Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Some of you may remember artificial intelligence (AI) as the darling technology of the 1970s and 1980s. You may also remember the early decision support systems (DSSs) that populated vertical industries in the 1980s and early 1990s. Some of these applications were fueled by complex analytical methodologies such as Bayesian statistical models and statistical optimization algorithms.

Now that e-business is becoming a pervasive force in business organiza- tions around the world, we're beginning to realize that it has created an "e-culture"

As Director of Risk Management Systems, David Miller is head of the IT group that services BankBoston's Global Capital Market Systems group. In addition to maintaining current applications and developing new systems, Miller is heavily involved in the integration of BankBoston systems with those of Fleet Bank, as a result of the banks' recent merger.

Information technology innovations produce their biggest effects on businesses that are either too young or too old to stand the jolt to their cultures without stumbling.

The interview in this Executive Update is with the director of corporate technology at a US $700 million consumer goods company. Brought in this year to help revamp the IT department, the director talks about his struggle to move IT forward in an environment where IT is often the scapegoat for business underperformance and where business models are unclear.

For most of us, e-mail has become a part of our everyday life. We use e-mail to talk to friends and family, we use it to schedule appointments, and we use it to conduct business communications.

Now that e-business is becoming a pervasive force in business organiza- tions around the world, we're beginning to realize that it has created an "e-culture" that is often quite different from the prevailing culture within the organization.