Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen will be remembered fora number of achievements, but perhaps especially for his invented term "disruptivetechnology." Christensen wanted to describe the type of technology thatunexpectedly displaces the status quo of current technology.In his bookThe Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen defines new technology as beingsustaining or disruptive. Sustaining technology merely adds to the knowledge baseof current technology. Disruptive technology, on the other hand, ventures into newfrontiers of learning and can change the way entire systems operate. Christensenpoints out that large companies have the infrastructure to assimilate sustainingtechnology, but may not be prepared for disruptive technology. Disruptivetechnologies are troublesome because companies lack the knowledge to leveragethem to save money and create other efficiencies. They call for new ways of thinking,not just expanding knowledge.Many longtime IT professionals consider the Internet as possibly the most disruptivetechnology of all time. While the World Wide Web is now over three decades inoperation, our understanding of how to assimilate it into our business culture andhome environment is still considered in its infancy.Trial and error is one way people and organizations continue to refine theirrelationships with the Internet. However, a more organized approach used by manycompanies, organizations, and governments is to create an Internet AcceptableUsage Policy (IAUP). This document establishes the boundaries of permissibleaccess to the Internet while using proprietary resources.
