What's your computing differentiation strategy?

What's Your Computing Differentiation Strategy? The decisions that lead to the mix of computers and software and to the emphasis placed on paticular hardware and applications in the different levels of an organization can mean the organization's vitality, stasis or death. So we would be well advised to map out or revise our computing differentiation strategy. For some users, the strategy centers on using departmental and micro-based systems to augment host computers. For others, it is to maintain the status quo and use departmental or remote systems as little as possible. Yet other users, with no clear overall strategy, are stalled at the six-way intersection of super-computing, regional satellite computing, departmental computing, desktop computing, portable/laptop computing and specialized-microprocessor computing. Living as we do at a time of profound social, economic and technological transformation, we would almost all agree that information technology sharpens the competitive edge. That is why computing-differentiation-planning to exploit information technology is one of the hottest strategies in computing. This strategy aims to provide the right information-processing technologies at all levels of an enterprise, both vertically and horizontally. Its adoption in an educational institution or in a business enterprise is epochal. Very little in our daily lives remains untouched and unchanced by information technology. Medicine, retailing, lodging, finance, government, education, entertainment, travel, insurance, manufacturing, banking, etc., have all generated special value-added dimensions and dependencies on the technology. The challenge is to find the winning combination of systems and software. to succeed, you must have vision, values, dedication, commitment, courage, skill--what I call "mental guts"--and a strategy. To manage effectively is to have an ever-active management information system that helps to develop a strategy and the decisions that stem from it and that effects the necessary actions to be taken: planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling the resources used in conducting an enterprise. A Complex of Issues As managers learn to think, plan and execute in terms of sponsors, agents and targets of change, their success will critically depend on a computing differentiation strategy integrated vertically, horizontally and longitudinally. Just as a successful marketing strategy embraces the idea of consistent delivery of service and quality to customers, so mst a computing differentiation strategy. A manifesto for success must consider that: * At least six levels of computing may be required to support an organization's information requirements. * Departmental computing applications tend to be new data-entry applications. * Desktop, portable and laptop computing applications tend to be those that were once done by hand, done with a calculator or not done at all. * More workstations are being demanded by users at the departmental, desktop and individual levels. * More and more businesses are developing smart products with embedded microprocessors for improved speed, reliability, performance and serviceability. * networking is a top concern for computer connectivity and the dissemination of information between and within organizations. * Computing-differentiation-planning entails a continuous analysis of how the technology can be used to gain a competitive advantage, whether in eduction or in business. Each of the topics above embodies a complex of issues and possibilities. A sound computing differentiation strategy is by no means easy to plan and effect: There are no simple ways to influence thinking, reduce risks and maximize opportunities. Success is contingent upon at least eight major input factors: 1. Top-management commitment and accountability 2. …