Role of Information Technology in Business Success and Failure

This report discusses the role of information technology in the success and failure of businesses. It covers topics such as ethical and social issues, different networking technologies, the importance of social media, and the stages of software development life cycle. The report focuses on Barclays, a multinational investment bank and financial services company.

CFPBUS003 - Introduction to
Information Technology

Abstract
Information technology is application of Technology in business organisations to create,
store and process data in electronic format. This report has discussed about information
technology and different elements of using information technology in an organisation. Role of
information technology in success and failure of business ethical and social issues associated
with running businesses and technology and different types of networking technologies along
with importance of social media in business was discussed in this report.Other than this, stages
of software development life cycle were also discussed in this report.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business........................................................................4
Ethical and social issues associated with running businesses.....................................................5
Different types of networking technologies................................................................................5
Importance of social media in a business....................................................................................6
Stages of software development life cycle..................................................................................7
Analysis and discussion...................................................................................................................8
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business........................................................................8
Ethical and social issues associated with running businesses.....................................................9
Different types of networking technologies..............................................................................10
Importance of social media in a business..................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Information technology can be defined as use of any computers, storage, networking and
other physical devices, infrastructure and processes for creating, processing, storage and securing
data in electronic formats. This report aims at discussing information technology in service
sector organisations. Report has contextualised Barclays British multinational investment bank
and financial services company. It was founded in 1690 and is headquartered at London,
England, UK. Important businesses of Barclays include personal banking, corporate banking,
wealth management and investment management and employ around 83500 employees to
perform different organisational operations. This report will discuss about role that Information
Technology plays in success and failure of business organisation. Later, this will also discuss
about ethical and social associated concerned with running business. Later, different types of
networking technologies will also be discussed in report and importance of social media in
business and stages of software development life cycle and will involve analysis and discussion.
Literature Review
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business
According to Dinata, 2020Information Technology is playing very important role in
success and failure of business. Information Technology has provided opportunity to business
organisation in which organisations become able to solve complex problems easily. This means
that information technology has provided tools like improved hardware and involves smart
application to solve complex problems. Information technology is also important in success of
Barclays as it allows business to make better decisions. In this information technology facilitates
market research and on the basis of this organisation can make better decisions. Information
Technology has also enhanced and improved marketing of the organisation and they are able to
connect with wider audience and require less cost for marketing and promotional activities of
organisation. As perHowell, van Beers and Doorn, 2018 Resource management is also an
important service that is facilitated by information technology within Barclays. Success of
organisations in presenttimes is significantly based on effective implementation of information
technology. Barclays provide banking services and in banking services recent developments

include mobile banking and internet banking. These services get facilitated by application of
information technology within organisation and insignificant application of information
technology can cause failure of organisation. Banking industry in recent times has undertaken
significant technological transformation and this is why it is playing significant role in overall
growth and success of Barclays in present industry and macro environment. In addition to this
element of success like digitalisation of organisation is very important for Barclays and this is a
result of effective application of information technology. In addition to this Barclays can also
enhance and improve its customer support and satisfaction. This means that customers can easily
access organisation and share their issues to find solutions for their problem.
Ethical and social issues associated with running businesses
As per the view of Nejati and et.al., 2017 running a business organisation involves
several ethical and social issues and technology contributes in increasing issues of running
business. Information Technology facilitates organisation with some of the services that it
becomes difficult for organisations to identify whether they are ethical or not. This causes a
threat to information and security of users and organisations to whom data belongs. Hacking and
unauthorised access to systems of Barclays can cause such issues. In addition to this data privacy
is also one of the important social and ethical issue in which data that an organisation can collect
and Store becomes unsafe. Organisations and different online sources collects data of customers
and users and do not provide any valid justification of the use of data. There are ways in which
through different online and digital sources can collect data of customers without their
information and this is threat for privacy of data of customers. Hacking and data leakage are two
ways through which data of customers and organisations become unsafe. Hacking is concerned
with an act of making unauthorised access to system where data is stored and data leakage is
concerned with releasing data because of inadequate security measures. It is important that
organisations and specially Barclays provide adequate attention to such issues. The reason
behind this is that Barclays collect and Store data and significant amount and issues like hacking
and data leakage can have impact on information of customers and other stakeholders as well as
organisation and can cause threat to privacy.
Different types of networking technologies
As stated by Sharma and et.al., 2020 different types of networking technology includes-

Personal Area Network (PAN) - This is a networking technology is one in which network is
made up of a wireless modem and a computer or two can be connected around a person. This
networking technology is found on small offices and residences and is managed by one person or
organisation.
Campus Area Network (CAN) - Campus area network is network that is smaller than
metropolitan area network and larger than local area network. This type of network is used at
universities and large schools or small businesses. This network technology can be spread across
every building that is close to each other and users can share resources.
Storage Area Network (SAN) - Storage area network is a high speed network that connects
shared pools of storage devices to many servers and this technology does not rely on local area
network or wide area network. In this resources are moved from local area network and wide
area network and are placed into high performing network.
System Area Network - System area network is a relative local network that is designed to
provide high speed connection in server to server applications. In this, computers that are
connected to a system area network operate at very high speeds.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) - Virtual private network are those type of network technology
in which users can send and receive data as their devices are connected to private network even
when devices are not connected with each other. This network is based on virtual point to point
connection and users can remotely access private network.
Difference in networking technology is based on their capacity to serve and connect with
computers and devices. Other than this difference in networking technology is also based on
operations and management of networking technology.
Importance of social media in a business
In words of Iankovaand et.al., 2019Social media is Computer Based Technology that
facilitates sharing of Ideas thoughts and information by building virtual networks and
communities. Social media is based on internet and provide uses and ability to communicate
content in electronic format. Increasing use of social media and there are several ways in which
social media has become important and beneficial for business organisations. Social media

enables organisations to communicate with large audience in less effort and is also a cost
effective medium for promotion of business organisation. Barclays can also use different social
media platforms for its promotion and attract more customers towards it. Social media provide
different services and among these one of the important way to connect with audience or
potential customers is by creating creative and engaging content where audience can engage with
Barclays. This facility is not available in traditional ways of marketing and promotions that
includes print advertisement or television advertisement. As stated by Bill, F., Feurer and
Klarmann, 2020 The reasons that make social media important for Barclays include that with
help of social media it can increase brand awareness and customer satisfaction. Social media for
Barclays is also important as it enables organisation to maintain electronic customer relationship.
In this with help of different social media platforms Barclays can maintain effective
communication and relationship with its customers. Social media enables customers of Barclays
to easily access Barclays and share the issues and complaints with company and organisation can
start its customer services through social media channels.
Stages of software development life cycle
Planning- This is concerned with plan through which software is developed. This involves
determination of different factors for software development. This involves determination of users
of software, how software will be used and information that software will process (Mohammed
and et.al., 2017). In addition to this, planning stage also involves identification of problem and
determination of objectives and resources required for software development. In this phase
feasibility of the planning and idea areidentified for system development.
System Analysis and requirement- In this stage of life cycle of software development
information is collected and analysed regarding software development and is subsequently
validated. In this stage on the basis of requirement and objectives of software development
earlier identified options are analysed. In addition to this, needs of end user of software are
analysed and understood so that objective can be effectively achieved.
System design- This stage of software development lifecycle involvespreparing design for
software. This mainly answers the question that how the software will build and what is possible
architecture of software and what will be interface for software. This design and roadmap for
developing software is agreed by stakeholders of the project.

Development- This involves implementing planning and converting planned design into actual
software. Effectiveness and success of this significantly depends on success of previous stages
that are planning and system design. Effective and feasible software design makes it easy to
prepare software on the basis of its planning and ineffective planning and software design can
lead to complexity in development or implementation of planning for software development.
Integrating and Testing- This involves integrating different parts of software development.
Information for software is processed in this stage of software development lifecycle. Integration
involves integrating information for system with system, this involves information which is
likely to be used and processed by software (What is the Software Development Life Cycle?
2019). Testing involves finding faults to ensure software has achieved its planned quality.
Implementation- In this stage once software is has achieved its planned quality which is
determined on the basis of planning and design phase, finally system is integrated and
implemented to be used by end users. This is the stage in which software becomes ready to be
used for the purpose it was developed.
Maintenance- This phase of software development lifecycle involves maintenance of product in
which software is improved and is updated to meet requirements of users. This also involves
solving issues identified once software starts being used.
Analysis and discussion
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business
Roles that information technology please in success and failure of Barclays include-
Effective data management- Barclays in banking organisation and this is why involves a
significant amount of data in their business operations. Information Technology application in
Barclays improve and enhance management of data within organisation. Management of data
includes creation of data effectively and storing of data that can be easily and quickly processed
whenever required in organisational practices (Saeidiand et.al., 2019).Different types of data to
be managed for Barclays include data related to customers and their transactions, data related to
employees of organisation and organisations specific data.

Online marketing- Marketing is playing key role in success of organisation and has become
important to ensure that organisation is capable to operate in in a complicated competitive
environment. Information Technology enables organisation to undertake online marketing
activities effectively including social media marketing and digital marketing. Online marketing
helps in Organisation in connecting with large audience in small amount of time and resources.
In addition to communicating and promoting organisation through online marketing Information
Technology also enables Barclays to identify requirements of target market and audience.
Knowledge and understanding of target market and audience enables Barclays to take right
decisions so that it becomes able to attract and engage online audience and increase conversion
rate.
Improved decision making- Effective decision lead to successful operations and which is very
important for growth and success of Barclays. In present competitive environment it has become
very important that organisations take decision that are based on significant amount of data
regarding different factors affecting decisions and its success. Information Technology helps
Barclays in getting data and information from different sources and effective application of
Information Technology also helps in making decisions based on analysis of data through
information technology (Aranyossy Blaskovics and Horváth, 2018). Information technology also
helps and facilitates market research which leads to effective decisions in Barclays.
Ethical and social issues associated with running businesses
Data Protection- This is one of the important issue associated with running business and
application of information technology in business. Barclays is a banking organisation that
operates with different types of data that belongs to different people in business. It is very
important that data is well protected by Barclays because with increasing use of technology
practices like hacking have increased that pose threat for data and its safety (Finck,
2018).Hacking is an act in which hackers or external parties make unauthorised access to data
and place where data in system has been stored to cause changes or mistakes in data. Concerned
with safety of data this is most important social as well as ethical issue.
Information Sharing- This is another important ethical and social issue and this is concerned
with sharing of information that is collected from different sources to third party in exchange of
some benefits. This means that for many organisations and individuals it has become a business

to collect information through different digital and information technology sources and selling it
to third parties. This is a big issue about whether such information should be a business or not. In
this many organisations collect data for the own purposes whereas some other collects data and
sell that to other business. Many organisations collect data for their own requirements and then
sell it to other businesses considering that information also has value for them and sell
information to them. In this case if users are not informed about their data being collected and
why it is being collected it becomes unethical practice for organisation. It is important that
Barclays consider this and avoid such acts.
Social Media- This is another important social and ethical issues in present environment of
business (Anderson and Jiang, 2018). In this employees’ personal behaviour on social media
outside of work hours is monitored which is completely unethical.
Different types of networking technologies
Personal area network- This type of network is most basic and smallest in range and is made of
wireless modem in which devices can be connected around a person or in a building.
Local Area Network- This network connect group of computers and low voltage devices
together in a small range. In this devices are connecting within a building or between a group of
two or three buildings that are situated in close proximity to each other.
Wireless Local Area Network- This networking Technology is one in which computers or
devices can be connected in a short distance but connection does not require devices to be
connected through wire (Vidaland et.al., 2019). Wi-Fi is one of the most common examples of
wireless Local area network Technology.
Metropolitan Area Network- This type of network is larger than Local area network and
smaller than white area network but consist of elements of both types of technologies.
Metropolitan Area Network span and entire geographical area that includes a city or town.
Wide Area Network- This is another type of networking Technology and this technology
connects computers together across longer physical distance. Wide area network allows
computers to connect remotely with each other over a large network so that they can

communicate with each other even when they are miles apart and Internet is most basic example
of wide area network.
Enterprise Private Area Network- These are networking Technologies that are developed and
owned by businesses and Barclays can create and on their individual enterprise private network
(Winzer, 2018).
Importance of social media in a business
Social media has several benefits for Barclays and these benefits of social media are as follows-
Creating and increasing brand awareness- This means that social media is highly important
and beneficial in creating and increasing brand awareness. Barclays can create and increase its
brand awareness by using different social media platforms and channels. This is highly helpful in
creating and increasing brand awareness in the market and audience is where Barclays and a
newly and does not have any kind of presence. In other words while entering new market social
media platforms and its application can help in creating and increasing brand awareness.
Creating brand awareness is about getting recognition for Barclays and in order to gain
customers it is very important that they are aware of existence of Barclays.
Connecting with audience through social listening- Social listening is concerned with an act
of monitoring conversations around certain topics and in context of Barclays it is concerned with
monitoring conversations around topics related with banking business and industry (Tajvidi and
Karami, 2017). Social listening helps Barclays and understanding what are the things that are
important for customers and through this they can also identify Trends that target audience is
following. Through this Barclays will be able to understand what strategy and actions they
should take to connect with its audience by offering services that are important for them and
relating with their requirements.
Developing personal connect with audience- This is another importance of social media for
Barclays and which they can develop personal connect with their audience. There are different
ways in which this can be done such as answering two queries of audiences on social media
platforms and allowing customers to connect with Barclays on different social media platforms.
Through this Barclays can communicate different information through its social platforms and
connect with audience.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that Information Technology has
several benefits for an organisation. These benefits include effective operations and functioning
of organisation and also help Organisation in providing and increasing customer satisfaction.
Discussion helps in identifying that Barclays can invest in information technology to gain several
benefits associated with its application. As discussed about benefits that include improved
functioning and performance of Barclays it is also important to consider drawbacks of investing
in information technology. Information technology has drawback that include security of data
and complexity in managing information technology and its systems. Other than these ethical
and social issues are also involved in drawbacks of investing in information technology. Overall
Barclays should ensure that they are able to control negative effects of Information Technology
and gain maximum benefit of applying information technology in organisation.

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