Cloud Based Management Information System - Essay Example

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES goes here] [Your goes here] [Due the paper] Cloud Based Management Information System Introduction In the present world, technology is making progress at a rapid speed. New technologies related to the field of computer science and information technology are facilitating people and organizations in performing their business activities. The world has become reliant on the use of technology so much that it seems impossible to gain success without the use of latest tools and technologies. Technology provides a number of benefits to organizations some of which include increased business performance, increased productivity, improved quality of products and services, improved customer satisfaction, and improved market share. Every company and organization has become heavily dependent on the use of technology to run business activities. For example, use of computers networks and internet has become a common thing for every organization. In this report, we will discuss an innovative technology related to the field of computer science. The name of the technology is Cloud Management Information System (Cloud MIS). Cloud MIS service refers to the use of cloud computing services for managing information provided to the system by the companies using the service. Some of the main benefits that a company can get using Cloud MIS service include secure data management, improved efficiency, lower capital expenditure, no need of hiring IT professionals to manage the MIS, greater flexibility and storage, and lower operational expenditure. The concept of this technology was developed a couple of years ago but more and more developments are occurring in this technology making it more useful and reliable for companies and organizations. Let us first have a look at basic workings of Management Information System and Cloud Computing in order to get a better understanding of the benefits that the merger of these technologies can provide to businesses. 2. Management Information System According to Oz (2009, p. 9) states, “Information is the lifeblood of any organization”. Without information, a company can never achieve its desired goals and objectives because information serves as the base for business progress. Management information system (MIS) refers to a system that manages the data and information of a company needed to perform different business activities. MIS makes use of information technology tools in processing of information and generation of reports (Earl 1996). It is a part of internal business control system which manages the documents, business strategies and policies, and information stored in it by the company (Martin 2010). According to Stahl (2008, p. 1), management information systems increase the efficiency of business processes, as well as improves coordination between people within organization. As Lauderdale (n.d., p. 1) states, “MIS allows managers to create reports about the company activities”. This statement shows that MIS can be used to generate reports about business activities, such as, financial reports, employee performance reports, and project related reports. According to Lucey (2005, p. 4), the main tasks of a management information system are to process collected data into information, as well as to send accurate and relevant information to the concerned people. As Burke (n.d., p. 1) states, “MIS, or management information systems, are used to manage the data created within the structure of a particular business”. MIS stores everything related to business which also include project deadlines and employees’ tasks regarding those projects. Using the information for the system, employees carry out their activities accordingly. According to Currie and Galliers (1999), MIS also helps employees in processing, analyzing, and disseminating the collected information. Another advantage of using MIS in companies is that it helps in setting and achieving both short-term and long-term strategic goals and objectives. One of the most significant aspects of using MIS is that it keeps the information up to date, which is the key to the success of a company in a competitive market. Therefore, we can say that management information systems have become an essential part of every company in today’s world of competition. 3. Cloud Computing Cloud computing is an internet-based technology which helps companies in accessing a wide range of business applications through internet on any computer system. People using the services of cloud computing do not need to buy the software products to install them on computer systems, rather they can use the applications through cloud which not only reduces the costs but also makes the use more secure and reliable. As Schauland (2011, p. 1) states, “Surfacing in late 2007, cloud computing is used to allow services used in everyday practice to be moved onto the Internet rather than stored on a local computer”. Cloud computing helps in carrying out business activities in such a way that users do not need to be at some particular place to use the applications, rather they can use the applications being anywhere in the world. They only need to have an access to the internet connection to use cloud-computing services. According to Cheow (2010), a person can make use of cloud applications as along as he/she has an access to the internet services. Cloud computing also helps users in a sense that it eliminates the problem of hardware or software failure (Turner n.d.). In business settings, companies usually need to install, configure, test, and run software products in order to make them accustomed to their needs. However, in case of cloud services, companies do not need to pay extra money for customizing software applications and then worry about the risk of software failure and data loss (Zaman 2009). The service providing company manages and customizes the software applications on their own, thus reducing the need of software customization for the users (Alves 2012). Moreover, using cloud-computing services, a company can enjoy a significant amount of workload shift, as employees do not need to spend time on managing and disseminating data since all data management tasks are performed online by the service providing company. Local computers do not need to perform all heavy tasks when it comes to running heavy software applications (Strickland n.d.). Cloud computing provides many benefits to companies. Two of the main benefits include digitization and proper management of business records. These two features help not only help companies in tracing the performances of the business and employees accurately but also in improving the performance of the business. Moreover, cloud computing also provides a user-friendly interface of the software applications to the users of the system. The interface of the software products provided by the clouds is different from that of the original interface. Because of this factor, users find it easy to use cloud services instead of putting money on difficult to use software applications. Another benefit of using cloud services is that the applications do not have any bug and the company providing the services is responsible for managing any bug if occurs in any application. 3.1 Specialty Areas of Cloud Services Cloud computing provides a number of services to the users of the system using three deployment models which include public, private, and hybrid clouds (Sohail 2012). Some of the main services include marketing automation, flexible and reliable mobile access, sales force automation, management of business information, in-depth business reporting, cloud-based customer relationship management, call center management, and point-and-click customization of applications. Let us now have a look at the way cloud-based management information system helps companies in managing business information in a convenient way. 4. Cloud-Based Management Information System As Tosic et al. (2011, p. 1) states, “Many organizations are attracted to cloud computing as an ICT”. Cloud MIS refers to the type of management information system which is handled and managed by the cloud service providing company (Hug 2008). In traditional settings, companies need to develop, configure, customize, implement the management information system for managing business information. However, Cloud MIS is an emerging technology that reduces the workload of companies by managing the information related activities itself. There is very little amount of workload on the users of the system as they just need to update the system with new business information. All other tasks, such as, storing of information, processing of information, and reports generation are performed by the cloud services providing company. In this case, a virtual system of database management is created in which there is very less amount of load on the users of the system. 4.1 No Need to Hire IT Professionals Cloud MIS also eliminates the need for companies to hire professional IT experts who can manage the management information system properly. Companies usually give heavy salaries to IT professionals who ensure the reliability and proper working of the information system. Cloud MIS reduces this need of the companies by managing all issues related to the system by on its own. There is no need for the company to hire professionals and high amounts of money to them. Moreover, the cost of developing the management information system is also eliminated using Cloud MIS. The reason is that companies can use the pre-designed MIS using cloud services instead of developing a new MIS. Employees just need to upload the information on the system through internet and the cloud services providing company manages the information itself. 4.2 Reduced Workload Cloud MIS performs all tasks related to information management that a company has to perform on its own. Operating MIS is not an easy task as employees has to deal with all MIS related processes, such as, maintenance of existing systems, analyzing the efficacy of existing systems, taking measures to remove flaws from the existing systems, and implementing new systems and technologies when required. Cloud MIS eliminates all such needs by proving companies with a fully functional and free of errors MIS which is managed and maintained solely by the cloud services providing company. 4.3 Main Benefits of Cloud MIS Cloud MIS offers a wide range of benefits to the companies. “Cloud in conjunction with other technology trends such as virtualization, makes it possible to create large and highly automated sets of computing resources” (Gilenson 2012, p. 1). Some other benefits include no need to develop a new MIS, ease of integration with proprietary systems, low capital investment, user-friendly interface of MIS, and reduced workload. Some other benefits that make Cloud MIS an attractive choice for a company include low risk, improved organization of business processes, improved privacy of data, improved data management because of large storage capacity, and improved customer service. Cloud MIS also ensures improved accuracy, timeliness, competence and relevance of data, provision of relevant information to concerned departments, and improved efficiency of business processes. Simple storage and retrieval, basic and complex document management, and functional data storage are some more benefits of Cloud MIS (Porter-Roth 2012). These benefits and a wide range of applications make Cloud MIS a valuable and cost-effective system that a company can use to manage its information in an appropriate manner (Robinson 2010). However, there also exist some concerns regarding the use of Cloud MIS which cloud services providing companies need to work out in order to make the use of Cloud MIS reliable and productive for the companies. 4.4 Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues regarding Cloud MIS There are no legal or moral issues associated with the use Cloud MIS. However, there exist some privacy concerns regarding its use. Privacy of data is the biggest concern for companies using Cloud MIS, as they do not feel it safe to send their business and financial information on internet to the cloud service providers. They think that network hackers can download their information from the Cloud MIS. Moreover, there is also an ethical issue in the use of Cloud MIS on the part of cloud service providers as they have full access to the financial information of companies which use Cloud MIS. The ethical issue may arise if some employees of those companies log into the private information of client companies and download their financial information for illegal purposes. Therefore, cloud services providing companies need to use a fair system which should meet all concerns of the client companies. 5. Conclusion Summing it up, Cloud MIS is an emerging technology which offers a large number of benefits to companies, such as, low capital investment, no need to hire IT professionals, user-friendly interface, and increased data storage capacity. Cloud MIS also reduces the workload of companies by managing the processes itself. However, there exist some privacy concerns regarding Cloud MIS that cloud services providing companies should remove in order to spread the use of this technology all over the world. 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