It is
clear that majority of our economy today is not functional without the use of
information systems. Businesses over the years have concentrated on how to improve,
take advantage, compete, and communicate better with the use of their
information systems today. Most companies would not even exist in its absence,
and many jobs globally would not even be available to the numerous business and
computer workers. With the creation of information systems, businesses would
not have been able to store the extreme amounts of data needed in order to
successfully run a business. Information systems calculates everything, from
conducting business models and graphs, to even managing a company’s profits and
salaries to its workers. And many colleges now offer many programs to expand
the study and understanding of this new field of business technology. For example,
a web description of some of the offered studies at Albany State University
state an interesting fact that, “Shoppers
in a store aren’t aware of the inventory applications, pricing software, and
databases utilized to keep their shopping experience top notch. Employees in
large companies may perform tasks through software designed in house without
being aware of all the work that went into designing such software. And, unless
an employee is a business analyst, most team members and customers are
completely unaware of the massive amount of data needed to keep companies
running these days.” [1] As much as consumers, and even some employees
involved in the business workforce, are unaware of how information systems even
works, more information and data are expanding today to get a better
understanding of how exactly it coincides with our economy today.
“Organizations strive to be market leaders
in their given industry. In climates where factors such as recession,
inflationary pressures and increased competition can hinder the achievement of
this goal, companies look for strategies that lead to competitive advantages.
One such strategy is the adoption of information systems within the company.
Information systems help a company make adequate use of its data, reduce
workload and assist with compliance with various mandatory regulations.” [2] Businesses
take advantage of their own information systems by applying it to how their
means of business reacts in the open world of the economy among other similar
companies. With their calculated data, they research on how to take on
competitive advantages over other rivalry companies by studying the countless amounts
of data computed from costs, sales, and the end result of their overall
profits. Many retailers are adapting to this sense of business today, and
applying new technology in their stores and products in helping their
information systems to function more accurately. And more importantly, an
information system can help a company make better business decisions when
studying their calculated data, and thus it will help a business do even better
in the long run, especially when it comes to how much funds a business is
contributing.
So what
kinds of data does an information system provide for a successful business? For
the most part, it provides computed data to make business strategies,
predictions, and solutions. And even with the numerous amounts of data that a
whole information system can provide, there are still some programs and factors
that help calculate the process of finding business solutions. “According to CIO.com, Business Intelligence
encompasses software apps that analyze an organization's raw data through data
mining (identifying patterns and relationships such as members of the same
household), online analytical processing (making comparisons of data on
multiple fronts, such as when, where and how items were purchased), and
querying and reporting. BI adds business value in many ways, including helping
understand customers' buying trends and allowing employees direct and immediate
access to run reports anytime they are needed.” [3] With this process, it
is more essential for businesses to understand their consumers’ behaviors and
to better communicate with them. The online web has already been helpful with
the creation of online buying and communicating social network sites to share
feedback, and businesses apply some of these other benefiting factors into mind
when analyzing their overall data.
Information
systems contained in any field requires much work in updating software,
analyzing data, and creating more programs to better run the system overall. In
today’s society with the use of these systems, it takes several steps in
creating and managing an information system, as well as many qualified computer
programmers and technicians to help moderate their systems. Even in major
business companies today, they have their own technology departments that consist
of qualified workers not even associated in the business field. But they are
aware of the business factors that will help a company be successful and they
apply major business ethics into creating their own information system. “In a large scale data-centric environment
for business information systems, there are a number of factors in the
determination of an overall success. Among these are:
Project Management,
which includes the overall business information system’s architecture,
engineering and deployment with special focus on requirements, schedule, and
costs.
Data Management,
which includes data architecture, modeling, engineering, and deployment along
with evolution and maintenance.
Hardware Management,
which includes computing and network hardware architecture, engineering and
deployment along with evolution and maintenance.
Business Information
System Management, which includes business information system requirements,
engineering, design, and deployment along with evolution and maintenance.” [4]
Along with managing a
business information system, part of the managerial process is creating and
updating new software to better run a business. Computer technology is getting
more advanced these days, which means more companies are accessing and taking
advantage of it. With the expansion of this around the globe, it is a fact that
there will definitely be competition that will develop among these businesses. But
with each individual company’s information system, creating new software will
help understand not only their consumers, but will also help prevent future
errors such as data errors and software issues that could jeopardize the
company’s reputation, and more importantly their business. “Business software is often challenged. According to studies performed
by companies such as the Gartner Group, the Standish Group, and IDC, an
astonishingly large portion of development projects fail to come up with
anything useful at all. An even larger portion is challenged for reasons such
as not supporting the business as well as the business needs to be supported.
When businesses need to change fast to keep up with customer needs and with
competition, software is often mentioned as the show stopper; the software used
is often too complex and too unrelated to the business to allow the business to
change as fast as necessary.” [5] But with business software to run these
systems, it is necessary for it to operate in order for a business to succeed,
and success and not achievable without the means of better understanding how
exactly this software will help their business in relation to its results out
in the economical world. “Business
software exists for one reason only: to support the business and its
activities, or to help change the way business is performed. There's no other
reason for business software. If it doesn't support the business the way the
business needs to be supported or help change the business, it doesn't matter
how technically brilliant the software is. Its value lies in its capability to
increase the productivity and efficiency of the business.
In principle, there
are three ways in which business software can support a business and its
activities:
1. A business process improvement project is
started to improve the functionality of a specific business process. New or
improved software is designed to help improve the way people can perform the
business process.
2. New ways to use technologies become
available, making it possible to totally change the way business is performed.
For example, Web services have profoundly changed the way a Web shop might
interact with suppliers of goods sold by the Web shop. "Web 2.0"
might have a similar effect on the way some businesses organize their
interaction with customers and partners.
3. Decision support.” [5]
So why is the information system
technology so important to us in the business world? It really comes down to
the two most important words in our economy: business ethics. Without business
ethics, how would we even know how to succeed out in the world, yet alone make
money? Sure, business has been around for many centuries, and some type of
transaction between two individuals or companies has been in existence for
quite some time. But with information systems applied to long process of making
money, the economic system for us today has grown with immense value. “Ethics is another primary area that has
been impacted by technology. As more and more technology is assimilated into
workplaces, new ethical challenges have emerged that both employers and
employees must face. Business processes are primarily connected to information
systems and various other forms of technology, and people using automation must
act responsibly with the data they transmit as part of their daily tasks.” [6- Page
1]
In conclusion, information systems
have played an important role in our technological society today, and more
importantly has been a major attribute to the business world achieving success
for itself. “Information systems have
done a lot more than just expand local markets. They've also affected
diversity, ethics and organizational structures. As a result businesses must
learn to adapt and embrace these revolutionary changes in order to grow and
maintain success.” [6- Page 2] The question we ask ourselves these days is:
What comes next? Technology and adaption of information systems will certainly
become better for the business and will have room to grow within its domain.
But after that is over, what does come next for our economy, or even our way of
living? Through the education and better understanding of information systems
today, businesses feel that whatever challenges comes their way, they will be
prepared.
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