The Impact Of It Systems

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The Objectives of this report is to show understanding in how Information Systems (IS) has changed the way in which the business world today functions at various levels and to discuss the extent of the impact of IT Systems or IS for each of the levels.

In the early years IS was used mainly for electronic data processing (EDP), purposes such as transactions processing, record-keeping and accounting, and was also known as Transaction processing systems (TPS). But as technology advanced, IS had to play more important roles and functions in business. The notion that technology could shape an organization is not new.

At the organisation level, IS has enabled organisation’s management to make improved decisions with more accurate information on product pricing, profitability forecasting and risk analysis. Without accurate information managers must use forecast, best guesses and luck which might lead to overproduction, underproduction of goods and services, Misallocation of resources...etc.

At an Inter-organisational level, using Porter’s value chain of primary activities, namely Inbound logistics and outbound logistics, IS enables organisations to achieve Operational excellence such as in the case of Wal-mart’s RetailLink system which links suppliers to stores for superior replenishment. This is Wal-mart’s Just-In-Time (JIT) strategy where their stores receive or replenishment the goods as they are needed. This adds value to Wal-mart as they do not need to keep stocks in large rented warehouse thus saving them some cost and also helps them keep their prices lower than other supermarkets as they do not have to worry about over stocking or under stocking while achieving competitive advantage.

In another instance electronic links between General Motors and its suppliers effectively bring the operations of its suppliers under its control while they remain separate legal entities (http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~teohh/tenure/research_port/JMIS.PDF, accessed on 10/2/2013). As such IS enables tight inter-organizational linkages to an extent that it is difficult to delineate where the boundary of an organization ends and that of another begins (http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~teohh/tenure/research_port/JMIS.PDF , accessed on 10/2/2013).

At the international level, in the case of Tradenet, IS allows different parties from both the public and the private sectors to exchange structured trade message and information electronically through an Integrated System of import, export and transhipment documentation processing procedures to the relevant government bodies for processing and approval (adapted from: http://www.carecprogram.org/ru/uploads/events/2009/Single-Window-Workshop/Day2-TradeNet.pdf , accessed on 10/2/2013). Before the use Tradenet, the organisations was required to fill out many different forms manually and then wait

In the personal level, the Tradenet’s Integrated System reduces the cost and turnaround time for the preparation, submission and processing of trade and shipping documents (from 4 hours to 2-7 days to within 10 minutes) and expedites the clearance of the cargo for the importers and exporters (adapted from: http://www.carecprogram.org/ru/uploads/events/2009/Single-Window-Workshop/Day2-TradeNet.pdf , accessed on 10/2/2013 ). IS is also being used to improve customer and supplier intimacy which leads to customer retentions which raises revenues and profits as well as reduce costs. For example JC Penney’s IS which links sales records to contract manufacturer.

1b)

The objective of this report is to know if IT systems or Information system (IS) has revolutionised healthcare if so to what extend or not. Let us first see what is healthcare? "Health care is normally defined as the management or treatment of any health problem through the services that might be offered by medical, nursing, dental or any other related service" (http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/importance-of-good-health-care-769994.html, accessed on 11/2/2013).

Health care is one of the most important aspects in our life. The importance of good health care can be seen in the hopes of a people who are yearning for health. For instance, a sickly person is not likely to develop him or herself in any way and would most likely dread every moment of the pain and not able to have joy and peace (http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/importance-of-good-health-care-769994.html, accessed on 11/2/2013).

Healthcare is a system whereby health services are given to a group of people or the masses in an organized way. Health care can be for an individual or for a large group of people depending on how the systems are organized. Importance of health care can never be overemphasized in today context in which there can be an outbreak of diseases at any moment in time. An example of this is the outbreak of SARS in 2003 which was identified it as a global health threat by the World Health Organization (WTO) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004460/, accessed on 12/2013).

Information systems (IS) have revolutionised healthcare provision in providing accurate information to medical professional and practitioners for better and more accurate medication and diagnosis. Medical errors can lead to unnecessary deaths which have been attributed to error in medication, unneeded surgeries and untimely or mistaken diagnoses (Bliemel and Hassanein). In Canada, an estimate of 10,000 annual deaths is due to medical errors upon extrapolation from US figures, based in relative population sizes (Bliemel and Hassanein). Today in some countries, IS is being used to capture, store, process, and communicate timely information to decision makers for better coordination of healthcare such as data mining and decision support capabilities can identify potential adverse events for an individual patient while also contributing to the population’s health by providing insights into the causes of disease complications (http://isr.journal.informs.org/content/22/3/419.full.pdf, accessed on 11/2/2013). Thus IS has revolutionised healthcare provision in the storing and providing of accurate information on a patient health history with a touch of a keyboard enabling better and more accurate medication and diagnosis by doctors and surgeons.

Information systems (IS) with the help of internet and wireless technology have revolutionised healthcare provision in improving the accessibility of a person’s medical records and history. Medical professionals from different hospitals or polyclinics are able to access a patient’s medical records and history anytime via the internet and wireless technology to provide accurate treatment and or diagnosis in any of hospitals or polyclinics.