Chapter 1. The Need for Enterprise Innovation

"Computing is rapidly approaching an inflection point where science fiction writers' predictions of helpful, ubiquitous and seamless technology will become a reality."

Richard Rashid, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Research

Underlying trends both within the business world and the software industry are driving us toward the need to extend the radar, to focus on emerging and disruptive technologies as the next source for growth and competitive advantage within the enterprise.

In fact, the need to extend the radar for competitive advantage will cause mainstream businesses to become more like the pioneers and early adopters of technology innovation. Over time, this may even reshape the classical technology adoption lifecycle the current model for how businesses adopt new technologies. Rather than following the bell-shaped curve with the "chasm" or delay in adoption between the pioneers and early adopters and the mainstream business, the chasm will be pushed later down the curve between the mainstream business and the laggards. By extending the radar and acting on those radar signals as an early warning system, the mainstream business will effectively pull itself into the domain of the pioneers and early adopters and be able to gain the same level of competitive advantage by acting not necessarily as a first mover but as a smart mover.

This smart-mover approach will require much more than simply evaluating and implementing new software or "me too"-style technology adoption. It will require the mainstream business to rethink how it identifies and prioritizes emerging and disruptive technologies and how it applies them. It will require changes within both information technology departments and within business units in order to intelligently apply the right technologies to the right business challenges and opportunities at the right time.

In addition to looking at the trends and changes within the business world and within the software industry, we'll also take an advance look at some of the key application areas where these technologies can be applied, and at some of the key vendors who provide these solutions and hold the keys to the enabling technologies of the future. The software industry is transforming itself by moving from packaged software products to software as a service on the network. This transformation will have a profound effect on both the software industry itself and on many industries who rely on software for the delivery and exchange of value with employees, customers, and business partners.