Impact of Information Technology on Business Operations: A Case Study of Goldman Sachs

This report discusses the impact of information technology on business operations with a case study of Goldman Sachs. It covers the importance of ethical and social issues, different types of computer networks, and the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing businesses.

Introduction to
information
technology

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Main body........................................................................................................................................3
Literature review..............................................................................................................................3
To discuss the impact of IT in helping businesses to enhance their operations..........................3
On the importance of ethical and social issues, which are increasingly becoming significant in
the virtual world. Identify and discuss at least three issues to run businesses efficiently...........4
Identify and discuss different types of computer networks with their impact on businesses.....5
To discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing their businesses..................5
Analysis and discussion...................................................................................................................6
To discuss the impact of IT in helping Goldman Sach to improve their operations...................6
On the importance of ethical and social issues, which are increasingly becoming significant in
the virtual world. Identify and discuss at least three issues to run businesses efficiently...........7
Identify and discuss different types of computer networks with their impact on businesses.....8
To discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing their businesses..................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Information technology is an essential factor in current business activities and processes.
Technology provide new opportunities to companies in order to become more effective and
efficient. It helps the company in decreasing the cost of products and services and will also make
sure that the company is working more accurately with the help of technology as compared to
human resources of the company. It is important for the company to upgrade the technology
from time to time as it will help the company in attaining competitors advantage in the market
(Gibson and et. al., 2021). In case of Goldman Sachs, it is an American multinational investment
bank and financial services company. The company is headquartered in New York City and was
incorporated in the year 1869. The bank was founded by Marcus Goldman and Samuel Sach.
The company offers investment management, asset management, securities underwriting, etc. In
this report, the impact of information technology on the operations of the business is provided.
Along with that, the importance of ethical and social issues which can help the company in
running efficiently are given. The report also covers a literature review which can help in getting
information from the point of view of authors.
Main body
Literature review
To discuss the impact of IT in helping businesses to enhance their operations.
According to Toblas Mattews 2021, one of the most important aspect for business is to
achieve efficiency in their workings. If a company is able to arrange their internal processes in
the most efficient way then it will help the company in producing maximum amount of goods
and services which is the ultimate goals of the company to operate in optimum capacity.
Producing goods on optimum capacity will help the company in fulfilling the demand of the
market at a comparatively lower cost which will help the company in having competitors
advantage in the market (Business operations: Using technology to improve operational
processes, 2018). Technology plays an important role in upgrading the processes as well as
services of the company. Technology constantly provide opportunities and challenges to the
organisation. Innovation in technology will help the company in becoming more efficient and
challenges provide opportunities to the organisation. The key operations which can be improved
with the help of technology are as follows:

Communication: Technology helps the company in improving their communications
processes and also promotes rapid response to clients as well as the employees of the
organisation. Cell phones are a part of technology which has become a necessity for the
employees nowadays. Access to internet, emails, applications are all possible due to the smart
phone technology.
Customer service: Technology helps the companies in providing better customers
services to their clients which helps the organisation in creating a close relationship with the
customers. Having a strong customer base is an essential factor for the company and providing
best in class customer services will help the company in achieving that. In the digital age, it will
be extremely beneficial for the company to create an online image which can help the company
in attracting more customers. Building online chats or interacting with customers through social
media can highly help the company in engaging customers with the products and services.
On the importance of ethical and social issues, which are increasingly becoming significant in
the virtual world. Identify and discuss at least three issues to run businesses efficiently.
According to Ashley Watters 2021, technology is promoting a better transformation in
the lives of people. Technology increases efficiency in machinery and will provide opportunities
to company to show more accuracy in their work. This efficiency will help the companies in
reducing the cost of the processes and will also increase their capacity of producing goods and
services which will help the company in having competitors advantage in the market. Artificial
intelligence technology is becoming more and more popular these days. It is beneficial for
companies to include virtual technology in their processes as it helps them in becoming more and
more effective as well as efficient. The issues that businesses face in order to run efficiently are:
Misuse of personal Information: Companies nowadays are focussing more on
providing personalised services to their customers. It is important for the companies to make sure
that they are protecting the data of their customers as in order to provide personalised services it
is essential for the companies to use personalised information of the users. It is important to
protect that information from Dark web industry as it can be really harmful for the reputation of
the company and for the personal life of the customers.
Access right: It is important for the companies to make sure that limited number of
people are having access to the information of the company. It has become a massive issue in the
IT and cyberspace with the increasing advancement in technology. Network on the internet

cannot be made secure with unauthorised access and it will be beneficial to use firewalls which
can protect the data and information. With the up gradation in the technology, there is a massive
increase in the industry of dark web. People are concerned about their information and are in
need to protect the information from hackers. It will be beneficial for the company to carefully
protect their data and to make sure that the information is not leaked anywhere.
Identify and discuss different types of computer networks with their impact on businesses.
According to Gary McCauley 2018, computer networks basically provide communication
in IT. Computer Networks are a set of ways in which computers within an organisations are
connected to each other in order to pass on information or to share other files of the company.
Some of the different types of networks are given below:
Local area network: It refers to a network which ca connect the computers of a specific
area or a limited area. This can be a network which may fulfil the needs of a school, office or a
house (What is a Computer Network?, 2021). It is one of the most popular network designs
which can easily be found in a workplace or a business. It provides businesses an opportunities
to have an efficient network as comparatively lower rates.
Wide area network: It refers to a large computer network which can connect several
computers or devices at a time and is not restricted to a single geographical area or location. As
compared to LAN, WAN does requires additional hardware components including routers and
modems. WAN can help the businesses in creating a private network through which they can
share information without the threat of theft or disclosure.
Metropolitan area network: It refers to a series of LAN connected in a city. It can also
include WAN networks. It provide general mobile data to the population of the city.
To discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing their businesses
According to Mary K. Pratt 2020, the companies are using artificial intelligence in order
to create an effective and efficient processes as well as management in the organisation.
According to a survey conducted by McKinsey & co. observed that around 22% of companies
are including Artificial intelligence in their business and are spending around 5% of their
earnings in order to update and maintain artificial intelligence in their business. Certain benefits
that the businesses are getting are as follow:

Efficiency and productivity gains: They are the most common reasons why companies
implement AI in their workings and operations (7 key benefits of AI for business, 2020). It is
important for the organisation to enhance their workings and to complete a task at a fast pace as
compared to humans. It restricts the number of mistakes in the processes and will make sure that
there is least amount of wastage in the processes.
Project management: It is important for the companies to manage the processes of a
specific project effectively and efficiently. It is important for the organisation to fit their task in
the bigger picture. It is important for the manager to assess the potential risks and troubles
proactively so that the can corrective actions beforehand. Technology helps the project managers
in identifying the potential risks as well as benefits that the company may have to face during the
project.
Analysis and discussion
To discuss the impact of IT in helping Goldman Sach to improve their operations.
Information technology plays a major role in the workings of the companies nowadays. It
is important for the companies to make sure that they are using latest technologies in order to
have competitors advantage in the market. Information technology helps the businesses in
becoming more competitive as it will help them in reducing the cost of their products and will
also help them in creating automated systems which can make the internal management of the
company more effective and efficient (Misra, Roy and Mukherjee., 2021). It is important for the
companies to have a keen eyes on the technology that the competitors are using as it will help
them in incorporating technologies which are one step upgraded in comparison to the technology
that competitors are having. In context to Goldman Sach, the company is working in order to
make the bank digital so that it can increase the productivity of the bank. The data scientists and
financial engineers of the company are clearly having two goals in mind, first is to manage
workflow by involving digitalization, the second is to engage more clients with the help of
modern technology.
Machine learning is another factor which the company is promoting nowadays. It will
help in analysing the factors which can make activist investors more vulnerable than others.
Machine learning algorithms will help the companies and investors in understanding how one
shareholder is related to other (Tsoulos ed., 2018). In the year 2016, it has been conveyed that in

the coming year the vision of Goldman is to make sure that the customers of the company are
getting access to their money through software rather than traditional bankers . It will provide
power to the customers to have access to their money anytime without depending up on the
timings and resources of banks.
Currently in order to provide digital services to customers, the company has started an
innovative app named as Marcus, which is a flagship loan and saving app (Goldman Planning
2022 UK Launch Of Marcus App, Robo-Adviser, 2021). It has received a lot of attraction as a
prime example of innovation in banking sector.
On the importance of ethical and social issues, which are increasingly becoming significant in
the virtual world. Identify and discuss at least three issues to run businesses efficiently.
While the ethics of information technology is analysed with the disciplines of
Technology and science studies, computer science, engineering, law and critical management
studies whereas the attention must also be given to the managers and firms which are using and
including the technology in the overall development of the firm. It is important for the managers
as well as the firms to make sure that they are using the technology in correct manner so that
there is a overall development of firm without any harm to business ethics and communities in
general (Chen, Miao and Humar., 2019). The use of fair means in order to use ethics depends
completely upon the firm utilizing it. The firms are getting more and more digitalized nowadays
and it is important for them to collect proper information about what is ethical and what is not.
Having proper information will help them in making sure that they are in the right direction and
will also help them in developing and choosing ethical alternatives.
In context to Goldman Sach, the culture of the company is to provide services to clients
in order to give back to the society they serve. The success of the company lies within the
services they are providing and the innovation in technology they are taking initiative for. It is
important for the organisations to create a new technologies which can help them in
understanding and fulfilling the needs of the customers. The company was the first one in the
banking sector who introduced price to earning ratio. The aim of the company is to provide
enhanced insight of risk factor as well as of customer services perspective which will help the
company in providing better services to their customers (Ospanova and et, al., 2019). It is
important for the company to make sure that they are working in order to increase the agility of
the market and to bring speed in the market. It will help the company in strengthening control

and operations within the company and to transform the institutional cost structure of the
company.
Identify and discuss different types of computer networks with their impact on businesses.
Computer networks helps the companies in using internet services which is essential for
companies nowadays. It is important for the organisation to make sure that the internet services
which they are using is fast and secure which can help them in creating a system which can
easily transmit the information within the organisation (García-Peñalvo and et, al., 2020,
October). It is important for the organisation to make sure that they are using personal networks
wherever required as it will help them in making sure that the company is working and are
transmitting their information through a safe and secure network. It is important for the
companies to have firewall system which is a specialized tool which will help the company in
protecting their internet information from outsiders and hackers. It is important for the
organisation to create a working system which can help them in increasing their efficiency and
effectiveness. In case of Goldman Sach, the company is considering in building a cloud service
network which can be sold to other finance firms. According to Carl Flinders 2020, the company
is thinking about converting their cloud investment into non financial services. the bank is taking
Amazon Web Services into consideration in order to sell their cloud based tools and platforms
which can help the company in creating a platform which is highly focused in the financial
service sector.
To discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing their businesses
Artificial intelligence plays a major role in the workings of the company. It is important
for the organisation to create a working environment which is healthy and is providing better
opportunities to the employees of the company. The aim of incorporating artificial intelligence in
the workings of the company is to ensure that the company is working according to the needs
and demands of the market (Porche III., 2019). There is sudden increase in the cases of phishing,
spamming, cyber threats, cyber security, hacking, etc. there is a need for better solutions which
can help the companies in protecting themselves from dark web. The more financial institutions
bringing digitalization in to their organisation, the more focused dark web is towards them. In
case of Goldman Sach, the company is currently dealing in asset management, securities,
investment management, prime brokerage and securities underwriting, etc. with the help of AI
technology, the company will be able to protect their workings and funds from cyber attacks by

creating a filtering application. Their is a strong needs in the company to block fraud application
and to collect real time data from the clients and users of the company. The number of users are
very high and there is a need for the employees to make sure that they are using effective
systems which can help them in collecting accurate that without any mistake and artificial
intelligence will help the company in securing the personal data of their customers from outside
world or from dark web.
Artificial intelligence enabled investment trust which has become successful in the
organisation. With the help of artificial intelligence the company will be able to provide best
investment options to their customers. The company will improve the customer engagement by
going through various new reports and analyst reports. The company can focus on deep machine
learning and can focus transparency and interpretability which can help the company in
predicting future more efficiently and with more accuracy (Wu and et, al., 2020). The company
is currently planning to create a partnership with AI based Start-up H20 which will help the
company in providing insights about the incorporation of AI with the workings of the company.
It will also provide suggestion to the company about the best suited AI systems for the company.
The start up will assist the finance department of the company and will take a part in the decision
making process. This will help the company in having the best hyper personalized banking
systems which will provide them higher growth opportunities and will also make sure that the
company will be able to have two way conversations with their customers about feedbacks and
services 24/7.

Conclusion
From the above report, it is concluded that information technology is no longer a demand
for companies but is a need. It is an essential factor which is required by companies in order to
mange their businesses. The companies are highly dependent up on information technology in
order to provide services to their clients. In order to create a healthy and efficient working
environment it is important for companies to innovate their systems continuously so that they can
match the demands and needs of continuously changing environment. Innovation in the
technology as well as use of artificial intelligence in the organisation will help the companies in
having competitors advantage in the market. It is important for the organisation to make sure that
they are working according to the market.

References
Book and journal
Chen, M., Miao, Y. and Humar, I., 2019. Background introduction of the internet of things. In
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García-Peñalvo and et, al., 2020, October. Introduction for the TEEM 2020 Doctoral Consortium
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Multiculturality (pp. 952-956).
Gibson and et. al., 2021. Introduction and basic principles. In Additive manufacturing
technologies (pp. 1-21). Springer, Cham.
Misra, S., Roy, C. and Mukherjee, A., 2021. Introduction to Industrial Internet of Things and
Industry 4.0. CRC Press.
Ospanova and et, al., 2019. Methodological bases of the introduction of cloud technologies in
educational institutions. Opcion, 35(Special Issue 23), pp.476-494.
Porche III, I.R., 2019. Cyberwarfare: An Introduction to Information-Age Conflict. Artech
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Tsoulos, G. ed., 2018. MIMO system technology for wireless communications. CRC press.
Wu and et, al., 2020. The influences of innovative technological introduction on interpretive
experiences of exhibition: a discussion on the intention to use augmented reality. Asia
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