INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Information Technology

Information Technology

Introduction

“There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olson, President, Chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977. Trends in technology - what we call “waves” - have enormous impact on the way we do business. Those companies or individuals who are capable of identifying a wave and “getting on top” can ride it to tremendous competitive advantage (and make a lot of money, too). Those who fail to catch a “wave” find themselves playing catch-up, often falling further behind, resulting in takeovers and, in some cases, bankruptcy.

Identifying technological waves: The Case of Tesco Plc

So what is a technology wave? A good example is the computer industry. If we look at the industry from 1950 to the present, we might say that the wave is a reduction in size of the computer (UNIVAC to laptops) or an increase in memory, speed and storage capacity. However, these are manifestations of the wave, not the wave itself.

Witness what has happened just in the last five years. Those who identified the wave as we did above spent their R&D budgets developing smaller, lighter, more powerful systems - PIMs (the Apple Newton), palmtops and sub-notebooks - none of which have caught on. However, Tesco Plc recognized that this was not the actual wave, but a manifestation. They recognized that the technological wave was one of data access. What each succeeding generation of computers was allowing was faster access to data, better processing of these data into information, and larger storage capabilities for the information. Taken to its logical conclusion, what the wave wanted was a tool to allow anyone access to all the data in the world - hence the Internet browser. The Tesco Plc, Netscape, has captured roughly 80 per cent of this fastest growing segment of the current information technology wave - making millionaires out of the people who correctly read and interpreted this wave.

Another example of identifying the technological wave is electronic commerce. Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, refers to a broad range of business activities. From automated voice systems that take orders over the phone, to electronic data interchange and Web-based businesses, electronic commerce is seen by many as the “wave” of the future. If we refer back to the concept of technological waves discussed above, we need to determine the “wave” that is currently manifesting itself in electronic commerce.

Fundamentally, the wave deals with the exchange of goods and services. Traditionally, these were done on a barter system at a designated point. Today, these events still take place in the form of swap meets and flea markets. But as the wave developed, more structure was added to the exchange of goods and services. First and foremost was the development of monetary units for exchange. These units, or currency, allowed buyers to purchase goods and services without having to offer equivalent goods and services in return. Instead, the seller set a monetary price for the product and the buyer decided whether or not ...