Emerging Technologies, Innovations & Trends, Part 3
So we’ve finally reached this mystical place known as the last blog post of the class…
We started the semester by discussing the impact of Digital Disruptions, explored the five different aspects of the Enterprise Architecture stack, and ended here, discussing Emerging Technologies and Trends. So we know the impact (the disruptions) that new technologies and trends can have on our organization. What tools and methods are available to help us decide if the disruption is worthwhile? If our organization
CIO Insight offered these 4 tips:
- Establish an emerging technology evaluation process that helps CIOs adopt only those technologies that will have a positive business impact. Evaluations should ask the questions: What does the company hope to achieve, and how will the hardware or application help meet that goal?
- Don’t get overly enamored of new technologies and applications without first looking at how the products might apply to the organization and its business needs. It sounds obvious enough, but many companies have gotten burned investing in products that were hyped by vendors although they weren’t well-suited for their needs, budget, IT infrastructure, culture, etc.
- When deciding on a new technology investment, don’t rely on intuition to make the call. Also, don’t make the decision in a technology vacuum. If possible, the people who will be using the products should be involved in the decision-making process, so they can express opinions about how well the technology meets their needs and whether it will help them do their jobs better.
- Before purchasing a new technology and implementing it broadly across the enterprise, if feasible, test the product on a smaller group to understand how users will accept the technology. By doing this, IT executives can also become aware of any implementation problems that might arise and how to troubleshoot them.
In today’s “instant gratification” culture, it would be easy to just grab any new technology that catches your eye and try to use it. We know that companies market to individuals this way all the time. In reality though, marketers approach organizations the same way. Having a process by which to evaluate new technology is crucial to the actual success of the effective use of that technology. Otherwise the company is not only throwing away money, but it is taking time away from the important, strategic actions that should be taking place.
If there is no real benefit to the technology, then you are simply feeding your coins to a lost cause…
