BUSN 16 Managing Information and Technology: Finding New Ways to Learn and Link ©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied

BUSN

16 Managing Information and Technology: Finding New Ways to Learn and Link

©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

BUSN

16

©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Managing Information and Technology:Finding New Ways to Learn and Link

• What are the basic elements and key trends of computer technology?

• What is cloud computing and why is it popular?

• How does data become information and how do decisions support systems provide information for decision making?

• How have Internet-based technologies changed business-to-consumer and business-to-business commerce?

• What are the problems posed by rapid changes in Internet-based technologies?

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Information Technology: Explosive Change

Computers and communications hardware and software have changed dramatically over the past few decades

•Flash memory devices are as small as a stamp and can store sixteen gigabytes of data

More than three thousand times data that could be stored in a 1950 disk array

•Today’s basic calculator or cell phone has more processing power than early “mega computers”

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Hardware and Software

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Hardware – the physical components used to collect, store, organize, and process data

Software – refers to computer programs that provide instruction for a computer to perform a task

System Software – performs the critical functions necessary to operate the computer at the most basic level

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Application Software

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Horizontal Market Software – applies

broadly across markets or industries

Vertical Market Software – specialized

applications for a specific industry

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Networks

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The Internet – computer network; network of networks

World Wide Web – interlinked hypertext documents

Intranets

Extranets

Networks link computer resources using wired or wireless connections.

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The Internet and the World Wide Web

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• Greatest networking stories of the last two decades

• A network of networks

• Availability of broadband has fueled the popularity of the Web

• In 2008, 55% of all U.S. households had a broadband connection – up 47% in 2007

• Internet 2 (speed) is capable of transmitting five feature-length DVD movies from one location

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Intranets and Extranets

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Intranet is a network that has the same look and feel as the Internet but is limited to a single

firm’s internal Web servers.

Extranets are open intranets that provide

limited access to certain group of

stakeholders, such as key customers and

suppliers.

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The Role of the IT Department

The role of the department differs for every company.

• Strategic - making key decisions about technologies

• Operational – departments make decisions that functional groups support

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The Smart Electricity Grid: IT Goes Green

• Technology requires a dependable power supply

• The U.S. power grid has been called the world’s most complex interconnected machine

• New technology will evolve into a smart electricity grid

High-tech Sensors and meters for real-time information

• Smart grid technology will facilitate a generation of distributed electricity

• It will help consumers and businesses monitor their electricity use

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Cloud Computing: The Sky’s the Limit!

• Cloud computing is moving software beyond the organization’s firewall

• Examples include Flickr, Shutterfly, Google Apps• Businesses have been reluctant to embrace cloud

computing because of security, reliability and control• But, Cloud Computing have proven advantages:

Financial benefit Flexibility Encourage collaboration Processing Speed

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Information Technology and Decision Making: A Crucial Aid

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Managers need information to make good decisions

DATA

InformationInformation

Databases store files in a logical system

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Characteristics of Good Information

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Accurate

Relevant

Timely

Understandable

Secure

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Using Information Technology to Improve Decision Making

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Data Warehousing

Data Mining

Data Mining:

• Use sophisticated statistical methods to analyze data

• Discover relationships that had previously been hidden

Business Intelligence System

Decision support systems provide access to data and the processing power to convert the data into information.

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Expert Systems

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Guide decision makers

Integrate knowledge of experts

Diverse types of systems available

Individual systems deal with narrow set of issues

Can be time-consuming to program

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Information Technology and the World of E-Commerce

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Business-to-Consumer (B2C) – businesses and final consumers interact

Business-to-Business (B2B) – businesses buy from and sell to

other businesses

E-Commerce – using the Internet to facilitate the exchange of goods and services

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Key Differences Between B2C and B2B E-Commerce

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Using Information Technology in the B2C Market

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• Web 2.0

• Advertising on the Internet

• Viral Marketing

• Handling Payments Electronically• Cybermediary• Electronic Bill Presentation and Payment

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How Two Fans Changed the Face of Coke

• Many organizations participate in social networking to forge relationships with customers

• But, Coca-Cola fans created a successful page that ramped up 3.4 million fans

Second most popular page on Facebook

• Facebook policy, the product producer has the right to its page

• Coca-Cola decided to treat the two creators like partners and work together on the page

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Viral Marketing: Finding the Perfect Blend

• Blendtec is a powerful niche market blender with limited funds for national marketing

• The new marketing director decided to go viral with funny videos starting the CEO

• The videos were highlighted on the website and eventually uploaded to YouTube

• The videos cost about $50

• Sales soared 43%

• Companies began begging Blendtec to blend their products and was able to charge them $5,000

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Using Information Technology in the B2B Market

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Reduce time, effort and cost of doing business for buyers and sellers

Reduced technology costs

Large pool of buyers and sellers for negotiations

Value-added services

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has become a useful technology for supply chain management. The

microchips store and transmit information.

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Challenges and Concerns Arising from New Technologies

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• Spyware – software that installs itself on computers without permission to track behavior

• Computer Viruses – programs that install on computers to rapidly spread to other computers

• Spam- unsolicited commercial emails

• Phishing – an illegitimate business attempting to get you to disclose personal information

• Pharming – redirecting Internet traffic using fake websites to trick people into disclosing personal information

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Information Overload: Too Much of a Good Thing?

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• Set aside time to absorb information

• Prioritize, avoid distractions

• Organize content into folders

• Resist the urge to subscribe to every information source

Email, cell phones, Twitter, Blogs, Websites……….

Overload can temporarily reduce worker’s decision-making IQ ten points!

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Hackers: Break-ins in Cyberspace

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Firewalls use hardware or software (sometimes both) to create a barrier that prevents unwanted messages or instructions

from entering a computer system.

• Skilled computer users who can access unauthorized information

• Some hackers (black hat hackers) intend harm• Cyberterrorists are motivated by political

or ideological beliefs• Cyberterrorists launch attacks on key

industries

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Strong Passwords

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• Relatively long (at least seven characters)

• Include numbers and special characters

• Consists of lower and uppercase characters

• Does not include the user’s real name or a common word

• Differs significantly from other passwords

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Ethical and Legal Issues

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Personal Privacy• Does the fact that companies know so

much about you make you nervous?

• Does it bother you that your email messages are not confidential?

• Legal opinions about email are still evolving

Intellectual Property

• Product produced from intellectual efforts: things protected by copyright law

• Music and software piracy are growing issues

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Turning the Tables

• iParadigms’ Turnitin allows schools to upload student papers to compare for plagiarism

• Students in Virginia objected the practice arguing that their intellectual property was being used without permission

• In March 2008, the courts filed in favor of iParadigm

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Looking Back

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• What are the basic elements and key trends of computer technology?

• What is cloud computing and why is it popular?

• How does data become information and how do decisions support systems provide information for decision making?

• How have Internet-based technologies changed business-to-consumer and business-to-business commerce?

• What are the problems posed by rapid changes in Internet-based technologies?

Documents

BUSN 16 Managing Information and Technology: Finding New Ways to Learn and Link ©2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied