Significance of Intranet and Internet in Business

This report discusses the significance of intranet and internet in business, including their role in facilitating communication, improving efficiency, and providing growth opportunities. It also explores the ethical and social issues related to technology and the different types of networking technologies. The report highlights the importance of internet in finance, marketing, and human resource departments.

Introduction to Information
Technology

Abstract
Information technology play an important role in business as it helps the company to
increase the productivity by free flow of communication across the globe and aids management
to take an appropriate decision so as to accomplish goal in a respective time period. As it
provides vast opportunities through online platforms as it helps in generating several customers
from different parts of the country. This report is based on significance of internet and intranet
and also it includes different types of networking technologies. This report comprises of system
development life cycle which help a firm to design a project in an effective and efficient manner
so as to produce desired level of output.
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Table of content
Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................1
Table of content...............................................................................................................................2
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................3
Analysis and Discussion..................................................................................................................3
Discuss the role of IT in business................................................................................................3
Ethical and social issues related to technology............................................................................5
Various types of networking technologies..................................................................................6
Significance of intranet and internet in a business......................................................................8
Elaborate different stages of system development life cycle.......................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Information Technology has played a big role in modernising the concept of business as it
helps in conducting fast operation smoothly and efficiently and store and retrieve data in
computers (Avgerou and Walsham, 2017). Furthermore, it has brought drastic changes in an
economy and save time and cost of corporation by minimising the distance and fast speed of
internet. This report is based on Tesco which is one of the leading brands in UK that deal with
wide range of goods or services such as groceries, food, insurance and home essentials. This
report comprises of role of information technology in business and its several ethical and social
issues. It covers significance of intranet and internet and also provide details regarding several
type of networking technologies. This report includes various stages of system development life
cycle.
Literature Review
According to the view of Ashley Donohoe, 2019 Information technology play a very
important role in an organisation as it helps in conducting fast operation of business in an
efficient manner so as to facilitate smooth operation of activities. It aids in gaining better
customer expectations by providing them with greater ease of convenience and provide a
platform to ecommerce, finance and marketing so as to promote their products globally as it
saves time and cost of a firm and thus build positive reputation.
Analysis and Discussion
Discuss the role of IT in business
The role of information technology has revolutionised the entire concept with
introduction of new and innovative technology that help in conducting fact recording of
transactions in a fair and efficient manner (Hemrungrote, Jakkaew and Assawaboonmee, 2017).
The manager of Tesco promotes introduction of online facilities and online payment and also
emphasise on delivering fast and efficient services to their clients in order to gain maximum
satisfaction. This improve the overall performance and thus saves time and money. One of the
greatest benefits is that it allows to hold meetings through platforms such as video conferences,
skype and allow easy access of information to their employees which not only save travelling
cost but also time. This help the company to save improve the overall efficiency and
accomplishment of task in a short span of time.
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Another major role of information technology is that it helps the respective firm to use
automatic inventory management software that provide assistance to managers in taking
advanced order when there is shortage of supply of particular item and provide relief to workers
to count stock of items. IT provides great ease of convenience to large group of individuals from
different parts of country through e commerce as they can also track their order placed which
increase the potential growth and stream more revenue for business enterprise.
Another aspect of information technology that assist company in taking fast and efficient
decision is done through several tools such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as it helps in
coordinating various activities and provide information regarding inventory control, finance and
accounting, and so on in order to improve the overall efficiency of corporation (Karim, Ammar
and Aziz, 2017).
It also provides the business to expand its operations globally as it renders the facility of
multi-language and exchange of currencies which allow customers at different location to
purchase items easily. Also, information technology also aids company in recruiting a potential
candidate through online platforms which save time and thus hiring a candidate could be the
beneficial to company as it increases growth. Furthermore, information technology provides
effective solutions and help in future growth of business with greater speed and accuracy of
transactions. It also helps in knowing several market trends and understand needs and wants of
customers and also provide an opportunity to firm to promote its business through various social
media platforms, e-commerce sites, publicity and so on among the target audience as it saves
cost and provide vast growth opportunities. In today’s era, Digital marketing is great
phenomenon that help a company to promote its merchandise in all over the world and many
other concepts has been introduced like search engine optimisation, blogging and several apps
that boom the business at a fast pace and provide greater customer satisfaction. In addition to
this, customer relationship management (CRP) has a great scope as it helps in understanding the
needs and preferences of customer which help in building customer loyalty across the globe
(Kneuper, 2017).
The path of digital technology provide a greater success to a business as it is helpful in
various areas such as better network in an around the world, accurate planning in inventory
management and it is considered as the core function in every department such as Finance and
accounting, marketing and production department and human resources which provide a great
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change in a business and boost the overall performance. Therefore, information technology plays
a major role in a business as it helps in improving the efficiency and effectiveness and facilitate
smooth operation that rely on success of a firm.
Ethical and social issues related to technology
The revolutionization of technology has give rise to several ethical and social issues that
possess a big threat for the company and also it hampers the growth opportunities (Leahy, 2017)
Lloyd, 2020). The modern concept of digital era helps individual to store their personal details
and abuse of such privacy details is increasing due to unethical sites as a result various social
media accounts are also being hacked which affect the image. There are number of cases of
violation as access to information by hackers possess a biggest challenge that affect the personal
image across the globe. In addition to this, several computer games are also considered as violent
that slow down the speed of operations and cyber bullying are also increasing. In the context of
Tesco, several ethical and social issues are presented below:
Privacy: It is better understood as the term that require an individual to provide certain
information regarding themselves so as to ensure them against unauthorised access (Lugmayr
and Grueblbauer, 2017). At the same time, information of privacy posses a big threat as there are
chances of misuse of information through unethical sites which create a negative impact on an
individual. Several sites like Spyware, cookies and web bugs that track the behaviour of users
who visit on website and release unsolicited information.
Breakdown of communication: This is one of the major social issue as use of excessive
technology has reduce the communication gap and thus affect the overall operations. In addition
to this, it is regarded as a major source of distraction which lead to several causes of behaviour
like anger, frustration and stress. Lack of social distraction due to more use of internet site is one
of the main reasons that create social issues and result in misunderstandings, reduce sense of
trust and create barriers.
Cyber-crime: Cyber crime has posed a big threat that provide ethical issues for society.
Due to this, several illegal acts are being performed by computers such as embezzlement and
fraud which directly has a negative impact on a business. One of the effective ways to obtain
information is named as phishing, as it involves use of various fake websites and ask personal
details for verification and then user fall in track in which it provides passwords and personal
details that hamper growth opportunities and mislead its information in an unauthorised manner.
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It is one of the major ethical issue that is being practicing everyday as cyber crimes access to
information such as passwords, OTP, credit card numbers and so on.
Hacking: This is most common ethical issue that are done today as it is undertaken due
to several reasons such as various hackers gain information through an unauthorized means and
wishes to damage a system, when the attacked has gain into system, they can run their
programmes in their own way (Price and Shanks, 2016). In today’s era, Hacking is considered as
common phenomenon as it requires a lot of practice and skills that affect the growth of an
organisation and also it creates disruption that is not considered as worth.
Piracy: It is understood as the process of copying software as most of the website
produce information that consist of pirated copies. For corporation, this is considered as a serious
problem as there is not proper use of patent and copyrighted materials. It could be performed in
several ways such as cable privacy, DVD privacy and so on due to the reason as there is
transmission of films and music without permission.
Various types of networking technologies
Networking technology involve transmission of data through various means such as
email and other social media platforms so as to gain large access of information and it also fulfil
the various requirements of an organisation. there are various types of networking technologies
that are given beneath:
Local Area Network (LAN): It is a privately owned network that provide assistance to
organisation as it covers very small area of network as well as it is connected through central
device (Richesson, Andrews and Hollis, 2019). This type of network is installed with the help of
wireless technologies as it covers very small distance and it is controlled and monitored by an
individual but at the same time there are several issues related to software and hardware failures
which might affect the internal operations of business enterprise.
Wide Are Network (WAN): It is one of the essential types of network as it covers a large
geographical area and connection is provided through telephone lines and radio waves. Also, it
provides an ease of communication as it provides global network but there are several
disruptions in between due to the reason that it is connected through several devices and multiple
wires as well as it incurs huge cost as compared to other types of network. It also helps in sharing
fast access of information among large group of individuals across the globe.
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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): This type of network is greater than LAN but is limited to a
specific region such as particular building as it covers an area of few miles (Roshan and Rao,
2016). The type of medium used in this is optical fibres and cables which generally covers
metropolitan cities of 50 km range and thus fastest speed of communication. But this also posses
a threat as system security possess a challenge due to hackers as well as it requires more cables
to enable connection from different places. Furthermore, this is considered appropriate network
because it covers large area of city and provide fastest speed and thus improve the efficiency of
an organisation.
Virtual Private Network (VPN): This type of public network help in transmission of data
as it is less costly and provide great storage capacity. One of the major advantage is that it is a
flexible mode of networking and provide a security to the network but at the same time it possess
a threat of virus and malware that could harm the operating system as there is chance of leakage
of information.
Distinguish between them are as follows:
Local area network Metropolitan area network Wide area network
Cover a limited area of
network that range from 1 km
to 10 km.
Cover a particular city or town
that range within 100 km.
Cover a large geographical
area that ranges beyond 100
km.
Speed is high because of
limited area.
Medium speed because it
covers town and cities.
Accuracy of speed is low
because it covers high
geographical area.
A network generally covers
home or office.
A network usually just covers
a city and town.
Here, it covers huge network
of a particular state or country.
The ownership of LAN is by
private companies.
In this case, the ownership
transferred is either public or
private individuals.
The ownership of WAN is
distribution network.
It is considered as the most
inexpensive type of
networking.
Here, installation cost is
moderate due to the reason
that its coverage is particular
town or city.
This require high set up cost
as compared to LAN and
MAN.
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Significance of intranet and internet in a business
Today in a modern era, internet play an important role in a business as it provides a
connection of business and clients from different parts of the country. Also, digital networking is
at a boom and provide vast future opportunities through several modes such as ecommerce,
internet banking and so on (Rybina and Rybin, 2016). All these facilities provide a great ease of
convenience among the large group of individuals and facilitate better business communication
to speed up the production process and thus improve the overall efficiency.
In a digital era, it provides vast opportunities to various business to make their business
online through new and innovative ideas as it increases the overall performance of business
enterprise. Internet is considered as core part for business development as it considers every
aspect such as finance, marketing and human resource department. In case of finance, internet
provide fast recording of transactions and provide net banking facilities that help corporation to
transfer funds electronically from different parts of the country. In addition to this, it helps
company to save cost as advertisements are done through social media such as Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter so as to gain attention of clients across the globe. Also, various
international meetings are done through skype which save cost and also assist the company to
hire a potential candidate which help the company to get desired level of output.
Furthermore, online classes and training and development programmes are conducted for
employees so as to train them and thus increase the productivity and profitability of a business
enterprise. With high speed and accuracy of data, internet help in conducting fast operation of a
business which takes fiction of seconds to transfer online payments and thus provide comfort to
everyone in the world. The manager of Tesco promotes various facilities to make their business
online and this provide an enormous opportunity as it could meet the expectation and desires of
clients across the globe. In addition to this, the changing business environment facilitate the
respective firm to recruit talented staff with excellent communication skills through online via as
it help in gaining positive reputation in different parts of the country and thus gain competitive
advantage by promoting its products through various social media platform and its respective
websites.
The internet facilities help in reduce the cost through outsourcing services as provide
assistance to a business to focus on core functions that provide future growth and also aids
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business to expand globally. Promoting the business online boost sales and increase profitability
which provide future opportunities for business to invest globally.
The intranet facilitates smooth flow of internal communication and deal with day to day
operations of business as it provides a great opportunity of sharing information (Segal and
Teasdale, 2018). In addition to this, it enhances the effectiveness of leadership and provide open
discussions which ensure a greater success in future. Excellent communication skills help the
company to assign the roles and responsibilities among their subordinates so that they could
work with greater zeal and help in accomplishment of goal in a short span of time. Also, the
company recognise and provide rewards to their employees in order to maximise their
satisfaction level and thus retain them for longer time.
Therefore, both internet and intranet has opened the door for corporation and provide
enormous opportunities to expand it globally as it incurs less cost and maximise the productivity
by improving the overall efficiency of operations.
Elaborate different stages of system development life cycle
There are seven stages of system development life cycle which are presented below:
Planning: This is regarded as the first and foremost step which help an organisation to
make an appropriate decision with new and innovative ideas and also identify various resources
that are required for a particular project. Better planning also helps in proper division of work in
according to specialisation and assist a company to make their products better so as to achieve
competitive advantage.
System Analysis: At this stage, it is necessary to determine the feasibility of project with
proper planning and coordination and communication as it help firm to create a long-term vision
and mission to facilitate smooth operation of business (Sharma and et.al., 2018).
System Design: this stage emphasises on proper designing of system by understanding the
demand and requirements of customers and also it determine various elements such as number of
components, architecture and so on as it help in forming a proper functioning in an efficient
manner.
Development: In this stage, the actual work begins as there is proper organising of work
by following an appropriate system and training is provided to staff which help in increasing
their knowledge skills and inculcate confidence among them and also make them capable of
handling sophisticated machines.
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Implementation: This phase involves the hectic activity of the project as it consist of
preparation of specifications, contractors and drawings take place so as to maintain smooth
operations of business and also it provide immediate solutions to their clients.
Testing: This aspect is very essential as it provide integration of system which is
comprises of different inputs as it is checked by special team of experts which produce a
desirable output (Shollo and Galliers, 2016). This is done to ensure maximum customer
satisfaction and thus aids in generating a positive brand image across the globe.
System maintenance: In a changing era, it is essential to develop a project with advanced
technology by changing old hardware and software parts that help in achieving a significant
position as firm make use of new components.
Therefore, an excellent communication strategy and proper coordination help in
achieving the objectives and thus facilitate smooth operations of business. The manager has to
adapt several changes in a firm so as to increase productivity and profitability in an efficient
manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above information, it can be comprehended that introduction of information
technology has provided a greatest gift to an economy by bringing new and advancement of
technology as it has made life easier to every individual and also revolutionise the society. There
are several ethical issues that are being faced by business which tarnish the image of business
and thus reduce the productivity. It has been analysed that different stages of system
development play a major role in making the business modernise as proper planning and
coordination help in accomplishment of task in an effective manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Classroom to enhance SDL cognitive skills: A case study of introduction to information
technology course. In 2017 International Conference on Digital Arts, Media and
Technology (ICDAMT) (pp. 200-204). IEEE.
Karim, N.S.A., Al Ammar, F. and Aziz, R., 2017, September. Ethical software: Integrating code
of ethics into software development life cycle. In 2017 International Conference on
Computer and Applications (ICCA) (pp. 290-298). IEEE.
Kneuper, R., 2017. Sixty years of software development life cycle models. IEEE Annals of the
History of Computing. 39(3). pp.41-54.
Leahy, R.L., 2017. Cognitive therapy techniques: A practitioner's guide. Guilford Publications.
Lloyd, I., 2020. Information technology law. Oxford University Press.
Lugmayr, A. and Grueblbauer, J., 2017. Review of information systems research for media
industry–recent advances, challenges, and introduction of information systems research
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Price, R. and Shanks, G., 2016. A semiotic information quality framework: development and
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Roshan, D.R. and Rao, K.S., 2016. Intranet Design Strategies. International Journal of Electrical
& Computer Engineering (2088-8708). 6(3).
Rybina, G.V. and Rybin, V.M., 2016, September. New intelligent control systems architectures
based on dynamic intelligent systems. In 2016 IEEE 8th International Conference on
Intelligent Systems (IS) (pp. 409-414). IEEE.
Segal, Z.V. and Teasdale, J., 2018. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression. Guilford
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Sharma, R., and et.al., 2018, June. Modeling Abstract Concepts For Internet of Everything: A
Cognitive Artificial System. In 2018 13th APCA International Conference on Automatic
Control and Soft Computing (CONTROLO) (pp. 340-345). IEEE.
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Online
Ashley Donohoe. 2019. Role of information technology in business. [ Online]. Available
through: <https://bizfluent.com/about-6629439-information-technology-international-
business.html>
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