New Technology

Implementation of New Technology

Introduction

In this new era of fierce global competition it is vital for any industry to adopt new technologies with changing times. There often remains a huge gap in the technical promise while introducing a new technology and effectively putting it to work and this is a grave concern for the management. A set of challenges is faced by the management to introduce new technology into the organisation. (Barton and Kraus)

Need for new technology

New products and technologies are introduced in the market every year. Many of them do not succeed in reaching the desired business objectives which raise the question of whether new products or technologies should have been introduced. However, in this time where all over the world there is rapid change of technologies, it is vital to adapt to newer technologies. New technology must meet the need of customers and it must be easy to implement and must meet environmental concerns. A powerful product concept is necessary before introducing a new technology or product. This will help in keeping the effort of the entire team focused and integrated. An organisation show follow the market trends rather than taking lessons from its own success. For example Honda in the early 1980s designed the Accord with the concept "man maximum, machine minimum". This was their idea of how their customers should feel about their car. Then in 1990 when Honda decided to bring in new design in their cars, they followed the market trend instead of walking their own success path. The market trend was to shift from sports sedans to family models. Therefore, Honda introduced a new concept for their cars as "an adult sense of reliability". This would give the driver confidence to safely transport his family and friends without worrying about the weather or road conditions. (Souder and Sherman, 45-47)

Problems in implementing new technology

In case of development of new technology more often the result is unknown. Therefore it is very difficult to assess the costs, risks and benefits and they can only be estimated. It is necessary to update the established costs and benefits as and how the project of development of new technology proceeds. As the project proceeds the information available will also change and some of the factors which were unknown will become known and some assumptions will change. This information must be used to update the plan and this will result in the management getting the best information. Manufacturing costs must be also included in these updating methods. The management must be aware of the costs from the beginning of development process of the new technology to the implementation of the resulting technology. To estimate benefits it is necessary to estimate the market of the products which will be created with the new technology and the revenue impact on the company and for this the company's marketing personnel must play a key role. (Implementing Technology)

Dual Role for managers of technological change

In an organisation those who are responsible for introducing new technology must play the dual role of technical developers and implementers. In general technology is developed by one organisation and then it is handed over to the implementers who may be less skilled in technical areas but knowledgeable about their own areas of application. But in reality more often the implementers do not agree to take over the responsibility of the technology at the point of its evolution at which the technical develops hand over to them. The implementation manager needs to coordinate the needs of both technical developers and its users. To accomplish this task it is necessary to think of implementation as an internal marketing job. Implementation managers need to seek user involvement in the early stages of technology development and user needs.