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Guide

KeePInG uP To SPeed

Have you ever been to a cafeteria where you put your not only know their field but also enjoy information technol-
lunch tray on a conveyor belt that carries the dirty dishes into ogy. Maybe they were IS majors or had double majors that
the kitchen? That conveyor belt reminds me of technology. combined IS with another area of expertise (e.g., IS with ac-
Like the conveyor, technology just moves along, and all of us counting). These people read CNET News and ZDNet most
run on top of the technology conveyor, trying to keep up. We days, and they can tell you the latest on desktop virtualization
hope to keep up with the relentless change of technology for or html5 or Windows 10. Those people are sprinting along
an entire career without ending up in the techno-trash. the technology conveyor belt; they will never end up in the
Technology change is a fact, and the only appropriate techno-trash, and they will use their knowledge of IT to gain
question is, “What am I going to do about it?” One strategy competitive advantage throughout their careers.
you can take is to bury your head in the sand: “Look, I’m not Many business professionals fall in between these ex-
a technology person. I’ll leave it to the pros. As long as I can tremes. They don’t want to bury their heads, but they don’t
send email and use the Internet, I’m happy. If I have a prob- have the desire or interest to become technophiles (lovers of
lem, I’ll call someone to fix it.” technology), either. What to do? There are a couple of strat-
That strategy is fine, as far as it goes, and many business- egies. For one, don’t allow yourself to ignore technology.
people have used it. Following that strategy won’t give you a When you see a technology article in The Wall Street Journal,
competitive advantage over anyone, and it will give someone read it. Don’t just skip it because it’s about technology. Read
else a competitive advantage over
you, but as long as you develop
your advantage elsewhere, you’ll
be OK—at least for yourself.
What about your depart-
ment, though? If an expert says,
“You should be buying your em-
ployees Windows 10 tablet de-
vices,” are you going to nod your
head and say, “Great. Sell ’em to
me!”? Or are you going to know
enough to realize that it may be
too early to know what the suc-
cess of Windows 10 will be? Or
to know that maybe you’ll have
problems getting homegrown,
in-house applications down from
whatever stores Microsoft sets up?
At the other end of the
spectrum are those who love
technology. You’ll find them ev-
erywhere—they may be accoun-
tants, marketing professionals, or
production-line supervisors who
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