The CIO agenda of tomorrow, part II

To execute innovation for low cost and ‘lean customization’ more successful than next doors competitor, one shared ingredient is necessary: information dominance. Where achieving air dominance is crucial to decide a military conflict in your favor, will gaining information dominance be central in doing business in the years to come. It can be simple like soccer team AC Milan using a mathematical model to predict the chance players will get struck by an injury. Google uses self-learning algorithms to improve search results and present advertisements while the success of retailers Wal-Mart and Ahold is derived from knowing more of consumers and suppliers than their competitors.

These organization have been able to get a grip on the massive data amounts and can predict to a high degree what an individual customer will buy next. Smart technology alone is however not enough as all relevant information was available on the terrorist who boarded the flight between Amsterdam and Detroit in December 2009. In this case the human factor prevented the proper conclusion to be draw. In that sense is terrorist hunting like doing business, IT can do a lot, but the chain is as strong as the weakest chain.

What else on tomorrows agenda? Expect more patent lawsuits related to business models. Companies increasingly approach new business models or methods as intellectual property and try to protect it with a patent. With several e-commerce related patents being awarded, is it also for IT important to be vigilant when the business requests mimicking somebody else’s e-business concept. Patenting a new business concepts is however at the same time also a mechanism for startup companies to defend themselves against the might of established companies.

Established companies which have capital to spend, but lack the flexibility, creativity and drive of small companies. Many large corporations have insulated themselves over time from their customers, with the financial services industry as an obvious recent example. Transforming large corporations into more nimble organizations is therefore one of the main challenges for tomorrows graduating MBA student. Corporations are increasingly being challenged by SME’s which rely heavily utilizing the latest technological advances to provide higher quality products and services at lower cost levels.