Survival of the fittest (in the business world)

This article summarizes the change between the use of technology during the 1980’s and the use of technology and information systems in the present day. The author points out that there has been a huge change in the culture of business uses of technology between the 1980’s and now. One of her main points is that currently, customers require and demand that companies use their information systems in an effective and relevant manor. These days, when a customer walks into a bank that they are a member of, they expect the bank to be able to instantly bring up relevant, useful information. This type of expectation has made it completely necessary for the information systems managers of banks and companies in similar industries to constantly update their networks and expand their companies’ uses of information systems. It is of the utmost importance that companies’ information technology is easily upgradeable, and changed in order to keep up with useful changes as well as current consumers’ wants and needs. Some experts say that the future is in automating information systems in the form of voice-activated technology instead of keyboards. In this case, users will eventually be able to see voice and images in a similar way to how we look at data currently. Experts say that another future development is the ability for PCs to identify, and diagnose, and correct malfunctions in themselves and the information systems they are a part of.
It is easy to see that the trend of growth and the evolution of information systems and information technology is not one that is slowing down. At first, one might think that this is all for the better, and for the consumer, it likely is. Information systems can make things so much easier and optimize efficiency for consumers and businesses (that use the information systems), but there may be a down side. This article mentions that a large bank will spend an obscene amount of money in a year on their information systems. Because of this, I doubt that smaller companies in certain sectors will have any chance of keeping up. This type of necessity for growth, coupled with the costs required to upgrade, maintain, and utilize information systems may be impossible for smaller companies with less disposable income to deal with. If complex, efficient, expensive information systems becomes the norm, then I believe that it will be much harder for smaller, poorer companies to keep up. As time goes on, the survival of these smaller, poorer companies will progressively become less likely. Is there anything wrong with that though? It is simply an example of survival of the fittest in the business world.

Article used: ENTERPRISE NETWORKS KEY TO DOING BUSINESS IN '90S: Shift to PCs from mainframes also requires a shift in the way business uses technology by Johanna Powell.
The Financial Post, Toronto, Canada. SECTION 1, FOCUS ON VOICE & DATA NETWORKS; Pg. 21