The Future of Applications - Three Strategies for the High-velocity, Software-driven Business An Accenture Technology Point of View
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
The Future of Applications Three Strategies for the High-velocity, Software-driven Business An Accenture Technology Point of View
Welcome to the high-velocity, software-driven world 2
PREFACE
Today’s business world is increasingly high “The Future of Applications” defines
velocity and software driven. Sooner or three powerful strategies that can
later, these two realities will push every help companies address the velocity
company to rethink its potential and of technology change and become
reinvent itself. In this point of view, we successful, software-driven businesses. By
urge companies to begin that reinvention mastering these strategies, companies can
today, starting with a fundamentally new accelerate applications—including custom,
approach to the business of applications. ERP and SaaS—to the pace of business.
Bhaskar Ghosh
While some aspects of technology We take it a step further by defining
Group Chief Executive are moving with incredible speed— a new operating model that takes
Accenture Technology Delivery social, mobile, analytics and cloud technology “out of the box.” In today’s
as well as wearables, crowdsourcing business environment, technology
and the Internet of Things—business can no longer be a specialty function.
processes and applications lag behind. It must be a competency that every
In a recent Forrester survey, just 17 business leader embraces.
percent of information technology
(IT) executives said they deliver fast We hope you find the possibilities
enough for the pace of business.1 as intriguing as we do. It’s time
to stake out a new competitive
IT is not alone in its struggles with frontier with applications.
these new realities. Business is also
challenged to cope with the speed of
change. Now, more than ever, software
strategy must be part of your business
Paul Daugherty strategy. This is not just a matter of
Chief Technology Officer sustaining competitive advantage; it’s a
matter of survival. It should prompt every
business leader to ask some important
questions: Is software playing a strategic
role in my company? Are we using it to
proactively drive disruption, to create new
markets, customers and opportunities?
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
New technologies are accelerating the pace of
business, but existing business and IT approaches
lag behind. Companies need to fundamentally
redefine the business of applications.
The velocity and volume of technology Think about it: Bill Ford, executive
change today are rocking companies, chairman of Ford Motor Company,
industries and entire societies to their envisions radically new business models
core. One recent research report found for the auto industry in the age of
that two-thirds of business executives connected vehicles. Ford is working
believe their organization is currently to ensure it is not simply a hardware
being disrupted by information technology manufacturer in the future, with
and 72 percent agree that they will be “all the value elsewhere,” but also a
disrupted over the next 12 months.2 provider of software-driven services
that improve customer safety and
At the same time, software is now a key increase transportation efficiency.3
driver of differentiation and innovation.
It’s a gateway to new services and
revenue streams, seamless customer To succeed amidst this
experiences and expansion into new disruption, companies must
markets. It’s redefining every industry.
respond by changing the
way they design, build
and use software.
4 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The challenge of aging IT
and accelerating business
What stands in the way of such The pace of change and rising In contrast to today’s monolithic
fundamental change? First, IT is showing complexity are also daunting to many
its age. The fact is, many companies IT organizations, which have to track
applications, future applications
are trying to compete in the world of more technologies and types of solutions need to be more nimble.
social, mobile, analytics and cloud with than ever before. Some estimates predict Companies that begin their
applications that were designed for that more than 50 billion “things”
another era. Monolithic applications will be connected to the Internet by
reinvention now will benefit
are often built from the ground up— 2020,5 and the number of partners and from applications that can adapt
slow to implement and slow to change. providers a company must interact to the pace of business, manage
About 70 percent of today’s business with continues to expand. Microsoft
transactions are still processed in COBOL.4 alone already has more than 640,000
rising complexity and open
IT organizations typically spend more partners in its business ecosystem.6 doors to more interconnected
than 60 percent of their budgets just business environments.
maintaining existing systems, leaving
precious little time for innovation.
Weight of Rising application Expanding array
legacy complexity of partners
70%
of business
50 billion
“things”
Microsoft has
640,000
transactions are will be connected partners
still processed to the Internet in its ecosystem
in COBOL by 2020
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5
New application strategies
to shape your future
Three new application strategies—liquid, intelligent and connected—
can help you shape your future and lead your industry.
LIQUID APPLICATIONS: To compete with CONNECTED APPLICATIONS:
agility and speed, companies can no longer To grow revenue and defend their
afford complex, lengthy and expensive market position, companies will need to
coding of applications, or massive, create new competitive frontiers using
multi-year system implementations. software. Doing so requires opening
What’s needed is a new way to build multiple dimensions of application
software—faster, flexible and more connectivity—with business partner
liquid—with reusable components that and customer ecosystems, as well as
allow for rapid assembly of applications with the rapidly growing Internet of
in support of dynamic business needs. Things that is essential to delivering new
This approach requires modular services. Connected applications will run
architectures, next-generation integration everywhere—not just on phones, tablets
techniques and a cloud-first, mobile- and PCs, but also in manufacturing,
first mindset. Application programming pipelines, industrial equipment, cars,
interface (API) architectures underpin wearables and more—to convert
liquid applications, opening them up to products into product-service hybrids.
flexibly and efficiently access internal
or external software components and These three new application strategies
services. Engineering innovations such also depend on embracing an entirely new
as Agile and DevOps further accelerate operating model for software development.
development and deployment. In too many companies, technology is “in
a box.” It is considered to be contained
INTELLIGENT APPLICATIONS: Companies within IT as a specialty function rather
need to embed software intelligence than a competency that every business
everywhere in their applications and leader must embrace. Siloed business and
processes to manage growing volume, IT functions hinder organizational agility.
velocity and complexity, and to maximize
the business value of internal and external A new, more cooperative approach is
data—including that from the physical essential. IT must help shape business
world. Software intelligence is made strategy and the business must help IT
possible by an influx of data, processing shape how software is being used to
power and advances in data science such enter new markets, reach new customers
as natural language processing, machine and drive competitive differentiation.
learning and cognitive computing. Thanks
to these advancements, applications can
automate routine tasks, improve business
processes through integrated analytics
and ultimately govern themselves.
6 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
LIQUID INTELLIGENT CONNECTED
A fundamentally new When applications Extending company
way to build software comprehend, act and learn boundaries through software
WHY To compete with agility and To manage growing volume, velocity To grow revenue and defend their
speed, companies can no longer and complexity, and to maximize market position, companies must
afford massive, multi-year system the business value of internal and open new dimensions of application
implementations. external data, companies need to connectivity—creating new competitive
harness software intelligence. frontiers with software.
WHAT Liquid applications are assembled Intelligent applications offer three Connected applications provide
leveraging modular architectures, critical capabilities—intelligent companies with the technical means
next-generation integration automation, integrated analytics to interface with business partner and
techniques and a cloud-first, and self-governance. customer ecosystems, and with the
mobile-first mindset. Internet of Things.
HOW Adopt new development Embed intelligence everywhere to Rewire for the borderless business by
approaches that incorporate automate routine tasks, improve introducing new ecosystem strategies,
smaller, reusable components to business processes through designing applications for resiliency,
continuously deliver software. integrated analytics and teach and integrating information and
applications to act. operational technologies.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7
LIQUID APPLICATIONS
A fundamentally new way to build software
WHY: Competing with WHAT: Architecting for change Modular architectures
agility and speed What’s needed is a new way to build Liquid applications require enterprises to
software—one that is faster, flexible and create application architectures that are
To compete with agility and speed, modular, featuring reusable components
companies can no longer afford more liquid. No longer can applications
be “built” as one distinct activity sourced internally or externally. One
complex, lengthy and expensive coding of the key components is emerging
of applications, or massive, multi- and “maintained” as another. Liquid
applications will be assembled leveraging software platforms, including platforms
year system implementations. as a service, which provide well-defined
modular architectures, next-generation
integration techniques and a cloud-first, technical architectures along with
mobile-first mindset. These elements, standards, governance and reusable
combined with engineering innovations code. Platforms facilitate more rapid
such as Agile and DevOps, mean that creation and assembly of liquid business
software can be continuously delivered solutions, as applications are increasingly
and evolve as business needs change. assembled from pre-built components.
This approach represents a shift away Think about companies like OpenTable,
from monolithic applications to a world the popular online restaurant reservation
of smaller components and service system, and Uber, the personal
modules, which can either be built or transportation service. When they want to
bought. In the future, liquid is the way add new application functionality such as
companies will develop every application, messaging customers when their table or
including custom, ERP and SaaS. car is ready, they don’t build it themselves.
Instead, they tap into cloud providers like
Twilio, which offer the functionality as
part of a prebuilt platform. In turn, Uber is
sharing its liquid application components
with other developers from companies
as varied as Starbucks and TripAdvisor.7
8 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 1
Next-generation Take Swisscom for example, which Companies should establish a common
integration techniques is on the leading edge of new liquid component repository for their business,
Liquid applications must be underpinned approaches as it looks to software including cloud components and SaaS-
by a liquid architecture that has components, such as industry-compliant based functionality. Along with that, they
important, new characteristics. payment solutions, as a source of will need to adopt a culture of leveraging
Investment in flexible, standardized, business growth. The company set a what exists over creating something new.
open integration services provides goal of externally exposing 120 new
APIs by 2015, and jumpstarted these A mobile-first mindset is also important
the ability to efficiently connect for liquid applications, recognizing that
applications and information across the efforts by creating a secure, internal-
only “greenfield” platform. Swisscom’s they must be designed and engineered
company. Orchestration and business around how customers and employees
process management services allow head of enterprise architecture, John
de Keijzer, explains: “Corporations often interact with software. More and more,
applications to be configured and these interactions are not on a personal
continuously tuned to meet the needs choose to do things in a complex way
because that’s how it was historically computer or traditional web page,
of the business. And APIs provide the but rather on smartphones, tablets,
glue to allow reusable components to grown. We knew that having a powerful
API program would help us get out of smart watches, digital dashboards or
be accessed from within a company even on augmented vision displays.
as well as by external customers and the slow corner.” This accelerated pace
business partners. With the proliferation of application development would have
of applications, technologies, providers been impossible just a few years ago.8
and developers, a robust and advanced
API management capability is important Cloud-first, mobile-first mindset
and is already being widely adopted, as To enable the shift from frozen legacy
evidenced by solutions such as Apigee, to liquid applications, companies need
WS02 and Oracle API Management. a cloud-first, mobile-first mindset.
A cloud-first mindset requires that
applications be engineered to operate
and scale in the cloud, even if the initial
deployment is on premise. Policy-based
architectures will allow organizations
to dynamically decide what parts of
applications run in the cloud, and how.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 1 9
HOW: Mobilizing for liquid Shift to a DevOps culture
Shifting to liquid applications will Liquid applications demand that IT be
create a ripple effect throughout your structured to be more nimble. Agile
organization. Here are three crucial development coupled with DevOps
steps for your liquid roadmap. will enable continuous delivery of
software. DevOps, a common industry
term, represents both a technology and
Implement new architecture a culture change. It uses automation
and abstraction strategies techniques for deployment, environment
Ensure that your enterprise architecture set-up and configuration and monitoring.
supports platform integration capabilities, This streamlines and accelerates the
security, monitoring and API lifecycle interaction between development
services to support liquid applications. teams, which focus on assembling liquid
Update application frameworks to include applications, and operations teams,
appropriate abstraction strategies, which are accountable for releasing those
which enable the isolation of technical applications for live service availability.
complexity into platforms and away The result: faster, more predictable
from business functionality so that both deployments to market, performed
new and existing applications appear with radically greater efficiency.
less complex. By breaking an application
into smaller components that perform Future-proof your applications
discrete functions, it becomes easier to
Liquid applications are less focused on
update, replace, remove or augment.
technology and more focused on business
processes, and must enable the digital
business. Set the bar high with user
experience expectations and engineering
standards that are appropriate for the
digital world, and embrace cloud-first and
mobile-first principles as appropriate. Take
advantage of emerging concepts such as
containers so that applications can be
seamlessly deployed across platforms.
10 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 1Liquid is more than just a new approach to
application development. It’s the foundation
upon which you will build your business for
future growth and competitive advantage.
The ability to roll out business capabilities
continuously will be the difference between
companies that can evolve and ones
that stagnate.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 1 11INTELLIGENT APPLICATIONS
When applications comprehend, act and learn
WHY: Managing increased WHAT: Building applications work in a fraction of the time with more
accuracy. Financial institutions such as
volume and velocity that intelligently automate, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are
It’s hard for any business to keep up analyze and govern using intelligent automation to analyze
with the exponential growth in data and To manage growing volume, velocity traffic on their networks and identify
the pace of change that characterizes and complexity, and to maximize the rogue traders, market manipulators and
our era. As increasing volume and business value of internal and external policy violators, dramatically reducing
velocity pushes IT organizations to the data, companies need to embed software legal, business and compliance risk.9
breaking point, businesses need new intelligence everywhere. Software
approaches to turn runaway complexity intelligence is made possible by increased Integrated analytics
into high-performance outcomes. processing power, advances in data Integrated analytics create systems
science, and innovations in natural that can analyze and comprehend
language processing, machine learning independently, embedding intelligence
and cognitive computing. Thanks to in the processes themselves and
these advancements, software can be radically improving both business and
taught to automate decision making IT performance. Netflix, for example, is
through rule-based algorithms, and able to understand what customers are
evolve and innovate on its own through watching and when they are starting
advanced learning techniques. and stopping programs, and then use
predictive analytics to optimize content
Intelligent applications offer three critical
recommendations based on usage.
capabilities: intelligent automation,
integrated analytics and self-governance.
Self-governance
Intelligent automation Beyond that, intelligent applications
can be taught to act as digital agents
By automating routine tasks, intelligent
and to learn and govern themselves—
applications offload complexity and
revolutionizing customer service, IT
supplement human effort through
management and business innovation.
technologies such as auto-correction
Forward-thinking companies are
and robotics. Intelligent automation
already using digital agents to govern
improves productivity by doing more
interactions with customers.
12 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 2Meet Amelia, a cognitive knowledge HOW: Embedding Post deployment, intelligent tools for
worker from artificial intelligence service operations can continuously
company IPsoft. Amelia can function
intelligence everywhere accelerate problem resolution by curating
as an effective help desk employee— Intelligence must be embedded specialized application knowledge and
understanding human speech in 10 throughout the business—to improve then accurately applying it using
languages, searching knowledge what applications are built, as descriptive analytics and natural language
repositories and databases of similar cases well as how they are built. processing. This kind of knowledge-based,
and then returning answers in seconds. self-learning solution helped one large
Most important, Amelia’s self-learning Apply intelligent automation to insurer reduce tickets in its critical claims
function enables the application’s application lifecycle practices processing application by more than
governance capabilities to grow over time. 85 percent over a three-month period,
Companies can use software intelligence leading to substantial productivity
As software intelligence increases in across application development, testing, improvement and cost savings.
sophistication, most applications will deployment and maintenance to manage
learn to evolve and adapt, altering increasing volume, velocity and complexity.
their behavior and extending their Look for automation opportunities across
capabilities based on experience. Consider the application lifecycle where routine
the Nest thermostat that learns a tasks can be reduced or eliminated. By
homeowner’s habits and preferences to applying accumulated knowledge and
eventually program itself. These kinds experience, automation can significantly
of advances will help businesses adapt improve productivity through effort
quickly to specific customer needs reduction and leaner processes. For
and preferences and help IT adapt to example, test automation tools can use
dynamic business needs, by applying cognitive computing and robotics to
intelligence to data feeds from both take plain text functional requirements
the physical and digital worlds. and automatically generate test
artifacts including test scenarios,
test conditions and expected results.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 2 13Integrate analytics with companies can move away from having MagicBands—through the My Disney
business processes a separate analytics function whose Experience online portal—to set vacation
With the rise of smartphones, social reports then need to be interpreted choices in advance and effortlessly
media, wearables and the Internet and acted on. Integrated analytics are manage their experience once at the
of Things, consumers and businesses already helping IT organizations become resort.11 To put digital agents to work,
now leave a trail of usable, useful data more business-centric. Industry domain companies should start by evaluating
behind them wherever they go. That knowledge and business performance how automated decision-making can
data can be harnessed and embedded data—including inventory levels, late be embedded into the normal flow of
in business processes in a variety of shipments, revenue and regulatory both business processes and application
ways. DHL’s Resilience 360 solution, for compliance—can be incorporated lifecycle practices for better outcomes.
example, offers customers near real- into data supply chains enabling IT Outcomes must be clearly defined in
time supply chain monitoring. The tool organizations to influence business advance and then programmatically
links data related to natural disasters, performance, not just IT performance. represented as self-governing, automated,
theft, geopolitical and other risks with Consider one pharmaceutical company, analytics-enabled applications that
a customer’s global manufacturing and whose IT organization was able to make business processes intelligent.
distribution footprint, to visualize and accelerate clinical trials by reducing Such advancements hold promise for
assess critical supply chain hot spots recurring critical application incidents IT organizations too as they look to
and take steps to mitigate risks.10 by 50 percent, thereby eliminating delegate the monitoring, management
delays in the submission of trial and governance of software development
Extracting the greatest value from Big outcomes to regulatory agencies. to digital agents. Analytics leveraging
Data and analytics requires the right current and historical IT delivery data is
structure, processes and configuration of Teach applications to act already helping IT run more efficiently
components in your data supply chain. by automatically triggering corrective
As companies integrate continuous
Companies need to evaluate how to and preventive actions in areas such as
streams of data and analytics capabilities
embed Big Data architectures in their scope and requirements management—
into their business and IT processes,
applications—not just build them on the a critical capability as the pace of
they can empower digital agents to act
side. By integrating Big Data and analytics application change accelerates.
on their behalf. Consider how Disney
in business processes and applications, customers can “program” their all-in-one
14 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 2How you interact with your customers, how
you buy and sell your products or services,
how you find your next product insights—
these decisions and actions will increasingly
be accomplished with the help of intelligent
applications. Embed intelligence everywhere.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 2 15CONNECTED APPLICATIONS
Extending company boundaries through software
WHY: Creating new WHAT: Building software sensors and transformers, with enterprise
and operational data to improve
competitive frontiers that runs everywhere asset management, grid operations
Connectivity in the age of the software- Connected applications offer and customer service. This capability
driven business is about more than companies the technical means provides utilities with an integrated view
application integration. It’s about to dynamically interface with the of their systems and data to support
creating new competitive frontiers using Internet of Things and with business advanced analysis and decision making.
software. To grow revenue and defend partner and customer ecosystems.
their market position, companies must Connected applications are also required
open new dimensions of application As the Internet of Things matures, to dynamically interface with business
connectivity—with business partner and connected applications will run partner and customer ecosystems in
customer ecosystems, as well as with the everywhere—not just on traditional today’s highly networked, digital business
rapidly growing Internet of Things—that hardware such as phones, tablets and environment. When properly designed
are essential to delivering new services. PCs, but also in manufacturing, pipelines, and managed, an ecosystem multiplies
industrial equipment, cars, wearables the power of all the participants, leading
and more—to convert products into to combinations of functionality—and
connected product-service hybrids. revenue opportunities—that would
These applications change the way previously have been difficult to achieve.
companies operate by opening up their
manufacturing operations, production
facilities, products and services to new
technologies. For example, the OMNETRIC
Group, a Siemens and Accenture company,
is helping utility companies combine
vast volumes of data from smart meters,
as well as grid-sensing devices such as
16 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 3HOW: Building and Software-driven businesses will
need new skills and approaches in
nurturing ecosystems ecosystem management—not only in
How do software-driven companies the leadership ranks but also deeper
create and manage new dimensions into the organization. Both business
of application connectivity to grow and IT staff should be tasked with
revenue and defend their market identifying new strategic partnership
position? Here are three components opportunities for the company.
of a successful overall strategy.
Develop and implement an
ecosystem strategy
Enterprises need multiphase strategies
to build and nurture an ecosystem.
Start—and learn—with your internal
developers and business functions, and
then create a broader ecosystem that
includes external entities such as business
partners and customers. Drugstore
retailer Walgreens has developed a health
ecosystem around its Prescription Refill
API that companies like CloudMetRx use
to offer mobile refill capabilities within
their solutions. As a result of its health
ecosystem strategy, Walgreens now refills
a prescription every second on average.12
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 3 17Prepare for resiliency Integrate Information Technology As applications become increasingly (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) connected, companies need to design for To grow revenue from new product- resiliency and proactively manage security service hybrids, companies need a across the extended business ecosystem way to combine physical assets with and the physical world. Companies, software and third-party services. To customers and other stakeholders will date, IT, such as resource planning, have to work together to mitigate the customer relationship management risks of connected applications. Resiliency and decision support systems, and OT, capabilities, including security, need to such as equipment monitoring and be designed into applications, embedded management and industrial process into platforms, cloud services and APIs, support systems, have been managed and incorporated into connected physical separately. Now, companies must weave assets. Design applications so that together previously unavailable, or an attack won’t take down the whole inaccessible, enterprise and machine- system. A well-thought-out architecture generated data—binding together IT is required to augment existing risk and OT. Sensors, communications and management practices and avoid the other operational technologies will work economic impact of attacks and failures. together with IT, most likely meshing For example, obsolete and legacy software in the cloud, to create new connected must be tightly managed since it likely products and services. The merger of IT has limited or no security built in. When and OT offers an opportunity to integrate compromised software is detected, different business functions that operate companies must be ready with a strategy under different technical standards for immediate remediation. Services that and are served by different vendors. continuously test applications across all parts of their lifecycle, including those in production, will also help maintain the resiliency of the overall architecture. 18 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 3
The high-velocity world demands that
companies rewire themselves to become
borderless businesses. Building an extended
external ecosystem and managing the
Internet of Things is now an imperative for
companies in every industry—providing the
strategic and technological means to enter
and succeed in new markets.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: STRATEGY 3 19Embracing a new operating model and
new roles in the software-driven world
Many companies’ existing operating model for software development
is not fit for purpose in today’s high-velocity business environment.
Effectively driving business strategy through software will require a
new business and IT operating model.
The IT organization must be prepared Innovations must be driven jointly, tied
to define and execute business strategy to new strategic planning processes that
through software that is liquid, span both business and technology. In
intelligent and connected. For its this operating model, software becomes
part, the business must strive to gain a revenue-generating product of the
more technology savvy as it assumes company. Business needs IT to ensure
a bigger role in building software. the company’s software products are
market relevant, and IT needs business
to identify new markets where they can
introduce these software products.
CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
APPLICATION
STRATEGIES
STRATEGIES
BUSINESS
CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
20 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: NEW OPERATING MODEL AND ROLESFour new roles to leap
ahead of the competition
Within this new operating model, companies must embrace four new
roles—platform directors, intelligence architects, ecosystems builders and
citizen developers—to deliver liquid, intelligent and connected applications.
PLATFORM DIRECTORS INTELLIGENCE ARCHITECTS
As software platforms become a product of the enterprise, The promise of intelligent applications is systems that can
both business and IT become involved in a new form of interpret data or conditions, apply codified knowledge
product management. Platform directors take responsibility or logic, and make decisions—all with minimal human
for architecting and executing the abstraction strategies intervention. But first, someone has to teach the
that enable evolution to liquid applications. As with applications how. Enter intelligence architects. Developing
product managers, platform directors need to have an eye intelligent applications is different from developing
on innovation to proactively identify the “next big thing.” traditional systems. Instead of following the usual phases
In addition, an orientation to serving the customer—the of plan, design, test and deploy, development focuses
developer—is essential. Platform directors need to continuously on identifying and curating data sources, and designing
filter and rapidly respond to business change and then intelligent capabilities into applications. Such an approach
translate user needs back to the engineering team. They also requires different skills and mindsets, as well as different
need to make sure that all essential software components methodologies—something to be managed by intelligence
are architected with proper resiliency to maintain an architects. In addition, these architects ensure that
“always on” developer experience. Finally, platform directors applications with embedded intelligence, including digital
will need to establish and manage governance models that agents, are trained in a particular business domain—
strike a balance between enabling open innovation, and similar to how we train new employees—to make the
setting and enforcing standards for software development. software useful.
ECOSYSTEM BUILDERS CITIZEN DEVELOPERS
The job of ecosystem builders is to establish an As liquid applications and expanded ecosystems are
environment where partners and developers are empowered introduced, developers no longer reside exclusively within
to generate new sources of revenue and growth. Ecosystem IT organizations. Instead, they emerge from the lines
builders begin internally and then shift externally, to of business or even from outside the company. Citizen
successfully execute business strategy. By adopting a developers support the new reality of increasing speed and
borderless business mindset, ecosystem builders enable complexity by assembling functional solutions or liquid
the company to collaborate with new partners, suppliers applications as the business needs them. Then, they release
and even competitors in the delivery of new products and the software to production at any point in time. Customer-
services to the market. Instead of focusing on the question facing digital and mobile applications, for example, require
of who our customers are, ecosystem builders adopt an quick changes to respond to very short feedback cycles
outside-in view and ask, “Who should our customers from customers without compromising quality. Existing
be?” And, while the various members of the ecosystem applications, too, call for more efficient and automated
will jointly nurture these new products and services, development and deployment approaches to keep pace
each is also able to market its core products and services with business. Citizen developers are able to address such
independently throughout the expanded ecosystem. needs with agility at the point of need.
THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: NEW OPERATING MODEL AND ROLES 21CONCLUSION
Taking the lead
Today, the business of applications Architecting liquid applications, for Both IT and business leaders must
is changing how companies operate example, requires changes to how understand what it means to be a
and grow. No longer a supporting IT operates, how IT and the business software-driven business. They need
capability, applications are a driver of collaborate and how companies train to understand how software can
strategy and competitive differentiation. leaders and manage culture change. spur growth, shape new markets and
They can enable entirely new services Building intelligent applications not only reach new customers. And, they must
for new and existing markets. The requires leveraging the latest advances work together closely to orchestrate
future of applications is an exciting in data science for automation and new business solutions. When
one for companies that are willing integrated analytics, but also involves long-term competitive advantage
to develop a new operating model teaching applications to govern and depends on software, being a “fast
for software development and then evolve on their own. Creating connected follower” may not be fast enough.
fundamentally change the way they applications requires entirely new Are you ready to take the lead?
design, build and use software. methods for managing the Internet of
Things and establishing business partner
The velocity of change—in technology, and customer ecosystems to enable the
in the marketplace and in entire borderless business. And underneath
industries—is unprecedented. Success it all is your operating model. Do you
requires responding proactively to have the right technology know-how
those changes and to the disruptive and planning processes in place to drive
effects of software on your industry. business strategy with software?
22 THE FUTURE OF APPLICATIONS: CONCLUSIONABOUT THE REPORT
About the methodology 3
ITS World Congress Keynote: Bill Ford, 8
“Swisscom—Changing DNA Through
Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Digital Transformation,” Apigee case
“The Future of Applications” is the result Company, 2014 World Congress on study. http://apigee.com/about/
of a comprehensive research program at Intelligent Transportation Systems, customer-story/swisscom-changing-
Accenture throughout 2014. It involved September 8, 2014. dna-through-digital-transformation.
interviews with dozens of Accenture http://www.youtube.com/
executives, input from clients and
9
“Nothing to Hide, Everything to Fear,”
watch?v=gmOmUiNpe84.
industry analysts, and extensive secondary Fortune, August 14, 2014.
research, as well as our experience
4
“How Legacy Code Is Exposing http://fortune.com/2014/08/14/digital-
working on advanced information Business and Government Systems,” reasoning-cognitive-computing/.
technology solutions with thousands Security InfoWatch, April 8, 2014. 10
“DHL Digs Into ‘Big Data’ for New
of clients globally. http://www.securityinfowatch.com/
Customer Solutions,” CEP-Research,
article/11386786/advanced-persistent-
February 17, 2014. http://www.cep-
threats-plague-applications-that-
Notes were-written-decades-ago-in-
research.com/cepresearch/repository/
news/2014/february/1702147.html.
1
“IT Speed: The Crisis and the Savior of dead-programming-languages.
the Enterprise,” A Forrester Consulting
11
Disney website: https://disneyworld.
5
Cisco, “The Internet of Things: How
study commissioned by Chef, December disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-
the Next Evolution of the Internet Is
2013. https://www.getchef.com/ experience/bands-cards/.
Changing Everything.”
blog/2013/12/09/big-day-for-chef/. http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac79/ 12
“Walgreens Finds Mobile Customers To
2
“Becoming—or Finding—the Next docs/innov/IoT_IBSG_0411FINAL.pdf. Be Better Customers,” MobiHealthNews,
Digital Business Leader,” Margot May 30, 2013. http://mobihealthnews.
6
“Microsoft Partner Network Guide,”
McShane, Russell Reynolds Associates com/22686/walgreens-finds-mobile-
Microsoft, July 2012.
presentation to Forrester’s Forum customers-to-be-better-customers/.
for eBusiness & Channel Strategy
7
“Introducing the Uber API,” Uber blog,
Professionals, October 28, 2014. August 20, 2014. http://blog.uber.com/api.
23About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 336,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com. This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks. Copyright © 2015 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. 15-3610U 24
You can also read
