It occurred to me recently that “Information Technology”, IT, is actually two words. Sometimes in this trade we get hung up on the second word and forget the first.
The Technology side of our world is increasingly abstracted and commoditized. I’m not so sure The Information is something that can be. It takes analytical skills, mathematics, communication capabilities, and an understanding of the information consumers to actually do something of value with The Technology.
By abstracting the hardware, getting rid of any physical infrastructure, and moving into the Cloud, what do you have left? The Information. The important part. The bit we usually overlook when we say “IT”.
How can you differentiate from your competitors if all of the Technology is essentially the same, inexpensive and readily accessible?
You’ll still need customer support, administrators, testers, developers, and project managers to support Cloud operations. So perhaps you can differentiate on your best practices, operational skills, and customer relationships.
Alternatively, and more valuably, you can differentiate based on your ability to manage, process, and deliver useful, timely , understandable, and accessible Information to the folks that need it. That is why we have IT in the first place.
6 days later:
What are the major benefits of technology? Two Words … Time or Money
about 1 year later:
Good stuff! I agree that the information often gets overlooked, for a variety of reasons. (A fascination with bells and whistles, unclear business goals, mundane and useless information, etc.)
My question is: do you have something specific in mind, when you mention the importance of mathematics in doing something useful with the technology? If so, that could be an interesting future post.
It seems to me that of all the things you state are necessary, mathematics is the least emphasized in IT.