Impact of Information Technology on Businesses: A Case Study of Barclays Bank

This report discusses the impact of information technology on businesses, social and ethical issues, types of computer networks, and the impact of artificial intelligence. A case study of Barclays Bank is analyzed to understand the practical implications of these aspects.

INTRODUCTION TO
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT
This report discusses regarding the impact that IT has on the businesses all over the world
and in different sectors too. Then the importance and necessities of the social and the ethical
issues over the business are discussed further in the report. The identification or recognition and
discussion and evaluation of the different types of the computer networks used by businesses is
are discussed below. Also, the impact that implementation of artificial intelligence has over
enhancement of the business is discussed below in the report. Then all of these aspects are
related to Barclays bank and analysed and discussed accordingly.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
THEME 1: Impact of IT in helping businesses...........................................................................4
THEME 2: Importance of ethical and social issues.....................................................................5
THEME 3: Identification and discussion of types of computer networks and their impact........6
THEME 4: Impact of Artificial Intelligence...............................................................................7
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Information technology which is abbreviated as IT is one of the most important sectors of
an organization in current times. IT basically refers to the use of the computers in order to create,
store, process, exchange and retrieve all the electronic data and information (Bessen., 2017). IT
is specifically used within the business for the major purpose of monitoring and management of
mostly all the things that is related to the communication systems and the information
technology. This report precisely discusses the importance and impact of the IT sector within the
chosen organization. The chosen organization is Barclays bank. The impact that IT has in
helping the business in the enhancement of their operations is discussed below generally and in
relation to Barclays. Also, the importance of social and ethical issues, that are increasingly
becoming significant are discussed below. Identification, evaluation and discussion regarding the
various types of the computer networks that are used within the businesses are mentioned down
and the computer networks that are used by Barclays specifically are also mentioned in the report
below. Lastly, the impact that artificial intelligence has on the enhancement of the business and
mainly over the Barclays bank is discussed in the report further.
LITERATURE REVIEW
THEME 1: Impact of IT in helping businesses
As per Salahshour Rad. Nilashi. and Mohamed Dahlan., 2018, IT sector has evolved a lot
throughout the years. And according to the current scenario IT is one of the most important
aspects of any business. There are many reasons why this is the case. And the major reason is the
impact that the IT sector has over the profit generation and overall growth of the company.
Information technology has done this through enabling the businesses or companies in the
attainment of greater reach. It has made trading and doing business all across the world the
easiest of all times. Through texts, emails, websites, applications and instant messaging have
made the communication process across the world quicker and effective than it was ever before.
According to Hanafizadeh. Ghandchi. and Asgarimehr., 2017, a successful business is
dependant n its marketing heavily. Through implementation of IT sector within the companies
marketing the goods and services of the company digitally has brought huge successes in a
number of online companies. Businesses also promote their products on social media and
through websites. This has supported the businesses to enhance their sales through marketing
their products online. The information technology has also helped businesses in solving complex

issues through improvement in the efficiency as well. For example, banks have adopted usage of
mobile banking and apps. Earlier people were obliged to visit the ATM's or the teller for doing
transactions. Through development of the IT sector people can transfer money remotely through
the mobile apps. This in particular has increased the levels of customer satisfaction rates towards
the company. Also, through this a major change in the sector of collaboration among businesses
has occurred, through implementation of IT the companies are able to work as a team and
collaborate by the use of the cloud computing technology or system. Through better
communication and collaboration testing of products before their release has become possible
and easier for the designers, through which the product efficiency has increased which has also
enhanced the growth of the company. Application of computer programs and business software
within a company have simplified the work. Due to which there is a reduction of pressure of
completion of tasks within a short period over the employees. Through which employee
productivity has improved, and as a result the businesses are able to expand their operations with
the help of technology.
THEME 2: Importance of ethical and social issues
Sargolzaei. and Nikbakht., 2017 states that, ethical and social issues play a major role
within a business as these provide an overview and the outline of the guidelines that should be
followed by a business organization and all the stakeholders of the organization in particular.
There are many such issues that an organization can look into, but not all the organizations
follow all of them or work upon all of them. The issues are selected as per their impact over the
organization and then the most important ones are worked upon and implemented within the
organization. Some social as well as the ethical issues are as follows, and also the reasoning
regarding their importance within the working of the organization is also provided further.
As per Royakkers. and et.al., 2018, misusing the personal information of the customers is
a major ethical dilemma that is present in the technologically empowered businesses nowadays.
The customers enter their personal information on the sites while conducting purchases or doing
banking transactions through apps. For the businesses it is very important that the information
their customers provide them is kept safe with the businesses to maintain the customer base and
even increase it and also maintain the goodwill and market position of the company.
Lacking of the oversight and accepting the responsibility by the respective companies
that actually are responsible is also a major issue. Most of the companies working within the

market are a hybrid stack, which means they are a blend of owned technology and third party.
Hence, due to a number of involvements there is confusion regarding the responsibility of some
tasks and activities regarding using the big data, governance, management of personally
identifiable information, cybersecurity, etc. Hence, the businesses require adoption of
perspective in which all the collective parties involved within the business share the
responsibilities accordingly. For less chaos and mismanagement and more effective working.
According to Mason., 2017, the society is consistently flooded with the information
provided by different sources present on the internet in current times. And it is difficult for the
people to understand what information is real and what is fake. Information does not go through
a validation procedure that is strenuous any-more. The potential that misuse of the identities and
privacy invasion is extremely high because of IT implementation. Therefore, the companies need
to be precise and true to gain long-term customer base and interaction for a sustained growth
rate.
THEME 3: Identification and discussion of types of computer networks and their impact
As per Anayo. And et.al., 2021, Local Area Network (LAN) refers to a computer network
which connects the devices within a geographical limit that is limited. This range goes from a
width of few hundred metres to a width of few thousand metres. Operating through this can
make a company more productive, through much faster and more personalized customer services
through emails, chat or web-forms. Remote and on-site access to all the applications and data of
the business and easy videoconferencing and video-scheduling. Hence, the companies can access
their data and information as well as the customers of the company can do so too. This will make
the company more reliable and trustworthy in the eyes of the customers and also enhance the
customers of the company which will further lead to overall growth of the company.
MAN, an abbreviation of metropolitan area networks refers to a collection of the
interconnected LAN's that are present within a metropolitan area and also follow the important
network protocols. MAN can be implemented within the range that goes from the width of 5 Km
to the width of 50 Km. This network acts as a high speed network that allows sharing of the
regional resources. It is also highly secure and less expensive too. Hence, this network is cost-
efficient for the company that uses this network.
Yang. and et.al., 2019, states that, WAN, wide area network is the most extensive
network geographically. This network interconnects certain MAN's and LAN's. This network is

able to connect from different cities to even different continents. This supports in boosting the
overall capacity of the business through aggregating all the transports and supports optimum
utilization of resources and reduces costs through usage of affordable internet services.
Storage area network, SAN, is a computer network that has a primary purpose of
allowing devices to access the data pools. The transfer rates of this computer network is high,
usually between 2Gbps to 128Gbps. This helps in migration of workloads in a seamless manner
and also supports maintaining the underlying systems without resulting in any disruptions.
THEME 4: Impact of Artificial Intelligence
According to Dick., 2019, artificial intelligence refers to simulation of the processes of
human intelligence through machines and especially the computer systems. There are majorly
four types that the artificial intelligence is divided into, these are, limited memory machines,
reactive machines, self-aware AI and theory of mind. Artificial intelligence is basically a wide-
ranging and complex branch of the sector of computer science. Artificial intelligence has a major
impact on the working of the business organizations. This in particular saves the money and time
through optimizing and automating the routine tasks and processes. This also increases the
productivity of the employees working within the company ans enhance the levels of operational
efficiencies too. This supports in making decisions that are less time-consuming and faster and
are based over the outputs from the cognitive technologies.
Ertel., 2018 states that, artificial intelligence supports many business activities and helps
the enhancement of the businesses overall. Artificial intelligence enhances the features,
performance and functions of the products of the business, optimizes the business operations that
are internal, supports better decision-making, automation of the tasks so that the employees or
workers have more time to be creative and innovative, creation of new products and better
services for enhancement of customer base and increasing the goodwill of the company,
optimization of the external processes such as sales and marketing, pursuing new and better
markets in accordance to the products and services provided by the company in particular,
capturing scarce and required knowledge wherever it is needed and implementing or applying it
at the most suitable area in the most suitable manner and through the process of automation
reduce the head count. Also, AI has some challenges too, like, technologies can be expensive,
immature technologies, more expertise required, lack in understanding of the technologies, etc.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The banking industry all over the world has become quite competitive today. With the
constant advancements within the technology in the today’s world, it has become essential for
the banks to change the way they operate in order to enhance their position within the market.
The banks such as the Barclays are constantly adopting the changing technologies within their
business and offer the enhanced products and services to the customers within the market
(Mtsweni, Mokwena, and Moeti, 2021). With the use of advanced technology, the Barclays has
provided its employees with e banking services to its customers. The information technology has
made it possible for the customers to access the services offered by the banks while sitting at
home. The helps the banks in enhancing the level of customer satisfaction with respect to the
services offered by the company.
It has been identified that the information technology also helps the Barclays in
determining the data with respect to their customers within the market and help the banks in
providing them with the services that helps the banks in increasing the numbers of customers of
the banks within the market. This helps the banks in increasing the customer engagement with
the company and thus help the Barclays in enhancing their profitability. The use of information
technology within the banking industry has made it easier for the organizations to managing and
organizing of the documents within the company and quickly utilise the same in order to carry
out their routine business functions. With the help of the information technology, the Barclays
integrates the data collected from all of its branches in order to enhance the business operations
and thus, increase the profitability of the company (Chen, Biswas, and Talukder, 2022). Also, it
has been identified that now the data is more secured within the banks as compared to when it
was stored earlier. The use of passwords and 2 two authentication system helps the companies in
safeguarding the important information related to the banks within the company and also reduces
the frauds associated with the same. However, there are certain negative impacts of the
information technology on the banking sector. One of the leading drawbacks of the information
technology is the loss of jobs within the country. The introduction of information technology has
led to an increase in the automation of the operations within the organization which in turn has
reduced the employment within the country as now people make use of software in order to carry
out a number of business operations.

It has been identified that in order to enhance the efficiency and the effectiveness of the
operations within the Barclays, it is important for the company to eliminate certain ethical issues
associated within the information technology industry (Paspalakis, 2018). The major social and
ethical issues associated with information technology that needs to be resolved includes misuse
of personal information, lack of oversight and acceptance of responsibility and the use of
artificial intelligence within the Barclays. It has been determined that, various organizations
within the market gathers information about their clients in order to determine the needs and
wants of the customers within the market and then provide them with whatever is required to
them in terms of services. But, this function of the organization impedes the right to privacy of
the consumers within the market (Paliwal, and et.al). Therefore, there is a need for the Barclays
to restrict the extent of information they try to extract from the customers in order to restrict
themselves from violating the right to privacy of an individual. It has been observed that various
times organizations sell the data associated with their customers to third parties for the purpose
of making money. In this way, it can be stated that the misuse of personal information by
extracting the consumer data within the companies is one such important ethical issue that needs
to resolved by the organization.
Another ethical and social issue associated with the information technology within the
Barclays is that the company makes use of hybrid stack which involves a number of technologies
from various third parties. But, the use of hybrid stack within the company leads to the
development of confusion within the organization with respect to the delegation of
responsibility. When organizations such as Barclays makes use of information technology in
order to enhance their business operations, it gets difficult for them to decide who will be held
responsible to ensure the security of data within the company (Seidmann, Jiang, and Zhang,
2020). Therefore, it is important for the Barclays to inculcate a habit and an approach within
their enterprise that allows each and every individual within the enterprise to share their part of
responsibility.
Lastly, it has been identified that the use of artificial intelligence within the Barclays is
also one of such ethical and social issue associated with the use of information technology within
the organization. It has been identified the use of artificial intelligence within the organization
has made it possible for companies to automate a number of business processes within the
company. This automation has affected the number of employment opportunities that use to exist

within the company. Therefore, it can be stated that the use of artificial intelligence is an ethical
issue within the Barclays that has reduced certain job opportunities for the individuals within the
company.
Computer networks can be referred to as a number of certain computing devices within
an organization that helps the company in exchanging important information, data and resources
with each other within the company. There are different types of computer networks that are
used by different companies (Hasan, and et.al 2022). These computer networks include Local
area network, Wide area network, Metropolitan Area Network, Wireless local area network and
storage Area Network.
LAN is one of the most common types of computer networks that is used by business companies
across the world. This type of network design is basically used in restricted geographical
boundaries. This network can be used by a big company which have a wide range connected
devices or a small company with only a few connected devices. It has been identified that LAN
helps an organization in performing the routine business functions very quickly and providing
the customers with enhanced customer services.
Similarly, the wide area network allows an organization to connect a group of computer
over long distances within a country. It is used by business enterprises to connect a range of
computer from multiple locations in order to enhance the connectivity within the organization.
The use of WAN helps the business enterprises in making effective use of internet services in
order to reduces the cost associated with transportation. On the other hand, the metropolitan area
network can be described as a computer network that allows large companies and universities to
get connected within their premises in order to bring efficiency and effectiveness within their
business operations.
The information technology includes sector called artificial intelligence which is used by
several companies including the Barclays (Tarafdar, Beath, C.M. and Ross, J.W., 2019). The
artificial intelligence refers to the use of human intelligence that allows them to create different
types of machines that helps the enterprises in increasing their productivity as well as the
profitability within the organization. It has been determined that Barclays make effective use of
artificial intelligence within the business enterprise as it helps the company in a number of ways.
The use of artificial intelligence helps the company in decreasing their cost associated with the
business operations. This is so because, the use of AI leads to automation within the company,

which in turn reduces the number of manual operations existing within the company and thus
reduces the cost associated with hiring of employees that are efficient in carrying out a specific
activity. The automation within the company also makes it easier for the company to carry out
the business processes quickly.
The use of AI also helps the business enterprises in making quick decisions with the help
of using technology. This can be done because the technology allows the company to extract
useful information and also the important information related to the customers of the company
(Dutta, and et.al 2020). The customer data allows the company in determining the needs and
wants of the customers and thus, providing them with the required services within the market.
This helps the company in increasing the productivity of the employees and also contribute to
increase in the profitability of the organization.
It has observed that the organizations which makes of technology within their business
enterprise makes less mistakes as compared to the organizations that carry out those business
operations manually. Therefore, it can be stated that the use of automation within the company
helps the company in decreasing the number of human errors and also eliminate the mistakes
associated with the manual operations within the company. These features help an organization
in enhancing the business operations of the enterprise by effectively making use of the relevant
technology and help the company increasing the productivity and the profitability of the
enterprise within the market.
CONCLUSION
As per the above discussion IT plays a very essential or important role in the
development of a business or the fall of the organization too. If certain aspects of IT sector are
implemented within the business proficiently, effectively and efficiently by the resources
employed by the company and particularly by Barclays is presented in the report above. Major
points or aspects that impact the working of the businesses and the development pace of the
organization are discussed briefly. Firstly, the overall impact that implementation of IT has on
the all the businesses in current times and specifically over Barclays bank in the UK is discussed
in the report. Next, the importance that the social and the ethical issues have on the IT sector of
the businesses are discussed above, because these issues play a major role in today's society.
Also, different types of the computer networks that are used by the businesses and used by

Barclays are identified in the above discussion and evaluated too. The impact that artificial
intelligence has in enhancing the businesses in current times and the affect of artificial
intelligence on Barclays is discussed in depth in the report.

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