Cis/Review Questions

How important is it to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a particular technology?

It is extremely important to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of all

technologies. Any good manager in business or in any other walk of life understands that the

ability to understand strengths and weaknesses with regard to people, strategies or even

technology can mean the difference between greatness and failure Ð'- and that difference can often

turn on just one seemingly minor decision. That's why it' so important to understand not only

what a particular technology can do but what it cannot.

Take, for instance, a startup company and its decision as to whether the company should use

personal computers based in Windows or the Macintosh computers made by Apple. Well, for a

lot of companies the decision might not be that important. Obviously, the computers can do

many of the same things Ð'- word processing, calculations, and databases.

The decision can become trickier, however. What if the company is involved in its own

marketing effort or does some graphics as part of its business? It then becomes imperative that

managers who make the decision about which computers to go with are aware of the possible

graphic strengths and weaknesses associated with both PCs and the Mac. Failure to do this may

put the company at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to its needs. Most computer experts

would argue that if graphics are important that the Mac is the way to go.

What all of this means is that it is extremely important for management to have an idea of

where they want to go in the future. This will allow the various strengths and weaknesses

associated with an technology to mean something. Even the smallest decisions can have far

reaching consequences. Having a plan and knowing what positives and negatives of any

technology can minimize, but of course, not eliminate the chances of making a huge mistake.

How important is it to have an established process when implementing a new technology into

organization?

Having an established process when implementing a new technology into an organization is critical if the organization seeks to be successful with that implementation. This is really not a hard thing to prove. No matter what the size of a company or a corporation is, it is important that all major decisions go through an established process. This can help to eliminate decisions based on bias and whims.

There can be no doubt that all mangers have their own biases and pet projects that they may try to shepherd through as the primary decision maker. This, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. Just like in other walks of life, people work hard to become the decision maker. This, however, does not mean that it is not important for these decisions to still have to go through a company-wide procedure to make sure that this technology is right for the company and its needs. There are many things that a company should include when implementing this process. First, there should be a procedure to evaluate possible choices related to a needed technology. There should be a way to evaluate what options are available and which one might best suit the company. Ideally, these technologies should be evaluated by more than one person. Once a choice has been made, there must be testing of that product. This allows the company, and hopefully the users of the product, to see for themselves what the strengths and weaknesses of the technology are. Once those strengths and weaknesses have been dutifully recorded, the company can begin to evaluate the data. Obviously, if the data fits the needs of the company they can purchase the technology knowing that it will improve the company and, hopefully, its bottom line. If, however, it does not the business can go back to the drawing board and find the right technology. While the above process may not be the exact way that every company should evaluate technologies, a process such as that will allow the company