Information Technology

<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q1. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your professional background, particularly focusing on your expertise in the industry?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I have worked in IT, and IT Managed services for over 19 years.&nbsp; I spent 13 years with IBM and was part of the spinoff of Kyndryl.&nbsp; I worked in the Global Technologies Services Business Unit and specialized in Digital Transformation and End User Experience.&nbsp; I did everything, including being a Project and Program Manager delivering managed services solutions in things like VDI and Mobility.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I was the Global Client Technical Architect, calling on over 4000 global clients and helping sell, solve, and price Digital Workplace Services offerings. I was the Global Alliance Executive for the VMware and Microsoft Alliance, and I'm currently the VP of Global Alliances and Partnerhsips for Flexxible, a provider of industry-leading Digital Employee Experience and Desktop-as-a-Service solutions.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q2. Who are the main players in digital transformation, and what market share or position does each represent?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Digital transformation is a very large category spanning various technologies and solutions.&nbsp; For each area, there are separate leaders. However, from an all-around approach, I'd have to say Microsoft is a clear leader here with their integration across all technologies, from the End User set of tools under the Office and M365 License model to the Cloud integrations under Azure and Azure Virtual Desktop with OneDrive integration, security and resiliency tie-ins with Defender and Sentinel. Enabling citizen developers with Power Platform and connecting all these to Teams.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">All the other players in the digital transformation space will have direct connections and integration to Microsoft solutions and seek to bundle with them honestly.&nbsp; The overall goal in digital transformation is to ask if you really need a desktop&hellip;the reality is you need access to apps and data from any form factor, at anytime, anywhere on the planet.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I see Microsoft driving this more so now with the CoPilot rollout and expansion of AI to the end users at an incredible pace.&nbsp; So, I think they are about 70-80% of the players here.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q3. What is the go-to-market strategy for the IT industry?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Currently, IT is driving a three-pronged go-to-market strategy focused on cloud-based solutions that are SaaS-based and deeply integrated with AI in one form or another. The overall play is increased productivity, a drive to OPEX-based business that is scalable and elastic, and overall delivering solutions to clients that are precisely targeted, more efficient, and deliver exactly what they need, how they need it, at a cost that is acceptable. Tied to that is helping clients understand what they need and why.&nbsp; This means that these technology and service provider companies in the industry want to be seen as trusted advisors to their customers who understand their business outcomes and how they can help them achieve industry agility. They are trying hard not to be seen as a hammer, and everything is a nail to them.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q4. How do you use data and analytics to drive continuous improvement within industries?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Data and analytics are the secret sauce that guides where and what improvements are needed and why. Having a complete picture of how all the infrastructure, applications, network, security, and endpoint devices are working together is key to improving the end-user experience, delivering increased productivity, and ultimately increasing revenue and time to market.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Add to that, gaining an exact understanding of a day in the life of end users in your enterprise through data and analytics allows IT and the business to help:</p><ul style="margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Retain talent</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Fix issues before they happen</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Reduce support tickets</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Streamline on-boarding and off-boarding</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Ensure security and resiliency are maintained</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Identify vulnerabilities and bottlenecks</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Reduce costs</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">Define personas for all users</li></ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Given that users' and businesses' roles and responsibilities change and expand every 6-9 months, you need data and analytics to ensure you meet the needs of the enterprise and plot a successful route forward to meet business goals and achieve the expected outcomes and metrics the market and industry are anticipating.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q5. Are there any mergers and acquisitions/consolidations that are expected in the industry?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I would expect to see several M&amp;A events in the industry this year and over the next 2-5 years.&nbsp; The key here will be the cutting-edge AI and security technologies, the top technologies companies will want to integrate into their business and take advantage of.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I would also expect underperforming managed service companies and technology integrators to consolidate and merge in an effort to grow base accounts and get new logo business.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Many top global corporations' IT and manager service providers are set and will not change anytime soon unless a catastrophic event forces a change.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The existing large and medium players need to find a way to differentiate their business models and expand their base of accounts. Reliance on expanding within existing accounts is not a sustainable growth model, and it does not achieve the growth percentages needed to grow at market-expected levels.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In the coming few years, I'd expect many tier 2 and tier 3 managed service providers, cloud providers, and cutting-edge AI and security technology companies to be bought up and merged with large tier 1 companies.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q6. How has pricing for digital transformation services for companies evolved since COVID?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The evolution of the pricing models around digital transformation has shifted to monthly consumption-based models vs. yearly subscriptions and building or expanding existing corporate-owned data centers, focusing on moving from CAPEX to OPEX.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The ever-shifting employee count in companies makes buying IT solutions, infrastructure, applications, support, and endpoint devices complicated for enterprises.&nbsp;</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Moving to a cloud-based model, SaaS solutions, and using best-of-breed enterprise applications that can be consumed and turned on and off is key. This meets the enterprise's need to achieve business outcomes, reduce costs, improve the bottom line, and gain industry agility. The key for companies is finding scalable and elastic solutions and pricing models. This is especially true for regions with less cash to invest in, like Latin America, India, and the APAC region.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q7. If you were an investor looking at companies within the space, what critical question would you pose to their senior management?</span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I would ask the following:</p><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Are you integrating AI into your business?&nbsp; If so, how are you using AI, what are the expected outcomes and problems you see it solving for you, or what improvements do you see it bringing?&nbsp; If you're not investing in AI, why not?</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What differentiated solutions or sustainable competitive advantage do you have that no other industry player has, and how are you capitalizing on this and promoting it globally?</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What are your current sales by geographic region and projected sales over 2, 5, and 10 years?&nbsp; Also, how are you calculating the expected growth, and what are the mitigating factors to achieve your estimates?</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What key strategic alliances and partnerships do you have in place with top industry technologies? Are you leveraging these relationships as a growth catalyst or a necessary part of doing business, and why?</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Do you have a global presence and support network in place, and how mature and productive are they?</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What does your balance sheet look like, and do you have any risky investments or initiatives to be aware of that could threaten 15% or more of your current business?</li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="ui-provider bdb bdc c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t bdd bde w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak" dir="ltr"><em>This article was contributed by our expert </em></span><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/hcipriano/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Henry Cipriano</em></a></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p>