The New Technology Elite: How Great Companies Optimize Both Technology Consumption and Production

Praise for The New Technology Elite "Technology–enabled innovation is the future, but make no mistake, that future is here today. Mirchandani uses technology athletes to inspire us in that even the things we may think are impossible are in fact either a current or near future reality."—Michael McNamara, CEO, Flextronics "This book will inspire and energize you. Countering the prophets of doom who proclaim the ′death of IT,′ Mirchandani vividly illustrates through dozens of case studies that IT and related digital technologies are thriving in organizations big and small, public as well as private, changing the very nature of business products and processes. To the CIOs of organizations currently focused on spending millions of dollars on supporting traditional IT, this book is an urgent wake–up call that the emerging CIO role is to lead their organizations boldly into this digital world, or else risk getting swept away by the relentless tide of new technology."—Phiroz Darukhanavala (Daru), VP and CTO, BP p.l.c. "In The New Technology Elite, Mirchandani reveals the secret sauce that separates corporate leaders from laggards and market winners from also–rans in the unforgiving global economy. He neatly deconstructs the creative spark, innovative thinking, and excellence of execution that successful companies must continuously master to translate smartly conceived and efficiently delivered technology solutions into market outperformance and sustainable competitive advantage. Doing so reminds us that while technology innovation may start with tightly orchestrated ideation in the dark recesses of the virtual back office, success is often determined by the industrial scale that is unleashed to create products and services that deliver vibrant and intuitive user experiences, as well as rich and utilitarian capabilities that anticipate customer needs, today and tomorrow, and measure up to, if not exceed, rising consumer and business expectations." —Francisco D′Souza, President and CEO, Cognizant Technology Solutions "This book isn′t for those who want to stick to ′IT as usual.′ Mirchandani uses real–world examples to catalog the wide range of forces driving IT leadership to adapt or fail in the digital economy."—Chris J. Murphy, Editor, InformationWeek "Today, every company must ′rethink everything′ from their core processes to their fundamental business models. In his new book, Mirchandani shows countless examples of how new technologies have removed historic barriers thus allowing companies to rethink everything. Mirchandani′s book is a must–read for business leaders who want to inspire and rededicate their workforce. More importantly, it will serve as a guide to the new ways with which collaboration, innovation, technology, and more will fundamentally, permanently, and perpetually change the businesses of today. If your firm has the will to change, this book has the guidance."—Timothy Christen, CEO, Baker Tilly "Mirchandani has done it again. After opening our eyes to compound technology innovations in his last book, The New Polymath, he now instructs us to become technology prosumers (producers and consumers), no matter what our business or industry. Traditionally technology consumers for back–office automation, smart companies are now learning to embed smart technology in their products and become technology producers that delight their tech–savvy customers. Carpe diem, or become a footnote in business history. Mirchandani tells us why and how."—Peter Fingar, business strategy advisor and author of Business Innovation in the Cloud and Enterprise Cloud Computing.

Preface ix Acknowledgments xxi Part I The Convergence of Technology Production and Consumption Chapter 1 The New Monday Morning Quarterback 3 Case Study: UPS—That’s Technology “Amore” 15 Chapter 2 The “Industrialization” of Technology 25 Case Study: HP—The Quest for a “10 Out of 10” Supply Chain 32 Chapter 3 From Amazon to Zipcar: No Industry Untouched 39 Case Study: Roosevelt—Innovation Island 49 Chapter 4 Australia to Zanzibar: No Country for Old Products 57 Case Study: Estonia’s “Tiigrihupe”—Tiger Leap 66 Chapter 5 Convergence, Crossover, and Beyond 71 Guest Columns: Crossover Executive Perspectives 84 Perspective 1: Tony Scott (CIO, Microsoft) 84 Perspective 2: Vijay Ravindran (Chief Digital Officer, The Washington Post Co.) 86 Part II Key Attributes for the New Technology Elite: Three Es, Three Ms, Three Ps, and Three Ss Chapter 6 Elegant: In a World of Flashing 12s 93 Case Study: Virgin America—Redefining Elegance in Flying 103 Chapter 7 Exponential: Leveraging Ecosystems 111 Case Study: RIM’s Evolving Ecosystem 119 Chapter 8 Efficient: Amid Massive Technology Waste 123 Case Study: Facebook’s Hyperefficient Data Center 133 Chapter 9 Mobile: If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Xiamen 139 Case Study: The Boeing 787 and HCL Technologies 149 Chapter 10 Maverick: No Rules. Just Right. 155 Case Study: Apple—A Thousand “Nos” and Ten Gutsy “Yeses” 163 Chapter 11 Malleable: Business Model Innovation 173 Case Study: Valence Health 186 Chapter 12 Physical: Why Test Driving Is Still Important Even in a Digital World 193 Case Study: Taubman Shopping Centers 205 Chapter 13 Paranoid: But Not Paralyzed 211 Case Study: Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform 220 Chapter 14 Pragmatic: When Attorneys Influence Technology Even More than Engineers 225 Guest Column: Legal Considerations in Technology Product Launches—Benjamin Kern 233 Chapter 15 Speedy: In a New Era of Perishability 241 Case Study: Corning—The Gorilla® Glass Rocket Ride 248 Chapter 16 Social: Amid Chatty Humans and Things 255 Case Study: Lexmark Genesis—A Printer for Our Social Times 265 Chapter 17 Sustainable: Mining the Green Gold 271 Case Study: Google’s Green Initiatives 282 Part III Outside Influences on the Technology Elite Chapter 18 Making Regulators More Tech–Elite 291 Case Study: 3M’s “Periodic Table” 299 Chapter 19 Society’s Changing View of Technology 305 Guest Column: Smart Products Consumers Can Trust—Professor Mary Cronin 313 Chapter 20 Market Analysts Morphing 317 Case Study: Amazon 2010 Shareholder Letter 323 Endgame: “Welcome to the NFL” 327 Notes 333 About the Author 367 Index 369

VINNIE MIRCHANDANI has been called "The King of Wow" for his keen eye for technology–enabled innovation. His blog, New Florence. New Renaissance, has cataloged 2,500 posts of innovative products, projects, and people in work, life, and play. His last book, The New Polymath (Wiley), was widely praised as an "innovation firehose." He is President of Deal Architect, a technology advisory firm. In prior roles, he was an analyst at Gartner, Inc., a leading technology research firm, and a global consultant at PwC, the advisory firm. He has keynoted at many business and technology conferences and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, and other executive and technology publications.