The digital transformation of companies building software-centric products typically involves a long and risky journey from on-premise licensed products to cloud software as a service offerings. The reason why companies embark on such an expedition is the perception of a huge opportunity, that is the rewards at the destination are perceived to outweigh the risks of the journey, or a fatal threat, that is the risk of not changing is bigger than the risk of changing. In both cases, we are aiming at the benefits of SaaS and the cloud, and to achieve them we need to pay attention to a pair of opposing forces:
The Integration Force direction aligns from independent or loosely connected on-premise products towards joining a cloud ecosystem (or multiple) that enables us to faster deliver a fully integrated solution, in a more flexible way. For example, the transition from a business accounting product running in a personal computer to a cloud SaaS suite allowing the user to process orders, invoicing, payments from customers, payments to providers, and other accounting functions, fully integrated with the systems of its customers, providers, payment platforms and the banks.
The Disintegration Force direction points from relatively large on-premise products towards a collection of micro-services that interact with the rest to deliver the required features. An example would be the same accounting PC software product being decomposed in a set of microservices to support orders, invoices, payments, providers, customers, bank accounts, inventory, cash flow analysis, financial statements, orders/invoices reconciliation, invoice/payment reconciliations…
Working to find balance with both forces is critical in achieving the SaaS and Cloud promised benefits.
The Adaptive Executive 