Integrated Professional Skills in the Digital Age

This report discusses the importance of collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack, advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing, and identification of privacy and security challenges in the digital age. It also suggests constructive measures to eliminate these challenges. Suitable for PRO397 CFPBUS006 course.

Integrated Professional
Skills in the
Digital Age
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Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
Main body .......................................................................................................................................3
The importance of collaboration in workplace and collaboration digital tools..........................3
Advantages, disadvantages, suitability, and applications of cloud storage and computing in
improving digitalisation..............................................................................................................5
Identification of privacy and security challenges and possible measures to reduce risks..........8
The importance of crypto currency for businesses and its adoption in businesses.....................9
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................10
References ....................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Information technology is the application of computerised systems and digital processes
which enables an individual to accomplish tasks with great ease and high accuracy. The current
era practice methods and techniques of digitalisation in every aspect of their life. Integrating
digitalisation with professionalism is basically the application of technological advancements
and methods through business organisations and corporations. The professional world make
effective use of digital techniques in assessing their day to day operations. In this report, terms
and concepts related to digitalisation are broadly discussed. This report includes analysis and
evaluation of various digital tools used in professional environment which facilitate their
working. In addition to this, it also discuss the growing significance of internet and major
privacy concerns and threats it impose on organisations as well as society. Along with this, it
also explains the importance of crypto currency for businesses and analysis of its adoption
through business entities.
Main body
The importance of collaboration in workplace and collaboration digital tools
The significance and relevance of collaboration in workplace has become very important
recently to facilitate working specially during lockdown crisis. The world is evolving and
patterns of work environment is changing with the continuous innovation and modern
advancements. Prior to pandemic, organisations and corporations are working with application
of computerised systems and programs within the office premises. Although global and
international businesses are conducting practices of online application of digital tools since the
introduction of information technology. In recent years, the pandemic has forced companies to
communicate with their local staff through online platforms of digitalisation. The crisis of
COVID-19 caused economies to disrupt and temporary shutdown of business operations and
corporate offices (Miljanic and Zaric, 2020). It has implied companies and offices to discover
ways of working while staying at home complying with regulations of social distancing.
Corporations and organisations implemented whole new system of working and introduced the
policy of work from home. The process of working from home has only became possible
through applying useful digital tools and platforms in order to communicate with one another.
Numerous organisations have identified the most suitable and appropriate collaboration tool
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according to their job roles and business functions. Through adopting the usage of collaboration
tools, companies and offices were able to conduct their operations by ensuring virtual presence
of fellow team and staff members. The identification and importance of two collaboration tools
which helped businesses to survive the current pandemic are discussed below:
Microsoft teams: It is a digital platform which facilitates communication through online access
which is a part of Microsoft 365 family of products. The application provides various features
which enables professional interaction and allows organisations to conduct business operations
across various boundaries. The importance and suitability of Microsoft teams in enabling
business operations is stated below:
 The teams provides proper structure in order to organise the working in efficient manner.
It has the feature through which teams could be created for individual departments which
ensures systematic collaboration allowing the suitable people to perform together in order
to attain common targets (Ilag, 2020). Moreover, teams allow easy storage and search of
files and important data.
 The teams have the option of private channels which are only accessible to particular
users. These channels have three default tabs namely posts, files and wiki and workers
can create more tabs. The employees can pin the most relevant documents and data
which allows them to easily avail the option of accessing them.
 The application of MS teams remove the need of using emails in order to facilitate
internal conversation. Through using employees it is no longer require to check
numerous emails to search the accurate document that was received and then make
changes and send it back. Thus it helps in eliminating duplication and disruptions in
handling the work procedures. It offers option which allow users to make changes and
add comments directly to the file (10 reasons why Microsoft Teams is right for your
business, 2020).
 Microsoft teams owns numerous attractive features which makes it a convenient tool for
business organisations and educational institutions. Teams is being used worldwide in the
process of learning and teaching through schools and colleges (Zhang and et.al., 2021). It
facilitate teaching through online video sessions and let teachers post assignments
through teams. It allows schools to conduct online exams through making available the
options of posting assessments.
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 The application is easy to use and helpful in connecting colleagues on a platform which
is completely safe. It provides the feature of accessing adequate cloud storage per user
and it let users to avail the features of all MS office tools.
Slack: It is a communication platform used by business organisations and corporate bodies
which is created by American software company. This application helps in collaboration through
making effective use of internet in facilitating communication with multiple users at a time. The
importance of this digital tool in facilitating effective business communication is described
below:
 This digital platform is effective for various types of communication as it provides the
feature of individual and group chatting across various channels. This application access
integration with approximately 2,000 apps and let business teams use other platforms at
the same time.
 The application is helpful in virtual conversation which allows employees to share
documents and data with the help of internet which ensures speed and accuracy.
 Through online communication, the application eliminate the need of physical presence
and allows businesses to continue their operations in the crisis of pandemic (Beri and
Mishra, 2019). It allows users to message important information and convey ideas which
is important in corporate organisations.
 This digital tool is hosted in the cloud so it does not require any expensive installations to
asses the application. Messages can be easily searched and it also support external
sharing along with private conversations to maintain confidentiality.
Advantages, disadvantages, suitability, and applications of cloud storage and computing in
improving digitalisation
The term cloud computing is gaining worldwide popularity and relevance for business
organisations and offices in order to support their working through methods of digitalisation. The
concept of cloud computing allows an organisation to storage its important data and information
required in the procedures of working. The term cloud is referred to the internet and computing
implies the process through which data is stored through internet access. Cloud computing has
became the essence of business as every application use cloud computing to make their features
useful to the potential users (Kumar and et.al., 2019). Cloud computing and cloud storage is
existing and relevant to many multinational and technical organisations but the pandemic has
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resulted in adoption of these platform through industries seems far away from digitalisation prior
to the pandemic. To discuss the relevance, importance and complications in cloud computing,
advantages, disadvantages and suitability of cloud computing is explained below:
Advantages
Helpful in restoring data: One of the major benefit of using cloud computing is that it
allows companies and corporations to back up data so that it could be recovered in the case of
data loss. This allows an organisation to ensure safety of their data in case due to any error
important data get lost. The services of cloud computing helps in restoring data and allows
businesses to keep their data secure.
Quick working through enhanced speed: the application of cloud computing ensures
fast processes which allows users to proceed their working without being dependent on the
hardware limitations and delayed procedures.
Automation of updates: the services of cloud computing helps in automatic updates of
software and helps in providing more useful features to the users on regular basis. Cloud storage
is associated with various dev-ops tools and programmes which facilitate better monitoring and
allows detection of issues.
Economical with great efficiency: it is economical for business organisations to avail the
services of cloud computing without having to invest huge amounts on hardware and costly
installations. Moreover, the system do not require large number IT professionals to perform the
functions of cloud as cloud provider's staff would be enough to handle the operations.
Security of data and information: the services of cloud computing provides various
attractive features which ensures high safety and security of data that is stored in the cloud. It
owns features like granular permissions and access management through which it restrict the
access of private data and eliminate the risk of data theft through hackers.
Unlimited capacity to store data: cloud computing provides the benefit of unlimited data
storage through numerous types according to the frequency and patterns of data. The effetcuve
optimisation of cloud cost structure helps in reducing of storage cost and ensures
accomplishment of storage related objectives (Tadapaneni, 2018).
Disadvantages
The problem of low internet connectivity: In order to use the services of cloud
computing, constructive internet connection is among top requirements. Downtime is considered
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as one of the biggest demerit of cloud computing. The functions and activities of complex and
large business organisations cannot be interrupted and stopped due to any reason. The services of
cloud computing is highly internet oriented, therefore there are always chances of loss of data
connection in case server is running down.
Issues of security and privacy concerns: Although the services of cloud computing
provide features of ensuring security and safety, due to its complex and broad area of networking
hundred percent security can never be guaranteed. The sensitive and confidential business data
could be leaked and accessed through hackers which can impact upon the position of business
enterprises.
Vulnerable and easily attackable: The processes of cloud computing takes place online
due to which it possess the threats of attacks. The large and complex organisations which owns
highly protected and secured systems of working also face with this issue of major attacks and
breaching of security sometimes.
Restricted control: The services of cloud computing are completely owned by the
provider of the service which implies limited control to the users. The users of cloud services
sometimes complain that they do not have ultimate control over functioning of the system since
it is fully managed by the third party service provider of the cloud infrastructure.
Problem of vendor lock-in: Another demerit of cloud computing is vendor lock-in which
do not allow organisations to switch from cloud service. The issue of differences between vendor
platforms results in problems of transferring from one cloud platform to another.
Suitability of cloud computing
 Cloud computing is the appropriate approach for the process of developing an application
and testing its viability and utility. The services of cloud computing enables organisations
with speedy prototyping and quick development.
 The applications of social media and collaborative tools are perfectly fit for the
implementation of cloud services.
 The service of disaster recovery is emerging as a valuable option among various
organisations.
 Mobile applications are suitable for utilising cloud environments. It will allow the
devices to leverage the various attractive features of cloud storage.
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Identification of privacy and security challenges and possible measures to reduce risks
With the growing use and relevance of digital tools in order to support working of
organisations with virtual presence, the cyber security is emerging as a area of concern in order
to protect the interests of both organisations and individual users. The year 2022 has made world
familiar with the practices of cyber crime as employees enter hybrid arrangements in the lieu of
working from home (Ziegler and et.al., 2019). Digital tools and internet use wide and complex
systems which promote their access to a large number of users, thus creating privacy and
security concerns. The challenges of privacy and security while implementing digital techniques
are discussed below:
Inadequate protection of data: This factor is serving as a major risk in the online course
of business organisations where the activities of companies are being tracked by hackers and
imposters for numerous purposes. There are various means discovered through hackers in order
to spy the activities of organisations to attain misleading advantage. This implies the breaching
of privacy and theft of sensitive and valuable data of organisations. Due to complexity and
enhanced networks of internet, it has become almost impossible to ensure ultimate data
confidentiality.
Inappropriate access to personal information: The services of internet and various
digital applications ask for granting the permission to personal information and media access.
There are various personalised applications that are used by employees to support the working of
their organisation. For instance, if the employees are using collaboration applications and tools
for facilitating business communication, it ask for permission to grant the access to media which
could results in leakage of personal information. This information is then misused by hackers
and imposters which are engaged into fraudulent practices.
Theft of funds of users through online modes: In order to facilitate various business
functions in pandemic environment where physical interaction is strictly prohibited, business
organisations switch to online modes of payment for completing various tasks. Moreover, they
suggest customers to make payments online in order to avail their services. The usage of online
applications for payments could impose major threat on users who are not familiar with digital
platforms. These practices promote fraudulent activities through which fraudsters get access to
account details or information which could leads to theft of bank savings of users.
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Threat of imposters: Nowadays this has became a very common practice where
individuals pretends to be someone else or even a business organisation. The use of social media
like Instagram in providing goods and services to customers results in increasing activities of
imposters. They pretends to be a real business and try to manipulate consumers in order to get
monetary benefits from them. This practice exploits customers as well as ruins the reputation of
an existing organisation.
Constructive measures to eliminate these challenges
Implementation of virtual private network: Utilising VPN in the course of performing
business activities ensures encryption which allows organisations in encoding relevant data. It
ensures secure transmission of information between the client and the host site. This feature also
helps in hiding the location and reduce the chances of tracking.
Effective usage of anti-virus programmes: The proper establishment of anti-virus
programmes in the system of companies reduce the risk of threats and cyber attacks within a
computer system.
Update systems in order to ensure security: The constant upgradation of systems is
highly crucial for organisations in order to detect errors. Continuous and frequent monitoring of
system software is important to check their functioning and to implement measures to avoid the
risk of threats.
The importance of crypto currency for businesses and its adoption in businesses
Crypto currency is basically considered as the digital currency which is basically
designed for the purpose to met the medium of exchange with the help of a computer network.
The crypto currency plays a very important role in business and in context to the various type of
currencies, bitcoin is considered as the most popular. The cryptocurrency is the most secured and
alternative way that helps in encrypting sensitive data transfer with the help of using the
cryptography protocols which involves extreme high complex codes. In addition to that it helps
in adjusting the prices of the services and products that helps in competing in a better way in the
market (Bouri, Shahzad and Roubaud, 2019). The convenient and seamless nature of
cryptocurrency works as a big positive factor in terms of the business. In the past years, the
market of the cryptocurrency has evolved in a dramatic way and now the business and
organisations have started accepting crypto currency such as bitcoin payments. The bitcoins
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helps in increasing the reach and mostly the bitcoin is uses for the payment of the services and
goods for the purpose to perform a transaction(Omane-Adjepong and Alagidede, 2019).
It also helps in reducing the transactions costs and helps in dealing with the customers in
a direct manner and helps in simply selling regardless of the demographic locations. With the
help of crypto currency its helps in trading in international countries and makes it less costly and
quick transactions. With the help of cryptocurrency it helps in protecting the privacy of the
consumers and also offers a great anonymity and offers a variety of payment methods and helps
in data privacy. With the help of cryptocurrency it helps in attracting new consumers and no
barriers and getting ahead of the competition. In context to cryptocurrency it helps in instant
payments that involves credit card payments and offers instant transfers. In context to business,
cryptocurrency involves a number of early adopters and involves various platforms such as
bitcoins(Schellinger, 2020).
Over the time there has been a increase in number of the business worldwide with the
help of using bitcoins and also involves various assets such as transactional, host of investment
and operational and transactional purposes. With the help of crypto it helps in providing access
to the new demographic groups and helps in spur the internal awareness in the organisation with
the help of new technology. The cryptocurrency helps in positioning the organisation and also
enables the new capital and liquidity pools with the help of traditional investments. It also helps
in providing new avenue for the treasury activities which basically involves managing the
opportunities and risks for the purpose to engage in the digital investments and helps in
strengthening control over the capital of the enterprise(Higbee, 2018).
Conclusion
From the above report, it has been concluded that the techniques of information
technology has fostered the growth of companies and supported the continuation of operations
during the severe crisis of pandemic. The adoption of various collaboration tools helped
businesses in conducting their operations online through facilitating effective communication.
The application of cloud computing in organisations and corporations is extremely beneficial and
enables companies to perform their complex procedures with great convenience saving a lot of
time and efforts. It has been analysed that the usage of growing technologies have some serious
implications on the privacy and security concerns of individuals as well as organisations. The
application of digital tools and internet has emerged the issues of privacy invasion and breaching
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of sensitive and confidential data. It has been analysed that crypto-currency helps in fostering the
growth of companies by confirming transaction with high security.
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References
Books and Journals
Miljanic, M. and Zaric, N., 2020, February. Review of collaborative software applications and
integration with standard collaboration tools. In 2020 24th International Conference on
Information Technology (IT) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
Zhang, Q. and et.al., 2021, March. Research on the impact of online collaboration tools on team
creativity. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International
Conference (pp. 327-334). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education
(AACE).
Ilag, B.N., 2020. Microsoft Teams Overview. In Understanding Microsoft Teams
Administration (pp. 1-36). Apress, Berkeley, CA.
Beri, P.S. and Mishra, A., 2019, April. Dynamic Software Component Authentication for
Autonomous Systems using Slack space. In 2019 3rd International Conference on Trends in
Electronics and Informatics (ICOEI) (pp. 905-910). IEEE.
Kumar, M. and et.al., 2019. A comprehensive survey for scheduling techniques in cloud
computing. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 143, pp.1-33.
Tadapaneni, N.R., 2018. Cloud Computing: Opportunities And Challenges. Available at SSRN
3563342.
Ziegler, S. and et.al., 2019. Privacy and security threats on the Internet of Things. In Internet of
things security and data protection (pp. 9-43). Springer, Cham.
Bouri, E., Shahzad, S.J.H. and Roubaud, D., 2019. Co-explosivity in the cryptocurrency
market. Finance Research Letters, 29, pp.178-183.
Online
10 reasons why Microsoft Teams is right for your business, 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://nbold.co/10-reasons-why-microsoft-teams-is-right-for-your-business/?
utm_source=salestim.com>
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