Information Systems vs Information Technology

John Spacey, updated on July 23, 2023

Information Systems (IS) is a common term organizations use for departments or teams that manage software. An information system is software that provides services to other software. As such, it is a term that captures the integrated complexity of organizational software.

Information Technology (IT) is a broader term that is also commonly used for departments or teams in an organizational hierarchy. Information technology includes all technology including devices, software and infrastructure in areas such as computing, networking and communications.

Information Systems vs Information Technology

In some cases, an Information Systems team is one of many teams in an Information Technology department that may include teams for infrastructure and technology facilities. In this case, the Information Systems team is often the largest team to the point that it may dominate budgets and political influence.

It is also common for Information Systems to be at the department level with infrastructure teams under it. Systems tend to dominate and this configuration makes sense for organizations without a significant infrastructure presence. For example, organizations that don't own their own data centers.

Technology companies organize things a little differently whereby it is common for Information Systems to handle internal software deployments and Information Technology to be a product development and/or marketing department.

Information Systems vs Information Technology
	Information Systems	Information Technology
Definition	Departments or teams that manage systems software.	Departments or teams that manage technology often including devices, software, infrastructure and facilities.