Introduction to Information Technology

Introduction to
Information Technology
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Abstract
Information Technology has completely reshaped the way in which businesses conduct
their operations and has thus taken the industry by storm. It has become an essential component
of the day to day activities of different businesses. If implemented and used effectively,
information technology can help in the success otherwise in failure of the organisation. Besides
having several advantages, there are various issues, both ethical as well as social that can impact
the overall performance. Also, to ensure a smooth flow of activities different networking
technologies can be used like PAN, MAN etc. For a successful implementation of technology, a
business can make use of system development life cycle.
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Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................4
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business...................................................................4
Ethical and social issues that are concerned with running businesses...................................5
Different types of networking technologies...........................................................................5
Importance of Intranet and Internet in selected business.......................................................6
Different stage of system development life cycle..................................................................7
Benefits and drawbacks of investing in Information Technology..........................................8
Discussion and Analysis..................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Information can be defined as the use of computers, storage , networking or any other
devices in order to create, process, secure and store useful and important electronic data. All
organisations today, require implementation of effective information technology to carry out
their business activities smoothly (Benckendorff, Xiang and Sheldon, 2019). IT has various
advantages like the amount of manual labour can be reduced, more efficient output etc.
Organisation chosen for this report is Marriott International, which a leading hospitality
company having operations across the world. The company was founded in the year 1927 by J.
W. Marriott and his wife Alice Marriott. The report describes the role of IT in the failure and
success of a company, various social and ethical issues related to running a business as well as a
differentiation between various networking technologies. A discussion of the importance of
internet as well as intranet within a business is also provided.
Literature Review
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business
Innovation is the driving force in today's age and information technology is one of the
major contributors of the same. It has completely transformed the way in which businesses carry
out their operations. Today, people have access to smartphones as well as a high speed cellular
network. This has made it essential for companies to incorporate latest technology in their
systems. Information Technology can play a role in the success as well as failure of a business
like- decision making is one of the main processes which can either make or break a company
(Beynon-Davies, 2016). Information Technology helps a company to make effective decisions as
the various factors that affect the same like data collected from conducting market research can
be analysed using various technological tools like Google analytics, Big Data as well as other
tools. Such tools not only provide responses that are real time, but also make sure that the data
that is collected is analysed accurately so that the amount of human errors can be minimised.
Marriott International uses various IT tools that direct its decision making in order to
remain competitive in the market. Also, the success of an organisation lies in the way it markets
its business as In formation Technology helps in identifying the various opportunities of growth
in the market. It helps in identifying the target audience as well as promoting, advertising of the
products. Direct marketing is a phenomena that has grown immensely over the last few years. On
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