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The Industrial Revolution of the
mid-nineteenth century represented the first major
instance in which technology was applied intensively
for business innovation and growth. Sixty to seventy
years later the commercialization of the
internal-combustion engine had a similar impact on
business and societal growth. The next technological
wave, the business computing revolution, came less
than 30 years later in the 1970s and 1980s. This was
followed by the technological transformation of
industries, work, business models, and society by
the Internet in the mid-1990s. Given that the time
periods between these technological revolutions have
been shortening rapidly, it is reasonable to expect
that we are due for the next technological wave of
change.
The
readings in this Part address various trends related
to technology in e-business. Topics included are the
integration of software, infrastructure and service
delivery requirements in e-business, and who
controls the technology. Issues of interest are the
rise of mobile computing devices and wireless
networks; broadband access through fibre optic and
newer technologies; smart appliances, with computing
power embedded in everything from refrigerators to
automobiles; and the convergence of computing
technologies.
As
e-business continues to grow, there will be
increasing pressure to develop a fast and effective
company infrastructure (including hardware,
software, and services). According to Informationweek,1
an e-business infrastructure should demonstrate
scalability, availability, security, and
manageability. To avoid problems in handling huge
volumes of business, a reliable e-business
infrastructure must be in place that is robust and
has core business production and fulfillment
functionality. The “New Infrastructure” will
apply to a wide range of developing areas, such as
biotechnology or efforts to globalize/localize
content and systems.
As
part of the technological planning process,
companies are seeking shortcuts to meet goals. To
this end, application service providers (ASPs) can
host a company’s software application and
databases on their server, saving the company costs
and maintenance headaches. According to the ASP
Industry Consortium, “An application service
provider manages and delivers application
capabilities to multiple entities from data centers
across a wide area network, giving customers a
viable alternative to procuring and implementing
complex systems themselves.”2 As
technology becomes more complex and transient, ASPs
are one solution in the e-business realm.
The
online articles on technology in this Part can be
considered in the context of the other readings and
cases in this book. For instance, how might
technological improvements contribute to supply
chain or operational issues, or to the enhancement
of CRM, or for real-time business intelligence
processing?
NOTES
1. A. Radding, “Pressure grows for e-business
infrastructure,” Informationweek, 805(2000): 118–126.
2. “Looking for an ASP,” Modern Materials
Handling, 56(2001)(1): 98.
Reading 3: Swanson & Goodridge (2000)
Reading 2: Radding (2000)
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