Information Systems Role in the Development of the Business - Term Paper Example

Introduction The business environment for corporate organizations is becoming increasingly challenging. Today, firms have to deal with several bottle necks such as outdate technology, underdeveloped infrastructure, inappropriate payment systems and ineffective scheduling and control systems, which have hampered their progress. Many organizations now recognize the importance of automation. Success of any business depends on the functional elements of the business and how the management of the business tends to adapt itself to the ongoing trends and changes, and facilitate the business to withstand the competition and move ahead in the business spectrum. As a key component of the business changes, Information Systems also plays a predominant role in the development of the business. Right from the information flow at internal end, to end-user levels, a lot of attention is required all through. Over a period of time a lot of dramatic and dynamic changes were envisaged in the way the information systems of many businesses transformed. In the earlier decades, Information Systems and usage of advanced technologies use to be a sophisticated development for the companies and were used by only well -established companies. But in the recent past, due to the growing competition and the advancement of technologies added to increased customer expectations of better and speedy services demanded almost all the companies of the globe to work towards reengineering the process of management and the business acumen. In business, Information Systems not only facilitates the basic processes or operations but also supports the decision making process of the Management. Bottom line management or the value maximization which is an ultimate objective of any business management precludes the effectiveness of the Information Systems used by the business. The influence of Information systems and the technology implementation can be measured by the motivation levels and the managerial scope for the key components of Information system and the effective implementation (KCW Associates, 2006). With the above backdrop about the impact of information systems and the implementation of new technologies for the advancement of the existing systems, the paper further focuses on understanding the depth of the scope for developing business with strategic deployment of technologies in to the business processes. Observation of key aspects A detailed approach to any issue or the topic can help in gaining deeper insights. However to work on the dissertation of industry issues, a lot of ground work on the contemporary issues is needed. However when working on the key aspects, much attention has to be paid not only to the fundamental factors involved but also to the issues which are to be correlated to the same. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The key aspect of any academic study is to deeply acknowledge the objectives of the study. The objective of this paper is to understand the role of Information systems and the new technologies in creating new ways of doing business and the strategic issues related to the same. In order to meet this objective, the role of Information Systems in today's business process is studied along with acknowledging the introduction/implementation of advanced technologies into the business processes. The technical approach to the managerial functions and the managerial approach to the technical aspects of the business process play a crucial role in understanding the scope for developing the business process and its life cycle. As a part of the study, many industrial verticals like telecom, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, Travel & Tourism, Manufacturing and Service sectors were also substantially researched and the key developments in these sectors are observed. Also the role of Information Systems and the impact driven by them on the way the business prevailed along with the current scenario were also discussed. Management information Systems - A Review Management Information Systems, in an earlier notion is all about creating the reports at appropriate levels and then using them for the strategic planning by the senior levels of management. It had a curtailed scope of service, as to ensure that some SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) are followed and smooth flow of information is ensured among the various divisions/departments within the organization. Over a period of time, these Information systems were started being utilized for the productivity analysis and also towards better facilitation to the management in leveraging the complex analysis of day-day process. However, the emerging trends and the advancements of the technology gave scope to the companies to impart the technology in to their business process and leverage the complexity involved. However, these changes are not limited to one vertical or limited sector, the advancement of technology has brought in notable accomplishments across the verticals and various companies have envisaged a dynamic change in the spectrum of their businesses (Technology Importance, 2008). To be realistic about the success of the Information systems or the so called advancement of technologies, it can be said that the success is because the end-user or the customer of an organization started experiencing the new environment and the new way of business development. A customer in this particular context can either be the internal customer of a company or the external customers. An incredible influence of technology exists in today's workplace. A strenuous effort of performing tasks and analyzing things manually used to toll the services of organizations in the earlier days. But in the current scenario, information of huge volumes can be processed with in no time and can be detailed for evaluation. Despite the sophistication of the systems, the success or a failure of a business certainly depends on the adaptation of the right technology and execution. This again emphasizes the role of strategic management and the decision making process in adoption of suitable technologies in place. In today's business environment, technology is the most important aspect that helps businesses to succeed worldwide irrespective of the cost of acquiring and implementing them. Updates of the older systems and the processes, imparting the training to the relevant levels and the other attributes are expensive factors for the companies, but eventually when the technology progresses and the new system prevail in the industry, updating is inevitable. Organizations will have to look at the change as a strategic opportunity and a unique way of advancing in the competitive market scenario. Recognizing the potential and rolling the feasible technologies in to the business process will leverage the scope for developing the work place, and also helps in enhanced customer satisfaction. Goals, Vision and Mission of any companies are aligned with the way the business processes of the company are structured. Deployment of necessary Information systems and technology into the process is certainly a strategic decision making. A limited vision on the same may curtail the success of the companies. Streamlining of process can be better managed by implementing right technology and automation process. Functional technologies as ERP, SAP and various other automation softwares can help the companies in fixing the productivity problems, cost effectiveness and qualitative service to the customers. ERP for example, uses a single database in which information from different functional domains is stored. As a result, the information needs of different entities can be met from a single location (VinodKumar, 2002). This integrated approach can, for instance, allow the production department located in one geographical area to send financial information to the head office and the marketing information of one location can be accessed by the production department at another location, so that the market patterns can be identified and the appropriate responses can be designed. Proper implementation of ERP ensures that the management has relevant and timely information at its disposal for effective decision-making. The effectiveness of the ERP system in business can be judged by the fact that in spite of its high cost of implementation, many organizations have adopted ERP systems. Business modeling is a precursor to business process reengineering, ERP implementation etc. A business model is a diagrammatic representation of different business systems and processes, and their interconnections and interdependencies. The purpose of business modeling is to provide a general overview of the operations of a business without going into the technical details of the processes and systems (Schonberger, 1997). It defines the activities performed and workflow structure in a broad manner. Business as a system Money People Facilities Material Information Information An ERP system is implemented to provide requisite information to individuals to enable them to perform business process more efficiently and effectively. Another example of technological advancements creating revolution in organizations is of Air Deccan which is an Indian domestic airline. Air Deccan, started in India in the year 2003 as a low cost airline by Captain Gopinath. This is the first of its kind airline which took the advantage of the technology into its business process. From the start-up the company relied on better process management and adoption of technology to the optimum levels. As an initial step, introduction of Online ticketing systems, Web-check in and tele - check-in options which the company introduced got a welcome response from the customers and it reduced a lot of complexity in the process involved for both the customers and the company (Schonberger, 1997). Also, the company's growth made other competitors realize the potential of technology and they started putting it in place. The Information Systems and technology has not only leveraged the complexity of the process, it also had proven to be a very cost cutting measure to the company (Sampson, 2008). With right technology in place, there is a profound reduction in the direct and the indirect costs for the company in providing the service to the customer (Air Deccan). New Technologies and its Impact on the business scenario Change is inevitable in the evolution process and this truly applies to the changing business scenario and its attributes. In the past generation the transformation process of a company from one phase to the other use to be a long-term process, where as today it is a dynamic process. Transformation has taken place across the verticals of the industry all across the globe. A due significance has to be given to the technology for the role it played both externally and internally the change management. Only with the use of advent technology the changes taking place in the business scenario has been acknowledged by the customers and the companies. Today companies are at a stage where they tend to record everything - process, activity, task etc. When a task is accomplished, there is enormous volume of data which is available from the recordings. Those are to be managed by the companies in a structured manner. As the compilation of that data can help the organizations in decision making and Intellectual property management of the company (Taylor, 2008). Correlating new technology development to business development Technology development and the business development have a correlation to a higher demand. It could either be an engineering process or a reverse engineering process for the companies. Communication Systems should be on track in accordance to the information systems of the organization to ensure the quality of the services and competency management. Hence the companies should raise their standards in adopt the e-commerce culture and the e-process management of its business process (Inter-American Development Bank, 2008). Every company needs a constant research on the changes and the uptrend for the sector and has to prepare itself for the process. Companies like Toyota and other such major companies are also constantly in to innovation and quality revolution. These majors had partnered with IBM and other major technology providers to integrate their business and technology process and ensure smooth flow of business process and complex research. In conclusion it can be said that in today's business scenario, the strategic managers have to a play a role of explorer, with constant exploration in to scope of utilizing the advancing technologies to the betterment of the business process and to create awesome customer service and enhance the growth prospects of the company. Also, the advancement of the technology and managerial functions should be in tandem to ensure that the thought process for the technology advancements could lead to right direction of thinking and research. Bibliography (ICMR), ICFAI Center for Management Research. 2003. Operations Management. Hyderabad: ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR), 2003. Air Deccan. Role of Technology in revolution. Air Deccan. [Online] Air Deccan. [Cited: January 20, 2009.] http://www.airdeccan.net. Data is more than Knwoledge: Certain Implications. Tuomi, I. 1999. 1999, Journal of Management Information Systems, pp. 103-117. ICFAI Center for Management Research. 2003. 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