Information and Communication Technology Foundations - Case Study Example

Case study/ Information and Communication Technology Foundations Name: Number: Course: Lecturer: Date: There is a lot that can be done by SPI information communication Technology Company in order to meet the increasing and growing demand on its server and network infrastructure. Currently, the firm faces a lot of problems with its present network infrastructure. These problems include the following: the SPI Company initially had central place where networking was but not a very serious issue in that there was no much need for connecting the firm to any communication. There were great problems of scalability and also the fact that the single office in which business was conducted was never sustainable. There was also a problem of insufficient employees of staff for that matter who could have made it possible for the work of networking. Most of the staff members were not sophisticated as in they were not able to work effectively and efficiently by use of the systems in place. Another issue is that the network connectivity was very low which led to the slow movement of facts and figures and also information. The SPI offices required intensive and high speed connectivity which will improve the reliability so as to also support the exchange. The company also faced another problem where the amount of work done per unit time was reduced on that very single network connection to the network of networks. It therefore inconvenienced the user demands for the services hence allowing competitors to take much of the market share. The processes and internet systems used by the company were not compatible to the network infrastructure in the current technological world. The purchasing item which can be used to facilitate network connectivity and recruiting of staff who can work to improve the network infrastructure. The materials which are or were used in the SPI company were outsourced from other external companies which implies that there were extra costs which were incurred instead of taking the initiative of leveraging those the building of their own hence sending the costs. Data management by the SPI firm was very crude since it was done traditionally. There was not enough or sufficient knowledge on the way the facts and figures are prevented from any form of losses. These forms of data prevention are things like data backups and recovery. The numbers of the servers in place for the SPI Company were too few which cannot be sustained in a physical networking surrounding. Due to the rising growth in demand for SPI, there is also a corresponding need to establish a form of storing or keeping the facts and figures and also to update and access and reach for the very data. This will be realized by the provision of the services which run on the server side of the network. The SPI Company has to make a lot of policies or decisions which will improve the progress of the company. Some of the decisions needed to be made by this company are required to be sound since they will make it reach its desired peak with fewer struggles. Security and privacy are also thing which are not taken care of by the firm since the data in the firm was no in big amounts which could take a lot of time to manage. When there is little data in a firm, the firm will tend to ignore matters of data privacy and security. The company needs to importantly decide and implement the acquisition and use of the intranets within the firm since it deals with a small coverage in terms of the span. The SPI company has to set decisions which will guide it through it operations. The management should understand how important to have or build an effective and efficient network infrastructure. It should also have a good basis for making these policies because it is of no use to make useless and meaningless which are baseless. For the company to realize its objectives, the managers must leverage information technology as a strategic business enabler rather than a cost sender. Data is a very crucial property for any firm and therefore it should be protected at all costs. The SPI Company must find and device ways in which it should secure its data even if the company is that small, that should not be an issue. SPI should not view doing its activities online as a threat. It should also update itself with the changing trends in technology so that they are at per with the other firms and also it will give it the opportunity to grow and expand. There are various lessons which can be borrowed by this company from those others which perform the same task as SPI. They should define a way to look for solutions to arising problems which emerge during critical sessions. The company should also identify the resources it has first before it starts doing anything new. There should be a way in which the company solves the problems when they come about so that it does not interrupt with the firms activities. Benchmarking is also another factor to be considered since it helps the firm in comparing itself with other firms which operate in the same line of business. The act of recruiting or injecting new blood into the business should be done effectively by professionals so that the recruits who come to the firm are well qualified and can work well in the company and make it achieve its objectives. The SPI firm should also list its major and minor objectives and deal with those which are mostly useful to the organization. Like other firm, it should provide in house training to its workers of staff. There are various problems of information science which face SPI which are: there is lack of data security and privacy which risks large amounts of useful data getting lost or being compromised. The firm does not know how to deal with risks since it is a small company, it assumes that there are no harmful threats that might stop it from running with its businesses smoothly. There is also no proper way in which the SPI firm can evaluate its processes and try to predict for the future trends. It cannot view or see beyond the horizon. There are a number of information systems which can be used in the firm which include the accounting information system and the management information systems. These two types are very crucial for any successful company. Under the management information systems, the management will have to make sound and useful decisions which can be of great importance to the firm. For managers to make such desitions, they use systems which aid in the decision support and also executive support systems which help the senior managers in management tasks for sound decisions. The accounting information system also helps a lot in that it monitors the expenditures or expenses and inventory controls. The other information systems used by the company are the simulation tools which can be helpful in the prediction of future trends of the business from the far it is at the moment. The methods and mechanisms that should be used by SPI in evaluating the various options are the decision support systems which assist in the making of policies which can make the company realize its objectives within a specified period of time. Multiple problems have been seen to be present in SPI firm and for these very problems to be corrected or solved, there must be was in which this is done. Some of these way include the following: the firm should develop programs which will help in the running of various events hence avoiding much human labor. This includes automated systems and processes. It will cut or eliminate the issues or errors hence efficient and effective service provisions. Many lessons can be learned from various other firms which provide the same services like SPI which include the following, like building of very strong and attractive websites which can be used to advertise and sell its services online. The website also helps the firm in getting its customers online and also doing its employees. The other firms treat their facts and figures in a very sensitive way in that they are very useful. Once the data visible and accessible to the outsiders and or attackers for that matter, there will be no more progress for the firm. Another thing that needs also to be emulated by SPI is how to engage with its consumers for a better rapport. The company should also device a strategic management system to always make and implement special and useful strategies which can help the firm prosper in its endeavors. Total quality management is also another business strategy which should be implemented by the firm in carrying out its activities where it help the management of the firm to work effectively with its employees and give quality services, much to meet its goals. There are various trends and technologies which can help improve the performance of the SPI Company which are: effectively and efficiently setting of proper and up to date objectives. The building of strong networks will help the company to communicate well with their customer. The company should also develop distributed data bases which will aid in storage of facts and figure hence ensuring that the properties of durability, atomicity, consistency and isolation hold in the very data in the data bases. The firm should also ensure that there enough backup for it facts and figures since in a system once the facts and figures are or have been lost, they are very hard to recover them and this also for good recovery management systems. Risks are always there in every organization but it will always try to look for ways to reduce or prevent these as much as possible if even if they are inevitable. The firm should always encrypt its information before sending it incase it is very important. There are however other trends and technologies which are not very good for the success of the firm which are as follows. The fact that it does not see any need in securing its data since itself views it as a small firm. The act of outsourcing the experts from other firms is a great disadvantage to the firm in that they will end up acquiring important information and use it against the very firm. Some organizations which work with their facts and figures secured are at a safer side. References: Mc Graw, H.(2009). Fundamentals of Information communiocation technology for firms. New Jersey (NJ): Pearson Prentice Hall. Andrew, J.(1999). Importance Information communiocation technology for firms. AT & T Lab. Bells. Read More