Hadj.barkat@rennes-sb.

com

Information Technology Management

Final exam = 60%

Continuous = 40% (1 quiz and group presentation 15 minutes)

How information systems are transforming business

o Emerging mobile digital platform
o Growing business use of “big data”
o Growth in cloud computing
o I.A.A.S: following fills on the net
o SAAS : software as a service, program that you can use online

Globalization opportunities:

o Internet has drastically reduced costs of operating on global scale

o Increases in foreign trade, outsourcing
o Presents both challenges and opportunities

The role of information systems in business today

o Growing interdependence between ability to use information technology and ability to implement
corporate strategies and achieve corporate goals

o Business firms invest heavily in information systems to achieve six strategic business objective:

 Operational excellence
 New products, services and business models

o Business model : describes how company produces, delivers, and sells product or service to create
wealth
o Information systems and technology a major enabling tool for new products, services, business
models (ex: Apple’s IPad, Google’s Android OS and Netflix)

 Customer and supplier intimacy

o Serving customers well leads to customers returning, which raises revenues and profits (ex: high-
end hotels that use computers to track customer preferences and used to monitor and customize
environment)
o Intimacy with suppliers allows them to provide vital inputs which lowers costs (ex: JCPenney’s
information system which links sales records to contract manufacturer)

 Improved decision marketing

Without accurate information
o Managers must use forecasts, best guesses, luck
o Results in :
  Over production, under production
 Misallocation of resources
 Poor response time
o Poor outcome raises costs, lose customers (Ex: Verizon’s web-based digital dashboard to provide
managers with real-time data on customer complaints, network performance, line outages, and so
on

 Competitive advantage
o Delivering better performance
o Charging less for superior products
o Responding to customers and suppliers in real time
EX: Apple, Walmart, UPS

 Survival
o Information technologies as necessity of business
o Industry-level changes (ex: Citibank’s introduction of ATMs)
o Governmental regulations requiring record-keeping (ex: Toxic substances control act)

Perspectives on information systems

Information System:
o Set of interrelated components
o Collect, process, store and distribute information
o Support decision making, coordination and control

Information VS data:
o Data are streams of raw facts
o Information is data shaped into meaningful form

Three activities of information systems produce information organizations need

o Input: captures raw data from organization or external environment

o Processing: converts raw data into meaningful form
o Output: transfers processed information to people or activities that us it

Feedback : Output is returned to appropriate members of organization to help evaluate or correct input
stage

Computer/ computer program VS information system : Computers and software are technical foundation
and tools, similar to the material and tools used to build a house.

Information systems are more than computers

Composed by :
o Organizations
o Management
o Technology

Using information systems effectively requires and understanding of the organization, management and
information technology shaping the systems. An IS creates value for the firm as an organization and
management solution.
Organizational dimension of information systems

Hierarchy of authority, responsibility

 Senior management
 Middle management
 Operational management
 Knowledge workers
 Data workers
 Production or service workers

Management dimension of information systems

o Managers set organized strategy for responding to business challenges

o In addition, managers must act creatively: creation of new products and services, occasionally re-
creating the organization

Technology dimension of IS

o Computer hardware and software

o Data management technology
o Networking and telecommunications technology
o IF infrastructure: provides platform that system is built on

Business Information value chain

o Raw data acquired and transformed through stages that add value to that information
o Value of information system determined in part by extent to which leads to better decisions,
greater efficiency and higher profits
o
Business perspectives
Calls attention to organizational and managerial nature of IS

o Investing in IT doesn’t guarantee good return

o There is considerable variation in the returns firms receive from systems investments
o Factors:
 Adopting the right business model
 Investing in complementary

Complementary assets:
o Required to derive value from a primary investment
o Firms supporting technology investment with complementary assets receive superior returns

Transaction processing systems

o Serve operational managers and staff
o Perform and record daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business
o Allow managers to monitor status of operations and relations with external environment
o Serve predefined structured goals and decision making

Business intelligence system

o Data and software tools for organizing and analyzing data
o Used to help managers and users make improved decisions
 Management information system
  Decision support system
 Executive support system (ESS  CEO of the company)
o Support the senior-management
o Address non-routine decisions
o Incorporate data about external events as well as summarized information from internal

Enterprise applications
o Systems for linking the enterprise
o Span functional areas
o Executive business processes across firm
o Include all levels of management
o Four major applications:
 Enterprise systems
 SC management systems
 Customer relationship management systems
 Knowledge management systems

Enterprise systems
o Collect data from different firm functions and stores data in single central data repository
o Resolves problem of fragmented data
o Enable:
 coordination of activities
 efficient response to customer orders
 help managers make decisions and long-term planning

Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems

o Manage firm’s relationship with suppliers
o Share information’s about: orders, production, inventory level, delivery of product
o Goal: right amount of products to destination with least amount of time and lowest costs

Customer relationship management systems

o Provide information to coordinate all of the business processes that deal with customers
 Sales
 Marketing
 Customer service
o Help firms identify, attract, and retain most profitable customers

CLTV (customer life time value): the value brings by a customer during all the relationship with him

Knowledge management systems (KMS)

o Support processes for capturing and applying knowledge and expertise
o Collect internal knowledge and experience within firm and make it available to employees
o Link to external sources of knowledge

Also, used to increase integration and expedite the flow of information:

o Intranets: internal company web sites accessible only by employees
o Extranets: Company web sites accessible externally only to vendors and suppliers, use to coordinate
SC.
o E business: use of digital technology and internet to drive major business processes
o E-commerce: Subset of e-business, buying and selling goods and services through Internet
 o E-government: using internet technology to deliver information and services to citizens, employees,
and businesses.
o Collaboration: Short-lived or long-term, informal or formal (teams)
o Growing importance of collaboration:
 Changing nature of work
 Growth professional work
 Changing organization of the firm
 Emphasis on innovation
 Changing culture of work

Social Business
Loi de metcalfe
o Use of social networking platforms, internal and external
o Engage employees, customers, suppliers
o Goal is to deepen interactions and expedite information sharing
o Requires information transparency

Business benefits of collaboration and teamwork

o Investments in collaboration technology can bring organization improvement, returning high ROI
o Productivity
o Quality
o Innovation
o Customer service
o Financial performance

Building a collaborative culture and business processes

o Command and control organizations: no value placed on teamwork or lower-level participation in
decisions
o Collaborative business culture: senior managers rely on teams of employees, manager purpose is to
build teams.

Tools for collaboration and teamwork

o E-mail and instant messaging
o Wikis
o Virtual worlds
o Collaboration and social business platform (ex: lotus, google, Microsoft sharepoint…)

Enterprise social networking software capabilities

o Profile
o Content sharing
o Feeds and notifications
o Groups and team workspaces
o Tagging and social bookmarking
o Permissions and privacy
Two dimensions of collaboration
technologies
 Space (or location) remote or co-
located
 Time synchronous or
asynchronous

Information systems department

o Formal organizational unit

responsible for information
technology services
o Often headed by chief information officer (CIO)
o Programmers
o System analysts
o Information system managers
o End users: representatives of other departments for whom applications are developed, increasing
role in system design, development.
o IT governance: strategies and policies for using IT in the organization, decision right, accountability,
organization of information systems function.