Sapana Maharjan
In a highly debated article published in the Harvard Business Journal, “IT Doesn’t Matter,”
Nicholas Carr claims that Information Technology doesn’t matter from a strategic
standpoint to businesses. His argument is based on the fact that the cost of IT has
decreased significantly leading it to become commoditized and standardized. Thus,
overspending in IT does not yield better financial outcomes.
His critics called it, “Dead Wrong,” and said, “IT does matter a lot” (Varian, 2003). Carr
links the trend in history of increasing railroad tracks and electrical lines to the increasing
number of host computers on the Internet as a reasoning for commoditization. It is fairly
appropriate to look through Carr’s viewpoint today as many companies are using the
consistent products provided by their cloud providers for business operations. The
appearance of the application might seem different but the functions they perform are alike
each other. One example is that presenters across the globe are using the same Microsoft
PowerPoint software to create presentations.
Carr views Information Technology as a utility that businesses cannot do without but it is
not the source of competitive advantage. He explains proprietary technologies like the
“patents” can separate some companies from the crowd in a short run but says that
infrastructural technologies are now made available for all at a much lower cost. Today,
companies are reducing their costs through implementing cloud computing which is
allowing businesses of all sizes to access different applications with only a minimum
capital expenditure and pay per use basis, also reducing operating costs. It enables small
