Playbook: Brownfield vs Greenfield

Max Clark: [00:00] We know what this industry

Max Clark: [00:01] is going to do and what your

Max Clark: [00:02] IT roadmap for the next five years

Max Clark: [00:04] is going to be as a result of it.

Max Clark: [00:06] What decisions do you need

Max Clark: [00:07] to make now

Max Clark: [00:08] So that way, in three years

Max Clark: [00:09] when that requirement hits

Max Clark: [00:10] somebody’s desk,

Max Clark: [00:11] it’s like, oh that’s easy.

Max Clark: [00:13] We can just enable that feature

Max Clark: [00:15] and license it versus

Max Clark: [00:16] we have to go back to the

Max Clark: [00:17] drawing board and figure out

Max Clark: [00:18] how do we rip and replace

Max Clark: [00:20] critical components of how we’re

Max Clark: [00:22] conducting business.

Max Clark: [00:32] I was asked a question, what’s harder, Brownfield versus Greenfield and making infrastructure decisions? Brownfield means there’s something already in play. Could be a little, could be a lot. Greenfield means there’s nothing there. You’re starting from a complete blank slate. Now with Brownfield, actually surprising, Brownfield projects end up becoming very easy. You have already selected something, there’s something already in play, and that drastically limits your options on the market.

Max Clark: [01:02] based on what productivity tool you’re using. If you’re on Microsoft 365 versus Google Workspace, you’ve already made a lot of decisions. Are you Windows or Mac desktops? Are you Salesforce versus HubSpot CRM? You go down the list and what you’ll find is as you want to then layer infrastructure on top of that to give you capabilities, functions, features, backup, whatever it is, you’ve already made these decisions. So lot of what we’re doing when we’re talking about strategy roadmap, sourcing, selection with our clients,

Max Clark: [01:32] is understanding what the existing infrastructure really looks like and the environment actually looks like. Because these are the decisions that really matter more than trying to figure out what vendor speeds and feeds or feature sets or doing Chinese menus or stand out RFPs. Almost all of that becomes irrelevant to you because you’ve already made a decision and that decision is super important. Really basic example, you’re planning a phone system deployment, right? You wanna move, now we call these things unified communications, so UCAS platforms.

Max Clark: [02:01] You already have infrastructure in play. You have phones on desks. You have conference rooms. You have video conferencing systems. These are specialized specific pieces of hardware. Does the platforms you are evaluating support what you currently have deployed? Do they integrate with the platforms that you’re using? You’ve already made a decision. Maybe you just don’t realize it yet. Greenfield poses different challenges because now you have a blank slate.

Max Clark: [02:31] But you’re making the decisions that are going to impact that business for five, seven years to come. So understanding what that business’s roadmap is and what the evolution of the next one, three, five, seven years looks like for them is really important. So if you’re talking about a tech startup, you know, and what is the, what is the life cycle going from C to A to B to C to D to E to

Max Clark: [02:59] IPO prep and what do they need at different stages and what are coming down and what becomes critically important to that organization as it hits scale? That’s very different from a company that’s in retail or manufacturing or healthcare different compliance requirements different software stacks different integrations different IT concerns You know different geographies so understanding now within greenfield environments becomes more of experience and pattern matching

Max Clark: [03:27] We know what this industry is going to do and what your IT roadmap for the next five years is going to be as a result of it. What decisions do you need to make now So that way, in three years when that requirement hits somebody’s desk, it’s like, oh that’s easy. We can just enable that feature and license it versus we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how do we rip and replace critical components of how we’re conducting business. So.

Max Clark: [03:55] you know, what’s easier brownfield versus greenfield, you know, they’re just different. I don’t I wouldn’t say the one’s easier ones harder. They just have different processes that you have to go through and different things you need to understand to make sure that you are not making some massive mistake that you’re going to, unfortunately, realize, you know, at some point down the road, it could be a short term or could be a, you medium term recognition. And, and this is the work that we’re really

Max Clark: [04:22] doing for our clients is understanding, you know, what are they actually doing and what is their business trying to achieve and,