In the article “IT Doesn’t Matter” by Nicholas Carr argues that as information technology power grows and it becomes more affordable and accessible to everyone, its strategic advantage and importance to companies diminishes. To gain more competitive advantage, companies will have to change the way they manage IT investments focusing on its risks more than its advantages. The author goes on to make his point by exposing railroads and electricity as an example leading to the conclusion that technology will help companies differentiate from other competitors until it becomes available and affordable to everyone calling it the “boom-to-bust cycle” that will continue as information technology keeps growing.
Issues
1. One of the first issues brought up in the article referred to the inability of companies to create a competitive advantage in overspending in IT. It is being argued in the article that as It becomes more accessible and affordable to all, its strategic potential to differentiate a company from the rest.
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Another issue being discussed in the article “IT doesn’t matter” is the commoditization of IT that hinders the ability of companies to gain competitive advantage when the characteristics of infrastructural technologies become standardized and prices start to decline. “Even with the emergence of Internet, which has accelerated the commoditization of IT by providing a channel for generic applications” as stated in the article. With prices declining, the emergence of Internet contributing to the commoditization of IT, and even vendors repositioning themselves in response to demand and turn themselves into suppliers of “web services,” the opportunities to gain competitive advantage are starting to fade