IT
essentially refers to the set of products and services
that transform data into useful, meaningful and accessible
information. It includes all kinds of technology used
to create, store, exchange, and use information, which
can be of various forms like data, voice, images, motion
pictures, multimedia presentations, and the like.
There
are two types of technologies proprietary and infrastructural.
When companies innovate, they own a proprietary technology,
which is exclusive to them. And, because they are protected
they offer strategic advantages to the companies. But,
infrastructural technologies are often shared, they
form a part of the general business infrastructure.
Interestingly, in the early phases, infrastructural
technologies can take the form of proprietary technologies,
because only a few can afford it and thus have an edge
over others.
In
the early years, the technologies mentioned above invited
huge investments by virtue of their anticipated commercial
possibilities, but eventually were mired in overcapacity
problems. In the article titled, `IT Doesn't Matter'
(that created quite a stir in the corporate world),
published in the May 2003 issue of Harvard Business
Review, the author, Nicholas G Carr argues that
all those technologies opened the doors of opportunity
for a brief period for companies, which embraced it
early because they were more like proprietary technologies
initially. But with increasing availability and the
resulting cost reductions, they became commodities.
In fact, they no longer mattered strategically. |
