Importance of Information Technology in Business Operations

The report is about the importance of information technology in it business and its impact on the growth of the company. The importance of systems software on the business has covered which highlights the positive and negative impact of these systems on the business. It has become necessary for the company to follow the positive ethical approach in its management will has helped the business to grow and also helped in maintaining positive work environment in the organisation. The application of these technologies in its management has been discussed in the report.

INTRODUCTION TO
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

Abstract
The report is about the importance of information technology in it business and its impact
on the growth of the company. The importance of systems software on the business has covered
which highlights the positive and negative impact of these systems on the business. It has
become necessary for the company to follow the positive ethical approach in its management
will has helped the business to grow and also helped in maintaining positive work environment
in the organisation. The application of these technologies in its management has been discussed
in the report.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Importance of system software ...................................................................................................3
Importance of ethical and social issues in business....................................................................4
Different types of networking technologies.................................................................................4
Impact of Artificial Intelligence in enhancing the business operations.......................................5
Different stages of software development life cycle....................................................................6
Analysis and discussion...............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is considered as an integral part of any business whether
operating it small or large scale as it helps to build the respective business sector and yields
maximum profits and also helps in gaining competitive advantage over other business operating
in the market. It helps the company to deliver its products n the market timely and efficiently
which also helps enhancing the brand image in the domestic as well as in the international
market .With the changes in the technology , it is necessary for the company to be updated with
the recent software and technology in order to effectively operates its business and also helps in
expanding its operations in the international market(Chege, and Wang, 2020). With the help of
latest information technology the operations of the company can be performed at minimum cost
and with less wastage of the resources. The software used in the company helps to identify
various factors which can helps in the improvement or various areas of the company which can
have positive impact on the sales of the company.
The report covers the importance of system software that is used in the business, ethical
and social issues and their importance , differentiation between various types of networking
technologies(Romashkova, amd et.al, 2018). The report also highlights the impact of Artificial
intelligence in enhancing the business operations and different stages of software development
life cycle and for this the chosen company is Sainsbury. The analysis and discussion about the
various software and technologies is also highlighted in this report .
MAIN BODY
Importance of system software
System software is a set of programming that manages the the resources of the computer
system and is designed to operate and control the the computer hardware and also provide the
platform for running the application software effectively. According to the Mkpojiogu, and
Hussain, (2018) System software consist of variety of programs that helps in supporting the
operations of the computer. According to the Otoom,and eta.al, (2019) having latest and updated
software which helps the company to get better results with optimum utilisation of the resources
and on the other hand for the companies operating in small scale industries it is difficult to have

latest software installed in their operating systems as they lack sufficient funds. According to
the Santoso, and Schrepp, (2018), there are various types of system software such as operating
system , device drivers, Firm ware , utilities , programming language translator etc. With the use
of latest technology installed at the workplace helps in increasing the efficiency of the
production of the company but it is also observed that sometimes due to errors it becomes
difficult to efficiently operates its business in efficient manner. According to the Jokic, and et.al,
(2020) With the availability of the new technology and properly selected software, the company
can increase its efficiently as the new technology will make the process easier and faster. On the
contrary , other authors believe that it is not necessary that the implemented software will run
smoothly and can have bugs which has to be solved.
Importance of ethical and social issues in business
According to the Ferrell, and et.al, (2019) business ethics refers to the different standards
for right or wrong conduct in a business. There are various ethical issues that can be present in
the company is the discrimination as various companies fall in to the category that lacks the
diverse workforce. It has been observed that there is discrimination among the employees and
they receive unequal treatment. On the contrary, the De Bakker, and et.al, (2019) states that
there are various laws which are enacted for the protection of the rights of the employees and
protection form discrimination based on age,gender, caste , religion and disability. Apart form
this the author states that Unethical accounting also takes place in many organisation where the
accountant make various false changes in the their books . On the other hand, the author believes
that it is important for the company to identify these issues and various plans in order to solve
these problems as it can have negative impact on the business.
AS per the views of the Freeman, and et.al, (2020), that it is necessary for the company
to take active part in the formation of the strategy in order to avoid the application of such
unethical practices in the company and implement effective strategies accordingly. On the other
hand , the company is required to conduct effective training sessions in order to avoid
discrimination and prevent unethical practices that is causing unfavourable working
environmental in the company. By following the ethical practices in its management system the
image of the company is enhanced in the market .

Different types of networking technologies.
According to the Frizzo-Barker, and et.al, (2020), network technology refers to the use
of various data systems in order to manage and also deliver the digital resources over the
computer network and is vary flexible. On the other hand the Langley, and et.al, (2021)
believes that in order to operates these network it requires specialist which has significant
knowledge about the information technology and have is a engineer. As per the Lee, and et.al,
(2019). network technology is not expensive and it also enhance the communication as well as
the effective accessibility of the data. Due to the diverse network technology , it is very easy to
share the files and various other resources very conveniently. On the contrary, the author
believes that due to wide area of network , it lack security which can cause problem to the
companies and no less security to the data is shared. Various kinds of network technology are:
 LAN(Local Area Network)- The other name of this network is IEEE 802 and this
network uses the devises such as computers, laptop and mobiles that used a very small
range. The elements of LAN involves the Peripheral devises such as printers and scanners
, HUB that are accountable for attracting the signals , Nodes , computer and network
interface card.
 MAN (Metropolitan area network)- In this types of network various other Local area
network ins connected using the networking devices that is known as bridge to form a
MAN.
 WAN(Wide area network)- In this types of network several metropolitan area network is
connected jointly using networking devices namely router to form a wide area network.
This network is further categorised into pubic and private WAN and its components are
router, bridge , gateway etc. Public WAN is managed by government divisions whereas
private WAN is expanded by the departments of US military.
 PAN (Personal area network)- It is a computer network which allows the communication
between computer device that the close to a person. It can be in the form of wireless
network such as USB and ultra-wideband. The examples of PAN are wireless keyboards,
cell phones headsets, bar code scanners and this network is mainly used for personal
purpose.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence in enhancing the business operations
Artificial intelligence is a set of technologies that results in to various benefit to the
organisation. From past many years , many companies are adopting Artificial intelligence in
order to gain the business value. The organisation applying AI in their business with the motive
of reducing their operational costs , increasing the efficiency of their business, enhance the
revenue of the company and also improve the customer experience . With the help of this
technology, the organisation can aggregate the business data which helps the managers to
evaluate the current position in the market , analysing the customer experience and helps in
formulating the plans and policies accordingly. According the Brock, and Von Wangenheim,
(2019), With the application of AI, it reduces the human error in many different areas and
provide efficient data which helps in avoiding distractions and problems in the business. On the
other hand the Di Vaio, and et.al, (2020) believes that In the creation of machines that is
empowered with the Artificial intelligence is very costly which can be affordable by the
companies operating at large scale but not for the small scale companies to implement such
technology. According to the views of the Prentice, and et.al, (2020) Artificial Intelligence helps
in driving revenue growth , helps in great return on the investment on the campaigns on the
contrary note the Borges, and et.al, (2021) states that the main purpose of AI is to collect the
data and the data gathered is used in order to make relevant decisions and predictions.
Sometimes it happens that the data collected can be biased that results into the decisions which
includes discrimination against certain group of persons. According to the Howard, (2019).
through the application of this system , it collects the data that is required by the companies in
order to evaluate the needs and requirements of the customers and also the current situation
prevailing in the market which helps the company to make decisions and bring innovation in the
products which also benefits the company. It also helps in analysing risk associated with the
business at early stages and make strategies for managing such problems. On the other hand the
Klumpp, (2018) states that due to the increase in the application of such systems as Artificial
Intelligence creates job opportunities for those having specialised knowledge of the technologies
and replace the people who are unfit for this role resulting in increase in unemployment .
Different stages of software development life cycle
The software development life cycle simply denotes related to each task that is required
to put together the software application. The motive of this process is to increase the efficiency

and reduce the wastage. It also involves continuous monitoring in order to ensures that project
stays on the track. Various companies sub divide these stages into various small units such as
planning is divided into technology and marketing research and cost benefit analysis. The stages
are :Planning, defining the requirements, design and prototyping , software development , testing
, deployment and operations and maintenance.
Planning: According to the Ergasheva, and Kruglov, (2020), In the planning phase, the
project leaders of the organization evaluates the different terms of the project. It involves the
calculation of various cost that is to be incurred in the project that is material , labour costs,
creating a timetable with the targets that to be achieved. In this stage an outline about the project
is made by the management of the company. In this stage it involves the feedback from the
stakeholders who have interest in the company and also from the customers , experts etc. This
stage should clearly define the the scope and purpose of this this application.
Defining the requirements: As per the opinion of the Akinsola,and et.al, July this stage
involves gathering maximum information and data about the customers requirements for the
product and discuss with the customers about the specification of the product. After this the
development team will evaluate the requirement considering the design and code of the software
which helps in investigating the validity of these requirements that is to be incorporated in the
software. The requirements to be considered are hardware , operating system , programming and
security etc.
Designing and prototyping: Various aspects of designing involves the architecture that
specifies the programming language , the overall design an use of the templates etc. The other is
the user interface that denotes the ways the customer reacts to he software and also how the
software responds to the input. It also defines the various platforms on which the application will
operate such as Apple , Android etc. This stage also focus on defining the measures in order to
ensure security of the application, password protection and also to secure the credential of the
customers or users.
Software development: This stage involves the writing of the program and the project is
undertaken by the team of developers and is advised to use the Source Code management
application at this stage as these systems help the developer track about the various changes in
the code .

Testing: Once the software is created , the its is deployed in the testing environment and
is the critical testing before it is made available to the customers. The testing can be automated
like the security testing. The main purpose behind testing the application id to ensure each
functions correctly. This stage is useful as it helps in identifying any bugs or glitches in the
application before made available to the customers .
Deployment: Once the testing part is done , this stage involves the deployment of the
software and released for the customer to use . The users are provided with the training or nay
documentation which can helps in operating that application in their devices.
Operations and maintenance: This is the last stage of the software development and the
actual problem arise when the customers use this application . In this phase the user discovers
bugs that was not found while testing the application. The company focused on resolving these
issues so that users can easily operate the software.
Analysis and discussion
From the above findings it has been revealed that Sainsbury being one of the lading food
and grocery retailer in the UK has to develop various new and advanced software systems in
their management as it will helps the company to increase the efficiency of its operations, boost
the sales and also focusing on the needs and requirements of the customers. It will also helps the
company to efficiently utilise the resources and avoid the wastage of the resources and focusing
the increasing the production capacity of the company. The various types of system software is
applied by the company with collects the reliable data about the current market trends and is
error free which enable the company to focus on market trends and helps in implementing
effective strategies in its management. Sainsbury uses the SAS retail Business Intelligence
system In order to boost the sales of the company. The company is using this system in order to
securely share store lay out and also display the data with the suppliers. The software is used by
the company should consider various factors which helps in achieving the goals and objectives of
the company with the helps of data collected from various sources which helps the company to
deliver best quality products in the market .
Ethics helps the organisation to differentiate between the right or wrong and it is
important for the company to follow he positive ethical approach in its management system.
Sainsbury should follow the right action to manage the customers information. The company
should follow the ethical practices such as treat every employees equal and conduct training

programs in order to create a favourable working environment in the company. It is the
responsibility of the company to secure the information of its customers and should also use the
advanced technologies for the security of the customers .In order to avoid the unethical practices
in the company, Sainsbury should keep a track on the activity of the employees by using the
advanced and latest software which correctly track the duration of work of the employees in the
company. In order to avoid any conflict and legal problems, Sainsbury should maintain proper
books of accounts and avoid using the unethical practices within the organisation.
From the studies it was found out that Sainsbury was the first retailer in Europe to install
the facility of self- service checkouts in all their markets for better customer experience of its
customer . The company should make sure that the information of the customers is secured by
using various updated software and technologies in its management . Sainsbury also uses the
predictive analysis and machine learning which helps in detecting the information about the new
grocery trends in the market. Sainsbury uses local area network(LAN ) in their systems in order
to share the files and information and the purpose behind this is that it helps in sending the data
at very high speed. In most of the stores , the company has connected their computers under one
workstation in order to share the information easily. It will helps the company to ease the
communication of data ways and also accessibility of the data. On the other hand the company
should use Email method in order to interact with the suppliers , customers and employees.
Many business uses the artificial intelligence technology in order to reduce the
operational cost, increase the productivity of the company and also improve the customer
experience. With the helps of application of this technology , the company can save time and
cost by optimising the process and task. AI collects the data and related information which helps
to analyse the current market position and also the requirements of the customers which will
helps the company to make plan and strategies accordingly. The technology applied by the
Sainsbury will not only result in fulfilling the requirements of the customers but also drives the
growth of the company.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that with the changes in the business
environment and related factors it is important for the company to evaluate such changes and
create strategies in order to implement those plans such as using the new and advanced
technologies which helps to reduce the extra cost and also install effective system software
which helps the company to evaluate the data collected from these systems and helps in
implementing the strategy which helps on boosting the sales of the company. The report
summarize the various important of system software which helps the company to run its
operations effectively. Discussions have been done on the importance of these ethical issues and
ways in order to resolve in order to effectively operates its business.
The report also summarize the importance of Artificial intelligence in the business. It
helps in increasing the efficiency and boots the sales of the company as the data collected with
the use of such technology will helps the organisation to forecast the current position of the
market and evaluate the customer requirement which will helps in making strategies that the
company should implement for proper functioning of the company.

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