London School of Commerce IT Report: NatWest and IT Systems

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of information technology (IT) within NatWest, a leading international retail banking company. It begins with a literature review covering the role of IT in communication, inventory management, data management, customer relationship management, and marketing. The report then delves into ethical and privacy issues, including data breaches, unauthorized access, hacking, and viruses. It also explores different types of networks such as LAN, WAN, PAN, and MAN. Furthermore, the report examines the importance of social media in banking, including immediate feedback, wider reach, cost-effectiveness, competitive advantage, target market identification, and brand loyalty. The software development life cycle (SDLC) is also discussed, covering planning, defining, designing, building, testing, deployment, and maintenance phases. The analysis section focuses on the role of IT in NatWest, including internet banking, ATMs, telebanking, and e-cheques. The report addresses ethical and privacy issues faced by NatWest, such as customer data breaches, system corruption, security breaches, and software crashes. It also identifies the types of networks used by NatWest, primarily WAN and MAN. The report concludes with recommendations for improvement.

Introduction to
Information
Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review...................................................................................................................2
Role of Information Technology.......................................................................................2
Ethics and privacy..............................................................................................................3
Types of Networks.............................................................................................................3
Importance of Social Media...............................................................................................4
SDLC – Software Development Life Cycle......................................................................5
Analysis..................................................................................................................................6
Role of IT in NatWest........................................................................................................6
Ethics and privacy issues in NatWest................................................................................7
Types of Networks in NatWest..........................................................................................7
Social Media in NatWest...................................................................................................8
Recommendations..................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is defined as the combination of the technical devices which forms
the network and many other applications which is used in the companies and by the individual as
well. Organization use the technology for better management and operations in the firm for
smooth functioning in an organization (Rajaraman, 2018). Organization chosen here is the
NatWest, it is one of the leading international retail banking company based in UK in 1968. It
provides services like bank accounts, mortgages, credits cards, loans and many more. The
following discussions are made on the role of information technology in success or failure of the
company, ethics and privacy issues, types of networks, social media and software development
life cycle with literature review, analysis and recommendations in context of NatWest with
proper findings and conclusion.
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MAIN BODY
Literature Review
Role of Information Technology
Communication
Communication among networks, peoples and organizations becomes easy when IT is used
because it has a great role in performing interaction between elements either in the form or
people or in terms of technical devices. Networking has a great role in success of IT in the
companies.
Inventory management
IT has a good role in management of inventory in the firms so that accuracy can be
maintained in the stock, therefore, it is beneficial for the operations management as well in total
quality management, just in time management, capacity management, waste management and
many more.
Data management
Data analytics and management is a major part of IT and it assists in information
management, security and access as well. Data is a thing which is used to analyse the company’s
future considerations to interpret the happenings and what is to be done next, Therefore, data
management has a major role in IT in an organization.
Customer relationship
Information technology lets an organization to develop or innovate products that are mostly
demanded by the customers and also lets the company to maintain long term relationship with
the customers in order to hold loyalty with them by providing best servicing through the use of
technology.
Marketing
IT has a major role in marketing of an organization by promoting and advertising the
company with good content and best services in order to maintain the stability in the market
place. IT provides the company to get expanded and wider reach across the world (Samimi, A.,
2020).
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Ethics and privacy
Data breach
It is defined as the leakage or loss of important and confidential data of the company. It is
considered as an ethical and privacy issue because IT provides security but not guarantees the
total safety of the data and it can harm the company’s goodwill and lead to the great loss and
therefore, it is essential for an organization to ensure the security of the data by developing the
habits of prevention measures to secure the information.
Unauthorised access
It is defined as the access of the people on the technical elements who are unauthorised
and whose intention is to destroy or spoil the company’s image in the market. Those people
needs to stay away from the data which is important for an organization and that is why there is a
concept introduced that is access control through the authorised people can only get the access
for the information or technical elements in the company.
Hacking
It is defined as the unethical conduct done by the technical people to gain control over the
systems in order to fetch data or to destroy the system intentionally. They are the people who
have motive of spoiling the systems in an organization in order to take revenge or due to some
personal issues.
Viruses
It is defined as the technical diseases for the computers which enter into the system
through internet, networks and hardware or software devices in order to corrupt files or destroy
the computer normal functioning so that system cannot work properly. Company must update the
system from time to time and install the applications which provide protection against the viruses
(Madon and Krishna, 2018).
Types of Networks
LAN
It is known as the local area network which has a limited reach of networking and has a
high speed of connection. Its ownership is private, propagation delay is short, it consists less
congestion, its design and maintenance is easy and it has more fault tolerance.
WAN
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It is known as the wide area network which has a reach of networking across the city and
its speed is average. Its ownership is public or private, propagation delay is moderate, it has more
congestion than LAN, its design and maintenance is difficult than LAN and it has less fault
tolerance.
PAN
It is known as the personal area network which has reach of networking among electronic
devices of an individual and has a high speed of connection. Its ownership is private, propagation
delay is less than LAN, it has less congestion than LAN, its design and maibtenance is easy and
has more fault tolerance.
MAN
It is known as the metropolitan area network which has a reach of networking across
different countries and its speed is low. Its ownership is public or private, propagation delay is
long, it has more congestion than WAN, its design and maintenance is difficult than LAN and
WAN and it has less fault tolerance (Romashkova, Ponomareva, Vasilyuk and Gaidamaka,
2018).
Importance of Social Media
Immediate feedback
Social media marketing helps the company in gaining the instant feedback from the
customers about their product and services they offer to their customers and make the
communication better between them, thereby building the customer relationship long lasting.
Wider reach
Social media are spread around the world, from any one the person can communicate to
any one across the countries; therefore, by promoting the companies on social media can benefit
them to have a wider reach to many people.
Cost effective
Using social media as a marketing tool is highly beneficial for an organization because it
saves cost and it is low in expense as compared to the traditional marketing. Therefore, it saves
money and the company can invest that money in other areas where more revenue can be
generated.
Competitive advantage
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Organization have a advantage in competition, it has a great role in fighting against their
rivalries if they have an appropriate content management and positioning in the market of their
products and services.
Target market
Company can target the market in a more easy way by promoting and communicating the
customers who are specific for them or whom they know about the specific customers who can
purchase their products and services.
Brand loyalty
Organization can gain brand loyalty by handling and managing the customers so they can
create a goodwill and maintain stability in the market by adopting the technology at a very good
pace and updating them frequently in order to get updated about the trends in the market (Rad,
Nilashi and Dahlan, 2018).
SDLC – Software Development Life Cycle
Planning
This is the first phase which states that planning the goals and objectives for developing
the software is the very first step in which each and every step is planned to the core from
budgeting to the maintenance.
Defining
This is the second phase which states the requirements and feasibility study is done by
the specialist and who are involved in such project which is an essential part to consider.
Designing
This is the third phase which states that designing is done on pen and paper initially to
locate the elements and analysing the things which are to be structured out in the software with
proper framework.
Building
This is the fourth phase which states the development of the software that highly requires
the coding, programming and in depth knowledge of the software application program to build
up.
Testing
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This is the fifth phase which states that the error detection and rectification is required
before handling the software to the client because debugging is an essential part before ultimate
deployment.
Deployment
This is the sixth phase which states that now it is time to hand over the software to the
client with proper package and functioning of it.
Maintenance
This is the seventh phase which states that update on a regular basis are necessary
otherwise it can lose its security and can become outdated. Therefore, software maintenance is a
necessary phase to cover and secure the software (Markova, Semerikov, Striuk and Tron, 2019).
Analysis
Role of IT in NatWest
Internet banking
This is one of the major role of information technology in the organization that has ease
the banking transactions from anywhere in the world and assists a lot in gaining the suitable
recognition from the customers as well that made them comfortable in mobile banking also.
ATM – Automated teller machine
This is an another major role of information technology in the company that anyone from
anywhere can retrieve cash from the machines which are placed at different locations across the
world for the bank that made the bank as well as customer also convenient to receive cash from
such machines due to technology.
Tele banking
This is also a great role of information technology that bank can approach various
customers from anywhere in the world at different locations using various sources and one of the
source is the telecommunication which has proven an effective approach for the bank in the IT
field to assist customers in any case.
E – Cheque
Now a day’s electronic cheque is also available with the bank so that they reach out their
customers and perform all the formalities of cheque on a technical basis itself and thereby
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supporting the staff and customers as well to transact easily from the bank (Torten, Reaiche and
Boyle, 2018).
Ethics and privacy issues in NatWest
Customer’s data breaches
This is an issue which a bank has faced that they were unsuccessful to maintain the data
privacy of the customers and so the privacy has leaked but then they have controlled before the
major loss of the information.
System corruption
This is another issue that the system got corrupted due to entrance of the viruses or may
be misconduct from anyone in the bank, bank has suffered a lot due to such problem but has
recovered later on by adopting the preventive measures for the same issues.
Security breaking
This is also an issue that someone from the staff members has misconduct in the bank to
access the private information about the customers which was against the ethics and now that
person is fired for such illegal behaviour in the bank.
Software crash
This is a issue due to not performing the frequent updates of the system and that system
has not took over so much load and was crashed, lots of data was lost and now they realised the
same and regularly updating the systems and the applications for the smooth functioning of the
organization (Gelinas, Sutton Jr and Federowicz, 2019).
Types of Networks in NatWest
NatWest uses wide area network and metropolitan area network for its organization to work
in the city as well as across the world. It is an international firm which operates globally to
provide the services to their customer aroud the world with its automated teller machine as well
and that is why they have established both the types of netwroks for its working everywhere
without any hinderances. They have not set up the local area network because its range is only
for about one building which is not sufficient for the firm as they have a wider reach of their
customers and has many branches in different countries. This is the reason of setting up the
network of WAN and MAN (Benitez, Ray and Henseler, 2018).
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Social Media in NatWest
Face Book
Company uses Face Book to do publicity of their firm with mostly the people they have
targeted for thir products and services, promoting and influencing their customers to view up
their banking services and kindly look up to the purchase from them, they find this platform very
useful for advertising their organization.
Twitter
Company uses Twitter to post the relevant content and whatever they are up to for the
society and people, in what activities they are engaged currently and about the useful information
of banks current affairs in order to get more likes by the people so that they can get brand
awareness in a very potential manner.
Pin interest
Comapny uses Pin interest to share the fun and entertainment part of banking industry
associated with some news or quotes which mostly relates with their products and services so
that people could discover new things on such social site and create the better image of an
organization to support their servicing.
YouTube
Company uses YouTube to upload videos of tutorials that how people can open an
account, how they can withdraw cash, how they can view the balance, how to use ATM machine
and many more so that people can use all such functions in an easy manner and could
apprecxiate the firm for providing all such facilities for them (Khuntia, Saldanha, Mithas and
Sambamurthy, 2018).
Recommendations
Artificial Intelligence
Organization can use artificial intelligence to furnish their information technology in a
more enhanced manner to provide the natural intelligence to the people in the form of displaying
the reality artificially in a more amended manner.
Augmented Reality
Organization can use augmented reality to display and create movement of real time
objects as per the customers, employees and employers needs and requirements for better
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functioning of the bank and its operations in a more comfortable manner (Ratwani, Reider and
Singh, 2019).
Predictive Analysis
Organization can use predictive analysis to estimate and interpret the data and
information for better examining the future considerations and moreover it helps in determining
the costing and budgeting analysis for the company.
Big Data
Organization can use big data concept if they are having huge and large amount of data
which increases day by day, software application assist the firm in systematically manage the
data and information for data processing function in the firm (Zurawski, 2018).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that information technology is an essential part for not only an individual but
for the whole organization as well in performing well in the market place. Therefore, in order to
apply such concepts of information technology in real time companies, it is important to analyse
the role of information technology in success or failure of the company, it is essential to examine
the ethics and privacy issues, it is necessary to determine the types of networks, it is significant
to study about the social media and software development life cycle with artificial intelligence,
augmented reality, predictive analysis and big data. Hence, this report covers all such areas to
better understand the conception of the information technology in real time world.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Benitez, J., Ray, G. and Henseler, J., 2018. Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure
Flexibility on Mergers and Acquisitions. MIS quarterly. 42(1).
Gelinas, U.J., Sutton Jr, S.G. and Federowicz, J., 2019. Business processes and information
technology.
Khuntia, J., Saldanha, T.J., Mithas, S. and Sambamurthy, V., 2018. Information technology and
sustainability: Evidence from an emerging economy. Production and Operations
Management. 27(4). pp.756-773.
Madon, S. and Krishna, S. eds., 2018. The digital challenge: Information technology in the
development context. Routledge.
Markova, O., Semerikov, S., Striuk, A. and Tron, V., 2019. Implementation of cloud service
models in training of future information technology specialists.
Rad, M.S., Nilashi, M. and Dahlan, H.M., 2018. Information technology adoption: a review of
the literature and classification. Universal Access in the Information Society. 17(2).
pp.361-390.
Rajaraman, V., 2018. Introduction to information technology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Ratwani, R.M., Reider, J. and Singh, H., 2019. A decade of health information technology
usability challenges and the path forward. Jama. 321(8). pp.743-744.
Romashkova, O.N., Ponomareva, L.A., Vasilyuk, I.P. and Gaidamaka, Y.V., 2018. Application
of information technology for the analysis of the rating of university. In Workshop
proceedings (Vol. 8, pp. 46-53).
Samimi, A., 2020. Risk Management in Information Technology. Progress in Chemical and
Biochemical Research, pp.130-134.
Torten, R., Reaiche, C. and Boyle, S., 2018. The impact of security awarness on information
technology professionals’ behavior. Computers & Security, 79, pp.68-79.
Zurawski, R. ed., 2018. The industrial information technology handbook. CRC press.
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