Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Jobs’ support team

A lunch conversation today regarding Apple and Sony eventually revealed the name of a one James Higa, currently Jobs’ behind-the-scenes right-hand man and long-time SV executive; a Google search reveals early days with Apple, then on to NEXTSTEP, a few years at RealNetworks, and now currently back helping Steve. But it’s his time with NEXTSTEP – and an interview I found from CJMag which I found most interesting. This was done back in 1994 (the text was probably scanned in w/ OCR, given the b/h, e/c, and other similar character misspellings). Here are a few choice quotes I found interesting given the timing — remember, this is from November 1994, almost a year before Netscape’s IPO (which was on August 9th, 1995).

Higa: We’re embarking on the beginnings of a more networked society. I hate using “information highway” it’s too hyped a metaphor — but it’s clear that information is crucial to companies who need a competitive edge. In many ways, information is bus iness these days. Competitive advantage lies now in how efficiently and fast you can organize and dissemnate the information for your businessMost competitive advantages we seee now have a database behind them. MCI’s “Friends and Family” campaign is a good example. It’s a 100% information-driven customer service. It’s an intelligent billing system, really. What’s behind it was a database and the custom applications to make it happen; it took AT&T forever to catch up while they ceded market share.

CJ: So that’s the kind of thing: maintaining a large database, getting the information on the right desks at the right time?

Higa: Yes. Packaging information in new ways, being able to analyze information — that’s your competitive advantage, that’s your productivity. Federal Express couldn’t have happened fifty years ago, because the information technology to track all that wasn’t around.

If you’re really worried about increasing your company’s productivity, you need to increase your enterprise-wide productivity, not individual productivity. Inventory management is crucial, and we’re entering the period where, if you can’t ship in 24 hours, you’re not really competitive.

I really like that last paragraph — If you’re really worried about increasing your company’s productivity, you need to increase your enterprise-wide productivity, not individual productivity. Seems so obvious, yet so lost on many even in today’s “modern” company.