First let me apologize to my regular readers - both of them (the homeless fellow that takes refuge from the cold in the Detroit Public Library and reads my blog, and my snowbird father in Florida - Hi Dad!) - for having been remiss in posting. I hate to post unless I have something interesting to say, and I've been a bit distracted with other matters recently.
Next, let me recommend some reading that leads into the topic of this post. Marcy, my wife, received Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat as a Christmas gift. After I attended a local event (Rob Pasick's Leaders Read at the Ann Arbor IT Zone) that had a panel discussion of this book, I determined that she hadn't yet started it, and took possession of it.
I can't stress enough that this book is an absolute MUST READ for anyone, but most importantly for anyone involved in business, public policy and education.
End of book plug.
One of the many, many interesting things that I ran across in Friedman's book related directly to my last post in which I mention that the promised productivity improvements of IT systems haven't been realized because the business processes often haven't caught up with the technology.
Friedman quotes Stanford economist Paul Romer - "When people asked, 'Why didn't the IT revolution lead to more productivity right away?' it was because you needed more than just new computers, you needed new business processes and new types of skills to go with them." Friedman echoes this thought when he states "Introducing new technology alone is never enough. The big spurts in productivity come when a new technology is combined with new ways of doing business."
Friedmann describes a convergence of ten technology-related forces which "begat the convergence of a set of business practices and skills that would get the most out of" these technologies. He draws a parallel with the introduction of electricity to industrial production in the 19th century - that it took not just the ability to generate and distribute electricity, and the invention of electric motors to transform production. It also took the development of experienced "factory architects, electrical engineers and managers who understood the comlementarities among the electric motor, the redesign of the factory and the redesign of the production line" before electricification really had an impact on industrial production.
So while Friedman reinforces my point, I am excited by his assertion that the world is rapidly acquiring a cadre of managers who understand this, and who are establishing the new processes and the new ways of doing business that the new technologies make possible.