Breaking free of the technology trap

The other article in the June 2007 KMWorld that struck my fancy is another by Art Murray (CEO of Applied Knowledge Sciences; fellow at GWU's Institute for KM) that looks at "the old way" and "the new way" for knowledge management.  "Breaking free of the technology trap" (article online in a month) talks about changing the mindset of implementing technology in business. 

The "traditional" process that Murray discusses has people finding a new geegaw at the store-of-technology and then deciding to install it at the company, no matter whether the company needs such a thing.  Murray suggests there is a better way: figure out what the business needs to be successful and THEN design a solution that really takes into account these needs.  The design will include people, processes and technology in varying degrees, depending on the changes that need to happen to create success.

As I read the article, I couldn't help think of Theory of Constraints and Goldratt's questions about technology: what's the power of the technology?; what limitation does it overcome?; what old rules accommodated the limitation?; what are the new rules to be used now?; in light of these rules, how should the implementation change?

If there is no limitation to be overcome, why implement the technology?  Or more accurately, why try to have a discussion about ROI for technology that isn't addressing a limitation on your business?  (Some technology is "needed" to keep up with the Jones' or meet some regulatory demands.)