Information and Communication Technology - Essay Example

Running head: ICT in the service industry Student name: Student number: Course: Lecturer: Date: ICT in the service industry With the complexities experienced in the service industry in the recent world, it is no longer that the companies with the best information systems in place are the ones to win more clients, it is more in the way a company handles the said clients. The availability of online forums, online chats, and Web 2.0 tools which are readily available are proves enough to show how clients can gain invaluable information about a given company. The use of information technology alone is no longer the magic for most companies although it still has some reasonable significance in any company. Apart from ICT, there is need to have people who have courtesy and people skills. It is the company which has the people skills at heart who will win the loyalty of most clients. Knowledge on the current technology is one of the things that one needs to have so as to be being computerized. In the past communication was a problem and letters were believed to be the best of which it was not the best way of passing across an urgent message. The telephone booths not everyone could have access to it and to make matters worse it was for use to all the publics and one could not be sure to get the right person. As the advancements continued mobile phones were introduced and it is affordable to everyone nowadays thus solving the problem of communication. Many employers nowadays think that a person is capable of delivering the best services to a customer in his organization once he/she is well equipped in the field of Information Communications Technology (ICT) without considering other important factors like is the person able to communicate and relate well to the customers? Is he/she able to win the confidence of the customer? Can he/she be able to associate with customers of any kind? If he answers the above questions and lacks knowledge on ICT then his/her performance outcome is excellent (Weill, 1992). ICT just came to ease work, improve the quality of work done hence saving time and energy. The exceptional skills that other people have of starting a conversation with anyone they meet in your company that is where the success and happiness of your company begin as they are directly related to the development of social skills. ICT does not matter in this competitive world but the skills one has and his/her relationship will determine whether he will move ahead more than his technical ability. There are a lot of people who are well knowledgeable of everything in ICT and can be very resourceful in a company but the quality and ability of a person to perform lies in himself and not the ICT knowledge that he has acquired. Many companies in the past used to measure their performance by looking at the profit they have made or cost efficiencies without considering how each individual in the company has contributed towards the success of the company. In certain companies like the banks and those that need one to be equipped with technology well it is a must for one to be an ICT literate so as to improve his/her job performance and this will lead towards the realization of how an individual can perform and this can be one way of looking for hard working workers to be promoted and those ready to handle greater responsibilities within the organization (Vickers, 1986). This clearly indicates that the knowledge of an individual on ICT will determine his or her capability to perform in such organizations. Job insecurity is becoming a trend in the current world and it reaches a point where one needs to change job or enter a new industry because one may lack ICT knowledge which is not a must for an employees input in an organization to be realized but the only way to ensure a smooth transition is to develop exceptional people skills and this will act as a security to your job as your input will be realized from your skills minus the information and communication technology. A worker in an organization can have the ICT skills but once the other workers on the employee realizes that you are a threat and he/she is at risk of loosing their position because of you, they won’t give you a chance to use your ICT skills to ensure that your performance outcomes are a realized at an individual level. There are certain projects or posts in an organization that requires ICT expertise, but the outcome can not be achieved as it needs combined knowledge so as to achieve the desired results and may require people to work as a group because ICT is wide and has so many fields that it is hard to find only one person who has specialized in all the fields and so to measure individuals output is hard. Most of the employers think that a person who is well equipped with ICT productivity is the person who fits the job well but in the real sense ICT does not have positive effects on labor and total factor productivity but sometimes it can greatly vary between sectors and countries though the link between ICT investment and productivity is somehow indirect (Van, & Piatkowski, 2004). An employee who is more advanced in ICT experience productivity gains is he/she is hard working and combined with innovative activity can help one to lead towards the growth at the firm level. The impact of ICT on job growth can either be positive or negative and can vary between from an organization to the other depending on their economic status. ICT creates employment in organizations and at the same time some of the people are displaced as one person with a well equipped knowledge on ICT can be able to perform the tasks done by a good number of people in the organization hence cutting costs that helps the company to prosper. The performance of a person lies with the ability of one to perform a specific function and does not depend on how knowledgeable that employee is in the field of ICT. References Van, B., Frankeman, E. & Duteweerd, H. (2004). Productivity and employment growth: An empirical review of long and medium run evidence. University of Groningen. Van, B. & Inklaar, R. (2005). Catching up or getting stuck? Europe’s trouble to exploit ICT’s productivity potential. University Groningen. Van, B. & Piatkowski, M. (2004). Productivity, innovation and ICT in old and new Europe. University of Groningen. Vickers, J. (1986). The evolution of industry structure when there is a sequence of innovations. Journal of Industrial Economics, Vol. 33, pp. 515-529. Weill, P. (1992). The ICT role in the current industries: A study of the valve manufacturing sector. Information Systems Research Vol. 3, pp. 307-333. Read More