Role of Information Technology in Business Success: A Case Study of Holiday Inn

This assignment report discusses the role of information technology in the success of Holiday Inn, a UK based hotel. It covers topics such as effective communication, inventory management, promotion and advertisement, ethical and social issues, networking technologies, and the value of internet and intranet. It also evaluates the stages of system development life cycle and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of investing in information technology.

INDIVIDUAL
REPORT

ABSTRACT
This assignment report is based on Holiday Inn which is a UK based hotel, operating in a
global manner. This hotel is operating at more than 1150 locations in global context. To perform
their work with greater efficiency, this hotel uses IT in a considerable manner. By using IT,
Holiday Inn will be able to communicate with their customers, performing complex work, take
decisions in a timely manner. Different ethical and social issues like hacking, piracy,
cyberbullying are also mentioned as they impacts business in a considerable way. Merits of
internet and Intranet in organisation like saving time, automating work are also discussed.
Benefits of SDLC in software development for business is also identified in this report.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Mention the role of information technology in the success of a business organisation.........1
Discuss different type of ethical and social issues that pertains to manage business ............2
Identification and differentiation in various type of networking technologies......................3
Mention the value of Intranet or internet for selected organisation.......................................4
Evaluate different stages for system development life cycle.................................................4
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSION......................................................................................................5
Benefits of investing in Information technology ...................................................................5
Drawbacks of investing in information technology...............................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is a part of computing technology that includes maintenance,
development and use of computer's hardware, networks and software so that complex task can be
performed in simplified and timely manner (Aliyu and Tasmin, 2012). Every business
organisation uses IT to perform their complex activities in a systematic manner. This assignment
is written in relation with Holiday Inn which is a UK based American hotel that is founded in
1952. This report is going to cover about role of IT in attaining business success along with
ethical & social issues faced by a company due to IT. Also, different kind of networking
technologies and information about SDLC will be discussed. At last, advantages and
disadvantages of investing in IT are mentioned briefly.
MAIN BODY
Mention the role of information technology in the success of a business organisation
IT has became an integral part of a business firm. It plays a vital role in the success and
growth of business. Role if IT in business success of Holiday Inn is stated below:
 Effective communication: Information technology allows a business firm to
communicate with their customers and business partners via internet, E-mails etc. Due to
this, an organisation is able to interact with different individuals in minimum time span.
In case of Holiday Inn, IT benefits the hotel to use tools like Web conferencing, live
chats, online meeting tools etc. due to which customers and stakeholders are offered
required information without any delay. This increases the overall productivity of
company due to which gaining business success became easier.
 Inventory management: IT benefits a firm in keeping track on their inventory so that no
shortage of raw material and other requires resources will be faced by business
organisation. Inventory management system is also a part of IT which allows Holiday Inn
in maintaining their inventory so that customers do not have to wait if they need
anything. This improves the satisfaction level of customers due to which hotel can earn
high appreciation and revenues which will further leads to business success (Bruss and
Leuchs, 2019).
 Promotion and advertisement: Information technology provides multiple platforms
like digital media, social media like Instagram, Facebook, twitter etc. so that services
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offered by company can be promoted in a proper manner. This will benefits the company
in increasing their customer base due to which they will be able to earn high profits and
revenues. This will allow the company to gain success in marketplace.
Discuss different type of ethical and social issues that pertains to manage business
There are various kinds of social and ethical issues which can be faced by Holiday Inn
due to technology. Some of these aspects are stated beneath:
Ethical issues
 Piracy: It is referred to the illegal copy of applications and software due to which
managing informations in a secure manner will be difficult. If manager in Holiday Inn is
storing data and information in an unauthorised manner, this can leads to leaking of
important information (Willcocks, 2013). This will reduce the trust of people against
Holiday Inn due to which their revenues can suffer.
 Hacking: Hackers are expertise that can gather information from software and
applications in an unethical manner. Rival firms can hack the information and software of
Holiday Inn due to which confidential strategies of company will be out. By this, rival
can formulate counter measures so that they can gain advantage over Holiday Inn within
market. This will reduce the reputation of hotel in front of customers and marketplace
(Chao and Chandra, 2012).
Social issues
 Cyber bulling: In today's time, individuals are becoming overly dependent on internet
and do not feel reluctant in sharing their personal information. This is the reason
harassing and defaming people via internet has became easier. Sometimes, for
entertainment purpose, employees of a firm starts sending inappropriate messages and
pictures to the customers. This is a social issue that takes place due to excess use of
information technology. Cyber bullying can tarnish the reputation of Holiday Inn due to
which revenues of company can minimised considerably.
 Communication breakdown: Due to increased usage of technology and internet, face to
face communication between employees and customers of a company have minimised.
Due to which, a communication breakdown has taken place. This will leads to a gap
between employees in Holiday Inn and their customers. Barrier in communication is a big
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social issue that can reduce the effectiveness of concerned hotel in the minds of people
(Tayeh, Al-Jarrah and Tarhini, 2015).
Identification and differentiation in various type of networking technologies
At present, there exist many types of networking technologies which have different
features and merits but mainly there exist three types of networking technologies i.e. LAN, MAN
and WAN. Information and differentiation in these technologies is carried out below:
 LAN: It is abbreviated as Local area network. It covers a limited range like hospital,
residence, college university or school. Main example of this network technology are
Ethernet and Wi-Fi that can be used by Holiday Inn to communicate within their hotel.
 MAN: This technology is known as metropolitan area network. Its coverage area is more
than LAN but less than WAN. In order to communicate with customers within a city or
region, Holiday Inn can use this technology (Devaraj, Ow, and Kohli, 2013).
 WAN: It is called as wide area network. This network technology can cover widest area
in terms of geography. By using this technology, manager in Holiday inn can
communicate with any individual around globe without any complexities.
Local area network Metropolitan area network Wide area network
 Coverage of LAN is
near about 2250
metres.
 Coverage area of LAN
is up to 200 km.
 WAN has unlimited
coverage area.
 This technology has
low band width.
 Bandwidth in this
network technology is
larger than LAN but
less than WAN.
 Bandwidth of WAN is
highest than all other
technologies.
 Wi-Fi and Ethernet are
main communicational
technologies within
LAN.
 Main examples are
coaxial and microwave
cables.
 Main technologies
related with WAN are
satellites and
telephone.
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Mention the value of Intranet or internet for selected organisation
Internet and Intranet allows a company to perform their work with greater efficiency.
Benefits of internet and intranet for Holiday Inn are mentioned below:
Advantage of Internet to Holiday Inn
Internet is the cheapest and fastest way through which Holiday Inn can interact with their
customers. By using internet, employees at Holiday Inn can carry out appropriate market
research so that preference and choice of customers can be acknowledged in a proper manner.
Internet will helps in reducing manual work due to which operational cost, processing cost and
labour cost of hotel can be minimised. This will allow the company to reduce their expenses so
that high profits can be earned (Filser, Kraus and Märk, 2013).
Advantage of Intranet to Holiday Inn
Intranet is defined as integral network that only allows an authorised users, usually
employees and management of an organisation to access information and network. Intranets
offers same advantages like Internet but within less range. Intranet will benefits Holiday Inn in
managing, distributing, sharing and manipulating information in appropriate way. Due to this, all
work at Holiday Inn will be performed in a systematic manner and hotel will be able to attain
their targets and goals in a timely manner. This will allow the firm to earn wide profits against
rival organisations (Weske, 2012).
Evaluate different stages for system development life cycle
System development life cycle is a business model that assists in project management. It
involves six phases so that required hardware or software can be prepared in a systematic
manner. Various stages of SDLC are stated below:
 System planning: It is the first step to develop a system where scope and issues related
with concerned systems are discussed. At this stage, feasibility of project is confirmed
and a systematic schedule for project is prepared.
 System analysis: In this phase, needs and requirements of users are identified and a
feasibility study is carried out to identify if creating a system will be economically,
technocratically, organisationally and socially beneficial for firm or not (Laudon and
Laudon, 2015).
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 System design: This phase come when system developing manager is able to identify the
requirement and expectations of customers. At this phase, architecture, module, security
level and components of system will be designed for software development.
 Implementation and development: After designing the process of software, in this
phase actual construction process for system development will take place. Codes related
with software are written in this step along with implementation of fine tuning and
configuration so that software can function securely.
 System testing and integration: In this step, different processes of software will be
integrated to create a system that will be able to serve the needs of a business firm. After
it, some tests will be performed on system to ensure the efficiency of system while
performing tasks.
 System maintenance: This is the last stage of SDLC in which, developed software will
be developed and maintained on regular basis so that its performance can be enhanced
considerably. Updating and maintaining system will benefits Holiday Inn in securing
themselves from prevailed security issues and threats (Nicholas, and Steyn, 2017).
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSION
Benefits of investing in Information technology
 Enhanced hotel bookings: It is the main advantage to Holiday Inn for investing in
information technology. Information technology will allow the manager of Hotel to
update their activities and offers on their official websites and application due to which it
will be easy for customers to acknowledge their services. Manager in Holiday Inn can
contact with websites that booking.com, hotels.com so that their services can be
promoted considerably.
 Increased guest experience: Due to investment in information technology, Holiday Inn
can automate their processes like check-in, check-out, payment of bills, booking etc. It
will ease the experience of customers while staying at hotel. Due to this, they will prefer
to have repeat visits that will allow the concerned hotel in earning high revenues and
profits (Prajogo and Olhager, 2012).
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Drawbacks of investing in information technology
 High maintenance cost: Implementing and maintaining IT requires heavy investment.
To update the software in IT an expertise is required. Hiring expertises and technicians to
maintain IT infrastructure in Holiday inn is an expensive task. If IT systems will not be
maintained properly, gaining organisational productivity and efficiency will be difficult.
 Makes employees lazy: IT benefits in performing complex work in a timely and
simplified manner due to which employees feel lazy in performing manual task. Due to
high dependence on IT, working potential of employees can reduce due to which overall
productivity of company will suffer. This can impact the working and revenues of
Holiday inn in a negative manner (Shladover, 2018).
CONCLUSION
As per above discussed report, we can conclude that IT has an important role in the
growth and success of a business. IT helps in communicating with customers and safeguarding
valuable information which benefits a firm in positive manner. There are various ethical and
social issues like Hacking & communication breakdown which impacts business in negative
manner. Networking technologies like LAN, WAN and MAN allows a company to communicate
with other individuals in a proper manner. SDLC is an useful software development system that
benefits a company in creating multiple software that can ease complex work at organization.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aliyu, A. A. and Tasmin, R. B. H. J., 2012. The impact of information and communication
technology on banks’ performance and customer service delivery in the banking
industry. International Journal of Latest Trends Finance and Economy. 2(1). pp.80-90.
Bruss, D. and Leuchs, G. eds., 2019. Quantum Information, 2 Volume Set: From Foundations to
Quantum Technology Applications. John Wiley & Sons.
Chao, C. A. and Chandra, A., 2012. Impact of owner's knowledge of information technology (IT)
on strategic alignment and IT adoption in US small firms. Journal of Small Business
and Enterprise Development. 19(1). pp.114-131.
Devaraj, S., Ow, T. T. and Kohli, R., 2013. Examining the impact of information technology and
patient flow on healthcare performance: A Theory of Swift and Even Flow (TSEF)
perspective. Journal of Operations Management. 31(4). pp.181-192.
Filser, M., Kraus, S. and Märk, S., 2013. Psychological aspects of succession in family business
management. Management Research Review. 36(3). pp.256-277.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Nicholas, J. M. and Steyn, H., 2017. Project management for engineering, business and
technology. Routledge.
Prajogo, D. and Olhager, J., 2012. Supply chain integration and performance: The effects of
long-term relationships, information technology and sharing, and logistics integration.
International Journal of Production Economics. 135(1). pp.514-522.
Shladover, S. E., 2018. Connected and automated vehicle systems: Introduction and overview.
Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems. 22(3). pp.190-200.
Tayeh, M., Al-Jarrah, I. M. and Tarhini, A., 2015. Accounting vs. market-based measures of firm
performance related to information technology investments. International Review of
Social Sciences and Humanities. 9(1). pp.129-145.
Weske, M., 2012. Business process management architectures. In Business Process Management
(pp. 333-371). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
investments. Springer.
Online
LAN network diagram. 2019. [Online]. Available
through<https://www.123rf.com/photo_23986459_lan-network-diagram-illustrator-for-
business-and-technology-concept.html>
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