Abstract

Recent developments in computer technology have finally made the computer utility feasible. Bringing computer power to geographically dispersed users, the concept behind the computer utility, will have a powerful impact on business management. In several recent publications this impact is seen to be as important as the industrial revolution. At a minimum the computer utility is expected to affect dramatically the way business is conducted. Such speculations raise many questions. The importance of a data processing manager's function using a computer utility service relative to using an in-house system may decrease. This arises from the potential reduction of clerical people and in-house systems design responsibility. The data processing manager's job may either be eliminated or require assumption of different responsibilities for which he may not have experience or training. The potential uses of the computer utility are limited only by imagination and the changing economics of technology. A computer utility system will exist and will provide a wide spectrum of services that will dramatically affect business. The change will be evolutionary, not revolutionary.