LONG CONVERSATION

The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from Information Technology Investment is available at Amazon.es.

Chapter Download

The book’s first chapter is now available for download from the Palgrave Macmillan Web site.

Our book The Long Conversation: Maximizing Business Value from Information Technology Investmentwill was published last fall by Palgrave-Macmillan – Series:  IE Business Publishing. This book is based on 10 years of empirical research with companies in Latin America, Europe and Asia. It also includes data and examples of companies in which we have been working as consultants and experts. The application of the findings from the longitudinal study into the companies advised has been a way to test the ideas and insights developed academically.

This book represents the culmination of research we have been doing for the last decade. The term Long Conversation was coined by us in a California Management Review article to highlight that it takes a long time and a lot of learning to make the best of your enterprise systems – large scale IT.

Contents

We argue that organizations need to maximize the value of their existing IT assets. It takes a long time and a lot of learning. In doing so, organizations need new organizational capabilities and social networks. We develop our argument through seven chapters. The first part of the book focuses on the waveforms of an organization and their relationships. In addition, we describe the technology we already have: enterprise systems. The second part explains in detail the processes of the Long Conversation: Osmosis, Growth and Adaptation. Moreover, we describe the way organizations master ES through the Long Conversation approach. The third part identifies the new set of organizational capabilities needed to support the learning and exploration process behind the ES experience and future technological waves. Finally, we summarize our model with a set of practical guidelines related to the implementation process, knowledge and learning management, and the roles played by the different actors.

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In a recent article (Living in a Digital World) published in Communications of the ACM, Samuel Greengard introduces us with a relevant debate about the impact of technology use on people’s behavior. It seems to some experts that “an always-on digital lifestyle” can give rise to undesirable attitudes due to your digital life.

For example, Greengard mentions interesting statistics: “the average American is digitally connected between 2.5 and 3.5 hours a day.” This is definitely a reality that is overwhelming all of us everywhere, not just in America. There is no doubt that being continuously connected to the Internet is a fundamental part of our networked and your digital life. However, there are some challenges that need to be addressed. In the Greengard’s own words, “the heavy use of digital technology trains society to have less patience for the particular skills, pace, and sensitivities of face-to-face interaction.” In other words (by Shery Turkle), “we are using technologies to dial down human contact.”

This is no small problem and we all need to reflect on that in order to find ways to balance social and family life with digital life. I am particularly using the recommended tactic of turning my digital devices off for certain periods of time (at least for half-day), mainly on weekends.

I highly recommend this article and the practice of turning off your digital life.

Oswaldo.

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