Ecological Technologies in Business - Article Example

Introduction In today’s world, the most common word heard in the world of technology is Information Systems. Information systems or technology has always been working in alignment with the needs of business in the form of software and hardware. Businesses align their goals, missions and strategies with the information technology for the following reasons (Our View of Information Technologys Relationship to Business): 1 Technology can help reduce costs 2 Information technology can help improve the efficiency and consistency of the people and the work. 3 It is easy to administer all the functions and people of the organization from any part of the world. But today, it has grown to include many other various aspects of computing and technology. The umbrella of IT has grown much larger than simple hardware and software. With the advances in information technology, businesses are restructuring themselves to align with their growing business needs. This includes the need to store information on the customers, suppliers which is catered by the large information databases and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERPs). The business needs arise from the processes of the business which includes the culture, goals and strategies. In turn these processes define the tasks that need to be accomplished using the correct information systems that the world of technology has to offer. For this reason it is necessary that the business needs how simple or complicated they maybe need to be aligned with the latest information technology. Alignment of Technology with Business According to the diagram below, taken from the article posted on Earley & Associates, it can be seen that how the technology can be aligned with the needs of the today’s business needs. If the diagram is reviewed properly it can be seen that the different data sources of the company runs or supports the business processes as without information the company cannot function. These processes in turn enables the accomplishment of different units working together in order to achieve the organizational strategy. The main point in this diagram is that all these processes cannot be achieved without some form of technology (information system) working. The necessity to align this technology with the business is so the threat of business transformations occurring today at a rapid speed can be tackled. The technology in today’s era “needs to be linked tightly to the needs of the business – from a strategic perspective as well as the tactical, day-to-day, perspective of task execution. Technology supports capabilities; capabilities are used to attain business objectives.” (Aligning Business Technology Goals) Many different businesses use the technology that is almost obsolete. Due to this, the business operations may be running on very old and outdated assumptions that can lead to unsatisfactory results and can affect the overall goals and strategies. Its been pointed out by Earley & Associates that if this old technology is running, the IT department can only struggle to patch the old systems together which can cost more money than actually installing a new and latest system. As for the simple business units, the technology – whatever the condition it is in- is considered a problem-solving tool which solves the problem at hand but might create trouble in the future (Aligning Business Technology Goals). According to report published by BEA Business Integration Solution it is said that all the businesses that are the leaders in the world work to increase efficieny, responsiveness and most important the capabilty of adaptiabilty by their companies. All these imperatives can and do have a strong impact on the IT infrastructure which leads to the creation of such a system that can help acheive these imperatives. (Aligning IT with Business Goals) The environment of today’s business world is so competitive that any company that does not keep up with the technology and other different changes internal and external cannot survive. Therefore the biggest challenge that they face is alignment of the emerging technologies with the business goals and needs (Grabowski, 2005). Many companies build infrastructure of IT on their old and disconnected systems. This can create a problem for the business processes as they cannot readily respond to the changing environment. Due to this reason, IT systems needs to built so that they can support the business as the new needs arise and should respond in the real time and adaptability.(Aligning Business Technology Goals). IT departments of many businesses are so immersed in the day-to-day activities of running and maintaining the current technology that they do not try to learn or have the time to learn about the emerging technologies and if implemented how it can change the processes of the business and its goals. The concept of economizing and streamlining are not a new one in the business world. Many businesses in fact try to implement these concepts by aligning the innovations and technologies with it. If the companies are considering implementing a new technology implementation that can change the business processes to make it more effective and efficient, they should follow some of the following steps (Grabowski, 2005): 1 The objectives of the company whether short-term or long-term should be taken into consideration. 2 Integration and support requirements should be defined. 3 Considering the strengths and weakness of the technology that is to be implemented 4 How the overall business workflow will be affected after automation. 5 The most basic assumption is that the business environment will keep changing with time. Many businesses invest heavily on the technology but do not seem to get the results. This is due because many businesses fail to review their current technology infrastructure and systems. Therefore it is very necessary to review or align the technology with the business processes to reap its rewards. The failure of many investments in technology occur also due to the fact that the expensive hardware, software and the necessary expertise to implement have not been aligned properly with the each other and also with the business processes. The amount of time taken for the implementation of new technology integration with the business needs can also lead to the failure of achievement of business goals. If any business wants to be successful and wants to ensure proper execution of strategies in order to achieve organizational goals then they should align their business needs with the emerging technologies properly. According to the article published by the Microsoft (No year given by the article), it is said that for any successful business the following equation should be followed by the companies: the right people + the right tools = business success. Many companies believe that investing in IT does not bear that many advantages to the investing company (Information Technology Drives Growth). There are many businesses where alignment of business needs with the emerging technologies or IT has had a very strong impact on the business performance. The revenue of companies in the top 25% of the peers that invest in IT is 6.8% faster as compared to those in the bottom 25% (Information Technology Drives Growth). 23% more revenue per employee is enjoyed by the firms in the top quarter of IT capability as compared to the bottom quarter (Information Technology Drives Growth). With the help of emerging technolgy managers can also become more effective and can work more efficiently producing the desired outcome (Information Technology Drives Growth) Conclusion If the overall impact of the emerging technology is assessed on the business performance then it can be said that companies with old infrastructures or systems have a hard time keeping up with the firms that constantly align their business processes and needs with the ever changing technology that not only improves their performance but can also give them a competitive advantage in the changing business environment. Works Cited Aligning Business Technology Goals. Earley & Associates. Retrieved October 3, 2008 from http://www.earley.com/2Col_private.asp?linkId=198 Aligning IT with Business Goals. BEA Business Integration Solutions. Retrieved on October 3, 2008 from http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Aligning+Emerging+Technology+with+Business+Needs&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.bea.com/content/news_events/white_papers/BEA_WLI_aligning_goals_wp.pdf&w=aligning+align+alignment+emerging+technology+business+needs+need&d=UbNqWPReRfKk&icp=1&.intl=us Information Technology Drives Growth. Microsoft Business & Industry. Retrieved on October 3, 2008 from http://www.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/innovation/insight/keystone_new.mspx Our View of Information Technologys Relationship to Business. LAD Enterprise. Retrieved on October 3, 2008 from http://www.ladenterprizes.com/aboutus-view.htm Technology Is the Tool, People Are the Key. Microsoft Business & Industry. Retrieved on October 3, 2008 from http://www.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/overview/insight.mspx Grabowski, Gary. (July 2005). IT Changes. Smart Business. Retrieved October 3, 2008 from http://www.sbnonline.com/National/Article.aspx?CID=7358 Guyon, Louis. (April 17, 2008). Aligning Technology and Small Business. Var Guy. Retrieved on October 3, 2008 from http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/04/17/aligning-technology-and-small-business/ Read More