ABOUT A YEAR AGO, the Harvard Business Review published an article titled “IT Doesn’t Matter.” It ignited a vehement and often acrimonious debate over the value of information technology. Since then, Nicholas Carr, the author of the article, has expanded on his original thesis that while IT’s value will increase as it becomes more standardized and ubiquitous, “the ability of any one company to use IT in a distinctive way to gain competitive advantage will diminish until…it will make more sense to manage IT as a commodity input-something that is absolutely necessary but [that] isn’t going to set you apart from competitors.”
Carr has faced off with detractors in print and onstage, and this month sees the publication of his new book, Does IT Matter? the title of which suggests Carr may have backed off his original position a bit. (He hasn’t.) Carr spoke recently with CIO Editor in Chief Abbie Lundberg to explore his conclusions and the assumptions underlying them, one of which is that all information technology is “infrastructure.”
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