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Nicholas Carr set off a heated debate about the value of technology in his Harvard Business Review article "IT Doesn't Matter" in May, 2003.

Does IT Matter?

Whether Nicholas Carr's comparisons of IT to prior infrastructures are valid or not, his arguments that IT does not yield strategic differentiation have been demonstrated over and over in the experiences of companies in every industry. Those of us who have helped companies implement new technologies repeatedly see the reasons for this failure to achieve strategic differentiation.

First, technology initiatives are so often underestimated and pressures for "scope control" so great that the strategic possibilities in projects are surrendered as companies scale back just to meet the core business requirements. This isn't just due to bad planning or poor execution, but also a consequence of the complex collection of technologies that must be coordinated.

Second, too many technology initiatives are driven by the desires and ideas of the technology organization rather than by business imperatives. Thus, they fail to create "the complex system of activities and resources and such" that Carr points out as the components of strategic capabilities. Technology executives too often act like their own vendors when they interact with business executives. Technology is presented as the answer before the issue is understood.

So, rather than argue about whether technology is theoretically a source of strategic advantage, CIOs need to recognize that Technology has very rarely delivered strategic advantage.

Russell Jones
President