[TriLUG] [OT] What's the value of IT?

[Phillip Rhodes]

Cristóbal Palmer wrote:


> So what you're _really_ asking is why people value _new_ or _emerging_
> technologies. Let me know when you come up with a good definition. :)

Not necessarily, at least depending on how one defines "new" or 
"emerging."  For example, take something as old as spreadsheet
software.  I would not consider that "new", but I suspect that
there are business owners out there, who aren't particularly
computer savvy, and don't necessarily even appreciate how useful
something like that could be.  OK, ok, that's an extreme example
and there are probably few people who don't use spreadsheets.  But
I don't think you have to go much deeper into the "technology bag of
tricks" before you do run into things where the value isn't as
obvious to people who aren't accustomed to thinking about technology.

Also, for what it's worth, the context of what I'm thinking about
leans towards businesses that aren't inherently tech (at least computer 
tech) related.  Take a flower-shop, or a bakery, or a general contractor
or a small trucking company, something of that nature.  What technology
might be useful to them, and why?  That's closer to the heart of what 
I'm curious to discover.  Especially if these things can be
categorized into general patterns:

"extend the reach of my business" (ecommerce)
"make accounting faster / less error prone" (accounting software)
"reduce costs by helping to eliminate redundancies" (analytics / 
business intelligence)
"build better customer relationships" (CRM software)
etc.
etc.

> 
> If you're interested in research that deals with emerging technologies
> in the context of education, have a look here for a start:

Cool, thanks for the pointer.


-- 
Phillip Rhodes