Digital economy: The revolution will eat its own children.

The digital economy is good at preaching water and drinking wine. Customers are told that they have to do this or that, that they can do this or that. And if you don’t transform now, you’ll be lost forever.

And yes, of course that’s true. Companies have to act and they are increasingly doing so. That is a good thing. However, most software companies and agencies forget that the digital transformation does not stop at them. Accordingly, there is no discourse about this in the digital economy. Now that we still have time and leisure.

Costs must come down

Even though a lot is currently being invested, we must not forget that it is still very expensive for companies to create really good, comprehensive (online and offline) solutions. The creation costs for solutions also play a role. However, the hidden costs are much more sensitive. The process of developing a solution is extremely time-consuming for the customer. Right from the start: finding and selecting potential providers is tedious, technological integration is expensive and the lack of best practice adds to this.

And we agencies and providers don’t exactly play a glorious role here. We offer the customer our deliverables and that’s it. Ok, most customers also have the feeling that they could and should create something very special, only to reinvent the wheel. The more expensive it is, subjectively speaking.

We can do better!

Better, from the beginning to the end of the value chain of digital solutions. Until now, we have been an army of “one-off manufacturers”. However, the average company is so behind on digital transformation that there are many “no-brainers” that simply need to be done. Simply basic functionalities such as a cost-effective, standardized online ordering option. But we don’t deliver them; instead, we turn them into huge customization stories. And that is expensive and tedious for the customer. Worse still, we hinder customers in their digital transformation. The goal would actually be the exact opposite.

Footpaths

And so we always follow the same beaten track. We think in terms of software manufacturers, integration partners, platforms, products and interfaces. We are simply lucky that no one has really recognized the potential in this market and is thinking and investing big from the outset and building something really new. For example, a company that uses a platform directly with the customer to build software products. Without developers.

Software that writes software

And please don’t tell me now that it’s not possible. Of course it’s not possible in our way of thinking. It’s not possible unless you do it. That’s how BMW, VW and Audi also thought about the electric car and they will have their own brutal awakening when Tesla brings out the 35k EUR Volks-Stromer. Anything is possible, even software that writes software. Good software, better software than we could do manually.

The Next Big Thing

The basic idea behind it is ancient. The key question: How quickly can we build and train an engine that allows us to automate specification, development and production? What would remain is business engineering, configuration and improvement. With such a solution, consultants and the customer can produce software for their purposes directly, without the middle man “developer”. At a fraction of the cost and time.

Costs of disruption

I think it’s only a matter of time before we see a player who seriously sets about launching something like this. It would be in the best interests of digital transformation. And we are doing a lot right now to make it happen. Because the longer we sell our services in a complicated and expensive way, the greater the incentive to make a morbidly high investment in order to launch a 100% configurable software engine. Such a really good product is sure to sell like hot cakes.

Get better

What can we do better? I am the last person to call for protectionism here. But what we can do first to make structural change in the software industry more pleasant is to significantly reduce the incentive for a new player to disrupt this industry. For example, by drastically reducing the costs for the customer. We do this by working in a much more modular way, developing best practice for “no-brainers”, delivering faster and being more leanly organized. And finally only developing individual solutions where they are really needed.

“If software is eating the world, why should it spurn the software industry? “

Structural change in the software industry

You’ll think he’s out of his mind. What is the structural change in the software industry supposed to be? In fact, there’s not much sign of it yet. And I’m probably a few years too early with my comments. But it must be obvious to everyone that the digital transformation will not stop at the software industry. There is simply far too much manual work involved in the process and we are seeing exactly the same development in other industries. So instead of just “preaching” digital transformation, we would do well to start thinking about it and taking action as early as possible. Then we won’t be taken by surprise by the digital transformation like so many of our customers, but can move with it as an industry and grow with it. Otherwise, we will become victims of our own drivers.

This article originally appeared as part of my “Transformed!” column on t3n.