The 1980s were characterized by rapid developments in information technologies, continuously rising IT expenditures in firms and high hopes about the pay-off of IT investments. In many ways., the great expectations of IT seemed to encourage organizations to manage IT as a special case, somehow above the norms of conventional policy and practice. The 1990s look different- IT expenditures are no longer rising, value for money questions are being asked about IT, changes are being made to IT organization structures and IS Directors are losing their jobs. Michael Earl argues for a more realistic approach to managing IT. He calls it “putting the business back into IT”.
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