Information Technology: Application, Ethics, and Business Impact

This report examines the role of information technology in modern businesses, focusing on application software, ethical considerations, and the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It discusses various types of application software, such as web browsers, presentation software, spreadsheet software, graphic software, word processors, and database software, highlighting their utility in business operations. The report also addresses ethical issues like personal privacy and patents, and social issues such as hacking and identity theft, emphasizing the importance of data security and privacy protection. Furthermore, it explores the positive impact of ICT on business efficiency and economic growth, referencing the World Bank's observation on increased labor productivity. The analysis is contextualized with examples from the banking sector, particularly HSBC, to illustrate the practical implications of IT and its associated challenges in a real-world setting. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

INTRODUCTION TO
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY

Contents
ABSTRACT:...................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION:..........................................................................................................................3
TASK1:............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Examine various types of application software that could be used by businesses................3
1.2 Ethical and social issues are increasingly becoming significant in the digital world.
Identify and discuss the value of them to run businesses,...........................................................5
1.3 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) makes a business more resourceful
and effective in responding to customer needs. Chat about the impact of ICT on businesses....7
1.4 Talk about the role of IT in helping managers to manage businesses...................................8
CONCLUSION:............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................11

ABSTRACT:
It can be said that the information technology has been continuously contributing in a good
amount in the working of the many businesses and also it helps in changing the scenario of the
company or the organisation in today’s time. If the companies develop the information
technology in their IT systems, they get to enjoy many advantages which are being given to the
organisations. But in addition to this, there are also many problems which the employees of the
organisation have to face. In this report, the two major issues of the information technology has
been discussed which are the social issues as well as the ethical issues (Adeola and et. al., 2022).
There are many different kinds of networking technologies for example like the LAN, WAN and
the MAN which are basically used to transfer the data in between the range which is also being
already specified. In addition to the information technology, the artificial intelligence also plays
a very important role in the securing system of their computers and also helps in smooth running
of the business.
INTRODUCTION:
Information technology nowadays plays a very important role in every filed. Information
technology is basically the use of any computer or the technical device which helps in the
process of creating, storing, securing, and also helps in exchanging all forms of the electronic
data as well. It basically develops and also maintains the business applications and the services
and infrastructure of the company as well. For this report however, the banking sector has been
chosen and in that HSBC bank has been taken into consideration which is a well known
organisation in the banking sector. It is a multinational investment bank which is located in
London, United Kingdom. In this report however, the role of information infrastructure in the
banking sector and in business has been discussed along with the social and the ethical issues
concern with it (Beausoleil, 2022).
TASK1:
1.1 Examine various types of application software that could be used by businesses.
Application software:

In the subject of information technology, application software can be defined as the
application software which is designed to be used in the computer programme. It basically helps
the user to perform any kind of activity on the computer, laptop or anything else. Some of the
application software just focus on the single task only and hence are being called the integrated
software
For every organisation however, it is necessary to know what kind of software they actually
require according to their business operations. And hence these are the software which are used
by the company to make sure their processing is done smoothly (Behera and et. al., 2022). The
different types of application software that the business uses are as follows:
 Web browsers: this is the kind of browser software which helps in doing the easy
surfing on the internet about anything. This can be very useful for the business and also
in general for the people as well. It basically helps the businesses to locate any kind of
information easily as well as quickly.
 Presentation software: this is the application software which basically helps the
business to have a visual presentation of all their plans and the data as well and it can be
done with the help of different kinds of tools. Through this, the information can be
presented in the form of power point presentation or in the form of understandable slides
as well.
 Spreadsheet software: it can be seen that most of the data which is used by the business
are stored in the tables and columns. That representation of the data can only be done
with the help of spreadsheets software only. They basically helps the organisation or the
general people to have ease in storing big data’s in one table and also help them to apply
specific functions as well as the formulas into that table as well.
Graphic software: it is the kind of application software which basically helps the business to
perform the editing task of the visual data they have (Fu and et. al., 2022). All the editing work
of the data or any other graphical designing is only done with the help of graphical software. It
makes a room for editing and illustration of the task given.
 Word processes: this is the application software which helps the user or allows them to
perform various tasks which includes the formulation, beautification, and sometimes the
manipulation of the words as well. They basically gives an allowance with a huge range

of features as well in order to make a room to perform the effective text consolidation as
well as the editing.
 Database software: The database application software, also called the database
management software helps its users as well as the business to have an effective data
management in their company. This software basically helps the company to have an
easy as well as quick organisation of those big data and the information and make it easy
and effortless when it comes to access them at that particular period of time (Zeng and
et. al., 2022).
1.2 Ethical and social issues are increasingly becoming significant in the digital world. Identify
and discuss the value of them to run businesses,
The information technology basically helps in specifying the components which are taken in use
in order to store, fetch, and also to manipulate all kinds of information at a lower level in the
operating system (Kumar and et. al., 2022). The area in which the information technology is
used along with its applications are very large which includes the education, banking, health and
many more sectors and industries as well. But there are some kinds of ethical and social issues
which are being faced by the business. Some of those issues are:
ETHICAL ISSUES:
The information technology ethics can be defined as the study of all the ethnic issues which
basically arises out of the exploitation and in addition to his, the development of the electronic
technologies as well. The main goals if this ethic issue is to identify and at the same time
formulate the answers to all the questions that has arise about the moral basis of the individual’s
responsibilities as well as their actions and the ethical underpinnings of the public policy as well.
Personal privacy: it is considered as an important issue in the information technology. It
basically facilitates its users which have their own hardware, the other operating systems as well
as the other software tools which gives the access to many of the servers which are actually
being connected by each other with the help of a network. This can be said as the widespread
issues which happen in the business and the companies actually uses the social media platforms
in order to check their employee’s information (Kutch and et. al., 2022). By this, they get to
know about the person who has no private settings. HSBC bank basically deals with this issue

with many different customers and therefore it becomes very important for them to make sure
that there is no rule break or violation of their customer’s private information as well as of the
staff members and the management as well.
Patents: it can be said that it is bit difficult to deal with the patent which also comes in the
ethical issues. Basically any patent can help the organisation or the business to conserve or to
safeguard all the unique, creative as well as their new ideas of the organisation. To have a patent
is a very difficult task when it is compared to the gaining a copyright (Li and et. al., 2022). To
have a patent for the work or for general as well in the organisation, one has to follow the
process in which a through disclosure is needed along with some software. The owner or the
holder of the patent basically has to open up all the details which are related to the program to a
more proficient programmer in order to build a new program as well. In context with the HSBC
bank of united kingdom, they need to make sure that there would use proper ant viruses in their
information technology systems, which will again make sure that the big data of the organisation
as well as the personal data of the employees, staff and the management could not get leaked or
get lost.
SOCIAL ISSUES:
Social issues can be defined as the issues or the problems which have a direct influence on
many individuals as well as the group of people. In the context with information technology,
there is an invasion of all the individuals as well as the corporate privacy. The social issues
which are faced by the HSBC bank are as follows:
Hacking: hacking can be defined as one of the most important issue which needs to be focused
upon by the companies. This is the problem which is actually very prevalent now a days and on
the other hand the party which is basically unauthorised tries and makes an attempt in order to
take over the command of all the collected information as well as the data of the other persons as
well and then it can also be used for illegal purpose or to give troubles to some other person as
well (Lin and et. al., 2022). In context with the HSBC bank, they have to have string security
technologies in their information technology systems in order to make sure that the data of their
clients are always safe with them. It can be seen that the personal data of every client or the
customer is with the banks only, hence they have to put off this problem from their operational
activities.

 Identity theft: Frauds can be defined as the spurious activity which is developing day by
day. This is the social issue in the information technology in which the personal details of
the consumers are being used for unauthorised purposes and also for the malicious use as
well. It also involves the process of making online money with illegal manners (Wen and
et. al., 2022). In context with HSBC bank, they are the sole financial provider who has
the full data and information of their clients and hence they need to make sure that they
use proper software in order to make sure that the data could not be leaked.
1.3 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) makes a business more resourceful and
effective in responding to customer needs. Chat about the impact of ICT on businesses.
The use of the information and communication technology can be done in diverse nature. It is
basically made up on the type of the business and that also according to their size as well as the
type. Information and communication basically helps the company to cut the cost and also to
make better opportunities for its employees. Information and communication also has the
potential which can help in accelerating the economic growth which can be done through
facilitating the new income sources of the employees. The impact of adopting Information and
communication are however positive. The World Bank 2006 basically observed that the business
which used the Information and communication are more productivity in their input as well as in
their output factors which also helps in increased labour productivity as well (Olubiyo, 2022).
Therefore, Information and communication helps the business in order to increase the
operational efficiency and also to improve the communication with the suppliers as well as the
consumers of the organisation and at last it improves the joint working of the employees in
collaboration to the venture as well.
For the small business however, Information and communication has proven to be a positive
outcome in relation to the operational efficiency and also increase the revenue and the market
competitiveness of the companies. It can be said that Information and communication technology
is very extensive to all the new businesses, not even thinking about the size of the business. With
all due respect to all the types of the technology which has been used are adopting Information
and communication technology to increase their productivity (Orero and et. al., 2022).
According to a study, it has also been proven that Information and communication are basically
the dynamic input factors which are actually used in order to improve the labour efficiency as

well as the productivity for the informal as well as for the formal businesses. When talk about the
global businesses, there has been a quick spread of the information from one place to another or
form one device to another which has made a decrease in the prices for the communication. It
has also made many different market places as well across the world which helps the company in
becoming more cohesive and accessible by the customers from across the world (Ramšak,
2022). Lastly, it can be said that despite of being so much affairs related to the slow rate of
Information and communication adoption, they are still used by many business organisations
across the world as it helps them to be productive and efficiently profitable in the near future as
well.
1.4 Talk about the role of IT in helping managers to manage businesses.
In today's time, digitalisation is everywhere. And the use of digital tools in the business is
however very important and can be said as the way to achieve the success. It can be said that a
wave of the information technology can help the business to change their working styles as well
as the productivity of their workers as using the technology in the working makes it easy to
complete. For any organisation, investing in some kind of information technology can never be a
bad option. Instead it will help them in growing. Especially in the banking sectors, it makes it
easy for its employees to store their client information as well as their data in easy and quick by
just using the software and computers only (Sage, and Matteucci, 2022). For this report, HSBC
bank has been taken into consideration, which is a very reputed investment bank which is
established in many different areas of the country in order to serve its customers. It also helps in
increasing the market shares as well as the betterment of all the financial amounts of the
company's as well. Information technology plays an important role for the managers as well in
order to manage the business as follows:
 Market research: in order to make a correct decision, the individual has to do a proper
market research in order to make the decision correct. Information te4chnology now
comes into the role and helps in doing the right market research which can be done
through online only by using websites, searching blogs and even through social media as
well. It saves the time and the results are also pretty accurate as well. In context with the
managers of the HBSC, by using the information technology, it can be easy for them to

do the market research and can come up to the best opportunity for investing their money
in the behalf of their customers.
 Customer satisfaction and support: it is however very important to have a
communication way between the banks and the account holders in the banks, which is
important to make healthy relationships with their clients and can also execute any kind
of issues if they are facing (Winkelhake, 2022). Therefore they use information
technology which includes the communicating methods like the emails, webinars, social
media sites and some other websites as well. This helps the manager to maintain the
customer satisfaction of their clients and to run the business smoothly with a regular
increased growth as well. Online customer services of HSBC banks also make it easy for
them to have better results in customer satisfaction.
 Resource management and Globalisation: the task of resource management is not easy
for every organisation. But the information technology makes it much easier for the top
management or for the staff members. Use of technology for this process like using the
cloud solutions can help manager top monitor the bank with the help of computers,
laptops etc. this also helps in making the decision making for the HSBC bank much
easier. In addition to this, the resource human technology has also helped the banks to
monitor the effective working if their employees and make them use the friendly
technology to operate the activities.

CONCLUSION:
From this respective report it has been concluded that the introduction of the information
technology into today’s world has changes many of the things which includes the major one that
how the working of the business operations has changed or evolved. In addition to this, it can be
said that there are many issues which are being faced by the business which used the information
technology. These factors basically involved the hacking, viruses, the identity theft, privacy
issues and many more. Apart from this, there are so many benefits as well from the introduction
of information technology in the working which includes to have the healthy relationships with
their customers and to have a smooth working environment as well. There are various
networking technology which are used by the companies in order to help in sharing the
information from one device to some other device. The basic basis of the categorisation is scale
and the transmission. Lastly, it has also been concluded that information technology helps in
making the system much more secure and does automatic procession and in addition to this,
enhance the productivity of the company as well.

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