A major feature of information technology is the changes that IT brings. Those who speak of a revolution from technology are really talking about change. Business and economic conditions change all the time; a revolution is a discontinuity, an abrupt and dramatic series of changes in the natural evolution of economies. In the early days of technology, change was gradual and often not particularly significant. The advent of personal computers accelerated the pace of change, and when the Internet became available for profit-making activities around 1992, change became exponential and revolutionary…eventually bringing us to where we are today. To a great extent, any study of information technology is a study of change.

In what way can and does technology change the world around us? The impact of IT is broad and diverse; some of the changes it brings are profound. Information technology has demonstrated an ability to change or create the following:

Project management

- Online collaborative tools bring diverse and virtual teams close together for productive and team-focused activities. Electronic communication, videoconferencing, web-based meetings, etc. of eliminated distance as a factor bring teams and the customer together on a moment’s notice.

Within organizations

- Creating new procedures, workflows, workgroups, the knowledge base, products and services, and communications.

Organizational structure

- Facilitating new reporting relationships, increased spans of control, local decision rights, supervision, the formation of divisions, geographic scope, and "virtual" organizations.

Interorganizational relations

- Creating new customer-supplier relations, partnerships, and alliances.

The economy

- Altering the nature of markets through electronic commerce, disintermediation, new forms of marketing and advertising, partnerships and alliances, the cost of transactions, and modes of governance in customer-supplier relationships.

Education

- Enhancing "on campus" education through videoconferencing, e-mail, electronic meetings, groupware, and electronic guest lectures. Facilitating distance learning through online courses, e-mail, groupware, and videoconferencing. Providing access to vast amounts of reference material; facilitating collaborative projects independent of time zones and distance.

National development

- Providing small companies with international presence and facilitating commerce.

Technology has been changing the way we live and do business our entire lives and the change pace has stepped up significantly in the last 15-20 years. As project managers, we try to not only use this technology to our customer’s advantage on new engagements but also to our own advantage as we bring our teams and customers closer together in terms of communication, collaboration and overall project strategizing.

We all use web meetings, video conferencing, teleconferencing, and collaborative tools. If there’s anything truly unique that you’ve done or utilized as a project manager in moving your projects forward or bringing your team together, please share it here by commenting.