Disruptive technologies and IT decision making in an agile business environment

The Internet disruption has resulted in an exponential increase in the growth of new technologies [1] and resultant technology disruptions within the workplace [2]. With the rapid changes in the technology landscape, Chief Information Officers (CIO's) and key decision makers need to learn to maneuver though the plethora of emerging technologies that can result in business model innovation [3] and give companies the ability to compete in a digital world. Disruptive technologies are changing the rules of competition [4], however the rate of change in technology in the traditional enterprise space has been slow. Most CIO's agree that there could be significant value in utilizing new technologies in creating competitive advantage in an agile world [5, 6], however in practice the adoption and implementation of newer technology is relatively slow. Various interpretive studies on IT decision making focused predominately on user acceptance of technology in a stable technology and business context [7]; however, this paper investigates critical success factors which guides technology decision making in an agile business environment. The focus of this paper is to provide a preliminary framework for CIO's to help them decide on technology strategies to support business transformation that will enable their organizations to compete in a disruptive technology environment.