American corporations are the first to adopt the new technologies and adapt to the changing economic realities. As a nation, the U.S. is figuring out how to finesse the new model of high quality economic growth driven by new technologies. The critical factor is understanding how best to integrate these tools to develop enhanced strategies to meet the increasing demands on organizations in this new global environment. The best and fastest integration will determine which institutions sink or swim. They must pay now for the planning and implementation of appropriate information technology infrastructures or pay much more later for not having done so.
Government agencies are no exception.
Budgetary pressures and the demands for more effective management will force government agencies to adopt information technologies in order to manage an increased work load and exponentially faster turnaround times. Organizations must respond to the challenge of going beyond venerable but outdated Cold War concepts that have informed their missions for decades. In short, they must rely on a creative resourcefulness in responding to the new international environment by, in effect, mimicking that environment, organizing themselves to act and respond as a network of information resources. They presage the coming of a revolution in diplomacy, in the way international affairs are managed.