The New World of As-a-Service

The market is moving toward an As-a-Service delivery model that provides plug-in, scalable, consumption-based business services that deliver the business outcomes that every organization demands—increased revenue or decreased costs.

The As-a-Service economy is here but it’s catching some businesses off guardOur research with HfS Research finds:

But...small and medium-size enterprises are more likely to see As-a-Service as criticalor absolutely critical for these transformations. 42% 42% 25%

<$1B

$1B - $10B

>$10B

And...Asia Pacific buyers are at least twice as likely to see As-a-Service as criticalor absolutely critical.

As-a-Service key benefits

1. Transforms business services

2. Supports new business models

3. Delivers business outcomes

Intelligent

Scale quickly

Robust

Plug in Pay for what you use

Reduce costsInnovate faster Drive revenue

As-a-Service comprises a stack of 5 components:

✓ Outcome oriented

✓ Vendor agnostic

✓ Innovation enabled

✓ Future protected

As-a-Service key value leversUnlock greater cost control, faster processing, streamlined processes and a better user experience. If your current mode of service delivery is not hitting these value levers, you’re not yet benefiting from the full power of As-a-Service. Consider this a checklist:

As-a-Service successHow to achieve As-a-Service transformation

Be prepared to encounter resistance and manage changeResearch shows 63 percent of the C-suite versus 21 percent of operations executives expect their services to be cloud based within two years. Change management is critical; be sure the whole business is aware of the overall strategy and buys into it.

Comfortzone

CFO

21%63%

C-suite Operations

These early movers are at a tremendous advantage. Large incumbents may be at risk if they do not aggressively pursue As-a-Service capabilities.

Learn to buy in new waysExecutive leadership will need to be educated about how to buy As-a-Service in a piece-by-piece manner.

Focus on leadership and talentOnly 1 in 4 buyers are actively addressing their talent shortfall. Success with As-a-Service requires broad and deep expertise across your business.

Blend your analytics and automation strategies to deliver intelligent automationCurrently 70 percent of companies have definitive plans for, or are considering, investments in effective analytics tools and skills. By contrast, only 40 percent are that advanced with their plans for robotic process automation.

70%40%

Start small, pilot, pivot, then scaleAn As-a-Service model allows you to start small and scale fast in a way that other models don't. Choose a function that is less business critical or a single geography: use that success to build commitment with leadership and middle management.

Build a relationship that drives innovationThe best providers are not just transaction engines, but consultants—always looking for ways to advise, identify and drive additional value, re-engineer and even unravel processes, not just incrementally improve them.

Agile

Business Processes

Applications & Platforms

Cloud

Security

Infrastructure

Business processes are optimized by applying industry and functional expertise alongside automation and analytics technologies to drive greater efficiencies and productivity, capture new value and unlock actionable insights that drive faster innovation and deliver business outcomes such as increased revenue and reduced costs.

Underpinning every business process is a supporting application or platform. Using new and emerging digital technologies ranging from robotic process automation to artificial intelligence to SaaS platforms—to standardize, analyze, automate, drive and support business processes, and to deliver high-quality data.

The connective tissue of the digital business, providing enterprises with the agility to accelerate innovation by enabling them to plug into core business services and scale those services up and down quickly, on demand and at scale.

Comprehensive, proactive and adaptive threat protection embedded into the fabric of the digital business at speed and at scale.

An intelligent infrastructure that is dynamic, real time, always on and always available, enabling businesses to take advantage of the latest technologies and allowing rapid deployment and provisioning of resources.

AnalyticsUnderpinning the entire stack of capabilities is analytics—descriptive, predictive and prescriptive—embedded in business processes to help companies identify trends and opportunities to streamline processes, innovate and improve competitiveness.

ExpertiseOn-demand access to industry, operational and technology acumen across each layer of the “stack.” The combination of forward-thinking leadership with transformational consulting through to operational expertise enables continuous innovation.

As-a-Service can transform business services, enabling more intelligent, agile and robust business operations, as

well as innovation that disrupts existing business processes and supports entirely new business models.

Accenture – accelerating the As-a-Service economy.

enterprises do not expect their core operations to be delivered As-a-Service for at least 5 years...

7 out of 10

✓ Plug in

✓ Scalable

✓ Standardized

✓ Consumption based

www.accenture.com/AsAService

www.facebook.com/accenture

www.twitter.com/accenture

of senior vice presidents and above see the As-a-Service economy as critical or absolutely critical for their organization.

53%

Copyright ©2015 Accenture. All Rights Reserved. Accenture, itslogo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture. This document is produced by consultants at Accenture as general guidance. It is not intended to provide specific advice on your circumstances. If you require advice or further details on any matters referred to, please contact your Accenture representative.

Source:  “Beware of the Smoke, Your Platform is Burning:  Thriving in the As-a-Service Economy,” HfS Research 2015.

Absolutely critical

Critical

Significant

Insignificant

SVP & Up

37%

16%

47%