|
A Carol I. Kallendorf, Ph.D./Jack Speer Publication |
|
|
|
Technology of the Early 90's Made Our Company and Many Others a Lot of Money—and Fueled the Unparalleled Prosperity of the 90's. From "Sneaker Net" to Early Windows—Microsoft Made us Heroes—Then Bogged Down Trying Own the World Let me cite a single example. Remember the "sneaker net" of the late 80s? We did proposals on our DOS-based computers on monochrome monitors and plain-Jane fonts—no color. We carried around disks from workstation to workstation (thus the name "sneaker net"). We sometimes spent hours editing a version of the proposal only to find out that this section had been deleted from the proposal several versions ago. The current version was back somewhere on Sally’s desk.Va-room! Technology Enabled Our Business to Move at the Speed of Light! Our proposals were brilliant in text, but only the large companies could afford to print the dazzlingly formatted and printed proposals that got them moved to the top of the prospect’s inbox. Suddenly we came into possession of technology to beat the most sophisticated competition—and we did just that. It was like the caveman discovering the wheel and fire all at the same time. There emerged a stable version of Windows from Microsoft. It had color and a wide variety of creative fonts. You could format your proposal in a startlingly beautiful style that put us on a level playing field with the largest company. There was a wide array of clip art resources that made us look like Madison Avenue. Our Hewlett Packard Printer, whom we named Gutenberg, would often print copies of our proposals—with charts, graphs, and photos—for 24 to 48 hours at a time without jamming! Companies are Not Buying Current Technology--We're Waiting for Something that Adds Value We were excited about what they’d think of next! Technical people tried to convince me—and I tried to convince myself—that the new iterations of workstations, printers, networks, and email (which by now was fundamental to our business) were getting better and should be purchased. We bought the latest and the greatest. We’re not buying now. Not one new version has anything that enables us to distinguish ourselves as a business. Chipmakers like AMD have done their job, developing faster and faster computing power. Operating systems and software are stalled. Printers are now throwaway items that jam most days. HP has cheerfully sent us two new 990Cxi printers when they failed within months, but how much did that cost them and how much time did it cost us? And what did that do to our HP loyalty—which we had thought was unshakeable? Hurray for a Time to Dig in and Build! And this is just one of countless examples. I’ll bet you can think of a dozen or more off the top of your head. Nobody welcomes a downturn. We call it "an unwelcome opportunity." It was inevitable, and also predictable. Most experts believe at the core is the speculation on the stock market. We believe it’s our collective failure to offer goods and services consumers (both organizations and individuals) will feel compelled to buy at a price they can afford. In order to move forward, there must be a "bull market" of innovations that improve productivity. It’s time to rethink progress. |
|
BizWatchOnline
is sponsored by The Delta
Associates - 1704 1/2 South Congress Avenue - Austin, TX 78704 |