IT Spreads, Industry by Industry

Computerworld - When was the last time that news from an IT vendor grabbed the attention of the enterprise IT community, let alone the broader business media? If you're like most, you have probably shrugged off Microsoft's Vista delays and the huge proposed mergers that would combine Lucent with Alcatel and AT&T with BellSouth. Compare this reaction with the frothy front-page coverage once given to Windows 95, the browser wars and Linux.

While some may see this relative indifference as the inevitable result of a maturing IT industry, or even as a sign that IT no longer matters, a closer look reveals just the opposite. Enterprise IT has never been more interesting, and technology is now driving business transformation controversies that dwarf the vendor squabbles of the past. Consider the following 10 IT stories that are playing out across much of the developed world.

1. Governments are debating if and how they should move toward a new generation of identification cards and cross-linked databases. For better or worse, both could be powerful new platforms for societal security and control.

2. The health care industry is struggling to develop the standards and cooperation needed to automate medical records processing. Few paths offer more hope for better care and more effective cost control.

3. The insurance industry is looking at the same sorts of health records and debating whether to use individual information to price insurance coverage based on family history, genetic proclivities, driving habits or other personal traits and behavior.

4. The pharmaceutical industry is considering moving away from its increasingly problematic one-size-fits-all drug manufacturing approach to developing products that are customized to the needs of smaller groups or even individuals.

5. Book publishers and Google are locked in a fierce legal battle to determine what will constitute "fair use" on the Internet. At stake is the scope and manner of future book-content innovation.

6. As services such as iTunes and YouTube take off, the traditional record and television companies are losing their decades-old grip on the identification and promotion of new entertainment talent.

7. Unlike checks, credit cards and ATMs, it looks as if both Internet and mobile phone payment systems will be led not by banks but by new entries, with potentially profound effects on the evolution of the financial services industry.

8. For reasons of cost and reliability, both retailers and manufacturers continue to hold back on massive RFID deployments, with major implications for supply chain advancements.

9. As concerns about global warming increase, various schemes for monitoring and charging for peak-hour driving and other forms of energy use are being either planned or implemented.