Phil Fersht
EnterpriseIrregulars
Cambridge, MA, United States
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Past articles by Phil:
Getting chatbot fatigue? Then upgrade to digital associates...
Let’s cut to the chase folks… chatbots have struggled to gain much of a foothold in the corporate tech innovation stack. However, our analyst Melissa O’Brien has spent the last few years studying how these engagement technologies are evolving deeper into the enterprise where they can truly augment staff and reduce a significant amount of their … → Read More
One word defines today’s business environment: Speed
Archives Select Month April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October… → Read More
10 things to think about, if you want to be a more successful and genuine person in this emerging economy
It’s been quite the year hasn’t it, folks! I don’t know about you, but this has proven to be a voyage of self-discovery for me personally as we build businesses that can thrive in a world where it doesn’t matter where you are anymore, where the rules of the game are being re-written in a … → Read More
The proposed Atos-DXC takeover is papering over some very deep cracks from a bygone era
The IT services market has arrived at its most critical infection point in 20 years, where the role of service providers that survive the Covid era will be those that have made the shift from support firm (Phase 1) to a business partner (Phase 2). We’ve talked about this services shift ever since Tom Reuner … → Read More
SBA: Please stop spanking bots
What better to blame – when all goes wrong – than the evil robotic thing you just inserted into your system. Many of you saw the recent article in ABA Banking Journal where they blamed RPA for the “burden on their processing system and diminishing of its capabilities”. We will discuss this debacle in a more … → Read More
Leaders embracing an infinite mindset can flourish during these times
As a leader, it’s so easy to obsess with operational functions of the business during times of disruption or distress – in this case, a global pandemic – that it can create knee-jerk, often short-term decisions that could inherently damage your long-term vision, your business’ culture and your raison d’être. Having lived and worked through … → Read More
HFS predictions for 2020. Oh lord, not more... but you know you'll read them anyway
Lord, do we hate predictions. But as analysts we get treated like robots sometimes and are expected to churn them out like some pre-defined analyst chatbot algorithms. So, in robotic fashion, here is a splurge of stuff we think could well happen from the HFS analyst team… 1) The consequences of taking out Soleimani may make all … → Read More
Your people are your brand… how HFS made it through its first decade
Unlike the large analyst houses where analysts can be swapped in and out like cogs in a machine, HFS has been built on people, their expertise and their personalities. This is a company where people can shine as individuals and aren’t simply turning corporate widgets to grow revenues and meet targets. With the 10 year … → Read More
Maybe RPA is a gateway drug after all, as AI takes the number one spot for investment focus
There haven’t been too many better debates since RPA fever took over the world of process executives whether the toolset was the first step on the road to full artificial intelligence (AI) adoption. The consensus has largely been that RPA provides some great process orchestration experimentation that can eventually help us enjoy that ultimate AI high. … → Read More
Is UiPath prepping for a Microsoft sale?
We’ve been speculating for years about who will eventually buy who in this robotic software world. However, when it comes to “outright” RPA acquisitions, so far it’s only been bite-sized stuff like Pega/OpenSpan, SAP/Contextor, Blue Prism/Thoughtonomy. While there have been a lot of strategic partnerships and development initiatives between “Big Iron” software and emerging RPA firms, … → Read More
Genpact gets Right to the Point to bring the front and back office together... as OneOffice
Did you hear the one about the GE finance captive spinoff which ended up as a Top 6 AI Services firm before making a bold move into the front office with the acquisition of the respected Right Point Group? And did you hear it broke into the world of digital service capability without ever succumbing to the … → Read More
Why going straight to digital from your legacy outsourcing engagement is like buying a Tesla
As we discussed last week, the 2019 State of Operations data shows a strong appetite from enterprises to dump legacy outsourcing practices and reinvest in operating models that can take them straight to digital. While the desire to invest in an outsourcing model nose-dived from 62% in 2018 to 28% this year, it’s also worth looking at … → Read More
Want to survive the AI era? YOU have a simple choice to make...
When it comes to staying relevant in today’s workforce, let’s get to the heart of the matter – YOU have a simple choice to make: Do nothing and be part of the “Frozen Middle”. Decide you can’t be bothered to learn anything new, so make sure your firm has the same attitude (or has … → Read More
RPA is dead. Long live Integrated Automation Platforms
The biggest problem with enterprise operations today is the simple fact that most firms still run most of their processes exactly the same way as they did 20/30/40 years ago, with the only “innovation” being models like offshore outsourcing and shared service centers, cloud and digital technologies enabling those same processes to be conducted steadily … → Read More
No-Deal Brexit isn't just a British problem: This could wipe $15 trillion off global markets
In 2008 Lehman Brothers nearly took down the global banking system… in 2017 Greece’s debts were poised to destroy the European economy… today, we are staring at a stock market that gyrates up and down double-digit percentages in a single day, based on one awkward tariff tweet-up between Xi and Donald… We’re talking about the … → Read More
Accenture, IBM, Capgemini and Wipro lead the first application services Top 10
So it’s now 2019, and HFS’ Ollie O’Donoghue and Jamie Snowdon waste no time in the world of the new feisty Top 10 methodology, where they take no prisoners in ranking how the leading application development and management service providers performed… The market continues to test and experiment with new frameworks and methodologies. The most notable are … → Read More
Phil's 2018 Disruptor Awards!
What better than to hand out some awards to people who have absolutely no clue they are going to win one… and for actually doing something in 2018 to impact the world of IT and business services that actually shook up the rules of the game? And what better to offer up zero prizes beyond … → Read More
2019 Prediction: Brexit will be abolished and the UK economy will roar back to life
I am not normally one for big grandiose predictions – I’m actually pretty dull when it comes to big hyperbole (I hope). Honestly, I’d love to declare that AI will destroy a third of the workforce, and then magically perform a 360-degree flip and start creating jobs. I’d also love to declare that RPA vendors will magically … → Read More
RPA will reach $2.3bn next year and $4.3bn by 2022... as we revise upwards our forecasts
Well… it’s been quite a 2018 in the fantasy world of RPA (RPA plus RDA), where some of the fantasy dollars have magically become real, as the market hit $1.7bn – an increase of $250m from our forecast last year. So when the more conservative of forecasters (HFS) undershoots the market by 17%, you know … → Read More
IBM / RedHat: A grand play at out-sharing Microsoft’s open source economy
It’s really not about the cloud – not at this massive $34bn price tag. IBM’s ingestion of RedHat, the third largest IT purchase in history, is all about Open Source. Commentators are already pitching this deal as long-awaited reinforcements to the trench-warfare of the cloud wars. But in reality, we need to look much deeper to … → Read More