SMAC - Introduction

Look around and consider the technologies we rely on today: social platforms, smartphones and tablets, analytics and cloud computing. It’s hardly news that the impact of these advancements has forever altered the way we live — and not just on a personal level. They've infiltrated the workplace too, creating an unprecedented and, in some cases, caustic reaction for many proven business models.

To remain relevant, companies need to digitize and virtualize the way they work, updating key processes — as well as the organizational and financial models that support them — to keep up with today’s information-based markets.

Creating economic value or hype?

Over the past few years, we’ve heard a lot about social, mobile, analytics and cloud, and their potential for the enterprise. These days, however, we’re witnessing more and more corporate nonsuccesses with these new technologies. In some cases, BYOD (bring your own device) policies for employees and their personal, smart devices have added significant support costs, interoperability problems and new security breaches. Other instances have shown that internal social networks result in productivity declines as employees waste time with virtual chatting. And many cloud applications have effectively neutralized cost savings through efforts required to integrate corporate data and customize functionality.

What companies are learning the hard way, is that it’s not enough to simply “bolt on” these new tools to existing business models. Only when social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies are implemented as a stack, and applied to key processes, will meaningful results then follow.