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 |  | | Eight business technology trends to watch | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2008
A number of new and emerging technologies—many aimed at enhancing the way the Internet is used—promise to change how companies innovate, managers make decisions, and businesses lower costs, tap talent, or realize new business opportunities.
Although technology always promises benefits, actually gaining them requires a good understanding of its real business implications and of the concomitant managerial changes.
Over the next decade, eight technology-enabled business trends will really matter. Smart managers should start doing their homework now.
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| | | Managing IT in a downturn: Beyond cost cutting | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2008
As the economic slowdown intensifies, companies are looking for ways to cut costs, and IT budgets are a prime target.
Rather than implement across-the-board cuts, managers should take a more integrated view of how IT is used throughout the business.
Targeted IT investments can make operations more efficient and increase revenues, delivering returns larger than simple cost-cutting measures typically do.
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| | | Succeeding at open-source innovation: An interview with Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2008
Few organizations have as much experience harnessing the talents of people outside their corporate walls as does Mozilla Corporation, the developer of the open-source Firefox Web browser. The company depends on volunteers for product-development decisions, software coding, distribution, and promotion.
Mitchell Baker has helped lead the project to develop the browser since its origins, in the late 1990s. In this interview, she talks about the balance between maintaining control and letting motivated people run with their passions.
As the Firefox browser has gained market share, it has become a prominent example of a successful open-source project. Baker says that a traditional organization could not have achieved this success.
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| | | How businesses are using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2007
More than three-fourths of executives who responded to a McKinsey survey say they plan to maintain or increase their investments in technology trends that encourage user collaboration, such as peer-to-peer networking, social networks, and Web services.
More than half say they are pleased with their past Internet investments, though some regret not boosting their own capabilities to exploit technology. More executives said they should have acted faster than slower.
Retailers, who consider their companies cautious investors in the past, are stepping up their pace today. Similarly, many executives in emerging markets such as India and Latin America intend to move more quickly to capture the perceived benefits of these technologies.
In a follow-up discussion, respondents describe how these innovations are creating a new way of bringing technology into businesses, one that is easier to implement and more flexible than traditional top-down approaches. They also offered insights into how and why their companies are using Web 2.0 and where these technologies offer a sustained competitive edge.
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| | | The Next Frontier in IT Strategy: A McKinsey Survey | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Spring 2007
Senior IT executives say they are well-aligned with their business partners in shaping corporate IT strategy, according to a recent McKinsey survey. Things have changed markedly since a decade ago, when many CIOs merely responded to business information needs. This change shows that IT strategy is maturing from a reactive to a proactive stance. However, IT leaders are less confident that they are driving innovations that lead their companies to new products and processes. Innovation demands a new approach to IT planning. | | Launch this article (PDF - 203 KB) |
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| | | What's on CIO Agendas: a McKinsey Survey | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Winter 2006
McKinsey’s October 2006 survey of senior IT executives shows a growing interest in service-oriented architectures and lean data center operations. Service-oriented architectures, which improve communication and integration between IT systems regardless of their underlying technologies, are a response to the widespread adoption of global Web services standards. IT departments usually try a technology internally for several years before implementing it in systems that communicate with other organizations. | | Launch this article (PDF - 101 KB) |
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| | | Setting IT Strategy for Scale and Innovation | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2006
Companies manage established businesses differently than they manage new ventures. But too often, information technology is managed with a broad stroke aimed at cutting costs. While most of the IT in many companies should be managed for productivity and cost-savings, technology that supports businesses should be invested in and measured by the same decision–making process used for other investments in those businesses. Also: Interview with BP’s CIO John Leggate. An interview with BP’s CIO John Leggate tells how one large industrial player has developed a process to evaluate and experiment with cutting–edge technologies that can scale to add value to their business. | | Launch this article (PDF - 1.17 MB) |
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| | | The Changing Role of IT in Pharma | | McKinsey on Business Technology, January 2006
The pharma industry is in a state of upheaval, and better IT is
seen as the answer to many of the problems that companies
face. The pressure is on pharma CIOs to do two things at once:
sharply improve IT efficiency, and use IT to drive innovation
throughout the business. Companies are approaching these
dual tasks in one of three ways: serially, in parallel, or by
outsourcing the IT operations to focus on innovation. The right
path depends on a company's financial position and appetite for
change, risk, and innovation. | | Read more on the McKinsey Quarterly site |
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| | | The Next Generation of In-house Software Development | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Spring 2006
Many companies develop their own customized applications to support their business needs, but developing, deploying, and managing customized applications is ever more expensive, and revising these applications to meet evolving business needs can be time-consuming. Some companies are beginning to adopt the principles of packaged software development—standardize to meet the greatest number of needs; write once and sell many times—in their approach to bespoke applications development and maintenance. | | Launch this article (PDF - 117 KB) |
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| | | CIO Spending in 2006 | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Spring 2006
Overall IT investment will rise only slightly in 2006, but cost savings will let CIOs commit significant sums to selected projects. CIOs want to add industry-specific modules to ERP systems and many budgets call for replacing servers bought in the late 1990s.Other investments will address security threats and regulatory compliance. | | Launch this article (PDF - 73 KB) |
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| | | What Global Executives Think About Technology and Innovation | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2005
In the latest McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives, IT and business executives agree that technological innovation, emerging economies, and offshore manufacturing are the three most critical global business trends. But tech executives are more bullish about what innovation will contribute to profitability. | | Launch this article (PDF - 332 KB) |
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| | | Unraveling the Mystery of IT Costs | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2005
Few companies fully understand their IT costs and why those costs keep rising. An IT cost transparency program helps business units see the link between their consumption and their costs, so they can start making smarter choices. | | Launch this article (PDF - 295 KB) |
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| | | When IT Creates Value | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Winter 2004
The question everyone tries to answer is, how can I extract value from IT? IT investment levels often do not correspond meaningfully to financial returns. Two recent studies based on analysis of 100 manufacturing companies in Europe and the U.S. show that while it's still a difficult question to answer - and the answers themselves can be hard to measure - good management is critical.
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| | | Tech Spending is Up, But Who's Doing the Buying? | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Spring 2004
CIOs are planning to increase their investment in technology in the coming year with a strong emphasis on security and disaster recovery, based on a recent McKinsey survey of 66 CIOs and IT executives in North America. | | Launch this article (PDF - 541 KB) |
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| | | The Next Wave in Technological Innovation is Managerial | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2003
IT products have changed dramatically over the years. Now it's time for the art and science of managing those information systems to catch up. | | Launch this article (PDF - 1799 KB) |
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| | | Tying the Knot: IT Integration in a Merger | | McKinsey on Business Technology, Fall 2003
Two senior J.P. Morgan Chase executives explain how a worldwide team set the stage for transforming the merged firm's IT organization. | | Launch this article (PDF - 123 KB) |
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