The many roles of technology

This is just a starting place for a subject that we will explore from different perspectives.  It is also one of the places that will continue to evolve in a kind of co-evolution pattern with businesses and other organizations.

Technology can make your business healthy or unhealthy.  In this initial posting we’ll take a look at some indicators of the level of health fostered by your use of technologies.  And, we’ll look at some things to avoid in order to nurture a healthy business.

There are several motivations for investing in technology-based solutions for business.  These have various implications for the overall health of your business.
Compliance
Efficiency
Intelligence
Control
Marketing
Selling
Logistics
Manufacturing
Quality control

Key issues for the application of technology include:

• How does technology support what the business is doing or trying to do?
• Who benefits, or will benefit, from application of technology?
• Does certain technology benefit one set of people in the business, at the expense of others (in terms of time, inconvenience, etc.)
• How do technologies interface with each other - internally, and with external sources?
• Which technological capabilities are mandated by outside parties?  Regulators?  Taxing authorities?  Suppliers?  Customers?
• Does technology help you or harm you in the projection of your brand?  
• How much control do you have over the coevolution of your business with supporting technology?
• What is the ratio between how much time, effort, and money goes into new technology, as opposed to maintaining the existing portfolio?

It was a technology project that gave me the first insight that we are dealing with organizational life and health.  This example of a technological intervention clearly stimulated a cooperative, and collaborative processes that directly impacted the maturation and improvement of an organization.  This also started the long trajectory of my career that involved application of technology to business.

If a little technology is good, is more better?

This seems like a funny questions to ask, but in many cases, it seems that people assume the answer is “yes”.  One of the most extreme examples I have personally encountered - NetApp – Many ERPs

I have mentioned IBM’s situation with the 16,000 applications earlier.  How did they get into that situation in the first place?  I will suggest that the root cause is the problem that we have visited several times – the lack of understanding of the living nature of the business, and thinking through the implications of technology from that viewpoint.

IBM governance using powerful modeling 16,000 applications – Maybe you think you have seen this in your smart phone!

eBay – So soon all spaghettied up

The “glutton” for technology becomes a glutton for punishment.

Helping to lift the burdens of business ownership and leadership

This is a call for a new form of 21^st Century participation-based governance.  No one of us is smarter than all of us.

To get back to the hub list of healthy business factors, click here.
To get back to the discussion of businesses as living systems, here.