MBA 669 Special Topics: IT-enabled organizational Forms Dave Salisbury ( ) (web site)

Stuff to Worry About Tonight Infrastructure – Who cares? Thinking about leveraging the available infrastructure to redesign business processes Value in a Networked World Cisco and the networked world as described by Friedman The Internet: Behind the Web The next thing – mobile and ubiquitous

Interstates as infrastructure Eisenhower saw it as a means to enable rapid mobilization for the military in times of crisis Other than the ceremonial first shovel (if that), doubt he did much of the designing, engineering or building Still, the vision led to a designer laying out the concept, and engineers building the infrastructure to carry it out Not just for the military

Internet as infrastructure Military saw it as a means to enhance ability to communicate in event of nuclear attack Once the pipes are there they can be used for pretty much anything Once the network was in place and congress passed legislation, network gets used for a variety of different purposes

Why do we care? The infrastructure constrains yet also enables what you can do as a company The rules change as to what is and is not possible Understanding the new possibilities and implications for your firm

Networks & the new organization MIDS Networks supplant hierarchies “None of us is as smart as all of us” Movement of responsibility and authority from the center to the edges Ever more rapid isomorphism The straitjacket and the herd

Where intelligence is migrating Location Coupled Decoupled Mobility Isolated Connected

Value Trends Value at ends Common infrastructure (& open standards) Modularity Orchestration (middleware?) Grid computing No money in the pipes

Value in a Networked World Arbitrage Follow the best source or cheapest cost (or both) Aggregation GoDaddy (as an example) Rewiring Tighter coordination both internally & externally (Dell & UPS) Reassembly Package modules – reusable – easy to package different ones together to provide a unique product to anybody

Cisco (from Friedman) How has the availability of the TCP/IP-based Internet infrastructure shaped Cisco? Could an organizational structure like Cisco’s have existed without the Internet? How do you see this evolving in terms of how we think of things like outsourcing, application service providers, etc? What would Drucker say about this?

Mobile & Ubiquitous Computing Computers small enough to be truly mobile Replace wires with wireless communication Combine mobile devices and a wireless environment Ubiquitous Computing – computing anytime anywhere

Mobile Computing – Attributes Ubiquity Convenience Instant connectivity Personalization Localization of products and services

Mobile Computing – Characteristics Mobility implies portability users carry a mobile device everywhere they go real-time contact with other systems from wherever they happen to be Broad reach is the characteristic that describes the accessibility of people. They can be reached at any time. What does this mean for how you design your organization?

Mobile Computing – Drivers Widespread availability of mobile devices (1.3 billion cell phones) No need for a PC (less bulk to carry) The handset culture (or social disease, IMHO) Vendor push Moore and Metcalfe’s laws Bigger pipes (bandwidth)

Mobile Computing Applications Support Of Mobile Workers: are those working outside the corporate premises. Service technician’s, Sales personnel, Delivery workers, etc. Wearable Devices. Employees may be equipped with a special form of mobile wireless computing devices Camera. Screen. Keyboard/Touch-panel display. Speech translator

Mobile Computing Applications Job Dispatch along with info about the task Transportation Utilities measurement Field service Health care Security Supporting Other Types of Work Farm Tractors Mystery shoppers

Mobile Computing Applications Wireless networking, used to pick items out of storage in warehouses via PCs mounted on forklifts Delivery-status updates, entered on PCs inside distribution trucks Collection of data such as competitors’ inventories and prices in stores using a handheld (but not networked) device, from which data were transferred to company headquarters each evening. Taking physical inventories

Mobile Computing – Mobile B2B Integrating the mobile device into the supply chain make mobile reservations of goods check availability of a particular item in the warehouse order a particular product provide security access to confidential financial data reduce clerical mistakes and improve operations

Location-based Commerce Location of people and things Navigation from one location to another Tracking where it went Mapping something into space Getting the time at a specific location

Location-Based Technologies Position Determining Equipment (PDE). This equipment identifies the location of the mobile device. (GPS) Mobile Positioning Center (MPC). The MPC is a server that manages the location information sent from the PDE. Location-based technology. This technology consists of groups of servers that combine the position information with geographic- and location-specific content to provide an l- commerce service. Geographic content. Geographic contents consists of streets, road maps, addresses, routes, landmarks, land usage, Zip codes, and the like. (GIS) Location-specific content. Location-specific content is used in conjunction with the geographic content to provide the location of particular services.

Location-Based Commerce Location-based advertising. The wireless device is detected, and similar to a pop-up ads on a PC, advertising is directed towards the PC. A dynamic billboard ad will be personalized specifically for the occupant of an approaching car. Ads on vehicles (taxicabs, trucks, buses) will change based on the vehicles location. E-911 emergency cell phone calls Telematics and telemetry applications integration of computers and wireless communications in order to improve information flow (OnStar system by GM)

Pervasive Computing RFID (radio frequency identification) tag attached to items for sale. Active badges worn as ID cards by employees. Memory buttons are nickel-sized devices that store information relating to whatever it is attached to. Contextual computing- understanding the user’s interactions w/system within a valid context

More Pervasive Computing Smart home Local Intranet Smart, networked appliances Smart Cars Microprocessors controlling the various automobile functions while driving Problem diagnosis in the shop Smart “Things” Making devices “smart” Barcodes – RFID Keys – Automatic ID

What’s new? Decoupling is not only of intelligence in networks Decoupling of information from product Decoupling of information from process Necessitates getting back to the essence of the process What versus how