The scenario I’ve been painting over the last few days is in the here and it’s now. Depending on how extreme you want to be this is has either accelerated your planned date of retirement or presents the best opportunity you’ve seen for years.
The logic of how applications are delivered – in my terms SaaS today – will be irrelevant this time next year. By that stage, the collection of apps necessary to do the things I’m talking about will be available as ‘white label product’ to whichever networks have the reach and vision.
This means a Tesco might for example work out ways of using the apps framework to include their special talents in managing the supply chain. They already offer a swathe of services most of us could never dream about even 5 years ago. I see this as completely logical.
Tesco and other retailers control vast networks of interconnected suppliers. They know how to manage these things inside out 24×7. Why would they not wish to use that expertise in conjunction with the Business 2.0 package? At least some of those in the network would be their tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers. How valuable do you think it is to them to gain direct access into their networks?
Contrary to how this may appear, I believe it represents the best opportunity that savvy professionals have seen for years. It means that many of the objections to clients managing their own records pretty much evaporate. Smart practices will create relationships with the lead vendors so you become part of the network of trusted advisors in your chosen field.
The 60-80% of time you spend on routine admin pretty much vanishes alongside the objections but is replaced with the monetary equivalent of value added services. This allows you to develop the kind of presence that others would kill for. It means your talent pool is enriched because now, you’re offering quality driven services and so can attract the very best who are passionate about their work. In turn, you have a genuine shot at acquiring ‘trusted advisor’ status. It also means the nature of compliance changes to one that is secondary yet complementary to business value delivery.
