ITC563 IT Management Issues: The Role of ICT in Westpac Bank

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ITC563 - IT MANAGEMENT ISSUES ASSESSMENT ITEM 1
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Information and Communication Technology is playing an eminent role in the banking
industry. This has brought a great revolution in a similar sector by making this system
cashless now – a – days. The main motive for designing this report is to show the
significance and role of ICT in the finance and banking field. Westpac Bank is being
considered in this project which was developed in 1817 whose headquarter is located in
Sydney. This venture has become Westpac Banking Corporation after the merging of
Commercial Bank of Australia and BNSW (Moving to Australia - Banking | Westpac,
2019). The company is offering financial and banking services via 5 divisions that are,
Business Bank, Consumer Bank Westpac Institutional Bank, BT Financial Group, and
Westpac New Zealand. Around 32,620 workers are being employed or performing in
this bank and are serving approximately 13 million people.
Information and Communication Technology is dealing with the physical devices
and software which is linking several components of computer hardware and make
possible the transfer of data from one physical location to another. Various ICT products
are being used in the banking area, some of the important ones are MICR, Office
banking, Automated Teller Machine, telephone banking, Electronic data exchange,
smart cards, etc. Westpac Bank is being impacted positively by the advancement of
ICT. The company is now able to take correct business decisions as they are up – to
– date with the help of information and communication technology. The different
applications of ICT assist company in analysing and interpreting the commercial data in
effective manners. Thus, a better business decision can be made by the venture easily.
Resource handling is also being done efficiently with the help of information and
communication technology (Ekwonwune, et. al., 2017). The firm is now capable of
storing all the data in a specific database and can be easily retrieved in the future if in
case of any need. Westpac Bank is also able to solve complex business issues with
the assistance of ICT. This made possible by the use of improved hardware and
software along with appropriate computer applications. Besides this, the recording and
management of complex business problems are also properly done by the company. As
a result, they are capable of finding suitable business solutions. By examining the
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above-based information, it can be stated that ICT is playing a crucial role in the
banking and finance industry.
The value of ICT cannot be described easily in a few words as the advancement
in ICT is offering uncountable benefits or advantages to different companies easily
those who are falling under the banking world. It has eliminated the paperwork and
brings the phenomena of digitisation (Tchamyou, 2017). Now, customers do not need to
visit banks for their basic day to day banking related chores like transferring of money to
others, analysing and updating their passbook, requesting for any type of loan, etc.
Thus, it can be said that the presence of ICT is necessary for the banking industry. Its
value can be shown by stating that ICT act as the heart of the banks.
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Reference
 Ekwonwune, E. N., Egwuonwu, D. U., Elebri, L. C., & UKa, K. K. (2017). ICT as an
Instrument of Enhanced Banking System, Scientific Research an academic publisher,
vol. no. 5, no. 1.
 Tchamyou, V. S. (2017). The role of knowledge economy in African business. Journal
of the Knowledge Economy, 8(4), 1189-1228.
 Moving to Australia - Banking | Westpac. (2019). Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 22
March 2019, from<
https://www.westpac.com.au/personal-banking/bank-accounts/moving-to-australia/?
layout=full&cid=wc:mg:q3RLSA_1706:sem:goog:&utm_source=goog&utm_medium=se
m&utm_campaign=q3RLSA_1706&param=westpac%20bank
%20australia&param=e&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjaXapKGV4QIVhYBwCh1yPAkrEAAYAS
AAEgJUhPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds>
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