Role of Information Technology in Barclay Bank

This project explores the role of information technology in Barclay Bank, including the types of networking technologies used, ethics and social issues faced, and the importance of intranet and internet in the organization.

Project IIT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...................................................................................................2
Role of Information Technology in the Barclay.....................................................................2
Types of Networking Technologies that are used in Barclay.................................................3
Ethics and social issues faced by Barclay..............................................................................4
The importance of Intranet and Internet in Barclay...............................................................4
List and explain the different stages of system development life cycle.................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is a source of securing and keeping safe all type of electronic
data. It is also defined as the application of technology or utilizing technology for solving any
business related problems on a wider scale. Every organisation small or large, private of public
and national or international uses IT technologies for operating their business and storing all the
data (Schwalbe, 2015). This project is developed in concerned for Barclay Bank which is a
service sector organisation. It is a British international investment bank and financial service
provider which was founded in 1960 and headquartered in London, UK. The assignment covers
a thorough information about IT in general and in context of the organisation. Different types of
networking which are used by Barclay Bank are discussed. Moreover, importance of Intranet and
Internet is evaluated. And at the end, stages of system development life cycle is listed and
understanding is developed.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to the view of Slyter (2019), Information Technology is a solution to many
problems of business by applying technology on a broad scale in all types of technologies. It is
basically related to computer and virtual world. It is source of exchanging, storing, securing,
developing and processing any type of information in huge quantity. Information Technology
has raised the business and practices when applied to retail sector as it provides ease to
customers. The customer service facilities has induced with the use of Information Technology
by the retailers, for instance, payment processes has become simple and faster, with technology
customers can make purchases online inducing the sales units of retailer and making things
available to people at their door steps. There are number of networking technology which are
present and are helpful for retail businesses.
In view of Bourgeois (2016), information technology is spreading widely and rapidly.
Their are around more than seven types of networking technologies which are being used today.
Few most commonly used networks are Personal Area network (PAN) which is wireless modem
and serves to one person or a house or a operator in an building, it is the smallest and most
common form of networking. Second is Local Area network (LAN), it is simple to use
connecting group of devices with very low voltage but in a small area. Another network is
Wireless Local Area network (WLAN) is similar to LAN but do not depend on any wired
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connection it is known as WiFi by common public. These are the few networking technologies
which are used by businesses and organisations for connecting to external and internal people.
Information Technology is famous, promptly used by people and almost all businesses and but is
has its negative impacts also, like every other thing in the world. The Information Technology is
the mean of connecting with others, storing data and being updated, but there are some social and
ethical issued related to it. The theft of data is the biggest threat which is over the head of people
in current scenario. As technology is evolving, proving many benefits to people and company's
to operate, it is also evolving in negative manner by the people themselves. Nowadays,
technology is developed by people to steal personal information of individual and misusing it for
their personal benefits harming others. Therefore, it is said that Information Technology has its
pros and cons. As Information Technology is talked, the most influencing factors are Intranet and
Internet. Intranet is an online internal communication system which is used by organisations on
the other hand internet, connect company to outside world. According to Linton (2017), both are
communication technologies which has replaced many traditional form of communication
systems with technology and induces more effectiveness. Such as intranet helps in developing
effective internal communication by making sure that all data is available to all required people
in company. On the other side, internet enables company to communicate with outer world
sharing their views and reaching to more and more population as possible.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Role of Information Technology in the Barclay
Information Technology is evolving on daily basis, helping organisation to work more
efficiently and becoming very important for businesses. Barclay is a financial institution
rendering investment and other related financial services to their customers. The company has
large number of personal data with it of its clients, past as well as present (Marchewka, 2016).
As digitalisation is taking place and Information Technology is becoming part of every business.
It plays number of role in organisation for making its operations efficient.
Roles of Information Technology:
 Efficient daily operations- The information technology is rendering efficiency to the
operations of Barclay by making its tasks quicker and cheaper. The data of clients are
stored on digital devices on centrilized softwares and can be accessed by receptive
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executive in few seconds when required, removing their need for going through bundles
of papers and files.
 Better Customer experience- Information Technology is providing ease to customers
and enhancing their experience of joining hands with Barclay (Aasheim, Li and Williams,
2019). It is done as by using information technological tools company is serving
improved customers services where they can do their banking in their homes without
visiting their branch.
 Improved organisational communication- Information Technological tools such as
emails, video-chats, online conferencing etc. made it easier for Barclay to have virtual
meetings by sitting in different locations of the worlds. Information Technology has
improved the communication channels and manner of company.
Types of Networking Technologies that are used in Barclay
Information technology is a source of networking and making connections by sitting in
same place or locations. It basically connects the world and individuals with one another.
Therefore, there are several networking technologies which exist in marketplace and used by
Barclay to be connected and keep their organisation in operation efficiently.
 5G- This is a new technology which is being introduced and can supercharge the
economy of UK. This networking tool is rapid which can develop machine to machine
communication and centralize all the data. This networking service is basically internet
service which helps Barclays to connect with outer world faster and easier (Sittig and
Singh, 2015).
 LAN- Its full form is Local Area networking, which is a computer network connecting
the small business area. It is most often confined to a single room or a building and serves
a small areas and one of the most commonly used networking technique.
 PAN- Personal Area networking is known as PAN, which interconnects devices present
in a common workplace. It has a feature of data transmission from one unit to another
and helps Barclays to manage and transfer information related to their clients and
particular topic in no time.
All the networking tools are efficient according to their unique features and characteristics.
Barclays is a multinational bank operating in wider geographical locations, it creates a need that
company has proper connection with all its branches and offices. 5G networking can bring the
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best efficiency in the organisation. But for the current time company is using LAN which is best
suitable for it.
Ethics and social issues faced by Barclay
As known that Information Technology is beneficial and improving the practices of
business, it also has some cons which are categorised into social and ethical issues. Barclay is
also Slyter facing these issues for which company makes huge arrangements in order to be safe
and protected. Some issues are elaborated below:
Social issue
 Theft of data- In current scenario data and information is very important asset and very
expensive. The data which Barclay hold is the personal information of their clients, their
bank accounts details, their financial data etc. company can not afford to loose their data.
These informations are very sensitive and confidential and leaking such data can hinder
the operations and goodwill of company (Stein and et. al., 2015). This is one most
hampering social issues associated with Information Technology, for which organisation
has to make necessary procedures and systems to keep their data protected.
Ethical issue
 Hacking systems- Hacking is a term which refers to the security, privacy of the data.
Hacking is a Information Technology's unethical practice by which developers with the
help of viruses enters into the servers for taking data and misusing it for their personal
purposes or motives. This is one manner of stealing information form the organisations
systems and personal severs. The IT professionals and developers make use of viruses to
enter the company's server and hack it for taking the information of company and its
clients. It can hamper the competitiveness of company in marketplace and affects its
operations.
The importance of Intranet and Internet in Barclay
Intranet
It is tool of developing internal communication, which is most commonly used by large
organisation with complex structures to keep them informed and aware about the changes and
transactions taking place in organisation. It helps Barclay to be in touch of employees keeping
them informed by communicating all required information and developing synergies.
Importance of Intranet
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 Employee engagement- By using intranet technologies company develops synergy
amongst staff and increases employee engagement. All members of company can
communicate with one another, share their view and openly share their problems. This
open interactive channel will motivate staff and engage them more in business and
increasing the flow of fresh ideas in company.
 Better collaboration- Intranet keeps the employees informed, this creates coordination
and collaboration in activities of individual team which are present in organisation. The
more better coordination and collaborative work approach is adopted the more effective
and efficient company becomes (Wang, Chen and Benitez-Amado, 2015).
Internet
Internet is a global area network that connects systems and computers all around the
world. It works upon number of high-bandwidth data lines. These lines are connected to major
Internet headquarters which distribute data to other locations, with speed and quality.
Importance of Internet
 International communication- With the use of internet company can make
communications with their international operating units and clients, in no time by using
tool such as video-chats, social media handle and emails.
 Online services- Barclay is a financial institution, rendering financial services.
Digitalisation and innovation has improved the business practices, which enhanced the
operations of Barclay company is now rendering online banking services to customers.
These services help company to expand and reach to more population.
List and explain the different stages of system development life cycle
System development life cycle is a project management model which elaborates all the
stage which are involved in developing a project and completing it. The first stage of planning
where plans are developed, next stage is system design in which the systems are designed
according to the plans made (Zhilenkov and Chernyi, 2015). Third phase is of development in
which designed systems are developed according to the plans and then implemented. But the
implementation is not done on large scale, the new system is implemented on a smaller segment
for testing for knowing its effectiveness. At the end, when the results of testing is gathered
accordingly the systems are implemented if beneficial and profitable. This systems development
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life cycle can be used by Barclay for any new system which is developed with the advantages
and use of Information Technology.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it is concluded that information technology is a process fo
storing, developing, processing and collecting data in an effective manner. Information
Technology help company to be productive and efficient as IT makes the operations quicker and
rapid. It is analysed that Information Technology pays vital role in making the business and more
efficient by remove any barriers form it. Moreover, different types of network technologies help
organisation to be connected with the world and seek all required data.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aasheim, C.L., Li, L. and Williams, S., 2019. Knowledge and skill requirements for entry-level
information technology workers: A comparison of industry and academia. Journal of
information systems education. 20(3). p.10.
Marchewka, J.T., 2016. Information technology project management: Providing measurable
organizational value. John Wiley & Sons.
Schwalbe, K., 2015. Information technology project management. Cengage Learning.
Sittig, D.F. and Singh, H., 2015. A new socio-technical model for studying health information
technology in complex adaptive healthcare systems. In Cognitive informatics for
biomedicine(pp. 59-80). Springer, Cham.
Stein, M.K., and et. al., 2015. Coping with information technology: mixed emotions, vacillation,
and nonconforming use patterns. Mis Quarterly.
Wang, Y., Chen, Y. and Benitez-Amado, J., 2015. How information technology influences
environmental performance: Empirical evidence from China. International Journal of
Information Management. 35(2). pp.160-170.
Zhilenkov, A. and Chernyi, S., 2015. Investigation performance of marine equipment with
specialized information technology. Procedia Engineering. 100. pp.1247-1252.
Online
Bourgeois, S. 2016. 11 Types of Networks Explained: VPN, LAN & More. [Online] Available
Through: <https://www.belden.com/blog/smart-building/network-types>
Linton, I. 2017. Business Uses of the Internet, Intranets & Extranets. [Online] Available
Through: <https://bizfluent.com/info-8108761-business-uses-internet-intranets-
extranets.html>
Slyter, K. 2019. What Is Information Technology? A Beginner’s Guide to the World of IT.
[Online] Available Through:
<https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/technology/blog/what-is-information-
technology/>