For some reason, most of the large IT companies in the world are American. For instance Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. As an IT professional, you are expected to know about big IT corporations, revenue, profits, budgets, and other economic matters.
Why?
Because these things affect your capacity to perform your tasks. The economy tends to go in cycles. In an up cycle, you will get resources to build or improve systems. In a cycle you will be pressured to cut spending and possibly even lay off staff. This is business as usual" and nothing to get excited about. Over the span of your career you will experience many up and down economic cycles.
Studying what the big IT companies do right and wrong will help you think of ideas how to improve your own IT department. No matter if you work for a small company, non-profit organization, or a government institution, you will learn quickly that most decisions are based on money. The best way to implement your "great idea" is to argue that it will save time or increase profits. Trying to argue a point without keeping efficiency, profits and budgets in mind will be difficult.
Below is a chart of 15 American IT companies I think are important to know about. The more you know about the business of IT, the better IT professional you will become.
| Company | Rank | Revenue | Profit | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe | 443 | 5,854 | 871 | Graphic Design Software / Flash Media |
| Advanced Micro Devices | 565 | 4,272 | 471 | CPU / GPU |
| Apple | 3 | 215,639 | 14,013 | Computer Hardware / Software |
| Cisco Systems | 60 | 49,247 | 7,767 | Networking Equipment |
| Dell | 41 | 64,806 | 2,635 | Computer Hardware |
| 27 | 90,272 | 8,505 | Search / Software | |
| HP | 61 | 48,238 | 8,761 | Computer Hardware / Services |
| IBM | 32 | 79,919 | 14,833 | Computer Services / Software / Hardware |
| Intel | 47 | 59,387 | 11,464 | Microprocessors, Components |
| Microsoft | 28 | 85,320 | 18,760 | Computer Software |
| Oracle | 81 | 37,047 | 6,135 | Database Software / Services |
| NVIDIA | 387 | 6,910 | -30 | GPU / CPU / chipsets |
| Symantec | 550 | 4,888 |
1,138 |
Antivirus / Security Software |
| Western Digital | 217 | 12,994 | 1,382 | Hard Disk Drives / Computer Hardware |
- Which company has the most revenue? Why do you think they have so much revenue? Is this number likely to increase or decrease in the future?
- Why do some companies like Apple and Microsoft have such a high profit margin? Does this mean they are taking advantage of people? Do you trust a company with a high profit margin? Or are they cheating?
- Why do you think most of the big IT companies in the world are American? Are there any countries that will overtake the USA in the next 100 years? Why or why not?