Homelessness in Australia: Using Information Technology to Connect the Elderly and Homeless

This article discusses the use of information technology to connect the elderly and homeless in Australia. It covers the strengths and weaknesses of this solution and its impact on the community. The article also includes a literature review and research methodology. Course code and college/university not mentioned.

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Name of the class (course)
Professor (Tutor)
Name of School (university)
The City and State where it is located
Date

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Mind map
Finance (sufficient
funds are needed to
facilitate the program
Health and safety
(health issues
affecting the elderly
should also be
considered and ways
to help them also
supply chain (the distribution of services
to the people equally and at the same
time to other organizations and
sponsors)
Elderly people
and the homeless
Finance (Sufficient
funds are needed to
facilitate the
program)
Marketing (need for funds to
advertise the program to other
organizations and sponsors)
Accounting (distribution of
funds to different locations can
be an issue)
IT software and ways to pass
information to the elderly,
storing data and record
keeping

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Identification of the issue
Information technology has become an important issue in the world today since it has made
sharing of information across the global easy. To be able to advertise this idea to the elderly the
organization LWH needs to invest in innovation of forms of technology that will help pass
information to them. They will also need to come up with software that will help to save data
concerning the elderly and the homelessness. Technology has helped other programs that support
the homeless to make sure that they are zero homeless people. Setting up of technology can also
be expensive to the organization; most elderly people in the rural areas do not have access to
television, newspapers and phone so they can have a hard time getting to know about the
homeless. The company will also need to develop a form of technology that will serve a wide
range of people in different locations including very rural areas. In places where there is no
network service, technology will also be a hindrance and there will be need for the organization
to come up with ways to sell the idea to the people living there. Embracing technology will lead
to the program being successful. (Andrade and Doolin, 2016, 405-416). There must be dedicated
databases that will serve as the backbone of the total program. Marketing strategy is also
important to be included so that the target population can be convinced about the message that is
being broadcast. There may be audio visual shows that can be arranged for the elderly people.
The videos must directed by a creative director with proper sense of advertisement and
marketing so that the population can be convinced.
Literature review
Information technology

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Information technology as emphasized by (Nguyen et al., 2015, 207-227) is vital for any
business whether private, public, profit or nonprofit in order to provide best services to the target
consumers. Organizations depend on technology to help them plan, train people, keep records of
data accurately and advertise of programs or products that need to sell to a wider range of people
across different locations and this makes the organization very effective as mentioned by
(Bryson, 2018)
Collecting of data as emphasized by (Khanam et al., 2016) and saving them accurately provides
evidence when they are needed and ensures the management of quality is at its best. Data also
assists the organization in planning their day to day activities and plan their resources. Training
of people on how to use different forms of technology is also important so as to make it
effective. There is also a need to come up with ways of involving the audience of the
organization in what is being done for them to be able to understand the business idea being
passed across.
There must be a dedicated database regarding the homeless statistics as well as the elderly
population. This database will serve the purpose of reaching the elderly people by strategizing
the number of people to be reached and the time of the total process. That database will
constitute of records and information of all the homeless people in the region and that will be
segregated by the poverty levels and the stage of urgency of the desired help. This will also be
having some complexities as the data bases are huge.
The elderly people or people who cannot read things like journals or newspapers can be
connected for projectors and shown videos about the issue being talked about which has been
proven to be effective over the years by (Mendoza et al. 2015, p81-86). Videos help people

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visualize what is going on and understand better than reading them. They also help people
involve their emotions when seeing these videos which make selling the ideas to them easier.
This also provides an opportunity for the community to interact with information technology as
explained by (Marangunić and Granić 2015.)
The team may choose to demonstrate the video to the elderly individuals by making a
concurrence with the huge supermarkets that one of the workers from LWH organization will be
inside or before the store to demonstrate the video to the elderly individuals and in the event that
they have any inquiries, the representative can answer them (Miller 2011). Besides, the team
needs to demonstrate the video to the old individuals in group parties of the elderly population
(Meyers Martin 2012).
Software that makes it possible to link data as described by (Dumais et al. 2016, p28-35) with a
person’s profile is also important to be considered. This is to make sure that there is
accountability and the data collected is very accurate. Technology has helped reduce the number
of frauds in most organizations since when data is linked, all family history, disease history or
any criminal records are able to be known.
Advertisement which is a form of technology has also had a great impact on the businesses
today. (Shaikh, and Karjaluoto 2015 p541-566) People are able to advertise their business by
making them attractive and convincing to people. This helps to get support from people all over
the continent especially for nonprofit organizations that need financial support from sponsors and
donors.
Information technology enhances communication between organizations or individuals as
demonstrated by (Eason, 2014) and this promotes coordination among people. Communication

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promotes team work and if any issues arise they can be acted upon faster than when there is no
mode of faster communication.
Research methodology and findings
The research was conducted on secondary data of elderly people in Australia Most of the data
was collected by secondary sources like Australian Bureau of statistics, World Bank and other
secondary sources. Recent data has been used in order to identify the rate of homeless people of
Australia and Technology to adopt them.
Presentations of findings
The findings will be analyzed with the help of table and graphs taken from the data of Australian
Bureau of statistics.
Figure 1: Australian Homeless Figures
(Source: Homelessnessaustralia.org.au. 2018)

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Table: Key statistics of Homelessness
(Source: Homelessnessaustralia.org.au. 2018)
From the above analysis, it can be inferred that most of the homeless people belong to 65 years
of age or above. Therefore, the given technology of the organization LWH needs to cater these
people. In addition to this, it can be inferred that around 56 percent of the total population is
male. With the help of the data of key statistics of Homelessness, the organization implement
effective information technology tools to create an awareness among these people.
Strengths and weaknesses of the solutions

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Strengths
Information technology has the following strengths:-
Information technology will improve communication between the staffs of the organization and
this will make work effective. They will be able to communicate the different locations that they
are and the information they have gathered about the elderly or the homeless people
It will also be able to bring people of different cultures together example when they are brought
the videos of the homeless people to watch people will be able to meet and converse and share
opinions on what their views are (Harris et al. 2018).
Information technology will also make the program effective because they will be reliable and
always available to help these people who need their help.
It will also help create awareness all over the world of what the organization is being involved in
and will help attract sponsors and donors all over the world hence will have the financial aid that
they need.
Information technology will help operations of the organization to be more productive since they
will collect data from all areas and will help them plan their resources effectively. Distribution of
services will also be done equally among all the people that need help (Andrade and Doolin
2016).
The use of information technology along with the marketing strategy is the main strength of the
solution.
Weaknesses

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Information technology may be at risk of security if that people can hack into the account and
steal data and be able to steal money from people. It ends up ruining the company’s reputation.
Setting up of information technology can also incur expenses to the organization, coming up
with software to be able to keep records and pass information can be costly since the employees
will also need to be trained on how to use them (Mendoza, Caranto and David 2015).
Information that is passed from one place to another can also be misinterpreted and this may
cause disagreements among people who are either working for the organization or the people
being helped. Since most of the information will be passed using emails some people may think
that it is rude and may not take it lightly (Eason 2014)
Information technology also creates language barrier and most people feel like it is biased since
most of the language used is English and not everyone in the rural areas can understand English.
Information technology will also lead the members of the organization to lack practical
knowledge if they over depend on it which will be a major hindrance to the effectiveness of the
program.
The weakness of the solution is the fact that it is very difficult to gather accurate and detailed
data of the elderly and the homeless. Apart from that convincing them about the idea through
proper marketing message may be another hurdle.

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Conclusions and recommendations
Information technology is important in advertising the idea of connecting the elderly with the
homeless people since it will make the work easier and information being passed will reach a
wider range of people who will be willing to help. I will recommend that the organization invest
in making sure that information technology is incorporated in the program to make it effective.

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References
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