CHAPTER 1 business driven technology

Chapter  1

BUSINESS DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY

Information technology‘s role in business

Information technology is everywhere in business. Understanding information technology provides great insight to anyone learning about business.

Reviewing copy of popular business magazines is easy to demonstrate information technology’s role in business such as Bloomberg Businessweek, fortune, or fast company.

Placing a marker (such as Post-it Note) on each page that contains a technology-related article or advertisement indicates that information technology is everywhere in business. 

Information technology’s impact on business operation

 ·         Organizations typically operate by functional areas or functional silos

·         Functional areas are interdependent

Information technology basics

Information Technology (IT)

• A field concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information.
• Information technology is an important enabler of business success and innovation.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

• General name for the business function and academic discipline covering the application of people , technologies, and procedures to solve business problem.
• MIS is a business function, similar to Accounting, Finance, Operations, and Human Resources
• To learn about management information systems it is important to understand the following:

Ø  Data                            :raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event

Ø  Information                  :data converted into a meaningful and useful context

Ø  Business intelligence   :applications and technologies that are used to support  

    decision-making efforts.

Ø  IT resources              :-The plans and goals of the IT department must align                             with the plans and goals of the organization.

-Managers who understands what IT is, and what IT   can and cannot do, are in the best position for success.

those three key resources are inextricably linked. if one fails,they all fail. most important, if one fails, then chances are the business will fail.

IT cultures

Organizational information cultures include:

Information-Functional Culture: Employees use information as a means of exercising influence or powerover others. For examples, a manager in sales refuses to share nfoemation with marketing. This causes marketing to need the sales manager’s input each time a new sales strategy is developed.

Information-Sharing Culture: Employees across departments trust each other to use information (especially about problemsand failures) to improve performance.

Information-Inquiring Culture: Employees across departments search for information to better understand the future and align themselves with current trends and new directions.

Information-Discovery Culture: Employees across department are open to new insights about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages.