Introduction

The integration of Information Technology (IT) into organisations, whilst not having occurred with any great haste, has grown to become pervasive in everything we do; the engine driving business productivity (Jessup & Valacich 2003). Over time IT has risen to become the underpinning of today’s global operations, where “hardly a dollar or a euro changes hands anymore without the aid of computer systems” (Carr 2003, p41). This dependence on IT has prompted many discussions as to whether IT can still be considered a ‘strategic weapon’ or whether it has become a ‘commodity-like asset’, “closely mirroring that of earlier infrastructural technologies” (Carr 2003, p45). One thing is for sure that organisations must adapt to their new environments to survive; the implementation of IT is only the first hurdle. By examining this increasing integration of IT into organisations, it will be shown whether the impact of IT has resulted in it becoming a commodity, or whether competitive advantage can still be gained in new areas.

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