2011 is upon us. Austerity is the buzz word..Everyone is keen on saving money. Let’s take a look at what this means for Business and for HTWC
Q: Has your business been affected by the ongoing downturn and hard felt austerity measures?
A: Of course. Almost every sector has been hit and will be felt throughout 2011 as some of the measures now really kick in. However, there are more signs of optimism, as a result, this has businesses planning again.
Q: How does this affect your business?
A: By definition, our business is built around clients taking pragmatic, sensible decisions, respecting costs and making the most of past investments by injecting more life into them. We, our clients, partners and affiliates believe the increase in cost sensitivity will raise the profile of our industry in the eyes of senior management and shareholders.
Q: So tightening of belts is good for business?
A: In a word, yes. Of course, the reality is, the time to tighten belts is during the good times. Our discussions with clients indicate a greater interest from shareholders and supervisory boards, very keen to explore ways to achieve aggressive budget reduction targets.
Q: Good news for you?
A: Yes and no. Obviously we would expect to see an increase in revenue, but we don’t want to be seen as a cost cutting industry. This is a lot more. The technology employed is very complex and even with my experience, it still impresses me a great deal. The ability to decouple mission critical applications and data from legacy environments, and to operate them in more efficient environments, whilst retaining all the asset value and virtues of the legacy world, entails a lot of skill and knowledge. This opens a lot of doors for IT organizations and should be considered in all types of IT strategies and not just for saving costs.
Q: So Mainframe platform modernization fits into other it strategies?
A: Yes – We create a homogenous environment for applications which can then be modernized – makes further development and packet integration a lot easier and cost effective.
Our work is designed to shift budgets from maintaining status quo over towards investing in new initiatives as well as saving money.
Q: For example?
A: Some clients “Park” their applications on a more cost effective environment, and use the budget and newly acquired application knowledge to re-engineer applications. To put things into perspective; a modernization project will take between 4- 6 months, with a similar payback period. Re-engineering applications can take 5 – 7 years, with corresponding cost differentiation. Can be a wonderful combination to modernize and use the savings’ as budget to re-write.
Q: So what are your new year’s resolutions
A: Well, apart from the odd Cigar and a good red wine, I don’t have too many vices to give up. On the business front, we have created a new partner development organization. This entails a growth orientated commercial framework, development and implementation facilities as well as the technical and commercial people charged with supporting partners moving forward. This will reduce the overall fulfillment costs and time to market.
Well on that note, we wish you, HTWC and its partners a very happy and prosperous new year.
Thank you, I am sure there will be plenty to talk about in the next months.
