Question: Radical Change in Opportunities to Gain a Competitive Advantage
The Information Age is in its second half, according to Gartner, Inc., which differs significantly for the first half. In the Information Age's first 80 years, the primary focus was the technology itself. This led to enormous growth and profits for IBM, Microsoft, and other giant IT providers. To a large extent, organizations gained competitive advantages from access to ITs from these providers: for instance, by investing more capital in IT or by having better skills at installing IT in their businesses. The opportunities to gain a competitive edge in these ways don't exist anymore.
Mark Raskino, vice president and Gartner Fellow predicted: In the second half of the age, as technology becomes ubiquitous, consumerized, cheaper and more equally available to all, the focus for differentiation moves to exploitation of the technology and to the information it processes. It is already noticeable that the great fortunes of the second half of the age are being made by companies like Google and Facebook, which are not traditional makers of technology. In this period, the majority of companies that enjoy competitive advantage will gain it from a differential ability to see and exploit the opportunities of new kinds of information (Gartner, December 2011) Despite the weak and uncertain economic situation, no dramatic cuts to enterprise IT budgets were expected through the mid-2010s. Budgets are being scrutinized closely, and companies have conservative business plans, but IT investments are looked at as critical for ongoing business success.
Questions and Online Activity
1. Explain the differences in the first and second halves of the Information Age, according to Gartner.
2. Register for a free account at gartner.com. Search for the latest webinar on hot IT trends, such as The Gartner Hype Cycle Special Report. Watch the webinar. In a report, identify the title and URL of the webinar; then describe three important trends and their impacts that were covered in the webinar.