Thursday, September 22, 2005

One day in the Year of the Ox - Opinion - Express Computer India

Good review of the HBR article "IT Doesn't Matter".

My immediate take - IT is but the cloth that envelopes the body-the organization. It will either take the shape of the organization if flexible enough or force the organization into its own shape thus leaving it gasping for breath or loose and floating. It per se will never be a competitive advantage except speeden up processes and improve efficiency. It will certainly force reviews of business processes if the product under question is an evolved one. To what extent it is tailored matters a lot. An organization that invests the intellectual capital, money and time in the customization exercise will deliver and gain a lot. The way an organization puts IT to use can give it an advantage, and IT cannot be replicated easily and quickly unless and until all organizations are using IT as it is....

1 comment:

Srini said...

get the people front corrected first. IT comes later. then make sure that IT seamlessly merges with what is expected of the people. dont give them a scope of belief versus action.

btw: nice analogy to the cloth - except that if IT doesnt matter, then that cloth doesnt matter ;)?