Fighting a Price War
In the 21st century, marketplaces have become more competitive. This is because the availability of information has become the norm. Consumers can now choose amongst competing products and make an informed choice. As a result, getting customers has become increasingly difficult. This has given rise to price wars on several occasions. Since companies find it […]
Why Globalization Succeeds When the Workforce is Young ?
In a previous article, we looked at how globalization benefits the young more than the elderly. This article looks at how a youthful workforce is necessary for globalization to succeed. The reason for this is that when the majority of the workforce is young, there is more number of people who are competing for the […]
Comparison of Six Sigma and Total Quality Management
Both Six Sigma and Total Quality Management are effective tools for quality management but a thin line of difference does exist between them. Although the methodologies and procedures involved in both the two appear quite similar but there are certain major differences. Six-Sigma is a relatively newer concept than Total Quality Management but not exactly […]
How Firms and Corporates Grow in any Economy
The rules of economics and business are such that in any economy, old or new, recession or boom, the basic rules governing growth are the same. Indeed, ever since the modern day capitalist model of business emerged, growth at any cost and in any economy has been the driving force behind all the decisions that […]
Transitioning to Agile? What Project Managers Must Know About This Hot Methodology
How Agile Has Become the Talk of the Town and What it Means to Be Left Behind Walk into any business conference or eavesdrop on any discussion with managers and execs in the corporate world and the term, Agile, invariably pops up along with associated terms such as Kanban, Scrum, and DevOps. While these terms […]
Proliferation of information technology has increased in the last decade. Today’s organizations are acknowledging the importance of information systems. It has been accepted worldwide that information system provides competitive edge and are the bedrock for innovation. The six basic functions of information systems are capture data, transmit data, store data, retrieve data, manipulate data and display information.
The elements of an information system are customers, business processes, product services and communication technology. Design of an information system is done based on elements of the model.
Every information system has end users or customers. An information system can have internal as well as external. Customers are beneficiaries of products and services provided by an information system. Here external customers could be people visiting a website for shopping or e-commerce transaction, people searching for cooking recipe, searching for tax saving tools, etc.
Internal customer of an information system could be employee receiving salary from payroll system, employee checking inventory and stock, etc. Sometimes these employees could be the customer for the product and services, for example, employee working with a computer manufacturer could be customer of manufactured product.
For a manufacturing organization, production department would be customer for supply department. Therefore, information system requirements of each department would be different. Information systems are design to service what is best for external customers. However, information systems should be flexible enough to support internal requirements also.
The result of data transformation is products and services. An information system can generate products as well as service depending upon industry it is developed for. In clothing industry designer clothes are produced based customer’s requirement. Here completed garments are product and custom design is a service. In internet banking, customer can accomplish the entire banking task, without visiting the bank. Internet banking, therefore, is a service.
An information system can generate various types of services and products based on its design. An effective information system needs to satisfy customer expectation. An information system should provide product and service based on customer’s needs and requirements.
Business activity consists of various processes. These processes include talking to customer, understanding her requirements, manufacturing product as per requirement, provide post sales service, etc. A business process may not be structured all the time and may not be formal. An improvement in the business process directly impacts business performance. An information system can improve a business process, by providing relevant information, increasing a step in business process or eliminating a step in a business process.
Communication technology and computers are the central pieces of an information system model. Their presence is required to deliver efficient business process and customer delighting products and services. Infusion of technology within business creates win-win situations. Technology improves internal communication via email chat, etc. and improve external communication through website, webinar etc. Access to valuable information is quicker through information system, and this can provide a competitive edge in digital age.
Information system model highlights the pivot role information system plays in bringing efficiency in any work system.
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Communication Systems and Groupware – Information System Concepts that Apply in All Functional Areas of Business
February 12, 2025
