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Description:
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Information Technologies – computers, networks, communications devices, and the software that runs on them – have become fundamental business tools. For better and for worse, the rate at which new information technologies are being created and adopted by businesses is not only rapid but also accelerating. As a result, one of the fundamental challenges that many managers and executives face today is deciding which emerging information technologies to invest in and at what point to make that investment. Some of the forms that this investment might take are purchasing and deploying the technology for a company’s internal use, partnering with another company to produce complementary products or services, and/or deciding whether to invest in companies that are developing promising new information technologies.
In this course we will introduce a structured, qualitative framework for evaluating emerging information technologies and apply that framework to a variety of up-and-coming technologies, including:
* Utility computing, grid computing, Software as a Service (SaaS)
* Web Services, Service Oriented Architectures, and Mash Ups
* Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, Social networking systems, etc.
* Search
* Digital Media, Digital Assets, and Digital Rights Management (DRM)
* Tracking and locating people and things – GPS, RFID, and GIS
* Information Security
* Emerging Networking Technologies – WiMax and VoIP
This is not a technology strategy course. Students are, however, encouraged to think creatively about how these emerging information technologies might be applied to create value and solve difficult business problems through readings, class discussions, and assignments. Likewise, it is not a quantitative investment analysis courses. Rather, it introduces a structured qualitative approach to evaluating emerging information technologies that complements quantitative investment analysis.
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