IT in Business: Trailfinders Success, Ethics & Social Impact Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the role of Information Technology (IT) in the success of Trailfinders, a leading international travel company. It covers various aspects of IT, including its impact on decision-making, marketing, customer support, resource management, and innovation. The report also examines ethical and social issues related to IT, such as access rights, copyright, cyberbullying, and privacy. Furthermore, it differentiates between different types of networking technologies like LAN, MAN, and WAN, and discusses the importance of social media for business growth and customer engagement. The software development life cycle is also explained, and the report concludes with an analysis of how Trailfinders utilizes IT, addresses ethical concerns, leverages networking technologies, and benefits from social media.

Introduction to
Information
Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Literature review.........................................................................................................................1
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business...................................................................1
Ethical and social issues in IT................................................................................................2
Differentiate between different types of networking technologies........................................3
Importance of social media in a business...............................................................................4
Software development life cycle............................................................................................5
Analysis and discussion..............................................................................................................6
Role of IT in the success or failure of Trailfinders................................................................6
Ethical and social issues relating to IT in Trailfinders...........................................................7
Networking technologies used by Trailfinders.......................................................................7
Importance of social media in Trailfinders............................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
References:.......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information Technology can be defined as the allocation of various computer systems,
networks, applications and technical devices to use them altogether collectively to form the
better information systems for a business (Rajaraman, 2018). Organization chosen here is the
Trailfinders, it is one of the leading international travel company based in UK in 1970. It
provides services such as holiday and tours, local travel centre, destinations, flights, cruise,
honeymoons, family trips and many more. The following discussions are made on the literature
review which consist role of IT in the success or failure of a business, ethical and social issues in
IT, differentiating between different types of networking technologies, importance of social
media in a business and software development life cycle and analysis and discussions which
consist role of IT, ethical and social issues, network technologies and importance of social media
in context of Trailfinders with proper findings ans conclusion.
MAIN BODY
Literature review
Role of IT in the success or failure of a business
Decision making
It is one of the role of information technology which helps in decision making in the
business because it provides the various platforms through which business can install and adopt
that technology which aids in the process of decision making like for the finance, HR, marketing,
operations, production, research and development department in the business.
Marketing and business growth
It is an another role of information technology which helps in marketing and business
growth because it provides the sufficient data and information through interpretation and
prediction becomes for the marketing department which finally leads in the growth and
development of the business which enhances the reputation and goodwill in the market.
Customer support and satisfaction
It is also the one of the role of information technology which helps the business in
maintaining the customer support and satisfaction because it provides the technical and accurate
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platform through the communication becomes easy with the customers for a business to handle
or manage the customer queries which leads to the satisfaction among them.
Resource management and globalisation
It is also an another role of the information technology which helps in the resource
management and globalisation because it provides the information systems which are
specifically developed for the efficient and maximum utilisation of resources so that it can be
managed properly without any wastages. Internet provides reach of the business globally is also
the major role of IT in business as it supports in expansion of the company (Rainer, Prince,
Splettstoesser-Hogeterp and Ebrahimi, 2020).
Creativity and innovation
It is the role of the information technology which helps the business in creativity and
innovation because it provides ideas which are out of the box as it provides learnings to the
skilled based employees and the they utilise such mindset in their creativity and innovation to the
business.
Ethical and social issues in IT
Ethical Issues
Access right
It is one of the ethical issue in IT that is the access rights which means that the data or
information of the business either important or not cannot be secured until and unless the rights
are permitted to the employees to access it. Otherwise, anyone can access and leak the data or
any other confidential technology which is not secured.
Copyright
It is an another ethical issue in IT that is the copyright which means that the software or
application which is used by the business must be copyrighted because anyone from the outside
can steal the software material and use the same for the own personal or professional use in their
own name which is ethically wrong (Benckendorff, Xiang and Sheldon, 2019).
Harmful actions
It also the one of the ethical issue in IT that is the harmful actions which means that the
systems which are in a use by the employees could get hacked which is considered as the
misconduct in order to destroy or spoil the systems or for the data breaches.
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Social Issues
Cyber bullying
It is the social issue in IT that is the cyber bullying which means that the people from
outside of the organization uses the internet or cyber to spoil the company's system's working.
Reason behind this is some wants to take revenge, some wants money and many other reasons
which causes the cyber bullying.
Privacy
It is an another social issue in IT that is the privacy which means that destroying the
privacy content in a business in order to make money via emails, corrupted files, fake calls and
many other ways through which they leak or destroys the data which is highly private in nature
so that company's image and reputation can be spoiled very badly.
Thefts
It is also an another social issue in IT that is the thefts which means the people attacks the
systems via viruses of many types such as resident virus, multiple virus, direct, browser,
overwrite, web scripting, file infecter, network virus and many more. They spoils the routinely
working of the business and operations.
Differentiate between different types of networking technologies
LAN
It stands for Local area network which is defined as the network that connects a group of
networks or computer systems in a small geographical area which means it do not have wider
reach, it limits to one building only. It has a private type of ownership. It's design and
maintenance is easy, propagation delay is short, speed is high, it has more fault tolerance, it
consist less congestion and it allows single pair of devices to communicate. It is mainly used in
the college, school and hospitals.
MAN
It stands for Metropolitan area network which is defined as the network that covers large
area or region such as cities or towns as compared to the local area network. It has wider and
more reach than LAN. It has a private or public type of ownership. It's design and maintenance is
difficult, propagation delay is moderate, speed is moderate, it has less fault tolerance, it consist
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more congestion and it allows multiple computers to interact simultaneously. It is mainly used
among the small towns and cities (Insana, Hapsari and Eko, 2019).
WAN
It stands for Wide area network which is defined as the network that spans large localities
and connects different counties together for example internet. It has wider and more reach than
LAN and MAN. It has a private or public type of ownership. It's design and maintenance is
difficult, propagation delay is long, speed is low, it has less fault tolerance, it consist more
congestion and it allows a huge group of computers to communicate at the same time. It is
mainly used among the countries or continents.
Importance of social media in a business
Wider reach
It is one of the importance of social media in a business that is the wider reach which
means that the social sites are distributed internationally so anyone can from any country can
communicate to each other so the business also can promote and advertise their products and
services globally on a large scale in the expanded market place.
Expansion and growth
It is an another importance of social media in a business that is the expansion and growth
which means that social sites provides greater expansion to large markets specifically because
targets of the customers are more in social media rather than the traditional method of targeting
the customer which helps the company in growing at very good pace.
Brand recognition
It is also the one of the importance of social media in a business that is the brand
recognition which means that brand is effectively and efficiently recognised and creates
awareness and knowledge of the products and services to maximum number of people as social
sites help the business in generating the brand development (Goldschmidt, 2020).
Customer relationship
It is also an another importance of social media in a business that is the customer
relationship which means that the social sited aids the business in satisfying the customers by
providing immediate feedback options and long term communication which ultimately supports
the firm in maintaining the long term customer relationships.
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Sales and income generations
It is the importance of social media in a business that is the sales and income generations
which means that the social sites has provided so many benefits to the benefits which has
benefited the business in large number of sales generations so that maximum income and profit
can be generated out of that.
Cost and time effective
It is also the importance of social media in a business that is the cost and time
effectiveness which means that the using the social sites is nit time and cost consuming, it saves
the time and cost which helps the firm in investing that saved time and cost in some other
productive work for an organization.
Software development life cycle
Analysis
This is the first stage of the software development life cycle which states the analysis of
the technical or non technical requirements, all the feasibility study in development of the
software, budgeting and decision making. All such planning and activities comes under analysis
phase so that further steps can be carried out smoothly.
Design
This is the second stage of the software development life cycle which states the designing
of the framework and structure of the software on a pen and paper so that coding and
development can be more easier. This step also consist the prototyping of the software so that
implementation process can go efficiently.
Implementation
This is the third stage of the software development life cycle which states the
implementation of the final design and prototyping of the software made on pen paper with the
help of coding and programming skills in the person because it highly needs technical,
quantitative and analytical knowledge in a person who is responsible for the development
(Navío-Marco, Ruiz-Gómez and Sevilla-Sevilla, 2018).
Testing
This is the fourth stage of the software development life cycle which states the testing of
the software after final completion of it so that both the major and minor errors or bugs be
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detected and rectified soon. This is done for the effective working of the software before
handling the software to the client or before the final use of it by an organisation.
Deployment
This is the fifth stage of the software development life cycle which states the deployment
that means final handling over the software to the client by building up the package for final use
of the software either for the personal or professional purpose.
Maintenance
This is the final and last step that is the sixth stage of the software development life cycle
which states the maintenance of the software on a regular basis. This is highly needed so that
software can be up to date every time, reason behind timely upgrades of the software is safety
and security issues and moreover, technology is updating day by day so in order to keep the track
with the latest technology it is required to maintain the software.
Analysis and discussion
Role of IT in the success or failure of Trailfinders
Trailfinders has used the information technology that has played a great role in success or
failure of the business such as in decision making, marketing and business growth, customer
support and satisfaction, resource management and globalisation and creativity and innovation
(Long, 2018). IT has aided the company to decide various things in order to forecast and
interpret the future considerations for better functioning of the operations in the company. It
helped in marketing, sales, promotion and advertising their services so that they can reach to
better growth and development of the firm. It has supported the company maintaining the
customer loyalty towards the brand by maximum satisfying to their customers and creating
healthy relationships with them. It has assisted in proper and an appropriate operations and
management of different resources so that it can be efficiently utilised not only nationally but
globally as well. Moreover, IT has provided the innovative minds in the people to develop
creative content and services so that customer can attract towards the company's services across
the world.
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Ethical and social issues relating to IT in Trailfinders
Trailfinders has faced various ethical and social issues relating to information technology
such as access right, copyright, harmful actions, cyber bullying, privacy and thefts (Nazzaro,
2020). Company has adopted the restrictions to the access of data from an unauthorised person
so that the information can be saved and only the authorised person can access the data via
password system, biometrics system and many more. Firm has copyrighted the private
applications and software so that no other company can use such resources without paying or
permission from the Trailfinders. Company has become the victim of harmful actions, cyber
bullying, privacy issues and thefts from the past years that it has lost the confidential data by not
taking care of the technical security. Although it was not a major loss but has lost some goodwill
and loyal customers. After the incident, company has taken care of the security of the systems by
adopting the measures for not repeating the mistakes again such as training and development to
employees in terms of technology, creating strong passwords and many more measures which
has benefited and safeguard the firm against the ethical and social issues.
Networking technologies used by Trailfinders
Trailfinders has used the different types of networking technologies while operating their
business such as local area network, metropolitan area network and wide area network (Marouf,
Yousef, Mukhaimer and Abu-Naser, 2018). Company has different branches across the world so
they uses local area network in one or maximum two buildings to communicate better and
speedily when those buildings are nearby to each other. They also uses metropolitan area
network across different cities and towns but in a same country in their corporate buildings.
Moreover, wide area network is also used when operated internationally in different countries or
continents as the company operates globally so it is highly required by the firm to use WAN in
order to keep the track of records of all the branches in it's main headquarters that is in UK.
Therefore, basically these three networks are in mostly use in the company as per the needs and
requirements of the company's services and how they operate and manage the functioning of the
business internationally.
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Importance of social media in Trailfinders
Trailfinders has used the social media in their business and has gained number of benefits
such as wider reach, expansion and growth, brand recognition, customer relationship, sales and
income generations and cost and time effective (Awad, 2018). Company has benefited by
various social sites they are using to operate the management of the company such as Face Book,
Instagram, Whatsapp, Twitter, Pin interest, YouTube, LinkedIn and many more. They advertise
and promote their travelling services so that it can be available to the maximum number of
people across the world and they prefer Trailfinders for better travelling experience. They have
also facilitated the services like online booking, online payment and many more on their personal
sites and provided the information on social sites so that they can spread knowledge about the
firm in a more potential manner. Now a days, maximum number of people uses internet and
social media so that is why they pay attention to all such things and store such information for
the current or future use and if they like services of the company, they prefer to their known ones
as well.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that information technology is an important area to study about in order to
get succession in business in a more technical way. Technology is upgrading day by day at a
very good pace and thereby is necessary to adopt the same timely to be updated in terms of latest
applications and technologies. To apply such concept in a real time organization, it is important
to analyse the role of IT in success or failure of the business, it is essential to examine the ethical
and social issues in IT, it is necessary to determine the different networking technologies, it is
significant to study the importance of social media in business and it is crucial to learn about the
software development life cycle. Hence, this report covers all such areas in order to better
understand the conception of the information technology in a more amended manner.
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References:
Books and Journals
Awad, A.I., 2018. Introduction to information security foundations and applications.
Benckendorff, P.J., Xiang, Z. and Sheldon, P.J., 2019. Tourism information technology. Cabi.
Goldschmidt, J., 2020. Fundamentals of Business-Introduction to Information Technology.
Insana, D., Hapsari, A. and Eko, M., 2019. Increasing Entrepreneurial Creativity Through the
Introduction of Information Technology Utilization. In The 1st Workshop on
Multimedia Education, Learning, Assessment and its Implementation in Game and
Gamification in conjunction with COMDEV 2018. European Alliance for Innovation
(EAI).
Long, R.J., 2018. New office information technology: Human and managerial implications (Vol.
30). Routledge.
Marouf, A., Yousef, M.K.A., Mukhaimer, M.N. and Abu-Naser, S.S., 2018. An Intelligent
Tutoring System for Learning Introduction to Computer Science.
Navío-Marco, J., Ruiz-Gómez, L.M. and Sevilla-Sevilla, C., 2018. Progress in information
technology and tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet-
Revisiting Buhalis & Law's landmark study about eTourism. Tourism management, 69,
pp.460-470.
Nazzaro, M., 2020. IT 101-106: Introduction to Information Technology.
Rainer, R.K., Prince, B., Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, I. and Ebrahimi, S., 2020. Introduction to
information systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Rajaraman, V., 2018. Introduction to information technology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
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