Ford Motor IT’s Changing Direction

Joseph Sagliocca

IS-251-05

Blog #3

Ford Motor IT’s Changing Direction

                In the article, Ford Motor IT’s Changing Direction, Jessica Davis talks about how Ford is trying to adapt in the quickly changing car industry. Some newer companies such as Tesla and Alphabet Inc. are leading the pack in creating autonomous cars, while older companies such as Ford and General Motors are falling behind. Although these two companies are the largest in the car industry, they are not the leaders in creating autonomous cars. Ford specifically is trying to turn this around. Ford stated its view that it was very focused on building a future in which technology and IT is crucial. The company started to put this plan in effect as it stopped manufacturing and vending most of its cars in North America. Ford will now only offer the Mustang and Focus Active as the two sedans in this market. Ford did this because it will turn its focus to investing into data centers. The company knows that these will help keep more data from its cars. Ford is truly following its stance as it is beginning to invest more into autonomous vehicles and smart technology for the cars. Ford is doing this because it wants to stay at the top of the car industry. As car companies are starting to disrupt the market, Ford must work to disrupt it as well. It must invest in these technologies because if it does not, other companies will continue to and Ford will lose consumers. Another way Ford is investing into its future is through its IT organization. This is a big deal because the IT organization is being tasked with major initiatives. The IT organization now has its say on what it wants to invest in when talking to the business side of the company. Ford believes that its IT group needs to have a say in investments because they understand the technology of the future. The IT organization is split up into small groups and each are tasked with creating its product from start to finish. Ford believes that data from its cars needs to be a large focus going forward. It intends to have all of its cars in North America connected by the end of 2019, and almost all its cars globally by the end of 2020. Ford will also be investing in cloud data in the future.

                I believe what Ford is doing is a great thing. This company is very large and should be investing into its future. The future of the car industry will include autonomous vehicles, smart technology, improved software and cloud data. If Ford does not start now, many companies will start to sneak up behind them. Ford’s IT organization will lead the company to great success as it knows what consumers want in these new generation cars. Ford’s willingness to change from its old model of creating cars to its new model means that it knows how important new technology and data analytics are in the quickly changing car industry.

Source:

Davis, Jessica. “Ford Motor IT's Changing Direction.” InformationWeek, 26 Mar. 2019, www.informationweek.com/big-data/big-data-analytics/ford-motor-its-changing-direction/d/d-id/1334248.