How can an IT system initially help a company advance, but later become a requirement for that business to stay competitive

Information systems are a very critical component for firms to stay competitive because they bring in that very important analysis and automation cycle to activities and processes of business. They also help in identifying critical success factors and generate very important reports which facilitate managerial decision making. They are a source of cost savings where any work that was previously being done manually have now been automated.

Information technology allows companies to add the virtual component to their business and helps in creating the very important quality management systems to performance metrics within an organization

Hence to stay competitive...