The problem with the Uber Analogy in IT Outsourcing

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Recently, I attended a conference in Vegas organized by a Market Leader in Enterprise Software and Digital Transformation. The focus was on innovation, on ordering the strangest and most exotic of animals using your mobile phone, using your voice and not lifting a finger. Behind the effortless ease of the order though sits an elaborate machinery of data push, pull, integration, automation, orchestration. The wheels of digital transformation run agonizingly hard, not long. They assume "ephemeral" demand that can only be met by a carousel of supply and a revolving door of resourcing.

Every month when I travel to the airport, I encounter a friendly but talkative and very new driver when I click for an uber. I tolerate the inconvenience of unwanted novelty every time because of my perhaps archaic attitude, for the convenience of quick transport.

The point and click just in time nature of Uber does not necessarily translate well to the world of IT outsourcing and in particular Service Providers. Much like the recipient of a bouquet of flowers, they want the beauty of new automation, the consciousness of cost containment, tied with the ribbon of delivery excellence. Oh, and the bouquet by the way must fit into the crystal vase of service level agreements.

Then, what price Out-of-the-Box? I want my flowers fragrant if you please, my bouquet must include baby's breath, orchids, exotic long green leaves (I don't know the name, you're the expert) and if you please, frangipani (because I like the name). If Uber delivers with the economy of convenience, IT Service Providers must deliver to scale @ cost with the creativity of innovation.

So, please, quit comparing the chocolate box of the Uber model with the bread-box of IT outsourcing. Our customers want to own and control a Cadillac at the cost of a Ford focus, chauffeur driven of course.