New Educational as a Return on Investment in Technology

AS A RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY T he Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council first described the “IT paradox” in 1994: “Some economic studies have suggested that the large investment in IT by the service sector has not been associated with substantial gains in productivity as measured by national macroeconomic statistics. . . . [Yet] the use of IT now appears more essential than optional.”1 Information technology had become the competitive edge in the provision of services. Service companies that had not infused technology into their business models were disappearing while IT-savvy business models were enabling some companies to rise to higher levels of competitive excellence. And entire new service sectors had been established, ones that could not have existed without certain enabling technologies.