MANAGEMENT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES - EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNEDAT US WEST

Successful management of emerging technologies is critical to the surv ival of business organizations today. However, given the risky and oft en unproven nature of these technologies, considerable confusion exist s on how to manage their implementation. This paper recounts the exper iences of US West Communications with their intranet project, and uses it to understand problems faced in implementing emerging technologies and ways of overcoming such problems. By providing a longitudinal vie w of the company's intranet experience over a period of 3 years, it id entifies key organizational factors that facilitated or impeded accept ance of this emerging technology. Lessons learned at US West are used to recommend guidelines that can help practitioners implement emerging technologies in their organizations more effectively. (C) 1998 Elsevi er Science B.V. All rights reserved.