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Tag: managed-service

  • Article 1: The Organization of Large Deals: Mapping The Key Roles between Customers and Vendors

    The Reality Check: In the world of Tech Services, the term “Large Deal” is thrown around loosely, but true strategic orchestration is rare. Many assume a deal is defined by its dollar value. In reality, a Large Deal is defined by who signs it.

    According to Gartner, while 70% of IT buying decisions now involve business unit leaders, the ultimate sign-off for long-term managed services (the “Large Deal”) has shifted firmly to the CFO.

    As a Deal Director or Enterprise Architect, if you are solving only for the CIO’s technical requirements, you are solving for the wrong stakeholder. Here is the framework I use to map service provider roles to the enterprise reality, ensuring we aren’t just architecting code, but architecting value.

    1. The Three Tiers of Strategic Deals

    Not all deals are created equal. Based on years of GTM enablement, I categorize opportunities into three distinct tiers, each requiring a different architectural approach:

    • The CIO’s Operational Deal (Efficiency):
      • Focus: “Keeping the lights on” with financial smartness. This includes SAP modernization or horizontal tech updates (Data/Reporting).
      • Goal: Rationalize spend. The CFO wants to maintain the same rate of IT spend per unit of revenue, even as the company grows.
    • The Business Leader’s Innovation Deal (Transformation):
      • Focus: Digital Manufacturing, Core Banking Modernization, or CX transformation.
      • Goal: High-margin, short-term engagements. These build brand value for the service provider but are often isolated “islands of innovation” led by specific domain units.
    • The CFO’s Strategic “Large Deal” (The Holy Grail):
      • Focus: Total outsourcing or managed services spanning 5+ years.
      • Goal: Control and Predictability. This is where the service provider gains the widest exposure to the enterprise’s operations. The objective here isn’t just “better tech”—it is a committed reduction in operating costs (often targeting 50%) and 80% predictability on future cost impacts.

    2. The Organizational Mapping: Who Talks to Whom?

    Winning a Large Deal requires mirroring the client’s hierarchy. We cannot send a Tech Architect to convince a CFO. The mapping must be precise:

    • The Deal Director (Pursuit Lead) ↔ The CFO/CEO
      • The Role: They own the “Win Theme”. In many organizations, this role is ad-hoc, filled by Regional Heads or Sales Leads during critical pursuits.
      • The Mandate: They align the commercial model with the CFO’s P&L objectives. They aren’t selling hours; they are negotiating risk and outcome.
    • The Enterprise Architect (EA) ↔ The CIO
      • The Role: The EA translates the “Win Theme” into a technical reality. They must navigate the provider’s internal weaknesses and highlight USPs—even in a market so homogenized that “unique” features are scarce.
      • The Mandate: The EA’s critical success factor is passing the technical gatekeeping of the CIO so the decision can move up to the CFO. They act as the “Thought Leader” guiding the technical squads.
    • The Tech Architect ↔ IT Leads
      • The Role: Deep-dive execution. They ensure the solution is feasible, compliant, and robust.

    3. The “Value” Misconception

    The biggest friction point in Large Deals is the definition of value. To a Tech Lead, value is uptime. To a Business Lead, value is speed. But to the CFO—who rules the Large Deal—value is Ratio Retention.

    Unless the company has unlocked entirely new digital revenue streams, the CFO demands that IT spend remains flat relative to revenue. As architects, we must respect this constraint. We aren’t just designing systems; we are designing a predictable cost model that allows the CFO to sleep at night.

    The Executive Takeaway: We cannot guarantee successful delivery simply by showing past references. A managed service engagement is a journey path defined individually. The winning proposal isn’t the one with the best technology stack; it’s the one where the Enterprise Architect has successfully bridged the gap between the CIO’s need for innovation and the CFO’s need for predictability.

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