Three Technology Myths

• Myth: IT, once an engine of competitive advantage, is becoming just another cost of doing business. Technological advances that improve organizations' ability to manage information will be quickly and widely copied by others, rendering them meaningless.

• Fact: IT products and processes are becoming more standardized, but so too are engineering, manufacturing, logistics, distribution, sales, customer service and other business functions that differentiate one organization from another.

• Reality: Just because a process is quickly and widely copied doesn't mean you shouldn't invest in making it better. Set the bar higher. Wal-Mart may not have achieved greatness simply because its IT was superior, but the company's relentless IT innovation lets it execute its retail vision faster and more efficiently than its rivals can. It stays a step ahead of competitors, no matter how fast they copy.

• Myth: The U.S. IT profession--because of offshore competition, the industry's maturation or other factors--is in decline. "We're not creating many new jobs in the United States," laments RIT professor Ronil Hira in a recent Wall Street Journal article, "and certainly not new jobs in technology."

• Fact: The U.S. economy has created 3.4 million jobs since the end of the recession, bringing the unemployment rate to a historically respectable 5.4 percent. By 2010, according to the Labor Department, 167 million U.S. jobs will be chasing only 157 million U.S. workers.In IT, the news is mixed. Hiring has been flat this year, according to the Labor Department, and Network Computing's own reader survey finds that most IT professionals don't expect their organizations to do much hiring next year. Still, IT pros are more optimistic about their futures than they were a year ago, according to a survey by staffing firm Hudson, while openings for new CIO and IT management positions are inching up.

• Reality: People with hot technical skills, broad IT management experience or both are in great demand. But what's hot can get cold, and job opportunities vary by geography as much as expertise.

In the Journal article, Hira goes on to assert: "There is this mythology that it's just a matter of training. But what are you going to train them in?" How about information security, network and database administration, software engineering, system analysis and any number of other IT specialties that will demand skilled professionals over the next five years? The mythology is that every IT job exported or eliminated is an IT job lost forever.

• Myth: Outsourcing, whether to offshore or domestic firms, is taking over enterprise IT. It will be the norm rather than the exception within five years.

• Fact: IT outsourcing is on a roll. The major offshore providers are reporting 40 percent to 50 percent revenue gains based on strong orders from U.S. and European customers. At home, IBM continues to grow its business around its Global Services unit, while EDS, Cap Gemini and others report a resurgence in billion-dollar-plus outsourcing deals.• Reality: IT outsourcing will flourish as companies look to cut costs and refocus on their core businesses. But they'll still spend most of their IT dollars on their own people and assets, under the premise that technology is inextricably linked to who they are and what they do. Meantime, those companies disenchanted with their outsourcing relationships will pull IT back in-house, just as they did in the prior decade. Outsourcing, perhaps more than any other IT trend, runs in cycles.

Before you buy into the IT myth du jour, consider all the facts and do a reality check.

Rob Preston is editor in chief of Network Computing. Write to him at [email protected].