Impact of the new microprocessors on management structures

The pace of technical innovation is accelerating, and will have significant effects on organisational structure and management. Changes take time to implement, and top management must not be overtaken by events through lack of foresight. This is primarily a revolution in the economics of data processing, and examples are given of the diverging trends, e.g. between the costs of hardware and software, which favour the implementation of the more programmer-productive high-level languages. Software has to be recognised as a corporate asset, and managed and maintained accordingly. It should be conceived and controlled on a modular basis, to facilitate the structuring of systems. Another new factor is that of the optimum structuring of microprocessor networks, their relationship to the organisation´s structure, and to the existing computer centre. Some functions will be removed from the computer services division, and these should be replaced by a new mission to proyide a centre of expertise on computer-related topics, together with a new responsibility for managing company-wide communications in both administrative and technical domains.