Computers And Information Systems

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Computers and information systems are essential parts of business today. We can see that most of the businesses today need to invest in technology to compete with each other. I can say that technology is a both a cost of doing business and an opportunity to do more business. Most of people recognize the necessity of having their own personal computer or laptop, an email address, blogs and also a website.

The way organizations of all sizes doing business is changing largely because of the advancements in information technology. From the technological devices that had been used currently are such as tablet computers, PDAs, and smartphones to increasingly the advanced application, software and communication networks installed, the workforce is becoming a more global that puts the companies on equal level with the access to information at anywhere and anytime in the world.

From my own experience, the local Indian Muslim or ‘mamak’ restaurants have improve their customer ordering systems where the workers will key in the customer orders by using PDAs and the recorded order will be linked directly to the kitchen to prepare the food and beverage, it also linked to the cashier where the systems will be calculating the total amount of the ordered items. This helps the business to become more faster and efficient.

In general, Information Technology has brought about significant improvements in business operations and also in the entire human life as whole. IT not only brought the world close together, whereby we can not only share information quickly and efficiently, we can also bring down the barriers of geographic boundaries. The Information Technology help allowing countries like who are not only separated by distance but also by language to exchange and share ideas and information with each other.

IT also made the business operations possible for 24/7 transactions all over the globe where it means that a business can be open anytime, anywhere for making purchasing from different countries easier and more convenient. Information technology create the opportunity to the businesses to connect and know their customers, suppliers and competitors in order to be successful in the world of e-business.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

Information Technology has played an important part in every businesses and also the global economies. The objective of information technology is by helping the companies to improve their business processes, achieve cost efficiencies, revenue growth and maintain the competitive advantages in the marketplace.

Information technology is a modern phenomenon that has dramatically changed the daily life routine of individuals and businesses. Leveraging the information technology for business success is key to survival in the modern business world. There are objectives of information technology as a key to successful business such as globalization of businesses operation, inventory management,product development and also cost efficiencies.

The companies that survive in the competitive environment usually have the operational and financial flexibility to grow locally and internationally. Information technology is the core of operating tools that essential in the globalization such as telecommunication. A company can use network technologies to stay in contact with its overseas employees, customers and suppliers.

Information technologies can be used by the organization in the variety of innovative ways. They have become tools to meet the corporate objectives of effectiveness and efficiencies. When it comes to managing inventory,organizations need to maintain enough stock to meet demand without investing more than they require.

Third, Information Technology can speed up the time it takes for new products to reach the market. For example, the computer- assisted design and manufacturing software speed up decision making, while collaborative technologies allow global teams to work on different component of products where in the same time helps businesses respond quickly to changing customers requirements.

However the initial IT implementation costs can be substansial, the resulting long-term costs saving are usually worth the investments. Information Technology help the companies to reduce transaction and implementation costs. From word processing to email, have allowed companies to save on the costs of duplication and postage, while maintaining and improving product quality and customer services.

3.0 BODY

In the world of globalization, information technology certainly had a major effect on all business sectors and plays an important role in the effective management and the operation of the companies. The use of information technology within the organizations is standard and continuos to modernize and set a competitive edge to against all other technological improvements for businesses.

Starting from networking, networking is the important role in the business and at the same time, information technology makes communication and sharing of ideas with colleagues around the world are almost instantaneous. In addition, there are more recent social networking sites such as Facebook,LinkedIn and Twitter allow business an unlimited level of contact and communication with their customers. This means as each customer or workers shares information about the company online, the number of people who are exposed to the information grows time by time.

Businesses recently can facilitate the way of marketing of their products and services by the existing information technology. Information technology drive the new approach of marketing whereby a successful marketing depends on understanding what customers need, want and expect and social networking allow their voices to be heard by fellow customers and the company itself. As we can see now, most of the companies have their own business Facebook account where they build strong relationship with the customer through it besides their company website. From there, they can receive the compliment and also comments that help to improve their business operation and also they can use this part of information technology to study what works, what doesn’t and how they can market their products to potential customers.

On the other hand, internally,the rapid communication can help to increase the productivity where IT can allow for better business decision making and ease a company’s expansion into new branches, territories or countries. Email servers, routers, internal company billboards and chat services can serve as the backbone of company’s communication. These electronically based communication systems are used to disseminate routine and critical business information instantly and effeciently manner. IT equipment such as laptop, smartphones can be used to send business status report to executives, to update employees on critical business projects and to connect with business partners and customers.

Furthermore, the workers are becoming increasing equipped with devices such as PDAs,smartphones and laptops, which give constant access to information and communication technology. This helps companies by introducing new ways to conduct business. For example, video conference not only help companies include more members in important decision making or discussion, but allow workers more flexible in their schedules because they no longer must be in specific location to get work done. Information technologies systems can be used to automate the routine tasks, to make data analysis easier and to store data in a proper way that can be easily to retrieved for future use.

Companies can harness information technology resources to lower their costs. By using the IT insfrastructure, redundant tasks can be centralized at one location. For example, a large company could centralize their payroll function at one location to lower employee costs. Economic efficiencies can also realized by migrating high cost functions into an online environment. Technology also helps to answer customer questions through email, in a real-time chat session or through a telephone routing system that connects a customers to an available customer services staff. Companies can offer email support for customers that might have a lower cost than a live customer support call.

"....To accomplish this, Wal-Mart developed a strategy that included linking its suppliers to its retail stores. IT, eventually enabled Wal-Mart to implement this strategy. An enterprise-wide information system was developed that directly connected all retail locations, distribution warehouses, and major supplies."

( Mohsen Attaran,www.elsevier.com)

From the above, we can see the example of business that develop better technology in their distribution systems is Wal Mart. They uses the distribution systems that linked the suppliers to its retail stores. The information systems that have been used is directly connected to all retail location, warehouses and major supplies that can track information and break down geographic and organizational barriers that are useful to standardize the distribution operationg system in the organization.

4.0 DISCUSSION

An investments in information technology for businesses can benefit a company in a long term where for the first time, they need to invest in a large for IT infrastructure but this help the companies by giving a tactical advantage over the competition. The advancement in information technology will offer a postive return on their investment to the company where by using IT insfrastructure that it flexible and ready for the future need is helping the business to become successful.

As we can see now, many businesses investing in advances for the communication technology that can help us to get information to our team member faster. Transmitting documents over the Internet as opposed to sending the documents of business informations in the envelope via an overnight courier can save our money on printing and shipping costs as well as getting important information to client in the fastest way. As we know now, more companies that need to connect with their partners or clients that far from them, so this types of businesses are using the IT insfrastructure to help them connecting to each other even from the other location over the globe.

Most of the customers are updating themself by using the modern mobile communication devices and the internet websites tp find information of the products in the same time to purchase the products. The involvement in the advances in technology, we can offer the customers the new ways to purchase products and also help customers to get instant support for product return and shipping issues. Advances in information technology allow us to have a e-commerce website where the customers can purchase products from their personal computers or laptop. An e-commerce website can create the transaction become more easy by putting applications on mobile devices for the customers to installed that allow the customers to track orders and buying the items when they are far from the computers or at outside.

For the operation department, the computer software can deliver production needs to the manufacturinf department, which that can create ordering schedules with vendors and can design the pickups and deliveries schedule with shipping companies. Technology advancement allow the staff to focus on their jobs without having to track several activities at the same time and improves overall productivity.

6.0 CONCLUSIONS

In the present scenario the above information technologies can increase the business performance of the organizations and the success lies in how well the organization manage their information systems and how well it contributes to the customer satisfaction. While technology offers an array of benefits to businesses, it also comes with many potential drawbacks.

Information Technology help a lot, where the need for people to be in the same physical location can be limited, for example when companies hold a teleconference with several employees located in different branches or the employees also can telecommute from home. In addition, this can save companies cost on the travel expenses. When employees use technology for telecommuting, they can work in the comfort of their home instead of traveling to a workplace.

At the same time, as discussed before, technology can decrease the time it takes to accomplish a task, which can ultimately save cost and increase productivity. Compare to the traditional wats of sending a message by postal mail, using email or fax can deliver it instantaneously. Furthermore, IT can also speed up various manufacturing processes, as machines and computers can do work that was once performed by humans more quickly and efficiently such as Walmart and Procter & Gamble (P&G) that implemented a tremendously successful SCM system where the system linked Walmart distribution centres directly to P&G’s manufacturing centers.

On the other side, some technologies contain features that need to be upgraded regularly, which can result in an additional expense for the company. For example, companies may need to change computer software frequently just to keep up with industry trends. In some cases, entire computer systems may also need upgrading every year or two.

Here I can conclude that IT can have both a positive and negative effect on our customers. While some customers may enjoy the convenience of paying bills online, others may see this as a possible invasion of their privacy where we can see there are many cases of cyber criminals. Some may consider being treated through a phone standard operating procedure in modern business, but others may be frustrated when they cannot reach a live person to solve their problems that may could not be solve through telephone conversation or at online.