View source for Information technology

{{short description|Computer-based technology}}{{redirect|IT|the customer service colloquially referred to as IT|Tech support|other uses|It (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Infotech|the Indian company|Cyient}}
{{for|the Hong Kong constituency|Information Technology (constituency)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Information science}}

'''Information technology''' ('''IT''') is a set of related fields that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages and data and information processing and storage.<ref name="Rasmussen">{{citation |title=What Is Information Technology? A Beginner's Guide to the World of IT|url=https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/what-is-information-technology/|last1=Cosker |first1=Glynn  |journal=Technology Blog, Rasmussen University |year=2023}}.</ref> IT forms part of [[information and communications technology]] (ICT).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Computer Technology Definition |url=https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/computer-technology#:~:text=Computer%20Technology%20means%20Government%20computer,or%20increased%20risk%20to%20Government. |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=Law Insider |language=en}}</ref> An '''information technology system''' ('''IT system''') is generally an [[information system]], a [[communications system]], or, more specifically speaking, a [[Computer|computer system]] — including all [[Computer hardware|hardware]], [[software]], and [[peripheral]] equipment — operated by a limited group of IT users, and an '''IT project''' usually refers to the commissioning and implementation of an IT system.<ref>Forbes Technology Council, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/09/10/16-key-steps-to-successful-it-project-management/?sh=502aefc07865 16 Key Steps To Successful IT Project Management], published 10 September 2020, accessed 23 June 2023</ref>

Although humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating, and communicating information since the earliest writing systems were developed,<ref name="Butler">{{citation |last=Butler |first=Jeremy G. |title=A History of Information Technology and Systems |url=http://www.tcf.ua.edu/AZ/ITHistoryOutline.htm |publisher=University of Arizona |access-date=2 August 2012 |archive-date=5 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805042711/http://www.tcf.ua.edu/AZ/ITHistoryOutline.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> the term ''information technology'' in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the ''[[Harvard Business Review]]''; authors [[Harold Leavitt|Harold J. Leavitt]] and Thomas L. Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)."<ref name="LeavittWhisler" /> Their definition consists of three categories: techniques for processing, the application of [[Statistics|statistical]] and mathematical methods to [[decision-making]], and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs.<ref name="LeavittWhisler">{{citation |title=Management in the 1980s |url=http://hbr.org/1958/11/management-in-the-1980s |last1=Leavitt |first1=Harold J. |last2=Whisler |first2=Thomas L. |journal=Harvard Business Review |year=1958 |volume=11}}.</ref>

The term is commonly used as a [[synonym]] for computers and [[computer networks]], but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as [[television]] and [[telephones]]. Several products or services within an economy are associated with information technology, including [[computer hardware]], [[software]], electronics, semiconductors, [[internet]], [[Telecommunications equipment|telecom equipment]], and [[e-commerce]].<ref name="DMC">{{citation |last1=Chandler |first1=Daniel |last2=Munday |first2=Rod |contribution=Information technology |title=A Dictionary of Media and Communication |edition=first |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLuJz-ZB828C&pg=PA211 |quote = Commonly a synonym for computers and computer networks but more broadly designating any technology that is used to generate, store, process, and/or distribute information electronically, including television and telephone. |access-date=1 August 2012 |url-access=subscription |isbn=978-0199568758 |date=2011-02-10 }}.</ref>{{efn|On the later more broad application of the term IT, Keary comments: "In its original application 'information technology' was appropriate to describe the convergence of technologies with application in the vast field of data storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination. This useful conceptual term has since been converted to what purports to be of great  use, but without the reinforcement of definition&nbsp;... the term IT lacks substance when applied to the name of any function, discipline, or position."{{sfnp|Ralston|Hemmendinger|Reilly|2000|p=869}}}}

Based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development: pre-mechanical (3000 BC — 1450 AD), [[Mechanical engineering|mechanical]] (1450 — 1840), [[Electromechanics|electromechanical]] (1840 — 1940), and [[Electronic engineering|electronic]] (1940 to present).<ref name="Butler"/>

Information technology is also a branch of [[computer science]], which can be defined as the overall study of procedure, structure, and the processing of various types of data.  As this field continues to evolve across the world, its overall priority and importance has also grown, which is where we begin to see the introduction of computer science-related courses in [[K–12|K-12 education]].

==History==
[[File:Z3 Deutsches Museum.JPG|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Z3 (computer)|Zuse Z3]] replica on display at [[Deutsches Museum]] in [[Munich]]. The Zuse Z3 is the first [[computer programming|programmable]] computer.]]
{{main|History of computing hardware}}
[[File:NAMA Machine d'Anticythère 2.jpg|thumb|This is the [[Antikythera mechanism]], which is considered the first mechanical analog computer, dating back to the first century BC.]]
Ideas of computer science were first mentioned before the 1950s under the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT) and [[Harvard University]], where they had discussed and began thinking of computer circuits and numerical calculations.  As time went on, the field of information technology and computer science became more complex and was able to handle the processing of more data. Scholarly articles began to be published from different organizations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Slotten|first=Hugh Richard|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199766666.001.0001|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology|date=2014-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199766666.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-976666-6}}</ref>

Looking at early computing, [[Alan Turing]], [[J. Presper Eckert]], and [[John Mauchly]] were considered some of the major pioneers of computer technology in the mid-1900s. Giving them such credit for their developments, most of their efforts were focused on designing the first digital computer. Along with that, topics such as [[artificial intelligence]] began to be brought up as Turing was beginning to question such technology of the time period.<ref>Henderson, H. (2017). computer science. In H. Henderson, ''Facts on File science library: Encyclopedia of computer science and technology''. (3rd ed.). [Online]. New York: Facts On File.</ref>

[[Machine|Devices]] have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a [[tally stick]].<ref name="Schmandt-Besserat">{{citation |last=Schmandt-Besserat |first=Denise |title=Decipherment of the earliest tablets |journal=Science |year=1981 |volume=211 |issue=4479 |pages=283–285 |doi=10.1126/science.211.4479.283 |pmid=17748027 |bibcode=1981Sci...211..283S }}.</ref> The [[Antikythera mechanism]], dating from about the beginning of the first century BC, is generally considered the earliest known mechanical [[analog computer]], and the earliest known geared mechanism.{{sfnp|Wright|2012|p=279}} Comparable geared devices did not emerge in [[Europe]] until the 16th century, and it was not until 1645 that the first [[mechanical calculator]] capable of performing the four basic arithmetical operations was developed.{{sfnp|Chaudhuri|2004|p=3}}

[[Electronic computers]], using either [[relay]]s or [[valve]]s, began to appear in the early 1940s. The [[electromechanical]] [[Z3 (computer)|Zuse Z3]], completed in 1941, was the world's first [[computer programming|programmable]] computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete [[computing]] machine. During the [[World War II|Second World War]], [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] developed the first electronic [[Digital data|digital]] computer to decrypt German messages. Although it was [[Computer programming|programmable]], it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single task. It also lacked the ability to store its program in memory; programming was carried out using plugs and switches to alter the internal wiring.{{sfnp|Lavington|1980|p=11}} The first recognizably modern [[Electronics|electronic]] digital [[stored-program computer]] was the [[Manchester Baby]], which ran its first program on 21 June 1948.<ref name="Enticknap">{{citation |last=Enticknap |first=Nicholas |title=Computing's Golden Jubilee |journal=Resurrection |issue=20 |date=Summer 1998 |url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d |issn=0958-7403 |access-date=19 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d |archive-date=9 January 2012 |url-status=dead }}.</ref>

The development of [[transistor]]s in the late 1940s at [[Bell Laboratories]] allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with greatly reduced power consumption. The first commercially available stored-program computer, the [[Ferranti Mark I]], contained 4050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts. By comparison, the first transistorized computer developed at the [[University of Manchester]] and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version.<ref>{{citation |doi=10.1049/esej:19980301 |last=Cooke-Yarborough |first=E. H. |title=Some early transistor applications in the UK |journal=  Engineering Science & Education Journal|volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=100–106 |date=June 1998 |issn=0963-7346}}.</ref>

Several other breakthroughs in [[semiconductor]] technology include the [[integrated circuit]] (IC) invented by [[Jack Kilby]] at [[Texas Instruments]] and [[Robert Noyce]] at [[Fairchild Semiconductor]] in 1959, the [[metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor]] (MOSFET) invented by [[Mohamed Atalla]] and [[Dawon Kahng]] at Bell Laboratories in 1959, and the [[microprocessor]] invented by [[Ted Hoff]], [[Federico Faggin]], [[Masatoshi Shima]], and [[Stanley Mazor]] at [[Intel]] in 1971. These important inventions led to the development of the [[personal computer]] (PC) in the 1970s, and the emergence of [[information and communications technology]] (ICT).<ref>{{cite web |title=Advanced information on the Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/advanced-physicsprize2000.pdf |website=[[Nobel Prize]] |date=June 2018 |access-date=December 17, 2019}}</ref>

By the year of 1984, according to the ''National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review'', the term ''information technology'' had been redefined as "The development of cable television was made possible by the convergence of telecommunications and computing technology (…generally known in Britain as information technology)."  We then begin to see the appearance of the term in 1990 contained within documents for the [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO).<ref>Information technology. (2003). In E.D. Reilly, A. Ralston & D. Hemmendinger (Eds.), ''Encyclopedia of computer science''. (4th ed.).</ref>

Innovations in technology have already revolutionized the world by the twenty-first century as people were able to access different online services. This has changed the workforce drastically as thirty percent of U.S. workers were already in careers in this profession. 136.9 million people were personally connected to the [[Internet]], which was equivalent to 51 million households.<ref>Stewart, C.M. (2018). Computers. In S. Bronner (Ed.), ''Encyclopedia of American studies''. [Online]. Johns Hopkins University Press.</ref> Along with the Internet, new types of technology were also being introduced across the globe, which has improved efficiency and made things easier across the globe.

Along with technology revolutionizing society, millions of processes could be done in seconds. Innovations in communication were also crucial as people began to rely on the computer to communicate through telephone lines and cable. The introduction of the email was considered revolutionary as "companies in one part of the world could communicate by e-mail with suppliers and buyers in another part of the world..."<ref name=":0">Northrup, C.C. (2013). Computers. In C. Clark Northrup (Ed.), ''Encyclopedia of world trade: from ancient times to the present''. [Online]. London: Routledge.</ref>

Not only personally, computers and technology have also revolutionized the marketing industry, resulting in more buyers of their products. During the year of 2002, Americans exceeded $28 billion in goods just over the Internet alone while e-commerce a decade later resulted in $289 billion in sales.<ref name=":0" /> And as computers are rapidly becoming more sophisticated by the day, they are becoming more used as people are becoming more reliant on them during the twenty-first century.

==Data processing==
{{main|Electronic data processing}}
[[File:Large 1984 0535 0001.jpg|thumb|Ferranti Mark I computer logic board]]

===Storage===
[[File:PaperTapes-5and8Hole.jpg|right|upright=1.35|thumb|[[Punched tape]]s were used in [[early computer]]s to store and represent [[data (computing)|data]].]]
{{main|Data storage}}
Early electronic computers such as [[Colossus computer|Colossus]] made use of [[punched tape]], a long strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes, a technology now obsolete.{{sfnp|Alavudeen|Venkateshwaran|2010|p=178}} Electronic data storage, which is used in modern computers, dates from World War II, when a form of [[delay-line memory]] was developed to remove the clutter from [[radar]] signals, the first practical application of which was the mercury delay line.{{sfnp|Lavington|1998|p=1}} The first [[random-access memory|random-access]] digital storage device was the [[Williams tube]], which was based on a standard [[cathode ray tube]].<ref name="Resurrection">{{citation |title=Early computers at Manchester University |journal=Resurrection |volume=1 |issue=4 |date=Summer 1992 |url=http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res04.htm#g |issn=0958-7403 |access-date=19 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828010743/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res04.htm#g |archive-date=28 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> However, the information stored in it and delay-line memory was volatile in the fact that it had to be continuously refreshed, and thus was lost once power was removed. The earliest form of non-volatile computer storage was the [[drum memory|magnetic drum]], invented in 1932<ref name="MagDrum">{{citation |url=http://cs-exhibitions.uni-klu.ac.at/index.php?id=222 |title=Magnetic drum |work=Virtual Exhibitions in Informatics |editor=Universität Klagenfurt |access-date=21 August 2011 |archive-date=21 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621130619/http://cs-exhibitions.uni-klu.ac.at/index.php?id=222 |url-status=dead }}.</ref> and used in the [[Ferranti Mark 1]], the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer.<ref name="Digital60MM1">{{citation |title=The Manchester Mark 1 |url=http://www.digital60.org/birth/manchestercomputers/mark1/manchester.html |publisher=University of Manchester |access-date=24 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121112547/http://www.digital60.org/birth/manchestercomputers/mark1/manchester.html |archive-date=21 November 2008 |df=dmy-all }}.</ref>

[[IBM]] introduced the first [[hard disk drive]] in 1956, as a component of their [[IBM 305 RAMAC|305 RAMAC]] computer system.<ref>{{citation |last=Khurshudov |first=Andrei |title=The Essential Guide to Computer Data Storage: From Floppy to DVD |year=2001 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=978-0-130-92739-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialguideto00andr }}.</ref>{{rp|6}} Most digital data today is still stored magnetically on hard disks, or optically on media such as [[CD-ROM]]s.<ref>{{citation |last1=Wang |first1=Shan X. |last2=Taratorin |first2=Aleksandr Markovich |title=Magnetic Information Storage Technology |year=1999 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-734570-3}}.</ref>{{rp|4–5}} Until 2002 most information was stored on [[analog device]]s, but that year digital storage capacity exceeded analog for the first time. {{as of|2007}}, almost 94% of the data stored worldwide was held digitally:<ref name="USCNews">{{citation |last=Wu |first=Suzanne |title=How Much Information Is There in the World? |url=http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/29360/How-Much-Information-Is-There-in-the-World |work=USC News |publisher=University of Southern California |access-date=10 September 2013}}.</ref> 52% on hard disks, 28% on optical devices, and 11% on digital magnetic tape. It has been estimated that the worldwide capacity to store information on electronic devices grew from less than 3&nbsp;[[exabyte]]s in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007,<ref name="HilbertLopez2011">{{citation |last1=Hilbert |first1=Martin |last2=López |first2=Priscila |title=The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information |date=1 April 2011 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=332 |issue=6025 |pages=60–65 |doi=10.1126/science.1200970 |pmid=21310967|bibcode=2011Sci...332...60H |s2cid=206531385 |doi-access=free }}.</ref> doubling roughly every 3 years.<ref name="Hilbertvideo2011">{{cite news |url=http://ideas.economist.com/video/giant-sifting-sound-0 |title=Americas events – Video animation on The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information from 1986 to 2010 |newspaper=The Economist |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118072720/http://ideas.economist.com/video/giant-sifting-sound-0 |archive-date=18 January 2012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

====Databases====
{{main|Database}}

[[DBMS|Database Management Systems (DMS)]] emerged in the 1960s to address the problem of storing and retrieving large amounts of data accurately and quickly. An early such system was [[IBM]]'s [[IBM Information Management System|Information Management System]] (IMS),{{sfnp|Ward|Dafoulas|2006|p=2}} which is still widely deployed more than 50 years later.<ref name="IMS">{{citation |last=Olofson |first=Carl W. |title=A Platform for Enterprise Data Services |date=October 2009 |publisher=[[International Data Corporation|IDC]] |url=http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/data/sw-library/ims/idc-power-of-ims.pdf |access-date=7 August 2012}}.</ref> IMS stores data [[Hierarchical database model|hierarchically]],{{sfnp|Ward|Dafoulas|2006|p=2}} but in the 1970s [[Edgar F. Codd|Ted Codd]] proposed an alternative relational storage model based on [[set theory]] and [[predicate logic]] and the familiar concepts of tables, rows, and columns. In 1981, the first commercially available [[relational database management system]] (RDBMS) was released by [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]].{{sfnp|Ward|Dafoulas|2006|p=3}}

All DMS consist of components, they allow the data they store to be accessed simultaneously by many users while maintaining its integrity.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcOUCgAAQBAJ |title=Database System Concepts |last=Silberschatz |first=Abraham |date=2010 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education |isbn=978-0-07-741800-7 |language=en}}.</ref> All databases are common in one point that the structure of the data they contain is defined and stored separately from the data itself, in a [[database schema]].{{sfnp|Ward|Dafoulas|2006|p=2}}

In recent years, the [[XML|extensible markup language]] (XML) has become a popular format for data representation. Although XML data can be stored in normal [[file system]]s, it is commonly held in [[relational database]]s to take advantage of their "robust implementation verified by years of both theoretical and practical effort."{{sfnp|Pardede|2009|p=2}} As an evolution of the [[Standard Generalized Markup Language]] (SGML), XML's text-based structure offers the advantage of being both [[machine readable|machine-]] and [[human-readable]].{{sfnp|Pardede|2009|p=4}}

===Transmission===
[[File:IBM card storage.NARA.jpg|thumb|IBM card storage warehouse located in Alexandria, Virginia in 1959. This is where the government kept storage of punched cards.]]
[[Data transmission]] has three aspects: transmission, propagation, and reception.{{sfnp|Weik|2000|p=361}} It can be broadly categorized as [[broadcasting]], in which information is transmitted unidirectionally downstream, or [[telecommunications]], with bidirectional upstream and downstream channels.{{r|HilbertLopez2011}}

XML has been increasingly employed as a means of data interchange since the early 2000s,{{sfnp|Pardede|2009|p=xiii}} particularly for machine-oriented interactions such as those involved in web-oriented [[communications protocol|protocols]] such as [[SOAP]],{{sfnp|Pardede|2009|p=4}} describing "data-in-transit rather than... data-at-rest".{{sfnp|Pardede|2009|p=xiii}}

===Manipulation===
Hilbert and Lopez identify the exponential pace of technological change (a kind of [[Moore's law]]): machines' application-specific capacity to compute information per capita roughly doubled every 14&nbsp;months between 1986 and 2007; the per capita capacity of the world's general-purpose computers doubled every 18&nbsp;months during the same two decades; the global [[telecommunication]] capacity per capita doubled every 34 months; the world's storage capacity per capita required roughly 40 months to double (every 3 years); and per capita broadcast information has doubled every 12.3&nbsp;years.{{r|HilbertLopez2011}}

Massive amounts of data are stored worldwide every day, but unless it can be analyzed and presented effectively it essentially resides in what have been called data tombs: "data archives that are seldom visited".{{sfnp|Han|Kamber|Pei|2011|p=5}} To address that issue, the field of [[data mining]]&nbsp;— "the process of discovering interesting patterns and knowledge from large amounts of data"{{sfnp|Han|Kamber|Pei|2011|p=8}}&nbsp;— emerged in the late 1980s.{{sfnp|Han|Kamber|Pei|2011|p=xxiii}}

== Services ==

=== Email ===
The technology and services it provides for sending and receiving electronic messages (called "letters" or "electronic letters") over a distributed (including global) computer network. In terms of the composition of elements and the principle of operation, electronic mail practically repeats the system of regular (paper) mail, borrowing both terms (mail, letter, envelope, attachment, box, delivery, and others) and characteristic features — ease of use, message transmission delays, sufficient reliability and at the same time no guarantee of delivery. The advantages of e-mail are: easily perceived and remembered by a person addresses of the form user_name@domain_name (for example, somebody@example.com); the ability to transfer both plain text and formatted, as well as arbitrary files; independence of servers (in the general case, they address each other directly); sufficiently high reliability of message delivery; ease of use by humans and programs.

Disadvantages of e-mail: the presence of such a phenomenon as spam (massive advertising and viral mailings); the theoretical impossibility of guaranteed delivery of a particular letter; possible delays in message delivery (up to several days); limits on the size of one message and on the total size of messages in the mailbox (personal for users).

=== Search system ===
A software and hardware complex with a web interface that provides the ability to search for information on the Internet. A search engine usually means a site that hosts the interface (front-end) of the system. The software part of a search engine is a search engine (search engine) — a set of programs that provides the functionality of a search engine and is usually a trade secret of the search engine developer company. Most search engines look for information on [[World Wide Web]] sites, but there are also systems that can look for files on FTP servers, items in online stores, and information on Usenet newsgroups. Improving search is one of the priorities of the modern Internet (see the Deep Web article about the main problems in the work of search engines).

== Commercial effects ==
Companies in the information technology field are often discussed as a group as the "tech sector" or the "tech industry."<ref>{{cite news |title=Technology Sector Snapshot |url=http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/usmarkets/sectors.asp?sector=57 |access-date=12 January 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113163914/http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/usmarkets/sectors.asp?sector=57 |archive-date=13 January 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Our programmes, campaigns and partnerships |url=https://www.techuk.org/focus|publisher=TechUK |access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cyberstates 2016|url=https://www.comptia.org/resources/cyberstates-2016|publisher=CompTIA|access-date=12 January 2017}}</ref>  These titles can be misleading at times and should not be mistaken for "tech companies;" which are generally large scale, for-profit corporations that sell consumer technology and software.  It is also worth noting that from a business perspective, Information technology departments are a "[[Cost centre (business)|cost center]]" the majority of the time.  A cost center is a department or staff which incurs expenses, or "costs", within a company rather than generating profits or revenue streams. Modern businesses rely heavily on technology for their day-to-day operations, so the expenses delegated to cover technology that facilitates business in a more efficient manner are usually seen as "just the cost of doing business."  IT departments are allocated funds by senior leadership and must attempt to achieve the desired deliverables while staying within that budget. Government and the private sector might have different funding mechanisms, but the principles are more-or-less the same. This is an often overlooked reason for the rapid interest in automation and [[Artificial intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]], but the constant pressure to do more with less is opening the door for automation to take control of at least some minor operations in large companies.

Many companies now have IT departments for managing the [[computer]]s, networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. Companies have also sought to integrate IT with business outcomes and decision-making through a BizOps or business operations department.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manifesto Hatched to Close Gap Between Business and IT |url=https://www.technewsworld.com/story/86893.html |access-date=2021-03-22 |website=TechNewsWorld |date=22 October 2020}}</ref>

In a business context, the [[Information Technology Association of America]] has defined information technology as "the study, design, development, application, implementation, support, or management of computer-based information systems".<ref>{{citation |last=Proctor |first=K. Scott |title=Optimizing and Assessing Information Technology: Improving Business Project Execution |year=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-10263-3}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2017}} The responsibilities of those working in the field include network administration, software development and installation, and the planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which hardware and software are maintained, upgraded, and replaced.

=== Information services ===<!---[[Information services (IT)]] redirects here until an article is created or someone thinks of a better option. This has arisen out of a mess relating links to Information service(s) (now a DAB page) and [[Information broker]].---->
Information services is a term somewhat loosely applied to a variety of IT-related services offered by commercial companies,<ref name="VentureRadar">{{cite web | title=Top Information Services companies | website=VentureRadar | url=https://www.ventureradar.com/keyword/Information%20Services | access-date=March 8, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Index.co">{{cite web | title=Follow Information Services on Index.co | website=Index.co | url=https://index.co/market/information-services/companies | access-date=March 8, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Publishing">{{cite web | last=Publishing | first=Value Line | title=Industry Overview: Information Services | website=Value Line | url=https://www.valueline.com/Stocks/Industries/Industry_Overview__Information_Services.aspx | access-date=March 8, 2021 | archive-date=20 June 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620073252/https://www.valueline.com/Stocks/Industries/Industry_Overview__Information_Services.aspx | url-status=dead }}</ref> as well as [[data broker]]s.

<gallery>
File:ComputerSystemsEmployment distribution .png|U.S. Employment distribution of computer systems design and related services, 2011<ref name="bls.gov">{{cite web |url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-2/careers-in-growing-field-of-information-technology-services.htm |title=U.S. Careers in the growing field of information technology services |author=Lauren Csorny |date=9 April 2013 |publisher=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}}</ref>
File:EmploymentComputerSystems.png|U.S. Employment in the computer systems and design related services industry, in thousands, 1990–2011<ref name="bls.gov"/>
File:ComputerSystemsOccupationalGrowthWages.png|U.S. Occupational growth and wages in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020<ref name="bls.gov"/>
File:ProjectedEmploymentChangeComputerSystems.png|U.S. projected percent change in employment in selected occupations in computer systems design and related services, 2010–2020<ref name="bls.gov"/>
File:ProjectedAverageAnnualEmploymentChangeSelectedIndustries.png|U.S. projected average annual percent change in output and employment in selected industries, 2010–2020<ref name="bls.gov"/>
</gallery>

===Ethics===
{{main|Information ethics}}
The field of information ethics was established by mathematician [[Norbert Wiener]] in the 1940s.<ref>{{citation |last=Bynum |first=Terrell Ward |contribution=Norbert Wiener and the Rise of Information Ethics |title=Information Technology and Moral Philosophy |year=2008 |editor1-last=van den Hoven |editor1-first=Jeroen |editor2-last=Weckert |editor2-first=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85549-5}}.</ref>{{rp|9}} Some of the ethical issues associated with the use of information technology include:<ref>{{citation |last=Reynolds |first=George |title=Ethics in Information Technology |year=2009 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-538-74622-9}}.</ref>{{rp|20–21}}
* Breaches of copyright by those downloading files stored without the permission of the copyright holders
* Employers monitoring their employees' emails and other Internet usage
* [[Spamming|Unsolicited emails]]
* [[hacker (computer security)|Hackers]] accessing online databases
* Web sites installing [[HTTP cookie|cookies]] or [[spyware]] to monitor a user's online activities, which may be used by [[data broker]]s

==IT projects==
Research suggests that IT projects in business and public administration can easily become significant in scale. Work conducted by [[McKinsey & Company|McKinsey]] in collaboration with the [[University of Oxford]] suggested that half of all large-scale IT projects (those with initial [[cost estimate]]s of $15 million or more) often failed to maintain costs within their initial budgets or to complete on time.<ref>Bloch, M., Blumberg, S. and Laartz, J., [https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/delivering-large-scale-it-projects-on-time-on-budget-and-on-value Delivering large-scale IT projects on time, on budget, and on value], published 1 October 2012, accessed 23 June 2023</ref>

==See also==
* [[Information and communications technology]] (ICT)
* [[Outline of information technology]]
* [[Knowledge society]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==

===Citations===

{{reflist|30em|refs=}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
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* {{citation |last=Chaudhuri |first=P. Pal |title=Computer Organization and Design |year=2004 |publisher=PHI Learning |isbn=978-81-203-1254-8}}
* {{citation |last1=Han |first1=Jiawei |last2=Kamber |first2=Micheline |last3=Pei |first3=Jian |title=Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques |year=2011 |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Morgan Kaufmann]] |isbn=978-0-12-381479-1}}
* {{citation |last=Lavington |first=Simon |title=Early British Computers |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-7190-0810-8}}
* {{citation |last=Lavington |first=Simon |title=A History of Manchester Computers |year=1998 |edition=2nd |publisher=The British Computer Society |isbn=978-1-902505-01-5}}
* {{citation |last=Pardede |first=Eric |title=Open and Novel Issues in XML Database Applications |year=2009 |publisher=Information Science Reference |isbn=978-1-60566-308-1}}
* {{citation |editor1-last=Ralston |editor1-first=Anthony |editor2-last=Hemmendinger |editor2-first=David |editor3-last=Reilly |editor3-first=Edwin D. |title=Encyclopedia of Computer Science |edition=4th |year=2000 |publisher=Nature Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-56159-248-7}}
* {{citation |last=van der Aalst |first=Wil M. P. |title=Process Mining: Discovery, Conformance and Enhancement of Business Processes |year=2011 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-19344-6}}
* {{citation |last1=Ward |first1=Patricia |last2=Dafoulas |first2=George S. |title=Database Management Systems |year=2006 |publisher=Cengage Learning EMEA |isbn=978-1-84480-452-8}}
* {{citation |last=Weik |first=Martin |title=Computer Science and Communications Dictionary |volume=2 |year=2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-7923-8425-0}}
* {{citation |last=Wright |first=Michael T. |contribution=The Front Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism |year=2012 |editor1-last=Koetsier |title=Explorations in the History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM2012 |editor1-first=Teun |editor2-last=Ceccarelli |editor2-first=Marco |pages=279–292 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-007-4131-7}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=T. |editor2-last=Morton |editor2-first=M. S. Morton |title=Information Technology and the Corporation of the 1990s |year=1994 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}.
* Gitta, Cosmas and South, David (2011). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1O54YSE2BgC Southern Innovator Magazine Issue 1: Mobile Phones and Information Technology]'': United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. {{ISSN|2222-9280}}.
* [[James Gleick|Gleick, James]] (2011).''[[The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood]]''. New York: [[Pantheon Books]].
* {{citation |last=Price |first=Wilson T. |title=Introduction to Computer Data Processing |year=1981 |publisher=Holt-Saunders International Editions |isbn=978-4-8337-0012-2}}.
* Shelly, Gary, Cashman, Thomas, Vermaat, Misty, and Walker, Tim. (1999). ''Discovering Computers 2000: Concepts for a Connected World''. [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts: Course Technology.
* Webster, Frank, and Robins, Kevin. (1986). ''Information Technology&nbsp;— A Luddite Analysis''. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

==External links==
*{{Wikiversity-inline}}
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}

{{Informatics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Information Technology}}
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Information technology| ]]
[[Category:Intellectual capital]]
[[Category:Mass media technology]]