Role of Information Technology in Business Success: A Case Study of Boots

This report discusses the role of information technology in the success of Boots, a retail business specializing in pharmacy, health, and beauty products. It explores the ethical and social issues in the industry, different networking technologies, and the importance of internet and intranet in the organization. The report also covers the stages of the system development life cycle.

Individual Report

ABSTRACT
In present world, information technology is the concept that is used in almost all business
types for making fast decision, analysing customer needs and satisfaction, managing resource
along with other operations for maintaining sustainable position in the market. The present report
is all about Boots which is retail business specialise in selling pharmacy, health and beauty
products in retail sector. The main role of information technology in business success is
identified in the report along with ethical and social issues pertaining with business that is
running in industry. It also covers different types of networking technologies, importance of
Internet and Intranet in organisation and phases of system development life cycle.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Discussion of role of Information technology in success or failure of business.........................1
Finding ethical along with social issues that pertain to running business...................................2
Identifying as well as differentiating among distinct kinds of networking techniques...............3
Discussion on importance of Intranet addition to Internet in business........................................5
Listing and explaining different stages of system development lifecycle...................................6
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................................7
Potential benefits and drawbacks of any general business and the company of investing in
Information technology...............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information technology can be defined as the design and execution of computer networks
in order to process and communicate data. It comprises of usage of computers, networking along
with other infrastructure and physical devices for building, processing, amassing, sheltering and
exchanging various types of electronic data. In increasing globalised world, use of information
technology in businesses has enlarged extensively. It plays imperative role in managing complex
operations of entity. To gain knowledge about Information Technology, Boots is considered. It is
one of leading organisation in retail sector of UK that is well popular as heath along with beauty
retailer (Boots, 2020). The headquarters of the retailer are situated at Nottinghamshire, UK since
1849 by John Boot. It has large number of shops across UK and other Countries ranging from
local pharmacies to large beauty shops. The individual report discusses about information
technology role in success or failure of company, various ethical and social challenges which
pertains to running organisation and differences among networking technologies types. It also
discusses significant of Internet and Intranet in the entity and distinct stages related to system
development life cycle.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Discussion of role of Information technology in success or failure of business
Afzal (2015) says that information technology is greatest way to business success in digital
age. It has changed the manner in which organisations used to perform activities or operations. In
current era, digital marketing, digital communication, online shopping, cloud computing and
social networking is some of examples of change that aroused with wave of information
technology. Moreover, systematic management, accurate business planning, instant customer
support, effective marketing, real time monitoring etc cannot be accomplished at desired level
without involvement of IT in business. In context to Boots, the company has achieved success
through usage of information technology in various operations. Following are the role played by
information technology in success of Boots:
Decision making: Accuracy along with speed is heart to make effective decision for the
company. In the entity, information technology plays role of performing market research through
blogs, online surveys, group discussions along with forums with adoption of World Wide Web
and in-person interviews. At present, CRM Dynamics, Big Data as well as Google Analytics are
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great tools used by managers of Boots for extracting useful information that helps in making
accurate decisions and attaining success.
Customer support along with satisfaction: Success of business is dependent on
understanding trends, satisfaction levels, needs and behaviours of customers. In this context,
information technology enables organisation to communicate with current clients and targeted
population in real time. In Boots, role of information technology is to provide effective channels
for communicating with large number of customers. The business uses customer relationship
management system for holding valuable information to understand behaviours of customers and
achieving success aspects (Avgerou and Walsham, 2017).
Resource management along with globalisation: In success of business, resource
management is important. Being Boots a large organisation, it is difficult for top management to
manage all resources manually. Some of resources available with entity are human resources,
tangible resources, financial resources etc. In Boots, information technology plays subsequent
role in automating the complex difficulty through implementing user friendly solutions. At
present, managers of the retail entity are able to monitor and manage existing organisational
resources in successful manner.
Information technology is significant aspect that plays huge role in assisting business to
attain long term success. As the solution continue to enhance productivity and effectiveness of
operations and communication in business that leads to achieving success for the business.
Finding ethical along with social issues that pertain to running business
As per Global Business ethics survey, it is found that almost 40% employees believes that
their organisation have poor learning ethical culture and makes little progress for mitigating
wrong doing (Ethical Issues facing business, 2020). Ethical issues are said to problems which
require an entity to select among alternatives that should be evaluated as right or wrong. In
present era, following are some ethical issues that are pertaining with Boots:
 Accounting: In present world, cooking the books along with otherwise performing
unethical accounting practices is one of serious ethical issue faced by businesses.
Organisations in order to attract large stakeholders and investors inaccurately report their
financial statements along with the auditor. In context to Boots, the ethical issue hampers
trust of public in its financial accountability.
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 Harassment and Discrimination: Sexual harassment, compensation inequality and
racial discrimination are some of costly ethical issues which superiors and subordinates
encounter in ongoing basis in the pertaining business. In running activities of Boots, it is
found that huge people are victims of discrimination and certain kinds of discrimination
are in form of national origin, age, genetic information, retaliation, equal pay and many
more. These types of estimated to continue grow and employers are required to adjust
with perspectives of employee and restructure the ways to accomplish workings.
Social issues are the situation which influences various people within a society (Aydalot
and Keeble, 2018). It has diverse categories and prevents a society from functioning at finest
level. While running activities, a business pertains social issues that restrict from achieving
the set objectives. Some of social issues pertaining with running activities of Boots are as
analysed:
 Consumer criticism: It is one of social issue faced by running business in present era. In
context to Boots, it is seen that consumers are holding accountabilities of company for
delivering decent living wages to employees and refusing to adopt underpaid labour, yet
demand products at lower prices.
 Rethinking retirement: Running business is home to an ageing people. As per latest
statistics of UK, it is found that nearly 12 million people are aged over 65 in Britain. It is
major social challenge for business like Boots as it declines working population resulting
in turnover of experienced staff at workplace. This causes complexities to guide new
people for how to manage operations effectively (Bruss and Leuchs, 2019).
With use of information technology, it is possible for Boots to effectively deal with the
ethical along with social issues in competitive industry.
Identifying as well as differentiating among distinct kinds of networking techniques
According to Bryson (2017), networking technology is defined to technology which assists
organisational networking with other population through network of computer along with
connected electronic device. In Boots, it is identified that various types of networking
technologies are used exchanging data with other information systems. The identified
networking technologies are as follows:
 ArcNet technologies: It is one of oldest as well as simplest among all types of
networking technologies. It permits diverse types of transmission including twisted pair
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wire, fiber optical cable as well as coaxial cable for same network. Use of the technology
in Boot offers flexible topology to the entity with fewer limitations.
 Ethernet technologies: It is the type of network technology that is used for LAN
networks in which systems are connected in primary physical space. It uses IEEE 802.3
for the standardisation and specifies layers among physical and lower. The technology
assist Boots company to connect with multiple systems on same network connections.
 DQDB technologies: The type of network technology that is used in MAN Networks
(Chege, Wang and Suntu, 2020). It is Distributed Queue Dual Bus technology which uses
two unidirectional buses or cables in which all the computer systems are connected with
the buses. With the technology, information technology of Boots connects its all
computer systems for proper functioning with a single network.
Differentiations among the kinds of networking technologies:
Basis of
differentiation
ArcNet technologies Ethernet
technologies
DQDB technologies
Cost of
implementation
Implementation of the
technology in fast and
cheap as it is
implemented in
similar network.
The cost involved in
forming a network
with the technology
is relatively low or it
is costless to the
retail business.
Implementation cost
involved in setting the
network with DQDB
technology is relatively
higher that cists huge
money to company.
Usage The use of ArcNet
technology is
available for
networking system for
micro computers. It is
also used for
developing data
transfer rates to 20
Mbps and in
embedded systems
market.
Use of Ethernet
technology is for
local area networks
and transferring data
with spend of
Gigabit per second.
It also used in office,
banks and home
(Hao and Song,
2016).
DQDB technology is
used for controlling
access to IEEE 802.6
and allows for both
packet along with
circuit packet switching
as well as supports
data, video traffic
together with video.
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Discussion on importance of Intranet addition to Internet in business
According to Sharma (2016), Internet is said to global computer network which provide
diverse types of information together with communication facilities through standardised
communication protocols. In modern world, internet is one of vital tool to attain success of
organisation. In Boots, internet is used for various purposes ranging from collecting information
about market customers and rivals to business promotions, research and development,
innovations, free communication and so forth. Following are some of importance of Internet in
retail business that is Boots:
 Business development: Internet is very important in company in order to develop the
business through powerful communication along with marketing tools without visiting
outside places. In context to Boots, Internet is important for developing the business
through inventing new technologies and making online presence in international places.
 Advertising and promotions: Internet is also important in organisation for advertising
together with promoting products and services offered by it for getting more customers
(Lee and Lio, 2016). Through Internet, managers of Boots are able to communicate with
customers residing at large distant places and reaching to wider audiences through
solving their queries for its offering and making them aware about its latest or old
products.
Intranet is described as private network which is set for internal organisational purposes. The
main purpose of using intranet in entity is for sharing organisational information along with
computing resources within employees. In relevance to Boots, some of importance of Intranet to
it is as follows:
 Corporate communication: Intranet is important for a business for facilitating
communication among corporate employees. In Boots, intranet is important as it makes
internal people aware about important announcements, organisational new policies,
gathering feedbacks and recognising outstanding employees.
 Better collaboration: Intranet functions as powering fast, true digital workplaces along
with frictionless collaboration (Lui, Ngai and Lo, 2016). In Boots, various spaces are
available for team, departmental, cross functional and other collaborations that are pulled
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by intranet through bringing each space, content and resource to get work accomplished
promptly which collaborates experiences in effective and better manner.
Through internet and intranet, all the working is accomplished by the managers of Boots and
also maintains relations with internal and external people.
Listing and explaining different stages of system development lifecycle
As per Svitla Team (2019), System development lifecycle refers to long period embedded
concept that is used in the world of Information Technology. It is the procedure that plans,
develops, test and deploy information system. The stages of the concept are as explained:
Figure 1: System development lifecycle. 2019
(Source: System development lifecycle. 2019)
Planning: It is initial phase of the concept in which activities related to discovery,
identification and defining the scope about the project with the hope of deciding action course
and addressing issues for solution are done through new system solution.
Analysis: The second stage in which understanding about business and requirements of
information system are processed further. In this, development team is required to focus towards
functional needs for accessing the ways the solution meets end expectation of user.
Design: Once comprehensive analysis stage is finished then the next is about designing in
which components, modules, interfaces, elements, architecture and data of system are clearly
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defined and designed in order to evaluate the ways in which finished system will perform and its
lootings (Passey and Samways, 2016).
Development: Approved design stage is catalysts for development phase wherein
information technology team writes codes, constructs as well as fine tuning physical with
technical configuration for building entire information system.
Testing and integration: This stage comprises involvement of Quality Assurance team
which have duties for performing entire system testing in order to determine that the system
solution meets defined business goals and performs in expected manner.
Implementation: When the system is given green signal for team of Quality and Assurance
then the next is its execution in production environment. In this context, the project released is to
be installed by users.
Maintenance: This is final stage in which end users fine tune system for enhancing
performance, adding capabilities together with new features for meeting new requirements which
are brought by clients.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Potential benefits and drawbacks of any general business and the company of investing in
Information technology
Investment in information technology has certain benefits and drawbacks for general
business and selected firm in the market. In context to retail business, making investment in
information technology benefits in interacting with customers in better manner, making speedily
decision and improving employee productivity which makes the business more efficient to
operate. In contrary, the drawback of making investment within information technology is that it
can increase rivals for business and also decline its position in terms of finance due to making
huge money on investment (Sun, 2016).
In context to Boots, investment in information technology benefits the entity in
progressing anytime and anywhere, storing and sharing information in speedily manner, remote
connectivity, accelerating communication and streamlining entire workflow processes. However
certain drawbacks that the company can experience through investing in information technology
includes outflow of resources and increasing sense of job insecurity among employees when
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some information technology is implemented for doing any work that was being performed
manually (Bruss and Leuchs, 2019).
CONCLUSION
The individual report summarises that information technology plays vital role in each
business plan. Industrial revolution and globalisation have given rise to wide number of
unforeseen social along with ethical issues. Role played by Information technology in business
success includes decision making, customer support along with satisfaction and resource
management along with globalisation. Some of ethical and social challenges faced by running
business are accounting, harassment and discrimination, consumer criticism and rethinking
retirement at early age. Networking technologies is utilisation of connected system through optic
cables, wireless connections and satellite for relaying important data, resources along with
communication in distinct parts of globe. ArcNet technologies, Ethernet technologies and DQDB
technologies are few of networking technologies. Internet and Intranet are important in business
for facilitating communication within and outside the premise of business and many more. Few
importance of internet is business development, advertising and promotions. At same time,
importance of intranet includes better collaboration and corporate communication.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Avgerou, C. and Walsham, G. eds., 2017. Information technology in context: Studies from the
perspective of developing countries: Studies from the perspective of developing
countries. Routledge.
Aydalot, P. and Keeble, D. eds., 2018. High technology industry and innovative environments:
the European experience (Vol. 3). Routledge.
Bruss, D. and Leuchs, G. eds., 2019. Quantum Information: From Foundations to Quantum
Technology Applications. John Wiley & Sons.
Bryson, J., 2017. Effective library and information centre management. Routledge.
Chege, S. M., Wang, D. and Suntu, S. L., 2020. Impact of information technology innovation on
firm performance in Kenya. Information Technology for Development. 26 (2). pp.316-
345.
Hao, S. and Song, M., 2016. Technology-driven strategy and firm performance: Are strategic
capabilities missing links?. Journal of Business Research. 69 (2). pp.751-759.
Lee, M. H. and Lio, M. C., 2016. The impact of information and communication technology on
public governance and corruption in China. Information Development. 32 (2). pp.127-
141.
Lui, A. K., Ngai, E. W. and Lo, C. K., 2016. Disruptive information technology innovations and
the cost of equity capital: The moderating effect of CEO incentives and institutional
pressures. Information & Management. 53 (3). pp.345-354.
Passey, D. and Samways, B. eds., 2016. Information Technology: supporting change through
teacher education. Springer.
Sun, D. W. ed., 2016. Computer vision technology for food quality evaluation. Academic Press.
Online:
Afzal. B. A., 2015. The Role of Information Technology in Business Success. [Online]. Available
through: < https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-information-technology-business-
success-abid-afzal-butt>
Boots. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.boots-uk.com/>
Ethical Issues facing business. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.floridatechonline.com/blog/business/the-5-biggest-ethical-issues-facing-
businesses/>
Sharma. V., 2016. Importance of Internet for Business. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.klientsolutech.com/importance-of-internet-in-business/>
Svitla Team. 2019. System development Lifecycle. [Online]. Available through: <
https://svitla.com/blog/system-development-life-cycle>
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