Management decisions and technology trends

1987 is not the year of anything in particular and yet it is a year in which much change will occur in our industry. It is also a year-like most years recently-in which managers of information systems will need to make important decisions that will have a long range effect on the success or failure of their organizations. Decision in times of change and imminent change is tough and scary, and yet unavoidable. Perfect information (a crystal-clear crystal ball) is as scarce as ever and there are no guarantees that decisions, however carefully considered, will appear solid in next morning's brighter light. Today, there is much more pressure on Information Systems and their managers. We need to provide information of better quality, more quickly, to larger numbers of users, at lower costs. Also, at the very same time, we need to provide information via a strategy which will make profit-oriented organizations more competitive, both within the U.S. marketplace and, perhaps more importantly, in international markets. If we work in the government or non-profit sector of our economy we need to learn how to make more and more from less and less. And we need to perform this already tough assignment in an environment in which vendor's product lines and strategies are shifting, and our end user customers are continuously redefining and upgrading their information needs. But we are not without tools to meet these demands-or without hope that success is possible.