Benefits of Using an Information System

Information systems interact with the organizations and influences the organization in many aspects of the whole organizational structure to the daily behavior. Information systems can enable strategies in four aspects including low-cost leadership, product differentiation, focus on market value and strengthen customer and supplier intimacy.

This article makes up Chapter 1 of the free, open access book titled, Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology, by John Gallaugher. Please ensure that you read the entire Chapter 1 of the book consisting of 3 parts (Part 1 Introduction; Part 2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data; and Part 3 Moving Forward).

Information systems (IS), technically are a set of interrelated components that collect and retrieve information, process and store it and support the organization in decision making. Information Technology (IT) is a shared technology and provides the platform for specific information. It consists of hardware and software for a business to achieve their objectives. Included is the computer systems, the computer, any hand-held devices, software the company needs to operate and storage. (20)

When considering the IT management portfolio triangle consisting of infrastructural, transactional, informational, and strategic systems in regards to the Nicholas Carr’s viewpoint on information technology, I do not believe that his thoughts apply equally to all types of IT investments. Consider most Transactional System IT investments undertaken today. These systems are designed to help streamline and standardize the collection, modification, and retrieval of transactional data within a business. These systems typically perform well, and maintain consistency and reliability. When observing only transactional systems, I would agree with Nicholas Carr and say that this type of IT investment

“A garbage can model of IT value portrays the factors most organizations confront when making investment in technology” [Henry C. Lucas Jr]. According to Henry C. Lucas’ Garbage Can model the value of a project depends on the level with which the variable affecting a project such as management buy-in, technology, cost, and IT staff converge to produce a useful output. The level of this convergence determines the value derived from the project. If an application is ideal for an organization and is configured and implemented correctly but is not embraced by the users it will not produce the anticipated value. In cases where technology becomes intertwined with the strategy of the organization, as was the case in the R.L Polk case study, it becomes even harder to determine the true value of the solution. In these scenarios the direct benefits might be easier to calculate, but assigning the value of the indirect benefits to the technology becomes difficult. For this reason, I agree with the approach adopted by Vasconi in this article. Creating a separate company for developing the new solution not only increases the probability of success, but it also makes it easier to measure the direct and indirect benefits created by the solution. Vasconi effectively used the garbage can

Information Technology (IT) is a foundation for conducting business today. It plays a critical role in increasing productivity of firms and entire nation. It is proven that firms who invested in IT have experienced continued growth in productivity and efficiency. Many companies' survival and even existence without use of IT is unimaginable. IT has become the largest component of capital investment for companies in the United States and many other countries.

According to Lewis (2007) a well designed information systems can enhance an organization’s effectiveness and responsiveness and raise an employee’s sense of satisfaction and purpose. Managers should ensure that information systems

Today, most companies strategically differentiate themselves from their competitors through the use of IT systems.

“Outrageous Industry Transformation” (Haag & Cummings, 2013, p. 3). These are the opening words for the course textbook. When one looks across the last decade’s technological advances, one can understand the validity of this statement. As technology forced businesses across the board to reevaluate their business models, it has become critical to have a clear understanding of the advantages, functions, pitfalls, and risks of utilization Information Systems (IS) to move organizations forward and stay relevant in a fast-paced market. Consequently, courses like ISM 270 are essential to lay a solid ground work for the introduction of such concepts. As such, this reflection paper will discuss my journey of learning throughout the duration of the course of ISM 270.

There are a multitude of problems in the IS strategy at Stratex. The most severe and strategically important one is how disconnected the IS strategy is from the business strategy at the corporate level, exacerbated by the decentralized IS system architecture. At this point even if Stratex deliberately wanted to create a unified corporate strategy its systems would not allow for it. The primary benefits of a decentralized IS strategy is the ability to deliver highly specific, tailored information to the unique business requirements of a given division or sector of the business (Gray, 1986). The logic that follows that decentralized IS strategies allow companies to concentrate with greater clarity and insight into a given series of markets; over relying on a centralized IS system to accomplish this (Hur, Riyanto, 2012). Further galvanizing this decentralized structure into place is the very strong resistance to change as seen by the negative comments of line-of-business managers from each of the four divisions regarding the Network Project. Decentralized IS strategies are often the most difficult to modify or augment as resistance to change is so significant throughout enterprises who have for years found this strategy of IS deployment the most effective in managing competitive strategies at the divisional level (de Sousa, Pellissier, Monteiro, 2012).

Recognize the competitive and strategic significance of an information system to a work group and an organization for a given case or actual business situation.

A Corporation’s Information Technology department (IT) aids in making major decisions on financial, security, and technological tasks/projects. When the IT department and the business act together to do so, a business can run the most efficiently and economically achieving maximum profit levels. It was stated “It is not necessarily what you make in a factory that counts; its what you do with the information that you own that brings in the revenue”(Rasiah, par. 2). In essence, the IT department helps with all the information, technology, software, and data decision making in a company. This makes the department vital to the company’s success. However, if a company did not have or invest in an IT department, many things could go wrong inside

There are many or business professional positions within a corporation that must work together in a value partner chain to achieve a common interest or goal. Nested within these chains are numerous support systems which are of IT origin to assist in the process. From processors, to specialist, analyst, consultants, developers, programmers, supervisors, and managers, all may at some point be benefited or handicapped by a IT system. Interestingly, each position may have a different perspective of how IT helps them do their job. The purpose of this review is to provide the reader with a clear indication of the benefits of IT on businesses, particularly for

Perceived usefulness is defined here as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance (Davis, 1989). Prior studies have documented the importance of perceived usefulness in information system (IS) adoption (Chiu et al., 2005; Cheong and Park, 2005; and

Information systems are an essential core component of all modern organizations, providing organizations with the additional efficiency and effectiveness to compete within their marketplace or simply keep up with the demands of their customers, partners, and the business environment in which they reside. The integration of information systems within the business processes of these organizations creates a dependency upon the information systems such that without them the organization simply cannot operate. Similarly, organizational operations can be severely hampered if other components of the business systems and processes such as paper files, physical work space, physical business artifacts, and physical assets (office