At the IBM Lotusphere conference on Monday in Orlando, IBM Collaboration Solutions General Manager Alistair Rennie described major shifts in how technology has transformed business over the decades: the Mainframe, Departmental computing, the PC, and the Internet. To this he added Social Business as the next major shift. Each of these have had a tremendous impact not only in computing, but more so for how businesses organize and execute their business operations. Each of the prior technologies has been so transformative and necessary that we cannot imagine our lives without them.
Mr. Rennie described shifts like these as “really rare.” What is more “as rare as these shifts are, the early predictions about [their impact] are usually underappreciated.” He showed a number of infamous mis-reads of technology shifts:
- Thomas Watson of IBM Chairman in 1943 before the mainframe age: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
- Kenneth Olsen, Digital Equipment Corp. Chairman & CEO in 1977, about the PC: “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”
Mr. Rennie described shifts like these as “really rare.” What is more “as rare as these shifts are, the early predictions about [their impact] are usually underappreciated.” He showed a number of infamous mis-reads of technology shifts:
- Thomas Watson of IBM Chairman in 1943 before the mainframe age: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
- Kenneth Olsen, Digital Equipment Corp. Chairman & CEO in 1977, about the PC: “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”
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