Information Technology
Information technology (IT)
is the use of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve,
transmit and manipulate data. In a business context, information
technology (IT) is defined as "the study, design, development,
application, implementation, support or management of computer-based
information systems".
The business value of information
technology is to automate business processes, provide information for decision
making, connect business with their customers, and provide productivity tools
to increase efficiency.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the term information technology (IT)
was a little known phrase that was used by those who worked in places like
banks and hospitals to describe the processes they used to store information. With the paradigm shift to computing technology and
"paperless" workplaces, information technology has
come to be a household phrase. It defines an industry that uses computers,
networking, software programming, and other equipment and processes to store,
process, retrieve, transmit, and protect information.
Great technological advances have
been made since the days when computers were huge pieces of equipment that were
stored in big, air conditioned rooms, getting their information from punch cards.
Information and communication
technologies has evolved into a key enabling infrastructure across industries
while proving to be a powerful driver of enhanced living conditions and opportunities
around the globe. IT has changed the world dramatically and it is bound to
continue to do so in the future.
