Our Agenda

In this book we approach emerging and disruptive technologies not only as the next business differentiator and source of competitive advantage but also as the next source of solid business value for enterprise operations. We will make recommendations on how to identify and exploit these technologies to design more competitive and agile companies and markets.

The book covers the strategy, process, and technology aspects behind some of today's most promising emerging technologies with a focus on how to achieve real-world results that benefit the top and bottom line for an organization. One of the goals of this book is to help executives maximize their value from these technologies, to reshape their business, not just their business processes. The stakes are a lot higher now than they were in the mid- and late nineties when we saw large investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations, millennium bug fixes, and dot-com initiatives with arguably less scrutiny on investments than is true today. The packaged applications that have been implemented over the past several years have provided a good first wave of business value, but it is now important for businesses to optimize those investments by adding unique extensions and differentiators. Investments in IT must have a stronger payback in terms of the business value extracted, and it is critical that business and IT executives work even more closely together toward corporate objectives.

Innovations in existing software categories and the emergence of entirely new categories have created tremendous opportunity for businesses to re-engineer and rethink their IT applications and processes. Some of the emerging technologies covered in this book include enterprise software categories such as Web services, peer services, business process management, real-time computing, mobile business, and enterprise security. Additionally, we explore trends and advances in areas such as software as a service, grid computing, computing on demand, devices and sensors, electronic tagging, artificial intelligence, speech technologies, and new forms of visual interfaces. The potential impact of these technologies over the next several years will range from simply reshaping business processes to reshaping entire industries.

Much has been published on the technical details of these emerging technologies, such as Web services, but for the business executive the implications and benefits are unclear, at best.

Collectively, these technologies represent the next generation of the Internet. It is vital that business executives gain an understanding of how they may be applied within their enterprise for competitive advantage. The business must now extend its radar since these emerging and disruptive technologies are the next competitive edge.

Packaged applications can take us only so far. It is this new wave of enabling technologies that will set businesses apart. The challenge is that these technologies do not create the value themselves. It is all about execution how these technologies are identified, combined, and implemented will be the keys to success. There is also no single "magic bullet" no one single technology will provide the solution, but their combination will yield tremendous synergies.