Does CapGemini get cloud?
- Summary:
- This week, CapGemini figured large at both SAPPHIRE Now and NetSuite SuiteWorld but for very different reasons.
On ASUGNews, Florida Crystals CIO Don Whittington talks enthusiastically about an SAP HANA deployment operating in a cloud environment:
We’ve executed a strategy of growth through acquisition, which requires business agility for fast time-to-market. In support of our business strategy, our IT journey has been new, untested, fresh and well, yes, includes an element of risk—in particular, our recent move to migrate our production ECC and BW environments to a HANA in-memory database running in the cloud.
You read that right: We’re running our most critical business applications on a virtually brand-new in-memory database in the cloud...
... In 2010, our IT journey took us up to the cloud, when we partnered with Virtustream to host and manage all of our applications, including SAP, on what has developed into the industry’s leading cloud service provider for the enterprise. We haven’t looked down, pun intended, since. We have not had a datacenter for three years.
This is a benchmark deployment because, among other things, the transition took less than six weeks from start to finish. Anyone who knows SAP knows that's lightening fast and certainly on par with the best of cloud deployments. What is less well known is that Florida Crystals dumped CapGemini for Virtustream. At SearchSAP, Whittington is reported to say:
One of the key reasons Florida Crystals left Capgemini was that despite all the many things the integrator did right, it didn’t have the depth of understanding of Florida Crystals’ business and culture that niche firms can provide, Whittington said.
Florida Crystals was looking for a more long-term, strategic relationship with its implementation provider, instead of the more project-focused approach that Capgemini and other big firms employ.
Meanwhile, over at SuiteWorld, NetSuite was bigging up its new relationship with CapGemini. From Larry Dignan's news round up:
NetSuite is partnering with Capgemini on systems integration and procurement. Specifically, NetSuite will be integrated with Capgemini's IBX procurement platform and supplier network. The partnership brings source-to-contract, procure-to-pay and contract management to NetSuite. Capgemini's business process outsourcing group will also use NetSuite to power its BPO Virtual Company software. Via Capgemini, NetSuite will gain exposure to larger companies.
During our executive Q&A, I asked Zach Nelson, CEO NetSuite how the company will avoid the systems integrator controlling problem with which SAP has unsuccessfully grappled over the years. I mentioned that in the context that NetSuite makes a virtue of fast track implementation. An example is Groupon where:
Within just six weeks, Groupon went live with NetSuite OneWorld in five international markets. In three months, twenty-six international markets are expected to be live
Contrast this with multi year deployments that are the bread and butter of large scale SAP and Oracle deployments but which, with cloud, are going away.
Nelson didn't provide a crisp answer but has made it clear that NetSuite doesn't want to be in the services business and would prefer to leave that work to the SIs. I don't blame Nelson for parading the big names. It is a validation that NetSuite has 'arrived' in the larger market. But if recent experience is an indicator, the best cloud SIs are those that have understood cloud economics and are more concerned about outcomes. Most of those are not so well known.
At NetSuite, I like to think about Baker Tilly. At Salesforce.com I think about Appirio. At Workday I think about Deloitte - largely because they acquired a cloud specialist crew to provide the heart of their cloud practice. And now at SAP we can think about Virtustream but for fresh reasons.
Where does this leave CapGemini? That is hard to say. I am aware that some CapGemini consultants absolutely do get cloud. But then cloud is proving to be a disruptive force across many markets. If these nuggets say anything then it suggests that a switch to cloud provides opportunities to re-think the SI relationship. To emphasise Whittington's point:
I believe that in aligning our vision at Florida Crystals with SAP’s vision—cloud, in-memory, mobile and analytics—utilizing Virtustream’s hosted, managed enterprise cloud, we’re going do things we never thought possible.
What do you think? Can the old guard SIs provide solid value in a cloud enabled world? Does cloud expertise trump everything or does vertical market expertise plus cloud smarts foretell how SIs will succeed in the future? Talkback in comments.
Featured image credit: © Andrii Salivon - Fotolia.com