与铁路、电力和其他基础设施一样,信息技术已经变得如此普及,对公司来说它不可或缺,但它已不能提供战略性竞争优势.公司不应再试图通过应用信息技术获得竞争优势,而应该防御性地管理信息技术,减少IT支出.卡尔的观点引起IT业震荡,遭到众多人士的批驳.但不管其观点是否正确,在IT业持续低迷,面临重大转型的时刻,卡尔的观点引发人们重新思考IT的商业价值.“,”Nicholas G. Carr's “IT Doesn't Matter”, published in the May 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review, claims that “As IT's core functions--data processing, storage, and transmission--have become cheaper, more standardized, and more easily replicable, their ability to serve as the basis for competitive advantage has steadily eroded. Given this continuing and indeed inexorable trend, companies would be wise to manage IT as a commodity input, seeking to achieve competitive necessary levels of capability at the lowest possible cost and risk.” Carrs' view has aroused a heated debate among people from IT and other business fields. Many IT experts and analysts have attacked Carr's conclusion, claiming it as dangerous and misleading and reconfirming IT as the resources of strategic competitiveness for companies. Carr's argumentation has appeal people to rethink many challenging issues facing IT development, such as IT's business value, the next big bang.