Flexible IT, better strategy

"The good news is that just as the limitations of the current generation of IT architectures are becoming painfully apparent, new methods of organizing technology resources are appearing. IT is on the verge of a shift to a new generation of 'service oriented' architectures that promise to go a long way toward reducing, if not removing, current obstacles to new operational initiatives. These new architectures are no panacea; technology in isolation has never created strategic value. But service-oriented architectures will enable companies to introduce new business practices and processes more rapidly and at lower cost. Such innovations will accumulate by increments into strategic advantage."