Wednesday 20 July 2016

Difference Between IT and ICT

IT (Information Technology) refers to an entire industry that uses computers, networking, software and other equipment to manage information. Modern IT departments in large companies are equipped with computers, DBMS (Database Management Systems), servers and security mechanisms for storing, processing, retrieving and protecting information of the company. ICT (Information Communications Technology) is a term widely used in the context of education. Even though there is no universally accepted definition for ICT, it mainly refers to utilizing digital technologies such as computers, television, email, etc to help individuals or organizations to use information

What is IT?
IT refers to an entire industry that uses computers, networking, software and other equipment to manage information. Generally, IT departments are responsible for storing, processing, retrieving and protecting digital information of the company. For achieving these tasks, they are equipped with computers, DBMS, servers and security mechanisms, etc. Professionals working in IT departments range from system administrators, database administrators to programmers, network engineers and IT managers. When executing a business, IT facilitates the business by providing four sets of core services. These core services are providing information, providing tools to improve productivity, business process automation and providing means to connect with customers. Currently, IT has become an essential part in business operations and has provided lot of job opportunities worldwide. Knowledge in IT has become essential to succeed in the workplace. Typically, IT professionals are responsible for a range of duties including simple tasks such as installing software to complex tasks such as designing and building networks and managing databases.

What is ICT?
As mentioned earlier, ICT is a term widely used in the context of education. Even though there is no universally accepted definition for ICT, it mainly refers to utilizing digital technologies such as computers, television, email, etc to help individuals or organizations to work with digital information. ICT can be seen as an extended synonym for IT. Therefore, ICT can be seen as an integration of IT with media broadcasting technologies, audio/ video processing and transmission and telephony. The term ICT first came in to picture in 1997 in a report prepared by Dennis Stevenson for the UK government. Recently, the term ICT has been used to refer to integrating telephone and audio/ visual networks with computer networks. This integration has provided large savings of costs due to the elimination of telephone networks.

What is the difference between IT and ICT?
IT refers to an entire industry that uses computers, networking, software and other equipment to manage information, whereas ICT can be seen as an integration of IT with media broadcasting technologies, audio/ video processing and transmission and telephony. Therefore, ICT can be seen as an extended acronym for IT. The term ICT is widely used in the context of education, whereas IT is a term widely used in the industry. In addition, recently, ICT is also used to refer to the integration of telephone and audio/ visual networks with computer networks. In simplest terms, ICT can be seen as the integration of information technology with communication technology.