Overrated Underrated
To sum up the year, <i>InformationWeek</i>'s editors present their list of the most overrated and underrated technologies, ideas, people, and trends.
Editor's Note: Here is an expanded list of overrated and underrated technologies that appear exclusively on InformationWeek.com:
Overrated communications technology: INSTANT MESSAGING
Underrated communications technology: VOICE OVER IP
R U IMing? Y? Instant messaging is one of those technologies that seems to fascinate the media, perhaps because it provides a window into a subculture--teenagers--that's hard to understand. For most IT managers, though, IM is an overhyped technology that has yet to prove its worth.
Tech managers can be a conservative bunch, especially when new technology starts out as a forum to discuss homework and dates.Only about 18% of Fortune 500 companies have deployed IM, according to Nucleus Research, and it's not hard to understand why. It's intrusive, elevating the sender's time over the recipient's, and promotes a lot of non-work-related conversations. Then there are the security and legal risks that can result from unmonitored communications. C Ya, IM.
But tech managers should overcome their conservative nature when it comes to another new communications technology, voice over IP. Yes, phone calls are the lifeblood of many companies, and managers don't want to risk disruption. Plus, most businesses have a phone system that's paid for and works well.
But VoIP's benefits--lower costs, easier management, unified communications tools, and new apps--would seem to make it an easy decision. Just the ability to call and reach a person, rather than calling a location where that person may or may not be, should be sufficient reason to make the move.
There are enough companies using VoIP to gain a variety of benefits that it shouldn't be considered an emerging technology anymore. Perhaps more companies will decide it's time to dial a new number.
--Paul Travis ([email protected])
Overrated Schmoozing Skill: ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING
Underrated Schmoozing Skill: CALLING IN FAVORS
Toward the end of last year, social networking appeared to be ready to take off. Friendster, LinkedIn, and Spoke Software received venture funding. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be your online friend. But how many of your friends--the nonvirtual ones--ever got a job or landed a contract that way?
"I thought this was going to be the year of social networking, and it kind of just fizzled," says Denis Pombriant, managing principal of Beagle Research Group, a technology market-research firm. Social networks turned out to be six degrees of stagnation.
John Challenger, CEO of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., says personal endorsements may be more valuable. The social networking sites have some value for job seekers, he says. But having your friends' friends go to bat for you is better than following a thicket of links to get to that key contact.
Moreover, for the gatekeepers everyone wants to reach--those offering jobs, money, or companionship--participation in online social networks can be more of a burden than a benefit. Maybe what's needed isn't more connections, but more filters.
--Thomas Claburn ([email protected])
Overrated travel perk: E-MAIL IN THE SKY
Underrated travel perk: GETTING YOU THERE RELAXED AND ON TIME
Many of us already think of airplanes as second offices. Now the airlines want to coddle us a little more by adding wireless Internet access in the sky. We can't wait.
Continental Airlines, United Air Lines, and U.S. Airways already offer limited Web access on some flights for a small fee. Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, and SAS Scandanavian Airlines offer full on-board Web surfing and E-mail. Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Korean Air, and Singapore Air are expected to join the club next year.
But Internet access in the sky just ratchets up the stress of business travel--especially when the guy in front of us reclines into the screen of our laptop. The only fruit it's borne so far has been occasional access to E-mail, says Forrester Research travel analyst Henry Harteveldt. We need that like a hole in the head after prowling the long-term parking lot for a space, shuffling shoeless through security, and elbow-jockeying our seat mate for a share of that inch-thick armrest. Now there's the expectation that we'll be caught up on E-mail when we land? "That's where the stress comes from," Harteveldt says.
Here's an alternative for the airlines. Bag the tech investment and buy a few more of those seats with lower-back support. Improve the on-board food. Devise a saner boarding method, so groups one, two, three, and four don't all end up queuing in the Jetway. And would more pillows and blankets be too much of a stretch?
But perhaps the most important productivity enhancement for business travelers is this: Leave the laptop in its case and treat yourself instead to a good book and an in-flight nap. Your boss and therapist will thank you. Besides, you'll already be spending plenty of time on E-mail at the hotel.
--Tony Kontzer ([email protected])
Overrated retail technology: RFID
Underrated retail technology: RFID
Radio-frequency identification is the hottest technology to hit supply chains in years. Wal-Mart Stores, German retailer Metro AG, and the Defense Department have all plumped for the little electronic tags. Then Target Corp. and the Food and Drug Administration jumped aboard, requiring suppliers to paste RFID tags on all the goods they ship by the end of next year.
But the hype may be a touch premature. Most companies are simply slapping tags on goods right before they're shipped out, and that gives manufacturers little insight into their supply chains. But slap-and-ship is the most affordable method for these companies: RFID tags can cost between 35 cents and 70 cents, which can add up to millions of dollars a year. Count on more when you add in the cost of installing new equipment and making software changes. Office-products-maker Avery Dennison Corp. says it spent $12 million on RFID this year, for example.
Plus, many experts say it could take years for RFID technology actually to save companies money. For that to happen, business apps need to be re-programmed so they can interpret the data culled from tags. And tags would have to be applied to cases and pallets much earlier in the process, which could cost a large company more than $100 million a year, according to Forrester Research.
But don't despair; RFID's impact could also be underestimated. The technology went from being water-cooler conversation for engineers to the "it" technology of '04 in relatively short order.
With big retailers and government agencies pushing hard, this is one technology that won't likely fall through the cracks. And its potential is pretty cool: Imagine Nabisco being able to transmit an order for sugar the minute Wal-Mart runs low on Oreos.
Companies that aren't investing in RFID could lose out on doing business with the world's biggest customers. If a manufacturer doesn't have RFID capabilities soon, Wal-Mart, Target, and the military will find other suppliers that do.
--Beth Bacheldor ([email protected])
Overrated Security Fix: I.T. SPENDING
Underrated Security Fix: COMMON SENSE
Companies opened their coffers this year to buy firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, antivirus software, and other products to ward off the seemingly endless march of computer viruses and worms. But addressing that old IT bugaboo--"user error"--may be an even better defense.
Market researcher Yankee Group estimates businesses worldwide spent about $13 billion on IT security products this year. According to an InformationWeek Research survey, 59% of U.S. companies upped their security spending this year.
But most successful virus attacks and phishing scams work because an unwitting end user falls for a ruse. The majority of successful hacker attacks are enabled by people mistakes, too, such as unpatched systems, misconfigured servers, and obvious passwords. And 30% or fewer of companies offer security training for low-level IT staff and end users, according to the InformationWeek survey. Perhaps it's not the technology that needs fixing, but the people.
--George V. Hulme ([email protected])
Illustrations by Michael Klein
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