1The utilization of information technology (IT) has become pervasive. Businesses not only have information systems
(IS) that connect frontline employees with back-office accounting and production systems but also compete with
dot-com (Internet only) companies via Web-based stores and online customer service channels. Travelers can access
high-speed wireless networks from public transportation, airports, and even in-flight airplanes to keep them
productive. Work teams may never meet face-to-face and regularly use meeting software and video conferencing.
Workers may choose a BlackBerry, iPhone, or other smartphone to access office e-mail anytime, anywhere. And
today’s schoolchildren find resources via Internet searches rather than card catalogs in school libraries.
Today’s consumers also live in what has been called an increasingly “flat world” in which IT linkages across
emerging, developing, and developed economies help to “level” the economic playing field (Friedman, 2005).
Citizens across the globe may have access to world news online. Geographical positioning systems not only help
travelers find the best route to their destination but can also facilitate the identification of a nearby retail store or
restaurant.
The designing and management of computer hardware, software, and networks to enable this pervasive
digital world is the work of IT professionals. However, all business managers, not just IT managers, are
responsible for wisely investing in and effectively utilizing these information technologies for the benefit of their
organizations. By the year 2000, more than half of capital expenditures by businesses in developed countries were
for IT purchases.
The primary objective of this textbook is to increase your knowledge about IT management so that as a
manager you can effectively invest in and utilize new and already in-place information technologies. In the
following chapters we will describe
- technologies available today and emerging technology trends,
- software applications to support business operations and business intelligence,
- “best practices” for acquiring and implementing new systems, and
- planning and managing an IS department’s resources.
The objective of this first textbook chapter is to set the stage for the remaining 14 chapters and the full-length case
studies that follow.
We use the terminformation technology (IT)as computer technology (hardware and software) for
processing and storing information, as well as communications technology (voice and data networks) for
transmitting information.
We use the term information systems (IS) departmentto refer to the organizational unit or department
that has the primary responsibility for managing IT.