IT has been defined by the IT Association of US, or the IT Association US as being the study, design, development, implementation support and/or management of any computer based information systems. This relates particularly to software applications and computer hardware. Information Technology deals with using electronic computers and software to convert, store, protect, process, retrieve with security or transmit any information. What began many years ago as a term that many had no awareness of to a term that has skyrocketed to include several aspects of computing and Information Technology. IT is a wide based term and encompasses many areas. Professionals in Information Technology may perform a wide variety of tasks that range from installing computer applications to designing widely complex computer networks and information databases.

A background in computer science, including facility in writing and interpreting programming code, is almost always the fundamental requirement for this field. As computer technology both becomes more pervasive in Financial Services and changes rapidly, skilled IT professionals are increasingly more valuable.

According to an article in the 12/5/09 issue of The Economist ("Silo but deadly"), the financial services industry was on track to spend over $500 billion worldwide on information technology in 2009. This is greater than any other industry, and also exceeds the aggregate spending by all governments on IT.

In-House Information Technology Staff: One attraction of pursuing a career in information technology is that IT departments are among the most progressive in allowing staff to work from home (that is, to telecommute), being much further along this curve than most other groups in most companies.