Software giant SAP kindly invited me to a CEO conference earlier this year in Frankfurt (I have done paid speaking engagements and consulting work for SAP in the past, but this conference was purely for purely for intellectual interest). During the event I recorded an extemporaneous 15 minute talk on our research examing the links between IT investment and recent changes in competition in the US.
The video is now available on SAP TV. Here’s the link (click on the text saying "White-board session about the impact of information technology on companies – on how they perform and how they compete." ). I apologize for all the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and frantic miming when I couldn’t think of what to say next, but it’s a decent and short introduction to the work. Check it out if you have 15 minutes, and let us know what you think, please.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Professor McAfee – excellent preso at SAP. Question, though: is the increase in the “performance spread” (and other metrics you cite) in High IT industries a result of some of those players not as wisely using their IT investments as their competitors? So, we have companies that historically spend high on IT, and are continuing to do so, yet some are not managing that IT investment successfully enough to leverage their investment as well as their competitors – thus an increasing “spread”. Is that the real cause of the spread, do you think? I definitely think that “Technology Beats a Full House”, as you wrote before on your blog, but I wonder if the real cause of the metrics is actually a second order cause.
-YFBJAL
Hi Andrew,
Cheers for the articulate recap on your very interesting study. SAP must have luved you mentioning them so often during the interview
You said that you were planning on continuing the research to cover other countries than just the US too, to further test your hypotheses. Which countries did you have in mind? Crossing the Atlantic to invade Europe?
Just to cross over a bit into your other area of interest, E 2.0, I’ve been working on a sort of a wiki-portal to gather enough relevant information, (studies, videos, slideshows, ideas, existing cases of implementation etc.) for executives or anyone interested in the subject to be able to make the “right” conclusions whether E 2.0 might be the right path for their organization. As most of the information on E 2.0 was scattered all over the internet in peoples blogs and articles, it was extremely hard to get a comprehensive idea what the phenomenon was about. This is the problem I decided to tackle: Bring it all under the same roof.
Anyhow, the project is divided into 3 sections: How companies can use these tools to enhance their actions (E 2.0), how the tools could be used to promote collaboration between research groups (universities) and corporations (business), and how (academic) libraries could better serve their clients by utilizing the tools (Library 2.0).
Sorry for using your blog as a marketing channel. Trying to get people to navigate to my wiki is one thing, but I also wanted to thank you, as a lot of the ideas I present in the project are yours
So if you have time, take a look and please do comment / edit / add …
Here’s the link to the project: http://wiki.glostra.fi/index.php/Web_2.0_/_Enterprise_2.0_-_Enhancing_collaboration_with_social_software
-Jasu
Andrew, thanks for that – for an unrehearsed, extemporaneous video it was top class.
Thanks a million – really interesting stuff.
Prof. McAfee,
Two decades of experience as a competitive sales strategist in the highly competitive technology space taught me something: for most companies, technology itself isn’t competitive advantage. Technology is, or rather should be, just a medium to deliver business improvement.
If a company has a winning overall business strategy, automating existing processes critical to the execution of that strategy will result in competitive advantage.
For example, a company that implements SAP’s (or anyone’s) software “out of the box,” where the company’s business processes are altered to meet requirements of the software, rather than the reverse, are destined to be an industry laggard, rather than a leader.
One of the reasons that CRM software has not delivered on customer expectations is many companies invested in CRM as an elixir to cure numberous varieties of sales problems. What they wound up doing was automating the very chaos that existed in their organizations at that time. The companies that enjoyed the biggest benefit from CRM were those who adapted the software to support wide compliance with their existing methods and processes.
Your conclusion is very insightful:
“We see a technology story and business network transformation story. We see a really interesting combination of good business ideas and the technology that helps leverage those business ideas. When you combine that, you see the patterns that we see in the data.”
I learned that:
- how one uses these new technologies to leverage better business ideas is the true differentiator.
- low tech industries have an BIG opportunity. Gain competitive advantage by connecting your work force with E2.0 tech because they consistently contribute value beyond turning wrenches.
I also learned
- you are left handed
- no amount of IT will replace paper and markers.
Really, really interesting. I look forward to hearing more about your research and I am looking forward to reading the article.
I also loved the unrehearsed video presentation. I would love to see you do more of these in the future.
Thanks for making this available.
Thanks for the excellent video. I have to agree with you on the subject of Technology enhancing competition. Just because the technology is available to everyone doesn’t mean it will utilized in the same manner. One particular firm may have a great CRM focus but not have a strong devotion to their SEM efforts. No two companies are going to have the exact same emphasis on their technologies.
Thanks, professor, it’s really interesting seeing your research presented “live”, versus on the screen.
Have you considered expanding on the live series?
Hello sir McAfee, i think you did a great job at presenting with only 1 take. Thank you for the presentation. Taking research to other countries, which ones? and which industries would you include?
An interesting unrehearsed video presentation.It was a very informative.I look forward to hearing more about your research.
Grete Post
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