Technology, Games and Gadgets

Posts Tagged ‘information technology companies’

What product is shown in the picture? Probably your answer is “digital camera”, which indicates that possibly you were born before 1986 or thereabouts. That is, you are a “digital immigrant”, a person who has had to adapt to technology and not assumed to be “natural” life. It’s the people who once waited several days to reveal rolls of photos that captured special moments in your life.

Book sales in decline, big bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble are heading to the story. Amazon say that, although the only books represent 45% of its sales. No time to read a book. Just as there is for a post on a blog. We are in a hurry, we have little time. However, the sale of eBooks does not cover the fall of books.

If you ask a “digital native” What are the information systems that are sure to answer something that people use from 9 am to 5 pm, which are slow, heavy and dull. Instead, technology is used after hours, using the Internet, digital games (the little word here again), chatting with his Blackberry, using your Smartphone with Foursquare or snooping into social networks. Here everything is colorful, fast, with photos, such as “normal” things. Is this good or bad? Maybe that’s not the right question that leads us to take a position. It is a reality.

Depending on your age, most readers of this post should belong to Generation X or Y (and the occasional Baby Boomer). Interact with Generation Y (those born between 1982 and 1992 defined cohort in the U.S.) and is challenging: they are people looking for short-term rewards, like to have their ideas heard, accepted and implemented without much rodeo, were raised under what is called the “niñocracia”, where parents, perhaps overwhelmed by the guilt of not having enough time to spend with their children, perhaps escaping the ghost of a childhood surrounded by scarcity (or hippie parents), gave their children very, very carefully, and yielded to the temptation to “give everything.” When it was be great, felt that they deserved it. This subject is a case study in Harvard University.

And those born after 1992? These belong to the so-called Generation M (Millennium or Mobile). 100% digital natives, 100% infotainment. We are in the business of infotainment, not in the business of information technology. We do not provide information but experiences “normal” use of technology. And it’s not technology, is entertainment. New forms of learning are those, new ways to reach the heart (limbic brain) to achieve our goals. If education does not involve entertainment, is lost.

Companies that develop high levels of agility not only survive this economic turbulence, but also will be the leaders of tomorrow’s markets.

Today’s organizations must identify the change and respond to it swiftly in order to remain a viable option in the market. The ability to detect, anticipate and respond to changes more quickly will provide organizations set strategic direction for:
Respond to changing market conditions.
Increase its market share even in economies that characterize hard as our new reality
Increase sales growth and profitability and improve overall financial performance

Agility is characterized by a cycle, which comprises a series of five steps:
- Detect lies ahead or need a change
- Planning the best action
- Decide on the course to follow
- Communicate to all key participants in the new plan,
- Press for Change.

These five steps are sequential and are executed every time there is a change in the business landscape. The cycle occurs in all levels of the organization on an ongoing basis.
How to facilitate agility in the organization? Technology is the common denominator of all five. It is not the case that only some technologies provide flexibility, but each organization will have a different agenda management challenges and unique architectural footprint that will require different strategies of using technology to support and improve agility. This may represent from a small correction to a strategic reorientation of the company.

In the context of information technology is of interest to measure the agility of a company making a benchmark to compare with similar companies. Eventually provide prescriptive measures to optimize investments in information technology from the objective of maximizing agility.
There are four key attributes that have to meet any investment in information technology to generaragilidad for business:

First, a solution of information technology has to ensure that business operations are reported. You must connect data devices and processes both internally and externally so that people can access information from anywhere and more usefulness;
second, the technology has to turn the company into a more productive by leveraging also systems to support processes and thereby enable the business to multiply the power and impact of its technology and its people.

The technology must be reliable, always available, always working safely and always ready, but AT THE SAME TIME must be flexible to adapt according to changing business needs
finally, technology must provide all of this based on a clear concept and aimed at the best cost / benefit. The consistent application of cost-benefit measurements allows real information about the return on investment.

Any solution of information technology must comply with each of these points to maximize every dollar invested and ultimately generate business agility
Each of the criteria have equal weight and importance to an organization in pursuit of the goal of agility. Developing a framework, it is possible to measure the state of agility in an organization, identify weaknesses and suggest practical solutions so the organization can implement concrete actions to improve their agility and competitiveness portended.