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WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: July 17, 2003 Does IT really matter anymore? -- (The Age) "Carr argues that Information Technology - like the steam engine and electricity before it - has made the transition from strategic opportunity to commodity input. All the pieces are standardising, becoming interoperable and becoming public. When everyone can see how things are done in IT, he argues, no one can use IT to gain a strategic advantage."
Reader Comments...
The discussion seems to be confusing technology for the information it is supposed to produce. Electricity becomes ubiquitous, yet the machines using it are arranged in the same way they were in the steam age. Standardization (few people recall the AC versus DC, etc, standards wars) mean the new way of thinking *about everything hooked into to it* can start. So it can be argued that yes, IT doesn't matter in a certain sense. Posted by: on July 17, 2003 01:10 PM
Or it is crucial but adds no competitive advantage. Imagine if we were trying to do business without electricity. Posted by: Amy on July 17, 2003 02:27 PM
Bricks and cement are also "commodity inputs" now. It's where you put them and how you use them that become a competitive advantage. Also no one stopped at steam engines - jets and rockets came later. Any usability person working on technology projects should realize that just having a web site or database (commodity?) doesn't mean a company can match the competition online. Posted by: Lyle, Lyle - Croc O' Lyle on July 20, 2003 09:22 AM
I have my IT people opening doors for customers. They moonlight as Wal-Mart greeters. Our web designers make good book ends. Oh, and they take out the trash. Posted by: Chip on July 22, 2003 10:11 AM
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