IT Innovation in the Driver's Seat
Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Helen Pukszta finds that business requirements for IT and even management trends appear to be increasingly driven by IT innovations in the marketplace, not the other way around.
"As consumers, we are accepting of the notion that consumer products and consumer marketing mold our demand. Six years ago, did you submit your requirements for an iPod? Of course not. Do you need one now? Millions believe they do. Innovation in the consumer realm anticipates our needs and we respond by purchasing or rejecting the products. Similarly, IT innovations allow a business to recognize a need it previously ignored simply because now there exists a solution.
"Are the market needs IT vendors spot and respond to also the needs of your particular organization? As evidenced by IT industry sales, to a large degree, they are. And in cases when they are not your needs today, they might be tomorrow. This is because traditionally consumer-related concepts like increasing the standard of living and 'keeping up with the Joneses' also have their analogues in the world of business and IT -- increasing the levels of productivity and keeping up with the competitors," says Pukszta.
IT innovations are also driving business management trends. According to Pukszta, business users will increasingly find themselves reacting to developments in business IT innovation rather than explicitly dictating them. It is clear that business management cannot be far removed from technology and its management. And it is no longer a given which one drives the other.
Pukszta concludes "As for business requirements, the reality of IT innovation has redefined the role of the IT department from that of a requirements gatherer to that of a requirements synthesizer. And it is a reality that IT managers need to understand and learn to work with."
To request the Business-IT Strategies Advisor in which these comments were made, or to schedule an interview with Helen Pukszta, contact Ron Pulicari (+1 781 641 5114) or e-mail at press@cutter.com.
See more information about Helen Pukszta.