Does It Matter?: Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage

by Nicholas Carr

Book Overview

Over the last decade, and even since the bursting of the technology bubble, pundits, consultants, and thought leaders have argued that information technology provides the edge necessary for business success. IT expert Nicholas G. Carr offers a radically different view in this eloquent and explosive book. As IT's power and presence have grown, he argues, its strategic relevance has actually decreased. IT has been transformed from a source of advantage...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591394449
• ISBN13: 9781591394440
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

IT as a Commodity

Information Technology (IT) has transformed itself from a source of competitive advantage to simply being a cost of doing business. Despite the spectacular gains during the past 50 years, says Nicholas G. Carr, a former Harvard Business Review executive editor, IT will distinguish no single competitor. This contradicts many executives' perception that IT ubiquity is an advantage. They miss the point the scarcity, not ubiquity, creates an advantage. IT's core functions - the storage, distribution and processing of data - are available to all. Without differentiation IT is relegated to commodity status. This should force executives to re-think their IT spending plans and their vendor relationships. As this perception gains acceptance, risk and cost control will become more important than investments in innovation. In short, technology is headed down the same path the steam engine, railroad and electricity followed. Only by becoming a shared and standardized resource will IT deliver its maximum social and economic potential. Carr says the greatest risk that IT represents is overspending. While IT is entwined with many business processes and represents a huge portion of any businesses' expenses, it must be managed. There are several ways: 1. Cut waste. Commoditization permits buyers to negotiate better deals, tie payments to usage and shop among vendors. 2. Use Capacity. The overspending in the 1990 left many companies with more capacity than they need. Find ways to use it. 3. Place tight controls on IT usage. Carr says 70 percent of what is stored on corporate networks represents employees' saved e-mails, MP3s, video clips and spam. Restrict the indiscriminate ability to save files. 4. Become more rigorous in systems planning. Carr is a distinguished writer and thinker. His book serves as a wake-up call for anyone interested in competitive advantage. Although executives have grown wary of IT spending, they will have to cope with methods that will prevent the commoditization of IT architecture and applications if they are to save their companies' barriers to entry. Anyone - be he or she a business executive or IT worker - should give this tome a close examination. Its implications will be mighty.

Where is IT going?

Full Title: Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage -- With $2 trillion being spent on computers and communications each year there is an underlying assumption that IT is critical to increasing the competitive advantage and strategic success of a business.But with the ready availability of computers, storage, software and people, has the IT function perhaps become one of the foundation building blocks of a corporation, just like sales, engineering or manufacturing?Similar to other books that are appearing, the author argues that it is time to look at IT with a managerial view. What are you getting for the investment? Is IT simply another cost center or a strategic benefit to the company? How do you control costs and yet get the information you need in a timely manner? The book provides an interesting and timely view of such points.

Well worth reading

I'm not a technologist and have no particularly strong feelings about information technology one way or the other. In my own experience, computers have good points and bad points. The reason I bought this book in the first place is because I read an interesting review of it in the New York Times. Now having read the book itself, I can say that I think it's really as much about how competition and strategy as about information technology per se. It's a very illuminating and thought-provoking book. It weaves together discussions of history, economics, and technology in an engaging way. The discussion gets complicated at times but it's always clearly written, even when the author's describing fairly esoteric aspects of software production. Unlike just about every other business book I've read, there's little jargon and few wasted words. It moves fast and covers a lot of ground. The book ends with a broader discussion of some of the the social and political consequences of computerization, which is also fascinating. So I can't say whether all Carr's recommendations are valid or not, and I guess that doesn't really matter to me. I enjoyed the book, and I learned a lot from it. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in business or business history.

A Landmark in IT Thinking

Just reading through the reviews already posted here shows how big a stir Carr's ideas have caused. Because of vested interests or emotional ties, some people have a deep fear of any criticism of IT, and it blinds them to the reality of the situation. In my humble opinion, as someone who's worked in the IT field for nearly two decades, I think Carr has it exactly right. It's best to treat the technology as a fairly boring necessity - be frugal, buy standardised components, don't believe the hype. The book is carefully argued, and it makes for quite compelling reading. Ignore it at your own risk.

A valuable guide

When I saw the hysterical reaction of some big wigs in the tech industry to Carr's argument (Steve Ballmer called it "hogwash"), it made it seem like the author was an anti-technology extremist. So I was surprised to find this book to be so calmly written and so knowledgeable about the history of information technology. Carr isn't saying that IT is unimportant or that technological progress won't continue but that most companies won't be able to use IT itself to provide a strategic advantage. He shows that companies like American Airlines and Reuters used to be able to use their systems to block competitors, but that's not possible anymore. In fact, he says, trying to get an advantage by creating a customized system will probably backfire by being too costly and complicated. It's better to just find a standardized solution that does what you want it to do at the lowest cost possible. This seems to me fairly sensible advice, and Carr provides a lot of evidence to support it. The book puts IT into a broader context which I found very helpful.