UNIT-1 INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND ITS APPLICATIONS Grade 11 (4).pdf

Applications of Information System  Information systems have now become the means through which different IT-enabled services are provided by organizations.  These IT-enabled services are usually known as E-services.  E-services are defined as the provision of public services using tech...

Applications of Information System  Information systems have now become the means through which different IT-enabled services are provided by organizations.  These IT-enabled services are usually known as E-services.  E-services are defined as the provision of public services using technology as a mode of service delivery.  The different types of e-services are:-  E-Government  E-banking  E-learning  E-commerce  Telemedicine  Teleconference E-Government  Electronic government or e-Government is the use of information systems to provide electronic services to citizens with the purpose of increasing efficiency, transparency, and citizen participation.  The appropriate application of e-Government allows for higher levels of effectiveness and efficiency in governmental tasks.  It also improves efficiency of communication among different governmental offices.  Different organizations establish an organizational portal to facilitate communication between the organizations and their customers. E-Government  A portal is a web-based information system that collects information from different sources into a single user interface so that users can easily access the organization’s electronic services. Benefits E-Government  Adoption of e-government solution brings several benefits. Some of the benefits are:  Establishing trust between governments and citizens.  Facilitating sharing of information and ideas between government agencies and departments within an agency.  Allowing citizens to easily get government decisions and policies through institutional web portals.  Reducing cost of running government services as the services are delivered online.  Improving convenience of service delivery. E-banking  Electronic banking is a form of technology-based banking service that avoids exchange of cash, checks, or other types of paper documents.  In the banking sector, IT is mainly associated with services like Internet banking, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and mobile banking.  Banks make their information systems accessible over the Internet so as to provide Internet banking services.  This allows customers to make payments online, transfer money from their account to other accounts and get other banking services from wherever they are. E-banking  Some of the commonly known e-banking services include:  Automatic Teller Machine (ATM)  Mobile Banking  Internet Banking  Credit cards  Debit Cards  Smart Cards  Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) System, etc. Benefits of E-banking  E-banking provides many benefits to banks as well as to customers. Some of the benefits include:  The cost of operation per unit of services is lower for banks.  Customers can withdraw cash any time using, for example, ATM service.  Customers can make payments from wherever they are.  Customers can easily check their account balance.  Customers can get immediate message about transactions related to their accounts. Challenges of E-banking  E-banking has some challenges to it such as:  Digital theft.  Exclusion of the digitally illiterate citizen from e-banking services.  Lack of access to IT infrastructure in remote areas.  Unaffordable cost to acquire IT devices like smart phones for low-income citizens. E-learning  E-learning is a form of learning delivered through the use of digital devices.  A number of other terms are also used to describe e-learning like  online learning  virtual learning  distributed learning  computer-based learning,  If e-learning is provided over the Internet, it is referred to as online learning. E-learning  The main components of e-learning are  Internet  computers or mobile phones  digital learning resources  content developers (such as teachers and graphic editors)  and learners Benefits of E-learning  Some of the benefits that e-learning offers to learners are:  Flexibility in learning time: Learners can access and learn at any time, or any day.  Implementation of student-centered learning: Learners can learn on their own pace.  Access to a variety of educational resources from different schools or universities  Rich multimedia learning resources: The multimedia e-learning content engages learners to be active learners.  Reduced educational costs: there are no costs for travel and accommodation. Disadvantages of E-learning  The main disadvantages of e-learning are:  Physical isolation of students from teachers and other students  Teachers have little control to monitor the progress of students’ learning  Technology related costs make access to e-leaning difficult for students of low income families. E-commerce  E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet.  E-commerce is fundamentally a website deployed over Internet to handle online transactions.  Buyers go to the E-commerce website using their smartphones or computers when they make an order for a product or service over the Internet.  Once the order is received by the merchant, the payment will be processed through the Bank. After the whole transaction is successfully completed, the order will be delivered to the buyer E-commerce  In Ethiopia, small businesses which sell different types of products online have mushroomed recently.  The flexibility with which customers browse products and compare prices and buy the cheapest offerings contributed to the growth of such types of businesses.  e-commerce is at its infancy stage in Ethiopia Advantages of e-commerce  Avoiding intermediaries: this mode of business allows customers to buy products directly from manufacturers at a cheaper price avoiding wholesalers and retailers.  Convenience: customers can order products from where they are.  Increased bargaining power for the customer: customers can easily browse the price of different merchants and choose the least price.  Global reach: the Internet made it possible for the merchants to expand their customers outside their local area. This, however, also creates more competition as merchants now compete not only with local competitors but also with global ones. Telemedicine  Telemedicine refers to the practice of caring for patients remotely without the caregiver and the patient being in the same physical location.  Telemedicine was originally introduced to treat patients who were in remote places, far away from local health facilities  There are now different telemedicine companies that provide online treatment.  A patient can simply come online and request a visit with one of the telemedicine company’s doctors and get treatment.  The patients pay the service fee online through their bank account Telemedicine Advantages of telemedicine  Overcoming geographical barriers to access health care services.  Reduced cost through avoidance of costs such as travel and hotel services.  Access to specialized physicians by people who live in remote locations. Limitations of telemedicine  Telemedicine requires technical trainings.  Requires equipment, which may not be readily available in the rural areas of developing countries. Teleconference  A teleconference is a meeting of two or more people who are separated by distance using electronic communication.  The two popular forms of teleconferencing are audio conferencing and video conferencing.  Audio conference: it is a voice-only communication, sometimes called conference call, which connects people from remote locations via telephone lines.  For example, meetings can be conducted via audio conference. Teleconference  Video conference: it combines both voice communications and video images.  It supports two-way video conferencing.  Video conferencing creates a social presence that resembles face-to-face meetings.  Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams are some examples of video conferencing software. Benefits of Teleconference  It saves time and travel costs.  Conference participants can attend the meeting from home or office.  It reduces conference hosting costs.  It can accommodate more people as it does not cost that much for each additional participant.