IntroductionToBusiness-OP_8D04gAa-110

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systems?
To get the most value from IT, companies must go beyond simply collecting and summarizing information.
Technology planning involves evaluating the company’s goals and objectives and using the right technology to
reach them. IT managers must also evaluate the existing infrastructure to get the best return on the
company’s investment in IT assets. Knowledge management focuses on sharing an organization’s collective
knowledge to improve productivity and foster innovation. Some companies establish the position of chief
knowledge officer to head up KM activities.
13.5 Protecting Computers and Information
5. What are the best ways to protect computers and the information they contain?
Because companies are more dependent on computers than ever before, they need to protect data and
equipment from natural disasters and computer crime. Types of computer crime include unauthorized use
and access, software piracy, malicious damage, and computer viruses. To protect IT assets, companies should
prepare written security policies. They can use technology such as virus protection, firewalls, and employee
training in proper security procedures. They must also take steps to protect customers’ personal privacy
rights.
13.6 Trends in Information Technology
6. What are the leading trends in information technology?
IT is a dynamic industry, and companies must stay current on the latest trends to identify ones that help them
maintain their competitive edge, such as digital forensics, the distributed workforce, and grid computing. With
digital forensics techniques, corporations, government agencies, attorneys, and lawmakers can obtain
evidence from computers and corporate networks—web pages, pictures, documents, and e-mails. Many
knowledge workers now work remotely rather than from an office. Companies adopting the distributed
workforce model gain many benefits, such as cost savings, more satisfied and productive employees, and
increased employee retention. Cloud computing harnesses the power of computers, online software, and data
storage to create a virtual computing environment that is invisible to the user. A company can access the cloud
on an as-needed basis instead of investing in its own supercomputer equipment. Outsourcing a portion of the
company’s computing needs provides additional flexibility and cost advantages. Companies can also set up
internal grids.
Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills
1. How has information technology changed your life? Describe at least three areas (both personal and
school- or work-related) where having access to better information has improved your decisions. Are
there any negative effects? What steps can you take to manage information better? (Information,
Technology)
2. Visit or conduct a phone interview with a local small-business owner about the different ways her or his
firm uses information technology. Prepare a brief report on your findings that includes the hardware and
software used, how it was selected, benefits of technology for the company, and any problems in
implementing or using it. (Interpersonal, Information)
3. Your school wants to automate the class-registration process. Prepare a memo to the dean of information
systems describing an integrated information system that would help a student choose and register for
courses. Make a list of the different groups that should be involved and questions to ask during the
planning process. Include a graphic representation of the system that shows how the data become useful
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information. Indicate the information a student needs to choose courses and its sources. Explain how
several types of management support systems could help students make better course decisions. Include
ways the school could use the information it collects from this system. Have several students present their
plans to the class, which will take the role of university management in evaluating them. (Resources,
Systems, Technology)
4. You recently joined the IT staff of a midsized consumer products firm. After a malicious virus destroys
some critical files, you realize that the company lacks a security strategy and policies. Outline the steps
you’d take to develop a program to protect data and the types of policies you’d recommend. How would
you present the plan to management and employees to encourage acceptance? (Resources, Technology)
5. Team Activity Should companies outsource IT? Some executives believe that IT is too important to
outsource and that application service providers don’t have a future. Yet spending for ASP subscriptions,
MSPs, and other forms of IT outsourcing such as cloud computing continue to grow. What’s your
position? Divide the class into groups designated “for” or “against” outsourcing and/or ASPs. Have them
research the current status of ASPs using publications such as CIO and Computerworld and websites such
as Enterprise Apps Today, http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com. (Interpersonal, Information)
Ethics Activity
As the owner of a small but growing business, you are concerned about employees misusing company
computers for personal matters. Not only does this cost the company in terms of employee productivity, but it
also ties up bandwidth that may be required for company operations and exposes the firm’s networks to
increased risks of attacks from viruses, spyware, and other malicious programs. Installing e-mail monitoring
and web security and filtering software programs would allow you to track e-mail and internet use, develop
use policies, block access to inappropriate sites, and limit the time employees can conduct personal online
business. At the same time, the software will protect your IT networks from many types of security concerns,
from viruses to internet fraud. You are concerned, however, that employees will take offense and consider
such software an invasion of privacy.
Using a web search tool, locate articles about this topic and then write responses to the following questions.
Be sure to support your arguments and cite your sources.
Ethical Dilemma: Should you purchase employee-monitoring software for your company, and on what do you
base your decision? If you install the software, do you have an obligation to tell employees about it? Explain
your answers and suggest ways to help employees understand your rationale.
Sources: KC Agu, “6 Software Tools for Monitoring Employee Productivity,” Huffington Post,
https://www.huffingtonpost.com, December 6, 2017; Marissa Lang, “Electronic Tracking Spurs Workplace
Privacy Debate,” Government Technology, http://www.govtech.com, October 18, 2017; Mike Rogoway, “Jive’s
Buyer Responds to Employee Anxiety over Workplace Monitoring Tool,” The Oregonian,
http://www.oregonlive.com.
Working the Net
1. Enterprise resource planning is a major category of business software. Visit the site of one of the
following companies: SAP (http://www.sap.com), or Oracle (http://www.oracle.com). Prepare a short
presentation for the class about the company’s ERP product offerings and capabilities. Include examples
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of how companies use the ERP software. What are the latest trends in ERP?
2. What can intranets and enterprise portals accomplish for a company? Find out by using such resources as
Brint.com’s Intranet Portal, http://www.brint.com/Intranets.htm. Look for case studies that show how
companies apply this technology. Summarize the different features an intranet or enterprise portal
provides.
3. Learn more about the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC), which serves as a center of internet security
expertise. Explore its website, https://www.cert.org/index.cfm. What are the latest statistics on
incidents reported, vulnerabilities, security alerts, security notes, mail messages, and hotline calls? What
other useful information does the site provide to help a company protectIT assets?
4. Research the latest developments in computer security at Computerworld’s site,
http://computerworld.com/. What types of information can you find here? Pick one of the categories in
this area (Cybercrime, Encryption, Disaster Recovery, Firewalls, Hacking, Privacy, Security Holes,
Vhttp://computerworld.com/securitytopics/securityiruses and Worms, and VPN), and summarize your
findings.
5. How can someone steal your identity? Using information at the Federal Trade Commission’s central
website for information about identity theft, https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/
feature-0014-identity-theft, compile a list of the ways thieves can access key information to use your
identity. What steps should you take if you’ve been a victim of identity theft? Summarize key provisions of
federal laws dealing with this crime and the laws in your state.
Critical Thinking Case
Novartis’s Prescription for Invoice Processing
What do you do when you have more than 600 business units operating through 360 independent affiliates in
140 countries around the world—processing complex invoices in various languages and currencies? You seek
out the best technology solution to make the job easier.
At global pharmaceutical giant Novartis, the IT department is a strategic resource, a community of 2,000
people serving 63,000 customers in 200 locations and 25 data centers. Because most of the company’s invoices
come from international suppliers, they have differences in design, language, taxes, and currency.
Consequently, many ended up as “query items” requiring manual resolution by Novartis accounting
staff—which delayed payments and made those invoices extremely costly to process. In fact, finance
personnel spent so much of their time resolving queried invoices that other work suffered. A solution was
badly needed.
To maximize its investment, Novartis needed a flexible solution that would meet its current and future needs
and function in other business departments in a variety of geographic locations. It should provide fast,
accurate document capture and multi-language support, and should extend to other types of
information—such as faxes and electronic data—in addition to paper documents. Finally, in order to obtain
financing for the project, return on investment (ROI) was required within nine months of project
implementation.
InputAccel for Invoices from EMC/Captiva was the answer. The software extracts data from paper documents,
applies intelligent document recognition (IDR) technology to convert them to digital images, and sends
relevant data to enterprise resource planning, accounts payable (A/P), and other back-end management
systems. The specialized InputAccel server manages output by recognizing and avoiding holdups in the
workflow process. It also ensures if a server goes offline, others will carry on functioning, thus avoiding
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downtime.
Now Novartis scans incoming invoices at a centrally located site, and the images are transmitted to the
InputAccel for Invoices server for image improvement. Invoice data is then extracted and validated against
supplier information. Most invoices are transferred directly for payment, with relatively few invoices requiring
transfer to one of three accounts payable clerks who deal with queries manually. Novartis is a global leader in
research and development of products that improve health issues. InputAccel was selected by Novartis to be
part of its accounting system.
Thanks to IT, overall efficiency has increased, processing errors are reduced, and accounting personnel can
use their time and expert knowledge for more meaningful tasks than resolving invoice errors. For Novartis, it
is “mission accomplished.”
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What factors contributed to Novartis’s invoice processing being so complex?
2. How did IT help the company solve that problem?
3. What other uses and functions does InputAccel serve, and how will this be useful to Novartis over the long
term? (You may want to visit the EMC/Captiva website, https://www.emc.com, for more information on
InputAccel’s capabilities.)
Sources: “OpenText Acquires EMC Enterprise Division,” MetaSource, http://www.metasource.com, September
20, 2016; Novartis corporate website, http://www.novartis.com, March 20, 2006; “Processing Invoices From
Around the World,” ECM Connection, https://www.ecmconnection, February 2, 2006; Kathryn Balint, “Captiva’s
Paper Chase Paying Off,” San Diego Union-Tribune, December 9, 2005, pp. C1, C5.
@ Hot Links Address Book
1. If you want to know the definition of a computer term or more about a particular topic, Webopedia has
the answer: http://www.webopedia.com.
2. Can’t tell a LAN from a WAN? Learn more about networking at Lifewire’s Internet & Networking pages,
https://www.lifewire.com.
3. To find out if that e-mail alerting you to another virus threat is real or a hoax, check out the latest
information at http://www.snopes.com.
4. How can you “inoculate” your computer against viruses? Symantec’s Security Center has the latest details
on virus threats and security issues: http://www.symantec.com.
5. The CIO digital magazine offers helpful articles that provide a good introduction to key IT topics:
http://www.cio.com.
6. Curious about how companies are using on-demand grid computing? Read the Grid FAQ at the Grid
Computing Technology Centre, http://www.gridcomputing.com, and then check out some of the many
links to other resources.
Chapter 13 Using Technology to Manage Information 537
538 Chapter 13 Using Technology to Manage Information
This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col25734/1.7
	Chapter 13. Using Technology to Manage Information
	Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills
	Preparing for Tomorrow's Workplace Skills
	Ethics Activity
	Ethics Activity
	Working the Net
	Working the Net
	Critical Thinking Case
	Critical Thinking Case
	Hot Links Address Book
	Hot Links Address Book