Has IT become more important in recent months?

• Position: Up front: news, trends & analysis - Brief Article

Information technology (IT) has taken on a new significance since September 11. IT tools are being relied upon more heavily to facilitate disaster recovery, e-learning, overseas outsourcing, supply chain management, and staff management -- functions necessary to help the world recover from the terrorist attacks.

Military

The military has especially benefited from IT support. It has armed every U.S. soldier with mobile equipment and systems, allowing dependable real-time intelligence while on the battlefield. IT and military strategists are predicting that all soldiers in combat will eventually be using handheld phones and minicomputers to connect to a wireless communications network to track other units on the ground and military assets in the air and at sea.

Internet

Streaming media technology had record usage in September as people stormed Web sites to keep up with the latest news developments. Nielsen/NetRatings, an Internet measurement service, reports that 21.1 million workers listened to or watched some form of audio or video Webcast that month as compared with 17.4 million in September 2000.

Travel

IT tools have helped the travel industry, one of the financially hardest hit from the terrorist attacks, monitor traveling trends. This has...