IT systems initially did not have a key role for the functioning of the business, they were more concerned with the accounting of transactions, or rather, those actions that were performed by the business. In fact, it was a kind of “post-mortem accounting” of what was done by the business. IT was not at the forefront of business.
There were some attempts to elevate the status of IT. In one form or another, automated systems were created for development, such as automating the creation of design and technological documentation. But still the main function of IT was still accounting and control, akin to accounting.
In the twentieth century, an IT worker was perceived by the rest of the company employees as the person who runs the cable, installs and runs the computer or helps the accounting department, and above all the accounting department, to fix the faulty system. Organizations (enterprises) looked at IT as a service, which, if necessary, can be partially or even completely cut.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, opportunities emerged for the active involvement of IT in business through the mass use of the Internet, mobile technology, and various gadgets.
Entrepreneurs and managers realized that the Internet was the new platform. During the sales boom, companies began to think about how best to advertise their products so that they could be successfully sold not only “over the counter” but also via the Internet.
Developers began to create software products that gave users the opportunity to create something of their own via the Internet, to design, for example, a car (Ford, Honda, Toyota did this). This development of products in conjunction with the consumer is recognized as the most perfect form of product design, demanded by customers.
Around the same time, ideas emerged to use cell phones not only for entertainment, but also for useful things. Banks, for example, realized pretty quickly that the new generation did not want to come to a branch to make any transaction on their accounts. So banks got active in offering their online services, as well as promoting them.
After all, in the 2000s there was a transformation of IT from “systems of records” to “systems of engagement” (systems of rewarding new customers).
And now it is precisely such IT systems that are key to business.
