Information Technology's Impact on Business: A Report for HC1041

This report investigates the impact of information technology (IT) on the banking and finance sector, using Bank of Queensland (BOQ) as a case study. The report examines the importance of IT for business survival, its applications within BOQ, and the benefits such as enhanced revenue, flexibility, and cost reduction. It also discusses IT-related risks, including data breaches, and strategies for monitoring and maintaining IT infrastructure. The analysis covers topics such as digital marketing, customer service, and data security. The report concludes by emphasizing the crucial role of IT in today's competitive business environment and the need for robust IT management practices. The assignment fulfills the requirements of the HC1041 Information Technology for Business unit at Holmes Institute, T2 2019.

2019
Information technology

IT
Abstract
In the entire report, the emphasis is on the role of information technology in banking
and finance sector. Information technology is related with the use of computers tor
store, retrieve and manipulate the information that helps the companies to maintain
their overall data in relation to the activities. IT is known as the subset of information
and communication technology. So, the paper discusses about the risk factors that
are faced by the companies at the time of managing the operational functions.

IT
Table of Contents
Introduction
Does Bank of Queensland require IT?
Why IT is important for the survival of business?
What is required to apply IT in Bank of Queensland?
How Bank of Queensland use IT?
Benefits and advantages does IT bring to Bank of Queensland
Type of risk IT bring to Bank of Queensland?
How Bank of Queensland can monitor and maintain IT?
Conclusion
References

IT
Introduction
In the present era, the use of information technology has been enhanced and now
almost every company is considering the use of information technology to simplify
their job role. In this paper, the emphasis will be given on the concept of “Information
technology”. The real life business example selected for this paper is of “Bank of
Queensland” company. The paper will also discuss the recent news related to
information security breach of Bank of Queensland.
Does Bank of Queensland require IT?
Bank of Queensland is considered as one of the largest Australian retail bank and it
is also the oldest financial institutions in Queensland. There are more than 252
branches in Australia and 78 corporate branches. So, to manage banking and
finance functions there is a requirement of information technology as it will assist in
simplifying the job roles of the employees. In today’s scenario, people are using
banking services such as ATM for their daily transactions (BOQ,2019). So, this is
one of the major reason that states that Bank of Queensland require information
technology as it also helps them in offering online access to the customers.
From transferring the money to opening fixed deposits, the company has to provide
the platform to the customers so that they can avail the services easily. So, it can be
said that IT is considered as one of the essential aspect for Bank of Queensland.
Also, the company has more than 100,000 and to maintain the privacy of the data is
not easy, so for this Bank of Queensland requires IT. With the help of information
technology, the company can secure the data or the information of the customers
which directly assist organization to attain high success ratio among its competitors.

IT
Why IT is important for the survival of business?
In the present competitive business environment, IT plays an essential role in
assisting the companies to survive among the competitors. In the fast paced
environment, IT plays an important role as it helps in making the organizational
process quick and also effective. IT has also brought change in the way people
interact with each other. In the present time, the technology is considered as the
success for many companies. From marketing to security, IT has brought drastic
change in the entire functions of the company (Cui et al., 2015).
Apart from offering customer service, Bank of Queensland considers IT for
marketing. Digital marketing is one of the concepts which are considered by the
company to attain growth among the competitors. Digital marketing helps the
company to enhance the awareness of the customers towards the functions of the
business (Shea et al., 2019).
IT has provided chance to the companies to focus on digital marketing concepts
such as search engine optimization, blogging, website and social media marketing.
With the use of IT, the companies can also track their success and opportunities by
using the software that is designed to store marketing metrics. This has also assisted
the banking and financial sector to plan, adapt and grow (Benitez et al., 2018). So, in
this way information technology plays an important role in boosting the success ratio
of the companies in the financial and banking sector.
What is required to apply IT in Bank of Queensland?
In banking and financial sector, there are many factors that are considered to apply
IT. One of the essential factors relates with cost. Bank of Queensland has to focus
on the factor that is concerned with cost. At the time of implementing IT, estimation

IT
of cost or budget is important as it helps the companies to know about the actual
expenditure. If companies does not have sufficient amount, then it would be difficult
to apply IT (Dahlberg, Hokkanen and Newman, 2016). Therefore, it can be said that
estimation of cost is necessary at the time of considering IT in the business.
To apply IT, it is necessary for Bank of Queensland to focus on giving training. If
employees are not having knowledge to apply different software then it would be
difficult to manage the data and resources. On the other hand, in relation to this
planning is also the major aspect that assists to focus on the areas that need
improvement. By doing proper planning, the company can easily acknowledge what
is the actual requirement and can reduce the overall wastage. After doing planning,
Bank of Queensland should emphasize on the factor linked with equipment such as
different hardware (Leclercq-Vandelannoitte and Isaac, 2016).
In relation to this it can be said that only purchasing the hardware is not sufficient it is
also important to emphasize on installation s that proper procedure can be followed
in relation to the implementation of IT. Bank of Queensland should aim at boosting
the knowledge of the employees so that they can work with coordination and also
give their best towards the assigned job role. At last, designing is also the factor on
which the company should emphasize, so that work can be managed in a proper
manner. In relation to designing, the company should design the job role of the
employees as per their knowledge and skills as it will help them to implement
information technology in an effective manner. Therefore, it can be said that these
are the major factors that should be considered by the company at the time of
implementing IT at the workplace (Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015).

IT
How Bank of Queensland use IT?
Bank of Queensland takes use of IT for external and internal purpose. Internally also
IT is used by the employees at the time of communicating with the management.
The employees are offered the chance to send emails when they want to convey
their information. Also, IT is used for signature retrieval facilities. In banking sector,
the employees use the technology to secure the privacy of customers. Now, banks
use the technology that verifies the signature at the time of withdrawing the money
from the particular account. The employees take the signature of the clients and then
allow them to withdraw money (Lindh and Rovira Nordman, 2017). So, in this way IT
is used by the employees of Bank of Queensland.
IT is also used externally by the customers and suppliers of Bank of Queensland.
The company has offered the facility of centralized information results to quick
services. Bank of Queensland allows the customers to transfer their information from
their bank to other bank. Also, Bank of Queensland has offered the facility of remote
banking through which customers can withdraw their amount from any of the ATM’s
nearby. It also helps the company to make accurate decision for companies growth
(Zabukovec and Jaklič, 2015).This has also assisted the customers in availing the
services in an easy manner and also improved their culture of saving money
(Luftman, Lyytinen and Zvi, 2017). Hence, in this way Bank of Queensland has
focused on using the services related to IT.
Benefits and advantages does IT bring to Bank of Queensland
With the use of IT, Bank of Queensland has emphasized on boosting the overall
revenue. It has given a chance to the company to differentiate their functions from
the other companies in the same sector. Bank of Queensland has focused on

IT
providing various facilities to their customers such as internet banking and ATM
facility which has boosted their revenue. The other benefit relates with flexibility
(Soomro, Shah and Ahmed, 2016).
With the help of IT the productivity of the employees has been enhanced as IT offers
the chance to the employees to make their reports from their home. The employees
can also do their work from anywhere, so it is one of the flexibility that is provided
and it has directly enhanced the productivity level towards work. IT has also reduced
the cost of the company, as Bank of Queensland promote their services through
different medium such as social media sites (Boateng et al., 2016). So, this is one of
the best ways that has helped the company in reducing the overall cost in terms of
advertisement.
Type of risk IT bring to Bank of Queensland?
It has been identified that due to IT the company has to face the risk related with the
third party data breach. The company has stated that personal data breach was
done by the third party provider. BOQ has also said that they have encountered the
personal data breach done by LandMark Limited, which is a fund management
company. The data that was breached consist of information related to customer
names, contact information such as phone numbers and email address and also
other information linked with the property evaluations. This is the latest news that
provides use the information security breach taken place in Bank of Queensland
(MacNevin, 2019). So, in this way the company has to face the risk in relation
information technology.

IT
How Bank of Queensland can monitor and maintain IT?
Bank of Queensland can maintain and monitor IT by focusing on different policies.
The company should set a policy so that the employees can follow the same and
maintain the privacy of data (Velu and Jacob, 2016). Also, the company has focused
on internet banking services in which they offer different facilities to the customers
which assist them in monitoring the whole process. The different facilities that are
provided to the customers are two factors authentication, SSL encryption and also
different software are used that can assist to track the information of the customers
(Samar, Ghani and Alnaser, 2017). So, in this way the company can emphasize on
monitoring and maintaining IT.
Conclusion
By analysing the paper, it can be said that information technology plays an important
role in the present business environment. It is necessary for the companies to
consider this so that it could be easy for them to compete with the competitors
present in the market. Information technology provides a platform through which
customers can easily simplify their job and can also give their best. But on the other
hand, there are risks associated with it such as breach of data which should be
managed by considering different software and also by implementing strict policies in
the workplace. Hence, it can be stated that information technology should be used
by the companies to attain growth among competitors. If latest information
technology is considered then success ratio can be enhanced by the company.

IT
References
Benitez, J., Chen, Y., Teo, T.S. and Ajamieh, A., 2018. Evolution of the impact of e-
business technology on operational competence and firm profitability: A panel data
investigation. Information & Management, 55(1), pp.120-130.
Boateng, H., Adam, D.R., Okoe, A.F. and Anning-Dorson, T., 2016. Assessing the
determinants of internet banking adoption intentions: A social cognitive theory
perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 65, pp.468-478.
BOQ., 2019.Company overview. [Online]. Available at
https://www.boq.com.au/About-us/company-overview. [Accessed on 26 September
2019].
Cui, T., Ye, H.J., Teo, H.H. and Li, J., 2015. Information technology and open
innovation: A strategic alignment perspective. Information & Management, 52(3),
pp.348-358.
Dahlberg, T., Hokkanen, P. and Newman, M., 2016. How business strategy and
technology impact the role and the tasks of CIOs: An evolutionary
model. International Journal of IT/Business Alignment and Governance
(IJITBAG), 7(1), pp.1-19.
Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A. and Isaac, H., 2016. The new office: how coworking
changes the work concept. Journal of Business Strategy, 37(6), pp.3-9.
Lindh, C. and Rovira Nordman, E., 2017. Information technology and performance in
industrial business relationships: the mediating effect of business
development. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32(7), pp.998-1008.

IT
Luftman, J., Lyytinen, K. and Zvi, T.B., 2017. Enhancing the measurement of
information technology (IT) business alignment and its influence on company
performance. Journal of Information Technology, 32(1), pp.26-46.
MacNevin,E., 2019. Bank warns of reported third-party data breach. [Online].
Available at https://www.mortgagebusiness.com.au/breaking-news/13209-bank-
warns-of-third-party-data-breach-reported. [Accessed on 26 September 2019].
Samar, S., Ghani, M. and Alnaser, F., 2017. Predicting customer’s intentions to use
internet banking: the role of technology acceptance model (TAM) in e-
banking. Management Science Letters, 7(11), pp.513-524.
Shaikh, A.A. and Karjaluoto, H., 2015. Making the most of information technology &
systems usage: A literature review, framework and future research
agenda. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, pp.541-566.
Shea, V.J., Dow, K.E., Chong, A.Y.L. and Ngai, E.W., 2019. An examination of the
long-term business value of investments in information technology. Information
Systems Frontiers, 21(1), pp.213-227.
Soomro, Z.A., Shah, M.H. and Ahmed, J., 2016. Information security management
needs more holistic approach: A literature review. International Journal of
Information Management, 36(2), pp.215-225.
Velu, C. and Jacob, A., 2016. Business model innovation and owner–managers: the
moderating role of competition. R&D Management, 46(3), pp.451-463.
Zabukovec, A. and Jaklič, J., 2015. The impact of information visualisation on the
quality of information in business decision-making. International Journal of
Technology and Human Interaction (IJTHI), 11(2), pp.61-79.

IT