Information Technology Assignment - Innovation

Information Technology
[Document subtitle]

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Technology Reuse: Good or Bad.....................................................................................................1
Technology Reuse: Good or Bad for Charities or Developing Countries.......................................4
Re-use Problems..............................................................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Innovation is considered as an important key to success in this digital age world. The success of
every organization or a country depends on different factors. Information technology is one of
those important factors which make an organization or a country successful in digital age world.
In the absence of latest information technology, one cannot get success easily. This paper
concentrates on technology reuse and determines whether it is good or bad for charities and other
developing countries. It is studied under the different concepts of technology and their benefits
(Aykin, 2016). On the other, chosen target audience for this paper is business professionals who
can gain significant knowledge by studying it. Most of the researchers have concluded that
organizations and countries which invest huge money in information technology can get success
in today competitive environment. Information technology is considered the only technology that
helps everyone in gaining business opportunities by analyzing available data and plans their
business journey effectively. Re-use of technology means use an obsolete information
technology to satisfy needs and wants of consumers in particular country (Ake, 2016). Re-use of
technology may prove beneficial as well as dangerous. Furthermore, it can be said that
information technology brings various benefits to a business organization or a country.
Technology Reuse: Good or Bad
Technology reuse may prove both good and bad. Generally, it is considered that technology
reuse leads fewer product problems, easier maintenance, and greater productivity. There are
various organizations which reuse the technology for their further processing. Technology Re-
use has following benefits:
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 Reuse technology provides low-cost and free refurbished equipment on a permanent basis
when there is no insurance coverage, and funding is limited (Andersson, 2014). If
business organizations able to gain technology at low cost they can even reduce the cost
of their manufactured product. This will ultimately slow down the prices of goods, and
low-income people can easily purchase all those things.
 Reuse of obsolete or unused technology helps the business organization in utilizing their
storage spaces. This will produce good outcomes for the business environment.
 On the other hand, by reusing technology most of the organizations able to access interim
equipment on a short term basis (Maichrzak, et al., 2014).
 In addition, organizations which reuse obsolete technology need not wait for approval
from the insurance company (Borghoff, 2013).
 Furthermore, reuse of information technology helps business organizations and the
consumers to save their valuable money by ensuring technology are being utilized for the
full value of its lifecycle.
Apart from the benefits, it also has produced negative outcomes for most of the organizations.
These negative outcomes of technology reuse are following:
 Loss of competitiveness: With the help of reuse available technology an organization can
significantly save its cost, but it loses its competitiveness in its target market.
Management of competitive advantage is necessary for every organization. By using
obsolete technology, they can survive in the market but not able to maintain their
competitive advantages over their competitors (Coronel, 2016).
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 Strategic issues: Reuse of information technology brings lots of strategic issues for
organizations such as loss of productivity, and critical data. These issues may influence
their strategic position in a negative manner.
 Lower IT Flexibility: Older technology can't do as much as modern technology. Reuse of
older technology may limit the flexibility of the organization in certain areas such as
communication and collaboration, data analysis for decision making, and development of
a new application (Wallis, et al., 2013).
 Increased vulnerabilities and security threats: Various security threats and vulnerability
issues are associated with the reuse of older technology. This may bring serious problem
for the security of its information and the available systems.
 On the other hand, hard drive failures leading to possible catastrophic data loss. This may
influence the overall strategic position and market image (Chen, 2014).
Thus, it can be said that reuse of technology brings benefits and losses for every organization.
Generally, it can be said that reuse of technology proves dangerous more than the beneficial. It is
because the use of older technology lost the competitive and strategic position of an
organization.
Technology Reuse: Good or Bad for Charities or Developing
Countries
Most of the organizations are there which send their old technology to charities and developing
countries. It can be considered good for charities as well as developing organizations. Charities
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are the non-profit organizations which are working to give facilities to poor or other society
members. The technology used by the charities to enhance their mission-related outcomes and
boost their organizational performance. In the last 25 years, a large number of charities
organizations can be seen in different parts of the world (Chae, 2014). Due to the high
competition, the environments of charitable organizations become more competitive. Reuse of
donated old technology brings various benefits for them. Some benefits are following:
 Technology reuse gives a chance to charities organizations to manage their function in an
effective manner. With the help of donated old technology, they may arrange and
coordinate their staff members as well as different functions which may enhance the
popularity of organization among other individuals.
 With the help of old technology, they can significantly take help or guidance from the
owner company. Due to this, they don't need to hire special workers and other members.
This will significantly reduce the cost of services provided by the organization to society
members.
 On the other hand, with the help of old information technology they can target more
people who require charity help. Proper reuse of older technology helps them to serve
their clients in a significant manner (Davenport, 2013).
Apart from the benefits, charities also face various problems with the old technology such as
security issues, obsolete in nature, and may prove dangerous for the staff. But all these problems
can avoid by taking significant guidance from the owner company. Overall, reuse of technology
by charities proves very beneficial. Instead of disposing of old technology, organizations can
help charities by donating them. This proves beneficial for the charity as well as donated
organization.
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Furthermore, reuse of old technology not only proves beneficial for the charity but also for
developing countries. Most of the countries donate their obsolete technology to developing
countries such as Japan. This will prove fruitful for the developing organization in a greater
manner. Below mentioned are some benefits which a country can receive by reusing technology:
 With the use of old technology, developing countries can significantly improve their
productivity which significantly enhances the GDP rate of the country (Fukuda-Parr,
2013).
 Sometimes it may be possible that the donated technology becomes obsolete in owner
country. In such case, developing country can significantly enhance its productivity and
gain a competitive advantage in some other countries.
Thus, it can be said that technology brings various profit for the developing country. By using
donated technology, they may use it in a possible manner to produce benefits out of it. This may
significantly save the purchasing cost of the developing country (Hemmelskamp, et al., 2013).
Re-use Problems
Here are different classic problems faced by profit or not-for-profit organization due to reuse of
older technology. Most of the organizations spend a huge amount on the sophisticated
management of departments, but they still associated with the older technology. There are a large
number of organizations such as Airport department of Paris. It mainly utilizes window 3.1
version for its business activities (Singh, 2013). Due to the crash of window, it forced to shut
down because it was not able to manage its running transactions in the absence of window 3.1
version. In the same manner, most of the organizations had faced such problems due to reuse of
older technology. Some of them are following:
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 Lost competitive advantage: There are a large number of organizations which lost their
competitive advantage due to the usage of obsolete technology. This may significantly
reduce the size of the target market and its productivity. It can be said that innovation is a
key factor which helps the organizations in gaining competitive advantage in their target
markets. But, due to the use of older technology they not able to integrate innovation with
latest products. This will ultimately reduce the number of customers for organizations
(Tams, 2014).
 Security concerns: Reuse of older technology brings security concerns for the
organizations. It is because a large number of security problems are associated with the
older technology. Security problems may contain data loss, vulnerabilities, virus, and
unauthorized access. If the organizations who utilize older technology do not take proper
security measures, it will influence it in a negative manner (Ward, 2016).
 Physical hazard issues: Sometimes reuse of older technology after passing its time period
may not be beneficial for users. It may cause physical health issues or others.
 The decline in profits: Reuse of older technology reduces the productivity or
organization. Reduction in productivity ultimately reduces the profit of the organization
(Boudreau, et al., 2013). It is because most of the consumers want to purchase latest
products and services. In the absence of modern technology, they are not able to meet the
demand of consumers which ultimately reduce its profit.
On behalf of all problems associated with the reuse of technology, it can be said that
organization should pay more and more concern while using obsolete technology (Willcocks,
2013). This may help them in reducing their potential negative impacts on productivity and
future position of organizations.
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Recommendations
It can be suggested that the government of a particular country should not encourage re-use of
technology. It is because reuse of technology brings negative outcomes for a particular
organization. These organizations support a large part of country income. Usage of obsolete
technology ultimately slows down country performance in comparison to other countries. Apart
of this, the government should support organizations to share their obsolete technology with the
developing countries because this may become the success factor of that country (Sueyoshi,
2013). By donating obsolete technology, they may bring developing countries on the success
track. Furthermore, it can be said that the organizations which want to establish their competitive
advantage and earn huge profit should not use obsolete technology. They should focus on
modern trend so that customers can satisfy in an effective manner. With this the organizations
which are using current and latest technology able to create their monopoly in target markets.
Apart of this, they should come with innovation and latest product solutions which can grab
immediate attentions of consumers (Wilcox, et al., 2013). With the help of innovative and
attractive products and services the organizations can enhance a number of its potential
customers and can easily enter the foreign market. It is because modern and innovative
technology always welcomed by foreign countries. So, it can be suggested that organizations
need not dispose their old equipment and should donate them to charities so that they can use
them effectively and get enough profit. On the other hand, organizations need not use old
technology after passing its lifecycle period this may lose their strategic position and monopoly
in their target market (Davenport, et al., 2013).
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Conclusion
After studying all this, it can be concluded that reuse of technology brings negative outcomes for
business as well as other organizations. With the help of all information mentioned in the paper,
business professionals can get knowledge about problems associated with old technology. With
this knowledge, they can earn significant benefits in their organization (Marchewka, 2014).
Business professionals put efforts to avoid reuse of older technology which saves them from
significant losses. On the other hand, it can be said that only non-profit organizations such as
charity may earn significant benefits with the reuse of donated technology. It is because they
suffered more in the absence of technology. Technology brings hope and improves their
functions which they can utilize to grab more and more opportunities. Business professionals
should consider losses of old technology in their mind. This will prevent them to use old
technology in their organizations (Ensign, et al., 2013). By doing this, they can significantly
contribute towards the accomplishment of their predetermined business goals and objective.
There may be a large number of organizations which are earning enough profit by utilizing old
technology. But it is certain that they suffer lots in their future. Usage of old technology prevents
them from walking with the current trend and technology. It is necessary for them to awake and
walk with current trends. By doing this, they can sustain in their competitive market for a long
time and can also manage their image in the eyes of customers.
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