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keeping up with the phoneses � 209

thinking about your current idea, most likely so are they. There aren’t
a lot of technological secrets out there for the average organization.
Everyone, with the exception of the technology inventors, sits on a
level playing field. We all can use the same technology to help us make
decisions, improve processes that help us predict outcomes, communi-
cate with customers, and lower our costs—through, perhaps, a mobile
workforce strategy—so that we can improve our ROI. We are all able
to communicate faster, across every boundary and barrier, than could
have been imagined just two or three years ago. And two or three
years from now we’ll all be on the same playing field again, just doing
things much better, faster, more creatively, and effectively—through
the latest toys—than we are today. It is an endless cycle.
That’s why we continue to contend that it’s not the technology, it’s
the people who can give you the competitive edge. It is true that some
organizations will be able to buy research, tools, and systems that oth-
ers can’t, and that will yield competitive advantage for awhile, but it
all comes back to your workforce.
It becomes the ultimate virtual video game of technology—a race
to who can find the people who can work with technology that is
stable and scalable, and that “plugs in.” The companies that can de-
fine their needs, set their goals, and do their due diligence are the
ones that will be the Joneses and reap the ROI first. Often we see the
“shiny new wheels” and how, so easily, they can persuade us to action.
Your enterprise technology strategy has to be backed by a needs as-
sessment and has to have team buy-in to succeed.
As we send this book off to the publisher, the new Apple iPad is just
coming onto the market and all the buzz is whether or not it will be
putting Amazon’s Kindle out of business. The Apple iPhone changed
the smartphone market—and paradigm—not too long ago, and the
latest BlackBerrys, Droids, Nokias, and Samsungs are gracing the
belts, purses, and pockets of mobile workers worldwide. In the short
six months between now and when this book hits the bookstores, the
technology will have changed again. It is difficult to give thoughtful
advice about which devices to track. Our friend, Kit Brown-Hoeks-
tra, and her coauthors did a great job in their book, Managing Virtual