Page 216 - 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

design firm used an alliance of small builders, a set of special-
ists assembled ad hoc to produce a particular house. The tra-
ditional builder hadn’t noticed this reorganization of skills in
his industry. It seemed to occur overnight, although some of his
own crew had drifted away to join these outfits. As house after
house went up, he asked around; no one knew of an architect,

mortgage broker, Realtor, or lawyer who had been involved in
any of the projects, but many people had heard details about
the homes’ unique, owner-inspired details.
These changes had been abrupt enough, but the most
shocking was the decline in the workload of the aerospace en-
gineer up the street. He had been overworked for three years
straight as his firm struggled to bring a bigger, more cost-

efficient airliner off the drawing boards. In addition to design,
the firm had to implement a worldwide supply chain of sub-
assembly suppliers and bring the parts together in its own plant.
The project in fact had gone well, and the jets were beginning
to come off the assembly line, although they were years behind
their scheduled profits. The company also had several smaller
projects under way. It needed new markets to keep its revenues
healthy and its staff fully employed. It had tried smaller craft
and even an experimental pilotless plane that could carry

overnight packages. But it had totally missed what proved to
be the best new market for the industry in 50 years—space
travel. Everyone in the industry knew that space flight was not
part of the friendly skies. It was something that required a big
government agency working with defense industry rocket
makers. No one had sensed how much the new composite ma-
terials could shrink the weight and size of a stubby-winged,

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