Digital Age Challenges and Solutions

This assignment delves into the complexities of living and working in the digital age. It covers various aspects such as personal connections, professional development, health information seeking behavior, social work, and education in the digital era. The provided references include books and journals that offer insights and strategies for navigating these changes. The assignment aims to equip individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.

Integrated Professional
Skills in the Digital
Age

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Compare and contrast the positive and negative use of Internet to businesses and society........1
Discuss the threats faced by organisations and society when using the Internet. Identify the
measures of security and privacy that should be taken when Internet applications or services
are used online.............................................................................................................................3
Select any two different unified communications providers to compare and contrast their
features, applications and discussing their suitability for businesses.........................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Professional skills are those skills and ability of an individuals which helps in developing
career as well as getting growth in their life (Baym, 2015). Digital age refer to a time period
when computer was innovated. In this era technology is used in order to complete work in
effective and efficient manner. It is very important that skills of an individual matches with the
requirement so that they will be able to conduct business activities in quick manner. In today
modern era, digital and advance technology play a crucial role in overall development and
growth of an individual as well as organisation. This report includes different positive and
negative impact of internet on society and business. It is consist of threats faced by society and
organisation by using internet. Various security and privacy measures are explained while using
internet application or services. In this report two different unifies communications providers are
compares in order to identify their suitability for organisation.
MAIN BODY
Compare and contrast the positive and negative use of Internet to businesses and society.
Internet is a very useful tool for society and business as this helps in collecting
information as well as sharing it with other. In modern society interest is helpful in making life
convenient so that people in complete their work in lesser time. Despite of many benefits internet
have some major drawback which is very harmful for society as well as business activities.
Internet has both positive and negative impact its completely depend upon user how they are
using it. It is very strong and impactful tool which can ether be beneficial or harmful to business
or society (Boss and Krauss, 2014). Various positive and negative uses of internet for both
society and business in mention below in detail.
Positive use for businesses:
Internet is very useful in developing or creating more business opportunities. An
organisation can conduct business activities in effective and efficient way and complete task in
lesser time period. Though internet business can grow and develop in larger scale as it helps in
providing useful information.
This is helpful in marketing and promotion of products. With the helpful of internet,
company can advertise and market product and services in more creative and innovative way.
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There are various ways through which marketing of manufactured products can be done.
Company can use search engines, email marketing, websites, social media as well as blogs in
order to increase marketing opportunities.
In today's world company have to deal with many strong competition in order to gain
larger marketing share. Today's world is very competitive and for survival company have to use
internet in proper manner. This will help in gaining competitive advantage over other rival
companies. Internet can have huge positive impact on business when it application and services
are correctly used.
Storing information and data is very important for business as it can be used in future for
organisational purpose. But it is very difficult to store and mange data in effective manner so that
it is easily used whenever required (Donohue, 2014). Through internet company can store large
amount of data and information in cloud strong. Data stored in clouds can be use anywhere
anytime by the user.
Negative use for businesses:
With the use of internet in business activities there are huge chance of misuse of data.
Worrying about the security can be consider as a major drawback of internet for a company.
Important information can be access by unauthorized person and hackers can hack bank
accounts. This practices through internet can damage the entire business.
Internet lead to increase more competition for business. With the help of internet anyone
can open business as well as operate it digitally or online. This will lead to increase large number
of company and develop competitive environment. This will directly affect sales and profits of
organisation and customers have more chooses to purchase products.
Internet can lead to quick destruction of organisation's reputation and this will have huge
negative impact on business. In order to provide more information about company to customer,
business has provided liberty to access company's website as well as share their experiences also
(Ellaway and et.al., 2015). Negative feedbacks can lead to create wrong reputation about the
company and destroy its image.
Positive use for society:
Internet is an effective way to communicate with other people. Though internet an
individual can connect with any person in any part of the world. They can communicate through
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emails, social networking sites, messaging services and many more. A person can do video and
audio calls with their family, friends or anyone.
Internet is very useful for researching and getting information about anything. This is a
very vast area and have huge information available. A person can search anything from
anywhere and get correct information. Though this individual can get news and updates of world
and know different cultures.
Internet can be a creative and innovative way of learning new things as it has information
about each and every topic. This information can be used in learning something new as well as
getting clarity about any topic (Fraillon and et.al., 2014). It can be consider as a medium to
developing their knowledge and gain endless informations in much better manner. Society can
get free education through internet by using it in correct way.
Negative use for society:
With the increase of internet there are some negative effective also such as it reduces the
human direct interaction. People can communicate through their phone or other digital tool but
they forget about people around them. More importance in provided to virtual people as compare
to people close to them. This will affect their relationships and increase loneliness in an
individual.
There are many criminal activities that can be conducted though internet. This can have
negative impact on society as people will be harmed by these activities. Internet increase the
cyber crime and there are many people who are suffering from cyber bullying.
Through internet anyone can use anything they want as well as anyone can upload
pornographic material (Goldie, 2016). This is a negative impact on society and young minds will
be more attractive towards this can leads to addiction of it or meeting with wrong person.
Internet can lead to increase in addiction of online games and effect time of individual.
Internet can be consider as a main reason for obesity of children in this era as they are more into
online or phone games as compare to physical activities.
Discuss the threats faced by organisations and society when using the Internet. Identify the
measures of security and privacy that should be taken when Internet applications or
services are used online.
Modern and digital age is majorly based on internet applications and its services. Internet
helps in sharing information with other as well as doing thing in more creative form. But with
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various advantages or benefits of internet it also has dark side. There are many drawbacks of
internet with can create huge impact on society and business. Threat that are faced by an
organisation as well as society is mention below.
Threat faced by organisation
Security issue: Security is the major issues faced by companies in today's world. Most of
the activities is interrelated with technology and business operation can not completely function
without the use of internet (Gretter and Yadav, 2016). But with the more use of internet there are
high chances of less security. This is one of the threat faced by organisation which can effect
their entire business practices.
Disputes with customer: Customer are very important part of organisation as disputes
form them can have huge negative impact on them. Dissatisfied customers can cause major
economic setback and they can also spread negative rumours about company on internet. This is
a very large platform which can affect direly effect reputation of organisation and reduces its
customer base.
Unsecured devices: When system of business is connected with an unsecured devices it
can lead to misuse of data and important information of the company. This is a threat for
business as it can leak precious data of an organisation and use it for wrong purpose. Unsecured
and unauthorized access can have huge negative influence on businesses.
Dependence on technology: Most of the business activities are dependent on technology
though internet. This can be consider as a threat for business as without internet organisation can
nit function its activities properly. When an untrained or uninformed employees is using internet
or advance technology it can lead to have major negative effect on businesses.
Threat faced by society
Cyberbullying: There are many people who are bullying through cyber. This is a
common threat that is faced by internet user as when individual is using social networking sites.
Through internet an individual can be bullied by other person and there is huge chances of
spreading false rumours (Huda and Teh, 2018). This will affect physical and mental heath of a
person who is dealing with this issue. Cyber bulling can be done by without revealing their
actual identity and it can lead to serious torturer to someone.
Theft of personal information: The biggest threat form use of internet is that it can lead
to theft of personal data as well as private information. With the help of internet a person can
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easily hack private account with little information. Hacking of accounts can lead to damage or
misuse of pictures and videos of a person. Hacker can harass and can demand some other thing
through this data.
Pishing: This is a fraudulent activities which is attempt to gain some sensitive
information of a person. It can be consider as tracking of person in order to click malicious as
well as dangerous links. This is a cybercrime which can have huge impact on personal and
professional life of an individual. Person who is conducting this activities can leak private
information on internet or blackmail that person in order to do something wrong and illegal.
There are various ways through which data and information of a person and businesses
can be secured. Internet security is very important to keep data safe while using internet. This
measures are play a significant role in developing better society as well as conducting business
activities in effective and efficient manner (Huda and et.al., 2017). Some of the major tools and
techniques which should be used by a person to maintain security and privacy of information
while using internet application and services. Different measures are mention below to keep
security and privacy of data is mention below.
Check privacy settings: It is very important to check privacy setting while using any
website or social networking site. This will help in keeping data safe and secure as nobody can
used it without users permissions. There are various social networking sites such as Facebook,
LinkedIn, Instagram and so on. Using these sites without checking privacy setting can lead to
huge lose of personal data.
Use secured passwords: There are password security provided by the makers so that
information of user can be safe and no other person can use it without users permission. It is
important to use secured password as well as strong which is not known to others. This measure
will keep data safe and locked with user only.
Review permissions: While using mobile application and browser extensions they ask
for users permission to access content form their phones. These application can access contacts
or different files such as camera, microphone, storage and so on (Jacobs, Amuta and Jeon, 2017).
User should careful read it and identify whether it is right or not to provide permission.
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Select any two different unified communications providers to compare and contrast their
features, applications and discussing their suitability for businesses.
Unified communication provider can be define as a system in a phone which lead to
integration of many communication methods. This is very helpful in enhancing the
communication process within organisation as it provide different ways to communicate such as
SMS, emails, video calls, audio call and many more. It can be can be consider as a solution of
communication which bring all ways through which communication can flow within businesses.
there are many companies which is providing unified communication to other businesses. These
companies are marketing unified communication systems and their business concept is to design
an effective or seamlessly integrate business communication methods (Reamer, 2013). Some of
the top companies who are dealing in this field and providing best unified communication are
Avaya, Microsoft, Cisco, Vonage, Huawei, Oracle, Mitel, ZTE, Sonus, Sangoma and many
more.
Comparison between Microsoft and Cisco unified communication.
Microsoft is one of the leading company dealing in IT service sector. It has been top IT
service vendor from years. This is supporting many businesses with great collaboration, videos,
audio as well as share sharing and it is providing more workplace values to help organisation in
achieving their goals.
Features: Microsoft includes various features which help in effective and efficient flow
of communication within business. It reboots flagship software suite can be consider as its major
feature which lead to integrate tightly as well as collaborate capabilities. Its top features are:
 Co-authoring
 Better Skype and One drive integration
 Smart looks
 Planner New charts in Excel
Application: Microsoft office is comprises of very few and effective application which is
helpful in providing unified communication. Application of Microsoft office includes MS Word,
MS Excel and PowerPoint. It has developed its applications more specifically for offering
platform to businesses. Microsoft business application are not only run in computer but it work
smoothly in other systems such as IOS, Mac, Andriod OS also.
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Sustainability: Microsoft office is very helpful tool for business and it provide value to
its business partner (Twining and et.al., 2013). It is beneficial for extensive planning as well as
consultation of stakeholders. It can map capacity and allocate headroom for unexpected peaks
form website demand.
Cisco is a well known brand name which is providing unified communicate space to
other businesses. It has developed many services which consist of cloud calling, collaboration
management, licensing call control, telephone extension as well as wide variety of application
which are included in unified communication umbrella.
Features:It's features include Embedded packet capture (EPC), Embedded Event
manager(EEM), Configuration Archives and Warm Reloads. All these features are very helpful
in providing collaboration and unified communication within business.
Application: Cisco applications services enables new services for specific needs and
wants of clients (Walker, Bowkett and Duchaine, 2018). It includes Application control,
infrastructure consolidation, enterprise data centre architecture,and many more.
Sustainability: Cisco believe in environmental sustainability as it is critical for
economies for global citizens. It works for minimizing negative impact on environment for better
future.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that internet and digital technology play a very
important role in businesses and society. Internet have is a useful tool when it is used by proper
and correct manner. It has many positive and negative impact on society and businesses. In today
digital age, companies and society have to deal with various issues or threat while using internet.
It is a framework for connecting various tools of real time communication as well as helps in
increasing communication process. It lead to enhancing collaboration and productivity of
organisation by improving communication.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baym, N.K., 2015. Personal connections in the digital age. John Wiley & Sons.
Boss, S. and Krauss, J., 2014. Reinventing project-based learning: Your field guide to real-world
projects in the digital age. International Society for Technology in Education.
Donohue, C., 2014. Technology and digital media as tools for teaching and learning in the
digital age. In Technology and Digital Media in the Early Years (pp. 53-67). Routledge.
Ellaway, R.H. and et.al., 2015. Exploring digital professionalism. Medical teacher. 37(9).
pp.844-849.
Fraillon, J. and et.al., 2014. Preparing for life in a digital age: The IEA International Computer
and Information Literacy Study international report. Springer Open.
Goldie, J.G.S., 2016. Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital age?. Medical
teacher. 38(10), pp.1064-1069.
Gretter, S. and Yadav, A., 2016. Computational thinking and media & information literacy: An
integrated approach to teaching twenty-first century skills. TechTrends. 60(5). pp.510-
516.
Huda, M. and Teh, K.S.M., 2018. Empowering professional and ethical competence on
reflective teaching practice in digital era. In Mentorship Strategies in Teacher
Education (pp. 136-152). IGI Global.
Huda, M. and et.al., 2017. Empowering children with adaptive technology skills: Careful
engagement in the digital ınformation age. International Electronic Journal of
Elementary Education. 9(3). pp.693-708.
Huda, M. and et.al., 2017. Strengthening interaction from direct to virtual basis: insights from
ethical and professional empowerment. International Journal of Applied Engineering
Research. 12(17). pp.6901-6909.
Jacobs, W., Amuta, A.O. and Jeon, K.C., 2017. Health information seeking in the digital age: An
analysis of health information seeking behavior among US adults. Cogent Social
Sciences. 3(1). p.1302785.
Reamer, F.G., 2013. Social work in a digital age: Ethical and risk management
challenges. Social work. 58(2). pp.163-172.
Twining, P. and et.al., 2013. Moving education into the digital age: The contribution of teachers'
professional development. Journal of computer assisted learning. 29(5). pp.426-437.
Walker, V., Bowkett, G. and Duchaine, I., 2018. All Companies Are Technology Companies:
Preparing Canadians with the Skills for a Digital Future. Canadian Public
Policy. 44(S1). pp.S153-S158.
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