Strategic Technology

I want to expand a little on this previous post titled; Shifts, And The Consumerization of IT. And the reason behind that is two separate articles, from completely separate industries, that share a key observation. The first of these articles is from what I can call a traditional technology source; Constellation Group IT Analyst Mr. Ray Wang. And the second article? Well, the second one is not from the business  technology or IT field at all, –  but let me get to that second article in a minute.

For starters, IT Industry analyst Ray Wang writing on Forbes has this excellent article titled; Why The CIO Role Is Under Fire

In the article Mr. Wang outlines many of the changes affecting technology (and technology leadership) in our businesses, these changes include the rapid pace of change, how we need to change our planning assumptions, and the necessity that we alter our success criteria. Mr. Wang articulately argues that;

… CIOs must refocus their priorities and adopt a next generation point of view

Adopt a next generation point of view. What has worked for us in the past is not going to be what works for us now, or in the future.

Now lets take a look at my second article. This article is not written by, or for, technology leaders, but it has a true similarity to Mr. Wang’s next generation point of view.

That article?

An interview with Ford Motor Company (F) Chief Executive Alan Mullaly in a December issue of Automotive News (Subscription required) Inside that article is one  key phrase that deserves a closer look. And again this is not from a traditional technology source, but from a consumer goods and manufacturing company (emphasis is mine);

… our approach is to be absolutely one with all consumer electronics development around the world, and not be embedding in anything in the car, we want to manage the experience in the car.

That is the the phrase: Manage the experience

And Why?

Traditionally in business technology, IT Leadership have wanted to manage the environment, not the experience.

Technology leaders attempted to develop fully managed end-to-end environments. This meant that from the computer servers, to application software, to the devices that accessed the software or its information, the environment was created and managed by IT. In fact, the term ‘end-to-end‘ can be considered technology jargon for technology teams maintaining rigid controls on everything, or as Mr. Wang puts it;

….(the CIO is)…. ruling technology strategy with an iron fist.

I believe that in the business technology space, we must get away from this end to end controls style of thinking. And as Mr. Mullaly said, – we need to learn to manage the experience. We need to learn to provide the platform and infrastructure that allows the pieces of technology that consumes or displays business information to change just as rapidly as next years iPhone or tablet is going to change. (and if there is one thing we know, it will change quickly)

If we allow our next generation point of view to be focusing on managing the experience in the creation and consumption of information within business technology, and reduce our attempts to completely manage the environment, we will be beginning to think differently about the application of IT services.

Sometimes changing how we think about issues, how we change our frame of reference, can allow us to see opportunities we would not previously noticed. Perhaps helping us reach a next generation point of view.