The Role of Information Technology in Business

The provided document examines the pivotal role of Information Technology (IT) in the success or failure of a business enterprise. It delves into various activities such as communication, data management, and flow of data that are crucial for an organization's operations. The use of intranet is also discussed as a means for retrieving important business information. Furthermore, it is noted that organizations have the resources to utilize software like Sage 50 and SQL for effective data retention.

Introduction to
Information Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
Role of Information Technology in corporation....................................................................1
Ethical and social issues.........................................................................................................2
Networking technologies........................................................................................................3
Importance of intranet and internet........................................................................................5
Stages of system development life cycle................................................................................5
Analysis & Discussion.....................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Information Technology can be referred to as the process inclusive of upkeep,
development and utilisation of computers, software along with various types of networks. In this
regard, it can be said that hereby distribution as well as processing of data is done. Hereby, data
can be defined as the raw information, stats and facts that are taken into use for the purpose of
collection, referring, storing and analysing. The present project deals with the utility of various
aspects of Information Technology within TESCO Bank which is engaged in provision of
banking services. Owing to this, it is at a leading position within the confines of United
Kingdom. The project throws light upon role of IT, ethical and social concerns, various types of
networking, significance of internet as well as intranet and lastly, system development life cycle.
Literature Review
Role of Information Technology in corporation
IT can be referred to as the utility of computers for the sole purpose of effective
execution of technical activities and processes of a business. Informational Technology plays a
pivotal role in conduction of procedures such as transactions, data management, data storage etc.
For this purpose, various types of software are available within market place (Rivard and Aubert,
2015). These can be accessed to make the work get carried out smoothly in the organisational
premises. The role of IT with reference to TESCO Bank is discussed as follows:-
Data flow: Data is regarded as one of the key resources of company which may be
internal, subjective, external or objective. Through the utility of IT, a centralised data centre
developed by data centre operator Sentrum, is taken into use for retrieval of essential information
(Tesco signs £65m datacentre deal to drive online expansion, 2019). TESCO Bank deals in
various categories such as general merchandise, clothing, home appliances, toys, entertainment,
kitchen items etc. It supplies its products in over 7000 outlets across the globe and thus, it
becomes significant for the entity to ensure availability of important data with staff as well as
consumers. Thus, IT provides assistance in effective flow of information within and outside the
lines of corporation.
Workgroup Support: It can be said that Information Technology plays a vital role in
generation of data sharing environment whereby the members of staff can effectively set
communication (Tarafdar, Gupta and Turel, 2015). Also, it allows inter functional
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communication as per the requirements of employees and TESCO Bank. This implies savings of
time and efforts of staff members as they can take into use media such as instant messengers and
emails to obtain details pertaining to business activities. This ensures ease and smoothness of
collaborative decision making and group support system within the confines of TESCO Bank.
Data management: This is acknowledged to be one of the most crucial roles of IT
within an entity. Data management takes place within TESCO Bank through the usage of
database software. Through this, the respective organisation can ensure storage of internal and
external data. Internal Central System implies that information can be accessed through the usage
of domain name (Plumb and et. al., 2017). With reference to TESCO Bank, staff members can
access data by logging onto organisation's website by entering their respective passwords.
The roles of Informational Technology highlighted above provide aid to the entity in
accomplishment of predetermined goals and objectives within the stipulated course of time. The
manner in which IT services is used by a company decides the success and failure of corporation
at market place.
Ethical and social issues
Information Technology is regarded as the essence of almost all the companies pertaining
to any of the business sectors as it enables smooth flow of information. However, while dealing
with IT, it is essential that corporations ensure that they do not indulge in any kind of social or
ethical issues
Ethical issues are defined as the challenges which contradict business morality. In
addition to this, such kind of challenges tend to provide an overview of right and wrong by way
of examination of available options (Waser and et. al., 2016). With reference to the usage of IT
within a business entity, there can be several ethical as well as social issues. Ethical issues within
the confines of TESCO Bank premise related to usage of IT are briefly explained as follows:-
Breach of privacy: While applying the various concepts of IT within TESCO Bank, it is
essential for the management of company to make sure that the large scale at which data is
exchanged does not lead to breach of privacy. There is a high risk of violation of private data of
groups or individuals. Thus, it is essential that the top management undertakes effective
measures so as to ensure confidentiality of data at all times. One of the most crucial ways in this
regard is to avoid unauthorised revelation of data to third parties.
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Acting against public interest: This consists of a number of consequences such as loss
of data, property etc. (Prasad, 2017). This is a type of ethical issue which prohibits the utility of
IT and associated systems for causing harm to company, staff members, owner, public etc. Such
unethical activities within the premise of TESCO Bank may consist of unethical alteration of any
program or file resulting in increment of business expenditure or wastage of resources.
Social issue can be defined as the course of action undertaken by an individual or
corporation that results in negative influence upon society and its beings. In context of TESCO
Bank, social issues have been identified as follows:-
Identity Theft: This is regarded as one of the most apparent social issues related to the
utility of IT within a company. Hereby, any individual can pretend to be the staff member of
TESCO Bank. The person may thereby send a message to the customers that they have won a
certain sum of money in lottery or thus ask for their details in return of the promise of paying
them off the amount. In case the customers get fooled by such an act and provide their personal
and confidential financial transaction details, the intruder can transact from customer's account.
This is one of the most crucial social issues which need to be combatted well by TESCO Bank
by undertaking strict control and monitoring measures.
Hacking: This can be defined as the unauthorised access to a network. It is regarded as a
social issue because hereby, a third party or intruder enters into the system of a person or
company to obtain their personal information. Thus, this results into breach of confidentiality of
client or staff data, affecting the society in an adverse manner. To deal with this, TESCO Bank
has a team of software engineers and other technical personnel who have full fledged knowledge
of the ways in which hacking can be prevented within the entity.
Networking technologies
Network can be defined as the integration of computer systems, network devices, server,
mainframe, peripheral with a view to enable information sharing within an entity. There are a
number of networks that are taken into use by companies across the globe in accordance with the
organisational requirements (Bawden and Robinson, 2015). TESCO Bank can make use of
networks to facilitate communication within same outlet or across outlets spread across the world
by making use of instant messenger and chat room. In this regard, there are a number of types of
networks, however, WAN, MAN and LAN are generally taken into use. All 3 of them are briefly
described as follows:-
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Basis Local Area Network
(LAN)
Metropolitan Area
Network (MAN)
Wide Area Network
(WAN)
What it is Hereby, the computer
systems are present
close to each other
either in building or
office (Clemons and et.
al., 2017).
These consists of large
networks that tend to set a
connection between
various organisations.
Hereby, 2 or more LANs
are connected to cover
large geographical area.
Distance
covered
LAN operates in a
geographical area of
approx. 2 miles or 200
m.
The connectivity of this
network is confined to an
area of 100 miles or 200
kilometres.
The connectivity of this
network is unconfined
however is acknowledged
to operate within an area of
1000 kilometres. Apart
from this, connectivity
devices are taken into use
for connectivity range
extension.
Speed Hereby, the speed is
acknowledged to be
high as only few
systems are set into
connection with each
other. The speed is
approx. 1000 MBPS,
100 MBPS and 10
Mbps.
Hereby, the speed of
connection is
approximately 100 MBPS
(Sherer, Morana and
Reuter-Opperman, 2018).
Hereby, the speed of
connection is as low as 1.5
MBPS as several systems
are set into connection
which are dependent upon
wireless technologies.
Technologies
used
Technologies such as
wireless, twisted pair
and Fiber Optic Cable
Hereby, technologies like
Fiber Optic Cable, twisted
This is either installed
locally or take into use
technologies such as
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are taken into use here. pair are used. coaxial cable, twisted pair,
wireless.
Importance of intranet and internet
Internet can be defined as the network which can be taken into use by an individual
anywhere and at any point of time. The purposes for which it is accessed by people range from
collecting data, facilitating communication, carrying out financial transactions, execution of
research, e-commerce activities, education etc.
Importance of Internet
 Communication: This is regarded to be one of the most apparent uses of internet which
is used by TESCO Bank to execute face-to-face interaction with clients through the
medium of video conferencing. Also, with the help of video calls, meetings can be done
with employees pertaining to the organisational outlets in different parts of the globe
(Yao and et. al., 2016).
 Research: By this management of TESCO Bank can collect information related with
their competitors and what they are offering to their customers. This information gathered
is accurate as well as effective as it has been carried out through in depth research,
surveys and analysis.
Intranet can be defined as the private or local area network which can be used with a
company and can be linked to gateways outside the confines of company. Intranet can be taken
into use by utilising resources like online data storage, internal communication, resource sharing,
training and development sessions etc.
Importance of Intranet
 Resource sharing: In organisation like TESCO Bank, they keep data safe and secure,
conduct different events and even organise various training programs for employment. It
will be helpful for their employees because knowledge and skill, both will improve in it.
 Better internal communication: For the purpose of internal communication, TESCO
Bank take the help of hubs, sending mails to each employees and memos is also suitable
option.
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Stages of system development life cycle
System Development Life Cycle is explained process of where work is divided into
different groups so that it can be conducted in systematic manner. Each and every stages are
explained in it from being till the end. Different stages which are classified in it are explained
below:
Planning: It is the most important stage in any of the organisation as every things are
discussed in detail in it. Research & Development will need to determine about every single
problem which is being faced by organisation. Also, it is determined that what are the new
system which has been brought within the organisation (Tsohou and et. al., 2015). R&D is liable
for identifying any of the threads, security and integration which takes place within the
organisation.
Analysis: Top level management of the company has the responsibility to collect all of
the information and analyse them in systematic manner. It will enables to know them what are
requirements within the organisation to improve overall performance to achieve goals and target.
System design: Different areas are included in it such a database, network, application
and many more. Here, appointed executives are to check whether all of the requirements meets
or not related to SRS documents. SRS means logical structure where each and every information
are mentioned by using systematic programming languages.
Implementation: Organisations give the responsibility to IT department to design coding
into source code. It is helpful in finding any of the errors and even different types of test report is
prepared in it with the help of test case generation and many more.
Support/Maintenance: It is also one of the most important department because it helps
to provide support or even it tells that how any of the changes in software can be done within the
specific time period.
Analysis & Discussion
IT is explained as the formation of coding and system software through which sharing of
data can be done securely. All of the information in it is being stored and after proper processing
it is further transferred with the help of networking system. In context of TESCO Bank, IT plays
the most important role because it helps to calculate higher percentage of accuracy in any of their
work. They even uses different technologies for sharing their internal information. Also, for the
purpose of sharing information with some of the other organisation latest technologies has been
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helping them a lot. As they covers the retail sector, it becomes important for them to provide
better services to their customers and for that information technology is helping them. It is
because it enables to introduces latest technologies through which chances of error reduces
automatically.
In present scenario, it is necessary for any of the organisation that they must carry on
there business activities with the help of information technology (Xiang, Magnini and
Fesenmaier, 2015). In organisation like TESCO Bank, their customers gets additional advantage
because they can easily do online transactions after purchasing any of the products through
which work becomes easier and faster. In addition, it gives idea that how the policies and
strategies should be formed so that better results can be obtained. Although, there are number of
benefits which can be obtained with the help of IT, it has been analysed that it is one of the most
expensive processes which has to be undertaken by an enterprise. With the implementation of IT
for storage of key information pertaining to clients, employees and business associates, the risk
of hacking inflates for a company. This results in breach of confidentiality which is a significant
threat that restrains extensive application of IT tools by an entity.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be summarised that IT plays and imperative and
pivotal role in success or failure of an enterprise. This helps in number of activities or processes
such as communication, data management, flow of data and many more. Further, it has been
analysed that data retrieval can be done by way of usage of intranet in case information
pertaining to any business aspect is required by the corporation. Apart from this, it is recognised
that the respective organisation possess the essential resources to make use of a number of
software like Sage 50 and SQL for effective retention of important organisational data.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bawden, D. and Robinson, L., 2015. Introduction to information science. Facet Publishing.
Clemons, E. and et. al., 2017. Introduction to Strategy, Information, Technology, Economics,
and Society (SITES) Minitrack.
Plumb, J. J. and et. al., 2017. Technology meets tradition: The perceived impact of the
introduction of information and communication technology on ward rounds in the
intensive care unit. International journal of medical informatics. 105. pp.49-58.
Prasad, P., 2017. A Brief Introduction on Cyber Crime Cases under Information Technology
Act: Details & Analysis.
Rivard, S. and Aubert, B. A., 2015. Information technology outsourcing: An introduction.
In Information Technology Outsourcing (pp. 15-34). Routledge.
Sherer, S., Morana, S. and Reuter-Opperman, M., 2018. Introduction to the Minitrack on IT-
Enabled Healthcare Coordination.
Tarafdar, M., Gupta, A. and Turel, O., 2015. Special issue on'dark side of information
technology use': an introduction and a framework for research. Information Systems
Journal. 25(3). pp.161-170.
Tsohou, A. and et. al., 2015. Managing the introduction of information security awareness
programmes in organisations. European Journal of Information Systems. 24(1). pp.38-
58.
Waser, R. and et. al., 2016. Introduction to nanoionic elements for information technology.
Resistive Switching: From Fundamentals of Nanoionic Redox Processes to Memristive
Device Applications, pp.1-30.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V. P. and Fesenmaier, D. R., 2015. Information technology and consumer
behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet. Journal
of Retailing and Consumer Services. 22. pp.244-249.
Yao, H. W. and et. al., 2016. Introduction for code for design of automatic fire alarm
system. Procedia Engineering. 135. pp.67-71.
Online
Tesco signs £65m datacentre deal to drive online expansion. 2019. [Online]. Available
Through:<https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240163025/Tesco-signs-65m-
datacentre-deal-as-it-expands-online>.
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