Are early adopters IT daredevils or the most sensible?

The best-run organizations will have a technology infrastructure in place to thoroughly support the business and all its goals. While most companies fall short of that perfection, even an operation that's close to the ideal should feel good about its technological capabilities.

An IT environment won't perform at a high level without some help, so it's worth thinking about where you are on the early adopter curve. IT decision-makers should be open to deploying new products and services.

This issue of Modern Infrastructure explores the questions around how an IT team should approach new technologies and strategies. The accepted wisdom in most organizations has traditionally been to let others figure out if a new product works--or doesn't.But now, as the pace of change accelerates, the greater risk might be to implement a technology too late rather than too early.