Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities

Lynda M. Applegate

Background Note | HBS Case Collection | August 1995

Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The co-evolution of technology, work, and the workforce over the past 30 years has dramatically influenced our concept of organizations and the industries within which they compete. No longer simply a tool to support "back-office" transactions, IT has become a strategic part of most businesses, enabling the redefinition of markets and industries and the strategies and designs of firms competing within them. But to achieve these information age benefits, companies must adopt information age technology architectures. Organizations must radically transform outdated IT architectures and the IT organizations required to support them. The technological transformation is every bit as daunting as the organizational transformation. This note, along with Designing and Managing the Information Age IT Architecture, describes general frameworks and concepts that managers can use to analyze their existing IT architecture and to define and manage the IT architecture required to support the information processing requirements of the Information Age organization.

Keywords: Information Technology; Information Management; Restructuring; Technological Innovation; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology Industry;

Format: Print

19 pages

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Applegate, Lynda M. "Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities." Harvard Business School Background Note 196-004, August 1995.

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Managing in an Information Age: IT Challenges and Opportunities

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