Information Technology in the Current Business Environment - Essay Example

Information Technology Information technology is a technology that helps an organization in collecting, storing, retrieving, and disseminating the information required to perform various functions of a business. Information technology is closely related to the modern management systems of a company or organization. Information technology refers to the use of computers, networking, software programming, and other equipment in the industries in order to store, process, retrieve, transmit, and protect information (Salaam, 2010). In the current business environment of any company, computer technology is being widely used for managing different business activities. It is extremely important for the management of a company to be proficient in the use of computers in order to get competitive advantage in the market. Interaction of Management of an Organization with IT Information technology is one of the most important aspects of any company or organization because it helps the organizations in successfully carrying out all the tasks related to different business activities by using the information that is appropriately collected and analyzed by the management information department. Information technology is not only concerned with the collection of data, rather it is also used to process, analyze, and disseminate the collected information. The data is presented to the concerned department in the form of a well-documented report consisting of those activities that are needed to be executed by the management of any specific department. The department of IT also helps an organization in setting and achieving long-term strategic goals and objectives. IT is also used in financial organizations in order to keep a complete and accurate record of various financial activities. Management information system is one of the important aspects of Information technology. Abel (2008) asserts, “MIS deals with planning for, development, management, and use of information technology tools to help people perform all task related to information processing and management”. Without the implementation of information technology system in an organization, the employees can never properly access or use the information that is required for any specific business operation. One of the main roles of information technology department in the organizations is to manage the required information. Computers are used by the organizations for the processing of orders regarding products and services. All information is stored in the computers related to customers’ orders. The information includes the name of the product that is demanded by any specific customer, the specifications of the product, collected and remaining payment, order’s delivery time, and all other information regarding the customers’ orders. That information is viewed and analyzed by the management of the organization in order to carry out the required tasks regarding product delivery to the customers. The computer systems used by the organizations automatically process the collected data into required information to be used by the concerned department. Key Factors of IT Management Management Information Systems While talking about IT and the relation of IT with the management systems, let us discuss an important aspect of this relationship, which is management information system. Management information system means management of the information that is required to run the business operations and other activities of an organization. Martin (2010) asserts, “Management information systems are a subdivision of internal business controls that usually refer to documents, IT, people and procedures”. Without the implementation of a perfect MIS, no company or organization can ever be successful because information is needed in every business operation in order to run the business effectively. The key tasks of an efficient management information system include management of business related information, documentation of the collected information, and assisting the management in processing the information. The main purpose of implementing a management information system in an organization is that it makes use of such IT related tools that help the managers, decision makers, and other employees of an organization in processing of the information regarding various business operations. Data Processing Data processing is also one of the key activities of information technology department. Gone are the days when organizations used to organize the data in the shape of files and then process the data manually for decision-making and record keeping purposes. Now management information system, which is an important part of information technology, is used for this purpose. MIS perform all the tasks related to information management, which include collection of data, editing of data, saving it in the computers, and generating reports for decision making purposes. Data Backup Data backup is another benefit that comes with the use of information technology in management activities of an organization. Data backup is the utility that saves the data for the future use. If something happens to the computer system, data backup is used to retrieve the data, which it has saved at a secure location. In this way, the data is not lost even if the computer system fails to work properly. Data backup is the act of copying data to a safe medium such as a zip drive or a diskette. Almost all of our jobs and business activities today rely on information. That is why IT department provides the management of the companies with the utility of data backup in order to make the information safe and secure. Software Copyright Software copyright law is not an uncommon law for those companies, which make use of information technology in their business applications. Copyright provides a high level of control over the software to the developer of the software. The management of a company, who wants to makes use of some software, should get the permission of the owner of the software in order to bring it into use of the company. The permission is also necessary if a company wants to modify some areas of the software according to the nature of the company’s business activities. It is necessary for the management of a company to get the license of that software which it wants to install and use for various business purposes. Therefore, we can say that use of information technology is of extreme importance for the management of any organization as it helps the management in carrying out various business related activities in an effective and efficient manner. References Abel, O. (2008, June 08). Knowledge Workers in the Information Age. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Knowledge-­Workers-­in-­the-­Information-­Age&id=1233438 Martin, S. (2010, January 03). An Introduction to Management Information Systems. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?An-­Introduction-­to-­Management-­Information-­Systems&id=3514442 Salaam, L. (2010, July 23). What is Information Technology? Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-information-technology.htm Read More