The Impact of Information Technology

Information technology is:

• The development, implementation, and maintenance of computer hardware and software systems to organize and communicate information electronically.*

The definition of this term is straightforward and simple; however, its effects on society as a whole, and specifically the commercial business sector, are much more complex. Businesses today are successful for a variety of reasons, but one of the main factors is their ability to adapt to the use of information technology, and to capitalize on its many impressive capabilities.

What Information Technology Can Do for Your Business

Information technology can have a variety of impacts on commercial business depending on organization size, industry specialization, and other similar factors. However, through the use of information technology, commercial businesses are generally able to:

• Access computer-aided design, spreadsheets, relational database technologies and work-processing software to organize and analyze large amounts of information
  
  
• Use information collection and analytics processes to figure out what customers really want, and utilize this information to maximize commercial advantage and turn customers' desires into reality
  
  
• Monitor business performance, measure success rates more effectively, and recognize areas where productivity is lacking or resources are not being properly utilized
  
  
• Increase profit and brand recognition by capitalizing on the many means of advertising that are available in the modern information age
  
  
• Discover more efficient ways to sell merchandise, collect payments, take inventories, store mass amounts of information, perform bookkeeping and accounting, etc.

Clearly information technology has had a significant impact of the functionality, productivity, efficiency and success of the business sector. However, it is important to remember that these dramatic effects are far from over. Information technology began taking precedence in the late 1990s, and since then its influence has not stopped growing.

Information technology’s impact on commercial business is going to continue increasing as the technologies associated with it become more sophisticated and streamlined. Businesses that do not use it effectively are inevitably going to be surpassed by others in the industry. No one can predict exactly how big information technology is going to grow, but for those on all sides of the business sector, the possibilities seem virtually endless.

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*This definition was gathered from the resources at Dictionary.com.