Industrial technology (IT) is the use of engineering and manufacturing technology to speed up and simplify production, thereby making it more efficient. Workers in this field must be creative and technically proficient individuals in order to help companies achieve efficient and profitable productivity. Planning and designing manufacturing processes/equipment are the main tasks of industrial technologists — they are often in charge of implementing certain designs and processes, as well as maintaining complex operation systems. In short, they are in charge of nearly all technology-related things in a company, whether they be security systems, video conferencing systems, etc.

Incidents such as the Sony email leaks and the Wikileaks U.S. military document scandal have brought much attention to industrial technology and everything relating to it. Since IT departments are in charge of information exchange through computers, the respective IT departments at Sony, Wikileaks, and the U.S. military received much flak and criticism for the leaks. Leaked information and other related data breaches mean that IT departments aren’t executing their jobs properly. Unfortunately, data breaches are all too common for very large companies. Companies are attacked over 17,000 times a year. According to a survey in 2013, over 40% of companies in the U.S. experienced data breaches, with over 55% of those breaches being information leakages. These statistics mean that new IT systems must be instated very often. New IT systems mean tighter security that potential hackers are unfamiliar with, therefore cutting down on data breaches.

The IT field is not only known for the negative attention it garnered after the infamous data breaches as of late. They are responsible for creating things such as wireless design and the concept of cloud storage, which average citizens all over the world implement with their technology and information. Affordable wireless internet and cloud storage for the public are things that many are pushing for, and IT departments are at the helm of this — they will be a great influence in making it happen.