Ch1: Info Sys in Global Business today 1.

1 Role of Info Sys in Business today Whats new in Management info sys? Technology: Cloud Computing platform emerges as a major business area of innovation. More powerful, energy efficient computer processing and storage devices Growth in Software as a Service (Saas) Netbooks emerge often using open source software. Mobile digital platform emerges Management: Adopt online collaboration and social networking software to improve coordination, collaboration and knowledge sharing Business intelligence application acceleratemore powerful data analytics and interactive dash boards to provide real-time performance information to managers to enhance management control and decision making. Adopt mobile tools such as smartphones and mobile Internet devices to accelerate decision making and improve performance emerging mobile platform greatly enhances the accuracy, speed, and richness of decision making as well as responsiveness to customers because mobile phones are convenient for managers to bring around and get updated or make respond quickly. Virtual meetings grow adopt video conferencing and web conferencing tech to reduce travel time and cost while improving collaboration and decision making. Organisation: Web 2.0 applications are widely adopted by firms enable employees to interact as online communities using blogs, wikis and instant messaging services. Social networking sites create new opportunity for business to collaborate with customers and vendors. Telework gains momentum in workplace (internet, wireless laptops, iPhones, Blackberrys) make possible to work away from traditional office. Outsourcing production firms learn to use new tech to outsource production work to low wage countries. Co-creation of business value shift from product based value creation to solutions and experiences from internal sources, network of suppliers and collaboration with customers. The Emerging Digital Firm: one in which organisations significant business relations with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated. Core business processes accomplished through digital network, key corporate assets managed through digital means. Allows time shifting and space shifting. Strategic Business Objectives of Info Sys: 1. Operational Excellence: efficiency in operations such as Wal-Mart that uses RetailLink system which digitally link its suppliers so that as soon as a customer purchases an item, the supplier monitoring the item knows to ship replacement to the shelf. 2. New products, services, and business models (describes how company produces, delivers, and sells a g/s to create wealth) 3. Customers and suppliers Intimacy: e.g Hotels use computers to keep track of guests preferences such as preferred room temp, television programs and music. Can be used to find patterns(selling size, colours, styles) to help reduce overproduction and its associated inventory storage cost. 4. Improved decision making: real time data from marketplace reduce overproduction, misallocation of resources and poor response time. 5. Competitive advantage: from achieving the above points hence realising higher profits competitors cannot match. E.g Toyota implement TPS and produce vehicles based on what customers have actually ordered reduce wastage. 6. Survival: become necessities e.g. driven by industry-level change such as ATMs first introduced by Citibank now is a requirement of being in and surviving in retail banking business. The above shows that in contemporary sys there is a growing interdependence between a firms info sys and its business capabilities. Changes in strategy, rules and biz processes increasingly require changes in hardware, software, databases and telecommunication (collectively known as info sys). Often, what the organisation would like to do depends on what its sys will permit it to do.

1.2 Perspective of Info Sys What is Info Sys: set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making. Consist of all hardware and software. Data: raw facts information: when data have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human. Inputs: captures, collect raw data internally or externally process: converts raw input into meaningful form output: transfer processed info to whom will use it. Feedback: output that is returned to help evaluate or correct input stage. Dimension of Info Sys: Organisation Key elements: people; Hierarchical structure consisting of senior mgmt (long term strategic decisions and ensures financial performance of firm), middle mgmt (carries out programs and plans of senior mgmt), operational mgmt (responsible for monitoring daily activities); Business processes include formal rules that have been developed for accomplishing task (could be automate) or informal work practices; Politics is the conflicting views and interest between different levels and specialities for how firm is run and how resources and rewards be distributed; Culture is the fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things, that has been accepted by most of its members. Management Manage what already exist (coordinate, strategy and planning, identify problem and solutions and make decision) and creatively create new g/s driven by new knowledge and info and even re-create the organisation. Technology Hardware, software, data management tech, networking and telecommunications tech, and Internet along with people required to ryn and manage them constitute the firms information technology infrastructure. Information systems literacy: understand all 3 dimensions above. Computer literacy: is only knowledge on the technology dimension. Complementary Assets required to optimise returns from IT investments Organisational assets Supportive organisational culture, appropriate biz model, efficient biz processes, decentralised authority, distributed decision-making rights, strong IS development team. Managerial assets Strong senior mgmt support for tech investment, mgmt culture that values flexibility and knowledgebased decision making, incentives for mgmt innovation, teamwork and collaborative work environments, training programs to enhance mgmt decision making skills Social assets Internet and telecommunication infrastructure, IT rich educational programs 1.3. Contemporary approaches to info sys Technical Approach: focus on formal models and capabilities of system Computer science, management science and operations research. Behavioural approach: focus on design, implementation, and business impact of systems Psychology, sociology and economics. Sociotechnical view of systems considers both technical and social features of systems and solutions that represent the best fit between them.