Over the years we have come to realize that technology moves in leaps and bounds, and not in tiny incremental steps. That is not to say that breakthroughs have been the only way forward, but means that every breakthrough technology stays around only till the next one arrives.
In the absence of any game-changer, the existing tech-space changes incrementally. The incumbent technology is improvised upon and is modified and regulated till it is replaced by an unexpected new development that totally washes the "old one" away.
The most obvious area to witness the incremental evolution of technology has been in Enterprise IT space. There were days when database was the gospel for all requirements, then cam structured programming languages and then finally we had a behemoth called ERP. ERP then subsequently evolved into more than resource planning and included CRM for generating revenue from the internal functions. Then came the big BI wave that engulfed everything that came in it's way and led the way for SOA technologies and Middleware for consolidation across applications.
Each time, when a new concept/technology came in, it was not replaced by the "new kid in the block" but on the contrary was enhanced and allowed the "reigning king" to improve on itself albeit at the cost of not being the "talk of the town". Every existing technology kept evolving but had to take a back seat and the new one became a peek into the future. For eg Business Intelligence was the foremost requirement on CIOs mind but now is fast being replaced by in-memory BI.
So now that BI has been around for some years and SOA is the "all essential" component for enterprises, what do we look forward to now as the next big leap?
Surprisingly, the next change has been all around us in our personal life but it took some time for it to be found to be of any use to enterprise businesses. the next generation of Social Media capable platforms are now changing how companies interact within as well as with outside entities i.e. Customers/Prospects. This new development in the virtual-social world (called as SRM by some) is making enterprises sit up and take notice.
(Some people might argue that Cloud Computing was the next "big thing" in Enterprise software space. Cloud Computing in my opinion is not a new development in a very strict sense, I would call it increased awareness and not a change. We have been using our gmail accounts and hotmail accounts for ages and been hosting our ERP solutions in HQ for some time now. What has changed for me now, is the model of delivering and marketing the same.)
And like all the earlier changes, this too will evolve and be regulated and change from it's current form. But for now, my only query is, are today's enterprises in a position to handle this new weapon? Are they fully equipped to use it to their own advantage? Lastly, do they realize the complexities and pit-falls that come wrapped with it?
Unfortunately, my understanding is that it is not going to be a happy learning experience for most companies.
In the absence of any game-changer, the existing tech-space changes incrementally. The incumbent technology is improvised upon and is modified and regulated till it is replaced by an unexpected new development that totally washes the "old one" away.
The most obvious area to witness the incremental evolution of technology has been in Enterprise IT space. There were days when database was the gospel for all requirements, then cam structured programming languages and then finally we had a behemoth called ERP. ERP then subsequently evolved into more than resource planning and included CRM for generating revenue from the internal functions. Then came the big BI wave that engulfed everything that came in it's way and led the way for SOA technologies and Middleware for consolidation across applications.
Each time, when a new concept/technology came in, it was not replaced by the "new kid in the block" but on the contrary was enhanced and allowed the "reigning king" to improve on itself albeit at the cost of not being the "talk of the town". Every existing technology kept evolving but had to take a back seat and the new one became a peek into the future. For eg Business Intelligence was the foremost requirement on CIOs mind but now is fast being replaced by in-memory BI.
So now that BI has been around for some years and SOA is the "all essential" component for enterprises, what do we look forward to now as the next big leap?
Surprisingly, the next change has been all around us in our personal life but it took some time for it to be found to be of any use to enterprise businesses. the next generation of Social Media capable platforms are now changing how companies interact within as well as with outside entities i.e. Customers/Prospects. This new development in the virtual-social world (called as SRM by some) is making enterprises sit up and take notice.
(Some people might argue that Cloud Computing was the next "big thing" in Enterprise software space. Cloud Computing in my opinion is not a new development in a very strict sense, I would call it increased awareness and not a change. We have been using our gmail accounts and hotmail accounts for ages and been hosting our ERP solutions in HQ for some time now. What has changed for me now, is the model of delivering and marketing the same.)
And like all the earlier changes, this too will evolve and be regulated and change from it's current form. But for now, my only query is, are today's enterprises in a position to handle this new weapon? Are they fully equipped to use it to their own advantage? Lastly, do they realize the complexities and pit-falls that come wrapped with it?
Unfortunately, my understanding is that it is not going to be a happy learning experience for most companies.