Management of Information Systems week 1
Switching Products
- “Think back 2 – 5 years. Which technology products (hardware, software, apps) did you use then and do not use now?”
- For at least two technology products, provide the product name, its manufacturer, an image of the product (if available), and a description of the service the product provided. Cite sources.
- Why do you no longer use these products?
- What technology replaced these products? (For at least two replacement technology products, provide the product name, its manufacturer, an image of the product (if available), and a description of the service the product provides. Cite sources.)
- What was important about the ‘switch’ of the products?
- You may answer this question from the perspective of the companies that provided the replacement products. What did they do to induce you to switch?
Provide citations and source in APA style.
IS515 Management of Information SystemsManagement of Information Systems week one
BOOK
Sousa, K., & Oz, E. (2015). Management Information Systems, 7th Edition. Cengage Learning.
ISBN-13: 978-1285186139
Read:
· Chapter 1
· Chapter 2
·
Week 1 Lecture 1 – Systems Overview
Management of Information Systems
Systems Overview
The benefits information systems provide to organizations
Organizations use information systems to:
· Lower the cost of doing business
· Manage business operations
· Implement business processes, functions rules, and guidelines
The difference between data and information
Data and information are different. Data are elements, specifics or facts without a proper context. Data is a building block of information. Information is data within a context. The number three alone provides no information. Placed in a context, such as 3 PM, provides information. The difference between data and information is not merely semantic; it is the difference between facts that managers cannot use and information used in decision making and for improving workplace efficiency.
Systems and subsystems
A system is any arrangement of parts that work together towards a common goal or goals. A system receives input, processes it, and produces output. A system may be a machine, and organization, an animal, a cell, or a computer information system. A system may be a combination of systems. It may contain machines, people, animals, computers, and cells. Systems that have multiple goals might consist of numerous subsystems. A closed system stands alone without connection to other systems. An open system connects and interacts with other systems.
Information and managers
Managers use information for planning future actions and monitoring current activity. Managers rarely perform the work that they plan and monitor; they do not perform physical work or operate machines. Typically, a manager uses most of his or her workday planning and monitoring. They must have useful information for planning and to pass to their subordinates as orders, instructions and directions. Managers must receive information that helps them monitor the status of activities under their supervision. Reliable information is critical in almost everything managers do.
Information systems in organizations
Information systems in organizations consist of data, software, telecommunications, people, procedures, and hardware. Technology trends have influenced the importance of IS in business. These trends are:
1. Data storage capacity has increased
2. Innovations in software applications
3. Bring your own device (BYOD), mobile computing, and cloud computing
4. Software as a Service, (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a service, (IaaS) via the Internet
5. The Internet has spawned global opportunities and competition
6. Convergence of media technologies, audio, visual, and textual onto mobile devices
7. Cloud storage
8. Increases in digital and computer literacy
For organizations to maintain a competitive advantage, they must leverage technology trends that influence business effectiveness. Or, they can quickly lag behind.
Transaction processing systems
Transaction processing systems (TPS) simply record data about events that occur. TPS can link to Web pages and mobile devices for businesses and customers can view their transactions. Some TPS are activated by devices such as toll road passes and “pay-at-the-pump” transceivers. TPS can be integrated with supply chain management systems and enterprise applications. When a person purchases an item, the store’s supply chain management system may automatically receive an update on the status of the items available supply. The stores accounting may automatically update the status of accounts receivable.
Management information systems
TPS record data about transactions that occur. Management information systems process the data recorded by TPS into usable information. The same data in an organization may be processed differently by different information systems. One system might differentiate the items sold by the number of different items sold daily. Another system might sum the items sold into the total daily revenue produced.
Knowledge workers.
Knowledge workers are those involved with the production and use of information. “Professionals” is a term often used for knowledge workers. Most college students will become knowledge workers after they graduate and enter the workforce. Knowledge workers are progressively more dependent on IT for their work. Most of the corporate workforce consist of knowledge workers.
Information systems careers
Because IT automates business processes and organizes information, is important that IT professionals understand business and management. Additionally, IT professionals should be well versed in IT. For a successful career, professionals need a balanced knowledge of business, management and IT.
Ethical and Societal Issues
The upsurge of customer and organizational use of technology and the growing dependence on multi-device access to interconnected systems has produced numerous ethical and societal challenges for businesses.
1. Customer privacy
2. Employee privacy
3. Freedom of speech
4. Online annoyances
5. Phishing and identity theft
6. IT professionalism
Week 1 Lecture 2 – Strategic Uses of Information Systems
Management of Information Systems
Strategic Uses of Information Systems
Strategic and competitive advantage
In the textbook, “strategic advantage” and “competitive advantage” are used interchangeably. In business, a strategic advantage in most cases provides a competitive advantage. A competitive advantage enables a business to maintain a higher performance than other businesses. Competitive advantage can be attained by increasing sales, profits, market share, reducing operating expenses, and increasing productivity. Additionally, currently, in the “age of the customer,” a competitive advantage can be attained by providing additional value to potential and current customers.
Strategic moves
Being the first to adopt a technology does not guarantee a gain of competitive advantage. The early adopter might encounter the high cost of training employees, and the technology might not deliver what was promised. The aim for leading edge technology might result in “bleeding edge” technology that does not work as planned. Undeniably, many companies delay technology adoption until another business (frequently in the same industry) uses the technology for a while. Companies will adopt a new technology only after it proves successful. Waiting to adopt technology is a risk that many businesses are willing to take. After a delay, when they adopt the new technology, the probability of successful integration is higher.
The concept of strategy originated in warfare. Businesses often compete for market share that is gained at the expense of other businesses. Business strategy is as much about creating new services and products that disrupt the industry, as achieving against other businesses. Innovation and IT can produce new services and products. In game and economic theory, a zero-sum game is when participants’ gains or losses are balanced by other participants’ gains or losses. Industries do not always function in a zero-sum game; a good strategy can produce an additional market. Because there is not a fixed market size, IT is frequently used to increase market size. Consequently, strategic moves are not automatically part of a zero-sum game.
There are eight ways to gain strategic advantages:
1. Reducing costs
2. Raising barriers to entrants
3. Establishing high switching costs
4. Creating new products and services
5. Differentiating products and services
6. Enhancing products/services
7. Establishing alliances
8. Locking in suppliers or buyers
Review Porter’s Five Forces Analysis ( for ideas about additional strategies to gain competitive advantage.
Competitors’ mimicry of original ideas that gave strategic business advantages makes strategic advantages difficult to maintain for a long time. Consequently, the gap closes between the originating company and its competitors. An organization has to perform constant system improvements to maintain a strategic advantage gained by innovation. Without continual re-tooling and analysis, a company’s current competitive advantage “win,” can quickly evaporate. The consumer has a short attention span and a fickle loyalty to technology.
Most systems have become strategic tools not because they were designed to provide a strategic advantage, nevertheless have become strategic as a result of efforts to become more efficient.
A bleeding edge state of affairs is when a leading edge goal has failed. Organizations frequently find themselves on the bleeding edge, when a touted technology is overestimated.
