IT Leads the New Corporate Renaissance

My colleagues here at INN just published a list of “10 Back-to-School Books" that make for great and insightful reading. The list features classic compelling reads, such as Jim Collins' Good to Great and Richard Florida's The Great Reset. There is also a work by an author with deep roots in the IT world: The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations, by Vinnie Mirchandani.

Vinnie's thesis is that the world now demands new polymaths—the Greek word for "renaissance man"—to leverage converging technologies, such as advanced analytics, cloud computing, sustainability and social networks. The world demands new versatility, which will not only come from inspired individuals, but entire companies as well, he writes.

IT is leading the polymath revolution. Technologies such as business analytics are opening up new possibilities for coaxing businesses out of their comfortable boxes and launching new endeavors. For example, tech companies are extending their expertise into green technologies.

Vinnie cautions that while analytics are helping guide corporate decisions, it still takes knowledgeable humans to make the most of the capabilities unleashed by the technology. He writes “a wide range of analytical tools and technologies is available to enterprises today. Particularly encouraging is the progress around unstructured analytics, predictive analytics, and data visualization. Of course, recent misses in economic forecasting have reemphasized the need for ‘human intelligence.’”

Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant, blogger and frequent INN contributor specializing in information technology.

Readers are encouraged to respond to Joe using the “Add Your Comments” box below. He can also be reached at joe@mckendrickresearch.com.

This blog was exclusively written for Insurance Networking News. It may not be reposted or reused without permission from Insurance Networking News.

The opinions of bloggers on www.insurancenetworking.com do not necessarily reflect those of Insurance Networking News.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Analytics Policy adminstration Data and information management
MORE FROM DIGITAL INSURANCE