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 introduce a structured qualitative framework for evaluating emerging information technologies and apply that framework to a variety of up-and-coming technologies.

When you have successfully completed this course you will have:

• Mastered a general methodology and framework for evaluating emerging information technologies, with an emphasis on evaluating their applicability to solving problems in your business or industry as well as new challenges and problems that they introduce.
• Applied this methodology to evaluate and better understand a variety of current emerging information technologies – what they do, the problems they solve, and their costs (both direct and indirect).
• Acquired the ability to apply this methodology to future information technologies that are relevant to your specific career and industry.

We will cover the following technologies in the course. Depending on student interest and background, we may add additional technologies to this list. Let me know if you would like to cover a topic that is not listed here and we can try to work something out.

• Collaboration, communications, communities, and publishing on the web
  • Wikis
  • Blogs, podcasts, etc.
  • Social networking systems
  • Web 2.0 (consumer space)
  • Enterprise 2.0 (intra- and inter-enterprise)
• Utility computing
• System virtualization and grid computing
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Web Services
• Web Services Standards
• Service Oriented Architectures
• Mash-ups
• Search
• Searching web pages
• Search-based advertising
• Search within the enterprise
• Searching beyond web pages
• Digital Media and Digital Assets
• Core concepts, technologies, and formats
• Digital Rights Management (DRM)
• Tracking and locating people and things
• GPS
• RFID
• Geographic Information Systems
• Information Security
• A managerial perspective on information security
• Emerging information security technologies
• Authentication
• Encryption
• Disaster recovery
• Emerging Networking Technologies
• WiMax
• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

In addition to the primary objectives listed previously, the coursework, research, and exercises should help you develop the following skills and capabilities:

• Sifting through large quantities of (possibly conflicting) information to determine the critical and salient aspects and issues of a new information technology.
• Evaluating the validity and sources of information that your research uncovers on emerging technologies and interpreting what you read and discover accordingly.
• Separating hype from realistic projections of a new technology’s promise.
• Improving your ability to succinctly and effectively demonstrate a new information technology, its benefits, costs, and key attributes.

This is not a technology strategy course. The bulk of the course is a hands-on, tactical look at a variety of emerging information technologies. That said, students are encouraged to think creatively about how these emerging information technologies might be applied to create value and solve difficult business problems. 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.

Course wiki is available at: emergingit.jot.com