A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Time

Technology

trigger

Peak of

inflated

expectations

Trough of

disillusionment

Slope of enlightenment

Plateau of

productivity

Gesture Recognition

Cloud/Web Platforms

Cloud Computing

Activity Streams

4G Standard

Social Analytics

3D Printing

Internet TV

Speech-to-Speech

Translation

Private Cloud Computing

Augmented Reality

Media Tablet

Wireless Power

3D Flat-Panel TVs

and Displays

Mobile Robots

Video Search

Extreme Transaction

Processing

Terahertz Waves

Computer-Brain Interface

Context Delivery Architecture

Human Augumentation

Autonomous

Vehicles

Tangiable User

interfaces

Mesh Networks: Sensor

Microblogging

E-Book Readers

Video Telepresence

Pen-Centric Tablet PCs

Electronic Paper

Speech Recognition

Location-Aware Applications

Predictive Analytics

Internet Micropayment Systems

Biometric Authentication Methods

Consumer-Generated Media

Virtual Assistants

Broadband Over Power Lines

Public Virtual Worlds

Interactive TV

Mobile Application Stores

Idea Management

less than 2 years

Years to mainstream adoption:

2 to 5 years

5 to 10 years

obsolete before plateau

more than 10 years

As of August 2010

Expectations

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Part 1  Introduction

● 

Acceptance of risk – willingness to take managed risks.

● 

 Cross-  functional cooperation – capability for collaboration across functional areas.

● 

Receptivity – the ability to respond to externally developed technology.

● 

Slack – allowing time to investigate new technological opportunities.

● 

Adaptability – a readiness to accept change.

● 

Diverse range of skills – technical and business skills and experience.

The problem with being an early adopter (as an organisation) is that the leading edge is often 

also referred to as the ‘bleeding edge’ due to the risk of failure. New technologies will have 

bugs, may integrate poorly with the existing systems, or the marketing benefits may simply 

not live up to their promise. Of course, the reason for risk taking is that the rewards are high 

– if you are using a technique that your competitors are not, then you will gain an edge on 

your rivals.