In the technology world, there’s always talk about “disruption.” This refers to new or innovated technology or business models that fundamentally change the world to which they are applied. Advocates for disruption take pride in their achievements, and rightfully so: driving productive change–rather than simply reacting to the changing world around you–is difficult and often risky work.
The problem with disruption is that it appeals to the free thinkers in a group and scares the pants off everyone else, including (at times) those in the C-suite. This leaves potentially valuable ideas without sponsorship, which means they are likely to wither and die.
The Celent view of core systems technology and services is that they have reached critical mass in their capability to support disruption. There’s always more to come, but what is out there, right now, is sufficient to rock our world.
The availability of highly configurable, highly functional platforms that offer all the modern bells and whistles through a variety of delivery options means that buy-inclined carriers should reconsider their long-term core systems strategies. Build-inclined carriers have a host of modern tools for creating, testing, and integrating custom systems, and vendors that specialize in this approach. In addition, BPO offerings have matured tremendously, providing another solid option. In sum, platform changes that were unthinkable a few years ago might now make sense.
But there is another, necessary ingredient to making effective platform changes, beyond leveraging raw disruptive technology capabilities. It’s bringing a new sense of creativity to the game, asking, “What if…?” and truly letting the process flow from there. Are we ready to blow up processes and start over? It’s time. Are there new business models lurking in our collective brains? We need to let them out and explore them fully.
As an industry, we need to aim higher, think bigger, and expect more. Leveraging a combination of tools, vendors and creativity is the only way we’ll get there.
Please note: We like the theme of creative disruption for core systems so much, we’re hosting a content-rich, one-day workshop that explores the concept. It’s November 3rd in Boston, and we hope you’ll consider joining us there. For more information, click
