Managing Information Systems and Communication Technology -- summary

business essentials -- part 12 -- summary

Businesses are faced with an overwhelming amount of data and information about customers, competitors, and their own operations, the ability to manage this resource can mean the difference between success and failure. The management of its information system is a core activity because all of a firm's business activities are linked to it. With intensified competition and expanded global and e-business operations, companies need more advanced data communication networks and new electronic information technologies (EIT's) -- information system applications based on telecommunications technologies. EITs use networks of devices(such as computers and satellites) to communicate information and enhance productivity by serving two functions: (1) by providing coordination and communication within the firm; and (2) by speeding up transactions with other firms.

Data communication networks

Data communication networks are global networks that use telecommunications systems to carry streams of digital data back and forth quickly and economically. The largest communications network, the Internet, is a system of networks serving millions of computers, offering a vast range of information, and providing communication flows among more than 170,000 separate networks. It allows PCs virtually anywhere to be linked and has also become the most important e-mail system in the world. Individuals cannot connect directly, but mostly usage fees permit them to subscribe to it via an Internet service provider (ISPs) -- a commercial firm that maintains a permanent connection to the net and sells temporary connections.

The World Wide Web (www or "the Web") lets users around the world communicate with little effort. The Web supports standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information. It provides the "common language" that makes the Internet available to a general audience and not just technical users. Intranets allowing users to browse internal sites containing a firm's information. Only employees can get in by penetrating electronic firewalls -- hardware and software security systems that can't breached by outsiders.

Organizational design

Information networks are leading to leaner organizations -- businesses with fewer employees and simpler organizational structures -- because networked firms can maintain electronic, rather than just face-to-face or voice, information linkages among employees and customers. Operations are more flexible because electronic networks allow businesses to offer greater product variety and faster delivery cycles. Aided by intranets and the Internet, greater collaboration is possible, both among internal units and with outside firms. Geographic separation of the workplace in company headquarters is more common because electronic linkages are replacing the need for physical proximity between the company and its workstations. Improved management processes are feasible because managers have rapid access to more information about the current status of company activities and easier access to electronic tools for planning and decision-making.