Michael Dell's challenge to IBM from his garage was only the beginning. Huge, established corporations are feeling the threat of upstarts with creative ideas, computer savvy and a business bound to the outside world by computer networks and telecommunications. Drucker estimates that knowledge workers will make up one-third of the work force. Future Shock Futurists 40 years ago foresaw the explosion in computing power, but they thought the power would be tied to large mainframes. Mainframes keep power and information stored and controlled at the top.
Organizations can allow people on the front lines to use information to serve customers quickly.
SynOptics Communications found that delivering mail and files electronically sped up product development by 24 percent. Lewaders who are threatened by the openness of networks or by subordinates having information to make decisions without them will hamstring the business. Time is the currency of the '90s and the key competitive advantage. Customers want it yesterday, competitors work to make your new product obsolete and everyone wants documents delivered by fax. Organizations that make decisions by funneling problems through corporate layers never can respond fast enough.