In this article published in the May 2003 by Nicholas Carr, former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review, edition of the Harvard Business Review, Carr portrays the evolution of information technology in business, demonstrating that it follows a pattern similar to that of earlier technologies - like railroads and electric power.
For a brief period, as these technologies are being developed and integrated into the infrastructure of commerce, they open opportunities for forward-looking companies to gain strong competitive advantages. As their availability increases however, their cost decreases - as they become ubiquitous - and they become commodity inputs. "From a strategic standpoint, they become invisible; they no longer matter."[1]