Information Systems in Business - Assignment Example

Insert Information Systems in Business Question Why there is a strong trend toward cross-functional integrated enterprisesystems in the business use of Information Technology? Cross-functional integrated enterprise systems are increasingly becoming important to business operations. This is especially important for big organizations using cross-functional teams which work separately but must be joined in some way for the overall good of the organization. The systems also help to integrate individual employees with diverse skills for purposes of attaining the overall business success. The integrated systems ensure that the input of diverse teams in cross-functional teams is automatically integrated along specific organizational goals met by the teams despite the relatively diverse agendas. As Deng and Chi (291) noted, a number of cross-functional teams within organizations are broadly diverse and are constituted, for example, by individual employees from internal customer case units, research and development (R&D) units, engineering personnel, procurement, mechanical operations, and promotion, but with virtually integrated systems, these rather separate units can be seamlessly united in terms of functions. Other teams are more thinly focused, for example, with employees from promotional and finance units working side by side with salespersons and consumers. Cross-functional teams guided by integrated information systems have the potential to bring about remarkable benefits when the operations are carried out rightly using a common strategy (Fichman et al 324). In fact, technologically integrated cross-functional teams are known to enhance product quality, particularly in the design and production stages of new products, since quality is increasingly becoming an inexorable by-product of integrated information systems. As such, organizations that have not introduced integrated cross-functional systems are experiencing different problems ranging from lack of experience among employees working in cross-functional teams in aligning their individual knowledge and skills with the organizational culture and problem-solving approaches (Deng and Chi 292). Therefore, many companies are increasingly realizing the fact that without the integrated systems, there would overall a loss of the organization occasioned by conflict among cross-functional teams. But with the systems, employees working in teams will be more aware of all of the company products and services their organization provides. However, integrated cross-functional systems expose every member of the team to the inner picture of virtually every part of the organization, irrespective of one’s department. Companies are increasingly joining the fray to improve employee experience, boost better and quicker decision making processes and facilitate problem solving by individual team members. This way, the risks of unnecessary delays and cases of backlog will be significantly reduced. As a consequence, the need for each member of the organization equipped with the relevant information and skills to be productive in cross-functional settings, which is increasingly becoming common in current and future organizations, becomes a lot easier (Fichman et al 324). In large, complex international healthcare providers, for example, integrated cross-functional systems would enable the top management to seamless supervise the general processes and specific strategic initiatives for a higher-level of efficiency. The systems enhances product materialization, design and production of medical supplies and services along with better utilization of facilities and products, increased calibration of treatment practices, and contract control across separate businesses within a country and beyond. Generally, cross-functional integrated enterprise systems in the use of Information Technology by businesses often help to standardize processes, improve faster problem-solving and decision-making processes by improving employees experience within the organization. Question # 2: Do you think that business use of Internet, Intranets and Extranets has changed what businesspeople expect from Information Systems in their jobs? Explain. The sharp increase in the use of personal computer and other networked handheld devices has substantially expanded the parameters of possibilities available to innovative, productivity-inclined businesspersons (Fichman et al 324). Computer networks provide everything business people need from new means of virtual communication to making inroads in completely unexplored markets, which cannot be reached physically. As such, the Internet, intranets and extranets have eased the previously complex and complex role of technology in business. An intranet is a limited computer network, monitored by and normally reserved for one organization. It is also referred to as the private network within an organization. Intranets are especially important to businesses because they help to connect individual employees with their respective teams and the eventual organization, comprising thousands of individuals working in different teams. Intranets are an invaluable part of information technology for businesses, which, by virtue of the unique physical infrastructure facilitates makes communication within the organization more seamless. Intranets may provide Internet access for members to connect and communicate with the rest of the world; however, those that are not linked to the Internet help organizations to achieve data access in a seamless manner besides offering protection from security threats that might be available on the Internet. Generally, intranets serve the technology needs of an organization. The platform provides a safe place and memory for storing, retrieving and processing electronic materials. Deng and Chi (293) noted that businesses which use intranets as substitutes for conventional business solutions based on paper work can generate tremendous gains in productivity by improving the pace of workflows and limiting errors. Fichman et al (324) noted that a number of specific intranet programs encompass network folders in which multiple members of a team can retrieve the same documents. In addition, fresh websites that are due for testing before Internet connection and reference databases where users can search for important information and internal messaging systems are built upon an intranet infrastructure. In comparison, extranet constitutes a limited computer system that links two or more important intranets. Through intranets which are partially restricted from access by the extranets they connect with, businesspeople can rest assured that their private data stored on the intranet would be inaccessible to other organizations (Fichman et al 324). Apart from its strategic importance, businesses will enjoy the added advantage of security since extranets normally run virtually on the global Internet. As such, intranets are especially safer because they are less vulnerable to hacking as compared to extranets. Extranets are important because they facilitate cross-departmental and cross-organization communications in which the parties in question can share important information (Fichman et al 324). With extranets linking two or more intranets, information sharing among linked organizations becomes easier, especially where one organization retains the administrative roles. Lastly, the Internet enables businesses to reap the benefits of networking, storage and retrieval of information, communications, promotions and sales across the world. Businesspersons can use the online platform to trade their commodities with distant partners. They can employ the Internet in gathering information and communicate with customers and prospects, clients, authorities, suppliers and other important members of the sector, creating or fostering their knowledge of their marketplace (Fichman et al 324). Organizations may also link internal communication networks with the Internet in order to achieve seamless communication across an organization’s departments. Question # 3 Most businesses should engage in Electronic Commerce on the Internet. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Explain your position. Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) on the Internet can be defined as the buying and selling of goods and services online. Through e-commerce, customers can place orders for the goods they intend to buy from the comfort of their home and have the product delivered right at their doorstep. This process is referred to as Business-to-Customer (B2C). Similarly, companies are today making orders for supplies on the Internet through a process called Business-to-Business (B2B). Whichever way e-commerce takes, it is important in a number of ways (Fichman et al 324). First, e-commerce saves time, effort and money which would be spent by a customer making a physical visit to a store. Current-day consumers appreciate the essence of time and prioritize it above anything else. With tight schedules at work, e-commerce enables clients to have whatever they want from anywhere in the world at the click of the mouse. Besides, the fact that some stores do not operate 24 hours, 7 days a week makes e-commerce the sole tool with which busy consumers can access a variety of goods they want to buy and place orders at any time. This way, consumers are provided with unrivalled flexibility while storeowners also gain from the open window when their stores and temporarily closed. Second, e-commerce provides consumers with the liberty of choice. E-commerce enables prospective buyers to explore multiple options of a particular product offered by different stores available on the Internet. With a tremendous amount of resources available online, e-commerce enables customers to rationalize the decisions they make, especially in the current world of limited resources (Fichman et al 324). With e-commerce, customers can weigh fairness of product prices and their quality and opt for the one that best suits their needs. Thirdly, e-commerce fosters cross-cultural experiences among customers from around the world. With well-deigned websites, customers and prospects can share experiences and perceptions through official company blogs or official pages on the social media. These are important forums established by virtue of e-commerce and which enable any Internet user to initiate discussion on a product, based on its quality or efficiency. Through these forums, conscious business organizations can then use such feedbacks to improve the quality of their products and or services for mutual gains (Deng and Chi 292). Lastly, through e-commerce, companies can create targeted marketing and communication. The digital commerce provides business organizations with vital personal information of clients which they can use to dispatch vital information. Customers generally volunteer their personal details in the order form and with additional cookie information companies are more than able to introduce new products to consumers for brands for maximum gains. Generally, I agree to the concept of e-commerce because it saves time and heavy costs which customers would incur visiting the stores physically; it also provides buyers with vast options of product brands and product lines to choose from, hence it improves rationality of decisions based on costs and product quality. It also creates unrestricted, cross-cultural interactions among businesses and clients for better quality of products and services. Lastly, e-commerce provides vital personal contact details which can be used for individualized communications and promotion. Question # 4: Are the form and use of information and decision support systems for managers and business professionals changing and expanding? Why or why not? Information and decision support systems refer to computerized networks that enable managers and business professionals to make quicker and more efficient decisions. The system serves the management standardized procedures and strategic planning processes in a business. Information decision support systems can be either completely automated, manual or a mixture of both methods. Regardless, these systems have been subject to constant evolution and they are expected to change and expand in the future, judging by history. The idea of decision support has transformed from the theoretical findings on the importance of standardized business decision making systems of the mid-20th century to the highly technologically-aided system of the 21st century. The need to standardize decision support led the integration of technology with management in 1970s through to the 1990s, but as new technologies supported by the Internet continue to coming up, decision support systems are expected to evolve as well. According to Deng and Chi (291), the definition and parameters of decision support systems have been changing as well. In the 1970s, such systems were known as computer-based system set to support managerial decision making processes. As the systems developed in the early 1980s the systems advocates changed the meaning and scope of the systems into interactive technology-based systems which enable decision-makers make use of databases and proven theories in finding solutions to ill-structured business problems. As the amount of available data increases in organizations, managers are confronted with the need to decipher the information efficiently and consistently to make efficient decisions. As such, with the increasing need to make valuable decisions for implementation, the future is likely to see the development of more meticulous and smarter decision support systems. Computer technologies with higher level of analytical and extrapolative capabilities are likely to find their way into future decision making systems and processes (Fichman et al 324). This is because effective intelligent intuition and discovery demands a more rigorous integrated system with the capacity to overcome the problems facing current-day decision making processes. Owing to the likelihood of expanded parameters and precision of decision making processes in future, future technologies will see a greater level of data fusion. Specifically, the future will likely see the integration of real-time data with predictive analytics to enhance more progressive decision support systems within an organization and across organizations, especially where constant changes are rife. Future decision support systems are likely to be the outcome of the current evolutions of integrated data systems. Future systems will be more sensible, affordable and more integrated than current systems (Fichman et al 324). Metadata-based approaches are likely to be more integrated in data management processes following concurrent increases of data and to facilitate flexible data-management approaches that are responsive to change. Lastly, unlike the current more-restrictive approaches to decision support systems, future systems are likely to encourage innovation by featuring modern quality services-oriented structures complete with a progressive platform supporting several modular and convenient applications. This implies future systems will be driven by high-level functionality and results via comprehensive assessment and control strategies. Works Cited Deng, Xuefei and Chi, Lei. Understanding Postadoptive Behaviours in Information Systems Use: A Longitudinal Analysis of System Use Problems in the Business Intelligence Context. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29.3 (2012): 291-326. Fichman et al. Digital innovation as a fundamental and powerful concept in the information systems curriculum. MIS Quarterly, 38.2 (2014): 329-A15. Read More