Is technology worth it?

In the constantly evolving climate of business, technology is changing the way companies structure their organizations and function in the market place. A lot of companies are adopting cloud technology and technology that allows them to see the inventory of their stores in real time. Although, this emerging technology allows companies to gather large data points on their customers, a lot of companies are struggling to use the information they gathered from the data effectively. Management in a lot of these companies say they hardly have time to actually implement the information they gather from data or they don’t know how to utilize the data. I think companies need to work one education programs to teach their staff the importance of the data they gather and how they can implement what they learn from their data into their business strategies or supply chains. A growing trend with the implementation of technology into businesses is that the technology being implemented is causing more harm than good because people don’t know how to utilize technology to its full potential.

I think it would be beneficial for companies to adopt the Toyota approach to their infrastructure and supply chain. I think the Toyota model is the best method to utilize because it addresses every level of the company to not only eliminate waste but to also change the mentality of the staff. I think this is why Toyota has been successful over the years, by having all their staff contribute to the decision making process, the management at Toyota can have unique perspectives on how to solve problems and improve upon their supply chain. Although, this Toyota model is effective very few companies implement it because it’s difficult to do. Instead a lot of companies just implement lean and hope this will have the same or similar impact as Toyota. With this being said, I wonder if implementing a Toyota model will help companies find better ways to integrate technology into their supply chain and infrastructure?
Sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-17/managing-the-technology-of-fashion

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-16/big-data-gets-the-algorithms-right-but-the-people-wrong

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-21/big-data-not-living-up-to-its-promise-change-the-way-you-work