Enterprises moving to as-a-service model is inevitable, says Phil Fersht

Phil Fersht, Founder-CEO and principal analyst at HFS Research, outlined the journey from legacy to the “as-a-service” enterprise for service providers and said, “Data is eating the world, and the intelligent automation continuum is going to take over.”

This continuum, he said, comprising AI, cognitive computing and robotics, is going to replace human resources and service providers in a big way.

Are service providers seeing the change? He said that a study by his organization of about 250 decision makers across the world showed that there is a master-slave relationship between the enterprise and the service provider. About 50 percent of the enterprise is reluctant to change because they view outsourcing as a model that augments in-house delivery; so, it is still a decentralized or shared services model internally. 

Research further indicates that two-thirds of the service providers lack “as-a-service” skills within their organizations. The good part, however, is that 50 percent of the C-suite enterprise is actually willing to change legacy service providers and legacy investments. “Fixing disconnect between leadership ambition and operational lethargy will move the wheel for all,” observes Fersht.

HFS Research predicts that 2016 is likely to see cannibalization of legacy and the emergence of cognitive computing as a powerful resource.

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