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Status Report on the eBusiness Revolution
Abstract
The rapid evolution of distributed computing over the past twenty years has enabled a revolution in business processes and architectures. The migration from client/server computing to the initial, narrowband Internet took a decade. Now the third and fourth generations of distributed computing - broadband and wireless - are simultaneously accelerating. In consequence, the application of information technology is being turned inside out: from automating internal processes to providing external access for customers, suppliers and collaborators. In the domains of both IT and business architectures, we see "Star Wars" being enacted: the Rebel Alliance is generating continuous innovation at the periphery of the established, centrally controlled Empire. As throughout the history of capitalism, technology-driven economic transformation has been funded by an ad hoc mix of public sector subsidy and private sector "irrational exuberance".
Distributed computing, as exemplified by the Internet, is replaying the history of electrification one hundred years ago: first come the development and deployment of reliable, scalable generation and distribution facilities followed by the extended process of understanding how business processes can be re-invented to leverage the new infrastructure. The early adopters win transient economic advantages that are then competed away ever more rapidly. So is already proving to be the case for the first generation ".com" businesses. For all businesses, the impact of IT-driven change on business architectures is forcing three new imperatives to the fore:
- Intense Focus on core, value-adding functions;
- Transformation of IT from a staff to a line function;
- Component Assembly of eBusiness Applications.
Those who master these new disciplines will survive and even thrive through the eBusiness Revolution.
About the Speaker
Dr Janeway is currently the Vice Chairman of Warburg Pincus, a major global private equity investment firm managing approximately US$9b of investments, with a further US$3b available for investment. Warburg Pincus has so far raised 8 private equity funds since 1971. A 1965 graduate of Princeton University, Dr Janeway obtained his doctorate at Cambridge University in 1971. He is a member of the Board of Directors of APP Group, BEA Systems, Inc., Indus International, Inc., Industri-Matematik International Corp., Radnet, Inc. and VERITAS Software Corporation. He is also the Trustee Director for the New School University, Social Science Research Council. His experience encompasses over twenty-five years of practical finance in investment banking and venture capital. He is also serving as Head of the Technology Group of Warburg, Pincus Ventures, Inc. Since joining Warburg, Pincus in 1988, he has focused the firm's technology investment activities on distributed computing, now radically extended by the commercialization of the Internet. Under his leadership, Warburg, Pincus has funded leading providers of eBusiness infrastructure including BEA Systems and VERITAS Software.
We are pleased to invite you and your colleagues to attend the talk.
As there are limited number of seats available, please register for the talk
via email to Joanne (cmtsimbh@nus.edu.sg) or Fax: 873 7809,
with your name, designation and company/institution (and email if via fax),
by 26 September 2000.
Admission is free. |
