IT Competitive Advantage - the Shrinking Timeline

Strategy+Business, Does Nick Carr Matter?: "Dawn Lepore, vice chairman in charge of technology at Charles Schwab, estimates that a lead in new IT-based financial products lasts from one to 18 months. 'You still get competitive advantage from IT, but there is no silver bullet,' she observes."

This use of the term "technology" is more limited than what we consider here. It is nearly synonymous with "IT" or "MIS". However, since IT has been the primary source of technology innovation over the last decade, it is important to notice when the power of that innovation begins to wane.