Information technology and our world
Technology changes fast and creates new challenges for every company and its management but some may not know what to do. Technologies can give significant benefits for companies if management understands it well but it can be difficult and costly if the management does not understand it. Because of that fear, many company managers often take the attitude of “Wait until thing is clear” before doing anything then they miss the opportunity. Some managers have the “I know” syndrome by disregard what they do not know and continue to do the same thing as nothing has happened.
When the Personal Computer (PC) was created, most managers considered it as a “Toy” rather than a real “Innovation”. A manager told a newspapers: “How a small computer created by two persons who did not even finish college can replace a five million dollars computer developed by IBM? It is ridiculous.” But PC changed everything and put all big computer companies like Digital Equipment, Data General, and Wang Computer etc. out of business and almost forced IBM into bankruptcy. At that time no one believed that a small computer could increase office efficiencies, reduce cost and started the electronic revolution that last until today.
The same thing also happened when the Internet was founded. Most managers did not see it as another real “innovation”. A senior executive declared: “There is no need to connect computer together, computer is created to do work, not to talk to each other. We do not want “Gossip” among computer.” Most companies ignored the Internet as “useless” only few saw it as a new way of doing business and they created Amazon and Google.
When engineers at a large phone company demonstrated that it was possible to integrate a computer into a mobile phone, a manager shouted: “Computer is computer and phone is phone and the two do not mix. No one would buy a computer inside a phone.” But Steve Jobs heard about it and immediately ordered Apple engineers to create the “iPhone” and completely revolutionize the telecommunication industry again. He often said: “Innovation is about connecting all the dots to create products that nobody ever dreams of before. It requires 50% imagination and 50% technical knowledge.” However, most managers think they already “know everything” due to their lack of imagination and that is why many miss the opportunity.”
Information technology changes the way companies do business and the way people work. With technology, many works are automated and some jobs are eliminated but at the same time it creates new jobs too. Today people check emails instead of letters; they read news from computers or smartphones instead of newspapers; they get answers to their questions using search engines such as Google and Bing; they buy and sell things online instead of open physical stores; they can buy and sell stocks online or book their travel online using their own laptops. From the business aspect, information technology can automate many works, increases efficiency and effectiveness as well as reduce costs and increase profits for any company. Technology gives companies a lot of advantages that never exist before and for the leaders, there is more information available from which they can make decisions fast. Instead of waiting for weeks or months for reports, today leaders can get any information they need in matter of few minutes.
Few months ago, I visited an automobile company in S. Korea where the executive showed me a “Dashboard” in his office. It showed revenues, operating costs, profits, and other information that executive needs, the dashboard were updated every fifteen minutes. He said: “With this business intelligence system, I can also see what my competitors are doing, their sales, their costs and their profits too. That is why I can make decision quickly because my software collects millions of market information all over the world every five minute, analyzes and organizes them then display for me to make decisions. I do not need management meeting; I do not have to read reports. Everything is here, simple and fast because of information technology.” That night during dinner, he told me that when he saw one of the competitors reduced their car price by $500 dollars to boost sale, he immediately made phone call to his management and ordered a $700 dollars reduction for his car too. He said: “You probably wonder why I make decision that fast. The Business Intelligence systems has predicted that if I reduce the price by $200 dollars more than my competitor then I could increase car sales by 5% although my profit will be less but I will capture additional 0.5% of the market and by the end of the year, my company value could increase over a billion dollars. All of these are possible due to the sophisticated Big data analytics software that predict the future market and helps me to make the right decision.”
Today many large companies are using Business Intelligence systems and Big data analytics to help senior managers to make decisions based on facts and data. Everything they do is purely logic and statistics, there is no emotional or personal bias in these types of decision making which is completely different from the “old management style” who believes that they “already know everything” and refuse to learn new things. These people often make decisions based on personal biases and opinions rather than facts and logic. I know who are going to win and which company will succeed in this highly competitive world. Today leadership needs vision, knowledge and then relies on facts and data to make necessary decisions.
Technology can takes us to a new level but as person, we also must think carefully about what is right and wrong, and what is ethical. The Internet opens a new way to do business globally instead of locally but it also opens the door to hackers as well. Mobile phones allow workers to work from anywhere, but it could interfere with personal life as manager can contact workers anytime. Digital technology creates products with no manufacturing costs, but it also creates piracy for software, music, and other products too. Most people often think about what technology will “do for us”, but few would pay attention to what it might “do to us”.
As a technical person, I love technologies and what they can make our lives better but I also caution my students that they must learn the positive as well as the negative of what technologies can do. Beside technical skills, they must understand ethics, moral and be aware that technologies itself is neutral but it is the people who use it, who create it and who control it to certain purposes. Students must learn about the impact of technology in our lives, our society, as well as the world because we are living in a connected world where everything in interrelated and integrated.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
