IT for Business: Agile Methodology, Outsourcing, Supply Chains & RFID

This assignment delves into various aspects of IT within a business context. It begins by comparing Agile methodology to other models, highlighting its customer-centric approach, iterative nature, and prioritization of features, while also acknowledging the risks of budget loss and potential deviation from initial plans. The assignment then discusses the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing IT services, weighing the benefits of expert handling and scalability against risks like data security and knowledge loss. It further supports the development of information systems by end-users, citing benefits such as resource efficiency and faster implementation. The concept of a supply chain is explained as a sequence of information flow, emphasizing its role in enhancing organizational operations and cost reduction. Finally, the assignment introduces RFID technology and its benefits in supply chain management, including reduced manual labor, lower costs, and improved visibility.

IT for business

Answer to question 1
Agile methodology has beaten other models as there are more opportunities for
customers to make decisions. Agile methodology provides a great sense of ownership to
customers and this is built on successive iteration and it is more focused on user friendly
direction. It prioritizes the features and reduces the risk of funding. It allows developers to
make changes at initial stage. As changes can be made at any stage it is easy to add features
to keep the industry updated with latest developments (Bass, 2016). The risk associated with
this method is when a project becomes unsuccessful there is a huge loss of budget. Also
initial project doesn’t have an absolute plan thus the resultant product can be entirely
different from the initial intended.
Answer to question 2
There are risks and benefits associated with outsourcing the IT services.
Advantage- Outsourcing the service helps in getting better IT experts for handling all the
disaster and building scalability in business. As it deliver outcomes more efficiently, quickly
and personally (Schniederjans, 2015).
The risk associated with outsourcing the service are data security, loss of service knowledge,
oversight regulation of government and most important fluctuations in productivity as more
time is required to train the customers and transfer knowledge to use the service.
Answer to question 3
Yes, development of information system by end user should be supported as it developed
project by using limited resources which may reduce the hidden backlog. The system design
by end user is more acceptable buyer as they have faster implementation cycle (Lahiri, 2016).
This in turn eliminates the communication between user and information system.
Answer to question 4
Supply chain is a group of information that move in a particular sequence from
supplier of the product to consumer. In an organisation for particular flow of information
supply chain is used (Stadtler, 2015). The purpose of supply chain management includes
enhancing the organisational operations by maximizing the speed and efficiency. Supply
chain management make sure that products are delivered to customers by reducing the cost.
Answer to question 5
RFID encodes the data in the form tags which is captured by radio waves. It is a type of
wireless communication which makes use of electromagnetic frequency to uniquely identify
the data packet (Amendola, et. al, 2014). It is beneficial to used RFID in supply chain
management as it has less manual work, less cost and has better visibility and planning
method.

References
Amendola, S., Lodato, R., Manzari, S., Occhiuzzi, C., & Marrocco, G. (2014). RFID
technology for IoT-based personal healthcare in smart spaces. IEEE Internet of things
journal, 1(2), 144-152.
Bass, J. M. (2016). Artefacts and agile method tailoring in large-scale offshore software
development programmes. Information and Software Technology, 75, 1-16.
Lahiri, S. (2016). Does outsourcing really improve firm performance? Empirical evidence
and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18(4), 464-497.
Schniederjans, M. J., Schniederjans, A. M., & Schniederjans, D. G. (2015). Outsourcing and
insourcing in an international context. Routledge.
Stadtler, H. (2015). Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management
and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.