The Use of Information Technology in Business

In its practical sense, Information Technology involves the use of computer applications and equipment to development, design, manipulate, and implement the storing and the transmission of data. Basically every endeavor requires the storage and transmission of data. For instance, before the use of the online public access catalog, school libraries use physical card catalogs as a registry of all books and files stored in their archives. But with the internet, the previously physical information was digitized, allowing for wireless data transmission.
This begs the question: what is the use of Information Technology in business?
For one, it allows businesses to break the boundaries of location and language. Take, for example, a retail store. If the store sticks to merely doing physical transactions from its brick and mortar store, it limits the possible clientele to the people within its location. But by using the internet, the store can be part of a national—and even global—marketplace. This is the basic concept that makes websites such as eBay and Amazon a success.
Information Technology in business can also open up opportunities for low cost business operations. Many companies and entrepreneurs, for instance, go into telecommuting when looking for workers and employees. Not only does telecommuting (obviously possible with the use of Information Technology) allow institutions to outsource work, it also widens the talent pool search, giving entrepreneurs to more choices when it comes to workers and employees.
Of course, Information Technology also works in the physical business set-up. Information Technology in business allow companies to store product information on virtual databases (rather than physical ones), allowing for easier retrieval of data when needed. It makes internal communication easier, thanks to email, telephone linking, and other similar methods of communication.
All of these examples can be summed up as such: basically, Information Technology makes business easier.