Introduction to Information Technology

This document provides an introduction to information technology and its role in business success. It discusses ethical and social issues faced by companies, different types of networking technology, the importance of social media, and the system development life cycle. The document also includes an abstract, literature review, analysis and discussion, conclusion, and references.

Introduction
to
Information
Technology
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Abstract
Information technology is using by each and every company now a day because through
it they able to gain numbers of opportunities which boost business. ASDA conducting their
business operations and functions through advance information technology which help them in
managing their work properly. At respective company information technology play major role
which lead to succession of business such as Customer database management, Maintain
transparency and tracking and so on. But there are some ethical and social issues they faced
while conduct business like Discrimination and harassment, Security of client/ staff data or
privacy etc..There are also several networking technology such as WLAN, PAN and SAN which
help in developing internet connectivity at workplace as well as in order to implement IT firm
my adopt stage of system development life cycle. There are several advantages and
disadvantages of social media and investing in IT, which are essential to evaluate before
adopting.
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Table of Contents
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................................4
1. ............................................................................................................................................4
2. ............................................................................................................................................5
3. ............................................................................................................................................6
4. ............................................................................................................................................7
5. ............................................................................................................................................8
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION.................................................................................................10
1. ..........................................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Information technology is considered as design, study, implementation, development and
support of computer based information system, that will include software application as well as
computer hardware (Baron and Spulber, 2018). It is also determined as subset of communication
and information technology. Organisation selected for this report is ASDA which is a subsidiary
type firm founded in 1949 by Peter and Fred Asquith. Its head office is located at England,
United Kingdom as well as they offer wide range of grocery, financial service and general
merchandise (Rajesh and Ramesh, 2016). Topics included in this report are role of Information
Technology in failure and success of business, ethical and social problems which occur while
running business as well as it will also include differentiate among different types of networking
technology. Moreover it will also explain about importance of social media, list of different
phases of system development life cycle and it will also mentioned benefits as well as drawback
of Information Technology.
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.
Information technology is determined as technology or tool which is mostly used at the
retail or supermarket sector in order to conduct their business operations in effective way and it
will also help them in managing their work properly with minimal wastage. In respect of ASDA
they are operating in retail supermarket sector and at that place usage of information technology
is high because it help them in grow business. Some of the main roles of information technology
at ASDA workplace are given below:-
 Customer database management: In respect of customers database management IT
play major role in all sector or industry because it help in gathering and maintaining
customer information in secure manner (THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY IN THE RETAIL SECTOR, 2020). Along with this, by using Information
Technology ASDA able to can collect, maintain and sift mass numbers of data properly
as well as it will also help them in converting data which is useful for customer centric
sector.
 Maintain transparency and tracking: By adopting advance and modern information
technology respective supermarket able to develop and maintain transparency with their
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retailers (Ransbotham and et. al., 2016) Along with this it will also help them in tracking
order, demand and products effectively which help them in knowing about customers and
sales properly. Information technology also aid respective retail store in developing as
well as maintaining effective communication with customers which lead to transparency.
 Store Management: Information technology help a company in conducting management
of their business operations and functions. Similarly by adopting and implementing
advance technology at ASDA their management as well as employees work get reduced
and it will also help them in conducting each and every work properly (Benckendorff,
Xiang and Sheldon, 2019). Along with this, IT system also help them in detecting stock
out time through alerts as well as by implementing IT customers shopping experience
also get improved.
 Forecasting demand and sales: Through implementation of advance information
technology system a company able to forecast and calculate their demand. Similarly,
ASDA use advance automated statistical forecasting (information technology) in order to
forecast their demand by analysing past sales information or data. Through forecasting
message all manager able to develop strategies or action plan properly so that they can
fulfil need and requirement of their potential customers.
These are some of the main roles of information technology at ASDA which help in
succession of business in successful manner. It will also help them in managing day to day
business operations and functions in proper and effective way.
2.
At a company employees go through numbers of ethical as well as social issues that
directly affect performance as well as outcome. Ethical issues are considered as situation,
decision, activity or scenario which create conflict in respect of society's moral or principles. In
this both firm or individual may involved if they put question from an ethical viewpoint. On the
other hand social issues is defined as a problem which impact many person at the society
(Benoit, 2019). These issues have several categories like depth and light such as health issues,
pollution, discrimination and many others. Some of the main ethical as well as social issues
which are take place as ASDA which conduct business operation are given below:-
 Discrimination and harassment: It is one of the main ethical and social issues which
are faced by a person or employees at workplace because one staff have power over
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another. This issue will affect an individual's mental and physical health as well as it also
impact their career and pay. At workplace discriminate as well as harassment can take
place on several level such as physical, appearance, gender, colour, age, income, status
and many more. In respect of ASDA, discrimination or harassment may take place due to
which employees fell demotivated so it is essential for management to develop proper
rules and regulation in order to avoid or minimise these types of situations.
 Compliance and Governance Issues: At a company it is responsibility of manager to
develop strategies according to compliance and governance rules so that they can avoid
issues properly (Cushman and et. al., 2016). In respect of ASDA it is essential for their
manager to develop and implement proper strategies based on government compliances
as well as governance because through that they able to get proper guidelines. Moreover
it is also essential for them to develop policy according to which all employees need to
follow all rules and regulations.
 Security of client/ staff data or privacy: For every company has one common tension
i.e. related to protecting their employees as well as clients personal or private information
properly so that it can not be use in any illegal activities. This is so because there are
many cases in which customers and staff data are hacked in order to use that information
for wrong activities. In this respect it is duty of ASDA management to develop and adopt
proper advance system which help in protecting staff, client and customers private
information successfully.
These are main ethical and social issues which are faced by ASDA while conducting their
business activities and functions at the market industry. In respect of this it is essential for their
management to develop proper strategies so that they can minimise these issues properly and
effectively.
3.
Networking technologies is a tool which allow exchange of information, data and
statistics among large and small information system that are mainly used by educational
institutions and businesses (DeLone and McLean, 2016). In this companies connect their system
through several resources such as satellite, communication, wireless, optic cable, communication
resource and so on. This will help in conducting communication in several ways like voice call,
texting, video call and many more. There are several different types of networking technology
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which a firm may adopt in order to conduct communication and other work, from which some
main networking technology which can be used by ASDA are given below:-
 Wireless local area network (WLAN): Respective networking technology function
similar as LAN (local area network), in this there is use of wireless networking technique
such as WiFi (Kim, Coiera and Magrabi, 2017). WLAN didn't need any type of
networking device which rely on the physical cables for the connectivity. In respect of
ASDA, they are operating at retail sector so this networking technology can used to
provide internet connectivity to staffs so that they accomplish their work successfully.
Moreover it can also be used in order to provide internet services to customers who
visited at store.
 Personal area network (PAN): This is smallest networking technology which is make
up of wireless modem that is sufficient for two phone, computer, tablets and many other
device. At respective company personal area network can be used in order to provide
internet connectivity at cabins of two or three employees. Along with this it can be used
for provide internet connectivity to that department who have less employees.
 Storage area network (SAN): This networking technology is generally used at high
speed networking area where huge numbers of storage device are connected at several
servers. This type of networking didn't depend on the other technologies like WAN, LAN
etc.. in respect of ASDA, they are operating business operations at wide level so by using
respective network they able to store pool of data, information and statistics in effective
as well as secure way.
These networking technology are effective for ASDA because through these they able to
conduct its business activities properly as well as it will also help in attaining desire goal. Along
with this it will also help respective retail store in providing network connection services to their
staffs, customers and other related members.
4.
Social media is considered as interactional computer mediate technology which help an
individual or company to shares their information, career, ideas, strategies and interest with
another (Petrakak, Klecun and Cornford, 2016). This can be done through communication as
well as network connectivity. A person use social media generally to keep in touch with their
friends as well as extended family and it will also provide career opportunities for individual.
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Moreover, social media is also effective for business unit because through it they able to attract
more and more customers which help in grabbing business growth opportunities. In respect of
ASDA, by adopting social media they able to grow their business as well as it will also help
them in identifying new opportunities, below some of the importance of social media in respect
of respective company are given below:-
 Help in building brand awareness: By adopting different sources of social media a
company can build awareness about their brand and offerings. In respect of ASDA they
use several social media platform such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and many
others (Rajaraman, 2018). Through this they directly able to reach huge numbers of
targeted audiences and potential customers as well as it will also help in increasing
awareness about brand.
 Cost effective method: It is cost effective method for a company because posting on
social media is almost free of cost due to which it is not expensive. In respect of
respective company, when they post information, discount, offers and other information
at social media they able to reach high ratio of targeted audiences in minimum amount.
 Boost sales: Through social media a company able to attract more and more potential
customers or targeted audiences which help in increasing their sales as well as
profitability ratio (23 Benefits of Social Media for Business, 2020). In respect of ASDA,
by posting advertisement on social media they able to engage customers at wide range
and in easy way which help them in enhancing their sales, profitability ratio and
goodwill. This is so because when more customers know about the company then it will
directly increase sales of respective firm which help in profit maximization.
These are some main importance of social media gained by ASDA while conducting their
business operations and functions at wide level. Moreover social media also help firm in
increasing their sales and profitability ratio in effective and successful manner
5.
The systems development life cycle can be defined as a model which is used in project
management and describes the various stages that are involved in a project of information system
development (Crnjac, Veža and Banduka, 2017). It is also referred to as application development
life cycle and helps an organisation to carry out its operations in an effective manner. The model
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can be easily applied to various technical as well as non-technical systems. The different stages
of the system development life cycle are listed and explained below -
 System Planning – The first stage of systems development life cycle is planning in
which the management of an organisation conducts analysis and identifies if there is any
requirement of new hardware or software. People involved in this particular stage are
investors, stakeholders, employees as well as managers of the company. This stage is
considered to be the most critical for the creation of a successful system.
 System Analysis – In this stage, the requirements as well as the expectations of the end
users and how will the system perform are documented. Thus, a feasibility study is also
made for the project which involves determining if the system is economically,
organisationally and technologically feasible (What is System Development Life Cycle?,
2020). It is essential to maintain high levels of communication with the customers during
this stage so that there is a clarity in the vision of the final product.
 System Design – This stage defines the various elements of a system, its security level,
components, architecture and what is the type of data that goes into the system. A
general design of the system can be done with the help of a pen and paper to decide how
will the system look like and the way it will function.
 Implementation and Deployment – The system is ready to be deployed, installed and
to be used by the customers in this stage. Although training might be required for the
customers to make sure that they are familiar with using the system.
 System testing and Integration – Testing in today's world is gaining importance to
ensure that the customers are satisfied and there is no requirement of coding and
hardware knowledge (Koch, 2018). Testing can be performed either by the customers
themselves or by a team of experts.
 System Maintenance – This stage involves maintenance of the system from time to time
in order to ensure that it does not become outdated (Van Lieshout, Egyedi and Bijker,
2018). This includes replacing the old components with the latest ones and that right
standards are met.
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ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
1.
In today's time almost every organisation are investing at information technology because
that make their work easy and more effective. But there are some limitation of respective
technology that is essential to considered by a company while adopt it. Some of the main
benefits and drawbacks of investing in information technology in respect of ASDA are given
below:-
Benefits of investing in IT (Information Technology)
 Improve communication: By investing in information technology a company able to
enhance their communication among the employees, customers and stakeholders
(Tavani, 2016). Moreover it will also help them in understand need and demand of these
peoples which aid in effective decision making.
 Enhance data storage system: Through implementation of information technology at
the workplace a company able to manage their data storage system properly of customers,
employees and other related person. In respect of ASDA by investing in information
technology they able to manage their data storage system in effective manner which also
help in minimising related issues.
 Improve productivity: Through the implementation of information technology
respective company able to adopt new and advance technology based system which help
in implementing innovative that increase or improve productivity. In respect of ASDA by
investing in information technology they able to implement innovation and creativity in
their production which improve its standard. This will also help in increase respective
company sales as well as profitability ratio.
Drawback of investing in IT (Information Technology)
 Expensive and time consuming: Investing in information technology is expensive as
well as time taking which may impact on company budget and firm productivity (Theis
and Wong, 2017). In respect of ASDA when they invest in implementation of IT then
they need to change whole process as well as they also need to provide training to staff
which is expensive as well as time taking in nature.
 Increase job insecurity: Implementation of IT at high level develop job insecurity
among the employees which directly affect their motivation level. In respect of ASDA if
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they invest in IT their employees feel insecurity related to job which affect their
performance and productivity.
CONCLUSION
By above discussed point it can be analyse and conclude that now a day use of
information technology is increased because it help an individual and company conduct their
work properly. In supermarket sector IT plays an essential role because that will help them in
conducting their work properly with minimum wastage. But there are several ethical and social
issues through which firm go and they need to develop strategies accordingly. Moreover there
are various types of networking technology that may used in supermarket or retail sector such as
PAN, WLAN, SAN and many more. Their is also a system development life cycle which an
organisation may adopt in order to implement IT at workplace as well as there are both benefits
and drawbacks of IT. So it is essential for firm to conduct proper analysis before adopt
Information technology at workplace.
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