of organizations, 1945-98. Military/GM Org-Chart to hyper-org
of information, 1945-98. Secret-Proprietary / Open-Books-Distributed.
of computers, 1950-98. Monolithic-Isolated to Distributed-Personal.
Computation/Storage/Communication.
of software, 1970-98. Unix-Cobol/ DOS:Visicalc-Wordstar / Windows:word-excel
of internet, 1985-98. W3C, SGML, HTML, Broswer Wars, Internet, Intranet, Extranet,
EDI. Plaform Independence, Cheap, Low Entry Barriers, the 40% problem.
Use of systems for:
C-cubed: miltary command, control, communication (the functions of business).
Disintermediation
Reduction of plant, capital, time, people (FedEx: mass)
Trends:
Replacing people with systems (see Luddites)
IS schism: of legacy systems / business process innovation
Internet/Intranet/Extranet and EDI
Problems:
Y2K
Euro
pace of change
interdependence (and integrity) of vital systems
Opportunities:
Knowledge Management
Smart Organizations
Examples of Companies using SA-D to advantage:
FedEx
WalMart
Kinko's
New Required Skills:
inter-disciplinary outlook
effective persuasive communication
business process orientation
Selection of a Course Project:
Look for a process that uses a lot of people, time, money, or physical plant to move information to a customer or decision maker.
(Maybe a system that you find frustrating.)
A key indicator of a system ripe for SA-D is one where people function as "information intermediaries", or where information sits on paper waiting for people to get to it.
Move the information to the customer/DM-er faster/cheaper than the present IS system.
Let the customer/DM-er help themselves rather than pay people and maintain a system to help them.
