People matter first, technology is later

In digital transformation, everyone talks about people, processes, and technology to be actively considered and orchestrated for executing the transformation. However, I see a huge anomaly in the IT services industry. Though it is supposedly people centric/ people-based, the differentiation is largely done based on the tools used and I find this to be quite strange. In the physical world, plumber or an electrician, individual skills are more valued than the tools that he brings to work, of course he/ she needs to have the right tools. Similarly, anyone who can hold a 'brush' does not become a Van Gogh nor who can type in 'word' become a Shakespeare.

Taking people first

Recently in a conversation, I was asked a question how the procurer of the service can evaluate the IT service provider for them, I said look for the following three in that order,

1. What is the approach that the provider is using to train its people and what are the skills that they are trained in, including development methodologies, organizing mechanisms, decisioning models and technology?
2. How are the commercial constructs and engagement models being created, how participative is it and how adaptable it is to evolving needs?
3. Quantum of trained and experienced people that they have on the technology, along with the tools of trade that they bring in to deliver services at highest quality possible.

Essentially, the right set of culturally aligned people are available who come with appropriate tools for the job.

Similarly for the provider side, while initially engaging with the client to demonstrate the approach to creating value for them through the services offered, the information flow should be structured as,

1. Demonstrate empathy for the client's objectives and bring out the OKRs of significance to the business and the stakeholders involved.
2. Tell them about the journey with timelines to meet the objectives with how it must be funded, what value will be realized at various stages in the journey so that increasing value is delivered.
3. Discuss the engagement and governance structure to help the organization through the transformation phase with least resistance, how various stakeholders must be engaged to make them participative in the change
4. Of course, describe the beautiful technical architecture, it is resiliency, scalability, what tools would be brought in to carry out the work faster with less risk and more.

In short, it is not the technology service that is sold, it is your ability to work with the people who matter in the client organization and help them achieve their goals.

Work with a partner mindset and not vendor

In the technology services sourcing market space, when the client's approach service providers as supplier in their minds, it mostly turns to race to the bottom trying to get as lowest price possible and mostly comprising on the joint value that can be created. Whereas when the client approaches the service provider as partner, the conversation elevates to a vastly different level in which the focus is on consistent joint value creation, mutual respect, integration of culture and people while trying to be at optimal cost.

It would be preferable to look at the partnership model, as the pace of innovation is high in the technology space and collaborative working for value creation is more important than cost predictability of a traditional outsourced managed services model with a vendor.

Technology is only an enabler in both hyper-personalized and population scale products & services

Superiority of technology matters as well, for example consider premium Swiss watch be it Rolex, Omega or IWC which is pinnacle of technology in time keeping, but its value comes from being built and delivered by the finest craftspeople with an engineering process obsessed on perfection. On the other end a smart watch from Apple or Samsung takes quite a different approach to design and build with mix of technology and people, and has changed the market space itself, with lot more functions and features. However, the latter is easily copied across 100s of smart watches brand and prices dropped by as much as twenty times.

Then there is an argument on scalability of the supplier, Swiss watch manufacturer cannot make one hundred million pieces a year while a smart watch manufacturer can easily produce that number. There is excellence in engineering across the spectrum starting from niche collector's category to mass production, with quite a varied skillset in building the products on that range.

To whichever category of customers as a producer/ supplier you serve, if the people in the value chain who are creating the product/ delivering the service, really determine the quality of the product/ service, the process and technology are aids only. So, bring out the change in making the people/ workers as inclusive as possible and make them important in the value creation.

There are large e-commerce companies and hi-tech companies who claim to have ensured quality of the product/ service with technology and people involved in production/ operations are less important, but as a consumer how comfortable is a person buying the product or using the service. Personally, I look more at people involved in creation of the product/ service with excellence in technology.

Note: These views are purely personal.