Role of Technology in Modern Day Business Operations

This article discusses the importance of technology in modern day business operations. It highlights how technology has become an essential aspect of business and has helped companies to grow. The article also discusses the benefits of technology in terms of reducing errors, enhancing quality, and promoting innovation. It concludes by emphasizing the need for companies to continuously upgrade their technological equipment to stay ahead of their competitors.

Business Operations

1
People in the modern day are highly dependent on the technology for making their life
easier. This has also forced the firms to adopt the technologies that would make their
operations easier. It has become crucial that firm takes use of all the advancements taking
place in various industries. In the starting, use of technology was restricted to the production
purpose only but in the past few decades it is now used in almost all the operations of the
firm. This expansion got faster after the introduction of IT technologies. Technology has
become one of the most essential aspects in the modern day business. With the further
advancements of the technologies like the introduction of automatic machines, companies got
highly empowered. From the selection of resources to making plans for the operations; from
the production to sales and marketing, technologies have changed the ways of doing business.
This is the firm belief of most of the entrepreneurs and leaders all around the world that with
the use of technology they can expand their business at speed which could not have been
possible otherwise. Use of technology has empowered the smaller companies to compete
with the bigger companies irrespective of the fewer amounts of resources they have.
In modern day business, technology has become one of the deciding environmental factors
that change the dynamics for the business (Lee, Hsieh and Chen, 2013). There are many
examples present in the environment which explains the fact that firms who have not changed
with the changes in the technology need have faced a sharp blow in their business. The case
of Morgan Car Company in the late 1990s is one of the perfect examples how the negligence
of the technology in the business operations have influenced the business of the firm. Use of
technology has several kinds of advantages. Using these advantages in the business has
empowered the companies to make sure that their growth remains on the higher side
(Newman, Biedrzycki and Baum, 2012). This can also be understood by the fact that the parts
of the world that have higher technological advancements, their companies also made more
progress than the companies that are present in less developed technological advancements.
Technology has played a major role in the globalisation and since then its impact on various
industry as an environmental factor is increasing rapidly (Scarbrough and Corbett, 2013).
There are many new areas where the technologies have been applied and these have affected
the internal and external environment of business operations. Some of the areas are
marketing, sales, productions, data management, financial accounting, research and
innovation, business forecasting, strategic planning, customer support etc. All these have
helped the companies in making the business operations easier.

2
Technology acted as an extra hand for the business as it supported the companies in reaching
to the larger set of consumers as well as fulfilling their demands (Whiddett, Tretiakov and
Hunter, 2012). This is possible due to the fact that technological equipment adds value to the
products and services that is delivered by the company. This helped the companies to
understand the demands of the market as well as ensure that they are delivering as per the
expectation of the market. This can be understood in terms that technology brings efficiency
in the work process which reduces the number of errors in the work process and helps them
to make products that is highly capable to fulfil the needs of the consumers. In the age of
modern day technologies companies have transformed into a business that is mostly done on
the technological mediums (Tarafdar, Gupta and Turel, 2013). This has both positive and
negative aspects but the positive impact of the technology on the mediums is more than
negative impacts. There is a plus point with the technology that is used within the
organisation that it gets enhanced by at least two times in every six months. These changes
are made according to the demand of the industry. This speed of advancements has helped the
companies to work according to the future demands of the market.
There are various benefits associated with the technology. The greatest benefit it adds is that
it reduces the number of errors while performing any task. This helps them in completing task
on time. Since the demand of the market has increased at much faster rate. The production
rate that is capable of fulfilling the demands of such a large population will not be possible
without the use of technology in the work process. Other benefit that technology adds to the
business is that they have brought smoothness in the work process. Company with more
advanced technology is more likely to get succeeded as compared to the firms that are not
using it. Technology inclusion in the business had made the work of the companies easier as
compared to time when such technologies were not in use. For example the manual data
collection in the multinational firms that is present in various parts of the world was not an
easier task. With the use of internet technology collection of data became easier as most of
the data is stored in the centralised location. This helps the firm to make sure that they can
make decision s more easily.
One of the greatest things that technology did to business is that it reduced the efforts that are
put by the humans. This resulted in some job cuts but on the larger context it was beneficial.
Use of technology helped the company to make the resource planning hence making the
decision making process more accurate. There are larger numbers of decisions are made by
the companies in the modern days are strongly supported by the technological equipment.

3
Technologies have helped the companies in designing, production and distribution of the
products. This was not possible to achieve with the man-made mechanism. Use of technology
has helped the firms in facing the challenges that modern day firms are facing.
Use of the technology had a positive implication on the business environment as they have
helped the companies to make sure that they make most of the profits from their business. It
has helped the firm to change their business as per the demands of the market at a very faster
rate. Technology has been a great promoter in making cost cuts as it lowers down the cost of
operations. With the use of technology the operational environment had become comfortable
both for the investors as well as the employees working there.
Modern day digital technologies have empowered the firm to forecast the demands and
business environment of the future (Thakurta and Roy, 2012). This has helped them to make
sure that they have an extra edge over the market. The better the understanding of the future
demands the better the chances the firm can earn higher benefits. This is done with the use of
the data that they have collected from their past operations. There are many sales and market
forecasting tools that help them in making plans for their activities in a manner that they can
be ready for any situation. These tools also help the company to understand the profits that it
can achieve with the quality of resources they have. It helps in predicting the success of any
product in the market. Use of the technologies like the IOT and cloud computing has helped
them in gathering and storing data related to their business.
At the time of decision making organisations takes use of all the data that is available with
them and with the help of these tools they plan out their future operation with the available
resources (Prasad and Heales, 2008). This also assists them in making their operations in such
a manner that their resources are used in a sustainable manner. This is highly essential for
smaller companies having lesser amount of resources available with them. Forecasting helps
the company in enhancing the positive experience of the consumers (Boon, et al., 2011). This
can be understood by the example of a retail market, where forecasting of the number of
people that is expected to visit on any day helps the company to be ready with their available
resources. Machines are getting smarter by evaluating the data that is collected from the
previous operations hence these technologies can be used for making the decisions related to
the strategic importance. The demands of the present and future business of the company are
illustrated by these technologies.

4
Almost all the companies are using digital means so as to make sure that they have an edge
over their competitors. The battle these days are not fought on the grounds rather more
money is given for completing the operations through digital mediums (Zorn, T.E., Flanagin,
A.J. and Shoham, 2011). These technologies not only help in understanding the environment
but it also helps the firm in defining the process through which the changes were made. All
the policies and changes are made based on the results that are produced by the technological
mediums after the evaluation of trends. This enables firm to make more synchronised.
It is crucial for the modern day firm to not only install the technological equipment but also
continuously upgrade it as per the requirement of the industry. This will ensure that they do
not lag in their business as compared to their competitors (Eason, 2014). Technology helps in
solving a whole lot of daily management problems. As it can be seen in the above section
that it solves the problems related to the data handling. It also helps in diverting the focus on
the parameters on which it is not easier to identify otherwise. Technology has helped the firm
to make sure that they organise their events on time so that they may not face problems at the
last moment (Godoe and Johansen, 2012).
The first benefit that technology provides when it helps in doing all the things that are
mentioned is that it saves the time and money of the organisation (Martin, et al., 2011). These
two are the most valuable thing in the modern day business. Since technology helps in
effective utilisation of resources hence it results in reduction in the cost of overall operations
as well as saves the money that gets wasted due to failures in the operations. This money will
enhance the profit margins of the company which is necessary for the firm’s future
operations.
Technology has benefited the company in terms of enhancing the quality of operations
(Schlagwein and Hu, 2017). Technologies are designed to do precise operations hence a
product and services of higher quality can be made. Apart from this the major aspect of the
modern day business is that it helps in the process of innovation. Technology helps in
making the research work more productive hence innovation can be made easier. A new line
of design can be introduced with the help of technological equipment. This will help the firm
in making more precise long term and short term plans. This is also necessary for achieving
long and short term goals (Li and Law, 2012). Preciseness is necessary for achieving the
objectives made by the company.

5
Japan has been a leader in the use of technology in their industries. Their manufacturing
sectors these days are moving towards internet of things (Fujitsu Journal, 2016). This will
help the company in ensuring that they have a proper mechanism where every unit get
interlinked with other. This will help the management to have more control of the operations.
They have been using the Robots in the operations of the firm. They are highly efficient in
doing their work especially when compared with human efforts. Japanese industries have
stated to take use of the artificial intelligence in their robots so that more accurate results can
be obtained from the operations. It also enables the company in making the work process
more error free. Companies like Fujitsu is trying to improve their supply chain management
as they understand that it is the base of making products available to the consumers on time.
Technology plays a vital role in the waste management strategy of the company as the
smarter technologies helps in selecting the best raw material which is further processed in a
better way so as to obtain the most appropriate results (Ahmad, 2014).
On the concluding remark it can be said that use of technology has several good and bad
points but on the larger note it provides extensive benefits to the work process. In the modern
digital world where the demands of the people have increased at a much faster rate, use of
technology helps in fulfilling their expectations. Technology provides long term benefits to
the workers as well as to the owners of the firm since it makes the processes faster, efficient
and easier. Other industries need to learn from the Japanese manufacturing industry which is
taking the use of artificially intelligent robots and the technology like IOT for their business
operations.

6
REFERENCES
Ahmad, S. (2014) Technology in organisations. [Online]. Available at:
file:///C:/Users/Shubham%20Mishra_JPR/Downloads/2-78-1406536633-7.%20Manage-
Technology%20in%20Organizations-Shoeb%20Ahmad.pdf. [Accessed on: 12th April 2018].
Boon, W.P., Moors, E.H., Kuhlmann, S. and Smits, R.E., (2011). Demand articulation in
emerging technologies: intermediary user organisations as co-producers?. Research
Policy, 40(2), pp.242-252.
Eason, K.D., (2014). Information technology and organisational change. CRC Press.
Fujitsu Journal, (2016) The Next Generation of Manufacturing as the Key Focus of Japanese
Industry - Latest Trends and In-house Practices. [Online]. Available at:
http://journal.jp.fujitsu.com/en/2016/06/24/02/. [Accessed on: 12th April 2018].
Godoe, P. and Johansen, T., (2012). Understanding adoption of new technologies:
Technology readiness and technology acceptance as an integrated concept. Journal of
European Psychology Students, 3(1).
Lee, Y.H., Hsieh, Y.C. and Chen, Y.H., (2013). An investigation of employees' use of e-
learning systems: applying the technology acceptance model. Behaviour & Information
Technology, 32(2), pp.173-189.
Li, L. and Law, R., (2012). Technology-mediated management learning in hospitality
organisations. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(2), pp.451-457.

7
Martin, J.K., Martin, L.G., Stumbo, N.J. and Morrill, J.H., (2011). The impact of consumer
involvement on satisfaction with and use of assistive technology. Disability and
Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 6(3), pp.225-242.
Newman, L., Biedrzycki, K. and Baum, F., (2012). Digital technology use among
disadvantaged Australians: implications for equitable consumer participation in digitally-
mediated communication and information exchange with health services. Australian Health
Review, 36(2), pp.125-129.
Prasad, A. and Heales, J. (2008) Understanding the use of technology in organisations: A
systematic approach. [Online]. Available at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1028&context=acis2008. [Accessed on: 12th April 2018].
Scarbrough, H. and Corbett, J.M., (2013). Technology and Organization (RLE:
Organizations): Power, Meaning and Deisgn. Routledge.
Schlagwein, D. and Hu, M., (2017). How and why organisations use social media: five use
types and their relation to absorptive capacity. Journal of Information Technology, 32(2),
pp.194-209.
Tarafdar, M., Gupta, A. and Turel, O., (2013). The dark side of information technology
use. Information Systems Journal, 23(3), pp.269-275.
Thakurta, R. and Roy, R., (2012). An investigation into factors influencing penetration of
information technology in organisations. International Journal of Business Information
Systems, 10(1), pp.20-39.
Whiddett, D., Tretiakov, A. and Hunter, I., (2012). The use of information technologies for
knowledge sharing by secondary healthcare organisations in New Zealand. International
journal of medical informatics, 81(7), pp.500-506.
Zorn, T.E., Flanagin, A.J. and Shoham, M.D., (2011). Institutional and noninstitutional
influences on information and communication technology adoption and use among nonprofit
organizations. Human Communication Research, 37(1), pp.1-33.

8