Augment Platform Strategy with Point Solutions

Augment your Platform Strategy with Best-in-Breed Point Solutions

Platform solutions or integrated solutions have gained not only popularity but also trust from enterprises in the last few years. And why not! They have proved their mettle on more than one front. They are reliable, efficient, versatile, agile, and cost-effective. Does this mean that integrated solutions are in and the rest is out? Definitely not! In a market saturated with platforms delivering long-term business goals, point solutions support the digital journey of an enterprise in their own unique ways. The key here is to know how and when to strike a balance and create a balanced tech stack for your business.

Point Solutions | One Solution, One Function

A point solution can be best explained by the term ‘one-to-one’. Each point solution is a highly focused and specialized software designed to address a particular business problem. It means a point solution will expertly address only one business need. For example, consider a leave request tool, a room-booking software, or a billing software. These are advanced and sophisticated systems that can only operate within their designated space. They achieve their purpose wonderfully, but you cannot expect a point solution like an e-signature tool to help you with agreement automation as well. Would you go for another point solution in this situation? Let’s see now.

Platform Solutions | One Solution, Many Functions

Platform or integrated solutions have a ‘one-to-many’ approach towards dealing with your business problems. A single platform can work with multiple business functions or focus areas, bringing efficiency across the entire value chain. A CRM is a prime example of a platform solution.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system that brings together software to manage customer interactions and support activities across various channels, including calls, emails, and more. This data unification and standardization enable more strategic prospect identification and approach, increasing the chances of conversion.

Another key example is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which integrates several business functions, including supply chain, HR, and Financial Accounting (F&A), among others, to create a unified system with centralized data storage.  

This immediately leads to a key conclusion: that platform solutions or integrated solutions are all you need to meet your business needs. I’ll say, hold on.

Point Vs Platform Solutions

There are some significant differences between point and platform solutions. Both have their pros and cons, and it cannot be denied that, in the long run, platform solutions ultimately prevail. They are more agile, prevent data siloes, create more streamlined processes, offer a unified interface for operation, are cost effective and time saving once the entire system is in production.

On the other hand, their initial setup is more expensive and time-consuming, may require vendor support for efficient management of the solution, necessitate technical efforts for integration and customization, and may not yield the best-in-breed output that point solutions offer for a specific area.

The Ideal Tech Stack

Enterprises need to overcome the traditional approach of choosing between point and platform solutions and strive to create a blend that combines the best of both worlds. The ideal way to fine-tune operations and improve efficiency, productivity, accuracy, and cost efficiency of digital transformation initiatives is to choose an integrated solution and augment it with point solutions that complement it. The end result is a highly focused and versatile software system that addresses your business goals.

Here's how it can be done: An integrated CRM platform can be augmented with an e-signature tool, an email automation tool, and a billing and invoice tool to create a more impactful software system with increased efficiency, better data management, improved agility and scalability, and optimized costs and time savings.

The bottom line is that while platform solutions are superior, you cannot exclude point solutions as long as they work in conjunction with each other. The key is to create a technical harmony between both. 

About the Author
Prabhjinder Bedi
Prabhjinder Bedi
Chief Growth Officer, Business Process Services, Tech Mahindra

Bedi has over two decades of experience involving launching start-up ecosystems, scaling up businesses, and successfully taking products and services to market across industry verticals, spanning telecom and media, hi-tech/new economy, financial services, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, and life sciences.More

Bedi has over two decades of experience involving launching start-up ecosystems, scaling up businesses, and successfully taking products and services to market across industry verticals, spanning telecom and media, hi-tech/new economy, financial services, retail and consumer goods, manufacturing, and life sciences. Having spent over 16 years at Tech Mahindra, Bedi is currently responsible for taking our existing and new-age service offerings to global markets and adding meaning to our shareholders, partners, and customers. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from IIT- BHU and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from IIM Calcutta.

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