Information and communication technology Management issues ‘The basic issues in information technology (IT) ‘management are: 2} increasing the stability of the system to reduce down-tite ) ensuring that information is secure and backedrp (use of encryption, firewalls to keep out hackers, viruses, spyware, etc) Beyond tha, the following may be important iswues at ditfore © Tension between the IT department and other business units. How are business requirements translated into an IT solution? How is the efficiency of IT spending measured? Do the business poople understand the technology? {© Should the software be a commercial of-the-shelf (COTS) package or a tailor-made solution? Ifthe lattes. then what degree of customization is needed? © Flow well dies the new IT integrate with the old {= legacy) systems? © How good is the documentation? fs training necessary? @ What levet of integration is appropriate? Should the organization use just one standard of software (eg SAP/Oracle) and /or hardware (eg [BM/ HP? Trends Predicting the future of information and! communication technology (ICT) is notoriously difficult, but several trends appear to be happening: © Computing power is moving away from the local PC to the netwotk (delivered where and when itis needed), «© Software is also moving to the network: companies are leasing it online for a monthly: foe instead of buying it. © Wireless connectivity is becoming possible between more and mory devices. © Bandwidth is increasing; © Processing power and storage capacity keep increasing. schile prices keep going dow, © Open-source platforms (designed and improved by users, owned by no-one) are becoming more common. rofitablity is becoming an issue for vendors as IT becomes widespread and standardized, © Integrating and managing IT systems is becoming more important than selling new products © Backotfice functions (eg payroll) and software development are being outsourced to low-cost countries, © ‘Theres the development of an “fotemnet of things’ — Pervasive computing - where everyday objects have embedded processing pawer with a cornection to the Net. © There is a convergence between traditionally separate media E-business AA business with no oaline presence isa "bricks-and-mortar’ organization. At the opposite exteeme, a few “virtual” businesses exist only online, But most business ane ‘clicks-and-moriar’~ they have same part oftheir business con the web, but also physical premises ‘Te phrase ‘e-commerce! refers tothe part of e-business related to buying and selling, Retalers set up an electronic storefront (BrE shop front) and shoppens place tems they want to buy in an electronic cart (BE trolley). Whee the shopper is ready, they go to the ‘checkour’ where their payment i processed, For customers, key issies include: ‘© Frau (the safety of online payment systems). © Merchandise delivery and retsens © The itfculy of speeking directly t a customer services representative rather than geting aw autornated response For companies, key issues Include © The protection of intelectusl propery (piracy) Wiebsite costs and maintenanse. © Measiuring the effectiveness of the website (elick-through rates for ads, trafic counts, conversion rates to show percentage of visitars who make a purchase) Jn torms ofthe technology involved, e-commerce is 2 goad example of the role of dedicated (reserves fora specific ase) servers 1 A.database server stores customer data and. product tables 2. An application server is responsible fo: calculations and program logic; it retrieves data from the database server and feeds it:0 the web server. 3. A web server is responsible for the interface ard sgraphies; it presents che web page to the user 4 Abrowser on the user's computer allows the customer to interact with the company’s web server. Further information sw nebopedia.com ® vewwinfosorld com @ vwuw.cio.com ® wrwitmiveb.com ® www brnt-com12 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY |, Raw operational data if kapt in databases, e4 sales info, inventory nfo, castomer info \ 2, All the databases and documents frome across the organization are collected tngether in data warehouse 5. Information from the data warghouse 1s retrieved by * nt Tnformttion Syston’ (MLC) sot Coane Using da tomining’. MIS software supports decision making, identifies patterns aad treads, etc Transaction processing: constant wqdiating oF misfion-critical data such as orders, invoices, payments, payrolls, inventory, ete Marketing, CRM Coustoner relationship management Production / Operations: MRP Cuatarial renuirenents qlaneings, CIM Coonputar integrated manstactaring® Finances financial planning aad buclgeting Hanan resources: payroll and) angloyend” records ERP Centerprise ragouree planning) iuapaged al Pages ix the gly Cin LAN Clocal area network) alins Single-user workstations to share datas, €4 inside & company balding WAN Guide area aatwora?: 6 geographically dispersed LAN Intranet Company nebwere) Eictranet Gpart of intranet with Yimited scenes For certain peomle ‘outside the company? Collaboration toois (= 4roupiaare) that allow users at different workstations 40 wore on the Same project (screen sharing, Twebconterencing, e46) Telemoreing Cemployee can work at home, from & customer's premises, From 4 hotel, From the beach? Wireless LAN provides service within a hotspot GPS Cqlotsl positioning Syston 1 detervana’ location wk evtce Biuetooth to enable short-range ction betwcen wireless devices B2B lactronic exchange’: a marketglace for 4 specitic insustry Supply chain ssanagement Extranet to work more closely with sugpliers and partacrs Applications Personal services Ccontent inclading news and entertainment is aggregated in a mobile portal? B2c Online marketing Virtual store with online transaction seocessing and electronic Sands transfer Online customer service Major areas include Financial services, rreservictions for travel and holigaye, ‘san of real astate, etc Mecommerce C mobila-conmerte): shonging and payments from you" phone, person-to-person payments, advertising based on your location lectrabutiness Coupeort for mobile wares, job ‘Sispatch, access to incbranct for sales stage “te get customer / product info, ate) © ww forbes comusinesstech © wun techweb comiens ia © httpiiwhatstechtargetcam © ewtitutor2u net ( Revision Notesct) 5)Information and communication technology: Exercises 12.1 Fill in the missing letters. 1 Old IT systems hardware o° software) which are stil in use called '|___cy systems 2 The waitten instructions for using IT software f hardware alled ‘doc, _ or 2 A.piece of equioment intended for a pa called a ‘dee The word usually s Portable and electronic, cular purpose is gests sumething 4 The rate at which data can pass channel scaled 15 (ba__ a communication A type of hardware and / or software on which app progrars run is called ¢ ‘pn! It a chi or wreless device ncomporated physical nto an object its Gescribed as being "em dded 8 software application used to locate and display w 5 called a 'br___er & In knowledge management, 6 key function is the ‘data wa___ouse’ ~ the place where ell the company’s data is collected tagethe 12.2 Complete the sentences using the pairs of words in the box. ‘accessibility / intranet ensure secure stabity fdownnme ‘2agregate po measure / fcc rransiae / solution vonces yy feteove t tends 1 Pechiags the most important task for an IT manager is t0 increase the of the sjstem to reduce 2 iT swanagers also have t0 and backed-up, 3 Itean be difficult to into ant 4 can also be difficult to thet information business req — the of IT ssenaing 5 ane in ne TE YH 0 data Worn The data warenctse, and turn it into useful information by Wlentifying patterns and 1 extranet provid ‘outsiders with various levels of ee the companys own — 7 Bluetoath is a way to — short-range nectian petween wireless & Mobile ohone companies charge for downloading content which they fon their own 12.3 Look at the completed sentences in exercise 12.2 and find a word that means: 1 -make certain that something happens 2. copied tn case the orginal s lest 3 needs 4 find something that is stored in order to use it agian 5. make possible; often used as a past aarticiple (an Internet ‘ed device is one that can use the Internet) 6 ask someone to pay an amicunt of money for a service ase taking information from a network and putting onto your owvn computer (or ather device) @ put together 9. awebsite that gues-access to.a wide range of services such as news and information, émail, online shopping, inks to other stes 12.4 Complete the text with the words in the box. encryption fwewal nhranet LAN servers standalone PC WAN workstations ‘computers that store data and manage all the network resources). Large, mul-site orarzatons (eg a national ‘health service) will equire a> —_ © | computer network that covere a large geographical area). Howis al the internal compary information accessed byuses? Easily, vaan®___Thsigan internal network that acts just iko-e website, butis scoaasibe only win 2 pasoword ands protectee by 8 Further levels of security ae ‘oase offre, etc: 12.5 Make collocations by matching a word from each column. 1 offthe-sheit capacity 2 wivetess connectiity 3 processing functions 4 storege packege 5 bade-athite 6 intellectual 7 cldksthraug® 8 web12.6 Use the words in the box to make pairs of collocations with a similar meaning. epphcover customied defective dese “develge environment faulty the latest eidteshionss. outotdate package pla provi! run super sunny taioemade uptodate use vendor Verb + noun collocation 42 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY ERP has its origins in manulacturing, whsene fio used to manage ail the stages in the companys internal supply | chan G0, usng sdles cata the soltware can fprecast demand, onder materia's, schedule production, praiect financial results, et. But (0 this basic package it is possible 0 atid many turher mocules. For exemple, to irclude the upstream en ‘of he supply chain {= suinplie's ot components and caw 1 to ___design __;_develop__sottware materials) the company can ade a procurement (module, 2% Vi coats software And 4 include the downstrearn end. of the chain {= 36 software | | eustoners) te is/ cusamer maton. manager Noun + noun collocation rd (CAM) 4 software —apofication _ CRM — which other veniors sell as a stand-alone § software package — inches € software i | for sales staff contact maragement, quote Management, ieahtince spaen | | customer pieterences and buying habs. et yoann Oe os “Pies tome serces sai ort fulerh Compas, & - ‘ = __ software a fe. oa = SSteare | |-BXekity hd Horace, cn mena amet ie om siwae | | sta eta carptny alte. to, ma pot amg 12.7 Underline the correct (or best) words. 1 Wwe have IBM machines running / running an SAP 2 We have SAP running / running on IBM machines 3 All your Software / softwares can run 0% our Servers 4 Sometimes we have to write a / some special software 5 We needa more powerful and effective system, t needs to be updated / ungraded 6 We net! the latest version of the system. It needs to be updated / upgraded. The database updates / upgrades automatically whe Information is entered 12.8 Read the text about ERP then answer the uestions below. rai] cofmaanies fend 10 use separate citthe-shett Jsottware packages to do specific tasks, such as preparing accounts. Bul larger cormpanes read @ solution that provides cotmare ch a mcdulat basic ~ with the possibilty of customization ~ and then imagrates all the parts. Tris solusin is called ERP (enterprise resource: planning}, andl the main vontiors are'SAP anc Gracie. 1 Business people der understand business Gage — Disagree undersia I, and IT peape aan't E-commerce is @ wonderful thing... us speak to aryone about anything il you went to through eficioncy and (i) 10 resent a unilied tave te the ‘customer, regardless of the communication icharne! that they ise, Angther common ERP apsication is a management Information system (MIS) Ts is a decision-naing toe! that laws managers to extract uselul knowledge (specif dates Key indicators. trends) anc present as graphs. reports, lors, forecasts, ete Find a word from the text that means: 1 avaliable in a standard form, not designed for 2 particular 2. personaiization 3. predict word #1) ord #2) 5. the cortibived activities of sounding (= Finding what you want) + purchasing f= Buying |e) 6 able to be used on its own (ie wichout buying other compony 7 the price shat a supplies says Whey will charge 8 delivering goods in the way that bs orovrased and expected 9 onscresn warnings 4 prod 3. In five vears’ time, the biggest change in our [wes from ICT wile 4 Teleworking is the way t© go. Whe needs an office when everyone is networked? agree —O Disagree