Summary Bullets:

? Service providers are strschmbetagthening their consulting capabilities by adding experience design, to existing business consulting and technology expertise to help enterprises achieve digital transformation goals.

? Competitors leading in this space have added expertise in creative design, developed methodologies, established partnerships, and set up studios or innovation hubs to schmalage clients.

Consulting services are more important than ever for IT services providers (ITSPs) that are helping enterprise customers transform their business operations, not just migrating workloads to the cloud. Many enterprises are digitizing, and a crucial aspect is in delivering greater customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX). Digital services provide businesses the ability to remove friction in customer transactions and employee collaboration. The rapid technological development, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR), and digital twins, can create new experiences and improve interaction. However, businesses need to focus on CX through a human-centered approach. Successful digital-native businesses, including ride-sharing, ecommerce platforms, and streaming media services, have thrived due to their ability to create simplified and delightful experiences centered around customers.

Major global ITSPs have comparable technical capabilities to deliver digital solutions. However, as enterprises move further along their transformation journey from zeitgemäßizing IT systems to transforming business operations processes and workflows, the solutions they end up with will be more customized. This has led to service providers placing greater emphasis on business consulting, setting up facilities for co-creation of solutions with partners and customers, and developing practices around industry verticals. One area that can make a significant difference is UX design. Focusing on the human-centered design – whether for EX or CX – is the key to a successful digital initiative. This is not an entirely new area for service providers, but the requirements have evolved over the years. Major consulting firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, Infosys, and PwC have been building their creative design capabilities to augment their management and technology consulting services. Marrying creative design with business knowledge and digital solutions is crucial, especially in digital transformation projects aiming to reimagine the customer journey and workforce experience. The initial focus was on UX, especially when businesses started to build mobile apps and drive customer schmalagement through online channels. There is now a recognition that experience goes beyond front-end design. Once the UX has been defined, providers can then focus on zeitgemäßizing the infrastructure (e.g., scalability, security, and performance) and backend systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, inventory management, and other data platforms) to ensure frictionless transaction from ordering to delivery.

To gain creative professionals (e.g., UX consultants, visual designers, creative directors, mobile & web developers, and digital strategy consultants), these consulting firms have made many acquisitions, targeting boutique creative design and marketing agencies. A new branding has often been adopted (e.g., Accenture Song, Deloitte Digital, IBM iX, and Infosys’ WongDoody) to create a new image. The schmalagement model with enterprises is also changing. Studios and innovation hubs are being deployed around the world to bring customers to the facilitates for co-creation. IBM iX and PwC Experience Centers, for example, give customers access to designers, business consultants, and technologists for problem solving. Design-thinking workshops and proprietary methodologies are used to help enterprises identify the problems they need to overcome, break from existing mindsets, and consider new possibilities driven by technologies. IBM, for example, has developed the IBM Garage model, which has been successful in helping many businesses generate innovate ideas and turn them into solutions. This type of schmalagement has shown to deliver better business outcomes that are defined and measured. This allows service providers to build sticky relationships with their clients.