IT Impact on Business

This report discusses the significance of information technology (IT) for business, with a focus on the impact on the banking and finance sector. It evaluates the IT transformation for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and explores the benefits, risks, and solutions related to IT use in the industry. The report concludes that digital transformation is crucial for business survival in the global market.

Running Head: IT FOR BUSINESS
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IT for Business
IT Impact on Business
(Student details :)
5/18/2019

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Contents
IT Impact on Business................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
IT Impact on Banking and Finance Sector.................................................................................2
IT transformation for CBA.....................................................................................................2
Does CBA need IT.............................................................................................................3
Why IT is important for business survival.........................................................................3
Requirements for applying IT into CBA............................................................................3
How CBA utilises IT for business use...............................................................................4
Benefits of IT for banking and finance business for CBA.................................................4
IT risks for the business of CBA........................................................................................4
How CBA uses IT for the maintenance and monitoring of business.................................5
IT issues in Banking and Finance industry: the CBA............................................................5
Privacy issues.....................................................................................................................5
Legal issues........................................................................................................................5
Ethical issues......................................................................................................................6
Societal issues....................................................................................................................6
IT solutions through theoretical and practical knowledge.....................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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IT Impact on Business
Introduction
This report is based on highlighting the significance of the information technology (IT) for
business. In this context, this paper will mainly discuss about the major IT impacts on
business industry like banking and finance. To do so, theoretical and practical knowledge on
IT within the chosen business firm CBA (referred as Commonwealth Bank of Australia) will
be evaluated and justified as well. Besides, IT issues within CBA’s business are going to
highlighted while also providing these issues through utilising detailed knowledge of IT
along with the practical techniques within this chosen business environment. In addition to
that, in order to analyse academic literature as well as integrate ideas throughout the literature
of the IT issues within business application of the research skills will be demonstrated. To
understand the role of ICT profession within IT for business in the context of CBA, the report
is going to research various aspects of IT in banking and finance sector. In this way, while
highlighting the IT issues this paper will effectively communicate through good oral as well
as written communication tools so as to act into a professional manner.
IT Impact on Banking and Finance Sector
As we know that technology has completely revolutionized the way today’s companies do
business through enabling small business firms to balance the market field with bigger
organizations. In this era, businesses utilise an array of new technologies throughout their
servers to their mobile devices. In this way, these businesses of the modern era acquire
competitive advantages within the economic marketplace (Agwu et al., 2014). In this context,
this discussion has chosen the field of banking and finance while choosing CBA for assessing
and evaluating the impact of technological changes over business activities (Commonwealth
Bank of Australia, 2019). A detailed study of the IT impact on banking and finance field with
the help of identifying IT issues as well as their solution will be useful for CBA because the
field of banking and finance is the base of every business of the Australia and the world
(Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2019).

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IT transformation for CBA
IT has completely transformed the CBA business in terms of digital transformation as well as
innovation in their payment systems. In this way, IT transformation has been proved
beneficial for CBA as well as so many other banking institutions of Australia. As per the info
published by Australian government digital transformation office, IT transformation has now
become essential to be implemented from every bank as well as finance institution of
Australia (Khraim et al., 2011).
Does CBA need IT
CBA definitely needs IT for ensuring a sustainable future of their business into the banking
and finance industry. In this context, CBA needs IT because they are presently working with
the industries, businesses and all tiers of Australian Government in order to immediately
address the services those require attention as well as re-designing (Obrien & Marakas,
2009). CBA needs IT because it is actively consulting to many Government departments on
innovation processes. Moreover, major competitors of the CBA such as ANZ, NAB, and
Westpac are also using IT transformation as the major tool for an effective business and
growth (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2019). Hence, CBA needed IT and thus it has
used the digital technologies for the business development.
Why IT is important for business survival
In the context of business survival, adapting change is the most important strategy for any
kind of business. Likewise, for CBA there are so many challenges are arriving in the field of
banking and finance business and for overcoming those challenges effectively and smoothly
the company needs IT solutions. Moreover, as mentioned above rivalry institutions of CBA
like Westpac, ANZ and NAB within Australia are moving towards digital transformation
from the perspective of sustainable business future hence CBA needs to continuously
implementing IT technologies while doing business (Commonwealth Bank of Australia,
2019).
Requirements for applying IT into CBA
There are some major requirements which are essential for applying IT into CBA’s business
as follows:
 In terms of cost, requirements will be decreased in case of digital transformation than
that of offline system.

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 Planning will be needed in strategic form so as to implement IT strategies into CBA
 Designing requirements can be seen as CBA 3rd development partner model and many
more
 Besides, one major requirement of IT equipment and installation by the CBA is
Eftpos systems, Payment Gateways and Bpay (Hulten , 2018).
 In addition, while implementing digital transformation into CBA they need solutions
for payments, Fines and document issuance
 Mobile App development is needed at a large extent while IT incorporation into CBA
business
How CBA utilises IT for business use
For an effective business operation, CBA utilises following ways to incorporate IT for
business growth and sustainability:
 CBA has lunched full-functionality mobile banking services during March, 2009.
With the help of mobile banking, customers of CBA can do banking activities through
their own mobile phone from anywhere in the world (Watson et al., 2010).
 Furthermore, CBA has adopted online customer service in order to offer excellent
services to their loyal customers while using the up-to-date technologies in business.
 In addition, a successful IT change implemented by the CBA is outsourcing with the
HP Company for integrating personal loan system (PLS) with that of home loan
system (HLS) (Tiwana & Konsynski, 2010).
Benefits of IT for banking and finance business for CBA
The major advantages of IT for the CBA business are as follows:
 Due to inclusive mobile banking system, accounts of the CBA’s consumers are more
secure than the PC internet banking system. The reason behind this benefit is that
tracking a person is easier by using mobile banking than that of computer banking as
mobiles use SIM card for connecting with the bank (Khraim et al., 2011).
 Current mobile banking app of the CBA directly requests customers in order to make
mobile banking more secure than its web browser version which ultimately protects
CBA’s customers from the hackers.
 IT use by the CBA for business adds to the security level while getting the banking
services for their customers (Ismail, 2017).

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IT risks for the business of CBA
Apart from the benefits, there are risks associated with the IT use by the CBA into banking
and finance sector as follows:
 Unauthorized access may cause trouble to online users of the CBA.
 Misuse of computer and network systems may breach security and safety of the users
 Users’ privacy is not guaranteed (Hulten , 2018).
 Privacy risks are there with IT use into CBA business because IT personnel are
having authority of accessing individual users’ files or data within the process of
doing maintenance (Farhadi et al., 2012).
How CBA uses IT for the maintenance and monitoring of business
For the purpose of monitoring and maintenance of business, the CBA uses some tools as
follows:
 Online documentation
 Monitoring and maintenance software use
 Online data based screening
 Digital data and information for an effective decision-making (Agwu et al., 2014).
IT issues in Banking and Finance industry: the CBA
While revolutionizing the whole banking and finance sector’s business, IT transformation has
also raised some major issues for the CBA’s operation as follows:
Privacy issues
Privacy issues are there while using IT for the banking and finance companies like CBA
because when digital technologies are used in business then all of the customers’ data is
synched online through cloud servers (Picanso, 2008). In this way, personal info like account
number, PINs and mobile banking ID and password also get synched with the online servers
of the CBA. Hence, privacy issues occur while hackers breach the data privacy of any bank
and finance company (Dillon et al., 2010).
Legal issues
Many legal issues are there with the IT use such as copyright of the info, website and app. In
addition, banks and finance companies need to follow a code of conduct given by the regional
government so that digital privacy and security can be preserved effectively. If any company

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violates any of this code of conducts or regulations then business operations are hindered
largely (Schultz, 2009).
Ethical issues
Ethical issues are the most fundamental or essential issues which are faced by the CBA. In
this context, the major ethical issues are integrity and trust. Here, general understanding of
ethical issue of the integrity comprises an idea of conducting business affairs with honesty
(Schultz, 2009). In addition, CBA’s commitment of treating all customers fairly is often seen
as an ethical issue. In this way, CBA’s customers will be having a high level of trust when
they will see CBA fulfilling their requirements positively (Yeh & Chang, 2007).
Societal issues
In this context, maintaining diversity as well as the respectful workplace is an important
societal issue for the CBA while using IT for their sustainable business growth (Vacca,
2012).
IT solutions through theoretical and practical knowledge
The possible solutions for the above mentioned IT issues based on theoretical as well as
practical knowledge through academic literature are as follows:
 Forming, assessing and following CBA Computing Policies effectively (Huichen &
Neil, 2016).
 A proper control of hardware system is needed. For implementing above, all IT
equipment and devices functioning within the CBA business must be tracked into the
CBA IT inventory system (Obrien & Marakas, 2009).
 If any software or hardware system is getting obsolete or useless then it must be
coordinated through CBS ITS unit.
 Cyber Safety and Security policies application and enforcement is needed.
 Effective offline as well as online monitoring is needed by the special surveillance
unit of the CBA for the hackers, employees and other persons involved in the banking
business (Dillon et al., 2010).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this report has concluded that the CBA’s digital transformation has evolved
both the financial as well as general banking sector as a whole. This paper’s analysis found

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that CBA took benefit of novel and rising technologies for becoming the top market leader
while also helped shape how world’s public uses bank accounts today. Moreover, CBA’s
successful digital transformation in the context of technological determinism as well as
disruptive innovation theory helped explaining why IT is needed for successful business
operations. Apart from this, several important questions about CBA’s IT transformation have
been addressed with the help of theoretical knowledge over IT and ICT. Finally, through
identifying major IT issues within banking and finance business, IT solutions have been
provided by this discussion. In this way, it can be said that if all IT related issues can be
managed effectively then digital transformation is the only way to ensure a sustainable
business future within global market.
References
Agwu, E., Okpara, A., Aigbiremolen, M. & Lyoha, F., 2014. The Impact of Information
Communication Technologies in the Strategic Management of Financial Institutions.
International Review of Management and Business Research, 3(3), pp.10-15.
Dillon, T., Wu, C. & Chang, E., 2010. Cloud computing: issues and challenges. Advanced
Information Networking and Applications (AINA), 2010 24th IEEE International Conference,
IEEE, pp.27-33.
Farhadi, M., Ismail, R. & Fooladi, M., 2012. Information and communication technology use
and economic growth. PLoS one, 7(11), p.e48903.
Huichen, L. & Neil, W., 2016. IoT Privacy and Security Challenges for Smart Home
Environments. Information, 7(3), p.44.
Hulten , , 2018. The Importance of Education and Skill Development for Economic Growth in
the Information Era. [Online] Available at: https://www.nber.org/chapters/c13937.pdf.
Ismail, N., 2017. 7 nightmare cyber security threats to SMEs and how to secure against them.
[Online] Available at: https://www.information-age.com/7-nightmare-cyber-security-threats-
smes-secure-123466495/ [Accessed 12 October 2018].
Khraim, H., Al Shoubaki, Y. & Khraim, A., 2011. Factors affecting Jordanian consumers'
adoption of mobile banking services. International Journal of Business and Social Science,
2(20).

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Obrien, J. & Marakas, G., 2009. Introduction to information systems. London: McGraw-Hill
Inc.
Picanso, K.E., 2008. Protecting information security under a uniform data breach notification
law. Fordham L., (Rev.), p.355.
Schultz, R.A., 2009. Contemporary issues in ethics and information technology. Ed. ed.
London: IGI Global.
Tiwana, A. & Konsynski, B., 2010. Complementarities between organizational IT
architecture and governance structure. Information Systems Research, 21(2), pp.288-304.
Vacca, J., 2012. Computer and information security handbook. London: Newnes.
Watson, R.T., Boudreau, M.C. & Chen, A.J., 2010. Information systems and environmentally
sustainable development: energy informatics and new directions for the IS community. MIS
Quarterly, pp.23-38.
Yeh, Q.J. & Chang, A.J.T., 2007. Threats and countermeasures for information system
security: A cross-industry study. Information & Management, 44(5), pp.480-91.