Technology Reseller - v28

technologyreseller.co.uk 33 INTERVIEW that 2.0 mindset themselves. The tie-up for us is that sooner or later if they want to operationally integrate this next generation technology, they are going to have to put a management framework around it and we think a combination of a strong ServiceNow story and the cloud is part of the answer,” he said. “We find that most people’s cloud environments are managed very much as a standalone environment and don’t integrate well with the service management framework the client has employed. So, some of the benefits you get from cloud are not being appropriately governed and because they are not in that framework things like cost management and demand management aren’t getting the level of attention they should. You hear a lot of stories about how cloud spend is out of control and that’s mainly because cloud has grown up as a somewhat separate entity and hasn’t been brought into a more centralised mindset.” Overall added: “The whole ServiceNow piece is quite interesting for us. It has entered the market, made a big splash, taken on more traditional players in that space and is doing really well. But I think there is a next generation story as well, as ServiceNow begins to evolve and develop and become more functionally relevant to the centralised operation of an IT department. I think we can play quite nicely there.” https://www.cloudstratex.com working under him. People respect that; they respect that we have been on their side of the desk; that we know what it is like to have a consultant come in and tell you that you are a 5 out of 10 but could be a 7 out of 10, when all you are trying to do is get through the day and survive,” he said. “We always let people know we are not trying to apportion blame for why these challenges exist. It’s very easy to blame the guy on the ground, but that’s the least of their worries; most of those guys are doing their damnedest to try to keep the thing afloat. When a consultant comes in, benchmarks you and tells you you’re not that good, it just adds fuel to the fire. We take a different approach, which is to be humble, to understand these people’s situation and to tell their story in a way that an executive can understand and empathise with." Growth areas CloudStratex has not been operating for long, but Overall says it has already identified two growth areas; firstly, with clients wanting to carve off different entities to the cloud and needing advice on how to do it; and secondly with ServiceNow customers. “ServiceNow is very aspirational and is having a complete rethink about its go-to-market strategy and how to expand from a $2 billion to a $10 billion business. Quite a lot of ServiceNow clients are in larger global SIs, they will definitely be thinking about how they can lock you into a 3 to 5-year outsourcing deal that keeps their people busy, expands their annuity revenue stream and shows long-term growth. We think technology has become so central to organisations’ function that our drive is to help clients develop more self-sufficiency. We train their staff and work with them in hybrid teams, rather than saying ‘We are not sure you are going to make it; we’ve got loads of people who do this for a living, so why don’t you give it to us to do’. Clearly, that approach plays; there’s no doubt about that. But what we see is that people are realising just handing over a problem to someone else is a short-term tactical fix.” Experienced practitioners Another way in which CloudStratex differs from most consultants, claims Overall, is in the breadth of real-world experience it can draw on. “We have grown up as practitioners more than anything else, so we consider ourselves a little bit anti-consulting. Instead of following a graduate to consultant to partner to MD path, without ever having been in the nuts and bolts of a client’s IT organisation, a lot of our people have experience of working in businesses, as well as with clients. Our COO Tony Irving, for example, had a long career in major banks, finishing that part of his career at Thomson Reuters with about 6,500 people We find that most people’s cloud environments are managed very much as a standalone environment and don’t integrate well with the service management framework the client has employed