OPINION
By KELVIN DAVIS
(Kelvin Davis is the director or Greymouse, a cloud service-provider that supplies high quality, time-bound and cost-efficient services through its own facility in Fiji.)
Information technology has changed the way the world does business.
Information Technology (IT) can be defined as a collection of individual technology components that are typically organised into computer-based information systems.
- Businesses no longer have to rely on a trail of paper work to conduct everyday’s transactions.
- Slow ‘snail mail’ is a thing of the past.
- Customers no longer have to leave their homes to buy products.
- Money transfers from their savings account to their checking account.
- By just sitting in front of a computer screen, businessmen can attend meetings that take place several miles away.
http://tinyurl.com/studymode-information-business
As the business environment continues to evolve at a rapid rate, management of every type of industry is searching for new ideas and possible core competencies to capitalise on.
One area that has been closely examined is information technology. Over the past decade the importance of IT has been stamped upon the minds of top executives worldwide.
Corporate IT
Corporate IT has grown in importance and expense since having been around for decades.
Styled for 20-odd years as chief information officers, IT bosses may perch only a rung or two from the top of the corporate ladder.
Amazon, Apple, Face book, Google and Twitter are reinventing the ways in which mere mortals’ converse, read, play, shop and live.
http://tinyurl.com/economist-technology-it-mixed
Digital experiences unleash more ways for companies to influence and satisfy the customer, and differentiate themselves from competitors.
But there’s a catch for chief information officers and other tech-minded executives:
- To keep creating opportunities, companies must keep changing the experience or fall behind.
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Each generation of technologies raises customer expectations beyond the last.
Despite the theory of the IT department being able to comfortably place itself right at the centre of corporate strategy, in practice, the rest of the company is not always sure that the IT guys are up to the job—and they are often prepared to buy their own IT from outsiders if need be.
http://tinyurl.com/blogs-future-looks-like-google
Being an IT person doesn’t mean you know how digital things work.
It means that every day of your life you are willing to spend hours learning new things as you never do the same task twice.
Need for critical thinking
Nowadays, people use IT every day and it has become a necessary part of human’s life. The effect of information technology has been immeasurable.
But as every coin has two sides, we should have a critical thinking towards IT. Otherwise, we may get lost.
Cloud
As cloud computing gathers momentum in the business world, so too does its critiques and detractors, yet despite even this, the truth remains that the full-fledged desktop computer and self-managed data center are here to stay because real industrial strength corporate computing requires them.
http://tinyurl.com/andrewmcafee-cloudy-corporate
Driving experience
Tomorrow’s digital experiences will offer new kinds of value, solving needs that did not exist previously in locations that didn’t exist before.
Business will then need to evolve. For example, when driverless cars roam the freeways, cars then become no longer just vehicles.
Their interiors could then be designed to be whatever passengers want, be it a theatre, office or shopping mall on wheels. The quickest business that adapt to these changes wins.
http://tinyurl.com/cio-corporate-four-it
Adapt
Chief information officers who fail to adapt to the new work environment risk leaving their organizations at a competitive disadvantage as productivity lags.
Those who embrace the need to make sweeping changes in IT’s skills and roles will see corporate IT remain relevant and valuable in an environment where business leaders and employees are increasingly willing and able to obtain technology of themselves.