What is the No. 1 technology issue that companies face today? The Wall Street Journal put this question to The Experts, an exclusive group of industry, academic and other thought leaders who engage in in-depth online discussions of topics from the print Report. This question relates to a recent article that discussed what makes companies good at IT and formed the basis of a discussion in The Experts stream on Monday, May 13.

The Experts will discuss topics raised in this month's Big Issues: Technology Report and other Wall Street Journal Reports. Find the leadership Experts stream, video and other online content at WSJ.com/LeadershipReport.

Also be sure watch three of The Experts —McKinsey's Managing Director Dominic Barton, Harvard Business School's Rosabeth Moss Kanter (@RosabethKanter) and the Wharton School's Karl Ulrich—discuss the implications of new workplace technology in a live video chat that aired Monday, May 13.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter: We Leap Before We Look

The No. 1 technology issue today is the same as the No. 1 issue faced since the rise of the digital information age: The technology doesn't always work.

We become dependent on it sometimes before it's ready to meet all the expectations, or handle all the traffic. We fail to have adequate backup or adequate security. Our ability to create new technology outruns our ability to use it wisely.

The only difference between now and back then is that today when it doesn't work, the consequences are more severe—grounding airlines (as happened to American Airlines recently), losing or inadvertently revealing customer data or bringing cities to a halt. And today the proliferation of choices and new technologies creates a greater number of ways it might not work, such as lack of integration across systems and devices.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter (@RosabethKanter) holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle professorship at Harvard Business School, where she specializes in strategy, innovation and leadership for change.

Robert Profusek: Integration of New Technologies into the Enterprise Environment

Particularly in today's economic climate, companies must continue to justify seemingly ever-increasing demands for investment in technology to remain competitive. There is, of course, a natural tension between the need to control IT spending and maintaining a strong competitive position in light of new technologies. IT departments are increasingly required to be more strategic through the adoption of new technologies such as the cloud, mobile technology, social networking and big-data analytics. The reluctance to make major technology investments, particularly when baseline technologies may be undergoing fundamental changes, may well lead to a broader adoption of cloud-computing services and other managed virtual environments.

Perhaps the most significant technology issue will be integrating these new technologies into the enterprise environment, while maintaining cost and other controls. Cloud computing, adoption of mobile devices, leveraging social networking and big-data practices also pose challenges in terms of adoption, integration, supervision, security, litigation and other risk management. At the same time, these innovations, if leveraged correctly, can generate cost savings, while improving or creating new products or services and marketing potential. They can also be leveraged to increase efficiency, align leadership with functions and capabilities and foster a more innovative corporate culture. All of these actions must be balanced against the increased risk to information security, particularly as it relates to cloud computing and mobile technologies. In this regard, increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats require careful consideration of information-security risks presented by new technology implementations and use.

Robert Profusek (@RAProfusek) is the head of M&A at the law firm Jones Day.

Kenneth Freeman: Ignore the Digital Technology Revolution at Your Own Peril

Virtually every business runs the risk of being disintermediated by the Internet. Everything involving traditional print has undergone a dramatic transformation—from traditional newspaper, magazine and book publishing to corporate brochures and reports. Education, from K-12 through the university level, faces the most significant technology challenge to its traditional model since the invention of the printing press more than 500 years ago. Ignore the digital technology revolution at your own peril, personally and professionally.

Kenneth W. Freeman is the Allen Questrom professor and dean of Boston University School of Management.

 

Jay Hooley: Companies Must Transition From 'Big Data' to 'Smart Data'

To be a true standout within their industries, companies need to shift their focus from big data to "smart data." The promise of big data was "more is more" and it's supposed to help managers and executives unlock new insights. However, the complexities of big data have grown exponentially. Companies can often get "big data," but their in-house analytics might not make that data "smart."

We have to anticipate our clients' needs, which means giving them the next-generation tools that provide investment analytics to enhance portfolio and trading decision-making and assess regulatory risk; support trade workflow, execution and clearing; and provide real-time data solutions that facilitate investment decisions.

Jay Hooley is chairman, president and chief executive of State Street Corp .

 

Cesare Mainardi: Deploy Digitization in the Right Places at the Right Time

Digitization is probably the single biggest corporate disruption we will see in this lifetime. Three out of five children under the age of two play with mobile devices—even though they can't talk in full sentences or dress themselves. Chinese online stores taobao.com and tmall.com offer more than 800 million items and sell 800 every second. That's more than China's top five bricks-and-mortar retailers combined. There are now 150 million résumés on Monster.com, equal to the entire U.S. workforce.

In 2011 alone, digitization boosted world economic output by nearly $200 billion and created six million jobs. Virtually every company in the world wants a piece of this growth. But the answer doesn't lie in technology—it lies in strategy. Digitization will fuel your growth only if you use it to fuel your strategy. The list of potential new technology deployments and investments will add up to more than even the largest and wealthiest enterprises can afford.

Trade-offs will be required, and the risk of making the wrong choices will be high. If you are a bank providing high-tech services to high-net-worth clients, should you replace all personal meetings with holographic wealth-adviser consultations? Not likely. But you might introduce online scheduling; secure e-sign technology; and interactive, personalized analytics dashboards for each client. The key is to deploy digitization in the right places at the right time. If you strategically invest in the right digital capabilities, you will no longer be chasing growth—you'll be inviting it.

Cesare R. Mainardi is chief executive officer of global management consulting firm Booz & Co.

Michel Liès: Don't Mistake Data for Reality

In two words: big data. Everyone is talking about it, some are even experimenting with it. It offers huge opportunities, but it also can create huge confusion—such as not seeing the forest for the trees.

But what does big data really mean, for instance, for a 150-year-old reinsurance company like Swiss Re whose chief executive I am? In a way, we reinsurers have always been in for big data—or at least since actuarial science supplanted throwing coins at Mr. Lloyd's café. The difference now is speed and connectivity. Big data has the potential to open up new horizons, assessing and pricing risks more accurately. For instance, insurance products can become customized, even individualized.

But we also must be aware that there are risks when people get carried away by a wealth of data. They may mistake data for reality. We saw a similar phenomenon before 2008 when too many people believed that data-rich models are the reality—and acted accordingly, to their own peril.

Two things remain essential: Regardless of how you collect and process data, the sum of the data points will never amount to reality. We should keep this in mind and act with humility. In spite of big data, we will still need to make informed judgments. Connecting the dots, or rather connecting the data, will remain key—in management, in business and in life. This is something that we reinsurers learned over the decades we have been in business.

Actuarial sciences are important, if not critical for us. But in the end, what keeps us ahead is the art of underwriting. Big data can complement but never replace this so precious talent.

Michel M. Liès is the group chief executive of Swiss Re, a global reinsurer.

Bruce Nolop: The Balance Between Cybersecurity and Business Flexibility

Given the heightened focus on cybersecurity, the big issue is how to protect data from hackers, thieves and carelessness, while still maintaining an appropriate level of business flexibility. Some tough questions include:

Are the benefits of cloud computing worth the increased vulnerabilities to third-party service providers?

Should the company insist that all laptops be encrypted?

Who should be allowed remote access to various company databases?

May employees take devices to countries like China, where the technology environment is less secure?

Should employees be permitted to bring their personal devices into the work environment?

Should employees have workplace access to social media and other interactive websites?

I have heard arguments ranging from "the reputational and financial risks are simply too severe to take any chances," to "cyber risks are a fact of modern life and should not impede our ability to conduct business." As the case with airport security, the right answers probably lie somewhere between the two extremes—striking an appropriate balance between caution and convenience.

What seems clear is that cybersecurity trade-offs should be thoughtfully addressed by management teams—as well as boards of directors—and then carefully articulated in risk appetite policies.

Bruce Nolop is the former chief financial officer of Pitney Bowes Inc. and E*Trade Financial Corp.

Eric Spiegel: Industrial Security Is a Two-Way Street

As technology plays a more important role in manufacturing and infrastructure, the need for a balance that includes meeting and exceeding industrial cyber security needs is upon us. Technology and connectivity, between manufacturers, their employees, machines, systems, vendors and customers will only continue to increase, thus opening the door to potential cyber security threats. It is important to understand that industrial security is a two-way street. All groups must contribute to a plant's security throughout the entire production plant. This starts with the component supplier incorporating security functions into its products. Next come system integrators and OEMs, who have to manufacture machines to ensure data p?rotection and machine protection against unauthorized access. Operators then have to ensure that the security processes based on the respective company's operational guidelines are complied with. And perhaps most importantly, this requires training today's workforce to support these advances.

There is no "silver bullet" or one product that will solve today's cyber security issues, therefore a defense in depth approach and/or process is needed to provide further protection.

Eric Spiegel (@ericspiegel) is the president and CEO of Siemens USA and the author of the 2009 book "Energy Shift: Game-changing Options for Fueling the Future."