Impact of Information Technology in an Organization free essay sample

Q: How will you create an impact of information technology in your organization and do international business? A: In 1998 the United States exported $105 billion less in goods and services than our international trading partners were selling to us. With the latest summarized trade data in for 1999, those numbers will most likely crest the deficit past the $200 billion mark. Since the total United States economy is closing in on $8 trillion annually, there are some economists who contend that we can easily absorb these unending mega-outflows of U. S. dollars without any adverse impact on our nation as a whole. Whether or not this view is really credible is too complex a subject to address here. Instead, let us look at the bountiful foreign trade Opportunities available to U. S. manufacturers who stay awake to the potential of Information Technology (IT) and the manufacturers representatives who use IT to find and sell to international customers. In order to do this, we have to start with the very perception that manufacturers have regarding manufacturers representative attributes. A recent survey of United States manufacturers asked what they thought were the most important attributes an agent must possess to succeed. Technical product knowledge was most valuable while Internet marketing capabilities, even in mid1999, came in with only I percent of the vote. With the advantages of IT for the manufacturer, the agent and the foreign buyer, advocacy and praise of comprehensive technical product knowledge is misplaced and takes us in the wrong direction. Surveys such as the one cited here not only reflect the current sentiments of the people, but also perpetuate similarities and traits that make it easier for us to identify those people and companies that we want to be commercially associated with. It is no wonder that most manufacturers are unaware of this fact what little literature there is on the subject is not readily available. Thus, with a principals preconceptions fixed in a pre-IT world, they do not grasp the convergence of IT with rep agencies that combine this technology and international experience. As a result, they will have a difficult time working from the same set of assumptions about how to conduct business internationally. IT is a miraculous tool. As Copernicus, the 16th century astronomer, posthumously demonstrated, evolving knowledge inevitably trumps conventional thought. And keep in mind that this is the same type of conventional thinking that is producing our gargantuan trade deficits. The current conceit might be that the world economy will always revolve around the United States and we can remain satiated indefinitely with just our home marketplace. Knowing that this thinking is not sustainable should help in forcing us to reappraise those things that can facilitate more exports of domestic products to our international partners. In the continental United States, the logistics of a manufacturers representative calling on customers to explain their line (s) of products in their limited geographic area mostly precludes the need for Internet marketing. But internationally, when one factors in eight to 16 time zone differences on multiple continents, IT inverts the above scoring of attributes. Mindful of the obvious impracticality of traveling in person to see multiple customers in far-flung locales, I have formed some guidelines concerning what lines to take on and how to interact with manufacturers: Category Creators Take on lines from companies that are making unique products. These lines, if they are highly differentiated and easy to understand through your clients Web site, give your foreign customer an immediate marketing advantage in his country and make unnecessary the need for a high degree of technical product knowledge. Joint Selling If you must take on a unique but highly technical product, make sure you work out an ongoing technical assistance arrangement with your manufacturer. Gradualism: Domesticating the Process of International Trade For those principals that are still uncomfortable working with overseas customers, start by selling to the United States buying offices of your foreign buyers. It is always interesting how many client manufacturers are s urprised that many international buyers are located in North America. Wave the Flag Make sure your contract with manufacturers spells out that you do not want information relating to detailed product cost, production process methods or confidential business strategies. With the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift from the threat of ICBMs to economic warfare. Given the reality of industrial espionage, even amongst our own allies, by purposely keeping your company separate from the highly sensitive information of your principal, you demonstrate foresight that you have your clients best interests in mind. Wave Them In The them is the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Center (NACIC). The FBI can consult with your clients about protection of sensitive data, and the NACIC posts advisories that can heighten their overall awareness of possible risks. Combined, this step and the previous one will help them feet more confident that they can proceed in the export process. Wav e Goodbye If it becomes obvious during your meeting(s) with the manufacturer that they do not have the drive or the intent to create the infrastructure necessary for export, then Opt Out. You will be doing everyone a favor, especially your valued overseas buyers who have surmised that part of the agents job is the vetting of unreliable suppliers. Now that the attributes and traits of international manufacturers representatives, vis-a-vis domestic representatives, have been somewhat scrambled, I want to point out how international agencies might fall under a new classification. If under the current taxonomy, domestic manufacturers representatives are a species, then international manufacturers representative agencies, as a subspecies, might best be named International Information Brokers (IIB). Besides selling the manufacturers products or services to foreign buyers, what greatly distinguishes the IIB is: They have developed the skills for the remote retrieval of information and the organization of that information for manufacturers that desire to sell internationally. Though hazy and vague to those not familiar with the process, in the hands of an IIB, resources are accessible from an ever-widening variety of sources. Although in the dynamic of the Internet there is great flux, currently there are about 12,500 databases (most of them user unfriendly) and close to 2,400 online systems that can be plowed through. And that is only a part of what the 1113 might have to traverse. When one factors in data from the consulates, trade associations, chambers of commerce, government officials, college professors, writers, international trade lawyers, statistics, lists, reports, CD,ROMs, press releases, trade journals, specialty magazines, Encyclopedias of Associations, USA government publications on trade, United Nations agreements, Trade Block agreements, a smattering of non-governmental organizations, it becomes clear how an IIB can as an outsourced specialist add value to the whole process of international sales. With intimate access to this type of information, here are the attributes that an IIB can offer manufacturers who want to sell into foreign markets: Internet marketing capabilities Consultative international selling capabilities Niche market specialization in overseas markets Intelligence gathering Helping manufacturers clearly define exporting goals Training of manufacturers international department Setting up industry specific email and fax subscriptions Selling to foreign governments Working in conjunction with the United States government Straight, fee-based international marketing research While international trade rules have been greatly liberalized in the last 14 years, this great transfer of wealth to other countries is only in small measure making its way back to the United States in exchange for our exports. It is an embarrassing cultural irony that the United States, the land of immigrants, is being labeled by some of our foreign competitors as not having any grea t enthusiasm to go after and interact with foreign customers. We can go to the moon, but start talking Istanbul and we cannot seem to find the budget. ) As cyclical booms flatten out and growth slows, domestic sales in and of themselves fail to be the plasma that circulates to all parts of our economic system. The United States government knows this and that is why they spend so much time getting the word out to manufacturers about not only the potential benefits for their own companys bottom line, but the very real overall economic benefits for our country as a whole. The mainstream popularity of the Internet, an American invention, formerly the province of only the military, academia and industry, gives both manufacturers and manufacturers representatives, through IT, an incredible tool to establish a presence in the worldwide marketplace. In the hands of specialized agents, working with forward thinking manufacturers, exporting, if not necessarily an act of citizenship, is a means of sustaining the viability of our nation as a whole. The primacy of all customers, regardless of location, can become actual with information technology. And it is none too soon. There is no denying the long-term impact on our country because of our collective squandering of trade opportunities. The terrain must be decoded just as our foreign partners are assiduously decoding the United States marketplace. Because of the enormous trade surplus that the Japanese economy was building LIP with its worldwide trading partners up until the mid- 1980s, and to better reflect the overall strength of the Japanese economy, the leading economic countries (then known as the G-5, now known as the G-8) signed the Plaza Accord in New York City in 1985 to raise the value of the yen against the U. S. dollar and other major currencies. The result: the United States dollar lost value that slowly but surely made us, as a country, a competitively priced exporter. But something has gone wrong. As the numbers below show, even though the U. S. Department of Commerce is assisting U. S. companies, the German and Japanese exporting communities are significantly more focused and efficient in exporting their countries finished products. How will you create an impact of information technology in your organization and do International business? INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Information technology (IT) is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications. The term in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review, in which authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology. The Indian information technology (IT) industry has played a key role in putting India on the global map. Over the past decade, the Indian IT-BPO sector has become the country’s premier growth engine, crossing significant milestones in terms of revenue growth, employment generation and value creation, in addition to becoming the global brand ambassador for India IMPACTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: In the past few decades there has been a revolution in computing and communications, and all indications are that technological progress and use of information technology will continue at a rapid pace. Accompanying and upporting the dramatic increases in the power and use of new information technologies has been the declining cost of communications as a result of both technological improvements and increased competition. According to Moores law the processing power of microchips is doubling every 18 months. Business Models, Commerce and Market Structure One important way in which information technology is affecting work is by reducing the importance of distance. In many industries, the ge ographic distribution of work is changing significantly. For instance, some software firms have found that they can overcome the tight local market for software engineers by sending projects to India or other nations where the wages are much lower. Furthermore, such arrangements can take advantage of the time differences so that critical projects can be worked on nearly around the clock. Firms can outsource their manufacturing to other nations and rely on telecommunications to keep marketing, RD, and distribution teams in close contact with the manufacturing groups. The technology enables various types of work and employment to be decoupled from one another. Workplace and Labor Market Computers and communication technologies allow individuals to communicate with one another in ways complementary to traditional face-to-face, telephonic, and written modes. They enable collaborative work involving distributed communities of actors who seldom, if ever, meet physically. These technologies utilize communication infrastructures that are both global and always up, thus enabling 24-hour activity and asynchronous as well as synchronous interactions among individuals, groups, and organizations. Social interaction in organizations will be affected by use of computers and communication technologies. Business can be defined as a legitimately approved institutional entity, which is present in a nation with economic freedom and is planned to offer commodities and services to the customers. A business is also termed as an enterprise or firm and it is a feature of capitalist countries. Business can be delineated as a legitimately accredited institutional entity, which is existent in a nation with economic independence and created for offering commodities and services to the customers. The capitalist countries frequently feature businesses of different types and majority of them are privately owned businesses, usually established for gaining profit or growing the wealth of their proprietors. Businesses are also sometimes called as enterprises or firms. One of the principal objectives of the proprietors and regulators of businesses is to receive or earn a financial return or profit in return of their services and their risk tolerance. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to this idea and these include government organizations and co-operative societies. Businesses are governed by commercial law. Business Studies is now being taught as a faculty in a large number of business schools. Fundamental Forms of Ownership The forms of ownerships of business can be categorized into the following types: Sole proprietorship: A sole proprietorship business is a business, which has only one person as its proprietor. Partnership: A partnership business is that type of a business, which is owned by two or more individuals as its partners. Partnership businesses can be further categorized into limited partnership business, general partnership business, and limited liability partnership business. Corporation: A business corporation is a profit seeking and limited liability institution. The proprietors of a corporation are its numerous shareholders and it is supervised by a board of directors. Co-operative: A co-operative business is frequently termed as a Co-Op Business or simply Co-Op. It is a profit seeking and limited liability institution, which is governed by its members, who are authorities in decision making. Co-operatives can be further categorized into worker co-operatives and consumer co-operatives. They follow the theories of economic democracy. Types of Businesses Businesses can be categorized into the following types: Manufacturers: Organizations that manufacture tangible products or commodities like pipes or cars from raw materials and sell them for profit are regarded as manufacturers. Distributors and Retailers: They function as middlemen between manufacturers and customers. Service Businesses: They provide intangible commodities or services for earning profit Utilities: They provide public utility services like electricity, heat and sewage treatment and are normally licensed by the government. Transportation Businesses: They are involved in transportation or delivery of commodities or passengers from one place to another. Information Businesses: They include publishers, film studios, and packaged software firms. Mining and Agricultural Businesses: They are involved in raw material production, for example minerals and plants. Real Estate Businesses: They earn profit from property or real estate development and selling and leasing of real estate. Financial Businesses: They are banks and other financial institutions, which receive profit from capital and investment management. Departments Under a Business Usually, the following departments are present within a business: †¢ Accounting Department †¢ Marketing and Sales Department †¢ Human Resources Department †¢ Procurement Department †¢ Operations Department †¢ Information Technology Department †¢ Research and Development Department †¢ Administrative Department †¢ Public Relations/Communications Department †¢ Internal Audit Department Management Management is the study of how a business can be operated efficiently and expeditiously. The principal divisions of management are the following: †¢ Marketing Management Financial Management †¢ Strategic Management †¢ Human Resource Management †¢ Service Management †¢ Production Management †¢ Business Intelligence †¢ Information Technology Management Business technology optimization Business technology optimization or BTO is a procedure of information technology management that help s in development of business and reduces expenditure. BTO ensures that the money invested in development and meeting production needs, resource allocation and IT results in fulfillment of the business goals. The resources and money spent on IT are allocated correctly by making use of business technology optimization. The efficiency and usefulness of IT can also be measured through BTO. Business technology optimization can be best classified as a software product. BTO enhances to the maximum the strategic functions that exist between business and technology. IT is very important in terms of bringing improvements to business and the functions and nuances of information technology can be best managed through BTO. To state a few of the functions of BTO helps in testing new distributions of SAP, portfolio management, project management, bringing down the time required in repairing custom J2EE applications. Some of the functions of BTO software are as follows: †¢ Data center management †¢ Systems management †¢ Application management †¢ Performance, availability and quality of application †¢ Change management †¢ Project portfolio management †¢ IT governance BTO helps in finding out the efficiency with which the IT systems used in business are working. Profit maximization is another of the important aims of business technology optimization. The business requirements should be brought in line with technology. Some of the companies selling BTO softwares are as follows: †¢ BMC Software †¢ IBM Software †¢ Compuware †¢ CA †¢ HP †¢ Whittman Hart †¢ Sun Microsystems †¢ Borland Business technology optimization creates value for IT investments. In the enterprise testing stage, BTO helps in quality improvement and cost reduction. In the product tuning stage, BTO optimizes performance of applications and reduces costs. In the performance management stage, it helps in improving levels of service, resolution of speed problems. The good companies use business technology optimization in order to bring about permanent improvements to business. Conclusion The ongoing computing and communications revolution has numerous economic and social impacts on modern society and requires serious social science investigation in order to manage its risks and dangers. Such work would be valuable for both social policy and technology design. Decisions have to be taken carefully. Many choices being made now will be costly or difficult to modify in the future.