This from Nick Carr raises interesting issues:
There was a time, not so long ago, when the marketing of information technology was built on the myth that buying the latest software and hardware was a good way for a company to gain a competitive advantage. Install our gizmo and leave the competition in the dust! That pitch hasn’t gone away entirely, but it’s lost its punch. Nobody quite believes it anymore. In its place, though, has come a new and much fuzzier claim: IT is an “enabler” or a “catalyst” for corporate innovation. Install our latest gizmo and watch your people get all creative!
Nick uses this intro as a segue into slapping SAP about for engaging in some creative marketing. I have to agree the marketing stretch SAP has applied to research it sponsored takes some convoluted thinking. I also agree with Dan MacLean, the source for Nick’s attack. Referring to a speech given by Bert Rutan gave at an IBM partner event last year, Dan notes that:
Mr. Rutan suggested innovation — particularly those things that might be characterized as “breakthroughs” — happened within companies that created a culture that encouraged innovation from ground-level employees.
Mr Rutan’s argument is one of the principle reasons I find Freshbooks so compelling. It wasn’t built by accounting types but service industry contractors who were fed up of trying to run efficient businesses in ways that work for them. It is people who are the real innovators.
But it’s at this point I diverge from Nick’s view. This isn’t about plugging some sort of magic into your IT infrastructure that enables innovation. It’s about using IT to execute against innovative ideas. Nick has long argued that IT is a commodity. That may have been true of 20th century IT. But I know a bunch of people who think otherwise as they look at what’s available today. As you might expect – not everyone agrees.
Technorati Tags: innovation, mashup, SAP
