IBM head talks up ‘on demand’

Korean firms are at the forefront of a global corporate trend of integrating business agendas with technology, said John Lutz, vice president of IBM Worldwide’s On Demand Business division. Mr. Lutz was in Korea to speak at a two-day IBM Forum, “On Demand, It’s My Business.” About 1,000 people attended the forum at the Hilton Hotel in Seoul to discuss business-driven development, risk and compliance, and business transformation. An “on-demand business” is an enterprise that responds flexibly and speedily to customer demand, market opportunities, and external threats by being connected with key partners, suppliers, and customers. “People expect on-demand to be a product, which it is not; we’re just helping integrate different agendas. Firms have built up a lot of capability in managing IT departments, but IT for IT’s sake is not important,” Mr. Lutz said. In the 1960s and 1970s, computers were tools to do business, he said. Technology took on a life of its own in the 1980s and 1990s, and business leaders were disconnected from technology. “But now, we can see demographics changing and a relatively new phenomenon where the walls between business and technology are blurring,” Mr. Lutz said. by Wohn Dong-hee