c-suite

Digital trends V:
Value Pods and why they matter

insight
August 21, 2024
9 min read

Authors

kanchan

Kanchan Ray, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Nagarro, leads innovation topics and helps customers transform their business.

Rahul Mahajan is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Nagarro. He pushes the boundaries of what is possible for the customers.

In digital trend I, we talked about how expanding digital markets into digital ecosystems offer businesses a way to— expand reach, optimize resources, and innovate for greater market share and profitability. Digital trend II revealed how you can— supercharge your enterprise strategy with Generative AI Playbooks. Digital trend III slingshot you into the future, by explaining how to build Generative AI-led Experiences, where you build strong relationships with the customer by offering them immersive experience.

Digital trend IV talks about the boundaryless organization— rethinking structure, which goes beyond individual organizations and requires a collaborative, ecosystem-wide approach to ensure responsible and ethical use of powerful technologies.

This technology trend is about value pods and why they matter.

This digital trend is about the shift from one-size-fits-all type technology-systems and gradually replacing them with modular “value pods” focused digital-systems. Each pod focuses on a specific business goal, like boosting customer engagement or increasing sales. They’re like Lego blocks for your technology infrastructure, letting you easily build solutions that fit your needs perfectly and as they stack up – they complete the bigger ecosystem.

Discussion

This modular approach isn’t just about technology; it’s about driving shifts in organizational structure, where — new roles like AI governance ensure responsible innovation, and you can leverage SaaS, PaaS, and hybrid cloud options to create a truly flexible and adaptable system.

What sets value pods apart? They’re not built around specific departments or projects but around specific goals which can span across technology stacks and business functions. This laser focus lets you iterate quickly and deliver results faster, like a well-designed product. You can add new sub-modules for observability, AI explainability, and governance whenever you need them, keeping your system agile and responsive.

Value pods: Modular building blocks for achieving specific business goals
Data mesh: A flexible information infrastructure
Cloud options: SaaS, PaaS, and hybrid for added power
AI governance: Assurance of responsible innovation
Agile iterations: Continuous improvement and adaptation

This isn’t just a tech upgrade, it’s a transformation. By embracing value pods, you can build a dynamic, responsive organization that thrives in today’s fast-paced business world.

Example:

In the past, creating a single view of your customer data meant implementing a complex and expensive master data management (MDM) system. This approach might meet your IT goals, but it often comes with a high total cost of ownership (TCO) due to factors like:

Expensive licenses
Complex onboarding for new marketing or loyalty programs
Slow segmentation and integration of artificial intelligence (AI)

There's a better way! A value-pod approach focuses on business KPIs rather than just technical ones. This means designing a solution that can be easily adapted to new business needs, such as onboarding new brands or markets.

The new solution could be:

Software as a service (SaaS) solution that is easy to deploy and maintain
Platform as a service (PaaS) solution that provides a foundation for building custom applications
Completely custom solution

By using a modular central service, you can gradually add new features and functionalities as your business needs evolve. This will help you to avoid the need for expensive and time-consuming custom development projects.

Here are some of the quick benefits of using a value-pod approach:

Reduced TCO
Faster time to market for new initiatives
Improved customer experience

This approach can help you to get a single view of your customer data without all the hassle and expense of traditional MDM systems.

What's the need?

The Value Pods trend addresses the urgent need for a more adaptable and dynamic approach to technology and digital solutions. Traditional architectural patterns are often difficult to reconcile with the rapidly evolving demands of the digital age. There is a compelling need to shift towards a fluidic architecture style that enables the development of value-driven Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) through modular, computational, self-service, and independently deployable pods. The need arises from the requirement to facilitate fluidity across the value chain, enabling organizations to develop a variety of business solutions. For example, a technology strategy related to customer engagement transformation may involve engineering modular MLOps pluggable pipelines in a data mesh that enables the resulting technology API endpoints to participate in a broader choreography, leading to improved sales.

Value pods-Lego blocks for technology infrastructure

The opportunity

The “Value Pods” trend represents a major opportunity for businesses offering digital and software solutions to reshape the way technology is developed, deployed, and used in organizations. The opportunity lies in using a fluidic architecture style to develop value driven KPIs through modular, computational, self-service, and independently deployable pods. This approach enables seamless choreography across the value chain and provides opportunities for:

Unlock business value faster

Accelerate time-to-market with pre-built and self-service pods to encourage rapid experimentation and innovation. Adopt an agile and iterative design strategy with product-like maturity through pluggability patterns in value pods. This includes the ability to add newer sub-modules, e.g., observability and hooks for AI explainability and governance.

Transform organizational structures

Embrace a radical shift in organizational structures to accommodate the trend towards fluidic value pods. This shift goes beyond classic architectural patterns and leads to a more agile and responsive organizational structure.

Design around innovations:

Benefit from innovations in Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and hybrid cloud models. The fluidic value pod trend is not limited to tech modernization but also aligns with and leverages advanced cloud technologies.

Adopt KPI-centric approaches:

Moving away from domain-centric structures to a KPI-centric approach. This enables organizations to align technology solutions directly to the key performance indicators that drive business success.

The shift

The concept of “Value Pods” revolves around the strategic engineering of modular, computational, self-service, and independently deployable pods that are designed to increase value through specific KPIs. This concept represents a departure from traditional architectural patterns towards a more fluidic approach that takes into account different business requirements. Key elements of the concept include:

Modular, computational, self-service, and independently deployable pods:

Design self-contained, modular pods that can be easily deployed and configured to meet specific business objectives.

Fluidic choreography across the value chain

Enable seamless choreography across the value chain so organizations can dynamically respond to changing business requirements.

AI-governance integration

Ensure responsible and ethical AI practices across the organization are integral to the Fluidic Value Pod approach.

Leverage cloud innovations

Capitalize on the advancements in SaaS, PaaS, and hybrid cloud models to enhance the scalability and flexibility of value pods.

KPI-centric approach

Shift focus from domain-centric structures to a KPI-centric approach to ensure technology solutions contribute directly to key performance indicators.

Agile and iterative design strategy

Introduce an agile and iterative design strategy with product-like maturity through pluggability patterns in value pods. This includes adding new sub-modules to ensure adaptability and responsiveness to evolving business requirements.

In conclusion

Value pods represent a strategic shift in digital transformation that emphasizes modularity, agility and measurable business outcomes. By breaking down complex systems into independently deployable units, organizations can accelerate innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences. This approach enables companies to adapt swiftly to changing market dynamics, optimize resource allocation and develop new revenue streams.

This trend necessitates a cultural shift towards a KPI-centric and data-driven mindset that enables faster time-to-market, improved customer experience and enhanced organizational agility. Value pods are a way to sustainable growth and competitive advantage as organizations navigate the complexity of the digital landscape.

Digital trends V: Value Pods and why they matter

Digital Engineering

Intelligent Enterprise

Experience and Design

Digital trends V:
Value Pods and why they matter

Discussion

Example:

What's the need?