Finding Balance in the VUCA World – the Uncertain World of Software Management
“VUCA” acronym stands for “Volatile,” “Uncertain,” “Complex,” and “Ambiguous.”
Like never before this term quite accurately describes current software management predicament that many mid-size to large organizations face – unclear, unpredictable and overly complex.
The decision “To Cloud or not to Cloud” is often not very well thought through. Tempted by so said flexibility and “on-demand” approach, leadership takes a swift decision to jump on the cloud train, sometimes just to improve company’s public image: to showcase its agility and ability to move forward with the times.
However, is that always smart?
When it comes to implementation, the ever-increasing costs can be a surprise to the decision makers. In his article Tim Kounadis (04 Aug 2021, Expedient, Source link) writes that: “[many companies] are quickly experiencing something they didn’t expect—a rapid spike in costs, sometimes two to five times what was expected at the onset of the effort. For businesses that selected cloud based on the promise of predictable pricing and cost efficiencies, this can put a sudden halt to their journey”.
Spending time on migration, as well as adding complexity that often comes with cloud can also be particularly unforgiving to the digitalization and adoption processes. A 2020 Accenture survey presents findings that just 37% of companies are “achieving the full value expected on their cloud investments.” The remaining 63% of companies’ leadership are seriously questioning their invested resources (time and money) versus the achieved results.
This leads to the conclusion that digitalization is a balancing act and it is important to invest time in proper risk analysis and planning. Getting an expert to examine your requirements is always a good idea, to help you optimize your software strategy, based on the actual needs and company’s objectives.
For example, with a ‘cost reduction optimization scenario’, in which predominantly pre-owned licenses were deployed, a Capefoxx client achieved overall cost savings of up to 70 percent, compared to the standard Microsoft subscription licensing scenario. Further examples include our hybrid cloud scenarios, which combine Microsoft cloud sub-scription licenses with perpetual licenses for Software which remains “on-premises” anyway. These scenarios reduce the overall cost by up to 60 percent compared to a Microsoft Office 365 E3 licensing plan.
As a result, a well thought through and a more predictable pricing model allows businesses to make informed future decisions, manage budgets more effectively and stay afloat in the unpredictable world of software management.