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Redifining IT strategy in the age of knowledge

The $4 billion Inacom Corp's Chairman Rick Inatome today transfixed his audience when he delivered his vivid and vibrant presentation for the plenary session at IT India '97/Comdex conference here.

His spoke on 'Redefining corporate IT strategy in the age of knowledge'.

T O D A Y

• Jeff Mason's keynote • Q&A: Jeff Mason • E-cash alternatives • Selling on the Net • Internet telephony • Knowledge strategy • Q&A: Rick Inatome • Looking forward

Inatome called for looking at the evolution of information technology and systems for corporate houses in context with the rapid changes taking place worldwide.

Knowledge, he said, would lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. This must be understood and absorbed to make the necessary changes in the information technology infrastructure.

"Data is a discrete past," he quoted Peter Drucker, "whereas data with a purpose is information." The transfer of data to knowledge, through information, and in a compressed timeframe, is the essential challenge of today, he feels.

Companies are going to deal with accumulated knowledge and absorption rates of new information technologies are accelerating at incredible rates, Inatome warned.

He drew attention to the fact that the USA, in spite of its IT industry accounting for a high 3 per cent of the GDP, declined in business strength. Its per cent share in world sales dropped in most sectors. With the maximum degree of use of information technology, USA became less and less competitive. Innovative productivity is the key issue for growth, he concluded.

Inatome touched upon the law of 'combinational evolution for mankind' and traced the various stages - soil and water leading to the agricultural revolution; electricity, iron and carbon leading to the industrial revolution and the silicon substrata which has led to the IT revolution.

The bandwidth change is the major new driver of the industry, Inatome pointed out. Today, the fast fiber can transfer 5 million pages per second or an equivalent of 1.2 million phone connections simultaneously. The environment is becoming pervasively digitised.

The flow of information has seen three waves in the computer revolution, he said. The first was transaction computing, followed by task computing and now the information technology or the network era.

Enterprise knowledge management is being redefined constantly in view of the changes in bandwidth/technology and information.

He spoke of "intellectual intimacy" and said it is in this respect that India will have a major role, given its "profound capability to build software."

Consumer process needs are important and there is a need to redefine our relations with customers. It is the knowledge company, which will exploit breakpoint opportunities, and no single organisation can dominate knowledge, he said.

Also: Three questions for Rick Inatome

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