Wednesday, August 7, 2013

How To Improve The Performance Of Your SMAC Initiative

By Joseph B. Kappernick


Why are enterprises preparing themselves for more investments in social, mobile, analytic, and cloud (SMAC) this year? SMAC gives the opportunity to further cultivate customer relationships and to capture more market shares. Excellent news for all, right? Yes, but with a catch.

Is your current SMAC budget meeting all your needs or is it falling short? Are your current results having an adverse effect on future SMAC investments. If so, do not feel alone. The power is in your hand to make the improvements necessary to get the most out of your SMAC initiative.

Here are three helpful tips to steer your company in the right direction:

Overspending. Depleting your budget on antiquated IT systems is your number one enemy. "The cost to support and maintain existing IT systems is eroding companies' ability to fund new investments in social, mobile, analytics and cloud IT initiatives (SMAC). Out of the $3.8 trillion expected in worldwide IT spending in 2013, NPI estimates there will be $760 billion in unnecessary overspending in non-value creation areas such as maintenance and support, over-subscription, license program misalignment, and sub-optimal contract negotiation and management." said NPI CEO Jon Winsett in an article published April of this year,

Making sure that sourcing processes are in place and adhered to from the start. Advancements achieved with the new SMAC technologies are facilitating stronger business/consumer relationships. This has created a market where vendors are pursuing leads with more vigor to help elevate their brand and message. In this environment, CMO's are starting sourcing processes and not getting IT and sourcing experts involved until the end. With that in mind strict policies need to be in place to ensure all stakeholders are involved in any IT purchase from beginning to end.

Software vendors are wanting to profit form the boom of mobile devices and tablets in the business world. Software companies are not implementing new licensing requirements to be able to access their applications. A "power user" license may cost significantly more than a "light user."




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