Looking back over the many changes in the 50 years since MT was first published, one paradox in particular stands out. When it comes to the way we run companies in the UK, why has the influence of technology so completely outstripped the influence of the technologists, the people who implement and look after it?

Back in 1966 – the year MT first appeared – the internet was still three decades into the future and only the very richest firms could afford their own computers (a Mad Men-style IBM 360 mainframe cost an eye-watering £1.5m in today’s money). Such techies as there were in those far off days were definitely confined to the windowless bowels of the ‘Computer Room’ (yes, there really was such a place) and only emerged blinking into the daylight to petition senior managers for more money to spend on the latest kit.

In 2016, there are 6.5 billion connected devices worldwide and the £500 smartphone in your pocket has more computing power than existed on the face of the planet back then. Digital business models that entrepreneurs could barely dream of in the 60s are busily disrupting anxious incumbents in every sector from retail to healthcare, finance to logistics.

Read Full Story (source; Management Today)