Why IT Now? Digital Convergence and the Changing Business Environment

Why IT Now? Digital Convergence and the Changing Business Environment

A combination of information technology innovations and a changing domestic and global business environment makes the role of IT in business even more important for managers than just a few years ago. The Internet revolution is not something that happened and then burst, but instead has turned out to be an ongoing, powerful source of new technologies with significant business implications for much of this century.

            There are five factors to consider when assessing the growing impact of IT in business firms both today and over the next ten years.

• Internet growth and technology convergence 
  
  
• Transformation of the business enterprise 
  
  
• Growth of a globally connected economy 
  
  
• Growth of knowledge and information-based economies 
  
  
• Emergence of the digital firm

           These changes in the business environment, summarized in Table 1-1, pose a number of new challenges and opportunities for business firms and their managements.

TABLE 1-1 The Changing Contemporary Business Environment