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Management & informatiesystemen -TiU
Chapter 1
The emerge of the digital world
We are in a virtuous cycle, where changes in technology lead to social changes and social changes
shape technological changes. People have become accustomed to connectivity and mobility.
Knowledge workers are professionals who are relatively well educated and who create,
modify and/ or synthesize knowledge as a fundamental part of their job. With the growing
number of knowledge workers and with their rise and importance of leadership, a knowledge
economy has emerged. This is a type of society where knowledge has become as important as
land, labor, and capital.
The line between manual and knowledge workers has become blurred, making almost
every organization an e-business (an organization that uses information technologies or systems to
support almost nearly every part of its business).
A downside to the emerge of the digital world is digital divide. Those who have access
to information systems have great advantages over those who do not.
Globalization & societal issues in the digital world
Globalization is the integration of economies throughout the world, enabled by innovation and
technological progress. One important opportunity globalization has brought us, is the tremendous
decrease in communication costs which has increased the use of outsourcing.
The societal issues involved with the digital world include:
- Demographical changes > massive global population growth
- Urbanization
- Shifts in economic power > purchasing power and control over natural resources
- Resource scarcity > limited availability of fossil fuels and other natural resources
- Climate change > triggers sustainable development > trying to meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs
Five IT Megatrends
1. Mobile = the move toward mobile devices. With this comes:
> The development of apps (mobile device friendly versions of websites)
> BYOD (Bring your own device) > when employees use their own devices for numerous
tasks. This can raise concerns due to security/ compliance but on the other hand, it
can increase productivity.
> Consumerization of IT > many technological innovations are first introduced into the
consumer marketspace before being used by organizations.
2. Social media = this trend is largely based on the network effect. The value of a
network increases with the number of users.
3. IoT = Internet of things = a network of a broad range of physical objects that can
automatically share data over the internet. This trend is fueled by advances in chips
and wireless radios and decreasing costs of sensors. In the future, anything that can
generate useful information will be equipped with sensors and radios.
> We see a rise in the market for smart home technologies
> It also has many useful implications in manufacturing practices. The industrial Internet
of Things enables the convergence of information technology and operations
technology, offering potential for tremendous improvements in efficiency, product
quality, agility and flexibility.
4. Cloud computing > much of the functionality previously offered by applications installed on
each individual computer is now offered by applications in the cloud.
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5. Big data= extremely large and complex datasets being of high volume, variety & velocity.
This ever-increasing amount of data created increases the ability to detect meaningful
relationships and regularities, which can help to gain insights.
Computer literacy is not sufficient in today’s world; rather computer fluency = the ability to
independently learn new technologies as they emerge and access their impact on one’s work and
life.
Information systems defined
- IS = combination of people and information technology that create. Collect,
process, store and distribute useful data
- IT= includes software, hardware and telecommunications networks
The key components of the IS definition explained
1. Data have no meaning in and of themselves and are of little value until processed
> Data can be formatted, organized, or processed to be useful; they can be transformed
into information. Information is a representation of reality and can be of help to
answer questions about who/what/where/when.
> Knowledge is the ability to understand information, form opinions and make decisions
or predictions based on the information
2. Hardware, software, and telecommunications
> Hardware includes traditional computer components, sensors, cameras and other
input and output devices
> Software enables us to utilize the hardware by providing it with instructions on
what processing functions to perform.
> Telecommunications networks allow computers to share data and services
3. People= the builders, managers, and users of IS
> They include system analysts, programmers, IS professors and many others
> Good IS personnel possess valuable, integrated knowledge and skills in 3
areas: technical, business and systems.
4. Organizations: the context of IS > IS are built and/or used within a certain context. There
are many categories of IS used in organizations (e.g., transaction processing, management
information, decision support and collaboration systems).
The dual nature of IS
IS have become very important but also very expensive and can, in some cases, be a double-edged
sword.
Firms try to use their IS as a competitive advantage over their rivals. When they are
conceived, designed, used, and managed effectively and strategically, then together with a sound
business model they can enable organizations to be more effective, productive, expand their
reach and gain/ sustain a c.a. over their rivals. If not, they are just expensive. Also, the competitive
advantage can be fleeting, as competitors can eventually do the same thing.
IS ethics
Issues surrounding privacy have moved to the forefront of public concern. In addition, the ease of
digitally duplicating and sharing information has not only raised privacy concerns but also issues
related to intellectual property.
Information privacy is concerned with what information an individual should have to
reveal to others in the workplace or through other transactions, such as online shopping. Others
may have access to information one prefers to keep private. This becomes problematic as
organizations are
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able to pierce information together, forming an ever more complete picture. This is referred to as
the database of intentions
Widely accepted fair information practices include:
> Notice/ awareness. This info is usually provided in data privacy statements on a
website. They inform users about what data are gathered, what the data are for,
who will access the data… etc.
> Choice/consent > providing opt in or opt out options
> Access/ participation= providing customers with means to access the data
collected about them
> Integrity/security > implementing control
> Enforcement/ redress
Another set of ethical issues centers around Intellectual property (IP). This is due to the ease of
duplicating, manipulating, and sharing digital information.
Answers
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Chapter 2
Enabling Organizational strategy through information systems
Business processes are the activities organizations perform to reach their business goals. A broad
range of information is needed to support an organization’s business processes.
Every organization is composed of different decision-making levels. There are 3 levels:
1. Operational level (Foremen and supervisors make decisions)
> At this level, the routine, day-to-day business processes and interaction with customers
occur. IS at this level are designed to automate repetitive activities, s.a. processing
sales transactions & to improve the efficiency of business processes at the customer
interface.
> Operational planning has a time frame of a few hours or days.
> Managers make decisions that are highly structured (procedures to follow for a
given situation are specified in advance) and recurring. These structured decisions
can be programmed into IS so that they can be made with little effort and (almost)
no human intervention.
> IS are used to increase efficiency.
2. Managerial level (Midlevel and functional managers make decisions)
> At this level, functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling operational-
level activities and providing info to higher levels of the organization.
> Focus on increasing effectiveness by effectively utilizing and deploying
organizational resources to achieve the strategic objectives of the organization.
> The scope of the decisions is usually contained within the business function, there
are moderately complex and have a time horizon of a few days to a few months.
> Semi-structured decisions > can’t all be specified in advance.
3. Executive level (executive-level managers make decisions)
> Managers focus on long-term strategic questions facing the organization, such as
which products to produce and which countries to compete in.
> The decisions are unstructured because the problems are complex and nonroutine.
> IS provide KPIs (key performance indicators) that are focused on balancing
performance across the organization. Other KPIs are used to benchmark the
organization’s performance against its competitors. IS help to improve strategy and
planning by providing summaries of past data and projections of the future.
Besides the different decision-making levels, there are also different functional areas (discrete area
of the organization that focuses on a specific set of activities, e.g., accounting and finance).
Function area IS are designed to support the unique business processed of specific functional areas.
Purpose of IS
We can use IS for the following three purposes:
1. Automating activities to complete tasks faster, cheaper, and perhaps with greater
accuracy and/or consistency. This purpose has the lowest business value added in
comparison to the other two purposes.
2. Learning by using past behavior and data to improve the business process.