Full Stack's
2021 Technology Trends
Trend Insight 1 - Internal teams recognising that operations are their forte, and it is better to partner during construction
Full Stack works with internal software teams on more than 80% of our projects. In 2021, we see that trend remaining, and we also know that model will become further entrenched in enterprise software.
Two models have been prominent in the past, outsourcing and culture change collaborative models. In 2020 we saw outsourcing models come under strain with clients looking to cost control, and who then had the challenge of not owning their stacks or their tech. Full Stack doesn't offer to outsource, so this was a challenge for both outsourced vendors and clients we observed from the sidelines.
Collaborative models, fuelled mainly by a desire for agile development methodologies within the enterprise, are under strain in our view. The needed emulsion of differing development cultures between clients and vendors are often tricky. Speed and paces of work are not always aligned. There is an intrinsic conflict between cost-centre internal technical staff and profit-centre external teams.
In 2021, we see the collaborative model maturing into an exciting phase. More enterprises (having now adopted Agile methods more fully) can let businesses such as Full Stack lead in the build and construction phase (while remaining involved actively in technical decision making as a client) and then taking over the lead in the operation and BAU phase. From an efforting perspective, we see this akin to an 80/20 to 20/80 switch. The innovation/construction capability takes the lead in development and then down-gears for torque and power in the BAU phase.
This is the shift we see accelerating in enterprise software in 2021, which will create the most significant value for the businesses that adopt it. Commercial operating frames have to widen to make this model work, from traditional phases of 6-12 months, to longer elapsed but more variant effort time frames of 9-24 months.