What is Information Technology?

Before going into the detail of analysing the relationship between the IT Strategy and Business Strategy of General Electric, it is important to establish exactly what Information Technology (IT) is. There are numerous definitions available and I have listed some of these below -

"Information Technology (IT)[1] is concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information, especially in large organizations." - Wikipedia, Nov 9th 2006

"Includes all matters concerned with the furtherance of computer science and technology and with the design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications [San Diego State University]. An information technology architecture is an integrated framework for acquiring and evolving IT to achieve strategic goals. It has both logical and technical components" - Ichnet, Nov 9th 2006

"Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment, that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information. The term information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. ..." - NASA, 9th Nov 2006

"a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange and utilize information in its various forms including business data, conversations, still images, motion pictures and multimedia presentations." - Science Coalition, 9th Nov 2006

The simplest definition is by far the Wikipedia one. Although I believe this is correct, I also believe that the Science Coalition definition presents a more detailed definition. However, all of these definitions essentially state the same point. IT is the use of Technology in organisations, large or small, to store, manage, analyse and process information. This IT, if used correctly, can help the Organisation to reach its business goals.