Our Approach

Business Innovation and Disruptive Technology begins with an overview of the trends within the enterprise, on both the business and information technology side and within the software industry, that are driving us toward the need to extend the radar. Within the business world, there is increased uncertainty in terms of future growth predictions and the direction of the economy. Businesses are adopting a back-to-basics approach focusing on cost takeout and performance improvement. Information technology departments are increasingly called upon to justify every penny they spend and to do more with less. The software industry is undergoing its own transformation. The software-as-a-service movement, where software is moved to the network for others to subscribe to or rent, is changing the business models for almost all of these companies. It is changing the way that software is planned, designed, constructed, delivered, and maintained. Many emerging infrastructure technologies such as Web services and peer-to-peer computing have enabled new business possibilities in terms of redefining how business value can be delivered or extracted. Many of the technologies have reached a trigger point where they are primed for mass market adoption due to reduced costs and standardization.

Chapter 1 starts with a discussion of the trends within the business and software communities. The book then goes into detail for each of the major emerging and disruptive technology categories that are profiled. Chapters 2 through 7 cover Web services, peer services, real-time computing, business process management, mobile business, and enterprise security, respectively. The descriptions of each of these emerging technologies and critical disciplines are tackled from the business perspective. The book focuses on the business scenarios to which these technologies can be applied and the corresponding benefits that can be realized. Brief technical descriptions of the technologies are included in order to help business leaders understand the underlying infrastructure that is required to be put into place and the conceptual models around how the software interacts. The book then goes on to provide industry examples of success stories and covers some of the leading and emerging software companies within each category, both public and private. Industry examples are taken from a variety of major corporations in verticals, including communications and content, consumer and industrial products, financial services, health care, high-tech, and government. After coverage of the value proposition of the specific technology in terms of business scenarios and strengths and weaknesses, each chapter concludes by making strategy recommendations for how to exploit these technologies and calculate return on investment.

In Chapter 8 we look at how organizations should approach their emerging and disruptive technology strategy and how processes can be put into place in order to identify and implement these solutions, to manage risk, and to maximize the return on investment. This chapter raises the strategy discussion from the earlier focus on exploiting individual emerging technologies to a corporate level discussion on how to extend the radar across the organization.

In Chapter 9 we look at some of the future trends in computing that have relevance to business stakeholders. We look at where information technology is headed and how we may interact with computers in the future. These trends include innovations in core computing and networks, devices and sensors, and user interfaces and human computer interaction. As software moves out to the network and becomes a readily available service, we are seeing the rise of information technology as a utility much like the water, gas, telephone, and electric utilities. In fact, companies are already exploring the potential of delivering information over the public power network as discussed in our section on power line networking. The section on grid computing and computing on demand explores the opportunities that are possible by tapping into the collective power of the Internet operating system and by accessing computing resources on an as-needed basis. As chips and sensors are embedded into everyday devices, we are entering an era of ubiquitous computing where there is not only human-to-machine interaction but also machine-to-machine interaction and object-to-object interaction. The chapter also covers the innovations in user interfaces and human computer interaction with coverage of new applications in artificial intelligence, new speech technologies, and new forms of interactions via multimodal and visual interfaces.

In Chapter 10 we look at our current position in the long-term evolution of the Internet and of electronic business applications. Having spent the past five years or so learning what works and what doesn't work, we will spend the next five years realizing the productivity and value that were anticipated when we first embarked on the journey.