In Front Of The Firewall
Hunter Muller · 2012
Everyone has his or her own view about the evolutionary stages of information technology (IT). It usually sounds something like this: First came the mainframe era, then the client-server era, then the PC era, then the Internet era, then the service-oriented architecture (SOA) era, then the cloud era. People can collapse the history of IT into two major eras. They can be called as ‘‘The Era of IT Behind the Firewall’’ and ‘‘The Era of Converged Technologies.’’ Esat Sezer, the senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) at Coca-Cola Enterprises, advises CIOs to get out from behind the firewall and embrace the challenges of dealing with customers. He says, ‘‘That's where the action is—out in front, with the customers.’’ This chapter indicates that the four transformational technology trends of the current era—mobile, social, cloud, and big data—are all taking place in front of the firewall. Such converging trends are driving a revolution in customer expectations. Current customers want great products as well as great experiences.