Role of Technology Assessment to the Company - Literature review Example

Technology assessment al affiliation) Role of technology assessment to the company International business machines (IBM) is a multinational corporation that deals with information technology. The company is consulted and provides information technology solutions to majority of other companies. The company performs the task through a majority of tasks that entail; global financing, system and technology, global business service, software and global technology services. The integrated technology entail portfolio that is project based. Technology can be defined as an integration of tools, people, knowledge and systems with a goal of improving the organizational performance and lives of people. Assessment of technology has to target knowledge, systems and tools, procedures, people and the new knowledge pertaining to technological innovation. Technology assessment has continued to evolve resulting to various changes in the company’s information technology sector. Technology assessment helps in planning for the company. The approach helps the company in foreseeing threats and coming up with ways of dealing with such threats (Danjuma & Rasli, 2012). Companies have continued to find it a challenge to comprehend the long term and intermediate roles of technological advancements. Technology assessment is considered a vital planning tool apart from making the policy makers informed. For the assessment process to remain effective communication between the potential users, assessment team members, decision makers and sponsors has to be maintained. The company utilizes the technology assessment tool as an approach to improving decision making process in the company as well as understanding the future of business environment (Freeman, 2000). Technology assessment apart from making the company adapts to the current changes in the business environment especially in the marketing sector and information technology, also provides early warning to the company on the impending threats to its development. Some of such threats were never anticipated during the planning process of the company. The company has ensured the utilization of the technology assessment in expanding the information base and for long term strategic planning. TA has also been utilized in making decisions of the company. Technology assessment should be done regularly due to continued technological evolution and emergence of new knowledge on technology. An effective technological assessment; defines the current status pertaining to a certain issue, describes the technology, identifies policy actions, gives suggestions on alternatives and helps assess the potential impacts of technology in the company (Danjuma & Rasli, 2012). The company has invested in the technology assessment and is able to utilize experience, skills and talents in making the process a success. The assessment result is useful for the organization and is usually communicate to the concerned departments in a manner that eases understanding. The company executive and the board of management utilized the result of the assessment to come up with strategic plan that is aimed at driving the company in the right direction. Technology assessment is usually costly for the company and enough capital should be put aside to facilitate the process. Continuous updates on the company technology are vital for the organization competition. More technologies are being designed and organizations are coming up with strategies to ensure they are able to use the more sophisticated technology to help them compete favorably with the other multinational corporations in the market. A relationship exists between technology use and company competition. The company exploits the most current technology with an intention of taking an advantage over the other competitors. Investment in technology is mandatory for any company growth given that, the positive impacts of technology are unquestionable (Danjuma & Rasli, 2012). Use of technology fastens the way products and services are produced and supplied. Frequent assessment of the technology is therefore vital to the company as it ensures threats to businesses are taken care off. For an organization to service in the competitive market it has to fulfill various fundamental functions that includes; transformation, measurement, information and coordination of the various activities. Technology has been utilized in nearly all the business cycles that include; process and product development, production, marketing and distribution of the services. Assessment of technology in the company targets all levels in the management hierarchy. Relationship of the technology assessment to an integration plan Technology assessment is a core factor in the planning process of the company. most companies are on the rush to ensure sophisticated technology is installed in their company given the advantages that come with it (Summak et al, 2010). The companies should however move systematically since installation of new technology is expensive and assessment of the current technology has to be done to find out whether there is need to change to a more advanced technology. Technology assessment results are therefore considered vital in the decision making process of the company. Inadequate or lack of technological assessment is a time bomb to the company. Some companies have ended up incurring a lot of loses as a result of failure of systems. The presence of agility, complexities, competitiveness and growth in the business world has created pressure to the company to use the current technology with the aim of speeding up the process of production. The companies are now relying on information technology department to provide information that will spur the company in the right direction. The companies are also spending enough capital in the training of service providers to be technological competent with the aim of ensuring increased performance through equipping them with skills. Technological assessment is therefore an important planning tool since; the company will utilize the result to find out the needs of the company. Issues such as purchase and repair of technology tools and training of the service providers require strategic planning. Technological assessment ensures the company put in place or pursues the right technology without buying less or more (Summak et al, 2010). The assessment team have to analyze the technological situation of the company before giving advices to the management team on the appropriate measures to take a process called conduct discovery. The team should be able identify how the elements link the location and applications. The assessment result should focus on identifying the problems and threats raised by the technology in use, the technology that the competitors use and come up with appropriate measures or changes that will be beneficial to the company. In order for the board of directors and the executive to make necessary changes and plans for the company then enough research and assessment result should provide enough knowledge. If the company has to maintain the current technology then the results should provide options on improving and filling the gaps existing in the technology that is in use. Analysis of the result should involve procurement, support, implementation application and integration. The analysis should also consider issues such as resource constraints, time and the financial implication of repair and purchase of the new technology available in the market. The operation and vision of the company should be able to define the needs of the technology. The assessment team should be in a position to discuss the results with the top management concerning the changes to the investments and the technology that is in place. The investment has to be prioritized based on the needs of the organization (Summak et al, 2010). All the aspects of the plan have to be documented including, actions, visions, budget submittal, timing and project phasing. The assessment team has to schedule a meeting with the executive after analyzing and documenting the technology results with an intention of informing the management team about the exercise and the way forward. The executive will use the information to convince the board of directors of the necessary changes in the company’s technology. Results of the company technological assessment Even Multinational companies such as IBM face a lot of challenges in the use of technology. The company is using the current technology in carrying out most of the company activity. The use of cloud computing technology has made it easier for the company to forge ahead even though few problems were encountered during the assessment process. Some of the employees are still finding it a challenge to use the current technology (Makino, 2009). The company should invest in training of the employees on the new technology that are installed in the company. The continued training will ensure the employees become innovative in information technology to help deal with other emerging threats such as cybercrime. Hiring of employees with the best technological skills is becoming a challenge. The company should continue to partner with institution of higher learning to ensure talents are nurtured from the lower level. The information technology department has to be well equipped due to the emergence of the current operation risks especially targeting the company information. Company information is vital and has to be protected at all cost. The company has to hire experts to ensure appropriate strategies are put in place to help the organization deal with hacking braches. Training of the employees on new technology utilization should be done to ensure the performance of the company improves. The company should put appropriate measures in place to help deal with operational risks associated with information technology. Repair of technology devices should be done in a more efficient manner and at a faster rate to avoid delays in the production process. The use of Watson computer technology at the company has improved performance but more innovation ought to be done to boost performance to even higher levels (Danjuma & Rasli, 2012). References Danjuma, I., & Rasli, A. (2012). Empirical Assesment of Service Quality Dimension in Technology–based Universities. Jurnal Teknologi. Freeman, D. (2000). Technology and society: Issues in assesment, conflict, and choice. Chicago: Rand McNally. Makino, N. (2009). Technology Assesment in High. Polymer Industry. Kobunshi, 23-26. Summak, M., Samancioğlu, M., & Bağlibel, M. (2010). Technology integration and assesment in educational settings. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1725-1729. Read More