Does IT matter or not?
In a world where IT was perfectly ubiquitous Carr would be justified in his argument that IT does not matter. However, Carr’s argument is incomplete. Carr neglects to look at how the various companies manage and use their IT resources. In a world where IT was perfectly ubiquitous, IT would not matter, the management of that IT resource would however matter a great deal to determine its strategic advantages.

It should also be noted that the development of IT and the creation of new IT have not reached its end and will not do so in any short period of time. IT, in its nature, allows for continual development as each new development opens new avenues of Research and Development. Each new development generally takes the form of proprietary technology, for a short while at least, allowing for strategic advantages. Carr’s belief that these new proprietary developments cannot sustain a strategic advantage for any company is true, but again it should be noted that the IT industry is in a constant state of change. It is the companies, like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Sun Microsystems with their ability to constantly make progress in the development of IT, which have the strategic advantage.

The general sentiment amongst IT professionals is that IT matters a great deal. This statement is liable to a great deal of bias as to state otherwise is equal to asking IT professionals to concede that they, their jobs and livelihood, do not matter. In fact, however, the IT professional are correct in stating that IT matters, this due to the fact that IT is not perfectly ubiquitous, as Carr would like to believe. All companies do not have the same capital resources, thus do not have access to the same proprietary technology other companies have. On the other hand, some companies, with the use of open source software, have a strategic advantage in their