Blog #1: Industry Dynamics and the External Strategy Environment

Understanding industry dynamics is essential to gaining a competitive edge.  Over the summer, I worked at a company that was trying to redefine itself within its industry.  It had been a traditional, conservative business process outsourcing company, handling routine tasks for some of the largest companies in the world.  For example, call centers very frequently outsourced because they can be operated more efficiently on scale.  The company excelled in handling high-volume interactions but was capable of little else.  It's technological savviness was very limited to few pieces of hardware (e.g. EZPass) or legacy software systems they owned.  For instance, they also operated Medicaid fiscal agent services which relied on an outdated technology architecture.  Further, the company had spun-off of a much larger company two years prior, and it was in the middle of executing a 3 year plan to position itself for the future post-spin-off.  Specifically, that plan was based on an analysis of the industry dynamics.   The company would change from a dusty old BPO company to a modern firm that provides "digital transformation services" to clients also trying to migrate from legacy systems to the latest thing.  But, as I realized during my time with the firm, having the right strategy is sometimes not enough.