BUSINESS IN THE AGE OF INFORMATION

by John Diebold ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 8, 1985

Throughout a long and generally useful career, computer guru Diebold has been as much a drumbeater as an interpreter or seer. In this slim volume he follows in his own tradition, essaying speculative briefings on some of the implications the rapid evolution of information technology might hold for business. Since Diebold's latest overview-cum-forecasts has been stitched together--not quite seamlessly--from a half-dozen speeches and client presentations, the text has a less than coherent focus. The author touches without dwelling on a number of issues, starting with the less than startling proposition that technological change is creating opportunities as well as problems for business. Buried in the introductory bafflegab, though, is a persuasively reasoned prediction that the computer systems of the future will operate on biogenetic principles to meet demands for greater speed and storage capacity. Whilst waiting for organic machines, Diebold continues, information-industry executives and their customers face other difficulties. In particular, he laments the lack of adaptive national programs. High on the list of his priorities, then, are thorough studies of antitrust, patent, tax, trade, and other government policies in the context of advances in the state of the telecommunications/computer art. (Coincidentally, The Diebold Group Inc. provides just such services.) Moving right along, the author offers some conjectural scenarios for the wired-up/switched-on world of tomorrow, including the possibility of tailor-made newspapers (e.g., an oil edition of The Wall Street Journal) and the probability that employers will have to deal with the fact that their workers' knowledge is a wasting asset. Toward the close, Diebold ventures a somewhat self-serving slant on marketing-myopia theory, i.e., that virtually all sunrise enterprises are in one way or another in the information business. Corporate planners hoping to keep their organizations abreast or ahead of overtaking events will find more what-if projections than prescriptive counsel in this cut-and-paste survey. On the plus side of the ledger, he sets a credible agenda for information technology, which should at least repay formal attention.

Pub Date: July 8, 1985

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Amacom

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1985

Categories: NONFICTION