As companies strive to identify the new technologies with the most potential, they are bombarded with a growing torrent of information. New smart software solutions can pick out these technologies and provide innovative methods of evaluating and implementing them into working processes. Now companies can tap the relevant information and feed it efficiently into the decision-making process.
Being able to anticipate which technology trends will last gives you a critical competitive edge. But the challenge currently facing technology-oriented companies is how to filter out what is relevant to their future from the rising flood of information so they can make the right strategic decisions.
Automated information gathering with semantic software solutions
As part of the syncTech research project, new smart software solutions have been developed to tame the information available from a range of sources. These semantic research and storage tools help identify up-and-coming technologies and monitor established ones. This provides users with an automated system for receiving up-to-date information, evaluating it collaboratively and storing it in a way that makes sense. It also gives them innovative methods designed to gage the technological maturity and potential usability of the selected technologies and factor in specific corporate or market conditions.
For companies to really make the most of these new tools and methods, they first have to firmly anchor them into working practices. The "technology mentor" role-based concept was developed to help them do this; it becomes an in-house expert for the assigned technology domains and communicates decision-relevant information within the company.
Successful evaluation at innovative companies
All kinds of enterprises, including the German companies Eisenmann, Festo, Kärcher and Schnaithmann, have already put syncTech solutions into practice. Their experiences highlight how important it is to sustainably implement ways of identifying, evaluating and monitoring technologies into working practices. Experts from Fraunhofer IAO will be presenting syncTech solutions at the "Technologievorsprung sichern" (secure your technological advantage) forum taking place in Stuttgart on April 24, 2015. After the forum, representatives from the companies mentioned above will share some of their experiences of working with the solutions.
Provided by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
