Subject: [NEXTEL-1] A logical approach to understanding new technologies

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 16:56:17 -0500

A logical approach to understanding new technologies
Source: InfoTech Update
Publication date: 2002-11-01
Arrival time: 2002-12-14

Jonathan D. Andrews, CA, CA-CISA, FCA (England & Wales) is president
of NetLearn Services, Inc. and an author for the American Institute of CPAs,
the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and a member of
the CICA's Education Committee of the IT Alliance.

When a new technology is introduced, how do you develop a good level of
knowledge necessary to your role as professional advisor?

There are eight steps to gaining an introductory level of knowledge of a new
technology, and these are displayed through three important stages when it
comes to understanding and consulting on technology: comprehending the
strategic relevance, researching the nature of the technology and its use,
and learning from the experiences of others.

Benefits and Technology Overview

1. What are the strategic benefits of this new technology to the
organization?

The first step toward adopting any new technology is to gain a thorough
understanding of its strategic benefits. Although this may be obvious,
strategic benefits may take second place to the intrinsic, technical merits
offered in a vendor's solution.

When obtaining information about strategic benefits, don't limit the list to
only those promoted or provided by vendors; an important source of
strategic benefits lies in the experiences gained by others. Several
organizations are likely to use a new technology in more ways than
originally envisioned, and in doing so, will identify additional strategic
benefits.

For example, the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City started off with
a narrow user base with their wireless initiative back in 1993. It was only
when other users became aware of the new technology being used that
additional strategic benefits were identified.

When Burlington, N.J.-based Burlington Coat Factory implemented
business intelligence to help users prepare their own reports, Burlington did
not expect to use the technology to monitor possible thefts of cash from its
315 retail stores across the country. Today, this application has become an
important one for the organization.

For business purposes, strategic benefits are the first, primary
consideration; other factors are secondary. If there are few strategic benefits
that a new technology can bring to the organization, there is little reason for
an organization to pursue it any further.

2. What are the key issues that have caused a demand for this new
technology?

Identifying key issues that have created the demand tends to separate
strategically beneficial, bona fide technologies from those that may be
viewed as solutions looking for problems.

For example, Web-based conferencing has evolved for some time, but it was
only after travel costs became so high and confidence in air travel was
shaken so much by Sept. 11, that demand for this technology really began
to accelerate. According to a survey by Wainhouse Research Inc., a
Waltham, Mass.based research firm, the number of in-person meetings
post9/11 dropped from 54 to 45 percent, while Web-conferencing increased
by 61.5 percent.

For Intacct Corporation, the Los-Gatos, Calif.-based provider of Web-based
enterprise accounting services, Web conferencing was the only way the
company could market and support its services across the country. Intacct
needed the capability to carry out anywhere, anytime training. Conferencing
technology for this company was the only viable method that could be used
to train and support large- volume, geographically-disparate groups.

The logical outcome of a new technology meeting an existing demand is the
resulting benefit. Understanding the reasons that have driven a new
technology may help provide substance to those benefits considered to be
strategically viable.

Research and Planning

3. What does this new technology consist of? Technologies, described as
"new," may be repackaged old technologies, or re- engineered, newer
technologies from an unreceptive market. Understanding the differences is
key. For example, often the xSP, or service provider industry, can be
confusing because it operates in a very volatile market and has to redefine
periodically what it actually does.

Understanding the original technology, and the environment in which it
operates, can help place new applications into perspective. For example, an
insight into the wireless spectrum and licenses can help differentiate 802.1
lb (or Wi-Fi) and 3G wireless technology. Why do they differ? Why does
802.1 lb enjoy such a grass roots success and why hasn't 3G taken off as
expected?

Recognizing how new applications use the underlying technology provides
useful insight. For example, Wi-Fi operates in an unlicensed part of the
wireless spectrum, and 3G technology has to operate in a licensed part of
the spectrum. That, in itself, is a major complication because of the need for
3G carriers to obtain, and invest heavily in, licenses.

Familiarity with a new technology at an overview level will help you
appreciate how the pieces fit together. For example, "Web Services" as a
whole can be most confusing, but once it is understood that as a
technology it consists primarily of standards to enable one Web-based
application to share program functionality with others on either side of the
firewall, then much of the mystique is dispelled.

4. What are the current statistics and trends?

Statistics and trends provide a contextual background for a new technology.
They provide insight into the popularity of a technology, and indicate how
established it has become. Inevitably, adoption of an immature technology
raises risk-related concerns for most organizations. As a result, it is
important to review statistics and trends to gain meaningful insight into the
maturity and corresponding stability of the technology.

Future-oriented statistics are inevitably based on extrapolated historic
trends, and further influenced by overall optimism. Trends, themselves,
provide more of an insight into how and where new technologies are being
taken up by the marketplace.

For example, statistics for wireless are to some extent fuelled by optimism;
the trends reveal an unanticipated growth in 802.11b wireless network
connections, in contrast to the slower-than-hoped- for growth in 3G wireless
phone technology. In a volatile industry such as wireless, the statistics
themselves become volatile and susceptible to frequent changes.

For volatile and non-volatile technologies, statistics and trends can be of
significant value in assessing risk. Statistics and trends are a key indicator
of maturity. For the professional advisor, it's important to be aware of which
technologies are likely to be of higher risk than others.

5. Who are the vendors for this technology?

Knowing the principal vendors, the nature of the products they supply and
understanding the differences between their products is key to attaining a
practical, broad-based knowledge of technologies and functionality. More
and more, vendors now are putting customer case studies on their Web
sites to provide useful insight into what customers are doing with their
products, while also offering useful leads for follow up.

Oncology Therapeutic Network in San Francisco, Calif. had very specific
requirements in mind for its customer relationship management (CRM)
system. The company had in-house Java programming expertise and
wanted a CRM open-source system that could be extended to meet the
organization's needs. There are many CRM vendors, but at that time, only
one could deliver the company what it needed.

Understanding who the vendors are and the functionality of their products is
key to understanding the technology. In higher-risk situations, where the
vendor is more likely to be a business partner, the vendor and product
functionality play a pivotal role in a successful implementation. Familiarity
with established vendors and their products will help consolidate knowledge
of the technology and provide background information appropriate for the
professional advisor.

6. Who is using this technology and what can be learned from its use?

Knowledge of the technology and related aspects, such as the strategic
benefits, is essential in gaining introductory level information. However, there
is no substitute for the real thing - gaining an insight into the implementation
of the technology by at least one organization and learning about the
experiences encountered.

Talking to an organization that already has implemented the technology,
and focusing on the topic areas referred to in this article, achieve this
objective. The organization can be selected by going through a vendor or
obtaining a referral from others, such as industry associations.

As an example, Seattle-based Laplink Inc. was contacted about its
experiences of using an eCommerce service provider. Todd Rupley, vice
president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing, was happy to talk about the
company's adoption of eCommerce services and successful expansion into
Europe. During the conversation, he offered helpful insights and shared
lessons learned after the company rolled out the new initiative.

A case study inevitably raises several issues that may not have occurred. In
some cases, those interviewed may be quite candid in sharing the
experiences they gained in adopting a new technology and, as such, will
make an invaluable contribution.

7. What are the strategic planning issues that need to be considered?

Essential to the successful implementation of a new technology is the
carefulplanning ahead of time. Inherent is the need to define strategic
objectives and anticipate the kind of risks, pitfalls and problems that may be
encountered along the way. Comments made by those interviewed in the
past who have implemented new technologies have included such remarks
as, "I wish we had spent more time planning."

Donorware is an application service provider (ASP) selling software services
to non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada. After taking
over another company, Donorware was required to Web-enable a legacy
application written in "C." The ASP wanted to continue to provide a quality
service to its customers, increase the number of application interfaces and
reduce support costs. It made a strategic decision to use Web Services
technology. To avoid being locked into a particular vendor's solution, it
decided to use "open-source" with SOAP and PERL. It had the technical
knowledge in-house and decided to gain experience by starting off with
smaller in-house applications. Following this, the company could then grow
to the larger, public-facing Web Services applications. Bottom line - the
strategy was carefully thought-out.

It is clear that forward-thinking strategic and planning decisions have to be
made to ensure the successful implementation of a new technology. Finding
out what kind of problems can be anticipated, and being prepared to
address them, will help to minimize the possibility of a new technology
initiative becoming derailed. Lessons Learned

8. What have other's experiences been in implementing this technology?

Gaining a cross-section of implementation experiences and feedback from
others helps to build on successes, as well as avoiding the possibility of
repeating the mistakes made by others. Feedback from organizations
indicates that success is still largely a matter of perception - a technological
success does not necessarily mean project success.

Daryl Hackbarth, responsible for the Content Management Systems (CMS)
initiative at Dallas, Texas-based Aviall Inc., the largest independent
provider of aviation parts, was clear in his view about gaining experience
from others. He would have appreciated access to the experience and
knowledge of others when implementing the company's CRM initiative. One
of the experiences he wanted to share was that people and businesses are
far more important than the technology. If people do not buy into a new
technology solution, there's no way it's going to be considered a success.

The media both on and off the Internet are good sources of experiences,
bearing in mind that the failures are more likely to make the headlines than
quiet successes. In using the media as a source, it is worthwhile noting that
it can be used as a stepping stone, insofar as the people quoted will usually
be willing to provide further insight when contacted directly.

Much of the information for a new technology can be obtained from
resources on the Internet, discussions with vendors and through interviews
with those who already have implemented the technology. It's a given that
technologies will continue to evolve and new ones constantly will be born.
By adopting a single approach to become familiar with multiple technologies
- and tailoring that approach where necessary you will become more
comfortable and confident in dealing with yet more of these new
technologies.

By Jonathan D. Andrews, CA, CA-CISA, FCA
http://cnniw.yellowbrix.com/pages/cnniw/Story.nsp?story_id=35145399&ID=cnniw&scategory=Telecommunications%3AWireless&

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