Crafting a mobile cloud company

I had to first convince myself, that the current cloud buzz is not only smoke and mirrors before I can make my customers buy the idea about business process as a service. So, I decided to convince myself by testing the cloud with my own start-up.

Initially, I did not have a deep understanding of what is existing out there, yet I felt confident, that I will be able to craft a company fueled by cloud enabled infrastructure and software offerings, which

a) Can be accessed from anywhere in the world (basically coffee shops in Vienna)

b) I don’t have to invest into capital expenditure and monthly subscription fees are minimal, and

c) I can immediately shut down the services, in case I find out that the business idea is not worthwhile pursuing.

Now, the self-convincing period is over, I am positive, that my customers will love the BPaaS services, however here is what works and what does not work for me in the cloud world:

• ·    Communication: Robust, stable, sophisticated. Gmail, Twitter, Blogs all seemingly interconnecting with each other and it is great to work with from my Android phone. In addition I can manage my mobile phone and internet connection functionalities and bills online. 5 stars.
•      Organization: A real eye opener. Google calendar and contact functions (why does Google not offer these offline?) provide all the functionalities I need, with Evernote and other small apps I capture ideas on the go, and I use SugarSync for automatic back up of my files in the cloud and all the apps in the Android market place, which make my life really easier. And above all the monthly bill compares to a pennywise restaurant visit. 5++ stars.
•      Standard office applications: I tried Google docs for a while, the collaboration piece in the cloud is nice, yet the functionalities for an addicted of presentations and calculations are not sophisticated enough. Yes, I bought MS office and installed it on my computer. I give it another 2-3 years until I will get rid of it. 2 stars.
•      Applications supporting the operations: To operate the start-up I defined the following application requirements: CRM tool, Call center infrastructure (PBX, IVR, ACD), accounting application, document management system, and a workflow solution. My research revealed mixed results: CRM: there are plenty of cloud based CRM tools out there offering more functionality than I will ever require. Salesforce.com is certainly the hyped star among the applications. Call center infrastructure: It took me some time, but I found them and they are called Five9. However these guys operate their infrastructure in the US and it did not make much sense to me to route a call back and forth from the US to address a request of a client, who sits only a few hundred kilometers away. Seems that Oracle operates also a virtual call center infrastructure in Europe, but after speaking with representatives in Austria, Germany, Ireland and India, nobody ever bothered about me. So, I decided to offer non-voice solutions. Accounting application: This was a real long search and the solution was just under my very nose. I found brilliant anglo cloud systems (Xero is really cool) and tried to convince their CEOs to tap fast into the German opportunity, however without success. I ran through many half-baked German systems, which either do only part of the job or you need a PhD in computer science to use it and was close to surrender. Finally, I came across DATEV, the supposed to be conservative and lethargic quasi-monopolist in the German accounting software market. But hey, they are really innovative, have in Germany unrivalled accounting cloud applications, integrate even DMS and workflow solutions and have a smart management team. Job done! Overall: 3 stars.

My personal conclusion on cloud offerings: If you want to craft a mobile cloud company you certainly have an advantage being a US based company these days and there remains one unresolved issue- all the apps in the cloud act as their own data islands with no interconnection.

The tedious search for solutions strengthened my faith into the bigforsmall idea: it is high time that we start offering business service based on cloud applications where the end user does not have to fool around with searching, selecting and running infrastructure or software.

Business-Process-as-a-Service: What's this all about?

A few months ago, busily trying to crack the code for an Outsourcing & Offshoring (O&O) business concept to small companies, I came across the aaS (as-a-Service) thing. By now most people had certainly heard about the difference between Scandinavian airlines (SAS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and I had worked with the later in my previous jobs.

So I was thinking if SaaS is the buzz in IT with a value proposition prevalent to SMEs, what about the equivalent in BPO? After some research I found BPaaS (Business-Process-as-a-Service), BaaS (Business-as-a-Service), PraaS (Process-as-a-service), BPMaaS (Business-Process-Management-as-a-Service) culminating in WaaS (Whatever-as-a-Service) and EaaS (Everything-as-a-Service).
Whatever the letter in front of the aaS , it appears to be the most comprehensive and attractive outsourcing model for small companies, because:

1) it provides the customer an end-to-end process solution and they can construct an overall value chain rather than just buy software.
2) It requires little or no capital expenditure for starting up and running the services.
3) It offers pay as you go pricing models with no minimum order quantities and no lock-in.
4) It is rapidly up- and downward scalable according to the business needs of the customer, and
5) if you combine it with offshored service delivery it comes along with an unbeatable price.

Now, as the business concept was born, I had to give it a name. After evaluating oBPMaaS (offshored-Business-Process-Management-as-a-Service), "flyingjellyfish" (all thoughts on how many beers I had before this name came up, please directly to my e-mail) and others I finally locked in at "big solutions for small companies", because this is what it really is about.

P.S.: For the scientific version on aaS, please have a look at Forrester or contact a consulting company, preferably my former employer.

Bigforsmall on Twitter

Bigforsmall is going Web 2.0 with twitter. I have already posted articles on technology and outsourcing trends and happenings, which I deem important in Outsourcing & Offshoring for small companies. Please feel free to share your comments, ideas and disucssion topics.

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A real busy summer - finalizing the business concept

It's about two months since I have left my well paid and fairly secure job as a management consultant to follow my passion and open up my own company in business process outsourcing. I can certainly not claim that days are shorter and pressure is less than in my previous job, yet it feels for the first time right to open up the computer on Wednesday midnight or Sunday afternoon.

It was a real busy summer and I was able to avoid the vacation buzz by getting into second gear with my business idea. Let me partially raise the curtain on what is behind the "bigforsmall" idea.

The business concept

Bigforsmall intends to provide offshoring solutions for back-office functions to small companies. The target group, which stands for a 99% of all companies in the German speaking economies, have been neglected by the offshoring providers, due to the challenges in service delivery and go-to-market activities.
Bigforsmall wants to overcome this challenge with the following measures:

a) Design standard services based on the needs of this customer segment; the customers will not have to worry about who and where the services are delivered from. Some industry advisors call this "Business-Process-as-a-Service".
b) Market these services at around 50% less price what existing onshore providers can offer (the offshore advantage!)
c) Bundle the demand and contract service delivery with large multinational players in offshoring centers in Central Eastern Europe.

Talking with many potential clients, there seems to be huge demand. Based on the general positive feedback, I have decided to start offering accounting services from January 2011 onwards. Still lots to accomplish until the start date, however sending my CV again to large corporations is postponed for the time being.