A Philosophy of Information Technology (IT) relating to Business

First, two definitions:

Philosophy = A theory underlying or regarding a sphere of activity (source http://www.merriam-webster.com )
Information Technology = the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictoral, textual, and numberical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications (source http://en.wikipedia.org )


A Philosophy of IT relating to Business

The goal of Information Technology in relation to business, is to make working processes easier, quicker, and more efficient; to automate repetitive manual tasks; to increase productivity; to make data more secure and also more available; to act as a medium and/or catalyst for rewarding collaboration; to promote an ever swifter and more meaningful exchange of ideas; to enhance communication; and to provide real and quantifiable benefits for the corporation, whether this is measured in financial profit or intellectual wealth.

Following on from the above:

Information Technology exists to make manageable and distributable, the multitude of information accumulated by technological civilization, and information required to maintain the fabric of society.

For an Information Technology solution to be a success it must result in either one or many of the following – more uptime; a quicker return to operation after disaster; increased productivity; increased data security; make life easier to the end user and in doing so increase their effectiveness; improved collaboration; swifter exchange of ideas; increased business agility; and increased wealth and/or profitability.

PS: A nice ideal to aim for - "Make People Happy Through IT."

Comment from author:

This is a bit of a departure from the normal technical walkthroughs, recipes, solutions, ... on my blog. Possibly because my first ever website – now vanished into the ether – had a philosophy theme to it, I had a strange urge to make a philosophy themed post. If by some unexpected miracle you are reading this and would like to express a view, please do. Cheers!

Comments