I found this book interesting not so much for what it says but for the response it has provoked. The central message -- that IT [information technology] investments, though still necessary, can no longer provide a competitive advantage for individual firms -- is neither radical nor new. Why, then, did the idea — originally published in the May 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review under the title "IT doesn't matter" — cause such a firestorm of controversy?

One journalist called it "the rhetorical equivalent of a 50-megaton smart bomb." Another called it "one of the key events in IT in 2003." The author, Nicholas Carr, has been called "a reluctant anti-hero" and listed in "10 people to watch in 2004." His thesis has been derided on one hand as "hogwash" and "dead wrong" and on the other as a "bold Olympian pronouncement."

In this article, we look at what the book says, speculate on why it generated so much discussion, and draw some implications for information managers.

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