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Managerial Questions

What is an information system? What are some major applications of information systems?

How does the Internet fit in?

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What is an Information System?

An information system is a combination of technology, people, and processes to

capture, transmit, retrieve and display information

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The Information System

Information Systems pervade the enterprise

You need to know: The technical aspects of information, but more importantly the concepts governing their use.

How to make decisions about what you firm needs and what it does not.

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Components of an IS

Hardware The physical devices like computers and printers

Software Programs that can tell the hardware what to do

Communications Modes of transmitting information (wires, wireless, etc.)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 6

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Hardware

The ‘first’ computers: mainframes (1950s)

The personal computer (early 1980s)

Client server computers (early 1990s)

Remote computing (starting in the early 2000s but still developing)

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Software

Operating Systems Programs that manage and control the computer

e.g., Windows, Mac OS Applications

Programs that accomplish a specific task

e.g., a word processor or spreadsheet

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Evolution of Software Industry

The un-bundling of software

High fixed development costs but low marginal costs

Customization and in-house development

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Sidebar: Trade Offs in Software

This led to a series of choices and trade-offs:

1. Buy and Install- Least costly, requires most

organizational change

2. Buy and Modify- More costly, but less change intensive

3. Build your own- Most expensive