IT Benefits, Digital Transformation and Careers

Benefits of Being an Informed User

• Understanding IT application inner workings is a key benefit
• Providing valuable input in IT processes is a benefit
• Recommending and selecting IT applications is a benefit
• Staying aware of new technology is a benefit
• Recognizing how IT enhances performance is a benefit
• This is beneficial for entrepreneurs

Digital Transformation

• Digital transformation is continuously pursued by organizations
• IT enhances relationships with employees, customers, and business partners through digital transformation
• Big data is a technology used for digital transformation
• Social computing is a technology used for digital transformation
• Cloud computing is a technology used for digital transformation
• Artificial intelligence is technology used for digital transformation

IT Career Opportunities

• Modern businesses need IT, providing lucrative career opportunities
• Careers include programmers, business analysts, systems analysts, and designers in IT
• Designers, users, and managers of information systems are encompassed by the IS field
• A top-level position in IT is the Chief Information Officer (CIO)
• Career opportunities in IT are expected to remain strong in the future

Managing Information Resources

• Strategic importance and high costs make managing information systems complex
• Responsibility is divided between MIS personnel and end users based on various factors
• MIS handles corporate-level and shared resources, end users manage departmental resources

Computer-Based Information Systems (CBIS)

• A computer-based information system has different names for the management information systems functional area
• This involves planning, development, management and use of IT tools
• Information systems collect, process, store, analyze, and disseminate information for specified purposes
• Information systems should deliver the right information to the right people at the right time and in the right format

Data, Information, and Knowledge

• Data constitutes elementary descriptions of things, events, activities, and transactions
• Data items are unorganized, like numbers and characters.
• Example: "3.11" is data
• Information refers to organized data that conveys meaning and value to the recipient
• Example: A student's name combined with their GPA is information
• Knowledge includes organized data and/or information to convey understanding, experience, learning, and expertise
• Example: "Students with grade point averages over 3.0 have experienced the greatest success in its management program" is knowledge

Computer-Based Information System

• A computer-based information system has six basic components
• Hardware, software, database, network are the four IT components
• Procedures and people are the two non-IT components

Information Technology

• IT components form the IT platform
• IT personnel use the IT platform to provide information technology services
• Organizational information systems sit at the top of the pyramid.

Types of Computer-Based Information Systems

• Functional Area Information Systems (FAIS) are departmental information systems for different functional areas
• HR IS, Accounting IS, Finance IS, Marketing IS, POM IS are examples of FAIS

Breadth of Support of Information Systems

• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems facilitate communication among functional area ISs
• Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) support day-to-day operations and basic business transactions
• Interorganizational Information Systems (IOS) connect two or more organizations
• Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems and Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) systems are examples
• Information systems are essential for all types of workers, like clerical workers, managers and executives

IT Impact on Industries

• Software impacts industries by disrupting market-leading companies and helping new companies gain a competitive advantage
• Book, music, video, software, video game, photography, marketing, recruiting, financial services, automobile, agriculture, fashion, and legal industries are examples

IT Effects on the Workplace

• IT increases managers' productivity and allows one manager to oversee more employees
• IT reduces the number of middle managers as a result
• IT changes the decision-making process by providing real-time information
• IT provides tools for analysis to assist in handling large volumes of information
• Job stress, work-life balance issues, eye strain, and repetitive strain injuries (RSI) are negative effects on employee health/safety
• Remote work, flexibility, disabilities opportunities, and ergonomic office designs are positive effects on employee health/safety
• Autonomous devices like drones and autonomous vehicles are becoming common in factories, hospitals, and farm fields
• IT enhances speed, accuracy of diagnoses, streamlines research/development of new drugs and enables remote surgery

Business Processes

• Business processes are ongoing activities creating value for organizations, business partners, and customers
• Business processes include three elements: Inputs, Resources, and Outputs
• Organizations measure processes for efficiency doing things right, and effectiveness doing the right things
• Cross-functional processes involve multiple areas of an organization, with no single functional area solely responsible

Information Systems (IS) Role in Business Processes

• Information Systems (IS) play a vital role in executing the process, capturing/storing process data, and monitoring process performance
• IS helps execute by informing employees, providing necessary data, and means to complete
• Processes generate data, including dates, times, product numbers, quantities, prices, addresses, names, and employee actions
• IS captures and stores process/transaction data automatically or manually
• IS evaluating process execution facilitates issue identification for process improvement

Business Process Improvement

• Excellence in executing business processes is crucial for competitive performance
• Customer satisfaction, cost reduction, cycle and fulfillment time reduction, quality, differentiation, and productivity are measurements
• Ensuring business process excellence is the challenge
• Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is making processes more productive and profitable whichinvolves a radical redesign
• Business Process Improvement (BPI)'s five phases are Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC)
• Business Process Management (BPM) supports continuous BPI initiatives for core business processes over time which is components like business activity monitoring (BAM)

Factors and Pressures

• The business environment constitutes social, legal, economic, physical, and political factors
• Rapid organizational reactions and identification of pressures/strategies is required
• Market Pressures: IT-driven globalization and intensified competition on a global scale
• Facilitated through IT and increasing workforce diversity are market pressures
• Powerful Customers: growing consumer sophistication, informed decisions, and focus on customer relationship management is a market pressure
• Technological innovation/obsolescence, BYOD, data management, info overload are Technology Pressures
• Environmental/social issues, Green IT, and compliance with environmental laws are Societal/Political/Legal Pressures
• Government regulations encompass health, safety, environmental protection, and equal opportunity
• Protection against terrorist physical and cyber attacks

Ethical Considerations

• General standards of right and wrong are ethical issues
• Right and wrong standards are information ethics
• Monitoring employee email and ensuring customer data privacy are examples of IT-related ethical issues
• Complying with existing regulations is a concern
• Competitive Strategy identifies a business's approach to achieving strategic goals and enhance productivity

Strategic Information Systems

• Strategic Information Systems (SISs) provide achieve goals, improve performance, and enhance productivity
• Porter’s model analyzes competitiveness by identifying five major forces
• High entrants characterize low barriers in Porter's Competitive Forces Model
• High supplier power is defined by few choices in Porter's Competitive Forces Model
• Porter’s Value Chain Model: helps define the strategy, and identifies activities for strategies transforming organization inputs into valuable outputs
• Competitive strategy selection aligns with the industry structure
• achieving business-IT alignment maximizes the strategic value of IT with organizational goals

Business-IT Alignment

• An IT function that directly supports the business objectives
• A McKinsey study found only 27% of participating organizations have adequate alignment
• Different objectives, lack of mutual understanding, and communication gaps are reasons alignment goals can fail
• IT governance aids organizations in managing IT operations to align with strategies

Ethical Issues

• Guiding principles of right and wrong of behavior
• Ethical Frameworks include utilitarian, rights, fairness, common good, and deontology approaches

Corporate Ethical Standards

• Code of ethics guides decision-making with code of ethics
• Responsibility, accountability, and liability are the the Fundamental Tenets Ethics

Privacy

• Collecting, storing, and disseminating information about individuals
• Authenticity, fidelity, and correctness of information are Accuracy
• Ownership and value of information is Property
• Who has information access and how much do their pay is Accessibility
• Data privacy must adhere to informing, using, protecting, and distributing information fairly.
• Balancing privacy against society and public knowledge Daily generated data is from places/ sources like public places, databases, forums, and blogs Privacy should be protected by organizational guidelines and opt-in methods International laws can be inconsistent, the GDPR protects personal data and sensitive data, with privacy laws

GDPR

• Can involve Personally identifiable information (PII) data, such as name and digital records
• Involves Sensitive personal data includes genetic, racial, religious and political information
• Is data that concerns controllers and processors for secure processing
• EU citizens have rights to organizations on what they due with data, or to correct or delte entirely

Information Securities

• Defense to Criminal Activity or dangers
• Information security involves designed to protect an organization's information from unauthorized activity

Vulnerabilities

• Interconnected, interdependent, wirelessly networked business environments
• Today have Faster, cheaper computing, coupled with Lack of management support
• Cybercrime is becoming internationalized.

Theats (deliberate actions)

• Internal - unintentional, Human Errors, such as those with High-level access
• Use of Social Engineering/Manipulation
• Direct information theft
• External attacks include Software attacks using malware to create Ransomware and infect Alien software
• These potential impacts will lead to Risk Management of all resources with analysis / and mitigation measures
• Ensure cost effective, protective measures
• Implementation is by following policies and training

Control Categories

• Defense of organizations resource usage, and optimizing resources to prevent fraud
• Controls come in layers
• Controls include application, access, environmental, and General protocols
• Physical controls are access related, such as Alarms, Motion
• Access Controls must use authentication protocols, like Biometrics, ID cards
• Communication Control by firewalls, blacklisting, and encryption
• Digital Certificates: Used to verify data integrity and authenticity

Virtual Private Networks

• Virtual Private Networks provide network security through various tools that include Confirming Access and encryption

Business Continuety

• This will provide guidelines for keeping a business operating after a disaster
• Maintain with hot, calm and collected planning

Introduction to Personal Information Asset Protection

• Evaluate the inventory to protect at all times

Managing Data

• All IT applications require data
• Data should be of high quality, including being accurate, complete, timely, consistent, accessible, relevant, and concise.
• Managing data is difficult because of Multiple sources, with data security and quality issues, and legal requirements
• Solution by Effective governance

Data

• Data should be available, transparent, and of high quality
• Involves formal business processes and policies for data handling
• Requires management to maintain store and exchange/sync

Understanding Data Types

• Understand the differences across databases, files, systems, coding etc

Database

• Database is meant to Minimize data redundancy, isolation, inconsistency while Maximizing data security, integrity, independence
• Bits make up bytes, these make fields, these records make files

Relational Databases

• These models utilize Structured Query Language (SQL), or Access/Oracle
• Models Relate values across tables by keys and attributes, making the base unique.

Big Data

• Organizations are accumulating data rapidly from multiple sources

Big Data

• Volume: can become large and nontraditional (e.g., invoices) or (e.g., clicks on websites)
• Velocity, Variety: Can be location or other sources.
• Proper analysis of Big Data reveals valuable patterns and information
• Useful databases include NoSQL
• Big data models are used for market development and production

Data Warehouse and Marts

• Data Warehouse: Support decision analysis
• Themart, a low scale, is used for low scale individual needs
• Warehousing is based characteristcs Like online OLAP processing, and time frames data organized against business dimensions
• This all leads to understanding of metadata, data management
• Metadata: Data about the data

Knowledge Management (KM):

• Data knowledge Is a crucial organizational asset
• Knowledge allows Explicit: Objective knowledge
• Knowledge helps to manage systems, that can be utilized for internet, intranet, extranets and between organizations on a broader scale
• Knowledge management boosts morale and retenion

Knowledge Management

• Can be challenging, when
• It must Encourg Share tacir knowledge and provide Continious maintain the knowledge