CHAPTER 1 : BUSINESS DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY

Unit 1 : Achieving Business Success

Chapter 1 : Business Driven Technology

We have been living in this information age, where information technology helps to boost up the global business environment. It is because the organisations are typically operated by functional areas. These functional areas are interdependent with each other such as Marketing and Finance Departments, Operation and Production Management Departments, and Human Resource with Accounting Departments. Then there comes the needs to use information technology.

But what is information technology?

Information technology (IT) is a field concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information. IT is an important enabler in business success and innovation.
While management information system (MIS) is a general name for the business function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies and procedures to solve business problems. Similar to other departments in an organisation, IT also has it own function/department which called as MIS.

There are few core drivers that we should know when using IT for business. The following are the core drivers :

1) Data - Data are the raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event.
2) Information - Information are data converted into a meaningful and useful context.
3) Business intelligence - Business intelligence are applications and technologies that are used to support decision-making efforts.

Each organisation will have several departments within them in order to operate their businesses. Examples of departments are :
- Accounting Department : Record, measure and report monetary transactions.
- Marketing Department : Support sales by planning, pricing and promoting goods or services.
- Human Resource Department : Maintain policies, plans, and procedures for the effective management of employees.

and there are many other departments. Even there are called different departments but these departments are actually interdependent towards each other. In order for them to achieve the organisation's goals, the world has found the solution for multiple departments in an organisation to run interdependently : Management Information System (MIS).

In information technology resources, people use information technology to work with information.

When people work with information, they work them on different cultures :

a) Information-Functional Culture
Employees use information in a way to exercise influence or power over others. E.g. a manager in accounting department refuses to share information with finance. This will force finance to inquire accounting manager's input every time a new accounting policy is implemented.

b) Information-Sharing Culture
Employees across departments trust each other to use information (especially about problems and failures) to improve performance.

c) Information-Inquiring Culture
Employees across departments search for information to better understand the future and align themselves with current trends and new directions.

d) Information-Discovery Culture
Employees across departments are open to new insights about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages.