As with earlier infrastructural technologies, IT provided forward-looking companies many opportunities for competitive advantage earlu in in its buildout,when it could still be "owned " like a proprietary technology. A classic example is American Hospitality Supply. A leading distributor of medical supplies,AHS introduced in 1976 an innovative system used proprietary software running on a maniframe computer,and hospital purchasing agemts accessed it through terminals at their sites.Because more efficient ordering enabled hospitals to reduce their inventories-and thus their costs-customers were quick to embrace the system.
AHS gained a true competitive advantage by capitalizing on characteristics of infrastructural technologies that are common in the early stages of their buildouts,in particular their hight costs and lack and standardization.
IT management should bdcome borring. The key to success,for the vast majority of companies,is no longer to seek advantage aggressively but to manage costs and risks meticulously. If, like many executives,you're begun to take a more defensive posture toward IT in the last two years,spending more frugally and thinking more pragmatically,you're already on the right course. The challenge will be to mantain that discipline when the business cycle strenghtnes and chorus of hype about IT's strategic value rises anew.
