Technology

Introduction

Technology has brought meaning to the lives of many technicians.

Technology is just a tool... not an end to itself.

Technology is just an enabler. Technology must be a Facilitator and catalyst for business change.

All technology purchases should be approved by the business.

All technology should be funded by the business and not via a separate IT Infrastructure budget. The business approves when and how much capital is expended on IT. The IT Department needs to be in partnership with the business - not doing its own thing or in an adversarial situation. The IT Department is a service department to the other Business Areas.

The best way of achieving this is linking technology Acquisitions to Business-Driven projects. The business approves the project and additional technology is bought. No approval, no new technology.

Choosing Technology

Making a decision (ie, "backing") on which technology to use is inherently risky.

Once you have made the decision you are usually "hooked" and it is very hard to change. When choosing technology you are not just buying a tool but a relationship with a subcontractor, vendor and supplier. Make sure the subcontractor, vendor and supplier will continue to give you what you want after the sale. (What if the subcontractor, vendor and supplier goes belly up? What if the subcontractor, vendor and supplier no longer supports the technology? What if the subcontractor, vendor and supplier changes their position in the marketplace?)

1. Betting on a winner:
   • Won't change soon (likely to be around for a while)
     
     
   • Easy to find staff with skills.
     
     
   • Is the technology near a cusp:
     • New - Bleeding edge
       
       
     • Old - Twighlight period and will be phased out
2. One of the hardest things you'll have to do.
   
   
3. Perform an Impact Assessment - what if you get it wrong?
   
   
4. Perform a Risk Assessment.
   
   
5. Dynamics:
   • Some people (usually Technical Staff) will push a particular technology barrow because that's what they know (ie, are conservative)
     
     
   • Some people (usually Technical Staff) will push a particular technology barrow because it is something new to learn.
     
     
   • Some people (usually Technical Staff) will push a particular technology barrow because it will be good for their careers.
6. What's wrong with the old technology?
   
   
7. Technology is changing all of the time.
   
   
8. You can't hold off making a decision forever.
   
   
9. You need to bight the bullet and make a decision so you can start accruing benefits.
   
   
10. A clear major approach is to understand:
    • The limitations of the chosen technology.
      
      
    • Not to use it in a "one size fits all" situation.
      
      
    • Which version/release to use.

Generic Technology

1. Artificial Intelligence
   
   
2. Bar Code (Readers)
   
   
3. Call Centre (inbound and outbound)
   
   
4. Charged Couple Device (CCD)
   
   
5. Client/Server
   
   
6. Clustering
   
   
7. Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI)
   
   
8. Cryptography
   
   
9. (Relational) Data Base Management System
   
   
10. Data Mining
    
    
11. Data Scrubbing
    
    
12. Data Warehousing
    
    
13. Development, Maintenance and Support Tools
    
    
14. Digital Camera
    
    
15. Electronic Commerce
    
    
16. Electronic Document Interchange (EDI)
    
    
17. E-mail
    
    
18. Emulation
    
    
19. Encryption
    
    
20. Expert System
    
    
21. Facsimile
    
    
22. Global Positioning System (GPS)
    
    
23. Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM)
    
    
24. Imaging
    
    
25. Internet
    
    
26. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
    
    
27. Intranet
    
    
28. KnowledgeBase
    
    
29. Local Area Network (LAN)
    
    
30. Mainframe Computer
    
    
31. Midrange Computer
    
    
32. Mobile Telephone
    
    
33. Modem
    
    
34. Object-Oriented Analysis (OOA)
    
    
35. Object-Oriented Design (OOD)
    
    
36. Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
    
    
37. Office Automation
    
    
38. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
    
    
39. Open Systems
    
    
40. Operating System
    
    
41. Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
    
    
42. Pager
    
    
43. Parallel Processing
    
    
44. Personal Computer
    
    
45. Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX)
    
    
46. Portable Data Entry Device
    
    
47. (Disk) RAID (levels 0, 1, 3, 5)
    
    
48. Radio Frequency (RF)
    
    
49. Robotics
    
    
50. Scanning
    
    
51. Smart Card
    
    
52. Standard Query Language (SQL)
    
    
53. Symmetric Multiprocessors
    
    
54. Telecommunications Network
    
    
55. Telecommuting
    
    
56. Teleconferencing
    
    
57. Telex
    
    
58. Videoconferencing
    
    
59. Virtual Memory
    
    
60. Virtual Reality
    
    
61. Voice Network
    
    
62. Voice Recognition
    
    
63. Wide Area Network (WAN)
    
    
64. WorkFlow

Also See

Acquisition

Application Architecture

Business Architecture

Business-Driven

Enterprise Architecture

Establish Project Facilities and Consumables

Information Technology Issues

Infrastructure

Infrastructure Projects

IT Silver Bullets

Pre-Sales

Technical Architecture

Technology Independence

Technology Plan