Information Technology as a Business Support Function - Research Paper Example

The competence of the information systems engaged by the majority of businesses at present is significant yet not utilized completely. Operational quality maintained by information technology is critical to accomplish viable benefits. This phenomenon is currently motivating organizations to augment their administration of technology for better risk management and domination with improved levels of customer service and operational cost cutback (KPMG,2009). Conventionally, IT accomplishment has been considered in provisions of IT factors like uptime, capability, and processing speed.

  A book by Martin Curley emphasizes that if IT is to bring business worth; IT should be assessed and measured in major business terms---for example, customer satisfaction, revenue growth, and profitability. (M. Curley, 2004). Sometimes, organizations are not able to invest enough in IT. The IT division is staffed simply to do what others demand and often not even provided the resources to do that. Other departments can get better and quick responses from IT if the manager can raise the concern and explicate the importance of IT support.

But if enough resources are not available, all sorts of apparent improvement opportunities may get wasted because of the unavailability of particular resources. Therefore, several organizations would benefit from increasing the resources to IT and shifting the focus from passive provider to dynamic contributor in using information technology in order to meet business needs. This needs recruitment of IT with some people who can work with others to find out the business requirements and then decide the best IT solutions and then deliver those solutions.

(John Hunter, 2008). Moreover, as computing has quickly unmitigated away from the "back office," it has put in additional considerable significance across organizations starting from information insight to refined business analysis. This vast innovative ability has resulted in increased intricacy and complexity. Many business patrons strive and deal with this through IT outsourcing and added cover of management software, which often causes complexity and inflexibility. This problem can be coped up by radically simplifying the computing environment.

This generalization can be achieved by impeccably merging together all of the devices, services, and multiple layers of software into a rational professionally managed technology framework. Thereby, designing of IT systems that have the ability to be managed easily or be managed themselves; efficiency can be vastly increased hence causing a reduction in business overhead. Further to this, it will authorize IT managers to expend more time making IT systems really work for their company by connecting business processes, empowering employees, and producing real business significance (Steve Balmer, 2004).

Information technology also serves as an integral part of the emergency plans of different organizations. In the OHIO emergency operation plan, IT serves as a support function by providing coordination and information technologies needs and activities to ensure the security and integrity of state emergency communications, including GIS support. It is also responsible for Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS) infrastructure (OHIO EOP, 2008).