The Impact of Information Technology on Modern Business: A Case Study

This report delves into the critical role of Information Technology (IT) in modern business, using Starling Bank as a case study. It explores how IT facilitates business success, focusing on aspects such as secure data management, improved communication, streamlined operations, and enhanced customer relationship management. The report also addresses the social and ethical issues associated with IT, including hacking, identity theft, and privacy concerns, and discusses the types of networking technologies (LAN, MAN, WAN) that support business operations. Furthermore, it examines the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact on the IT sector, along with the various stages of the software development lifecycle. The analysis highlights the importance of IT in today's competitive landscape and provides insights into the challenges and opportunities businesses face in leveraging IT for growth and efficiency.

Introduction to
Information
Technology

ABSTRACT
The information technology has changed the scenario in which the businesses work
nowadays. It has made the operations of the companies easy by providing many benefits to it.
There are many issues which an organization faces when deploying information technology in its
system which involves ethical and social issues. There are many types of networking
technologies such as LAN, MAN and WAN which helps in transmitting the data within the
specific range. There is the development of the artificial intelligence which have helped in
building the secure system of working, increased productivity and also helps in smooth working
of business. There are various stages of the software development which helps in making the
software application.
Contents
ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................4
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...............................................................................................................5
Role of Information technology in success of business...........................................................................5
Social and Ethical issues pertaining to information technology...............................................................6
Types of networking technologies...........................................................................................................7
Development in Artificial intelligence.....................................................................................................9
Software development lifecycle.............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
The IT can be connoted as a term which is used for the computers where it is used to
store and retrieve the data or information. In today's era, the businesses have also deployed
information technology in their working so that it can efficiently perform in the competitive
world. It is a subset of the information and communication technology and comprises of
computer system, information system and a communication system which involves hardware,
software and the equipment that are operated by users of it. IT is referred to as the development,,
implementation, support, study, design or management of system that is computer based and
includes computer software applications and hardware applications (Coeckelbergh, 2017). The
organization chosen in this report is Starling bank, a digital bank which is focused on business
and current account products. It is headquartered in London and was found in the year 2014. This
report will cover the role of it in the success of business, different networking technologies,
ethical and social issues in business relating to it, development of artificial intelligence and
various steps of software development.
LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Vivek Patil, 2020, information technology is defined as the usage of
networking, computers and other devices, infrastructure or processes that is used for creation,
processing, storing, securing and exchanging an electronic data. It is mainly used in business
rather than the entertainment or any other personal purpose. In relation to a commercial purpose,
it encompasses both the computer technology and the telecommunications.
According to Nikki la Marco, 2019, in the world of digitalization, there has been exploration in
the business trade and commerce where the traditional model is revolutionized in order to
provide more opportunities so that the business can enhance its efficiency. It has provided the
source of support and security so that the business can deliver enhanced offering to the
customers with the high speed model (Hills, 2018).

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Role of Information technology in success of business.
In today's era, it is very essential for business to bring innovation which means to do
something in a better, smarter and different way so that there is a positive difference in the
productivity, quality and the value by using the technology in the world. Every business requires
success and it mainly depends on several factors like future vision, correct analysis and mainly
the deployment of right technology. It is true that the organizations that make the investment in
using technology and innovation are more likely to become successful in the future. There has
been a major change in the business world by introducing the information technology. It is
regarded as a key which helps in surviving in the modern business world. Starling bank make use
of information technology in its business so that there is efficient services provided to customers
and this also helps them to retain their existing consumers. In the success of Starling bank, there
is a big role of information technology which is narrated thereunder-
 The information technology helps in keeping the information and data secure as it is
considered as an important aspect for organisations. Management information system is
a subset of information technology that supports the companies for tracking their data for
sales, profit and other things so that there is high return from the investment so that the
business can flourish. It provides various areas of improvement so that an organization
can compete with its competitors. Starling bank uses management information system in
order to track its investment so that it can keep an eye on its profit and returns.
 Information technology helps in communication. It is very essential for the businesses to
leverage the proper channel of communication as it helps in maintaining effective
relationship with employees, customers and even suppliers. Communication is an
important aspect in running a business as it prevents the chances of chaos, confusion, etc.
Starling bank uses the information technology in order to communicate with its personnel
so that there is a healthy communication being maintained with them. It makes use of
phone calls, emails, video calling, etc.
 The information technology has helped in efficient working of the business operations.
As the pandemic of COVID-19 have led to the national lockdown due to which there was
no proper functioning of the businesses (Clarkson, 2019). The information technology

has made the working easy by providing the workforce an access to work from home
even when there is no possibility of physical work. It resulted in enhancing productivity
even from working at home. Starling bank also worked from home during the national
lockdown by making use of information technology in its business which helped in
enhancing the productivity level of workforce as there was more flexibility while
working from home then working from office.
 The information technology also helps in improving the customer relationship. It
comprises of a system which has the ability for capturing the relationship that the
organization shares with its consumers. The Starling bank makes use of customer
relationship management system that helps it to build a positive relation with the
customers. Its working includes making a phone call at the customer call center and
making the report of an issue so that a customer relation officer can work on to solve the
query and respond to it effectively. It provides access of 24 hours service to the
customers so that a healthy relationship is built between Starling bank and its customers
Social and Ethical issues pertaining to information technology
There are different advantages of using it in business but with benefits there come various
issues. There has been a growth of an affordable technology that has resulted in creating different
shifts in a way in which the community operates.
There are various social issues which are created from the direct use of technology. These are
faced by Starling bank that are discussed below-
 Hacking- It is one of the issue that is prevalent in today's time where the unauthorised
person tries to take a command of the information of others and uses it for illegal
purpose. Starling bank has proper security technologies that help it to keep its data safe.
The banks usually keeps the personal details of every customer so it is very important for
Starling bank to prevent such issue in its working so that the trust of customers are
maintained
 Identity theft- Fraud is one of the most spurious activities which is evolved in today's
time. In this, the personal information of people is used by the unauthorised third party
for the malicious aim. It includes making illegal online transactions so that a financial
fraud can be committed. Starling bank is a big financial service provider that contains the

information and data of lakhs of customers so it is a very serious issue for the
organization so that there's no harm caused to the employees and customers (Piercy,
2018).
Ethical issues
There has been leading advancement in technology so it is very important for the
organization to deal with social and ethical issues. Some of the ethical issues are discussed below
for Starling bank -
 Access of right- This includes damage to the business system which result in losing the
important resources and information. This type of issue is mainly faced by businesses
from the action like intentional destruction of files that may cause loss of it. One such
instance is virus. Starling bank must ensure that it has proper anti viruses in IT system so
that there can be no loss of data or information.
 Privacy- It is one of the widespread issues prevalent in business. The organizations are
making use of social media platforms to check the background of employees so this has
been a big issue for those who do not have privacy setting in their system. Starling bank
deals with various customers of the privacy of each staff and customer so that there is no
violation or breach of the privacy (Molinillo and Japutra, 2017).
Types of networking technologies
The computer network technology can be referred to as a system that allows the
institution and businesses to send the information in a digital manner with the help of
information system. A computer network is when the information is transferred from one
computer to another by using the medium of communication like cables or wires. Similarly,
when the information is transferred from one mobile device to another by using wire or cable, it
is mobile network.
A technology when used in exchanging the information among small and large data is
called networking technology. By using networking, the organizations can send the important
messages or files by using emails or other channels so that their working can be effective. There
are different kinds of network technology that may be used by Starling bank. Some of them are
discussed below -

Types of network technology based on transmission
 Multipoint- Many nodes are connected directly with the common medium In the linear
manner in this. This type of transmission mainly works on connection like ad time
sharing.
 Point to point- When the sender and receivers are connected directly the transfer of data
may be done by usage of guided medium which is used for wired network and the
wireless network (Haftu, 2019).
Kinds of networking technology based on scale
 Local area network- It is the private network which connect the devices and computer in
a limited area like office, residence, etc.
 Metropolitan area network- It is the larger network as compared to LAN and often
overs many towns and cities. It is expensive.
 Wide area network- It is larger than the MAN and LAN and covers various countries
and even continents. It uses satellite to mange itself.
Basis WAN LAN MAN
Speed Its speed is lower than
LAN.
Its speed is high Its speed is average.
Network
propagation
delay
There is longer
network propagation
delayed.
There is low network
propagation delay.
There is moderate network
propagation delay.
Ownership It may be owned by
public or private body.
Its owner is public or
private individual.
Its owners are public or
private individuals.
Fault tolerance There is lower fault
tolerance than MAN
and LAN.
There is higher fault
tolerance than WAN.
There is low fault tolerance
than LAN.
Maintenance It is complex to
maintain and takes
high cost.
It is easy to maintain
and less takes less cost
as compared to WAN.
It is complex to maintain
and involves more cost
than LAN (Price, Gerke
and Cohen, 2019).

Development in Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be referred to as something that leverages the computers and
machines to make decisions and has the capability of problem solving as of human mind. It has
the ability which is provided to robot or computer that is controlled by a computesr in order to
complete the work that is usually done by human beings as it requires human discernment and
intelligence. Artificial intelligence has changed the information technology sector and has placed
a positive impact in which this industry can work. There is a change in just the blink of an eye
which involves modernization from arising financial streams to manufacturing, healthcare and
research.
It is referred to as a branch of computer science that is purposed to turn computers to the
intelligent machines. Starling bank offers various financial services so it makes use of artificial
intelligence so that enhance services are provided to the customers. The latest developments in
the artificial intelligence are narrated thereunder-
 Improved productivity- It makes use of various algorithms which are applied directly so
that the programmer can aid to when the codes are written in a better manner and also
helps in mitigating the bugs of software. It states advice for coding which helps in
enhanced efficiency and productivity. Starling bank makes use of artificial intelligence in
order to make usage of different series of algorithms so that the workers efficiency is
increased that will help in smooth functioning of the organization.
 Secured system building- There is a data security which has an important place in
securing the data that is confidential in nature. The organizations have stored different
data and information of the staff and customers so it is essential to keep it safe. Artificial
intelligence provides the security to it by creation of various layers of security in order to
have security layer being enabled. This helps it to identify the breach of data timely with
necessary solutions in order to prevent it.
 Automatic processing- The main benefit of this is that it makes the functioning easy that
too without any intervention of the human beings. HSBC makes use of this process in
order to make automatic changes in the customer data when they take the services of
bank like depositing money or withdrawing cash etc. (Wirtz, Weyerer and Geyer, 2019)

Software development lifecycle
It is the application of standard business practice which is used to build the software
applications. It provides an outline of every task which is necessary to put together for the
development of software. Various stages of it are discussed below-
 Planning- It involves evaluation of project terms which includes calculation of labour
and material cost, making timetable, setting clear goals and creation of teams. In simple
words it is a planning of whole process.
 Define requirements- It is a part of the planning stage as it provides what is required to
do and some other requirements like resources for building the software etc.
 Design and prototyping- It provides a model in which the application must work. It
involves aspects of designing like platform, architecture, security, user interface,
communication and many others. Prototyping is considered as a central part of design
where the early version of software is created (Luntovskyy and Spillner, 2017).
 Software development- This stage includes writing the program where a small project is
written by single developer but the large project needs breaking it in several parts and
distributing it in team so that each team can work on it. It involves also the process of
coding.
 Testing- Here the application is being tested before the users can use it. There is some
testing which are automatic like security testing. and it should be done in specific
environment
 Deployment- It involves making the application available to users. Many companies
prefer that the process is automatic like downloading link from website, payment portal
etc. Several organizations make the downloading of the application on the smartphone.
 Maintenance and operations- Here the development process is finished almost and the
people are using application but this stage involves discovery of many bugs which are not
being identified at the time of testing so it requires fixing those bugs (Hovorushchenko
and Pavlova, 2018).

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the scenario of running a business has been
changed by the deployment of information technology but there are many issues which are faced
by using the information technology such as identity theft, hacking, privacy issues, viruses etc. It
helps the business to have smooth communication, maintenance of good customer relationship
and smooth working. There are various types of networking technology which includes LAN,
MAN, WAN that helps in transferring the data within a specific range. Further it is added that
the software development life cycle includes 7 stages that covers the whole development of
software application right from its planning to making it available for the public.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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technology. Routledge.
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Hills, J., 2018. Information technology and industrial policy (Vol. 20). Routledge.
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intelligent agent for evaluating initial stages of the software lifecycle. In XVIII
International Conference on Data Science and Intelligent Analysis of Information (pp.
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technology: a theoretical review. The Bottom Line.
Piercy, N.F. ed., 2018. The Management implications of new information technology (Vol. 41).
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Price, W.N., Gerke, S. and Cohen, I.G., 2019. Potential liability for physicians using artificial
intelligence. Jama. 322(18). pp.1765-1766.
Wirtz, B.W., Weyerer, J.C. and Geyer, C., 2019. Artificial intelligence and the public sector—
Applications and challenges. International Journal of Public Administration, 42(7),
pp.596-615.