CFPBUS003: IT Report on Go Ahead Buses - Foundation Level, 2020

This report analyzes the information technology (IT) infrastructure of Go Ahead Buses, a public transport company. It begins with an introduction to IT and its functions in business, highlighting how Go Ahead Buses utilizes IT for various operations like reservations and communication. The literature review explores the functions of information in business, ethical and social issues faced by the company (harassment, data privacy, and decision-making conflicts), and different networking technologies (PAN, WLAN, SAN) used by Go Ahead Buses. The report also examines the effectiveness of intranet and internet at the workplace and analyzes the stages of the system development life cycle, including the benefits and drawbacks of investing in IT. The analysis and discussion section provides further insights, and the conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations. The report also includes a comprehensive list of references used.

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

Abstract
Information technology is termed as using advanced technology for transmitting, storing,
retrieving as well as manipulating data & information in a defined manner. Go Ahead Buses is a
public transport company which is headquarter in United Kingdom. There are different forms of
networking such as PAN, LAN, WAN and so on. There is difference among intranet as well as
internet that is important for an organisation to understand so that decision associated with
Information Technology is taken in a proper manner. In addition to this, Go Ahead Buses may
use system development life cycle so that they can convert old technology into the new one in a
proper manner.

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
Function of Information in business...............................................................................................4
Determine issues related to ethics and social.........................................................................5
Identify diverse type of networking technologies and also mention differences...................6
Determine effectiveness of intranet and internet at workplace.............................................7
Analyse diverse stages related to system development life cycle..........................................9
Determine benefits and drawbacks for a company for investing on information technology11
Analysis and Discussion.......................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Information Technology refers to use of storage devices like computers and laptop to
send, receive and store credentials through electronic form. In business, it is used as tool to carry
out firm activities and simplify the work of manpower. This information technology has
increased the opportunities in market to expand business. Go Ahead a public transport
organisation, headquartered in UK is using IT as productive tool to enhance their business
performance (Aral, Dellarocas and Godes, 2013). They have used IT in various forms such as
reservation, connectivity, security, etc. Thus report includes network technology, internet and
intranet, stages of system development life cycle and benefits of IT sector.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Function of Information in business
IT is emerging now a day in every field of business. Adoption of IT has led to time
management, more resources and reliable output. Function and operations of firm has become
more easy to handle and manage. In relation with Go Ahead, it is using advanced IT tools as well
as software to carry out their activities. Some advantages of IT in service industry are as follows-
Communication system- Communication is necessary in business to send, receive and
understand the message properly. In business, communication is crucial as to generate profit and
sales information is needed. Information can be transferred through emails, video conference etc.
So, Go Ahead uses effective mode of communication to and barriers between transferring of
information are removed with use of advanced software.
Reservation system- In service industry range of customer and expectations are at wider
level. Earlier it was a difficult task for firm to handle all the activities due to excess of demands.
So, mobiles were used for reservation but it was not applicable for everyone so, Information
technology has changed the scenario. Go Ahead, uses online reservation system to overcome
with this problem which leads to access of reservation in easily. Thus, customer and firm both
take benefit of online reservation system as goodwill of entity increases and customers get total
satisfaction (Colombo and et. al., 2012).

 Data management- Information is crucial in every business to maintain a proper
functioning of firm. In service industry, it is important to manage data and information of
customers. Go Ahead maintained its customers’ information safe and secure so that
misuse of data cannot be done by competitors. Thus, data management is done at secured
and with high use of security tools.
 Facilities- Facilities are amenities that are provided and used by users. Adoption of
information technology has increased the requirements of facilities. In relation with GO
Ahead, their main motive is to provide total satisfaction to customers by providing
various facilities such as buses, cranes, trains, and equipment’s related to public transport.
So, these transport services are provided by firm at affordable prices which leads to
increase in efficiency of productivity, sales of equipment and products and more
attractions of customers as well as brand awareness. Due to advancement of technology
facilities are being distributed as smart solution which assists firm in time saving and eco-
friendly. Use of information technology has led to global access of business.
Determine issues related to ethics and social
While running business organisation various social and ethical factors are effect performance
of the entity. Ethical issues are those problems which arise when an organisation get confused
between right and wrong decisions and goes against with ethical rules and regulation describe in
law. In social issues organisations faces problems of society, like discriminations, corporate
social responsibility related issues, health issues etc. Go ahead is services oriented organisation,
in present scenario following are the ethical and social problems they suffer while operating their
business activities:
Issues related to harassment and discrimination: Organisations suffers from these
problems because of their wrong leadership style. Main reason of cases of harassment is because
power of decision making is in few hands thus individuals unethically behave and use their
power to harassment their employees (Forman King and Lyytinen, 2014). Problem of
discrimination and harassment arises because in multinational entities workforce is hired from
different places. In present time issues related to harassment is increases in Go-ahead. Manager
of this organisation need to implement those polices which reduces this type of issues in work
environment.

 Protection of customer’s privacy: Due to advancement of technologies ratio of
cybercrime has been increases. Customers private information’s are leaked and hackers
can use their bank account easily. In last few years’ customers of Go ahead are file
complaints against the organisation. They have security issue. Their account has been
hacked. Manager of this organisation need to build those strategies by which they can
built string security system so that hackers not hack their clients’ accounts and personal
information of their customers are not leaked at social media platform.
Conflicts related arise in decision making: In present time organisation are suffering
from many social and ethical issues which directly impact on their growth rate. IN companies,
major issues of conflicts are arising due to lack of decision making capabilities of their
managers. Owners of companies give power to few persons to take decision. Success of an
organisation depends on how well managers take essential decision for achieving organizations
predetermine objectives. Conflicts arise between managers while they take decision as
consideration of each manager is necessary for implementing decisions. At present time GO
ahead, suffering from this problem they hake lack of capable workforce available in their
organisation thus there will be misunderstanding among employees and managers arise and this
will directly impact on decision making process (Holtshouse, 2013).
Company take too much time in taking and implementing decision. Their Wil be chances
that their policies and procedure are not help organisation in generating profit. To solve this
problem manager of GO ahead decide to implement decentralize policy in their organisation this
will help in motivating employers as they will be part of decision making process.
There will be many ethical issues are arising in GO ahead which will be main reason of
declining of their performance thus manager needs to implement effective policies which help in
declining ratio of social and ethical problems.
Identify diverse type of networking technologies and also mention differences
Networking technology is known as techniques which is used for interacting with different
people and companies across the world. Different networks are included in organisations for
talking to different sectors while sitting at single place. There are different methods by which
systems of an organisation are connected and these are optic cable, wireless connection, satellite,
communication resources and many more. Companies use various ways for contacting to
different people across the globe such as communication, internet, voice call, video call and

many more. The different type of network connections and systems used by the companies are
mentioned below -
 Personal Area Network (PAN): This is known as small and basic technology of
network used for connecting with other computers. This includes wireless modem that is
connected among two computers, phone, and tablets. GO ahead bus service is adopting
the internet for preparing their customers to have access over all the services and facilities
that are provided by this bus company. Also, this company provides details regarding
staff and employees in website so that people will know how this company treats its
employees as well as customers.
 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN): The main function of LAN is to connect with
networks that are helpful in managing work related to different people. The use of
network of local area consists of various service like WIFI. This does not need any type
of physical connection or cable. The internet is connected to devices through wireless
connection. The Go ahead bus service is involved in developing Wifi services in their bus
for facilitating employees, staff and customers to enjoy their journey. Wifi has become
one of the major service needed by all people while doing their day to day activities.
Thus, it is analysed that Go ahead bus service must provide Wifi service to its customers.
 Storage Area Network (SAN): This network is termed as storage area network and this
is dependent on using high speed network and internet. This provides help in sharing pool
of storage devices at different servers. This type of network does not depend upon any
other technology like LAN or WAN (Rainer and et. al., 2013). It totally depends upon
how data is stored and shared among two computers. In reference to Go ahead buses, the
storage technology is used for managing and saving details about journeys of different
customers. This company adopts SAN for storing their data or information in more
effective and safe way.
These are some of the network technology which are essential in order to provide more
effective services by Go ahead buses. The increased number of customers will help in
maximising profits as well as money.
Determine effectiveness of intranet and internet at workplace
In every company, both internet as well as intranet plays a crucial role as it helps higher
authorities of an organisation to implement activities and operations in a proper manner. Intranet

is a private network that is used by companies to build connection with systems within the
association. Intranet involves networking of one or more than one gateway systems that connects
computer from outside. If it is talked about internet, it is a global network which gives
information & communication facilities by the assistance of standardized protocols. With
reference to Go ahead buses, both internet and intranet plays an essential role at workplace which
is discussed below:
Importance of Intranet:
 By the assistance of Intranet, the staff members of is easily share data, experiences,
events, information in a proper manner.
 Through intranet, employees can access date or use information in an effective manner
Intranet helps staff members to gain knowledge about information practices along with their
accessibility (Tsohou and et. al., 2015).
 By the assistance of this, an organisation is able to make employees more satisfied as it
involves sharing of data due to which members of team can easily get information.
 Intranet enables Go Ahead buses to offer high quality service to its customers as it helps
them to hare practices as well as resources in a proper manner.
 The other significance of Intranet is it cut down the cost of an organisation and increases
the level of profitability of company.
Importance of Internet-
 By the help of Internet, Go Ahead buses is willing to implement effective marketing
strategies which help companies to reach maximum number of people and raise their
level of sales as well as profit.
 Internet also help company to raise customer base due to which company is able to
generate higher revenue that will lead to increase in market share of Go Ahead buses.
 It assist company to offer 24 hour service to customers that leads to development of
positive image in the mind-set of customers which in turn effect on all over performance
of an organisation.
 It enables customer to easily book buses and gain all the information about company in a
proper manner.

 With the help of Internet, Go Ahead buses is able to cut down their cost and gain more
profits. As internet is considered as less expensive method rather than traditional methods
such as conferences, fax, telephone, conducting workshop and so on.
 With the help of Internet, customers can easily do payments by different methods like
debit cards, credit cards, Google pay and so on.
All these benefits assist company to easily as well as smoothly carried out operations & activities
in a proper manner. It also helps company to make improvements in these processes and enhance
their productivity level.
Analyse diverse stages related to system development life cycle
This cycle is also termed as application development life cycle. It is the process of
creating, planning, developing as well as testing information system that assist companies in
implementing work in an effective manner. This cycle is adopted by organisation for software as
well as hardware development. This cycle involves five stages which is defined below with
relation to Go Ahead Buses:
Planning: It is the initial stage of system development life cycle. Herein, companies
make effective planning about how to implement activities as well as operations. In addition to
this, the requirement of new software and hardware is analysed so that needs can be fulfilled in a
positive manner (Uslar and et. al., 2 012). The people who is involved at this stage is
stakeholders, managers, employers and so on.
Analysing: This stage took place after planning and is considered as second stage of
system development life cycle. Herein, higher authorities of an organisation conducts
investigation so that systems can be developed in a more effective manner. In addition to this, the
activities is evaluated with the needs of users, current system and many more.

Designing: Herein, managers of company is recruit designer who has the ability to
develop system as well as application as per the requirements and needs of users. In addition to
this, it is a lengthy process and take time of companies because it is important for designer to
develop unique & innovative system for the company.
Implementation: In this stage, developers as well as programmers develops software and
hardware as per need of users. In addition to this, activities that is planned is implemented at this
stage of system development life cycle. Moreover, new program is installed and testing is taking
place in order to know whether new software is working in a right manner or not. This assist an
organisation t make improvements in an effective manner. Along with this, it enables companies
to transform existing software as well as hardware into the innovative one (Vaishnavi and
Kuechler, 2015).
Maintenance: The last stage of system development life cycle that helps an organisation
to develop & manage all activities in a proper manner. At this stage, developers monitor as well
as check activities that is performed by their subordinates so that they can make improvements in
a proper manner. In addition to this, developers also identify security system in order to ensure
effectiveness of people.
Illustration 1: System Development Life Cycle
(Source: System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), 2019)

All these levels of system development life cycle are used by Go Ahead Buses so that
they can develop innovative hardware and software for the company. This also assist
them to improve their processes and enhance their level of efficiency as well as
productivity level.
Determine benefits and drawbacks for a company for investing on information technology
In this modern world, customer’s in market prefer to use those products as well as service
which is innovative and new in market. For this, it is important for companies to invest in
information technology. IT assist an organisation to make work easy as well as effective.
Investing in Information affect positively as well as negatively on the organisations. The benefits
& drawbacks on making investment on Information technology is defined below with relation to
Go Ahead Buses:
Benefits for investing in IT
 By investing in Information technology, it will assist managers of Go Ahead Buses to
make effective relationship with all the staff members. Along with this, it improves
interaction and communication of managers with all the employees, customers as well as
stakeholders. It also assists company to give effective service to customers that leads to
development of positive image in mind of customers due to which sales of Go Ahead
Buses is increased.
Investing in IT helps Go Ahead buses to make improvements in their processes that leads to raise
in efficiency and productivity level of companies which in turn affect positively on profits of
company (Waser and et. al., 2016).
 By the adoption of new and innovative technology, Go Ahead buses is able to solve
queries of customers in a rapid manner that attracts customers and they were like to
consume service of company in future also. Investing in IT such brings out innovative and creative solution to company which help
GO Ahead buses to conduct as well as implement activities in a proper manner.
Drawbacks for investing in IT:
 Investing in Information technology is a cost effective process that may decline the
overall profitability of Go Ahead buses.

 It is necessary for company to provide training sessions to employees so that they can
gain knowledge about the usage of new technology in an effective manner. It also incurs
cost to company which affect negatively on the profits of company.
 New technology requires proper maintenance that added an extra cost to Go Ahead buses.
All these benefits as well as drawbacks take place when managers of Go Ahead buses is making
investment in information technology. This, it is important for company to develop effective
strategies so that they can easily deal with the drawbacks and maintain profit level of
organisation.
Analysis and Discussion
From the above discussion, it has been analysed that Information technology provides
access to companies to work from any place other than office premises. It help companies to
reach more number of customers easily and conveniently that leads to generation of higher
profits. In addition to this, it also improves information and data storage system, file
management system and data analysis system of company. It is determined that IT improves
workplace efficiency as it is easy for organisations to store data and information in a proper
manner which is easily be gained for future use. Moreover, technology aid in answering
customer queries in frequent manner and also allows real time chat session that easily resolve
problems of customer that leads to retention of customer for longer time frame. This is analysed
by the development of Information technology that it will help in managing work more
effectively and communicating data with other companies. Moreover, a company require high
investment in order to adopt innovative technology in their process which may decline overall
profits of an organisation. Along with this, organisation need a team or expert person who
manages system in a proper as it occur cost to company that impact directly on the profits in a
negative manner. Furthermore, information technology occurs privacy and security issues as now
people getting worried of their private data becoming public knowledge.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been analysed that information technology plays an important
role in every organisation. It assists companies to make improvements in their existing process
and brings out something new as well as innovative in market. Moreover, system development
life cycle helps an organisation to convert old hardware and software into the new one. It is

important for an organisation to identify which technology is effective for the company and
which gives more benefits to them. Information technology occurs cost to company that effect on
the profitability level of a company. By using new and innovative technology at workplace,
companies are able to enhance their level of efficiency as well as profitability level.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aral, S., Dellarocas, C. and Godes, D., 2013. Introduction to the special issue—social media and
business transformation: a framework for research. Information Systems
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Colombo, M.G. and et. al., 2012. Introduction: Small business and networked innovation:
Organizational and managerial challenges. Journal of Small Business
Management. 50(2). pp.181-190.
Forman, C., King, J.L. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Special section introduction—information,
technology, and the changing nature of work. Information Systems Research. 25(4).
pp.789-795.
Holtshouse, D.K., 2013. Information technology for knowledge management. Springer Science &
Business Media.
Rainer, R.K. and et. al., 2013. Introduction to information systems: Supporting and transforming
business. John Wiley & Sons.
Tsohou, A. and et. al., 2015. Managing the introduction of information security awareness
programmes in organisations. European Journal of Information Systems. 24(1). pp.38-
58.
Uslar, M. and et. al., 2012. Standardization in smart grids: introduction to IT-related
methodologies, architectures and standards. Springer Science & Business Media.
Vaishnavi, V.K. and Kuechler, W., 2015. Design science research methods and patterns:
innovating information and communication technology. Crc Press.
Waser, R. and et. al., 2016. Introduction to nanoionic elements for information
technology. Resistive Switching: From Fundamentals of Nanoionic Redox Processes to
Memristive Device Applications. pp.1-30.
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