Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Hardware, software, and people are the three basic ingredients of enterprise business technology. They provide the enterprise with an economic advantage through automated and improved business processes, increased employee productivity, and more accurate and precise information. The relationship between these three components has evolved over time: Initially, hardware reigned supreme; software was a mere adjunct and free to the mainframe buyer. Decreasing hardware costs then led to software "unbundling." In the present era of information technology, hardware's ever-decreasing costs make it an enabler of software functions. In the business technology (BT) era, we predict that managing the third part of the equation — people — will emerge as the dominant focus. As software applications become business services, the cost of human resources producing, operating, and managing software will soon be prohibitive and the new focal point. In this regard, the current economic downturn, if it persists, may prove to be a driver that accelerates the shift toward the BT era.

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