Use of IT Systems in Different Functions of an Organization

This report analyzes the use of IT systems in different functions of an organization and how they contribute to achieving objectives. It discusses the storage and processing of data for knowledge management, customer relationship management, data management, and communication management. The report also evaluates the ways IT systems are applied in different functions and how they work together to achieve high performance.

UNIT 33
BUSINESS INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
P1 Analyse the use of IT systems within different functions of an organization.............................3
P2 Examine how IT systems contribute to achievement of objectives in a specific organizational
context..............................................................................................................................................5
M1 Evaluate how IT systems are applied in the different functions of an organization and how
they work together to achieve high performance.............................................................................6
P3 Analyse the different ways IT systems store and process data for knowledge management,
customer relationship management, data management and communication management..............6
M2 Critically analyse the different ways IT systems store and process data, providing specific
organizational examples...................................................................................................................7
P4 Use of IT systems in supporting value added change for improvement of business operations,
performance and sustainability.........................................................................................................8
M3 Advantages and disadvantages of IT systems that support value added change.......................8
P5 IT solutions for organisational scenarios addressing common problems...................................9
M4 Evaluation of addition of IT solutions in the future value.......................................................10
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Information Technology is one of the growing concepts that involve use of many technological
devices and taking their assistance in the storing, obtaining or sending the data. IT systems can be
termed as the use of entire hardware, software and all other equipments necessary for storage of the
data (Mason and Harrison, 2017). In the current report, various aspects related to use of IT in the
business systems will be discussed. The report will highlight how IT assists in achieving the
organisational objectives and incorporates flexibility in the organisational operations. Lastly, the
report will also highlight the contribution of IT in value addition of the business along with the
latest technological development.
MAIN BODY
P1 Analyse the use of IT systems within different functions of an organization
The use of IT systems within different functions of an organization is very common since
very last decades. The computers and computer networks has made it easier for the organization to
achieve in a span that would have taken several centuries to achieve. Therefore, the IT department
is one of the important department that has complemented and supplemented in the various
functions of the organization in several ways (Johansson, Christiernin and Pejryd, 2016).
The function of communication
Communication is the important part of the business. This part of the business got enhanced by the
help of computers and internet. One could connect and communicate to any other at any part of the
world. Thus, it helps in business by achieving communication at a high speed through several
channels such as:
Email
Emailing is the great channel for official communication between employees, owners or clients.
Video conferencing
It is the way to communicate with the far away team where the people are being able to see the
other at the same time. It is generally used for remote meetings as well as also for collaborating
with the other team on a project (Kim, 2015).
Collaboration software
This software allows different teams to work together on a project in a very efficient and faster way.
These also provides facilities such as virtual meeting rooms.
Social Media
It keeps the organization updated with several informations by presenting the information in a fun
way.
The function of data management
As the complexity in the world of business is increasing, it has become very essential for the

organizations to deal with the huge amount of data. This traffic of data could be in several forms
such as video data, audio data, text data or many more.
Store data
The data base helps to store large amount storable form of data in small spaces. Thus, it facilitates
from storing data in files and folder which might have taken large spaces.
Management data
Raw data is not so much meaningful. Instead, the data which is in sorted form is of more
importance. Thus, the IT department provides tools in order to analyse manage and draw conclusion
from the managed data.
Access data
The information technology helps the organization in providing security to the sophisticated data
and also provide tools to prevent the data from unauthorized data access.
The function of marketing
One of the core aspect of business is marketing. The campaigns of marketing had become digital
with the rise information technology in organization.
Content creation
With the help of word processing software the organization could create advertisements or could
create sales copies.
Online Advertising
Lunching marketing campaigns through internet has facilitated the organization. Thus, in this way
IT department has improved the sales and increased the revenue of an organization.
E-commerce
Doing business online is e-commerce. The IT helps in creating online business stores.
Marketing Research
The IT has helped the organization in conducting research regarding consumer trends and most
profitable opportunities for the company (Bach, Čeljo and Zoroja, 2016).
The function of process improvement
It is essential for the organization to save money. Companies uses several helps of IT in order to
improve the processes and efficiency in ordering. The IT department helped the Human Resource
Department in conducting online training sessions as well as communicating with the employees
purely on paperless communication method. Thus, this has facilitated in saving both time and
money.
The function of Enterprise Resource Planning
With the help of some software, the IT department has benefited the organization in linking their
several functions such as sales, manufacturing, human resource, accounting and many more. This

software helps the organization in strategic decision-making.
Explanation of IT systems contribution in improving the performance of several functions of
organization
Accounting function
The IT system helps the accounting department of the organization in managing the record of the
employees. The record regarding attendance and salary of an individual. These all functions can be
carried out effectively, efficiently and easily with the help of information technology systems.
Sales function
The sales function of the company could be improved by IT systems as the sales management of
organization could get reports of the remote sales persons. Additionally, by the usage of sales force
automation techniques the sales department could keep record of each prospect which include
informations regarding email, phone number, address as well as name of the contact.
Marketing function
In order to achieve the company's objective as well as to fulfil the needs of the consumer selling of
goods, promotion and planning are directions of marketing activities. Therefore, IT systems
contributes in function of marketing of the organization in several situations such as in promotions
of the product, selection of place, pricing of the commodity as well as for the product attribute.
Human Resource function
The IT system contributes in improving the functions of Human Resource of the company by
inspecting the records of the employees of the company, by availing benefit plans. Moreover, IT
helps in availing the employees with computer based trainings as well as for evaluation
opportunities. Additionally, IT helps managers in making several decisions of the organization.
Administration function
The administrative function of organization has been improved by the systems of information
technology as it helps in tracking participation of employees in several benefits programs, thus
which includes collection of several records regarding retirement, profit sharing, compensations and
insurance.
P2 Examine how IT systems contribute to achievement of objectives in a specific
organizational context
The information technology system has helped the British Home Plc in achieving its objectives in
several forms. The company has relyed on the IT for faster communication, processing of data and
for market intelligence. Moreover, it helped the company in maintaining competitive advantages,
driving revenue growth, achieving cost efficiencies as well as for improving business processes.
IT in product development

Launching of new product in the market could be speeded up by the help of information technology
systems. Thus, it helps the company in gathering market intelligence from proprietary databases,
sales representatives or customers etc. Moreover, some software helps in speeding up the decision-
making as well as the information system has also helped in collaborative processes of the several
tasks of the British Home Plc (Johansson, Christiernin and Pejryd, 2016).
IT in stakeholder integration
Stakeholder integration is the another help provided by the information technology. The 24/7
interconnectivity has helped the organization to communicate with its customers.
IT in process improvement
It is essential for the managers of the organization British Home Plc to have continuous check of
sales, costs and other operating metrics on one integrated software platform which is enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems. Thus, the ERP system has facilitated the in making the internal
process of the organization efficient and cost-efficient by replacing dozens of legacy systems for
finance, HR and for other functional areas of the company.
IT and cost efficiencies
the information technology helped the organization in reducing the implementation and
transnational cost. IT has provided several productivity solutions, from word processing to
emailing. Thus, this facilitated the company in saving the cost from unwanted duplication and
postages. At the same time, IT has helped in improving product quality as well as customer services
for the British Home Plc.
Cost savings and competitive advantages
For maintaining the competitive advantages in the market place, it is essential for the company to
work on cost savings, rapid product developments as well as for the process improvements. The
information technology systems provides the software which helps in bringing the product in the
market which is quick and cost effective.
IT in globalization
IT is the core model of operations which is essential for globalization. For the British Home Plc to
stay in the global market it is sometimes needed for the company to outsource several non-core
functions such as human resource and finance to some offshore company using technology of
networks in order to have contact with the overseas employees, customers and suppliers (Yeh, Lee
and Pai, 2015).
M1 Evaluate how IT systems are applied in the different functions of an organization and how
they work together to achieve high performance.
The commuters and computer networks has made it easier for the organization to achieve in a span
that would have taken several centuries to achieve. Therefore, the IT department is one of the

important department that has complemented and supplemented in the various functions of the
organization in several ways such as the function of communication- Email, Video conferencing,
Collaboration software, Social Media; the function of data management- Store data, Management
data, Access data; the function of marketing- Content creation, Online Advertising, E-commerce,
Marketing Research; the function of process improvement and the function of Enterprise Resource
Planning.
Contribution of IT in achievement of companies objectives are IT in product development, IT in
stakeholder integration, IT in process improvement, IT and cost efficiencies, Cost savings and
competitive advantages as well as IT in globalization (Laudon and Laudon, 2016).
P3 Analyse the different ways IT systems store and process data for knowledge management,
customer relationship management, data management and communication management
The different ways through which IT system stores and processes data for knowledge management
are Expert systems, Groupware, Share Point, Decisions support system and Data management
system. Knowledge provides competitive advantages to the organization as well as to its employees.
As the information or data gained with knowledge helps the organization in making informed
decisions as well helps the organization in gaining knowledge about competitors business strategy
and their prising model, thus, eventually helping in organizational work towards bettering in front
of competitors.
Moreover, knowledge management is very much essential process in the organization which is
consisting of six major tasks i.e. create, capture, refine, store, tag and circulate. There are basically
two types of data i.e. one is hard data which is in terms of numbers and figures and the another one
is the interpretation of data based on the experiences. Thus, the real need of knowledge
management system is to provide access to the knowledge base whenever required (Kasemsap,
2018).
The customer relationship management (CRM) can be defined as the method to manage companies
interaction with the current as well as with the potential customers, moreover, for storing and
analysing data regarding past interactions. The organization viewed CRM as the strategic process in
order to better understand the customers and meeting their needs efficiently. The different ways in
which information technology stores and processes data for customer relationship management are
retaining existing customers & be discovering the new ones, helping the sales staff by providing the
ways to close the deals faster, by cross selling of products more effectively, offering better customer
service and by providing the products and services which is what exactly needed by the customers.
Data management is the process which includes the combinations of different functions which aims
to make sure the data is accurate, available as well as accessible. Effective management of data is

very much essential for running the business applications as well as for providing the analytical
informations which helps the organization in strategic planning and decision-making. The different
ways in which IT stores and process data for data management are data management systems, big
data management, data ware house and data lakes, data integration, data governance, data quality &
MDM as well as data modelling.
The communication management is the integration and coordination of networks of components,
therefore, this data combine with components in order to convert data into information.
Communication through information technology systems requires five main components i.e.
hardware, software, databases, network and people. Moreover, the communication management
through information technology consists of inputs, data processes, data storages, output and control.
The different ways of IT systems to process and store data for the communication management are
operations support system, transaction process system, process control system, enterprise
collaboration system and management support system (Kim, 2015).
M2 Critically analyse the different ways IT systems store and process data, providing specific
organizational examples
For the organization British Home Plc, there are a different way in which information technology
systems are used to store and process data for knowledge management, customer relationship
management, data management and communication management.
Knowledge management is very much essential process in the organization which consists of six
major tasks i.e. create, capture, refine, store, tag and circulate. The different ways in which
information technology stores and processes data for customer relationship management are
retaining existing customers & be discovering the new ones, helping the sales staff by providing the
ways to close the deals faster, by cross selling of products more effectively, offering better customer
service and by providing the products and services which is what exactly needed by the customers.
The different ways in which IT stores and process data for data management are data management
systems, big data management, data ware house and data lakes, data integration, data governance,
data quality & MDM as well as data modelling. The different ways of IT systems to process and
store data for the communication management are operations support system, transaction process
system, process control system, enterprise collaboration system and management support system
(Laudon and Laudon, 2015).
P4 Use of IT systems in supporting value added change for improvement of business
operations, performance and sustainability.
The IT systems can be used for accomplishing a variety of purposes of our business and the most
effective manner through which the IT systems can be incorporated is in the productivity of the

company (Coy, 2019). When the IT systems i.e. the technological aspect of a firm is strong, it
automatically helps in succeeding tat ht business activities that the company has to perform:
Business operations: The business operations of a company are greatly assisted when the y are
incorporated with the Information technology. Techniques like CRM and TPS can be used to
improve the operational efficiency of the company d make the process faster and error free thus
giving better or improved services to the customer. CRM helps in ensuring that once a customer has
attached to the companies, he remains attached and customer loyalty can be built based on this
technological integration. Similarly, TPS i.e. Transaction Processing System helps in ensuring that
the required information in order to conduct normal business operations is consistently provided to
the business thus fastening the pace at which trade is done and services are given to the customers.
Performance: The performance fo any business is basically evaluated in the terms of revenue that it
was able to generate i.e. the number of customers that they were able to serve. In order to increase
the number of customers that can be served on an average, it is necessary to incorporate IT in the
normal business functions (Mason and Harrison, 2017). When the time taken to address the needs
of one customer gets minimised, there is automatically room for addressing the needs of more
customers and here IT plays a huge role in simplifying the entire process of giving services thus
improving the overall performance.
Sustainability: In the current business environment, it is crucial for businesses to think of concepts
like sustainability, nature, impact of product etc. so that the company can fulfil its responsibility
towards preserving earth and nature. Increased use of IT is one of the major steps in ensuring a
sustainable development since the use of resources get s minimised and the technological
equipments that are being used are not run on energy sources. Thus incorporation of IT in business
processes is one of the best method of making the business sustainable and nature preserving in its
operations.
M3 Advantages and disadvantages of IT systems that support value added change.
The major advantage of incorporating IT system in a business is that it helps in generating the
desired information as and when it is needed in the quickest possible way and therefore, the
businesses are able to improve their operational efficiency and provide services to the customers in
an improved manner thus contributing to the value added development of the entire business.
However, the major disadvantage is this that the more business moves towards incorporation
in IT in the business and serving people through such IT software, the personalisation and the
human contacts gets minimised thus decreasing hte value of relationships that businesses share with
their customers.
P5 IT solutions for organisational scenarios addressing common problems
The main problem that British Home Plc is currently facing is that their method of operating and

conducting business has become highly outdated and there is no such activity that helps the
company in being categorised as at par with the other industries (Storey, 2017). The one such
similar problem was lack of centralised IT department in the British Home Plc. With the advent of
internet, technology and widespread reach to the consumers, the best move that the company can
adopt in its technological department is the introduction of its various products and services on its
websites or other locations so that the online website of the company can be created.
 Cloud Computing: Cloud computing helps in easily accessing the data anytime and
anywhere and by simply using internet connection, connectivity can be established
anywhere thus resolving the geographical barriers.
 ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning helps in systematically organising all the data in the
business and accessing the required data as quickly possible by using primary keys and other
search criteria’s.
 5G Technology: This can be done by using of 5g technology in the business so that
appropriate services can be provided at a quicker rate to the customers. Further, the 5G
technology as the IT solution is the best method for the company to reinstate its earlier game
and still keep targeting a higher end society group in London and thus continue to supply
their exclusive products.
 3D Printing: 3D printing helps in developing a 3D object using the computer aided design
model and this assists in making the experience more realistic and integrated with
technology.
 Training: The training is regularly provided to the professionals and this assists in
developing a variety of skills in them so that they can develop the ability of multi skilling
and address different aspects of completing a task.
Further, in order to address more such problems of the company, as an IT manager such as better
internal connectivity in the work place, use of Lan, Wan and Man’s where the communication at the
workplace can take place in a secured manner and all the entire data into the company that is being,
used expand or sore much have all their data’s copy in the company itself and improve the overall
process as well as individual process in the company since they will be able to develop and
formulate deal in a more secured manner. Apart from this, there are various systems such as
Transaction Processing system, Customer relationship management etc. that can be used by the
company effectively to gain market share rapidly an re-establish themselves in the market that was
once lost in presumably a more effective manner.
Further, IT solutions can be also used to restructure the manner in which the customers of the
company are targeted and customer’s loyalty is maintained. All these general problems which have
currently made the company outdated and redundant due to its lack of any particular IT system and

lack of any modernisation will be resolved effectively (Lee, 2018). The new plans thus formulated
will assist in meeting up with the present day requirement and challenges of operating a business in
the current day scenario and thus help in making the company competitive in today’s market with
its technological modification.
M4 Evaluation of addition of IT solutions in the future value
The IT systems contribute in generating value in the business and by doing so i.eby adding
these IT systems such as TPS and CRM in the IT solutions of the company help in becoming better
organisations that cater to a wider need segment of the consumers and helps in competing with the
services that are provided in the latest and updated manner to the public that is being targeted by the
company. Therefore, these update in the technology helps in simplifying the process of the business
as well as shorten the time taken to serve the consumer thus improving the quality of services that
are being given to the customers.
CONCLUSION
The research conducted in the above report helps in concluding that the use of IT has become
necessary on order to match up the pace and compete with other businesses operating in the
industry. The report helped in concluding that the British Plc was a highly inflexible and rigid
organisation in current environment and use of various IT technologies and systems could assist in
achieving flexibility. The report also highlighted that how IT contributes in the value addition
process of the business and lastly, the use of latest technological developments of IT in resolving the
common business problems was discussed in this report. It can be adequately concluded that
currently even just IT is becoming redundant since there has been increased incorporation of AI in
the businesses.

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