Technology: How Much? How Fast? How Revolutionary? How Expensive?

Lightning Round 1: Technohits, Technomisses

Polly LaBarre (senior editor, Fast Company): Where have we overshot the mark when it comes to technology, and where have we not yet begun to realize its potential? Gloat or vent.

Christopher Meyer (vice president and director of the Center for Business Innovation, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young): We've undershot in terms of courage on the strategy side. Technologists have developed new capabilities, but strategists haven't figured out how to use those resources to start adjusting strategy.

Frances Karamouzis (research director, Gartner Inc.): We've underestimated how long it would take for technology to permeate the social fabric and underestimated our own human capacity for creativity.

Jim Davis (senior vice president and chief marketing officer, SAS Institute Inc.): The issue isn't technology. The issue is whether an organization can apply new technology.

Paul R. Gudonis (chairman and CEO, Genuity Inc.): More than 500 million people around the world are now connected to the Internet either at home or at work, and tens of millions more are coming onboard. But we haven't figured out how to make money with the Internet yet.

Glen Salow (executive vice president and CIO, American Express): Five years ago, we said that the Internet would reinvent the world. And the media and the investment bankers actually listened to us. Now we've got our tails between our legs. We have created a new level of connectivity, a new level of service, and a new level of intimacy with our customers. Some things fell short, but I'd make the same mistakes again.

John R. Patrick (vice president of Internet technology, IBM): In terms of technology, we're at the very beginning. Although there are 500 million people connected to the Internet, only about half of them are using it right now. That leaves nearly 6 billion people who are not using it. When you look at the potential of the technology, we're less than 5% of the way there.

Jill Mullen (first vice president and CTO, Corporate Technology Group; Merrill Lynch): In the financial world, the real focus is on cost-efficiency. That's where we've undershot the mark. We've spent lots of money growing technology initiatives and projects, but the ROII -- return on Internet investment -- isn't necessarily where people want it to be.

Lanny Cohen (vice president, strategy, technology, and new markets; Cap Gemini Ernst & Young): There's great technology out there, but I'm concerned about the readiness of organizations to respond to the challenge and to execute quickly.

Andrea Anania (executive vice president and CIO, CIGNA Corp.): I think that we've overestimated the ability of enterprises, individuals, and organizations to absorb change, and we've seriously underestimated the amount of discipline it may take to do that well.

Thornton A. May (chief psychographer, Toffler Associates Inc.): The Vietnam War was lost in part because of a lack of popular support. Technology's promise is lost because of a lack of popular support. There should be no more CIO-centric technology implementations. No more technology Vietnams.

Essay Question 1: The Technology Decision Maker's Agenda

Polly LaBarre: What are the "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not" commandments that CIOs should heed?

Thornton A. May: The number-one "Thou shalt not" is actually from Jerry Gregoire, the former CIO at Dell, who said, "Don't automate broken business processes." Technology doesn't make you less stupid; it just makes you stupid faster. Basically, we have Star Wars technology, factory-level deployment, and sit-around-the-campfire human behavior.

Christopher Meyer: The executive side wants the information side to get out of the prison that is created by older systems. Churchill once said, First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us. Information architecture is about as flexible as a building. Knocking down all of the constrictions that make up the infrastructure of most of our large businesses today is a big requirement for the CIO.

John R. Patrick: But the solution isn't just to break that infrastructure down and throw it away. It's better to integrate and reengineer all of the various silos of automation, to link those silos together. You should be able to go to a hotel Web site, reserve a room, and check which airline you want to have your frequent-flier miles deducted from to pay for it. Those kinds of things don't require massive engineering; they just require linking separate systems.