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The note about car manufacturers these days being system integrator is the killer point. Over 100 years now car industries have started, evolved, grown, multip

The note about car manufacturers these days being system integrator is the killer point. Over 100 years now car industries have started, evolved, grown, multiplied, consolidated, failed, and experimented to today. Amazingly efficient at taking chunks of metal and plastic from around the world, turn it into a car in 17 hours in one of three or four locations in America, transport it to where you are so it can sit on a lot for another week before getting sold to you to take home. That efficiency is what makes it amazing. And that efficiency is going to be what kills it. Apple will come in, make a better ipod as they want to do and support it as they can do.

DanielBMarkham 11y ago
Yes. I agree. I see a lot of companies determined to outsource all of their IT work. As we all know, most of the time this fails miserably. But even sadder is when it succeeds. IT is the brain of any organization. If you succeed in distributing all the brains of your organization, all you end up being is an integrator. You've just spent a big part of your resources training technical folks in a bunch of other companies all of the important parts of your business. Success! You've turned your company into a giant brainless robot which efficiently runs on very little capital. And then you stagnate.
w_t_payne 11y ago
Yes. It is difficult to be innovative without the right IT infrastructure. This does NOT mean investing lots of money in IT ... but it DOES mean being careful about what tools you use and about how they integrate together, and about how they can be modified as the needs of the business grow. I.e. the organisation needs to focus on open standards and cross-platform APIs that can be built upon to meet short-term and site-specific needs rather than an over-reliance upon specific vendors or integrated and centralised toolchains that cannot be modified or built upon by individual sites and teams.
vlehto 11y ago
I disagree. Apple outsources too. If you need a production line, it doesn't matter too much who builds it. It takes time to build it anyhow. Both Apple and GM still produce themselves their key components. Apple makes motherboards and operating systems. GM makes engines and has chassis production in house. There is big differences, but this is not it. You could claim Apple is less agile, as they lack mass customization of hardware.

DanielBMarkham 11y ago

Yes. I agree. I see a lot of companies determined to outsource all of their IT work. As we all know, most of the time this fails miserably. But even sadder is when it succeeds. IT is the brain of any organization. If you succeed in distributing all the brains of your organization, all you end up being is an integrator. You've just spent a big part of your resources training technical folks in a bunch of other companies all of the important parts of your business. Success! You've turned your company into a giant brainless robot which efficiently runs on very little capital. And then you stagnate.

w_t_payne 11y ago

Yes. It is difficult to be innovative without the right IT infrastructure. This does NOT mean investing lots of money in IT ... but it DOES mean being careful about what tools you use and about how they integrate together, and about how they can be modified as the needs of the business grow. I.e. the organisation needs to focus on open standards and cross-platform APIs that can be built upon to meet short-term and site-specific needs rather than an over-reliance upon specific vendors or integrated and centralised toolchains that cannot be modified or built upon by individual sites and teams.

vlehto 11y ago

I disagree. Apple outsources too. If you need a production line, it doesn't matter too much who builds it. It takes time to build it anyhow. Both Apple and GM still produce themselves their key components. Apple makes motherboards and operating systems. GM makes engines and has chassis production in house. There is big differences, but this is not it. You could claim Apple is less agile, as they lack mass customization of hardware.