Technology Trends That Continue to

¶ … technology trends that continue to drive disruption into traditional consumer and enterprise markets for information technologies. The intent of this literature review is to evaluate watch, and discuss their potential for the future of consumers and enterprise, who continue to make the quantifying and measuring of Return on Investment (ROI) a critical factor in their evaluation of these technologies (Hazels, 2011). Enterprise and consumers both are evaluating mobile commerce platforms and technologies to overcome the time limitations of buying and selling online (Farb, 2011).

The use of analytics continues to be pervasive in this area of e-commerce, with Amazon redesigning its site to be more attuned to the needs of ebook users. A third major trend is the adoption of e-book readers and their pervasive use by consumers globally, who are purchasing more e-books that traditionally print and bound books (Lai, Chang, 2011). This trend will accelerate as mobile e-commerce technologies (m-commerce) will continue to escalate over time (Farb, 2011).

The lower costs of purchasing e-books, which Amazon has dropped to 99 cents for independent publishers, the lower cost of the Kindle at $114 and the pervasive support of these programs by publishers are all acting as catalyst of significant change in publishing today (Lai, Chang, 2011). A fourth major trend that is supporting all others mentioned is the continued high level of reliance companies have on their supply chains, both for digital and actual goods.

This information trend underscores how critical it is for business to have greater visibility throughout their supply chains and be able to better manage costs by making sure each supplier has greater visibility into customer demand (New, 2010). Supply chains are also completely changing the approach companies use for building and supporting their e-books as well, with Amazon, Barnes & Nobile, and others focusing more on low cost of production to drive up unit sales volumes over time (Lai, Chang, 2011).

The final major information trend today is patent lawsuits and the continual battle over patents in the mobile device area including operating systems (Vance, 2011). This major trend is evidenced by Google purchasing Motorola Mobility, the continual build-out of IBM's patent portfolio, and the lawsuits that Oracle gets nearly monthly from companies alleging patent infringement. All of these trends are leading to significantly higher prices for electronic products as the legal costs can quickly escalate into the millions of dollars over time (Vance, 2011).

There is also the lost opportunity cost that companies ensure when their senior management teams need to spend more time managing these lawsuits than on focusing new product development and greater channel initiatives over time. Despite their unproductive nature, patent wars will continue and will also cost technology companies tens of billions of dollars per year (Vance, 2011).

This is unfortunate, as there has never been a more critical time for innovation, not litigation especially in an industry that can elevate the national and global economy if opened up for greater freedom from lawsuits (Vance, 2011). There are many factors dragging down the economy, lawsuits don't need to be one. Annotated Bibliography Farb, B. (2011, July). MOBILE COMMERCE: The New Retail Therapy. Customer Relationship Management, 15(7), 26-31.

Defines the dynamics of the disruptive innovations behind mobile e-commerce becoming increasingly dominant across all online channels, with social networks seeing the majority of traffic. The author also mentions how social networks, combined with mobile e-commerce can also lead to greater satisfaction levels of shopping without taking the time away from work to visit malls and fight traffic. The article concludes with an assessment of how this type of commerce will effect CRM systems over the long-term. Hazels, D. (2011, March). Focus on Creating High it Value.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 12(1), 8. The continual focus on ROI and the ability to gain greater business results from investments in information systems is the core focus of this analysis. The development of strategies for getting more out of supply chain performance is also discussed, as are the metrics and key performance indicators for ensuring a higher level of demand-driven business models. The article concludes with an analysis of how to gain greater control and visibility of supply chains as they relate to production forecasts and customer demand.

Jung-Yu Lai, & Chih-Yen Chang.