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Claims that information technology can be a source of competitive advantage, which populated business literature in the late 1980s, have been largely discredited. Nonetheless,
business executives continue to look for ways to apply information technology strategically to their businesses. Reporting on a two-year study of IT management practices, the authors note that some firms do
appear to generate competitive advantage from their IT, but the advantage results from their IT capabilities, not from their IT applications. Specifically, a firm delivers value from IT by building and
leveraging three assets: highly competent IT human resources, a reusable technology infrastructure, and a strong IT-business partner relationship. These three assets are interrelated in the sense that they
tend to strengthenor weakenone another. Together, they allow a firm to apply information technology to strategic business needs faster and more cost effectively than the competition. This paper describes the
characteristics of strong IT assets and offers strategies for developing them. |
