Thursday, May 24, 2012

Technology Lead Innovation or Technologists playing catchup?

There is a fascinating article on innovation that appeared in the Wall Street Journal yesterday “You Call That Innovation?
The article quotes Scott Berkun, the author of the 2007 book "The Myths of Innovation," which warns about the dilution of the word, says that what most people call an innovation is usually just a "very good product." (He prefers to reserve the word for civilization-changing inventions like electricity, the printing press and the telephone—and, more recently, perhaps the iPhone.).  
Even with the recent hoopla over the 100 billion valuation of the much hyped “innovative” technology company of our time – facebook - architecture and technology lead innovation remains the Holy Grail for most Enterprise Architects.

Besides the hype over iDevices and Social media, we have been witnessing seismic innovation in the technology, especially when it comes to realizing the value and mobility of data! Just a couple of examples: In consumer music Cassette Tapes to the Cloud (though growing up, I also fondly recall my dad listening to LP records …)
Or the way I have been carrying my “personal” and work data while I travel the globe


One is left to wonder how much of the “innovation” we see around us is actually technology lead versus innovative business models implemented with the right technologies (including Information Technology).