Earlier this year, an important article in the Harvard Business Review rocked Silicon Valley and information technology -- IT -- circles. Its author, the business writer and consultant Nicholas Carr, made a bold, Olympian pronouncement: "IT Doesn't Matter."
Carr argued that IT had become so ubiquitous it should be thought of as a commodity, like electricity: Everyone used it. As such, acquiring faster-better-cheaper technology wasn't going to help American businesses all that much.
In the early days of the IT revolution, a company could be the first to snatch up, say, new database software and gain enormous competitive advantages over its rivals. But today, Carr argued, large businesses have thoroughly adopted IT, so "IT doesn't matter" in helping companies leave competitors in the dust.
Carr's article was seen by some as kicking a dog while it was down, coming as it did after the dramatic collapse in technology and Internet stock prices.
The piling-on prompted some to speculate that the end of the Web as a revolutionary force was nigh.
So threatened did industry titans feel by this budding public perception that tech executives such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Intel's Craig Barrett rushed to the defense of their beloved industry, one they believed still possessed the power to transform both businesses and the broader culture.
So who was right?
Well, you don't need to be Howard Dean's political opponents to know that IT -- and the Internet in particular -- does indeed continue to "matter." And though there was considerable merit to Carr's analysis, some developments in the months subsequent to the publication of his article help us better understand the way technology is continuing to transform businesses and our lives.
The online auction house EBay has become a household name in just a few short years, one of the examples of a company that's managed to thrive -- and even make money -- amid all the skepticism about tech businesses.
So potent has EBay become as a "clicks and mortar" business that it's creating demand for the start-up of traditional "bricks and mortar" businesses in response.
AuctionDrop is a California-based company that helps people sell stuff on EBay. You drop goods off at an AuctionDrop shop, and the staff provides the necessary services you need to execute a sale -- photographing the merchandise, listing it on EBay and handling shipping and delivery.
