Page 200 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

MANA GEMENT STRATEGIES F O R THE CL OUD R EV OL UTION

string of previous successes that had overturned established
players. Now months of bickering and indecision inside your
company have to come to a head.
The leadership in IT had already started the process. It
recognized that some form of cloud computing would be the
business platform of the future and had started to reorganize.

To get it right, however, it needed to know what the company’s
product strategy would be, and it had had little direction on
that point. However, the CIO had tried to position IT as being
ready to supply the tools and technologies that would allow
the company to seize the initiative when the need arose. Now
it had arrived—in the form of an unwelcome new competitor.
A mid-level manager in manufacturing had been talking

outside of channels to his counterparts in research, design,
and engineering. The young manager had also been out to
talk to customers about your latest product and gotten an ear-
ful of bad feedback on its design and functionality.
On the company Web site, senior design managers had put
forth their best ideas in a forum, but, to their frustration, they
had been shot down by the new president of the customer
user group. He lacked the courtly manners of his predecessor
and seemed to think that every opinion he held was right.

Senior design management was offended.
On the other hand, hidden in his comments was the germ
of an idea that even the new competition hadn’t figured out.
Instead of sticking with their favorite notions, some design-
ers had consulted research on whether a new product could
be executed with new materials. The answer to a key question
was maybe. But it was too late for that. The young turk in

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