Innovation

Ongoing developments in information and communication technology create opportunities for organisations to change the way they operate, or to offer new services and products.  Sometimes the innovation can be so profound that it changes the rules for a marketplace, giving the innovator a major advantage over the competition.

It's not the purpose of the IT Governance Letter to expound all the opportunities for innovation.  What we are interested in is whether or not organisations have the appropriate disciplines in place to identify and take measured advantage of appropriate opportunities to innovate.  This is a matter for all boards, which should be setting the organisation's posture in terms of the risk it is prepared to take in seizing on advanced technology, or staying long term with established, and perhaps redundant technology.

In a timely warning, Computerworld (October 10th) warns that business needs to take responsibility for technology investments, to ensure that resources are not wasted on ill conceived IT projects. 

To illustrate the extent of possibilities, The Australian Financial Review on 4th November reports on a new online conveyancing pilot, that could reduce the cost of a typical house purchase.  This is a clear example of an industry approach, driven by the major banks, to employ technology to fundamentally redefine how the conveyancing process operates.