What Does This Thing Do Anyway?

Abstract

Once, when I was a young executive, I reported to the chief financial officer (CFO). Upon arriving at the new organization, I formulated a strategy to bring the company’s computer technology up-to-date. Part of that plan was to provide each computer user in the organization with a computer that best suited that user’s needs. This meant that executive administrators got high-powered desktop computers, while executives and consultants were armed with top-of-the-line notebooks. Not only did we make sure everyone was using the latest office automation software and groupware, we also built a state-of-the-art Executive Information System (EIS) that was tightly integrated with the accounting system.