When asked to explain how Information Technology works as a business, I thought of creating this blog to explain, first to myself, and to understand the impact IT has had on us, its corollaries, outcomes and consequences.
IT, or Information Technology is an ubiquitous term. It is the shop floor to the manufacturing industry, or the laboratory to a pharma company. Everyone seems to know what it is, especially to one in the know (ie working for an IT services company, or in the IT department). Except for whom isn’t in the know – it’s an ignored mystery (“Don’t go there”, the marketing person says, with rolled eyes, “its not worth it”).
But for the interested, such as my Uber cab driver asked me one day – “What is IT, and how do you guys make money?” Wearing my consulting hat, I realized going into discussions on value transfer, labor arbitrage, cost containment and risk mitigation would only skim the issue. The Business of IT is a separate and complex topic, but can be explained.
This blog is dedicated to that driver, and to everyone who wants to know how IT operates as a business. This is also a question to myself, and my ilk – do we know how IT operates? This is not meant to be a research project, nor an exhaustive self-critique. It is intended to be a series of conversations I intend to have here about IT as a business. Hence, the name of the blog – Business of Information Technology.
While all industries use Information Technology in one way or the other to exist, IT also exists as its own industry.
While all industries use Information Technology in one way or the other to exist, IT also exists as its own industry.
The global information technology (IT) market size for 2023 is expected to be approximately $4.7 trillion, compared to the global gross domestic product (GDP), which is projected to be around $105 trillion by the end of 2023.
The graphic illustrates some of the interesting and amazing facts about this vibrant, constantly evolving industry. Information technology is an enterprise, a change agent, a vocation, an investment, a cost center, an enabler. It is as integral to our state of existence as is food, air, water or electricity.