The term information technology (IT) originated in 1958. In the more than 50 years since, IT has become an essential part of the world. Today, it’s used everywhere, and it will soon be an essential utility, much like electricity or cooking gas. So what does IT bring to our lives, at work or at home? In the most practical terms, IT makes our world more efficient by enabling automation. Whether it’s corporate accounting or personal email, IT has turned hard manual labor into lightning-fast interactions between computers and digital media. And this happened over those 50 years, step by step.

First, we computed numbers and solved complex equations. Then we learned to program repetitive tasks, which developed into workflows, applications, and data processing. Soon we learned to link those automations together and achieve a higher degree of automation. This gave rise to computer networks and, ultimately, the internet. After the common tasks were automated, we started analyzing the efficiency of this automated world. Next, that analysis itself became automated, helping us quickly learn, decide, and respond to digital events. So where do we go next? Do we automate the learning, the decisions, and the responses? That’s certainly the direction research is heading: self-driving cars, natural language processing, smart grids, self-healing networks, and more.

So where does your business stand on IT automation today? Are you automating tasks, analysis, or decisions?