Introduction to Information Technology - Morrison

Introduction to
Information
Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Purpose..................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Background...........................................................................................................................1
2 Literature review...........................................................................................................................2
2.2 Information Technology and its role in retail business in general........................................2
2.3 Network Technology, different types in general...................................................................2
2.4 Ethics and social issue of using technology in general.........................................................2
2.5 The importance of Intranet and Internet in business in general............................................3
3 Analysis and Discussion...............................................................................................................3
3.1 Role of information Technology in Morrisons.....................................................................3
3.1.1 Type of different information system in Morrisons...........................................................4
3.2 Types of networking Technologies that used in Morrison ...................................................4
3.3 Ethics and Social issue in Morrisons ...................................................................................5
3.3 The importance of Intranet and Internet in Morrisons.........................................................6
3.4 List and explain the different stage of system development life cycle ................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is defined as a business sector which deals in hardware, software
and communication that is concerned with transmitting of the information which ease the
communication process. In other words it can be defined as the use of computer, networking and
other devises that help in securing and storing all forms of electronic data (De Vries, 2016). IT
also includes the data of management in the from of text, image, voice etc. Moreover it also
involves the things related to internet. To study this report, Morrison a largest chain of
supermarket is taken which deals in product range like clothing, books, food and drinks. The
following report will cover the importance of information technology in retail sector along with
social and ethical issues that concern to business. Further importance of internet and intranet will
be discussed along with different stages related with system development life cycle.
1.1 Purpose
The main purpose of this report is to increase the knowledge in context of information
and technology. This study will tell about the different information system in Morrison and how
the company is making use of such technology in order to attain long time success.
1.2 Background
Morrison is a largest chain of supermarket in UK. It was founded by William Morrison in
the year 1899 having the headquarter in England, UK. William has first started a small business
of egg and butter in England and then this company was took up by his son. Thereafter he
opened s small self service store in Bradford (Devaraj, Ow and Kohli, 2013). Then the company
was successful in opening the first supermarket by the name of Victoria in 1961. In the year
Morrison become a public limited company and got listed in stock exchange of London
(Company History, 2019). The company is having around 498 superstores all across the
England. Wales and Scotland. Morrison is employing approx 110,000 employees all over the
world and is also successful in serving 11 million of the customers. It deals in products like
clothing, books, magazines, food and drink etc.
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2 Literature review
2.2 Information Technology and its role in retail business in general
According to Emily Pribanic, 2018 Information technology plays a great role in retail
industry. As technology is moving at the fast pace it is required for the company to move
accordingly in order to attain success. With the help of information technology in retail sectors,
customers are now able to get satisfied as they don't have to wait for a long in the line to make
the purchase. Moreover the payment process too become very easy which results in fast
transaction and increased sales volume. Moreover earlies a lot of time was wasted in prie
auditing but now with the help of IT, products are automatically scanned which creates more
accurate pricing of the products. By this practices customers are not over or under charged which
help them to retain for a long period.
2.3 Network Technology, different types in general
According to Margaret Rouse, 2019 Networking refers to the practice in which the data
are exchanged through a medium of a information system. Networking technology enables the
exchange of data between lrge and small information system and is used by many business but
commonly used in educational institutes. There are three different types of network. LAN refers
to the local area network which is owned privately by the companies and covers only a small
area like office, school etc. MAN refers to metropolitan area network which covers the large area
than a local network which means they extend upto 100 km of the area. Lastly, WAN refers to
the telecommunication network that covers a wide area. They connect the country or can say
across the world. All these three network are beneficial to the organisation in different context as
this make sharing of file from one place to another very easily and it no time which will benefit
the organisation to share information easily.
2.4 Ethics and social issue of using technology in general
According to Job Timmermans, Catherine Flick, 2016, ethical issues are those problems
where a business firm is required to choose a single alternative out of two choices where as
Social issues are those aspects which harms society and people living in it either in a direct or
indirect manner. Both these issues affect the working of an organisation and also decreases the
brand image of the company. The information shared by the company must be valuable to the
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customers and must not have any errors. Other than this organisation must value each and every
employees so that they contribute to the overall success of an organisation.
2.5 The importance of Intranet and Internet in business in general
According to Ian Linton, 2017 both internet and intranet has become most common tool
which helps in supporting the communication and collaboration through out the world.
Companies by making use of proper internet are now able to sell the products to the distant
customers. Moreover internet has made the process of communication very easy which helps in
interaction and gathering the information about the customers and their requirement. The using
of internet within an organisation will help in developing the own networks. The use of intranet
in the organisation is able to reduce the errors which results in increasing the efficiency of the
work. It also helps the employees in finding the information quickly and easily as per their needs.
With the help of intranet the specific file can be access by number of multiple employees which
tends to fast completion of the work.
3 Analysis and Discussion
3.1 Role of information Technology in Morrisons
The role of information technology is increasing rapidly with an increase in globalisation. With
the advancement in technology companies are able to change their working pattern which result
in success of an organisation. Company in order to expand their operations require a use of
internet and for this requirement it become necessary to invest in information technology. In
relation with Morrisons a retail business, the role of IT in its success is mentioned below:
 Promoting the products offered by the company: With the help of information
technology, company is able to contact large number of consumers all over the world in
no time. This only helps the Morrison to be in touch with customers and tell them about
their product specifications and types. By doing so company is able to gain a competitive
advantage over the other companies which results in increasing the profitability (Held,
2016). Manager of Morrisons must look after the different platform of IT and make
suitable strategies so as to promote the product of the company which result in sales and
overall increase of he revenue.
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 Helps in communication: With the help of IT, Morrisons is able to communicate within
the organisation and also with their customers 24*7. Moreover communication helps in
improving the satisfaction of customers as now customers are able to know the
specification of product easily by looking at the website.
 Management of inventory: Earlier the cost of managing the inventory is very lengthy
and costly process but with the help of IT, inventory can be easily track through its
purchase cycle. This help a lot to Morrison as it reduced their cost which earlier were
incurred in the management. Moreover it also helps the manager of Morrison to know
about which product need to be kept in the stock or which product supply need to be
stopped (Laudon and Laudon, 2015)
3.1.1 Type of different information system in Morrisons
Organisation is divided into operation, middle and upper level and the information required for
each level differs with one another. There are different type of information system in Morrison
which are explained below:
 Management Information System: This system consist up of software and hardware
which are considered as backbone of the organisation. this system gathers the information
through different sources analyse the information and then helps in decision making
process. It is very beneficial to Morrison as the main purpose of MIS is to help in
decision making process by keeping all the data up to date and accurate. The information
that bis stored by MIS are made available to the managers for further completion of the
report.
 Decision Support System: It is defined as computer program application that evaluate
the data and present to the users so that they are able to make effective decision. It helps
Morrison to compile the information so that problem can be solved timely which assist
in decision making.
3.2 Types of networking Technologies that used in Morrison
Network technology is defined as the technology by which two or more computers are connected
with each other that helps in effective communication. The connection which is established is by
using the cable media or wireless media. There are three kinds of network in general namely
LAN,MAN and WAN and are explained below:
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 LAN: It is defined as the local area network that connects computers and other
networking device that helps in communicating and sharing of the information with the
each other. The size of LAN is small so this technology is only able to connect will
limited number of system (Magrabi and et. al., 2013). Morrison can use this network in
its working as the implementation cost is not too much and also it enables to connect with
the system that provides high speed.
 MAN: It stands for metropolitan area network that is a new class of network and have a
large coverage area than LAN. Through this network the system in the area or city can be
connected with the each other. One of the most important component of this networking
is security and standardisation. Both are important because information is sent from one
end to another which is very important to be reliable. It provides very high speed but
managing it properly is very difficult. Morrison can use this networking in their
operations as being a large organisation it is required for the company to remain
interconnect with the each other.
 WAN: It referred as a wide area network that is extended to the countries all around the
world. Computer connected with the help of public networks and are also connected
through leased lines and satellites. It offers slow speed and is a quite expensive because
the connectivity of this network is worldwide. Morrison can use this networking to
connect with all other branches across the country and also with customers throughout
the world (Okumus, 2013). Moreover by setting up the WAN data can be transferred
from one place to another with full privacy. As it provides extra protection to the files
which are transferred.
Below mentioned is the difference between different networking:
LAN MAN WAN
 It stands for local area
network
 The distance covered
by this network is only
2500 meters.
 The speed providing by
this network is high
 It stands for
metropolitan area
network
 It covers a distance of
200 km
 Transmission speed is
 It stands for Wide area
network
 It has unlimited
coverage as it connects
countries together.
 The transferring speed
provided by WAN as
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depended upon the
package.
high about 100 Mbps its connectivity is
worldwide.
3.3 Ethics and Social issue in Morrisons
Ethical issues is defined as those problems in which an individual have to chose one
alternative among the two which is right fro the company. Choosing the correct alternative can
be termed as ethical for the company where as choosing of incorrect alternative termed as
unethical issue. There are some of the ethical issues which can decline the image of Morrison
that results in decreased sales and revenues. Some of the ethical issues are explain below:
 It is very important for the manager of Morrison to keep all the information of their
employees and customers private. As any information leaked out can be harmful to both
the person concerned and the organisation too. Moreover leaking of the information will
result in decreasing of the trust of employees among the company and will also impact
upon the wrong of an organisation (Rajaraman, 2018).
 The information provided by Morrisons to both their customers as well as employees
must be reliable. It should not be fake as further this results in decreasing the customer
base of the company and would also led to decreases in sales as well as revenue of the
company.
Social issues are the one that have a negative impact on the society and harms the people living
there in direct and indirect manner. These issue has impact upon the working of Morrison and
also affect the growth an success of the company. Below mentioned are some of the issues:
 The first issue faced is shipping as sometimes buyers want a specific product and it is
unable to reach destination due to some of the reason or wrong product dispatched by the
intermediator which will result in additional cost bear by the customers. So the manager
of Morrison must have good management team so that they able to know about customers
need and specification and delivered the product accordingly.
 Customers always have the fear of getting cheated by the seller as the company directly is
not dealing with the customers. They have some of the intermediators in between that
some time do a fraud in terms of quantity or quality of product which results in
decreasing the image of the company.
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3.3 The importance of Intranet and Internet in Morrisons
The Internet refers to the global computer network which transmit the data by using the
help of various forms of media. It facilitates the easy transfer of the information which helps in
increasing the standardisation of the communication. With the help of internet Morrison is able
to perform its operation more effectively and with the help of digital media they are easily able
to transfer the information to their customers. Moreover the use of internet has reduced the cost
of traditional forms of communication and eliminates the waste and able to improve the customer
services. With the help of email and and instant messaging, communication process became very
easy which led to timely completion of the work. It has benefited a lot to Morrisons as now they
are able to sell products globally by taking the payment online (Schwalbe, 2015). It also help the
company to know about which product of the company is in high demand and enables the
company to formulate the strategies of marketing which helps the company to have competitive
advantage over the others.
Intranet is defined as the specific internal network of the company that make use of
software programmes and only employees is able to access it. It uses the technology of internet
and are providing some of the benefits to the organisation. Intranet is used by Morrison which
enable them to share the information that helps in internal communication and also smoothen the
process of business. It helps in automatize the operation which helps the company to make
business decision more efficiently. Through intranet company is able to recruit and retain the
most capable person that will help in making a unique position in the market place. Moreover the
intranet will help Morrison to increase the productivity as through this company is able to reduce
the errors.
3.4 List and explain the different stage of system development life cycle
System development life cycle is referred to a system of different phases that helps in creating a
software or hardware or combination of both in order to meet the customers satisfaction. System
referred to the set of interacting component that forms a integrated software. Six stages of system
development life cycle are mentioned below:
 System planning: It is the most important step in creating a succeeful system. In such
phase manager of Morrison decides what they want to achieve and also tries to solve the
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probelm of the company. After proper analysis company has three choices whether to
create a new system, modify or leaving system as it is.
 System analysis: The requirement should be determined and document according to the
expectation of company from the system. Morrison can do this by checking social,
economical, technological and organisational feasibility of system. If the needs are
satisfied at this stage only then further system will be proceed.
 System design: This phase came after understanding the requirements of the customers.
This phase defines the level of security, modules and types of data that undergone
through the system.
 Implementation and deployment: This phase comes after understanding the
requirement and specification of system. After finalising the design, the system get ready
to deployed and installed at the premises of the customers (Waser, 2012).
 System testing and integration: Here in this phase different components and
subsystems and are integrated and then system is introduced to various inputs. Testing is
very important in order to ensure the satisfaction of the customers and for that knowledge
f coding and hardware configuration is very important.
 System maintenance: Once the system passes the testing stage, periodic maintenance
will be carried out so that system can work properly without any errors.
CONCLUSION
As per the above discussion it can be sum up that information technology plays an crucial
role in the success of an organisation. As through this company is able to reach large number of
people at a time. Different social and ethical issues can reduce the image of company in market
place. With the help of network technologies, organisation can communicate with their other
branch and desired customers easily. Internet and intranet both plays a different role and thus
contributes in the success of an organisation. the stages of system development life cycle help in
developing a successful system which enables the company to gain competitive advantage.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
De Vries, M. J., 2016. Teaching about technology: An introduction to the philosophy of
technology for non-philosophers. Springer.
Devaraj, S., Ow, T. T. and Kohli, R., 2013. Examining the impact of information technology and
patient flow on healthcare performance: A Theory of Swift and Even Flow (TSEF)
perspective. Journal of Operations Management. 31(4). pp.181-192.
Held, G., 2016. Introduction to light emitting diode technology and applications. Auerbach
Publications.
Laudon, K. C. and Laudon, J. P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Magrabi, F. and et. al., 2013. A comparative review of patient safety initiatives for national
health information technology. International journal of medical informatics. 82(5).
pp.e139-e148.
Okumus, F., 2013. Facilitating knowledge management through information technology in
hospitality organizations. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology. 4(1). pp.64-
80.
Rajaraman, V., 2018. Introduction to Information Technology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Waser, R. ed., 2012. Nanoelectronics and information technology: advanced electronic materials
and novel devices. John Wiley & Sons.
Online
Company History. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.morrisons-corporate.com/about-us/company-history/>
Linton, I., 2017. Business Uses of the Internet, Intranets & Extranets. [Online]. Available
Through: <https://bizfluent.com/info-8108761-business-uses-internet-intranets-
extranets.html>
Pribanic, E., 2018. Role of Technology in Retail Industry. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.techfunnel.com/information-technology/role-of-technology-in-retail-
industry/>
Rouse, M., 2019. Networking (computer). [Online]. Available Through:
<https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/networking>
Timmermans, T., Flick, C., 2016. Ethics of Emerging Information and Communication
Technologies: On the implementation of responsible research and innovation. [Online].
Available Through: <https://academic.oup.com/spp/article/44/3/369/2525576>
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