About
August 10, 2007 by Raj Sheelvant
I read the HBR article by Nicholas Carr “IT Doesn’t Matter” sometime in November 2006. I was appalled by Carr’s half baked conclusion about IT’s irrelevance to corporate strategy. I guess I have been working in the field of IT for past 14 years and clearly understand how IT can be leveraged to create and sustain competitive advantage.
I poked around on Internet to see if anyone is blogging or writing about IT Strategy that contradicts Nicholas Carr’s view. I did find a few but they were all from Magazine writers, professors and other academic type. But I found no blog about IT Strategy written by someone from the trenches, someone who is involved in ‘expanding economic moat’ for the corporation using IT, someone who is making ‘IT matter’. Hence, this blog was born. My goal is to blog on how IT can enable corporate and business strategy. My aim is to challenge Nicholas Carr’s perspective (BTW, in my blogroll, I have a link Carr’s blog). I also blog on Emerging Technology, Globalization, Green IT, Cloud Computing, Marketing Strategy, Organizational Behavior and Change Management.
Read my first blog IT Does Matter.
Popularity: 70% [?]
Comments (6)
Hi Raj
We are looking for industry professionals who write on IT and ITes. Kindly send us your
email id at invitation.thinkingstreet@gmail.com so that we can talk to you.
Thanks
Anuja
http://www.thinkingstreet.com
Raj,
I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn. We seem to share a common interest in linking IT and strategy. I am currently writing my MBA dissertation on strategy and IT
-David
Complimenti per il blog, davvero interessante e ricco di spunti… sarei felice se ne aprissi uno anche su http://www.webirishpub.net/ per confrontarci quotidianamente.
Saluti
My first MBA assignment was to analyze Carr’s article. I whole-heartedly agree with your position that IT absolutely DOES matter- it’s not just the technology that people rely on that matters, it is how we continue to think of innovative ways to use it that enrich people’s lives.
Great blog!
Raj – stumbled across your blog and just wanted to say top marks for effort, energy and thinking you are putting into it. Don’t agree with it all but that’s not the point – your trying to take an interesting view.
I was the former Managing Partner for Gartner UK Consulting, and prior to that ET/PW etc, and I have to say I find the whole IT and business alignment thing is past its sell by date. I’ve done loads of IT strategies and the reality of the situation is that whilst the technology does matter what I’ve found again and again and again is how much a strategy and IT function all too often mirrors the personality of the CIO – this more than anything is what makes the difference. Probably sounds a bit trite but it ends up costing firms thousand/millions when the CIO’s ego doesn’t really fit the company needs!
Keep up the good work and thanks again
Dave
Great post mate! Where