Business Intelligence Applied: Implementing an Effective Information and Communications Technology Infrastructure

Conclusion

Many of us own a vegetable juicer, but even if we have never touched one, most of us probably think we would know how to operate one. In fact, vegetable juicers can malfunction (e.g., jam), and if you are not familiar with the particular juicer you are using you may break it. They are not complicated to use, but you should probably have some experience with a juicer before you insist that you know all the ins and outs of creating fresh vegetable juice. But, like most appliances, juicers are commodities, and people seem to insist that they know how to use all commodity items. Perhaps that's because many people believe that if they can afford to buy it, they must be able to use it and do so well.

ICT is a lot like a vegetable juicer in the sense that much technology has become a commodity, especially the desktop PC. Most people can afford to own a smartphone, laptop, tablet, or other personal computing device. Prices are at a point that personal computing devices have become affordable for the masses and perhaps even essential. The downside of the commoditization of personal computer devices is that there are a lot of homegrown experts in the ICT arena. That includes people who want to implement ICT. In order to overcome that commoditization, much of the rest of this book is dedicated to making the connection between ICT and strategy, and documenting that connection through things like methods for documenting ICT and business process notation.

It is important to reiterate ...