Shaping the Future

"Many senior managers feel caught in a trap. They feel that their firm cannot afford not to invest in IT . . . but they also think that they cannot afford to invest without clearer evidence of its impact on financial performance."

"The most common complaint?and a very widespread one?among leading Information Services managers is the lack of management action at the top. "

"The task of imposing a coherent structure and creating a practical path to integration generally begins with analysis of the longer-term corporate business vision and direction, analysis that has been largely lacking in many firms."

"A continuing theme in the "IT and competitive advantage" literature has been how single firms have exploited widely available technology to take competitors unawares."

"Competitive necessity, not opportunity, should drive IT investments, and that the main impact of IT innovation will be to drive up the cost base of all players, and, probably, improve the level of customer service."

"It is not the technology that creates a competitive edge, but the management process that exploits technology."

"IT is likely to have the greatest impact on competitive dynamics in markets in which firms are under financial pressure to find new sources of revenue, reduce costs, or increase unit margins."

"Technology must enable something that people want and need, not that they should logically want and need."

"A firm that moves to gain a competitive edge through IT has chosen to lead rather than follow the pack. This move exposes it to a range of risks."

"Globalization of business demands globalization of organization. Two extremes of international organization are the 'multinational operations base' and 'transnational platform.'"

"Creating the organizational, cultural, and technical base for designing a transnational platform is a challenge . . . Even when these issues are resolved, organizational and cultural issues are likely to remain a challenge."

"An important aspect of geographic positioning through IT is the ways in which cities and national governments either actively court firms that are pursuing a transnational strategy or block the efficiency and effectiveness of that strategy."

"Business as usual has been rendered largely ineffectual by the growing complexity of the business environment."

"The use of IT to reduce organizational complexity is limited mainly by imagination, creativity, and business management commitment, not by technology or cost."

"Flexibility and adaptability are the new watchwords for organizations and for people. Many of today's jobs will disappear and many of today's people lack the skills needed to do tomorrow's jobs."

"Training follows technical change; education should lead it."

"Management must accept that there exists no set of accounting ratios or simple formulas that show the business value of IT."

"So long as a practical and important idea can be built on its own independent IT base, the specific choice of technology is irrelevant to the wider context of the firm as a whole."

"Getting business value from IT remains a promise of future benefit. It has been the lack of change that has caused problems."