Information Technology In The Modern Business Environment

Introduction

To introduce, it is important to know the definition of an information system and information technology. As Valacich & Schneider describe IS, an information system is the combination of hardware, software and communication networks that people use to collect, create and distribute the collected data in an organisation (Joe Valacich, 2010). All of these factors are key to a successful information system. The term information technology is a machine of technology which is controlled by or uses the information. Both terms are fairly similar. A major factor in making these work is finding the right personnel by having a highly trained workforce to run these effectively is important for all businesses.

After giving a definition of

The Business Environment

In today’s rapidly changing environment, all businesses depend heavily on the environment for its operations in terms of labour, customers, new technology and products/ services, markets and resources. The key element for a firm to stay in business today is to keep up to date with environment changes. Businesses must adapt to political changes, economy changes, for example in times of recession, understand new technologies and also the environment itself in terms of foreign exchange rates. In a firm’s immediate environment, firms need to maintain healthy relationships with their suppliers and customers etc.

The environment is constantly changing with new technology emerging, customer preferences and regulations changing. Business can fail due to not being able to keep up with the current environment.

In an age of ever changing technology such as the internet, businesses are forced to changes their current business models or fear business closure. An example of where a business has had to change its model is photography where Kodak were forced to make digital cameras over original cameras with film in it due to customer preferences due to changes in the environment. (Kenneth C. Laudon,

He says “Information technology (IT) has become a vital and integral part of every business plan. From multi-national corporations who maintain mainframe systems and databases to small businesses that own a single computer, IT plays a role”. (Mackechnie, 2015). He goes on to discuss various ways in which IT plays an important role in today’s environment. He says it helps for the communications between customers, employees and suppliers. Email was the more traditional approach but as technology has advanced, businesses can use live chat systems and teleconferencing using their smart phones. Inventory management has become a great success due to technology due to live tracking systems and Just In Time approach (JIT). JIT has helped businesses massively reduce their costs. I will use Glanbia plc. who have strategically used information technology and also information systems to maintain themselves as a profitable company as well as a leading company due to the way they use their systems to cope with modern business environment standards. Management Information Systems are also important in terms of data management by having tracking systems and having the ability to check profitability over time. Customer Relationship Management has also been driven by IT