Does Information Technology Matter - Essay Example

Topic: Does IT Matter? Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Information technology sector has been d as the fastest growing in most of the economies in the world. Institutions and corporations are transforming their book keeping and production from the earlier manual systems to the more sophisticated and efficient information technology. Questions has been raised on the significance of information technology but considering its definition which changes the meaning of time, it would be true to say that more can be achieved through IT than without it (Reynolds 2009 p 27). This technology has managed to penetrate through out all economic sectors, be it commerce, medicine, transport, Agriculture, education etc where it has increased productivity and efficiency. This essay is a critical evaluation of the importance of Information Technology and why it matters. Information Technology primarily relies on computers and other hardware in order to achieve the desired results. A computer is an electronic device that accepts raw data input, processes the data to produce information through an output device (Laudon 2009 p 10). Input devices are for example scanners, mouse, keyboard etc while output devices comprise and not limited to visual display unit, printers, speakers etc. All these devices when connected make up a computer system which can be interconnected to form an information system. A computer basically operates like humans difference being that computers do not have the ability to think. However, with the advancement in technology, computers with more human ability have been created to serve humans. These are for example robots which are able to conduct basic human functions based on their programmed memory. Unlike humans, computers do not experience fatigue and as such, they can perform repetitive work for a long time without lowering the quality of the output. It is therefore correct to say that information technology has helped humans to increase their production and utilization of resources. Before the installation of computers in many businesses, the mode of data and record keeping used was through the physical data files which were stored in filing cabinets. Not only did this mode of filing consume a lot of office space but also took a lot of time to access and modify the contents, a process that was tedious. The loss of data due to defacing of the documents after long periods is also a risk that was experienced in the earlier methods of data storage (Laudon 2009 p 16). With computers, the process was made easier by their capability of storing voluminous data and also providing quick access through various user interfaces. As such, most of the offices and data processing departments could be served better through office automation which reduces the amount of paper work in an office. It is also useful in cutting down the number of personnel required to maintain the records since a single machine can serve a large number of clients thus minimizing expenditure. In the view of the above, information technology does matter and in fact, more and more institutions should embrace it in order to reap the benefits accrued from it. The impact of IT on commerce is also a factor that cannot be overlooked. This is due to the change it has brought in the mode of conducting business. Through this technology, businesses are now able to market and sell their products through the internet. To achieve this, they display their goods and services on interactive websites which enable their customers to view the details from their personal computers at home (Laudon 2009 p 50). Payment is also done through electronic money transfer or through other accepted modes such as credit cards. This has enabled businesses to acquire global recognition thus enabling them to compete with other international businesses. In this case, IT plays a major role in enhancing business growth thus negating the concerns of the critics who imply that it does not matter. This is due to the fact that in the current digital world, for a business to survive and acquire equal market share in the global market, information technology is a must. Through this technology, business activities such as recording sales and stock taking has been enhanced such that it leaves no space for committing fraud or employee theft. This is achieved through the point of sale systems (POS) which have the capability of inputting product details through various hard wares such as bar code readers and at the same time produce instant cash sales receipt as well as updating the stock balances (Checkland and Howell 1997 p 36). As such, the manager does not necessarily need to supervise all the cashiers IT has also created job opportunities for a large number of people who possess the skills such as software engineering and web designing as well as computer hardware and software maintenance. This is due to their high demand in organizations and companies that have embraced technology. If Carr’s advice to CEOs not to invest much in Information Technology was to be taken seriously, it would mean that a lot of people earning their living from this sector would lose their jobs and as a result, their economic status would be destabilized as well as the overall country’s GDP (Nicolas 2003 p 25). The import export business involving computers and other hardware would be affected as well as the production capacity of technology dependent manufacturing processes. What the critics don’t realize is that this is not the right time to counter the influence of IT. The right time would have been at its conception as it would not have already strengthened its dominance on the main sectors that move the economy. For now, it would be necessary to insist that IT is here to stay and in fact, more sophisticated equipments are finding their way into the market meaning that the world’s population has appreciated the way IT has changed their lives. Information Technology has also had a tremendous impact in the communication processes in businesses as well as the society at large. This has been facilitated by the invention of communication devices such as mobile phones and fax machines. This has helped greatly in saving time that was earlier spent on letters which took more than a week to reach the recipient. Though letters are still used to conduct official communication, they have been overtaken by the wireless communication which is quicker and efficient as it can be accessed on demand. The internet technology has also improved communication which has lowered the cost of doing business (Fuller 2007 p 105). This is achieved through the use of electronic mails rather than using public switched telephone networks which are expensive especially when making international calls. It has also facilitated online meetings through which international managers are able to strategize on policies as well as making important decisions regarding a business (O’brien 2004 p 78). This is as opposed to the physical meeting whereby all respective managers attend a meeting in person thereby wasting a lot of time and resources through travelling and making arrangements. Through IT, a manager only requires to have a computer that is connected to the internet, a camera connected to the computer as well as sound devices such as microphone and speakers. Once a connection is initiated, the managers are able to listen to see each other through their screens. The technology has also enabled businesses to improve the productivity of their employees by facilitating telecommuting. This is the mode of doing business whereby employees are allowed to access the company’s data base from their personal computers such that they can complete their assignments from home during their free time or week ends and send the completed work directly to the database (Fuller 2007 p 18). However, this has also exposed the companies to the information security threat due to the probability of the data getting hacked in between the sending and receiving process thus risking the integrity of the business. As such, it is necessary for managers to evaluate the security measures in place so as to be able to apply and enforce more restrictions such as data encryption which helps to protect the data by ensuring that the information being sent can only be understood by the sender and the receiver. Data encryption involves coding the data using a language that can only be decoded by the sender and the recipient. The critics may use this as a weakness so as to outdo the benefits of Information Technology but while at it, they should know that these security measures has been tested applied in America where they made an impression even on the then President Bush, due to the nature of the codes which cannot be broken easily by an outsider. Information technology also facilitates the establishment of local area networks that facilitate sharing of resources such as files and data bases as well as software. In that aspect, the business saves time and money which could have been used in installing software in all the machines as well as enhancing data security by allowing the monitoring of network activities from a single location by a network administrator (O’brien 2004 p 26). As such, information technology is an important feature that can be said to be synonymous to effective business operation. Due to this, those who insist that it does not matter should reconsider their approach and concentrate on the benefits that IT has brought in the business segment. Once they do this, they will be able to realize that we are in a digital world which not so long in the future will be transformed into one digital village through the same technology they are trying to undermine. The assertion by Nicholas Carr that IT does not produce competitive advantage is misplaced as failure to incorporate IT means that the businesses will lag behind and may never achieve the desired objective which is to make profit through competition (Nicolas 2003 p 42). It would be misleading for him to downsize the significance of IT which has had an accelerated and dramatic growth since the invention of the first computers which had a low processing speed to the recent computer generation which has a tremendous high processing speed as well as manageable features such as portability and efficiency. The rate at which this technology is being incorporated almost all the sectors, is enough evidence that insinuations by the critics have no effect on the minds of their listeners (Brown 2003 p 110). The books they use to spread their ideas and which earn them their living are a product of information technology. This is due to the fact that the process of developing and publishing these books has been achieved through the use of computers, which they are criticizing. The book publishing companies they use to materialize their ideas for example may be preferred due to the quality of their work as well as affordability. These are factors that can be influenced by the nature of their information systems. For example, a publishing company that uses typewriters cannot compete with another one that uses computers to type the contents of a book. The printing equipment such as the impact printers cannot perform better than non impact printers. Therefore, for it to succeed, a business has to advance its IT department which is the key determinant of success. In the education sector, Information Technology has had a great positive impact towards the delivery of services such as learning. It has made it possible for students to access resources facilitated by the internet features such as chatting, blogs, interactive sites etc (Rosenberg 2000 p 55). Through this, they are able to research for their exams due to the rich information which can be found in the various websites developed and maintained by academic gurus. Without it, it would be difficult to find this information since books may be hard and more expensive to find as compared to the internet, which can be accessed from any place provided there is internet connection. Computers are also being used as tools in the delivery of lectures and presentation of projects by students. As such, it has facilitated the timely and efficient delivery of professionally researched and organized work. Through the internet, it is possible to access education regardless of your location. This has been facilitated by distance learning programs enhanced by the internet such that it is possible for a person to acquire his degree from the comfort of his personal computer at home and at the same time be able to perform his other duties. Distance learning requires a person to have a computer which has multimedia capabilities which makes it possible for him to follow the lectures without necessarily going into a class room. This has been of much help especially to persons with disability who cannot manage to attend lessons like other healthy students (Rosenberg 200 p 65). This enhances their capabilities which enable them to compete in the job market thus allowing them to contribute to economic growth. The use of input devices such as optical character recognition and optical mark readers has also helped in automating the process of registering and marking student’s exams thus promoting efficiency as opposed to the earlier manual systems which were prone to errors. Virtual reality is a component of IT which enables a person to interact with a simulated form of reality (Rheingold 2003 p 55). It utilizes various components such as head gears and wired gloves etc. It is useful especially when conducting training which if done on a real environment can pose danger to the trainee. Such training may include and not limited to aviation and military training. The student is subjected to the real conditions using virtual reality such that he feels as if he is really facing the difficulties and challenges presented to him through controlled programs (Rheingold 2003 p 45). Without the assistance of this technology, it would be dangerous and suicidal to expose a person to the real environment which has got high possibilities of causing accidents. In addition, virtual reality has enabled movie producers to develop high quality movies that are attractive to the market as well as computer games. As such, information technology proves to be an essential facility that matters a lot in the day to day activities, which cannot be accomplished without it. IT has also proven to be useful in explorations that are feared to be risky to humans for example space exploration whereby instead of exposing humans to the adverse conditions in the destinations, computer controlled machines are launched first so as to report back on the suitability of human presence on the planets (Rheingold 2003 p 96). This technology has also enhanced the process of detecting areas that are rich in minerals such as fuel hence lowering the cost which would be incurred through trial and error methods. Through information technology, the process of decision making is enhanced using the various management information systems such as DSS, EIS, and Expert systems (Fuller 2007 p 40). These systems enable the flow of information within an organization as well as enhancing the management of time. They are necessary especially in the accounting departments, which require the tracking of records and transactions. They also facilitate quick access to information thus reducing time wastage which was experienced in the earlier information systems which were more manual and ineffective. As such, IT is important in the process of coordinating business activities which are essential to the success of the management. It is therefore necessary to appreciate the fact that technology has become part of us and as such ways of improving the quality of output should be designed instead of backtracking and criticizing what has already been achieved. It may be true to say that the cost of acquiring and maintaining the information systems is high. However, the benefits exceed the cost in that they facilitate the efficient running of the businesses. What is required of the management is to make the right decisions concerning the type of information systems to invest in and the amount of funds that would be spent on the project implementation (Fuller 2007 p 68). This is due to the fact that it would be unwise for a small business to invest much of its funds into information technology since as much as we would like to acknowledge the impact of IT on business there are no direct links to the amount of profit that a business makes. This means that the components of IT are there only as tools for facilitating production. However, IT technology has also had negative impacts on the society as well as in commerce. This is due to the fact that it has promoted various vices such as bleaching of copyright laws whereby file sharing without acknowledging the owners efforts is involved. It has also promoted crime such as hacking and cracking, activities that cost businesses and customers, huge losses as well as their integrity (Hitt 1996 p 32). This is due to the vulnerability of networks, which enhances the ease at which hackers break into them with the intention of stealing data. Credit cards have also been reported to be intercepted when making payments for purchases made through the internet. The details are then used to commit fraud against the customers thus leading to financial losses. As such, IT cannot be argued to be the lasting solution to business growth and as the critics put it, it is only helpful in materializing strategies and business decisions that are made therefore acting as a tool rather than a strategic measure. However, the insinuation that IT does not matter has no concrete basis and as such, the CEOs should continue to fund their IT departments in order to keep up with the trend. Conclusion Information technology is the fastest growing sector in most of the world’s economies. It has offered employment opportunities to a wide range of experts through its dynamic nature which enhances active maintenance as well as upgrading. It has also enabled businesses to perform their activities in a more professional and efficient manner by replacing earlier systems which were manual and which required a lot of personnel to accomplish the targets. Through IT, most offices have been automated thus modernizing office operations as well as economizing on space which was earlier used for storing files and documents. The sharing of files and data through networks has also been facilitated. In addition, the networks have enhanced the sharing of resources such as printers, software and other hardware devices. As such, the businesses are able to save on the acquiring of such devices. Information Technology has had a positive impact in almost all economic sectors. In ecommerce, it has promoted competition through internet marketing. This has been facilitated by the websites which are designed to assist in trapping the wide market that is availed by potential customers who conduct their shopping through the internet. It has also facilitated online shopping whereby customers can purchase and pay for their commodities through the internet. In addition, telecommuting, which is a mode of working which involves employees in a company working from their personal computers during their free time away from work, and sending the completed assignments directly to the company’s database. This has increased their productivity thus enhancing business growth. Information Technology was developed in order to assist humans in performing their activities. The development which started with computers of very low processing speed and large size has experienced an accelerated and dramatic change such that it is now possible to carry large volumes of data with a hand held computer that has a high processing capacity. Through the various components of IT, computer generations have been updated to behave more like humans. This is evident especially in the most developed countries which use robotics to imitate humans. 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Rosenberg M. 2000 E-Learning: Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age, McGraw-Hill Read More