The Challenges of Introducing New Technology
Comment lines: The challenges of introducing new technology
Skill Level: Introductory Andre Tost (andretost@us.ibm.com) Senior Technical Staff Member IBM
06 Oct 2010 Technologies that are new to an organization present a number of issues simply because they are new. Such issues are rarely addressed properly or sufficiently, if at all. The lack of a formal process for introducing new technology into an IT environment is one of the biggest challenges faced by companies looking to leverage new products. Here is a look at how you can plan for introducing new technologies -including new software, new systems, new versions of existing software and systems, and more -- to ensure the proper technical teams and governance mechanisms are involved.
Introduction
I have spent a significant amount of my time over the last several years on a series of projects across multiple industries in locations all over the world. The most important underlying theme during this time was (and still is) the introduction and promotion of the Service Oriented Architecture concept as a means of organizing functionality in a decoupled, dynamic, and business-aligned manner. For many organizations, this new concept can be rather disruptive in that it changes the way solutions are designed, implemented, and operated. Companies have to deal with new products and new patterns of solution design, new requirements towards the maintenance and operation of business solutions, and new opportunities for directly supporting the business needs in IT. However, most organizations try to address these challenges with their existing roles, responsibilities, and processes. In some cases, they realize too late that a more fundamental change is needed: a change of processes, organizations, and, yes, culture.
The challenges of introducing new technology © Copyright IBM Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.
Page 1 of 7
developerWorks®
ibm.com/developerWorks
In this article, I want to describe a
Skill Level: Introductory Andre Tost (andretost@us.ibm.com) Senior Technical Staff Member IBM
06 Oct 2010 Technologies that are new to an organization present a number of issues simply because they are new. Such issues are rarely addressed properly or sufficiently, if at all. The lack of a formal process for introducing new technology into an IT environment is one of the biggest challenges faced by companies looking to leverage new products. Here is a look at how you can plan for introducing new technologies -including new software, new systems, new versions of existing software and systems, and more -- to ensure the proper technical teams and governance mechanisms are involved.
Introduction
I have spent a significant amount of my time over the last several years on a series of projects across multiple industries in locations all over the world. The most important underlying theme during this time was (and still is) the introduction and promotion of the Service Oriented Architecture concept as a means of organizing functionality in a decoupled, dynamic, and business-aligned manner. For many organizations, this new concept can be rather disruptive in that it changes the way solutions are designed, implemented, and operated. Companies have to deal with new products and new patterns of solution design, new requirements towards the maintenance and operation of business solutions, and new opportunities for directly supporting the business needs in IT. However, most organizations try to address these challenges with their existing roles, responsibilities, and processes. In some cases, they realize too late that a more fundamental change is needed: a change of processes, organizations, and, yes, culture.
The challenges of introducing new technology © Copyright IBM Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.
Page 1 of 7
developerWorks®
ibm.com/developerWorks
In this article, I want to describe a