Isn't the Internet ripe for a bit of debunking?
Suppose you are a CEO who arrived here being out in space for the last 9 years. You haven't heard about the internet and all that. You would note, first, that has been tremendous scalating in what the Chief Information Officer has been spending in IT.
You would think:
"All that for some printers and computers?"
You'd call him to explain.
The CIO would -patiently- explains that now he spends a lot of more in IT:
"We buy bandwidth..." he starts.
"Wait -you as the CEO interrupt- we leased lines before!"
"Yes, but now we lease whole 155Mbit/s for the increased traffic"
" Holy cow! Which increased traffic? Are competing with AT&T or what? you'd ask:
"We need more bandwidth for Intranet, video conferencing, file transfer and every computer is hooked to the internet."
Then he would brief you about all that the internet possibilities.
After listening to all that you would ask:
"Well, with all those tools that re-engineering of the late eighties surely now possible to be achieved in a week doesn't it?"
At this point I think the CIO, would stop being loquacious.
Down to it, after all was said, the truth is that we have internet and all that but we still do the old things the old way. Where are the productivity gains?
Next think you would start saying to the CIO that from now he has to justify every single IT expense based on its effect on the bottom line.
It seems your CIO told Cisco's salesmen about your meeting. Now Cisco changes its tune:
From Cisco's site:
Information technology (IT) expenditures in 1995 amounted to 43% of capital spending in the US, a figure expected to exceed 50% by the turn of the century. As the investment in IT continues to grow, chief information officers come under increasing pressure from management to justify expenditures. The "Global Networked Business? views the network as a means of generating revenue, reducing costs, and improving customer/supplier relationships.
....
Open access to information, resources, and services through a networked business environment sets new standards for relationships with customers, prospects, partners, suppliers, and employees. The Global Networked Business represents a new business model, removing barriers to relationships and ensuring mutual success to all. |
