September 26, 2005

Does Your Business Have A Digital Spine?

I just finished reading the latest edition of Business Week and its cover story was about people working too hard.

In this time we live in, our lives our FLOODED with work, work, work. Working 50+ hours a week, getting home late, leaving early and flying around the world.

When we get "home" we Blackberry, IM, conference call, Skype and blog like there was no tomorrow. Still we have children and marriages to "manage" and often put on the back burner like a dusty novel.

I haven't even mentioned that we still try to stuff food down our throats (Krispy Kreme thank you) while drinking a cup of $4 coffee (Snapple please) and reading the WSJ in the other hand.

Having said all of that - professionals that can let technology GIVE them more freedom and not take it away are ahead of the game, better off and live more fulfilled lives.

One solution BW mentions is having a "digital spine". A corporate and personal digital spine will enable one to do more with less in less time. Be careful or you'll find that you have even more to cram into your day.

BW writes Intel Corp. (INTC ), for example, sees an opportunity in creating technology that lowers the time cost of teamwork. And others, such as Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY ), are providing more corporate support for both internal and external networks. "It's a new mental model for how you run a company," says McKinsey's Bryan. "The winners will be those who can handle more complexity."

At the same time we may see a rise in new forms of Web-based organizations where people can contribute without having their time eaten up by existing hierarchy. Blogs, collaborative online databases (called wikis) and open-source software development all use the Net to handle much of the coordination among people rather than relying on top-down command and control. Such a shift to a digital spine could eventually lessen bureaucratic time burdens on overworked professionals, especially those in such high-cost industries as health care.

Read the full BW cover story here

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