Types of Business Information, Sources and Purposes

This report discusses the different types of business information, their sources and purposes. It also explores the importance of business communication and the legal and ethical issues related to the use of business information.

BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
P1) Explain different types of business information, their sources and purposes..................................3
P2) Present complex internal business information using three different methods appropriate to the
user’s needs............................................................................................................................................4
P3) corporate communications for your organization............................................................................4
P4) External corporate communications of an existing product or service............................................4
P5) Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information.........................5
P6) Explain the operational issues in relation to the use of business information.................................5
P7) outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information, using
examples for different types of audience...............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business communication is the sharing of information between people within and outside
the organization that is performed for the commercial benefit of the organization. It can also be
defined as relaying of information within a business by its people. The present report is based on
understanding business communication aspects for transferring information and managing
operations efficiently. In this regard, different types of business information, their sources and
purposes and complex internal business information using three different methods appropriate to
the user’s needs are to be described (Holsapple, 2013). However, corporate communications and
legal as well ethical issues in relation to the use of business information is to be presented
through this assignment. Apart from this, electronic and non-electronic methods for
communicating business information, using examples for different types of audience can be
explained to understand significance of business communication.
P1) Explain different types of business information, their sources and purposes
Types of business information:-
 Transaction processing systems (TPS): These are basic business systems that serve the
operational level of the organization by recording the daily routine transactions required
to conduct business, such as payroll and sales receipts.
 Management information systems (MIS): These serve middle managers' interests by
providing current and historical performance information to aid in planning, controlling,
and decision making at the management level. MIS typically compress TPS data to
present regular reports on the company's basic operations.
 Decision support systems (DSS):- Business intelligence systems, help managers with
non-routine decisions that are unique, rapidly changing, and not easily specified in
advance. DSS are more analytical than MIS, using a variety of models to analyze internal
and external data or condense large amounts of data for analysis.
Sources and purposes of business information:-
Verbal Information- The best way to communicate but not always the most efficient. It is
immediate and can solve most problems.
Written Information- Can be words, diagrams, graphs and charts. Can come from a
wide range of sources - newspapers, books, trade journals and government publications.
On-Screen Information- Information may be produced on-screen. This can be seen in

multimedia TV and CD-ROMs that combine text, graphics, animation, audio and video (Dalkir
and Liebowitz, 2011).
Purposes of business information:-
 To control over business activities.
 To express views and ideas effectively for making decisions to operate business
activities.
 To analyze actual performance of organization that leads to manage all operations for
improving efficiency.
P2) Present complex internal business information using three different methods appropriate to
the user’s needs
Covered in PPT.
P3) corporate communications for your organization
Covered in leaflet
P4) External corporate communications of an existing product or service
External communication is the transmission of information between a business and
another person or entity in the company's external environment. Examples of these people and
entities include customers, potential customers, suppliers, investors, shareholders, and society at
large (Kebede, 2010).
Advertising – Advertising is a way to inform in a way of notice or announcement to the
public or businesses about promotions, services and products. Other can be information about
upcoming events or a massive sale. Advertisement can be informed through TV, leaflets and
Radio. Tesco inform their customers about new events taking place via Television advertisement
as well as posters on public transport vehicles and on their websites.
To build better relationships with the media, organizations must cultivate positive
relations with influential members of the media. This task might be handled by employees within
the company's media relations department or handled by a public relations firm.
The role of the PR specialist therefore also consists of issues management, namely the
"set of organizational procedures, routines, personnel, and issues". A strategic issue is one that
compels a company to deal with it because there is "a conflict between two or more identifiable
groups over procedural or substantive matters relating to the distribution of positions or
resources"

Building relationships with customers and responding to inquiries from the public fall
under the public relations function of corporate communications. Duties in this area include
producing newsletters, brochures and other printed materials designed for the general public.
Corporate communicators also manage a company’s website and social media presence, which
includes monitoring what customers and clients are saying about the company on social
networking websites and responding to inaccurate posts or requests for information.
P5) Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information
Any businesses store and use information about people. The Data Protection Act protects
information held about people from being misused. The information stored by businesses on
databases must be:
Obtained fairly and lawfully used only for the purposes stated during collection
Adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the intended use Accurate and up to date Not
kept for longer than necessary Processed in line with your rights. Subject to procedures to
prevent unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage to personal data.
The organisation I have chosen to use in this task is Tesco. I will be taking a close look at
the company and then rearing it under three main headings; access, availability and business
efficiency. More sequent Tesco communicate with their customers via emails. At some rare
occasion they also contact the buyer individualised through their phone numbers. When a
customer purchases a product from the seller the confirmation communications is sent to the
customer mainly through email, this helps build a trusting relationship between the buyers and
seller as they do not need to tar that their money has been conned or stolen. In the long term
building relationship with customers is seen as a positive outcome as customers will come back
to use the site again or recommend it to other people. This enables Tesco that the y will not be
losing out on profit. To make a profit from. The marketing mix used here could be people are
Tesco tunes really hard to earn the trust of its customers and build relationship with them. Use of
Tesco sends emails to registered customers (Coombs, 2014).
P6) Explain the operational issues in relation to the use of business information
Organisations have to store and manage countless pieces of information, with some being
far more important than others. Lying at the heart of any information system are two
fundamental issues of ensuring that:
 Organisation receives the information it requires

 Appropriate member of staff receives the information
To make sure that information is managed appropriately, a number of policies and
procedures have to be put in place, concerning:
 Security of information
 Backups
 Health and safety
 Organisational policies
 Business continuance plans
Information security management deals with maintaining the integrity and availability of
organisational information and knowledge. Many companies keep their information on IT
systems, but as the reliance on technology increases, so does the risk posed by system failure and
malicious attacks (e.g. viruses). The IT security policy should take account of the common risks
to the information that their business relies upon. This might include secure login ID for using IT
systems.
Policies help make sure that staff have guidance to help them comply with legislation
(Data Protection Act for example). They should also help ensure that consistent decisions are
made, which can be as important in internal communications as they are in handling customers.
Legal issues are various items of legislation (law) to protect the use of business information.
Data protection act 1998. Many business store information about people, whether it’s for
potential customers or previous clients.
The data protection act protects the information held about people from being misused.
The information businesses store on databases need to be obtained fairly and lawfully, they must
only be used for the purposes started during collection, it must be accurate and up to date, not
kept for longer than necessary, processed in line with your rights, subjects. They should also
make sure consistent decisions are made which can be as important in internal communications
as they are in handling customers (Choi, Lee and Yoo, 2010).
Operational issues:- Organisations have to store and manage countless pieces of
information, with some being far more important than others. Business need to ensure that the
organisation receives the information it requires and the appropriate members of staff receives
the information.

P7) outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information,
using examples for different types of audience
Non- electronic communication involves the distribution of a message usually in the form
of: Reports, Letters, Flow Charts, Invoices and even Verbal Communication amongst employees.
This form of communicating is not as popular as it once was, but it provides businesses with
other avenues to communicate instead of electronic communication (Borghoff and Pareschi,
2013). Furthermore, different types of communication suit contrasting businesses in addition to,
the preference of people involved within a business. Electronic and Non- Electronic Sources of
Business Information
Sources of business information can come in a variety of different forms which include:
Newspapers, Websites, Books, Posters, Directories, Databases, Government Statistic.
CONCLUSION
I The report is concluded that business communication is essential for sharing ideas, views
and opinions from one place to another through information. In this regard, different information
systems are described that are used to exchange data as well electronic and non-electronic
methods are presented for business communication. In this regard, issues occurred in
organization during communication is obtained that effects on quality of expressing opinions.
When a company has employed a new employees they make them sign a non-disclosure
agreement, this will prevent any member of staff from discussing information which they have
gained from within the organization with anybody outside of the business. This covers all
information such as: information about suppliers, customers and employees. Tesco communicate
with their customers via emails. At some rare occasion they also contact the buyer individualised
through their phone numbers. When a customer purchases a product from the seller the
confirmation communications is sent to the customer mainly through email, this helps build a
trusting relationship between the buyers and seller as they do not need to tar that their money has
been conned or stolen.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Borghoff, U. M. and Pareschi, R., 2013. Information technology for knowledge management.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Choi, S. Y., Lee, H. and Yoo, Y., 2010. The impact of information technology and transactive
memory systems on knowledge sharing, application, and team performance: a field study.
MIS quarterly. pp.855-870.
Coombs, W. T., 2014. Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding.
Sage Publications.
Dalkir, K. and Liebowitz, J., 2011. Knowledge management in theory and practice. MIT press.
Holsapple, C., 2013. Handbook on knowledge management 1: Knowledge matters (Vol. 1).
Springer Science & Business Media.
Kebede, G., 2010. Knowledge management: An information science perspective. International
Journal of Information Management. 30(5). pp.416-424.