II. Technology Innovation

II. Technology Innovation provides revolutionary change through introduction of new technology.  This covers services and products for the public, consumers, customers, or internal users.  Recent innovations such as mobile technology, cloud computing, and social media are providing new value for CIO offerings to their enterprise customers.

The "360 CIO" leads an organization that takes advantage of open innovation where possible. 

See the Welcome message for an overview of the 360 CIO.



Who Creates Technology Innovation?

Supplying scientific or technical products and services to external users (public, consumers, customers) had been typically managed through CTO organizations.  And innovation for products and services intended for internal users through CIO organizations. However, demarcating between research and development for external products and internal management information systems is not always necessary and can be counter-productive. Better ideas are possible through virtual and creative teams not bound by an organization's structure, geography, and proprietary restrictions.
 
"Open Innovation" trends allow a two-way sharing of innovation among a variety of resources.  For example, a great new product might be created by a small ad hoc team of customers, competitors, and suppliers.


Equally possible, an internal team might invent something cool that could become a profitable new product for an external use or an unrelated business.



Disruptive Innovation
Technology organizations have the opportunity to invent new products and services that "disrupt" the market or service offering by providing solutions to a broader base of users or consumers not previously possible.

Historical examples:
  • Steam ships disrupted sailing ships
  • Digital cameras disrupted film cameras
  • Online stores disrupted retail outlets
More recent disruptive technologies include:
  • eBooks disrupting paper books
  • iPads/iPhones disrupting laptops
  • email disrupting postal mail
  • Facebook disrupting email
How to Enable Innovation
The 360 CIO provides a working environment that enables creativity
  • Lead, instead of Control
  • Ensure Enterprise Architecture ties the business architecture to the technical architecture
  • Provide collaboration tools that allow the network organization to flourish
  • Create excitement about participating in or benefiting from "innovation intermediaries", either formal or informal 

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