Is Your Firm Getting the Most Out of IT?
Part 3 of 3
by Malcolm I. Allan, SysDom Technologies
Published September 2003: Posted September 2003

Abstract:

In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Nicolas Carr made the argument that IT has become a commodity. He made the analogy between IT and electricity and inferred that companies should manage IT the same way that they manage electricity.

Carr's assertions have struck a nerve in large part because his assertions have some validity. For example, there is no doubt that a number of components of the IT infrastructure do indeed resemble a utility such as electricity; i.e., Switched 10 Mbps Ethernet Local Area Networks (LANs) and Frame Relay Wide Area Networks (WANs).

Many leaders of the IT industry leaders, such as Scott McNealy of Sun, have taken time to personally respond to Carr's assertions. This IT Business Brief, the third in the series, continues that discussion. In particular, this brief details what IT management needs to know about technology in order to ensure that IT is applying its scarce resources to those aspects of the business the return the most tangible value.

This is a critical discussion and one that we will return to in future IT Business Briefs.

About the Author:

Malcolm I. Allan is a Senior Partner at SysDom Technologies, a London-based consulting firm based on providing comprehensive solutions from conceptual planning, design architecture, vendor analysis and selection to final delivery and maintenance.

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