Lesson learned: Don't stop innovating

It's been a pretty big week for enterprise news, hasn't it? Though things started out relatively slow, the end of the week brought two surprise announcements: Microsoft's bid for Yahoo and Motorola's announcement that it's considering spinning-off its mobile handset business. While rumors of both stories have been floating around for some time, both illustrate an important lesson for IT managers and CIOs.

As most of us will remember, there was a time, not too long ago, when both Microsoft and Motorola seemed nigh infallible. Microsoft's complete dominance of IT and desktop software once made the company the unquestioned king of the tech sector. Meanwhile, Motorola controlled a huge piece of the mobile handset market, in addition to its considerable holdings in enterprise and back-end hardware.

So, what happened? While Microsoft was concentrating on the desktop and enterprise, other companies--namely Google--snuck in and took advantage of nascent Internet-driven markets, online advertising being the most lucrative. Now, Google is poised to extend its reach into mobile advertising with Android and the folks in Redmond are scrambling to play catch up.

Similarly, Motorola attempted to coast on the momentum created by the feted StarTAC flip phone. While Moto continued to churn out minor StarTAC upgrades, competitors leapfrogged the company, producing more advanced phones that borrowed the StarTAC's groundbreaking design. Did the company learn its lesson? Nope. In fact, the same scenario repeated itself with the release of the RAZR in 2005.

What's the lesson here? No matter how successful you are, don't stop innovating. While Microsoft and Motorola were both kings of their respective hills just a few short years ago, the beginning of 2008 finds the tech titans resorting to desperate measures. Don't let this happen to your IT shop: remember, if you stop to rest on your laurels, you're only helping the competition. -Mehan