WorkPlace360 - What Problem are you trying to solve?

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For quite a while the industry has considered a paradigm of a PC Utility, I was part of a team back in 1999 that was a part of that solutioning (I know that somewhat dates myself). The new tenders differ significantly from the previous approaches in a way that addresses some of the current trends in client computing, but first, the disclaimer:

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine and do not represent those of my employer.

In the spirit of a "David Letterman Top Ten List" (another Broad Ripple High School Alumni), the following is a not so short listing of the questions, business issues, and concerns  to be addressed by WorkPlace360 that I have heard from my direct field engagements-

1- "My company would like to get my entire installed base on Windows 7, but do not have such cash or IT budget."

By examining a cost per seat per month model, the need for large amounts of cash or budget is addressed.

2- "My company does not lease"

WorkPlace360 is not a lease, but a service led strategy that is completely capex.

3- "My business has certain user segments and is not a one size fits all operation".

This is a part I am quite pleased with, for years, in my writing, I have advocated user segmentation, it is mainstream to IT. WorkPlace360 has defined user segments as a core part of the strategy.

4- "My company does not outsource"

If outsourcing is not a consideration, then in fact WorkPlace360 may not be a targeted solution based on preferred service delivery strategy.

5- "My company requires global"

WorkPlace360 is global and provides end to end global lifecycle service, the key is the integration.

6- "My company has various partners, integrators, and third parties involved, can these be a part of WorkPlace360?"

The short answer is likely no. The idea behind the services tender is to be able to scale and replicate a global solution. When  more and more customization occurs, cost and risk could go up as well.

7- "What if WorkPlace360 does not fit for my company, have I just wasted my time?"

Again, I don't believe so, the due diligence is something that all companies in this economy are likely considering even if to eliminate service delivery alternatives. WorkPlace360 may morph into a managed desktop or out tasking relationship, or validate insourcing models.

8- "My company does not know our present cost to deliver client lifecycle".

This will be a problem if the baseline is not known, but not just for WorkPlace360. Understanding the lifecycle practice levels will be a key in optimization and future cost improvement. WorkPlace360 in this context must be compared to a baseline otherwise it is purely subjective.

9- "My company needs to get to the cloud"

WorkPlace 360 service delivery strategy embraces the cloud concept and delivers much of the service via the cloud. The future as well provides enhanced approaches to enable more and more cloud.

10- "My company needs to virtualize"

Building the back office for virtualization and scaling may be a challenge to IT budgets, so with a services led approach , these costs can be amortized and spread over a larger timeframe and installed base. This should enable virtualization and the cloud.

There is much more to the WorkPlace360 story board. The trends in client computing sugges that if innovation occurs only in the product space, the remaining part of the equation could be missed. How IT chooses to address supporting trends in client computing will likely be a fulcrum of how industry trends become adopted.  

My thinking is that WorkPlace360 is but an initial step in a longer, broader journey that will see traditional service delivery strategies become more virtual, cloud oriented, and open.

Not bad at all for a first step.