The growth in mobile will have a huge impact on business, and IBM has introduced already-mature software and services to accelerate business adoption of mobile technologies.

Written by Chris Smith

Computer systems have evolved over the past 50 years in the general direction of becoming smaller and less expensive. First, there was the mainframe. Next came the mini- or midrange computer. This was followed by the PC. Each evolution was always less powerful than the one preceding it, but it was "good enough" for many business functions, and it always was significantly less expensive—a big incentive for profit-driven business.

A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief executive officers from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide reveals that CEOs are changing the nature of work by adding a powerful dose of openness, transparency and employee empowerment to the command-and-control ethos common for more than a century. According to the IBM CEO study, companies that outperform their peers are 30 percent more likely to identify openness–often characterized by a greater use of social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation–as a key influence on their organization.