Cold eyes on IT

Author: (American) Nicholas G. Carr, translated by Zeng Jianqiu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-02
Features: In May 2003, an article titled "IT, No Longer Dominant," written by the book's author Nicholas G. Carr, was published in the Harvard Business Review, sparking a widespread and intense debate around the world about the importance of IT. Numerous media outlets published variously positive and negative reviews of the article. To elaborate on his views in greater detail and comprehensively, the author expanded and refined the article, releasing this book, "IT Doesn’t Matter." In this book, the author points out that although computers have been applied in the business field for over fifty years, their overall impact on business, especially on corporate performance, remains undetermined. Many companies have invested heavily in IT but have seen minimal returns, with no significant leap in their efficiency. Faced with this situation, the author uses numerous convincing examples from ancient and modern times to explain why innovations in hardware, software, and networking are rapidly imitated and replicated, thereby diminishing IT's strategic role in helping companies stand out among competitors. He argues that technology can be divided into proprietary technology and foundational technology. Proprietary technology is the kind that can bring a competitive advantage to a company, but due to the replicability of technology, any proprietary technology will eventually evolve into a foundational technology—technology that can be shared by all companies. Once a technology becomes foundational, it can no longer provide a competitive advantage for a company. IT is no different. However, Carr also points out that this evolutionary process is both necessary and highly beneficial. Only when IT becomes a foundational technology, a common resource, can it be widely adopted by most companies, and can its economic and social benefits be maximized.