Reading Group May 27th 2004
CITO Reading Group: "IT Doesn't Matter" by Nicholas G. Carr (Harvard Business Review, May 2003, Vol 81, Issue 5, p. 41-49).
After months of talking about it, we've organised the first meeting of
the Centre for Information, Technology and Organisation (CITO)
Reading Group. We plan to hold regular (informal) sessions
throughout the summer, based on articles/books suggested by
CITO Reading Group members.
Details of the inaugural meeting are as follows:
VENUE: The Common Room
TIME & DATE: Thursday 27th May, 5.30pm
The first reading is "IT Doesn't Matter" by Nicholas G. Carr. Harvard Business Review, May 2003, Vol 81, Issue 5, p. 41-49.
Copies of the article are available in my office (Q235).
ABSTRACT:
As information technology has grown in power and ubiquity,
companies have come to view it as ever more critical to their
success; their heavy spending on hardware and software clearly
reflects that assumption. But scarcity, not ubiquity, makes a
business resource truly strategic - and allows companies to use it
for a sustained competitive advantage. You only gain an edge over
rivals by doing something that they cannot. IT is the latest in a
series of broadly adopted technologies - think of the railroad or the
electric generator - that have reshaped industry over the past two
centuries. IT management should, frankly, become boring. It should
focus on reducing risks, not increasing opportunities. For example,
companies need to pay more attention to ensuring network and
data security. Even more important, they need to manage IT costs
more aggressively. IT may not help a company gain a strategic
advantage, but it could easily put a company at a cost
disadvantage.
The article provoked a strong reaction among IT executives and led
to a series of debates about the business value of IT. Nicholas Carr
lists the responses (see url).
It's worth browsing through this additional article as it contains
links to a variety of responses from CEOs, IT magazine editors,
academics and users.
Some background information on CITO can be found here CITO
Hope to see you on the 27th,
Anita
Event details
When
May 27, 2004
from 05:30 PM to 06:30 PM
from 05:30 PM to 06:30 PM
Where
Common Room
Contact Name
Contact Phone
ext 4723