Information Systems A Business Approach

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Information SystemsA Business Approach

• Setting the Scene

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Peter Druckers Three Waves

• The application of knowledge to industrial tools
  and technologies industrial revolution
• The application of knowledge to human endeavour
  scientific management
• Concerns the application of knowledge to
  knowledge knowledge management
• Where are we now?

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Data, Information Knowledge

• Data (Singular form datum) are the raw material
  of which Information Systems are built
• Information is processed or value added data
• Knowledge is understanding the meaning of
  information knowledge is personal and
  subjective
• Can you give an example which links all three?

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Information As A Strategic Resource

• The more up to date and accurate your information
  is the greater the business advantage you possess
  
• There are descriptions of cataloguing and
  retrieval systems dating from over two thousand
  years ago. All that has changed has been the
  technology
• How would you put a dollar value on a customer
  list? Or a financial spreadsheet

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What Is A System?

• A collection of parts that work together to
  achieve some purpose. - Of course the parts
  could also be systems in their own right!
• Systems can be man made or natural
• Deciding where the boundaries of a system lie can
  be very difficult.
• Identify some systems that you know about, what
  do they have in common?

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What Is An Information System?

• A system whose purpose is the efficient storage,
  manipulation, processing and retrieval of
  information
• What are the components of an information
  system?
• Many people regard Information Systems as social
  systems - is this justifiable?

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Components of a Business System
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History Of Information Systems

• Information Systems have existed for centuries -
  the term itself began to be used in the late
  1950s as computers were applied to information
  processing
• The industrial revolution extended our physical
  capabilities and the information revolution
  extended our mental capabilities
• Early computers required detailed knowledge of
  the underlying technology - has this influenced
  the way in which Information Systems has
  developed as a subject area?

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Is Information Systems A Coherent Discipline?

• A discipline has a paradigm (system of working)
  and an infrastructure (journals, committees etc.
  - orthodoxy emerges with maturity
• 1972, John Dearden of the Harvard Business School
  wrote "Management Information Systems is
  embedded in a mish mash of fuzzy thinking and
  incomprehensible jargon
• How far have we come since then?

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Other Views Of Information Systems

• A philosophy of information technology
• The application of technology for competitive
  advantage in business
• An enabling technology for business
• An integrating framework for business
• A competitive edge!
• How can we use information systems/technology to
  compete?

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Competitive Information Systems

• We can use technology to create barriers to
  competition
• We can use technology to lower the costs of
  market entry
• We can shorten timelines, speed cashflow, cut out
  intermediaries, build umbilical cords
• We can be better informed than competitors
• Can you think of real business examples of these
  competitive strategies?

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Important Trends

• We have seen technology change production, then
  change business processes and organisations - now
  even social structures and interactions are being
  changed
• John Naisbit wrote The Bigger the World Economy,
  the More Powerful Its Smallest Players -
  Small/Medium Enterprises (SMEs) now account for
  the bulk of GDP in the developed nations
• What advantages do SMEs have in the new economy?

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More Trends

• Technologies are converging (or colliding)
• e.g. mobile phones which can access the Internet
  and send/receive fax and e-mail
• computers which support voice and video
  communication ...
• using the Internet for long distance phone and
  fax
• Technology is getting cheaper and easier to use
• TV of advertising products and services is hard
  if there are too many channels - Why is this?
• Does the World Wide Web make advertising easier
  or harder?

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Where are the New Business Opportunities?

• Older businesses, primary producers, steelworks
  etc. will still exist but there is a greater
  emphasis on information and knowledge based
  companies
• Synthesis (putting things together) and taking a
  percentage (really becoming a special kind of
  intermediary) is an increasingly common business
  approach
• Can you think of a low set up cost business that
  could operate like this?

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Which Businesses Are Twilight Businesses?

• Success in one area of business usually comes at
  the cost of another
• Businesses must adapt or die
• Hoover moved into Vacuum cleaners from Horse
  Carriage accessories in the early 1900s
• Can you identify any businesses that are under
  threat?

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Relationship of IS to Other Disciplines

• Accounting
• Finance
• Management
• Hospitality
• Marketing
• Computer Science
• Others?

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Seven major Business Pressures
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Seven major Business Responses
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Summary

• Information Systems is an enabling technology
  that can change the basis of competition in
  business
• IS is a people business and successful
  implementations must take human factors into
  consideration
• We are just beginning to feel the real impact of
  Information Systems and Technology
• Irrespective of the business area in which you
  choose to work, you will be working with
  information systems.