London 2012: Athletes And New Services Will Push Boundaries, Not The Underlying Technologies

In the first of our series of reports on the information and communications technology (ICT) behind the London 2012 Olympic Games, we looked at the six lessons that vendor strategists can draw from planning the biggest show on earth. When it comes to technology, the Games need solutions that are dependable, work with minimal risk when they are needed, and can scale. These factors point toward a cautious solution — and that is what the London 2012 Games are going to get. It is the athletes and the services deployed at London 2012 that will push the boundaries, not the underlying ICT that underpins a successful event. This leads to four important lessons for vendor strategists: 1) leading-edge is not always the best solution — dependable matters most; 2) keep it simple, stupid — don't overengineer it; 3) cautious technology deployment does not inhibit service innovation; and 4) testing ensures success. This has clear parallels in the B2B space: ICT is important and a key enabler, but it is the performance of the business that matters most.