The challenge of managing the evolution of the IT architecture of the firm is daunting.While many firms in the 1990s are moving toward a more distributed IT arctecture,the choices that are being made ad the process through which the evolution takes place are often very different.Managers must consider the influence of legacy systems,organization culture and history,IT and business leadership,the capabilities of IT professionals and end users,and the demands if the business environment.
Continuous reexamination of the IT architecture and its relationshio to strategy and organization must be a high priority.Radical change in the price/performance of technology can be expected to continue.The continued merging of core information technologies will alter the possibilities for organizations and players in the information industry.Managers can expect that both the risks and potential rewards involved in managing techology assimilation will continue to increase.