Detailed definition in the online encyclopedia

1. Term:Information technology (IT) in the narrower sense includes all technical resources that serve to generate, store, archive and use digital information. IwS also includes the transmission of information using communication technology.
   
   2. Features :Hardware, software and communication networks are required to process information and data. These fall together under the umbrella term IT. In companies, these technical resources are part of information systems. In general, IT and its use are widespread in companies as well as in the public and private sectors. It plays a central role in banks, as they work intensively with digital information. Contracts, account movements and the like are stored or transmitted in digital form. IT security and the availability of information systems are particularly important for banks, since on the one hand sensitive customer data is stored and processed and on the other hand failures in unfavorable cases can lead to immense losses (e.g. in stock trading). In the area of Online banking must be ensured by means of IT – eg in the form of PIN and TAN generators – that the authenticity of online transfers is guaranteed. In this context, it must also be ensured that information systems meet the requirements with regard to audit security and other regulations and laws.3.Development/history of the term:  IT has been used commercially since the early 1960s. Initially, companies used mainframes to process large amounts of data centrally. With the spread of personal computers in the 1980s, the use of IT in the private, business and public sectors increased. The Internet became established in the early 1990s and enabled global networking and collaboration using IT. In the year 2000, the growth of the IT industry had reached its peak so far. Since the high expectations placed on IT and IT companies could not be met, the so-called DotCom bubble burst. However, this setback could not prevent the increase in digitization. IT enabled new business models in the banking sector with online banking, among other things. Today, the Internet and the services and offers provided there are ubiquitous and can also be used via mobile devices such as smartphones.4.Current developments: The use of IT is not fundamentally questioned today, but attempts are made to gain competitive advantages through IT. On the one hand, IT can be an enabler for new business models and processes ; on the other hand, the use of IT can help companies to handle their existing processes faster and more efficiently. For example, the creditworthiness of customers can be checked using IT-based scoring methods and customer master data.
   IT alignment is of particular importancewhich ensures that the use of IT in the company is consistent with the company’s strategy and goals. Business processes and the supporting IT systems can be coordinated using Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), which first determines the current status of IT support in the company, identifies gaps and then closes them. This falls – including the selection of suitable IT – into the area of ​​responsibility of IT management . IT management has to move between the conflicting priorities of standardization and consolidation for the purpose of cost reduction on the one hand and the use of innovative solutions to differentiate yourself from the competition on the other.
   In the banking sector, IT was an enabler for the business model of direct banks. Since 2007, the number of customers has increased through the use of IT and online banking, while the number of branches has decreased at the same time. The use of IT thus leads to cost savings and must be implemented equally by all banks in order to remain competitive.
   Current topics are FinTechs (financial technology) and IT-based cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin .