IT is entering the third stage in its evolution, after first focusing on programmatic and managed processes like general ledge and ERP, and then on predicting what is about to happen through processes like budgeting, business intelligence and spreadsheet analysis. The current phase of evolution focuses on what is happening at this moment. This third wave is enabling people to collaborate more successfully while reducing cost and risk to these new initiatives. Third-generation systems are characterized by a bent toward problem-solving, and the systems that support these processes must work over a variety of protocols to acquire and combine the information people need to support transformational problem-solving. The focus of value is the new class of problems we can solve, the problems of transforming the business to meet and sometimes drive market changes and create business value. It is all about combining expertise, information and technology to enable transformational activity.

Read more about the third wave of IT:
- read the column at ComputerWorld