Information Technology Software, Social and Ethical Issues in Business

This report delves into the crucial role of Information Technology (IT) in modern business operations. It begins by examining various software applications essential for business management, including accounting, time tracking, website building, payment processing, sales and marketing, communication, and project management software. The report then addresses the social and ethical issues arising in the digital world, such as privacy concerns, data security, harmful actions, negligence, and piracy, emphasizing their impact on businesses and stakeholders. Furthermore, it explores how Information and Communication Technology (ICT), particularly the internet and intranet, enhances business efficiency and responsiveness to customer needs. The report highlights the internet's role in marketing, business expansion, and online services, along with the intranet's impact on internal communication and productivity. Finally, it outlines the benefits of IT in managing businesses, including improved communication and task scheduling. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of IT in achieving business goals effectively.

Information
technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................1
Discuss different of software that could be used in the business..............................................1
Social and ethical issues in the digital world.............................................................................2
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) makes a business more efficient and
effective in responding to customer needs. Discuss the impact of Internet and Intranet on
businesses....................................................................................................................................4
Role of IT in managing business.................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Technology plays an important role in the success of any business organisation.
Companies are opting latest technology that will help in managing their resources in an effective
and efficient way. It helps the company in doing the work in an efficient manner. Work can be
done with the help of technology in an accurate way. It also helps the company in taking critical
decision and enables the manger to formulate plans that will help in attaining its goals. It aligns
the available resources in such a manner so that they contribute in managing the workforce.
Technology minimises the probability of error and can perform repetitive task. (Chae, H.C., Koh,
C.E. and Park, K.O., 2018) This project report is based on Information Technology software and
how they can be used in various business. In addition to that, it will cover the social and ethical
issues that are becoming more important in digital world. At last it will cover how IT can make
business more efficient and role of IT that helps the manager in managing their business.
MAIN BODY
Discuss different of software that could be used in the business
There are many software tools that are needed in the business management. From
bookkeeping to tools used in the time tracking every small activities needs different types of
software that made business functioning smooths. The types of software that can be used in the
business are discussed below:
 Accounting software- Its an important part of the business operating systems. Choosing
best accounting software that helps business in making business activities more effective
and efficient. This software used to facilitating the monitoring of cash flow, tax filing,
expenditure and essential business data.Han, J.H. and Kim, H.M., 2019)
 Time tracking software- It manages business to engage in its effective time management
by the detailed analysis of the work and the different tasks. Time is proves to be one of the
mos critical aspect of business. By understanding hoe the workers of the business
spending their timing in managing work and by implementation of the software can help
in better management of time.
 Website building Software- The right website can make business image professional
and attractive. So making effective website with the help of the different website building
software makes a business stand apart from their competitors.
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 Payment transaction software- By making payment systems automating and by
streamlining the payment systems will provide huge benefit to the overall workflow of the
business and makes its process easier. Automating payments can greatly reduce the
workload when there is huge amount of work in billing. It can also make refunding
process easier with detailed recording of all the payments so that they saves their business
by any fraudulent activities.(Karanasios, S., 2018)
 Sales and marketing Software- Software that organises business and organises the
activities in the structured manner will gives boost to the affectivity as well as the
profitability. Sales and marketing software increases the efficiency and makes a business
activities better by analysing sales and marketing data. These software apps helps in
providing possible value out of the marketing budget.
 Communication software- Communication software plays an essential role in the
organisation and with the effective and efficient communication both the internally in the
business and the externally maximize the working of the business with the more positive
aspects. Effective use of communication software will allows the business to expand the
horizons of the market and increases the communication between teams and the
management.
 Project management software- The best software in the management of the project can
provide the invaluable helps in the business operation activities. These software gives user
the necessary ability to organise the complex activities and the p[projects in the
organisation. A Professional and well managed plan is more important in providing
customers with the assurance of the project being completed in time and in organised
manner. With the detailed documentation provided by these software will help businesses
in removing problems and make resource management easy.(Lecerf, M. and Omrani, N.,
2020)
Social and ethical issues in the digital world
Although the leaps that modern information technologies are making have been quite
impressive as it has fundamentally changed the way business in conducted in domestic and
international scale, it also has significant social and ethical issues. The utilities which are provided
by digital technologies and modern IT tools is very sophisticated in nature as it has many benefits
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such as ease of diversification of operations along with allowing business firms to undergo
digitization and use internet channels for the purpose of sales and marketing. However all these
activities contain significant ethical and social problems which have been listed herein.
 Privacy and collection of sensitive information – Modern IT frameworks and digital
technologies which are employed by business to run their online operations such as
websites, blogs and e-commerce portals are used to collect a lot of information regarding
the customers who visit such sites and conduct trade through it such as information
relating to their credit cards, personal data and even medical history. It is a very big
challenge and responsibility of firms that use information technology to make sure that
this data is not used in a dubious manner and is protected at all costs from unintended
disclosure and third party hacking and leaking attempts. (Mansfield, R., 2018)
 Harmful actions and negligence – When it comes to the use of information technology
in routine business operations, harmful actions can cause plenty of damage to not only
businesses and their profitability but also to their stakeholders such as customers and
employees. Examples of these harmful actions include loss and destruction of digital data
and properties along with loss of important business or their client information which has
direct consequences which affect the firm's productivity and their perception in the
market. In order to prevent such actions from disrupting their business activities,
companies must take routine check-ups of their entire digital infrastructure to weed out
viruses and harmful programs and use ethical principles which forbid employees and
unauthorized personnel to use information technology in a way that leads to a detrimental
impact on the firm and their stakeholders. (Ojo, A.O., Raman, M. and Downe, A.G., 2019)
 Piracy – One of the biggest threats and ethical issue which has been plaguing the business
firms which have been using IT tools and software's in their integrated operations is
piracy. The act of piracy in context of information technology refers to the illegal copying,
use and distribution of a copyrighted software that belongs to a separate legal identity and
this is a widespread phenomenon as most of the time, this process is used to bypass
subscription and paying models which hide services behind a fee which people are not
willing to pay such as streaming platforms such as Netflix. Although combating piracy
and completely eradicating it is a very exhaustive task for businesses, the copyright laws
all over the globe are slowly evolving and stopping unlawful duplication of patented and
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copyrighted software is also in the works. Businesses should routinely use tools and keep
a vigilant watch on the market to identify any service model or software which is gaining
traction and is either identical or exactly same as theirs to take swift action and keep their
personalised use of IT tools safe from public hands. (Taherdoost, H., 2018)
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) makes a business more efficient and effective
in responding to customer needs. Discuss the impact of Internet and Intranet on
businesses.
It is identified that the information ans communication technology helps the business enterprises
in achieving the goals and objectives in a very effective and efficient manner. It is very important
to develop such kind of technology within the organisation in order to gain competitive
advantage. The technology plays an important role in communicating at different departments in
an efficient manner which helps in good working operations within the business organisation. As
the information and communication technology plays vital role in performing the different task in
an effective manner. The ICT is defined as the managing the communication processes such as
broadcast media, telecommunication, transmission system etc. the impact of the internet and
intranet which has discussed below:
Internet- It has been observe4d that there are various impact of the sources of internet
over the business organisation. This helps the company in communicating with its employees,
stallholder and its customers. Some of the impact of the internet over the business organisation
are discussed below:
 There are several marketing opportunities for the business organisation through the
internet services. It is very important for the organisation to be aware of the different ways
which can help in promoting its products and services. This helps the business enterprise
to communicate with its customers by letting them to know of the product which is
available in marketeer in order to distribute in an effective way. It is very important for the
business organisation to handle the different social media through internet which can help
in managing the various activities of marketing. In context of Tesco it is observed that if
the company uses the technology in an effective manner where they can use digital
marketing in order to promote products and services. (Toyama, K., 2018)
 Through the internet the company has a great opportunity to expand its business in a very
effective and efficient way. As in context of the digital platforms and the use of the
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various aspect of the internet the business organisation is able to expand its business in the
online services. In today world it has been observed that the online marketing and the
online availability of the organisation can a great impact in order to increase sales and
revenue for the business organisation. In context of Tesco it is very important that the
company focus on the online platform through the internet where the company will have
to increase its market share and this will impact in positive way for the organisation. This
is the impact of the technology over the business organisation which is observed in today
scenario. (Uğur, N.G. and Turan, A.H., 2018)
Intranet- It is identified that intranet has the various impact over the business enterprise where
the employees sand the management of the business organisation is able to communicate in the
different and effective ways. It is very important that the company analysis the increase in the
productivity within the workplace in order to achieve the goals and objectives in an effective
manner. There are several ways which impact the business organisation which are discussed
below:
 The use of the intranet services helps the business organisational and its employees in
order to increase the performance and achier the goals and objectives in an efficient
manner.
 The intranet helps the business organisation in finding out the people in a different way
where the intranet. It is very important for the organisation to understand the importance
of the intranet in the communications and providing the effective ways for the
communication within the company.
Role of IT in managing business
Information Technology became an integral part that helps in effectively managing the business.
There are various benefits of IT when introducing in business organisation. It helps in improving
the overall communication by allowing the company schedule the task before meeting deadlines.
Company can maintain their electronic calendar so that they get notifies about important
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meetings. It also provides the flexibility to nits employees so that they can manage their work on
mobile phones. Following are some benefits of IT that helps the manager in managing their
business organisation.
 Manages Inventory level - Inventory is the vital element of a business and it becomes
complex to identify the future demand so that company should not face shortage or excess
of their inventory. But there are various software that allows the manger to identify the
future demand and based on that manager can order specific quantity of product units. It
helps in determining the EOQ level so that company would not face shortage at the time
of high demand. The comp0anies who are opting traditional method of ordering the level
of inventory may suffer loss or excess. The modern software allows the manger in setting
up of a level of inventory level and whenever the level of inventory goes down, the
software automatically detects and replenish the inventory. (Wang, Y.N., Jin, L. and Mao,
H., 2019)
 Taking decisions – At some time, it becomes difficult for the manager to take decisions. It
may face dilemma situation over a project and becomes complex to choose from the
alternatives. But the tools of Information Technology helps the manger in taking effective
decision and records the data so that it can retrieve information whenever he face the
similar situation in future. Decision making is the critical process in a manager’s
designation and the whole responsibility relies on the management decision. If the
decisions are not taken properly, then it may adverse impact to the company. So software
allows the manager in overcoming with such a critical process. It becomes easy for the
manage to take decision with the help of Information technology.
 Record keeping – It is very important for the company to keep the records of its
employees and customers. Having the record of customer can help the company in
providing the same service to the customer. By retrieving the information of customer,
company can understand what the customer exactly wants so t5hat it can provide with
better service experience. It also helps the manger to keep the records of financial
transactions such as payment made to creditor and payment received from debtor.
Technological tools allows the manager to align their transaction to keep on the cloud
space so that in case of system failure, data becomes safe. It provides the flexibility as data
can be retrieved from the cloud space any time.
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 Efficiency – Every company wants to become more and more efficient ad they use various
tools and tactics that reduces the cost of company. IT helps in analysing the cost of each
department so that manager can know about the cost of each department and can take
effective measures so that it can eliminate the wasteful activities of company. It helps in
doing the work faster and efficient as compare to human efforts. It reduces the human
error and provides with effective working. The main purpose of opting the technology is
to identify the overall cost of company and to take effective actions so that it can minimise
the cost and makes the company more efficient.
 Provides insights – There are various statistical tools that helps the manger ion analysing
the customer demand and needs so that they can understand what the customer exactly
wants what type of product should be produces so that it may fulfil the customer needs
and wants. Software provides the insights of buying pattern and spending power in order
to understand the market. It enables the manager in taking decision so that it can
contribute to attain its objectives.
 Performance evaluation – It is very important to evaluate the performance of the
employees so that effective measures can be taken to improve the productivity of
employees. If the employees become more productive then it becomes easy for the
company to attain its objectives. It provides with the area in which the employees lack and
provides the training sessions so that they can become more efficient.
 Attracting customer – There are various digital marketing tools that helps the manger in
attracting the potential customers in order to generate higher revenue. Digital technology
is emerging rapidly in the whole world and the traditional marketing is slowly degrading.
It is the cheapest way of attracting customer and it can convert the potential customer into
permanent customer. It is the cheapest and most efficient method that helps the manager in
generating more profit. (Zhuravleva, N.A., Nica, E. and Durana, P., 2019)
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that information and communication
technology palsy a major role within the business organisation in achieving the goals and
objectives. It has been observed that there are several software which helps the business
organisation in achieving the effective and efficient working within the company. There are
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different ethical and social reissues which are related to the communication and technology in
order to be effective. The company need ot be aware of the issues so that they can perform well.
There is a significant role of information technology which helps the business organisation in
numerous ways. It also has been analysed that the information technology palsy an important role
which can different impact over the business organisation. This impact the organisation in being
successful.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Chae, H.C., Koh, C.E. and Park, K.O., 2018. Information technology capability and firm
performance: Role of industry. Information & Management, 55(5), pp.525-546.
Han, J.H. and Kim, H.M., 2019. The role of information technology use for increasing consumer
informedness in cross-border electronic commerce: An empirical study. Electronic Commerce
Research and Applications, 34, p.100826.
Karanasios, S., 2018. Toward a unified view of technology and activity: The contribution of
activity theory to information systems research. Information Technology & People.
Lecerf, M. and Omrani, N., 2020. SME internationalization: The impact of information
technology and innovation. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 11(2), pp.805-824.
Mansfield, R., 2018. Changes in information technology, organisational design and managerial
control. In The Management Implications of New Information Technology (pp. 216-230).
Routledge.
Ojo, A.O., Raman, M. and Downe, A.G., 2019. Toward green computing practices: A Malaysian
study of green belief and attitude among Information Technology professionals. Journal of
cleaner production, 224, pp.246-255.
Taherdoost, H., 2018. Development of an adoption model to assess user acceptance of e-service
technology: E-Service Technology Acceptance Model. Behaviour & Information
Technology, 37(2), pp.173-197.
Toyama, K., 2018. From needs to aspirations in information technology for
development. Information Technology for Development, 24(1), pp.15-36.
Uğur, N.G. and Turan, A.H., 2018. RETRACTED ARTICLE: E-learning adoption of
academicians: a proposal for an extended model. Behaviour & Information Technology, 37(4),
pp.393-405.
Wang, Y.N., Jin, L. and Mao, H., 2019. Farmer cooperatives’ intention to adopt agricultural
information technology—Mediating effects of attitude. Information Systems Frontiers, 21(3),
pp.565-580.
Zhuravleva, N.A., Nica, E. and Durana, P., 2019. Sustainable smart cities: Networked digital
technologies, cognitive big data analytics, and information technology-driven
economy. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 11(2), pp.41-47.
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