From a terrific LSE blog post by Martin Walker.

He proposes seven ways to identify Fintech technologies that do not deserve the hype. It seems to me that most of his questions apply to information technology generally.

1. The technology claims to solve a problem that did not exist before and was actually created by the nature of the new technology.
2. A small part of the functionality of an existing system is implemented using the new technology and is claimed as a great success.
3. No thought has been given to the costs and complexities of integrating the new technology with existing infrastructure.
4. The technology is new and original but the creators are incapable of explaining how it would be any better at solving real world problems than existing technology.
5. The technology would fail to meet legal and regulatory requirements if treated on the same basis as existing technologies.
6. The advocates of the technology claim you “do not need to understand how it works, you just have to believe that it will change the world”.
7. Criticism or even just questions are dismissed by referring to adoption/hype cycles that show you are going through a period of negativity before ultimate success.

Great stuff.