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I do believe that much of what has occurred in the last few months is media
hype. But, being in North Carolina, which has an interesting mixture of
financial powerhouses, old-fashioned manufacturing and a growing IT
industry, I have begun to realize that there is more than the usual media
hype going on. I wonder how much of the economic downtown is really caused
by displacement of whole sectors of the economy--we are moving to an
information-based economy at an incredible rate. Companies founded in the
manufacturing economy not only have to deal with the change in the basis of
the economy but also upgrading their infrastructures to support their little
niche, then some painful displacement is going to occur.
At the same time the old economy is being displaced the information economy
has to mature--kind of makes for interesting times to say the least. But if
the IT industries follow the old manufacturing model, then those companies
that deliver added value will survive, those that merely deliver product are
likely to evaporate or be absorbed.
So history repeats itself again .......
MTC
Connie Giordano
-----Original Message-----
From: Elna Tymes [mailto:etymes -at- lts -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 2:34 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Is IT growth slowing?
There has been a recent spate of articles in business magazines about
the failure of IT to live up to its promise of reducing workload while
improving worker productivity. This may be nothing more than sour
grapes, but it's worth paying attention to. Many companies have
experienced the constant need for more and better hardware and software,
and the way that each new upgrade to a system results in more things
that need attending to - kinda like a baby and the way it grows. There
are rumblings that part of the current economic problems in the computer
industry in general have to do with large numbers of client companies
deciding to make do with yesterday's technology - with the rationale
that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'
Following the lead of Microsoft, most software and hardware
manufacturers have adopted the policy of continual upgrades to existing
products as a means of assuring revenue growth. Are we reaching - or
have we reached - the point where this policy is no longer warranted,
resulting in less demand for IT professionals across the board? It
could be argued that this downturn is mostly a marketing blip, but one
which is going to cause companies in the industry to have to rethink how
they provide value to their customers. It could also be argued that
this is a major turning point for the whole industry.
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