The Digital Nervous System - Computers - http://maxpages.com/nanotechnology/Digital

=+1>Consider the human body. It lets us hear, see and accept input. It lets us think, analyse and plan. It lets us make decisions and communicate appropriate actions. Every company essentially has a nervous system that parallels the human nervous sytem. But how does the nervous system in your company operate? Is the IT infrastructure really adding value?

Information flows through companies in many forms: budgets, sales data, online transactions, production forecasts, meetings, e-mails. But despite the different forms, it's all knowledge: knowledge captured, recorded and transmitted from one mind to other minds so that it can be developed and used by the company.

The technology underyling this process of information capture, flow and use is like a human nervous sytem, transmitting impulses (information)to the parts of the company that must act on these impulses.

In the business world, organzations work best when they operate like nervous systems. Profitable business practice and soundmarketing strategies are dependent on the gathering and analysis of information gathered from many sources. Many of today's companies already have the basic infrastructure of their own nervous system - a Digital Nervous System.

This idea of a dynamic computing infrastrucutre within an organization is not so much drven by any one product. Instead, it represents a new mind-set that allows all the components of an organization's IT infratructure to work in an integrated system.

Peter Cray, Microsoft group product manager, offered this description of a Digital Nervous System:

"The Digital Nervous System is our vision for where corporate computing is heading," Cray said.

"It's a technology platform that relies on connected PCs and integrated software to make information flwo in a richer context while becoming faster and more accurate. This means that companies can respond quickly, making more informed decisions, closing the gap between employees and customers, and adapt to rapidly changing conditions."

"The important thing to remember is that you can't buy a Digital Nervous System 'in a box' its' something you build and modify over time to meet your company's unique and changing needs," said Cray

A digital Nervous System assumes certain basic infrastructure: reasonably up-to-date PCs, common productivity toos such as word processors and spreadsheets, reliable e-mail line of business applications and connection to the Internet so that everyone can find, use and share information.

According to Cray, the beauty of a Digital Nervous System is that the sum is always reater tahn the parts.

"The idea of a Digital Nervous Sytem is much more than the use of these five elements - it's how these elements rellate to each other that really counts. the foundation of an organization's Digital Nervous system is integrated software that helps keep everything and everyone working together,"Cray said.

Until now, most companies have operated with nervous systems that zoologists might equate with lower evolutionary orders. Perhaps "sliggish" might be a good term.

Earlier company nerous systems relied heavily on meetings, paper memos and managers. the responce time isn't exactly breathtaking, and many people in the nervous system are weighed down with huge quantities of paper. Companies who continued to operate in this fashion may soon go the way of the dinosaurs.

In simple terms, those companies with faster and more inteliigent corporate nervous systems will stay ahead of the competition. This means having the best information gathering, the fastest communications and the smartest analysis. Above all else, this means developing a modern IT infrastructure.

But his often the accounting system, the human resources system, the manufacturing systems, and the marketing systmes all operate indenpendently, resulting in "islands of automation". Clearly, then, a "digital Nervous System" is needed to glue these components together.

Modern corporate nervous systems are evolving rapidly. The move to digital forms of communication will give companies better tools to gather information, detect changes and other trends, make sense of the input and develop appropriate responses. It's no longer good enough merely to be informed; companies need to use information to form rapid defences and act whenever opportunities arise. Above all else, nervous systems need to be fast.

bill gates siad that one test of any nervous system is the way it deals with unexpected events. In a recent speech to high level government officials, Gates acknowledged this to be one of the most important aspects of a Digital Nervous System.

It's hard to measure how well an organization or government deals with unplanned events. They don't come up very often. they are all unique and yet as we lok to the future there's likely to be more unplanned events in the life of an organization than ever before

"For a human being, a nervous system helps us avoid accidents or helps us to adapt to a new situation both good and bad. Companies that embrace the Digital Nervous System will experience the same kind of survival advantages at a corporate level. The Digital Nervous sytem will make the differenc ebetween companies that are truly competitive and those that can't compete," said Gates

Excerted from Communique March 1998 Bill Bennett

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Page Updated Wed Jun 6, 2001 5:25pm EDT