It Doesn't Matter--Business Processes Do: A Critical Analysis of Nicholas Carr's I.T. Article in the Harvard Business Review

A controversial article by Nicholas Carr, published in the May 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review , declared that information technology (IT) has matured to the point where it no longer gives companies competitive advantage. This response to Carr's article argues that the strategic importance of IT is actually increasing. Smith and Fingar are the authors of a previous book on the business process revolution. There is no subject index. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Howard Smith is Chief Technology Officer (Europe) of Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and co-chair of the Business Process Management Initiative (BPMI.org). With more than 24 years in the IT industry, he is a sought after speaker and advisor. His work in predicting and shaping technology at the intersection with business led him to take an active role in the development and application of the third wave. He is currently researching the application of business process management to corporate sustainability, innovation and growth, for which he has global research and development responsibility at CSC.

Peter Fingar is one of the industry's noted experts on Business Process Management (BPM). He has delivered keynotes on busines technology world wide and is author of the best-selling books, The Death of 'e' and the Birth of the Real New Economy and Enterprise E-Commerce. Over his 30-year career he has taught graduate and undergraduate computing studies and held management, technical and consulting positions with GTE Data Services, Saudi Aramco, EC Cubed, Noor Advanced Technologies, the Technical Resource Connection division of Perot Systems and IBM Global Services.