REPORT INDIVIDUAL

CHAPTER 1 : Business Driven Technology

1.0 Core Technology

Core technology refers to how an organization accomplished its value creation activities. Big organizations are likely to employ all three types of technologies in different areas. Core technology is the process by which an organization adds value in providing a product or service to customer. It can be classified as long-linked, intensive or mediating. Long-linked technology as value chain involves in transforming input into products. Intensive technology focuses on using knowledge, housed within the firm to solve customer problems by employing pooled interdependence as it referred to a value shop. A firm that employs intensive technology is thus selling the knowledge of its employees. The third type of core technology, mediating technology, is based on the idea of a value network. These networks link customers or clients who wish to be interdependent.

1.1    Information Technology’s in Business Field

                      Why information technology is important in our life especially business field? It is because it brings strength or powers to our business or in other word it useful in business and automatically it give great insight to anyone learning about business. Information technology covers any form of technology, which is any equipment or technique used by a company or other organization that handles the information. The handling of information has an ancient history, going back to the invention of the printing machine and even further. The term of information technology was introduced in the late 1970’s to refer this connection of computer-based technology for handling information. It involves the process of computing, telecommunication technologies and the major part of consumer electronics and broadcasting. Cheap microelectronics has upgraded their system into almost of aspect of daily life. Three fundamental capabilities that are usually perceived as being essential are very large scale integration, circuit design, production facilities and a common infrastructure for the storage and transmission of digital information which including digitized voice and image data in addition to conventional data and text. So that, IT is everywhere in business that people can reviewing in newspaper or magazines.

1.2 Information Technology Impact on Business Operation 

            Computers are transforming the way we communicate, do business and educate ourselves. These types of technological revolution make impact on the business community, but also on private and professional lives.

1. Increase effectiveness and efficiency of work by providing technological, especially electronic-based, tools for instance, personal computers, communication networks.
2. Maximize personal effectiveness by the accumulation of vast amounts of information in a very small space and by providing the appropriate means for gaining access to the required information.
3. Improve reliability especially with respect to the quicker handling of information by information technology than by human.
4. Have the technological basis for specialized teamwork.

1.2.1 Information technology application

The application field of IT can be divided into seven main areas:

1.     Information system or data processing the computer is used to process data and produce business information by combining hardware, software, users, procedures and data to create an information system.

2.     Personal computing which is the single user’s micro is used by individuals in a variety of business and domestic applications, including such productivity tools as word processing software, desktop publishing software, spreadsheet software, database management systems and graphic software.

3.     Science and research: the computer is used as a tool in experimentation and design.

4.     Process or device control: include computer-based process or device control applications such as those used in production and manufacturing processes which accept data in a feedback.

5.     Education: the computer is used to enhance the learning process.

6.     Computer-aided design: IT is used in the design processes of new products, enabling the user to create and manipulate an on-screen graphic image.

7.     Artificial intelligent: an area of research involving the creation of computer systems with the ability to reason, to learn or to accumulate knowledge with important categories such as knowledge-based systems, understanding of natural language and handwriting, and robotics( the integration of IT and robots).

1.3. Information Technology Basics

            "Information Technology," and called "I.T." It refers to anything related to computing technology, such as networking, hardware, software, the Internet, or the people that work with these technologies or in details that the word use of computers and software to manage information. Many companies now have IT departments for managing the computers, networks, and other technical areas of their businesses. In addition, Management information system stands for (MIS) which defined as an organized approach to the study of the information needs of an organization's management at every level in making operational, tactical, and strategic decisions. Its objective is to design and implement procedures, processes, and routines that provide suitably detailed reports in an accurate, consistent, and timely manner. The resources are people, information and technology, from both inside and outside the organization. There are common department in an organization which is accounting, finance, human resources, sales, marketing, operation management, and management information systems (MIS). Besides, it also include such as manufacturing technology, and logistic.

1.3.1. Manufacturing technology

            Advanced in technology have had the greatest impact on process-design decisions. These advanced have enabled organization to manufacture a product faster with better quality and at lower cost. Technology has led to increased automation of processes. Machines such as automated guided vehicles, automated storage and retrieval systems, and computer numerically controlled machines have improved the operations of almost any business.

1.3.2. Logistic

            Logistic is defined as include traffic management and distribution management. Traffic management is the selection and monitoring of external carries and Distribution management is the packaging, storage and handling of products. An organization is making full use of information technology to speed up the distribution process to provide quick response to customers.

2.0 Data, information and business intelligence

2.1. Type of “information”

In the context of management decision making, ‘information’ is often classified as ‘data’, ‘information’, and ‘knowledge’. Data is like a basic stimulus in psychology. It is sense by a manager or a computer system but it instead not give any meaning specifically. Nature of input data has changed in many ways. Data for the systems are both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Graphic, handwriting hand-drawings, sound, images and videos are other media for transmitting and processing data into information.

             ‘Information’ is usually defined as data that have been processed, or summarized and presented in a way that is perceived by management as useful for decision making. Managers and users must decide what information should be entered into a system, and how it should be stored. Manual information systems that relied on written information are still in managerial practice. Many employees still keep handwritten to-do list and notes in a paper notebook, though others use high technology such as blackberries. Knowledge including information, relationships, and rules of inference and procedure rules used to solve problems.  Storing, processing, and accessing the information and knowledge created from these new forms extend computer-resources requirement compare to traditional scales. It’s put a great demand on hardware and communication, capacities and speed required far more complex software, and calls for the new ways of analyzing and designing information systems. More generally, information is often used to cover all of the above categories such as data and intelligent.

2.2. Business intelligent

            Intelligent term is also used in management in at least two different ways. Intelligent systems are those computer-based systems that incorporate modeling and inferential capabilities. These systems are characterized as having outputs that are more substantial than the summarized input. In addition, the term intelligent is widely used in military sense of having knowledge of enemy or ‘competitor-intelligent’. Intelligent is the result of sourcing, evaluating, analyzing, combining and reconciling diverse items of information. Organizational intelligent is refers to the collective of value-added benefits derived from the organization intangible assets which is a knowledge from employees, management, stakeholders, and customers. To increase the IQ of the organization we should build the hierarchy of component that contribute to the intelligent of an organization.     

                                                                                                  

The intelligent hierarchy

Business intelligent (BI) has been defined as an “active, model-based, and prospective approach to discover and explain hidden, decision-relevant aspects in large amount of business data to better inform business decision processes. Data mining and knowledge discovery techniques can help advances the BI field. 

2.3. Strategic intelligent

            SI is the aggregation of the other types of intelligentsia to provide value-added information and knowledge toward making organizational strategic decisions. SI is often used in the military or defense world to signify information or knowledge that can be helpful for high-level decision making.

3.0 IT Culture

            Culture is a multidimensional enigma that envelops the organization. Every member of the organization contributes to the culture in some manner. The history, style of leadership, structural stability, level of work-force empowerment and the ability to adapt to a changing environment all contribute to the culture of an organization. Shaping the culture to face changes in the marketplace and environment depends in part on the ability for the organization's leadership to implement the guiding vision and mission. Every action taken must align with these vision and mission statements that express why the organization exists and how it will corporately conduct itself.

3.1 How to improve your failed IT culture

            Creating a culture for risk management is a challenging proposition for most firms. One of the keys to successful risk management is embedding risk management within the company culture, but for surveyed executives this was the most widely encountered challenge, cited by almost one-half of respondents.

Three steps are required to build and IT success culture:

Establish priorities. Don’t expect to go from lousy projects to perfection overnight — it just won’t happen. Instead, establish IT project success as a strategic initiative. Improving projects won’t happen as a one-shot deal with short-term focus; you must make this focus a permanent part of the IT landscape.

Invest in activities. Words are not enough. Invest in training, objective project reviews, serious post-mortems, and information sharing. This new IT success initiative will cost you money and will require the team’s time. Acknowledge failure as an important part of your culture and stop wasting your time.

Demand conformance and reward improvement. Make sure both senior management and the IT team understands you’re serious about improving IT execution. Establish guidelines for project planning, requirements gathering, testing, and so forth; then demand everyone follow the rules. Importantly, reward the team when even small signs of success become visible. When positive sign appear, treat the team to something special.

Culture change takes time and effort, so it’s tempting to cut corners. Of course, that’s why so many organizations run an endless series of late and over-budget projects. The most important first step is recognizing the need to change. Let management and colleagues know that you’ve made IT success job number one.

Organization Culture
Control (hierarchy)	Hierarchical organizations share similarities with the stereotypical large, bureaucratic corporation.
Compete (market)	value stability and control; however, instead of an inward focus they have an external orientation and they value differentiation over integration
Collaborate (clan)	emphasize flexibility and discretion
Create (adhocracy)	emphasize flexibility and discretion; however, they do not share the same inward focus

                        4.0. IT Resources

IT Resource is a community resource site, which aims to provide technology/IT related links that may be of use or interest. These are example to what we believe are some useful resources such as Tech Glossary Tools, Utilites & Software Internet Service Providers Hardware & Software Retailers Web Hosting & Domain Names Manufacturers.