Already in 2012 Sourcing the right IT skills and partners was identified as a key element to prosper and benefit in the age of digital disruption (http://bit.ly/1DSgGtP). The opinion expressed by Charles Green of Forrester is in line with the experiences of the pliXos management and confirm the pliXos strategy in IT sourcing.
In his opinion “Digital disruption -- a better, stronger, faster version of disruption driven by rapid technology changes and fueled by consumer desire -- will cause a fundamental transition and upheaval of products in nearly every industry.” pliXos itself is a digital business model in IT sourcing and has the potential to be a disruptor in the IT sourcing/vendor management domain.
As technology advances and new challenges are faced by product development and outsourcing teams. The sourcing teams and internal development teams have to keep pace with rapid changes in the market. One example how pliXos can help is the use of the global B2B Marketplace to identify new service providers with fitting skills within a very short time and at now costs.
There are many companies that can assist from the start to the finish as rightly put in the article by Charles Green of Forrester. Ti identify the fitting ones for a specific user, the pliXos B2B Marketplace as well as the insights of the pliXos team can help. In addition, we can rely on a lot of experienced and very innovative service providers with specific product development skills. A good example is ubiwhere in Portugal with whom pliXos recently issued a joint white paper (http://bit.ly/1QDVJfO). The perfect approach for a rapid prototype development (getting a minimum viable product in place to test new ideas within short time and low budget). This is valid for startups as well as corporate testing innovative ideas. pliXos sees itself in a perfect position to support due to the fact that it is founded by sourcing professionals and SW development experts and is a digital products development company per se.
As put forward by Charles Green of Forrester – “Sourcing leaders must get ahead of haphazard decision process by illustrating the myriad of options in the PDS (Product Development Services) space, and facilitating a structured decision process to determine which providers is the best fit.” This is exactly what the B2B Marketplace, the Outsourcing Advisor and the Tender Manager is aiming at: a well structured decision based on facts, a proper analysis of the clients situation, a comprehensive overview on the providers available on a global scale, the right metrics for a decision etc.).
Charles Green of Forrester also says that in the selection, procurement, and execution stage of engaging with PDS providers, sourcing leaders should consider five paramount questions throughout the process.
We agree with the statements put forward by him and want to emphasize a few key questions
- Is the provider offering vertical and segment-specific services?
- Is the provider making investments in IP, process, and domain expertise?
- How clear is the value proposition of the provider?
pliXos core competence is in finding the provider and helping customers with their governance efforts. This is especially true in case of structuring, implementation and governance of offshore or nearshore SW projects.
As put forward by Charles Green of Forrester forming a relationship with a PDS provider needs to be considered a journey -- one that sourcing leaders will play a central role in. As the complexity of new products and services increases, there will eventually be a move to engage with a broader ecosystem of best-of-breed partners. Using the pliXos Outsourcing Director as a centrally managed SaaS tool eliminates certain obstacles right from the start, identical tools for requirements management, document management, wiki, communication and a well thought governance to identify any issues at the earliest.
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