Challenges on the Horizon

Many companies claim they function in real time and that they are real-time companies. From what I can tell, certain elements of companies may have closer to real-time concepts functioning, but we have yet to see the entire company and its surrounding business partners function in real-time in any well coordinated manner. An example of one strategic move that a company might make in real-time business would be to breakthrough the barrier of closing the corporate books in real time. When we can close the corporate books instantly, with accuracy and accountability integrated into the entire process, we will have truly achieved a new milestone in understanding the new directions of business process and technology.

The concept of "real-time business" has as one of its strategic drivers the active role of auditing, as well as revenue tracking, expense management, and inventory control, and all other asset and liability components of the company, so they can be reconciled at any point in time. If that ever occurs, and companies do have the capability of reporting to Wall Street their earnings information in real time, a whole new set of questions will find their way to the corporation's big investors, shareholders, and management - questions such as, "Do we want to trade our companies on an instant basis?" and "If Wall Street rewards that type of trading and behavior, what will companies do that are not capable yet of even thinking like that?" The concepts of "Things That Think" and "Doing Business in Real Time" are two of my ten biggest value themes that enable me to attempt to understand the technologies that are important to deploy both externally and internally and provide a measure for me to gauge how the horizon should be approached.