George F. Colony, the Chairman & CEO of Forrester Research writes his monthly column this time about “Naked Technology“. His quick take: “Injecting technology into a company without process and organizational change creates waste and chaos.” The key word here is “injecting.”
How many times have you turned on your computer to find you’ve gotten an upgrade you didn’t want? How many times have you looked in vain for a resource on the network, only to vaguely recall a memo from months ago advising you the resource was being moved? These top-down impositions of technology often cause frustration, resentment and rebellion. Injecting a technology that is not needed will cause chaos no matter how much planning is involved.
Now, think about the rocketing use of instant messaging within companies, or the informal introduction of intranets, or the appearance of business blogging. These technologies most often were introduced from the bottom up, made their way in without any planning and changed the culture, processes and organization by their use and acceptance. Mostly, though, they grew because they filled a need.
Hell, if you go further back, PCs were brought into many companies by individuals, as were cell phones, pocket calculators, and probably post-its and ball-point pens. So, “injecting” technology from the top down may cause chaos and waste, but providing a flexible structure where technologies can seep into the organization may be the best way for a company to grow and change.