Talking the Talk: What We Need to Tell the Uninitiated

by Stephen J. Andriole

Communication is the essence of productivity. For decades, technology professionals treated the uninitiated -- the nontechnology executives and managers -- as though they were somehow inferior to the keepers of the digitalia. But the more nontechnology executives and managers understand about technology trends, opportunities, and best practices, the better it is for them. A little knowledge is truly a dangerous thing, so it behooves us to think about how -- and what -- to communicate to these professionals. This Executive Report by Stephen J. Andriole focuses on just that: communicating the IT story by identifying trends, opportunities, and best practices in hardware, networks, data, software, and services. The communication key is to link all of these to two investment outcomes: making money and saving money. Put another way, if you want to get the attention of nontechnology executives and managers, help them do one, or both, of these things.