Just a few years ago, the definition of a technology company was fairly straight-forward. Technology companies had product-focused R&D, launched products and sold those products directly or through channels. It is not as straightforward any more. Is Facebook a technology company? How about Amazon? How about a third party logistics provider?
The answer is becoming more nuanced as firms are finding ways to use technology to drive process differentiation in the market. Amazon has simplified the process of buying over the web to the point that this technology service is becoming as important a “product” as the consumable products sold through their site. Amazon’s expansion into technology services has even led them to provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) through their cloud computing solutions.
Sure, technology still has a role of making businesses more productive and helping them gain economies of scale. However, this is only the most basic level of thinking when it comes to applying technology to business problems. A more sophisticated approach is to determine what customer needs are currently unmet in your market and can be satisfied through the unique use of technology.
I often hear that supply chain execution technology is considered “commodity” IT. This reference is common when people evaluate best of breed technology solutions against ERP based solutions. Any company looking to derive an advantage from their supply chain should not view their execution technology as commodity. Companies who look to differentiate based on their technology service and supply chain should look to solutions that provide them full functionality and the ability to create unique, differentiated processes within the system. Amazon certainly did not get to where they are today with a “commodity” view of technology.
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