How we're finding new ways to solve the enterprise platform conundrum
When Accenture was deciding which software as-a-service (SaaS) platforms to use to move the management of our core business process workloads to the cloud, the options were mostly straightforward.
Recently, most of the business problems we are looking to solve for are extensions to customer relationship management (CRM), Sales, Finance, IT Operations, Workplace Operations and so on. In today’s technology landscape, these types of business challenges go beyond what platforms like Salesforce, Workday and ServiceNow have perfected as their core competencies. In short, the options seem limitless, creating something of an enterprise platform conundrum—which processes or what workloads should move where??
One of our longstanding partners, Salesforce, markets a platform that can support most organizations, offering everything from CRM to IT Operations management. Another platform favored by Accenture is ServiceNow which can not only manage support for IT, but also support almost any part of the organization. Today, platform choice is simpler; companies require fewer platforms as a result of how the platform landscape has matured and expanded.
For organizations like Accenture that are mature in their cloud journeys, as we select platforms to enable new solutions, multiple, rapidly evolving platforms that are expanding into new areas offer some unanticipated complications as it relates to decision making.
Deciding on a decision framework
We felt that a platform decision framework was the answer to solve the enterprise platform conundrum. Without this type of internally-agreed framework, we knew a disparate environment could result in duplication of functionality across platforms.
To get started, our IT team and our business partners gained consensus that dimensions, such as employee experience, security and reporting and analytics, are foundational components not unique to any platform. We then aligned each of the platforms to the core capability that drove the initial selection of the platform. Then we looked at the scope of what was needed by users and the business and aligned these needs with a specific platform. For example, we agreed that short-term, low usage apps should all be built on Microsoft’s Power Platform—our citizen development and low-code platform.
Our platform decision framework is now the starting point for assessing where we should house solutions and maintain alignment with our overall platform strategy. The diagram below shows what our decision framework looks like—and hopefully could inspire you to set up your own platform framework. We run each of these platforms in a multi-cloud environment and they play on the strengths of each solution.
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Curing the conundrum
Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to developing any framework, but here’s some tips from our experience in managing these complex environments that may help you on your own platform journeys:
It’s worth saying that sometimes you might need to cut your losses and find a different or better solution. But for our own environment, we’re confident that our decision framework is cohesive and has helped us make choices based on a sound strategy. And it has helped us keep the number of platforms supporting any one business process to a minimum; this means we can simplify our environment and make the most of our investments.
Going forward, I’m excited by the idea of handling two areas that are definitely going to affect our standardization of the platform landscape—the metaverse and automation. So watch this space for more on our platform journey—and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’ve questions on your own platform evolution.
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to reach out if you have questions or comments.
Karen Odegaard