Explain the role of information technology in business, and describe how success is measured.
Information technology has an important role within a business. IT can facilitate effective and efficient communication within different branches of a business allowing ideas and messages to increase business intelligence. IT can assist with cost reduction, improving productivity and marketing therefore increasing a business's growth. Although it is hard to measure success of IT within a business, key performance indicators allow the efficiency and effectiveness to be evaluated. These terms are interrelated, efficiency referring to how well tasks are being carried out while effectiveness measures if the goals and objectives are being achieved.
List and describe each forces in Porters Five Forces Model.
1. Buyer Power – Buyer power is high when there are many sellers of the particular item they are after. In this case, sellers tend they are after. In this case, sellers tend to drop their prices or increase quality of services to attract customers. When there are not many sellers, the buyer power is low as sellers dictate the price the sell their product or services for.2. Supplier Power – Typically the supplier can have a dramatic effect on the industry. This can include increasing product prices, reducing quality and limiting services. If a product’s price is increase by a supplier, this price increase is usually passed onto the buyer to make up lost costs. This can negatively impact certain businesses as it can lose customers to competitive business.
3. Threat of substitute products or services – When there are many alternatives to a business product, consumers have a vast choice to choose from. Therefore many businesses try to make sure there are no alternatives to their product, or increase their product’s quality, or decreasing the price.
4. Threat of new entrants – If it is easy for a new entrant to gain entry to a business market the threat is high.
5. Rivalry among existing competitors – There is competition in every industry with other businesses. Companies seek to keep customers by special offers such as loyalty programs which encourage customers to return, usually by offering free or a reduction in the price of a product.
Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains. Business processes and value chains are interrelated assisting with goal execution. The value chain keeps us to measure the success of a business process, which could be a goal or strategies. Business can turn change their services or products or the cost of these aspects in order to increase the success of their business.
Compare Porter’s 3 generic strategies
By using one of porters 3 generic strategies can improve the effectiveness of strategies used to enter a new market. Businesses can take one of the following strategies.
Broadcost leadership – an all round low cost to appeal to large quantities of audiences.
Broad differentiation – Different price points which appeal to different audiences and a strategy, eg; high quality or safety in their product.
Focused strategy – Focused on a particular product which targets a specific audience.
Week Three Questions;
Define TPS and DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages.
Transition process systems and decision support systems uses different models to assist in decision making, problem solving and opportunity capturing within a business. Transaction Processing Systems records all information contained within a business process or unit of work Eg; eftpos. Its primary purpose is to support the performance of daily operations. Organisations use transactional information when performing operational and repetitive decisions such as analysis of daily reports to decide how much stock to carry or make.
Decision support systems implement models to support managers and business professionals during the decision making process based on data. The three quantitative models often used by decision support systems include, sensitivity analysis, what-if analysis and goal-seeking analysis.
By using transaction processing systems and decision support systems, business professionals are able to make broader decisions for the organisation by using the details gathered by the transaction processing systems. This allows the business to gain a competitive advantage by being able to predict future sales and profit.
Describe the three quantitative models typically used to decision support systems.
1. Sensitivity Analysis – is the study of how changes in certain parts of the model will affect other parts of the model. Different variable are changed leading to different results.
2. What-if Analysis – analysis of the effects of various situations of change. Effectively predicted with the use of excel.
3. Goal-seeking Analysis – this analyses how necessary certain inputs are to achieve a goal. It sets a target for a certain variable then changes the other variables until the goal is achieved of the first variable. Also effectively predicted with the use of excel.
Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation.
A business process is a set of steps done to achieve a specific goal, turning input into output. Businesses gain a competitive advantage when they minimise costs and implement effective and efficient business processes leading to a greater chance of success.
Compare business process improvement and business re-engineering.
In an attempt to stay afloat, organisations must constantly review and improve their business processes. Business process improvement attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvements accordingly.
Organisations begin by documenting what they currently do, follow the process, measure the performance and identify improvement opportunity based on collected data and information. The improvements are then implemented and the performance of the improvement is measured. This process is then repeated and business process is continuously improved.
Business re-engineering is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises. Business re-engineering relies on the assumption that the current business process is inappropriate and does not work and must be overhauled from scratch.
The basic steps involved include replacing old processes by defining the goal and objectives and then studying the competition to gain a competitive advantage. A new process is then created and the solution is implemented.
Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models.
Business process modelling is the activity of creating a detailed flowchart or process map of a work process, displaying inputs, tasks and activities in a structured sequence. It is a graphic description of a process showing the sequence of process tasks which are developed for a specific reason and from a specific viewpoint. The activities are displayed as boxes and use arrows to represent data and interfaces.
Business modelling usually begins with functional process representation of what the problem is displayed in an as-is model, representing the current process without any improvements. The next step is to build a to-be model which displays the results of applying change improving business processes and efficiency.
Week Four Questions;
What is an IP address? What is its main function?
Internet Protocol or an IP address is the basic communication of the internet. Each computer is assigned its own IP address, each one being unique. They can be either public or private, consisting of 8 binary digits.
What is Web 2.0, and how does it differ from 1.0?
Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the internet. It is not essentially new version of the worldwide web. It refers to changes in the way software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. Web 2.0 differs from Web 1.0 as it is linking people through the aid of the internet. Users are able to interact with publishers and have greater access to making their own websites, especially through blogging and social networking sites EG; www.facebook.com or http://www.myspace.com/
What is Web 3.0?
Web 3.0 is a term used to describe the evolution of web usage and interaction among several separate paths, including transforming the web into a database, a move towards making content accessible by a multiple non-browser application, the leveraging of artificial intelligence technologies and move towards 3D.
Describe the different methods an organisation can use to access information.
Intranet – is an internal part of the internet that allows an organisation to provide access to information and application software to only its employees, as it is protected from outside access. An intranet is an invaluable organisational tool providing a central location for employees, hosting company-related directories EG: entitlements, benefits and schedules.
Extranet – an extranet is an intranet that is available to strategic allies including customers, suppliers and partners. Having a common area where employees, partners, vendors and customers can access information can be a major competitive advantage for an organisation leading to greater efficiency and improved customer relations.
Portal – a portal is a website that offers a broad array of resources and services such as e-mail, online discussion groups, search engines and online shopping. EG: Google (http://www.google.com.au ) Yahoo!, Netscape and Microsoft.
Kiosk – a public accessible computer system that has been set up to allow interactive information browsing. This is achieved through a simple screen containing a few navigational tools, EG: a self check in at an airport.
What is eBusiness, and how does it differ from eCommerce?
eCommerce is the buying and selling of goods over the internet. eBusiness is the conducting of business on the internet including buying, selling , serving customers and collaboration of business partners. The main difference between eCommerce and eBusiness is that eBusiness also refers to the online exchange of information.
List and describe the various eBusiness models?
Business to business (B2B) – Businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet.
Business to Customer (B2C) – refers to any business that sells its products or service over the internet.
Customer to Business (C2B) – Any consumer that sells a product or service to a business over the internet.
Customer to Customer (C2C) – sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet.
A popular website for these eBusiness models to take place is http://www.ebay.com.au/
List three metrics you would use if you were hired to assess the effectiveness and the efficiency of eBusiness web site.
In order to test efficiency and effectiveness in advertising, measures are tracked and recorded. Interactivity measures the visitor interactions with the target add, including information such as, duration looking at add, how many time it was viewed and how often it is being view. This is something that was impossible to achieve in the past. Effectiveness website metrics include;
Cookie – a small file deposited in a hard drive which records information about customers and their web activities, usually without prior consent.
Click through – a count of how many people visit one site and click on the advertisement which leads them to another site., it is an effective way to get people to look at their adds, however doesn’t necessarily mean they liked the advertisement or how long they looked at it for and if it achieved its purpose.
Banner ad – advertises a certain businesses goods or services on another website. This allows information to be gathered on how many people click on the add and viewed it.
Outline two opportunities and two challenges faced by companies doing business online.
There are many benefits that are associated with companies doing business online. Benefits include that the company’s products or services are highly accessible, being available to view and buy 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year. Increased customer loyalty is also an opportunity that businesses can achieve by doing business online. Businesses are contactable 24 a day, 7 days a week, applying additional channels for contacting, responding and accessing customers to contribute to customer loyalty.
However conversely, there are also challenges faced by these businesses. There is an increase in liability as business online exposes all parties to different internet laws as they differ from country to country. It also raises many social, ethical and political issues, including identity theft and information manipulation. This leads to another challenge, protecting consumers. Consumers must be protected form unsolicited goods and communication, illegal or harmful goods, insufficient information about good or services, invasion of privacy and identity theft.
Week Five Questions;
Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.
Ethics refers to the principals and standards that influence our behaviour towards other people. The ethical issues surrounding copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the eBusiness world. Advances in technology make it easier for people to copy everything from music to pictures, posing new challenges for our ethics. EG: Downloading music from an illegal website for free or paying a small fee for songs downloaded legally off ITunes. Privacy us the largest ethical issue facing organisations. Privacy is the right to be left alone when you want to be and to be in control of your personal information and possessions. It also relates to being observed with your consent and knowledge. Privacy continues to be one of the main barriers to the growth of eBusiness, as people are concerned about their privacy being violated.
Information ethics concern the ethical and moral issue arising from the development and use of information technologies, as well as the creation, collection, duplication distribution and processing of information itself. Individuals are in control and can determine how to use information and how information affects them. Ethics also influences the way people interact on the web, with many people feeling as though they can ‘hide’ behind a computer and do and say as they please.
Describe the relationship between ‘email privacy’ and an ‘internet privacy’ policy.
Email and internet use is so prevalent in organisations, being the main communication medium, that it requires its own specific privacy policy. An internet use policy contains general principals to guide proper use of the internet.
Organisations should have a policy that clearly sets out how employees may use email and the internet for private and non- business related activities, sates what activities are seen as acceptable and what those that are not, sates the type of information that will be record by members of the organisation and provides for the monitoring and auditing process that will consider the information.
Summarise the five steps to creating an information security plan.
Develop the information security policies – identify responsibility of designing and implementing the organisation information security policies. This will typically be the chief security officer (CSO).
Communicate the information security policies – all employees need to be trained on the policies and establish clear expectations from policies. This will help to eliminate ethical issues as employees will be aware of what is expected from them.
Identify critical information assets and risks - require use of user ID’s, passwords and antivirus software on all systems. Firewalls or intrusion detection software must be used where external links are available.
Test and re-evaluate risks – continually perform security reviews, audits, background checks and security assessments.
Obtain stakeholder support – gain the approval and support of the information security polices from the board of directors and all stakeholders.
What do the terms, authentication and authorization mean and how to they differ. Provide some examples from each term.
Authentication is a method used to confirm a user’s identity. Once the identity of the user is established it can then be determined the authorisation for that individual. Authorisation is the process of giving someone permission to do or have something EG: access to certain websites in schools. Authentication and authorisation techniques are broken into categories, the most secure type containing all three categories. These categories include;
Something the user knows – such as a user ID or a password
Something the user has – such as a smart card, ID card or token
Something that is part of the user – such as a fingerprint or voice signature.
What are the five main types of security risks? Suggest one method to prevent the severity of risk.
There are five main security risks. These include;
Human Error – these are not necessarily malicious acts, they may be as simple as leaving a password and user name on a sticky note next to their computer, allowing access by unauthorised personnel. Data can also be lost by employees that are not proficient in their duties, including deleting important customer records, lack of adequate training on procedures, leaving a public computer logged on, or poorly written applications.
Natural Disasters – events leading to loss of data systems for eg; Tsunami, fires or floods.
Technical Failures – such software bugs or hardware crashes. These can occur due to poor firewall or antivirus systems.
Deliberate Acts – Employees who destroy or corrupt data. Hackers destroy or corrupt data and are usually disgruntled ex-employees.
Management Failure – occurs due to lack of procedure or implement of procedure. It can also occur due to poor training of employees.
Firewalls are the most common defences for preventing a security breach. A firewall is a hardware or software that guards a private network by analysing the information leaving and entering the network. The firewall examines each message and prevents its information from entering the network if does not possess the correct markings. This helps to prevent viruses and spyware entering the system and in turn prevents loss of data and records.
Infrastructure architectures includes hardware, software and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisations goals. It has five primary characteristics including flexibility, scalability, reliability, availability and performance.
2. Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture.
Information Security; Regulatory requirements to safe guard data have increased and concerns about identity theft are at an all time high. Managing user access to information is critical allowing for authentication and authorisation. It is important to have up to date antivirus software and patches. 
