IT PROFESSIONALS

Information Technology (IT)

The development, installation, and implementation of computer systems and applications is called IT.

                                                            Or

A term used to refer to wide variety of items and abilities used in the creation, storage and the dispersal of data and information. Its three main component are computers, communications, and networks and know how.                             

Or

Information technology refers to a wide variety of items and abilities used in the creation of knowledge.

Data: Are raw facts, figures and details.

Information: Refers to an organized, meaningful and useful interpretation of data.

Knowledge: It is the awareness and understanding of a set of information and how that information can be put to the best use.

       A simple example to classify these distinctions is, at a retail store a specific costumer order identifies the items he purchased and in what quantity and price. These details are the raw data. At the end of a business period the details of all costumer orders are assembled, summarized and compared with expected orders. This information tells managers whether the store’s performance is better or worse than anticipated. This information maybe combined with another set of information to create the knowledge that some customers are shopping at another store because of the competitor’s new low-price program. This knowledge may cause the store’s manager to change their pricing strategy.

    Knowledge consists of

·      Familiarity with the tools of IT

·      Possession of the skill needed to use these tools

·      An understanding of when to use IT to solve a problem or to capitalize on an opportunity