, everyone is looking for a templatized quick fix. But sometimes, this is simply not possible. You have to consider a myriad of variables to achieve optimal outcomes. The following ten actions will enable you to implement a successful SIAM approach.

• Talk to the practitioners

Engage real-world practitioners of SIAM to shape things – theorists do not tend to have the experience to mold the approach from client to client.

• Get involved in shaping it

You need to be involved in the blueprint design process, ideally as part of the design team, to validate and shape the operating model and to ensure it is aligned with your organizational objectives.

• Build the guardrails for success from the get-go

A set of tailored SIAM Design Principles, acting as guard-rails, should be generated, tested, and socialized. To ensure the fundamental objectives and outcomes of the SIAM are shared and accepted widely, they should be implemented very early on with diverse sounding boards within your organization. These sounding boards will be invaluable ‘influencers’ for SIAM. 

• Make it about you and your customers

It is vital that your customers, their diversity, their needs, and their culture are at the absolute forefront of any design. They should be involved in the sounding board discussions from the start. By making early moves here, your organization will be able to harness great momentum for change.

• The hardest part of transformation is people

There needs to be a dedicated focus on managing the change within both the IT organization and its customers. This is the number one takeaway from every SIAM implementation.

• You say “SIAM,” I say “SI”

IT has a lot of buzzwords and variations in how we describe the same things, which can cause confusion, lead to entrenched positions, and result in incorrect assumptions. Agree on the vernacular early in the design process, making it relevant and recognizable to your organization. There is no better way to smash barriers than when everyone speaks the same language.

• We’re not all the same; deal with it

Understand the variances and exceptions within the current ways of working and structures, and why they exist. Don’t assume variation is inefficient until you understand the reasons for it. Perhaps you will discover a new use case that can augment your design.

• What’s in it for me?

Wherever possible, design for automation. If the SIAM is associated with a removal of routine or inefficient manual processing, then you will have a ready-made cohort of change agents who will support and evangelize the transformation.

• What’s in it for my customers?

Focus on how the SIAM will drive a better user experience. Be sure to commit to this in the SIAM design principles. Position the SIAM to be the agent of implementing effective eXperience Level Agreements (XLA). It has a unique role in driving your IT Supply Chain end to end and the best view of the user experience. 

• What’s in it for my CEO?

Build a synergy model that shows and quantifies the benefits driven by SIAM and when they will be realized. If your CEO can see what the improvements are, the magnitude of their benefits, and the roadmap of realizing them, you will have a top-down agent for SIAM to complement those within your organization and around your customer base.

Capgemini

Talk to Capgemini about how our Digital SIAM Co-Design approach puts you in the driving seat for SIAM. Tailored to you and your business, our approach is distilled from our unparalleled, global SIAM experience, which is why analysts recognize us as an industry leader in this space.

“Capgemini differentiates itself from other leaders with its sophisticated SIAM operations and SIAM managed services. Capgemini offers exceptional integration capabilities across technologies and platforms, driving business excellence.”, says ISG.

One of the key reasons for our success is that we do not treat SIAM as a commodity or a copy and paste service. From customer to customer, our SIAM approach is tailored to their specific situation, culture, and needs.

We know that to transform into a more effective, globalized, and harmonized service provider, it takes both industry expertise and experience alongside a deep appreciation of the customer, its own customers, and their needs. 

We’ll work in lockstep with you to build the SIAM outcomes you are looking for and get the buy in from your organization. We’ve helped many clients of all sizes on the journey to SIAM. We’ve learned from each client, mainly that each one is different. So, why copy and paste?