There's no doubt about it -- "real time" is the IT industry's current buzzword of choice. Vendors mention it every chance they can in their marketing literature, and consultants, analysts (myself included), and the press are keen on the phrase, too.

We had sophisticated systems that never talked to each other. As a result, most of the time the functional organizations were trying to second-guess what others were doing. For example, suppose there was a need to build 1,000 units. Production Control (PC) might decide to order 1,100 units, because they didn't always get what they wanted from material control. Material control might think: "PC never gets their forecasts straight; I know they'll ask for more." So they might add 20% to the PC request.

Some companies constantly adjust their strategy -- business models, processes, and responses to the competition -- while other companies have offices of strategic planning, which conduct annual strategic planning exercises that involve lots of senior people and take several months to complete.