I spend much of my time these days tracking the technology and business of mobile and wireless. When I talk to IT managers, I am struck by their lack of knowledge about the underlying technology. We've seen this consistently in reader surveys, where respondents acknowledge that some emerging standard is strategic, but they can't explain why. They may have a Wi-Fi network at home, but when you talk about complex system design, implementation and management issues ranging from scalability to security to integration, they're at a loss.
With this reality as a context, how do IT managers make strategic decisions about technology? Nobody disagrees that they need to focus on the business value of information rather than on the technology itself, and to develop their communications, team-building and project-management skills. But they must also understand that the most strategic technologies are seldom commodities.
In today's successful IT organizations, the executives surround themselves with smart technical specialists. This new breed of technical manager combines business and technical acumen. He or she can grill a savvy salesman and his technical marketing engineer as they pitch the organization on their latest product or managed service.
All IT organizations need people who can select the right technologies for their companies from the vast array of alternatives, and then get the job done. It's this package of technical and management skills that will define future success.
Dave Molta is Network Computing's senior technology editor. Write to him at [email protected].
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