14.1 Introduction

The modern business world is flooded with the e-word: e-business, e-government, e-trading, e-learning, e-data, e-partners, e-banking. Underlying this buzz, lies a radical shift in the assumptions of the business model. No longer is IT the support or enabler, it has evolved into being the very centre, the heart, of the business and initiatives that drive them. Modern literature in the business and IT domains have much to say about long-term benefits of incorporating IT into business strategies. The future evolves around the e-hype. All of this is undoubtedly true. However, it is my contention that there is too much focus on the technology and not enough on the information, on the specific requirements of the individual and of the business organization, before the acquisition of some technology system. This could in part be one of the reasons for the dot.com tragedy.

One prime example of this is retail banking's heavy investment in ATMs since the early 1980s. With the belief that this was an essential aspect of customer service and critical to maintaining market share, ATMs fast lost their competitive advantage and, instead of reducing costs, banks were faced with the expense of maintaining and updating their ATM systems. With the new trend towards internet banking, the banking industry is on the verge of disappearing in its current physical form and provides but one example of the changing business model introduced by ubiquitous IT.

Thus,...