1. Introduction
The assignment seeks to tell what information technology is and how it has impacted several
different businesses. It talks about information technology and its role in retail businesses,
network technology, ethics and social issues of using technology. Importance of internet and
intranet in general, role of information technology in selected businesses.
2. Literature review.
2.2 Information Technology and its role in retail business in general
Information technology refers to how various different systems are used when it comes to storing
any sort of information. Information may be needed to be stored, retrieved and sometimes even
sent between different personas. This can be done through gadgets such as computers, laptops,
flash disks, memory cards and even hard drives. Business operations on the other hand can be
referred to as the activities that take place within a given company or institution making it run
smoothly and subsequently lead to the institution making a lot of money and earning profits.
When an object forcefully comes into contact with another thing, it is then called an impact. This
paper shows the impact of information technology on business operations.
Information technology plays several roles in different in retail businesses. They include;
Increase in work flow.
Rise in information technology has led to a subsequent increase in work flow. IT has its
advantages over manpower in several different aspects. The first advantage is that technological
gadgets are very efficient, reliable and work very fast. As a result a lot of time is saved which in
turn gives space for other activities to be conducted. An added advantage is that it makes
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employees work even harder in their fields of work. This is due to the fear of them getting
sacked or even replaced with these technological gadgets. They put seal and strive to provide an
extra skill to enable their employers see what they will miss if in any case they decide to replace
them with machines.
Profitability and productivity.
Information technology also leads to increased productivity and profitability in retail businesses.
This is due to the fact that every little profit is computed and hence the employees continue
following the oath they were following. In cases of losses, the employees are able to follow
through various customer service sites to see what they disliked. They are then able to replace,
rectify or upgrade the product to suit the needs of the customer. When customer needs are
prioritized in manufacturing products, the business organization is then likely to have a high
demand for their products hence increased productivity which subsequently leads to increased
productivity.
2.3 Network technology, different types in general.
Network technology refers to technology that connects two or more computers and conveys
information between them. There are different types of network technology used presently. They
include; personal area network, wireless local area network, system area network, local area
network, campus area network, metropolitan area network among many more others.
2.4 Ethics and social issues of using technology in general.
There are several issues that arise from using technology in general. These issues include;
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Efficiency in businesses.
Technology makes tasks go about faster by converting raw data into something valuable. It also
makes businesses continue running on efficiently. This is because it is very accurate and chances
of errors arising are slim to almost none.
Increase number of people in social media networks.
Technology has also led to a large number of people using various social media networks to
connect them to other different people globally. People tend to display their lifestyle on these
social media networks. Some seek to simply just show people how they conduct their normal
businesses while others seek approval among their friends and follower by posting pictures in
places or situations they consider high society. It is for this reason why employers may go to the
social networks of individuals they seek to employ when they want to get information about
them. The information gathered on the potential employee can enable them to get hired or not.
For instance, a person with strong political expressions may not be suitable in an institution that
is fashion related.
Gives us access to information.
Technology also enables us to access any information in whatever time we want. An individual
can access any type of information; sports, music, fashion whenever they want in particular
technological gadgets as long as they search well for it.
2.5 The importance of intranet and internet in business in general
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An intranet is a computer network that aids in sharing corporate information, putting operational
systems and other services in a computer together in such a way that people who do not work in
the organization are unable to access. An intranet is important since it seals the organizations
operations from access to outsiders. This will ensure that only employees have access to certain
information and can work together in harmony towards bettering that institution.
The internet on the other hand is a network where you can find information and data to link
devices worldwide. The internet is important because it can enable an individual access any
information at whatever time. There is an infinite load of information in the internet. The most
important internet use is that it links customers to clients. Clients can access any information on
an organization by looking at the internet.
3 Analysis and Discussion
3.1 Role of Information Technology in the selected business.
When it comes to a high fashion cloth manufacturing business, information technology plays a
really vital role;
Increase in remote working.
Rise in information technology has led to the increase in remote working. Business
operations can be managed nowadays even at the comfort of one’s household. Other people can
foresee the companies’ activities and operations even when they are not anywhere near the
country or when they are abroad. This is possible as long as there are other parties conveying the
information to them. Email addresses and some social networks act as links where the
information is passed through. Some company heads can even conduct company meetings at the
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expense of their homes when they are unable to get to work due to personal reasons. This can be
done with the set-up of huge company screens where the people communicate with the help of
applications such as Skype.
Information technology has proven to be reliable in remote working especially in
situations where some notable members of a company are not able to physically attend a meeting
or when urgent pieces of information are needed to close certain business operations from
wherever they are.
Protection of information
Another notable impact of information technology on business operations is that it has
enabled information to be securely protected. There are several gadgets that can presently be
used to store business information; transactions, deals, future plans. Some of these technological
gadgets include; flash disks, memory cards, hard drives, laptops and computers. In cases of
laptops and computers, people can create folders where the business information is for easy
accessibility. These information can also be backed up to application such as Google drives,
email and Gmail. Backing up of information is convenient since one can lose their laptop and as
long as they know their passwords and addresses, they can access any information in any place
they are in.
Information technology has been good in information protection since organizations are
able to secure their operations and keep it among themselves without outsiders knowing.
Employees are given certain passwords to access particular organizational sites and links all
towards the betterment and efficiency in the work place.
Proper resource management
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Proper resource management is another impact of information technology on business
operations. There are several different types of resources in business organizations. They
include; financial resources, human resources, physical resources and technological resources.
Physical resources are those resources in business areas that can be touched. Financial resources
refers to the monetary affairs of financing business activities. Technological resources refer to
methods of producing used in business organizations and human resources are the people
working in that particular business. Information technology provides a software that helps
incorporate these resources together hence easily managing them.
3.1.1 Types of different information systems that are used in selected business like
Management Systems, Decision Support System etc.
There are different types of information systems. They include;
Transaction processing system-they are used to record an organizations’ day to day
business transactions.
Decision support system-used to make non-routine decisions.
Online analytical processing (OLAP)-used to question and analyze multi-dimensional
data as well as giving information which can be seen in various ways using several
dimensions.
Artificial intelligence techniques in business.-copy human patterns to find out patterns in
large data set
Management information system-used to monitor the status of the current performance
of an organization.
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In a high fashion cloth manufacturing business, the most convenient information systems
used may include transaction processing system, decision support system and artificial
intelligence techniques in business as well as many others.
3.2 Types of networking technologies that are used in the selected business.
In high fashion cloth manufacturing industries, the most convenient networks may include;
o Wireless local Area Network (WLAN) –wireless network that does not necessarily
require cable to connect to gadgets.
o Local Area Network (LAN) –connects groups of computers and devices with low
voltage across short distances together.
o Personal Area Network (PAN) – revolves around one individual in one specific
building.
3.3 ethics and social issues in selected business.
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References
Please note that Harvard formatting only allows placing sources that were cited in the paper on
this page. If you consulted other sources but did not cite them directly, name this page
“References and Bibliography”.
Major Source Formatting
Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent. Use
the following template for major sources.
Books:
Authors, Initials., Year. Title of book. Edition. (only include this if not the first edition) Place:
Publisher.
Devero, AJ 2007, Powered by principle: using core values to build world-class organizations,
Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.
Print journal articles:
Author, Initials., Year. Title of article. Full Title of Journal, Volume number (Issue/Part
number), Page number(s).
Boughton, J.M., 2002. The Bretton Woods proposal: a brief look. Political Science Quarterly,
42(6), p.564.
Websites and other web documents:
Authorship or Source, Year. Title of web document or web page. [type of medium] (date of
update if available) Available at: include web site address/URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
[Accessed date].
Erdos, J 2012, Ben & Jerry's Greek frozen yogurt: taste test. [Online] Available at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/23/ben-jerrys-greek-frozen-yogurt-taste-
test_n_1295062.html. [11 July 2013]
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