IT Innovation Matters; Allow Some Room for Risky Projects

I've often thought it wise for organizations to allow some room in their portfolio for high risk (but potentially high payoff) projects, much like in a financial portfolio.

As Tom Peters says, the fast path to breakthrough success is to "Screw Around Vigorously."

Some companies say IT should focus on efficiency and productivity and leave innovation to the product development folks. I don't buy it. Smart companies leverage technology as a differentiator and don't view IT merely as a cost center.

Does IT really matter? It does if it's approached right.

There's a good blog entry (below) by Elana Varon about this on CIO Magazine's blog site. I like her postings in general.

CIO Blogs - What is Bleeding Edge?