Introduction to Information Technology and its Impact on Business Operations

This report discusses the importance of information technology in business operations, including the use of different types of application software, ethical and social issues, networking technologies, impact of artificial intelligence, and the stages of software development life cycle. The report focuses on HSBC as a case study.

CFPBUS003
Introduction to
Information
Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Discuss the different types of application software that could be used by businesses
organisations...............................................................................................................................3
Ethical and social issues are increasingly becoming important in the digital world. Identify
and discuss the importance of them to run businesses,...............................................................4
Identifying and differentiating among various types of networking technologies.....................5
Explain the impact of the artificial intelligence in enhancing the business operations...............7
Explain the different stages of the software development life cycle ..........................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The term information technology refers to the everything that the business organisations
uses computers for the information technology which is building the communications networks
for the various business enterprises. The information technology helps the organisations in the
various different ways such as safeguarding data and information, creating and administrating
database etc. the one of the most important fundamental advantage of the information technology
is the ability to enhance the organisations competitive advantage in the market place by
facilitating strategic thinking and knowledge transfer. Here in this report the banking sector is
been taken into consideration. The HSBC is the company chosen for this report which is the
British multinational investment bank and financial services holding company. It is established
in London. It has offices in 64 countries with serving around 40 million of customers(Asif and
Singh, 2020). This report will included various topics such as different types of application
software which can be used by the business organisation, ethical and social issues within the
business enterprises, identify and then differentiate the various types of networking technologies,
impact of artificial intelligence and at last explain the different stages of the software
development life cycle.
TASK
Discuss the different types of application software that could be used by businesses organisations
In terms if the information technology, the application software means the computer
programmes which are designed in such a way that it helps the individual or group of people to
perform the activity. As the world is changing and improving in the technology it is very
important that the business organisations uses the various applications which will help is fas
processing of the operations of the organisation and it will help the company in attracting
customers because of using the latest technology. There are different types of the applications
software which can be used by the company and it will help the organisation which are discussed
below;

 Database software- This is a types of the software which is utilised to create, edit and
maintain the database files and records, enabling easier files and record creation, data
entry, updating and reporting. This kind of application software is available both as a
commercial product and open source software. The commercial option has an benefit of
the vendor support whereas the open source software may lack inj this kind of support, as
they make up for it with the more customization and free downloads. As in the bank
sector the company needs to maintain the records of the millions of people. There is a lot
of transactions which are important for the company. This kind of the applications
software is very much useful for the HSBC. This is will in maintaining the records of the
each customer and various transactions held in the business organisation(Susanto and
Chen, 2017).
 Canopus EpaySuite- It is considered as an advanced applications software which helps
the banks and the other financial institutions with the automate and streamline payment
services operations. This software is very easy to use and the flexible. Also it is
considered as the customer friendly software which encompasses industry standards and
it is easily configurable. It is considered as one of the reliable software for the banking
sector as there is lot of information which is required that they are kept secure. It is very
important for the HSBC to utilise such software within the organisations and its smooth
functioning of the business through such application software.
 Time tracking software- This type of the application software help the business
organisations in managing their time with an effective way. This helps in keeping the
track on all the operations of the business organisations. The HSBC is using the right tool
for managing its time and it allows to use all the useful resources in an effective and
efficient manner. It is very important for the company to manage its time so that all the
activities can be performed on the right time with the right use of resource(Kim and Park,
2018).
Ethical and social issues are increasingly becoming important in the digital world. Identify and
discuss the importance of them to run businesses,
Ethical issues- This is concerned with those elements which are being used for the purpose of
storing, manipulating and fetching all the information at a minimum level. Advancement in the
IT sector is found as the important aspect as it provide the knowledge related to the privacy and

security to the management of organisation. In the context of HSBC Holdings, below discussed
are some ethical issues which are faced by them:
 Security- The Banks are considered in the sector which provides service to its customers.
It is very important for the banking sector to store the right information of its customers
for providing them with the financial facilities to secure their money in the bank.
Excessive observation result to the ethical issue for HSBC bank. They are restricted not
to track the usage of their customers and if the organisation perform relevant activity, it
must justify the the surveillance(Mills and Gay, 2019).
 Personal privacy- It is consider as the most important concern for the people of
customers of HSBC Holdings as they are providing their financial services to their
customers by the use of advancement of technology such as internet, mobile banking and
many more. Hence, it become the challenge for the management of HSBC holdings to
maintain the privacy of their clients otherwise the disclosure of any information result in
the ethical issue for the business.
Social issues- These are concerned with the issues related to the external factor of the business
organisations which can directly impact the operations and the activities of the business
enterprise. Some of the social issues which are been faced by the HSBC are discussed below:
 Online banking- The most of the activities and the functions of the banks are performed
by the use of the internet or online transactions. This can create the more chances of
frauds and hacking. The personal information or the data stored with the bank can be
hacked and misuse by the any person or the third party which can create issue for the
bank. It is very important for the HSBC holdings to adopt the software which has a strong
privacy policy so that it help them to protect the secured data with them only. This will
help the organisation in creating a good image in front of the customers(Ueda, and et.al.,
2020).
 Identity theft- when any kind of the personal information of the customer is misused by
the other person for any illegal practices then it is related to the intensity theft. HSBC
Holding plc is required to store the data of their customers in a well careful manner so
that no one can try to theft the data and organisation can successfully save their
customers from fraud along with saving the social image of the organisation.

Identifying and differentiating among various types of networking technologies.
The network technologies involves the usage of the data systems to manage and deliver
digital resources over a computer network. The various business organisations use the computer
hardware and system software which maintains a network by creating the need to specialist who
can manage the such platforms of the networking. It is very important for the business
organisations to keep themselves updated with the latest technology in order to attract customers
and as well as for the smooth functioning of the business enterprise. Communication and
measures are the basis, on which the classification of network technology has been done. the
networking technologies is been divided into two parts which is explained below:
On the basis of transmission or communication
 Point to point- Sometimes, the receiver and sender are in direct contact. In this case, the
transmission of data can be done by the help of guided medium which are being used for
the wireless network.
 Multi point- This technology involve more than one receiver or nodes which are
connected with the sender by the use of several mediums in the linear manner(Hou and
et.al., 2017).
On the basis of scale
 LAN ( local area network) – It is referred to as the group of computer network devices
connected together. This network involve several devices such as mobiles, laptops and
computers which can connect in a small range of area i.e. 100 meters to 10 kms. This
network depend on the belongings such as users, error rates, speed, range and many
more.
 WAN (wide area network) -This is not restricted to the geographical locations. It refers
to the network under which a number of MANs are jointly united by the use of
networking devices, it makes a different route of networking which is known as Wide
Area network. It has been analysed that there are two types of WAN i.e. public and
private.
 MAN ( metropolitan area network)- It is considered as the larger network that can
spans the several buildings within the same city or the town. The best example of MAN
is IUB network(Yuan and et.al., ., 2017).

Basis LAN MAN WAN
Meaning It is the connection of
the various computers
within the small range
of areas.
This connects the large
areas such as cities or
towns.
This includes the
connection of the huge
locations or the
nations.
Ownership Its ownership in the
hand of the private
individuals.
Here the ownership
can be in the hand of
both public or private
individuals.
It is owned by the both
private and public.
Speed IT has advanced
velocity because of
coverage of the small
area.
This has the average
speed .
It cover almost 100000
km, which result in the
less or low speed.
Allows It allows individual set
of the instrumentation
to perform the process
of communication.
It primarily allows
several computers to
act coinciding.
It allows large units of
computers to passing
the information at
same time.
Fault tolerance This has more break
allowance.
It has less fault
endurance.
It has less fault
tolerance as compared
to the other two.
Explain the impact of the artificial intelligence in enhancing the business operations
The artificial intelligence is the ability of the computer systems or a robot controlled by
the computer to do the task which are usually performed by the human beings because they
require human intelligence. It is the branch of the computer sciences which emphasizes the
development of intelligence machines, thinking and working like human beings. This involves a
training process of making a computer learn through various programming and technologies.
Artificial intelligence itself is the technology which is used by the various organisations to make

the task easier for the humans. As the world is changing itself and the various companies are
adopting the new technologies. The use of the new technology and change in the business
organisation has v=becoming the important aspect to attract customers. It is very important for
the banking sector to keep themself updated with the latest technology because this sector
involves various transactions which are very confidential and require a high security and a good
software to solve the problems which can arise at any pointy of time. As Hsbc requires the
artificial intelligence for its business and it can impact in the various ways which are discussed
below;
 Simplifying the customer support- As the chatbots are taking over the control of the
service which is need to provide to its customers. This is improving the customer support
services for the business organisations. The various questions of the customers can be
answered quickly because of this technology which can help the company in creating the
good image in front of the customers by supporting them instantly(Liebowitz, , 2019).
 Improve security- As the banking sector requires lot of security because they carry the
lot of information of the customers. It is very important for the HSBC to secure that
information with them only. This requires a good technology and the artificial
intelligence help in performing that. This will impact in providing the best security for
the information and the other security for the organisation.
 Reducing operational cost- The use of the artificial intelligence is expected that it help
in reducing the operational cost of the businesses. This use of the technology save the
time and money of the organisation which help them in managing the various activities at
the same time. Also it eliminate the human error which is considered the most important
aspect in every business organisation(Peng, 2017).
Explain the different stages of the software development life cycle
The software development life cycle is the process which is been used by the various industries
for the aim of developing, designing and adopting the higher quality of the software within the
various business enterprises. Every business organisation want to develop such software which
can fulfil the requirements of the customers within the time period and cost effective. The
software development life cycle involve 7 stages which are explained below;

 Planning- This is the first stage of the software development life cycle where it is
decided that what is needed. The planning plays the important role in the software
delivery life cycle where the team estimates the cost and identifies the requirement of the
new software in the business organisation(Kumar and et.al., 2018).
 Feasibility or requirement analysis- This is the second step which included the
gathering of the maximum information from the client requirements for the product.
Assembling the needs means to talking with the several stakeholders and look for the
relevant data. At this stage, the project team members talk with the relevant stakeholders
for the purpose of analysing their requirements.
 Design and prototyping- This is the third stage of software development cycle, the
developer or designer develop model which present the characteristics or map which
provide solution to the organisation. It is very important for developer to present the
model for collecting early feedback and informations regarding the various technical
decisions(Leben, 2017).

 Coding and implementation- This is the stage where there is requirement of translating
the design into the computer language. This is a stage where the task are divided into
modules and assigned to various different developers. These developers then start
establishing the entire system by using the code and programming languages.
 Testing- Once the software is developed by the developers then the software is been
tested in the different environment. The entire system is been tested whether it is
functioning properly or not. It is done to ensure that the entire application or the software
is working according to the requirement in the business organisation and is it fulfilling
the need of the customer as well(Ahram, and et.al., 2017).
 Deployment- Once the testing stage is done and then the product is made ready for the
deployment which means that it is released for the use of the customers the size of the
project determines the complexity of the deployment. The user of the software are
provided with the training so that they can learn the sue of the various software in a
effective manner.
 Maintenance- At the end, after implementation of software, the developer look for any
fault and defects. In the case, they found any fault, they are required to prepare a bug
report and at the form of fixture, it is necessary for considering all the possibility when
the development cycle starts again. To figure out as to whether this phase is working
well, it is that the developers are able to identify the problem quickly and resolve
it(Alshumaimri, Aldridge and Audretsch, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that it is very important for the business
organisation to keep themself updated with the latest technology to imp[rove the operations and
functions of the business enterprises the informational technology is building communications
networks for the company. This included the various aspects such as safeguarding data and
informations, creating and administrating the database. There are various types of application
software which can be used by the HSBC in order to smooth functioning. As the banking sector
requires to secure their information and as well as customers personal information. It is very

important to make use of the right software. As in the digital world, there is lot f ethical and
social issues which are faced by the company such as fraud and hacking which can occur at any
time. The network technologies involves the usage of the data systems to manage and deliver
digital resources over a computer network. There are various types of networking technologies
such as LAN, WAN, MAN. The artificial intelligence is the most important aspect for the
business organisation. AI is defines as making the computer work the tasks of the human beings.
It makes the task easier. Furthermore, it has been analysed that the software development life
cycle include 7 stages which are being followed by the developers in order to doing development
of software.

REFERENCES
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