Evry: playing for digital advantage with application management

Warning: Liveblogging. Prone to error, inaccuracy and terrible crimes against grammar and syntax. Post will be updated and improved over the next 48 hours.

Evry is a 10,000 strong Nordic company, dealing with consulting, mobility, cloud, ERP and so on. They work with Google, Apple, IBM and Microsoft. They partner with A team companies - including IFS.

Niclas Hansson

Digital transformation - everyone is talking about it. We're being told if we're no on-bording it now, we're late. How do you do that realistically? There are a lot of new technologies out there. And we are consuming them now. My mother, wife and daughters (times four) are using them now. My wife is responsible for phone consumption in the family - she chooses the best phone subscriptions for our family. As a consequence, we are storing our photos in iCloud. We've become an Apple family. Has she actually made that as a choice? Or did it happen by mistake. That change? It's driven by us - as consumers. It's new behaviors in society.

Netflix is the largest cable TV company in the world. Owns no cables. AirBnB is the largest lodging company in the world. Owns now property. Facebook is the largest content company in the work - not producing any content. We have to move from product-focus to constomer-centric.

Three dimensions:

• Customer experience
• Products and services
• Operations

It's enough if you manage to do it in one dimension. Successful companies that make progress in this area are those that the business, the human and the technology in balance, you will be successful.

Be a shoal of digital herring

Whales are big, big fish, swimming gentle in warm water, moving slow and gentle. Animals live on whales because it's so comfy being whale. This is a dangerous place to be. You need to be a shoal of Herrings. There is no one herring swimming in the same direction. They're almost together, but not quite. Sometimes hundreds are lost to a killer shark, but in seconds the gap is closed and the shoal continues.

Volvo has taken a serious decision to digitalis the communication between the customer and them, through the whole lifecycle of the car. Volvo provides an app called Volvo On Call - which allows me to download all the travels we have done. And I can easily separate out my travels for work and the other, family ones. It's so good for me - it saves me so much time and pain - that it's enough to stop me moving brands. It's a small herring from Volvo. Another is the in-car delivery. Each launch is a small herring, just for Stockholm, Malmo and Gothenburg. It's a test, but they can get partners involved. Volvo enables social video creation - through the app. Another, small strange herring.

Frode Finnes Larsen

It's all about applications!

92% of the total cost of an application is about operations and maintenance after the initial investment. Applications need technology, which need infrastructure operations - and that means hybrid cloud now. Modern application management is about integrating vertically and horizontally. And that creates a and b teams.

There's clear evidence from our research that the companies that are struggling most with their business are those who are the least mature in their application management. Mature companies have far fewer consequences when things go wrong. There's a bad circle where those who immature in their application management get stuck there, while those who are mature are pulling ahead.

Now cost is not the main driver of adopting cloud. Modernization is - if you modernize, cost reductions will follow. You need a holistic approach. In order to do that, you need

1. Management commitment. Yes, you've heard it many times, but it's true. This is too important to be left to IT. There will be tough changes where you need that management support.
2. Apply competence and frameworks - it's the foundation for agile organizations
3. Reduce complexity, reduce cost and integrate services
4. Digital journeys

We need to be both a marathon runner and a sprinter. We need agile AND waterfall. You need people who hate change, but love planning and documentation. But you also need those who love change - the anarchists. But never ask the change haters to innovate. They get sick or quit. But don't ask the innovators to scale projects. They'll make a mess of it. There's loads of literature on this.

To move from digital potential to digital advantage, you need to innovate, modernize what you've got and then run and scale the business.

Our framework for managing this is called Application Advantage.

Per Aronsson

How does this relate to IFS users? We are helping them with their application management overall. We take a role in their team, saving them time and allowing them to do more 'real' stuff - strategic thinking. We advise on application setup. But we're most famous for:

IFS Applications Operations

We assign people as your trusted partners who you can turn to for help, saving time and money.

We also have:

Application Performance Management tool

A powerful analytic and diagnostic tool.

For best results in application management, choose a long term path, be it with a partner, or by yourself. Make sure your organization gets mature in your management techniques. And think about your full portfolio.

IFS Applications is a great foundation for you. It's a great basis for your application. But easy configuration can be a trap - don't do too much. Stay in control. And make sure you have application manager. Have a steering committee. Stay in control of upgrades - dow it when it helps your business, not when age makes it imperative.