There are some days where things go quite different than expected.
Last week, I was invited to take part in a roundtable meeting with some Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). I was representing Cordys, and, being a vendor of software for ISVs, I wanted to participate in meaningful but a small role. It was a relaxing drive to the venue, filled with good music and an inspiring morning ahead of me. No presentations, no demonstrations, just listening to the customers.
But all this changed completely after a phone call by one of my colleagues. “Hi Henk, we have a problem” he said. “The external moderator was involved in a minor accident and he’s now in the hospital.” “Can you act as the moderator and lead the roundtable discussions?” As you can imagine, the remaining kilometers to the venue were full of stress and last minute preparations…
That’s how I arrived at the beautiful venue near the Loosdrechtse plassen, a lake situated not far away from Amsterdam. The scenic beauty of the lake provided the perfect backdrop to discuss several aspects of Cloud Computing for ISVs. The sight was even more pleasant when we could see people rowing their boats, defying the rainy and cloudy weather. Though the weather was little unpredictable, our discussions were planned with military precision (worthy of ‘The White House’ if I do say so myself)
After I introduced myself in my new role as the moderator of the roundtable, we started the day with an introduction to the attendees. After a short Cordys presentation by my colleague Jeroen Schinkel, we continued our program with a presentation on the ‘Corporation Cloud’ from Bertus Meijer, Product Manager at NCCW. NCCW modernized their existing offering and use Cordys’ Business Operations Platform as the foundation for its award winning, ‘Corporation Cloud’. The ‘Corporation Cloud’ is a SaaS offering for the social housing industry. It was heartening to see how this ISV was able to connect several stakeholders in the supply chain to let them collaborate on core processes that are integral to their business.
An interesting part of the presentation was the video example of the ‘repair process in the cloud’. In this short video, we got to see how an occupant of a house started this process by registering a broken tap on the website of the social housing corporation. The ‘incident’ could be easily picked up by one of the constructors, whose planning system was connected to the ‘Corporation Cloud’. After this request has been delegated to a repairman on the road (through his smart phone), the occupant gets a notification by SMS or email about the time he or she could expect help. When the tap is fixed the incident would be updated in the systems of both the social housing corporation as well the constructor. This was a fantastic example that showed us how, through the Corporation Cloud, various parties were able to instantly collaborate in solving a repair request, which is a common occurrence in the social housing industry.
The sequel to the presentation provided us more insights in the business case behind the ‘Corporation Cloud’ and the important role of Cloud Computing. This led us to an open discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the Cloud for ISVs. We had some enlightening discussions around the topic of realistic implications of cloud for ISVs. We concluded that Cloud is not a solution by itself, but when applied appropriately, it could lead to a high degree of efficiency, scalability and collaboration.
Another take-away from the discussion was a remark when someone asked, “are we not going back to where we came from, if we offer standardized cloud solutions to our customers, without giving them the ability to make changes and be unique?” To this, there was an equally thoughtful reply when another person responded with the concept of Cloud Brokering. A Cloud Broker is an independent service provider that offers their own and third party services that could be assembled to a customized solution for a specific customer. We often use the illustration below to show the value of those ‘mass customized’ solutions and the way Cordys could enable service providers and ISVs to rapidly develop and market tailor made process-oriented Cloud solutions.
By participating in the discussion we could understand how ISVs are using cloud technology to adapt, embrace and exploit new business models such as cloud and mobile to respond to emerging customer needs. Some of them already value Cordys as an enabler to offer new value propositions, service capabilities and revenue opportunities by effectively and easily customizing the offerings to needs of the customers.
As the roundtable concluded, the attendees realized that they had productive interactions throughout the day and they were enriched with clear thoughts and new ideas. At the close of the session, all the attendees received a Cordys umbrella to ‘protect’ themselves from the ‘after-effects’ of the ‘natural’ cloud: the rain!
The post Cloud Computing for ISVs – Notes from a Roundtable appeared first on Business Process Innovation - Cordys Blog.