Instant Return on Investment, or IROI, is a major paradigm shift in technology purchasing that is rippling through every segment of the channel from the biggest and most respected solution providers in the world like Accenture to the local mom and pop system builder.

Customers are no longer willing to look at ROI as a long-term event. In today's tough economy, they are looking for instant returns on every IT dollar they spend.

Businesses of all kinds are looking at technology purchases through this IROI prism. It's the reason that solution providers of all kinds have got to move to cloud computing, SaaS (Software as a Service) and other services initiatives that provide instant payback for customers.

The more you are stuck in the old world technology purchasing world the greater the pain. It is the reason $23.3 billion integration giant Accenture announced this week it is cutting its senior leader ranks by seven percent.

Accenture made its mark on big, complex engagements like multiyear ERP engagements that are a thing of the past. And now it is restructuring to address the new world.

In the company's last quarterly conference call, Accenture CFO Pamela Craig said that the company sees some clients "exercising caution in launching new, large consulting commitments and instead shifting to a more phased and flexible approach to contracting work."

That phased and flexible approach translates into IROI. It's all about moving customers to low cost cloud infrastructures. IT budgets are being hammered by CEOs and CFOs asking why they need to house all those servers and network infrastructure rather than just buy it as a monthly service.

By the way, Accenture realizes they are in the midst of the IROI tornado and is moving quickly on all fronts to address it.  That's why Accenture has built new offerings around cloud computing and SaaS. It is also making a big move into public service and health service businesses.

Another sign of the IROI tornado: Accenture's consulting revenues in the most recent quarter were down 20 percent, while its more IROI-like business, outsourcing, was down only 10 percent.

In fact, Accenture itself has said it sees a major shift from consulting to outsourcing.

Outsourcing is indeed the sweet spot in the IROI model. You have got to take big budget technology costs off the table for customers.

A big part of the IROI movement is monthly recurring revenue payments for technology rather than capital expenditure or project-based purchases.

By the way, there are thousands of solution providers that are having their best years ever because they already moved to the IROI world by embracing managed services. They call themselves managed service providers. And their customers love the IROI they see from moving from major capital expenditure project-based technology purchases to monthly fees based on the services provided by these managed service providers.

The time to get with the IROI program is now! Those that embrace IROI will thrive. Those that don't will die.

Have you made the IROI transition?