TPAC - Technology Policy and Assessment Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology

Alan L. Porter, Elmer Yglesias, Alisa Kongthon, Cherie Courseault, Nils C. Newman

Contributors: Alan Porter is Director of R&D for Search Technology, Inc., and co-directs the Technology Policy and Assessment Center, Georgia Institute of Technology (where he is Professor Emeritus in the School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, and the School of Public Policy);

Elmer Yglesias is a PhD candidate in Public Policy;

Cherie Courseault and Alisa Kongthon are PhD candidates in Industrial & Systems Engineering -- all at Georgia Tech;

Nils Newman is President, IISC, Inc Abstract: Managers have been underutilizing empirically based technology analyses. We call the results of such analyses “Technology Information Products” (TIPs). We suggest eight ways for analysts and technology managers to get more bang from their TIP bucks.

Summary: Technology decisions greatly affect the wellbeing of firms in today’s competitive environment. Despite the availability of rich information resources and powerful analytical tools, technology managers underutilize empirically grounded analyses in making those decisions. Findings compiled from the literature, our experiences, and 32 interview-based cases point to eight factors that affect managerial use of empirical technology analyses. We call the outputs of such analyses "Technology Information Products" (TIPs for short). We provide an interactive website for TIP utilization assessment for analysts to assess the utilization prospects for a given TIP (our website provides an interactive evaluation flowchart). We close with recommended actions to bolster each factor.

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