The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology

1.1. Another Day at the Racetrack

Rapid, unrelenting change is the price we pay for enjoying the fruits of modernity. Fresh danger and new opportunity appear suddenly, demanding immediate responses.

As recent history demonstrates, nothing can fully prepare us for the pace, complexity, and unpredictability of modern global markets. So we rely on increasingly powerful information technology (IT) to support the strategies that we invent to achieve our goals.

Without IT, we could not hope to capitalize on openings and dodge threats as they materialize. Responding quickly and effectively to changes in markets, however, requires deep portfolios of highly adaptable IT resources.

Quite frankly, IT has to be capable of changing as swiftly as the markets. A static set of IT resources will not help an organization competing in a global business environment.

But an adaptable IT system requires adaptable software. This presents both a dilemma and an opportunity.

Organizations that learn how to convert knowledge and intelligence into programming code quickly and efficiently will enjoy competitive advantages over rivals with slower, less efficient software development processes.

In the next round of global competition, having the smartest people won't be enough. What will be needed? The fastest and most creative programmers to convert your ideas into code?

Actually, no. This is an old (and dangerous) way of thinking. It assumes that IT is merely a cost incurred to support the enterprise. In ...