WHITEPAPER SMAC An Emerging Accelerator for Businesses IT industry has synergized Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud technologies to create a very 1 powerful P a g e hyper-intelligent software platform that addresses issues of competitive business environment. SMAC stack, apart from representing Jaya Ghosh technologies that are built on business models, re-structures the technological strength to optimize the operation and [Company address] attain 1 superior P a g e growth. Rajeev Misra Jaya Ghosh [Company address]
CONTENTS: Introduction... 2 Evolution Of SMAC Right Insight, Right Time, Right Place... 3 How to Move Forward With SMAC... 3 Approaches to Implementing SMAC... 4 Step-by-Step Implementation Approach... 4 Individual Implementation Approach.... 5 Conclusion... 7 INTRODUCTION Due to the advent of different social media platforms and mobile technologies, enterprises and customers around the world are cohesively connected like never before. The intensive usage of social platforms and mobile devices has blurred the boundaries between personal, social and business transactions. IT companies have turned this adversity into an opportunity by utilizing the enormous data available across various channels. By converting this massive data into structured and meaningful form, various kind of analysis could be driven. With the help of various analysis tools, organizations can perform real-time interpretations about consumers, competitors, and business trends that are critical to businesses. The synergy created by combined functioning of Social, Mobile, and 2 P a g e Analytics technologies has helped organizations draw valuable insights about their businesses. Cloud technologies extend the service to a new level of maturity, by designing SAAS (Software as a Service) based products that could be accessed from anywhere. Individually each technology can add immense value to a business, but the real benefit could be leveraged by treating social, mobility, analytics, and cloud as a single stack. In short, this technology platform (SMAC), will have a multiplying effect on businesses, which in turn will augment the productivity all across the organization. While the convergence of SMAC technologies is creating enormous opportunities for businesses, a prudent implementation of the SMAC stack is essential to realize its true value. 2 P a g e
However, implementation of SMAC stack is very challenging. This calls for devising a right SMAC stack and implementation approach, which indeed is the key to organizational success. To remain competitive, it is important to understand that every organization is different from the other and so is their ecosystem. SMAC creates an ecosystem that helps businesses to improve their operations while fulfilling their customer requirements with minimal cost and maximum reach. Thus, a tailor-made approach is required for choosing SMAC-enabling technologies, which in turn should be supported by a robust strategy, appropriate risk mitigation measures, and a granular implementation approach. EVOLUTION OF SMAC RIGHT INSIGHT, RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE The convergence of these technologies signifies that traditional way of doing business should be discarded. It means that we don t have to keep resources and information on the same location anymore nor do we need to spend heavily on communication and collaboration tools. Immense growth has been observed in Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud technologies, in the last couple of years. Earlier these technologies grew and functioned independently. But as the industry is expanding its horizons holistically, leading business players have realized the need to integrate emerging technologies in to a stack, in order to gain business advantage. In the initial evolutionary stage, SMAC was customized for SaaS-based dynamic business model as per the SMAC stack. It reshaped the organizational structure by re-aligning processes that brought a real opportunity for innovative solutions. By leveraging on shared IT infrastructure, businesses became more agile, scalable, and seamlessly connected. Eventually, it ensured higher growth margins, formulation of invincible strategies and customer delight. The combined potential of SMAC technologies is estimated to be between $70 Billion to $200 billion over the next three years. - NASSCOM HOW TO MOVE FORWARD WITH SMAC Embracing new technologies, to achieve business objectives, requires a methodological approach. While some organizations have realized profound and positive business outcomes, many others have failed to harness the real value of their SMAC investments. It is however important to understand that the value of SMAC investment is influenced by several external and internal factors such as business model, Operating model, type of business service/product, customer Demographics, Organizational size, applications, processes, integrations, organizational culture etc. A profound understanding of the existing eco-system and business needs of an organization determines the right SMAC implementation approach. To ensure successful implementation of SMAC, a survey on the following key areas, should be conducted: 3 P a g e
Figure 1: Feasibility Study for SMAC This survey provides data related to various internal and external factors. After a meticulous analysis and brainstorming sessions, an analysis report is prepared to transform IT system that is truly aligned with the organizational focal point. This analysis can help organizations to determine which SMAC stack Implementation approach will fetch optimum ROI. The two main implementation approaches of SMAC include the (1) Step-by-Step implementation approach and the (2) Individual implementation approach. After confirmatory recommendation we can surely go-ahead and implement the desired SMAC stack. APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTING SMAC Step-by-Step Implementation Approach This approach is recommended for small organizations where products and services are homogeneous. This approach takes along all SMAC elements in one go. It is relatively easy for a small organization to quickly change and adopt innovative solutions for the workplace. Their customers and vendors are not much diversified so implementation, adoption and enhancements can be completed in a linear manner. This approach involves different steps including assessment, mapping, orchestrate, development and maintenance & support (see Figure 2). 4 P a g e
Figure 2: Step-by-Step Implementation Approach for SMAC Individual Implementation Approach In case of large organizations, it is very difficult to restructure the business model that is spread across the globe. Such organizations have heterogeneous culture spread across its different business divisions and locations. Each of these business division require a customized strategy with considerable financial implication, which makes it difficult to implement SMAC in one go. An organization that has an objective to improve its ROI within a short period of time will have to target and implement those SMAC technologies from the stack that are of greater importance. in such cases, organizations should adopt an individual implementation approach as per their business priority. In some cases, when organizations want to ensure better ROI, they should go for a pilot project. By conducting the pilot project, they can ensure the success of individual elements of the SMAC stack for a department. This can then be extended across the organization in the next stage. The SMAC stack roadmap is created individually as per the ecosystem of an organization. By 2018, more than 60% of enterprises will have at least half of their infrastructure on cloud-based platforms. - Source: Digital Business, Rethinking fundamentals. 5 P a g e
Following are the steps of the Individual Implementation Approach : Figure 3: Individual Implementation Approach 6 P a g e
CONCLUSION SMAC technologies are redefining enterprise IT in this new era. It helps deplete geographical & cultural barriers, minimize risk, and optimize operational costs of an organization. It also helps develop an agile and scalable business model, to improve connectivity amongst different stakeholders (employees, customers, and vendors) through predictive insights. SMAC stack has immense potential. It is expected that by 2020, it would encompass 80% of total enterprise IT investment, worldwide. Figure 4: Survey of Top IT initiatives An effective SMAC implementation approach offers the following benefits to organizations: Sustained key business differentiation Preserved critical processes from legacy applications and reduce application portfolio bloat that leads to simplification and standardization Enhanced application performance, automated business processes, resource optimization and reduced operating cost 7 P a g e
Improved time-to-market, as well as, effort to produce new products and services Quick adoption of regulatory/compliance changes because of re-architecting of applications Integrated enterprise application that improves agility of the system Reduced complexity and embraces strategic directives through an architecture that supports cloud, mobile or virtualized environments Opportunity to exit from non-strategic and unsupported technologies Allowed to partake thoughtful strategic initiatives, with a modernized portfolio It is evident that SMAC stack aligns the business for greater interoperability and seamless interaction between the applications improving business performance to newer heights. 8 P a g e
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rajeev Misra has 13+ years of experience in the IT Services industry and is heading the Pre-Sales team at R Systems. Rajeev holds a Master s in Business Administration from Apeejay Institute of Technology, Greater Noida, India and a B.Sc. (Mathematics and Computer Applications) from Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India. ABOUT R SYSTEMS R Systems is a leading OPD and IT Services company, which caters to Fortune 1000, Government, and Mid-sized organizations, worldwide. The company is hailed as an industry leader with some of the world s highest quality standards, including SEI CMMI Level 5, PCMM Level 5, ISO 9001:2008, and ISO 27001:2013 certifications. With a rich legacy spread over two decades, we generate value that helps organizations transcend to higher levels of efficiency and growth. Quite like the Oyster delivering the Pearl. For more information, visit www.rsystems.com 2015 R Systems International Limited. All Rights Reserved. All content/information present here is the exclusive property of R Systems International Ltd. The content/information contained here is correct at the time of publishing. No material from here may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from R Systems International Ltd. Unauthorized use of the content/information appearing here may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. Email: rsi.marketing@rsystems.com Phone (India): (+91) 120-4303500 Phone (US): (800) 355-5159 9 P a g e