Information System and Information Technology

Question: Discuss about the Information System and Information Technology. Answer: Introduction The information system and information technology has been constantly developing with the passage of time (Cornford and Shaikh, 2013). The business organizations have been using the developed technology and system for gaining more specific system and opportunities at the market. The operations and functions of the business organizations have been improved with the implementation of the Information technology and Information system. However, there are many issues related with the information technology and system that can hamper the ease of operation and processes in the organizations and industries. The report has been made for critically analyzing the aspects of information system and information technology in modern world. The report would highlight the issues, role, and implementation process for the information system and information technology. The critical evaluation of the system and technology has helped in evaluating methods for dealing with the issues of implementing the information system and information technology in various organizations. Overview of case study The study for critical evaluation of the information system and information technology in business organization has been done with the help of a case study (Aronson, Shenhar and Patanakul, 2013). The case study selected for the analysis of issues of business organizations is An Investigation of Failure in Information Systems Projects: The Case of Jordan. The case study article is the evaluation of issues and flaws for the implementation of the information system in business organization (Sweis, 2015). The case study has analyzed and categorized the issues in three types and they are content driven, process design, and context driven issues. Some recommendations for dealing with the issues of implementing information system and information technology are also been listed in the discussion of the case study. Explanation of Information technology and Information system Information system and Information technology has been confused for being the same things as they have similar term of information (Hwang and Lim, 2013). However, they are separate terms and distinctly have different meanings. The information technology is the study of technology that deals with the deployment of information system for easing the processes included in the business organization. The study, design, and implementation of the information system for the support and management of information system being controlled on a computerized structure can be understood as the information technology. The information system is the structure made by the use of information technology. It is used for creating, storing, manipulating, and distributing the information in a structured base (Ibrahim et al., 2013). The information system forms a bridge between the business processes and computer science. Both of the information system and information technology have been providing various opp ortunities for job and professional growths. Their synthesis has resulted in improving the overall facilities and system processes of business organizations. Importance of Information technology and Information system Information technology and Information system has been helpful for driving the technological development and innovation for business growth and progress (Sweis et al., (2014). The digital revolution of the business organizations has provided benefit to all fields of industries such as business services, transportation, tourism, packaging, sales, education, healthcare, and many other sectors. The important facilities provided by information system and information technology for the business growth are: Vast Data Storage: The primary benefit of the information system and information technology is the storage of accumulated data and information (Davenport, 2013). The business processes require large quantity of data and information for processing their services and information. The information system has provided the large scale data processing storage for business organization. Information system and information technology has made the data processing faster and more scalable. Solution of many problems: The use of information system and information technology has resulted in forming solutions to many problems of the business organizations (Baskerville and Wood-Harper, 2016). The information system stores the previous years data and information on a database. It can be easily accessed and scrutinized for taking important decisions. The collected data would act as the ground on which the future references and programs can be made. Innovation of operations: The use of information system and information technology would help in forming innovations in the business organizations and processes (Schwalbe, 2015). The increase in the technology structure would help the business organization to employ better services and operations for their customers. Hence, the data and information processing would be eased and improved by the use of information system and information technology. The introduction of online shopping and services has been possible due to the development of information system and information technology. Their integration on a single platform has resulted for the revolution of online facilities. The vast data storage and processing have been improved with the use of information system and information technology. Planning the implementation of Information technology and Information system The implementation of the information system and information technology has to be planned and carefully executed for making sure that the system has been implemented successfully. The planning process consists of five phases and they are requirement analysis, identification of resources, establishing and prioritizing the goals and tasks, creating assignments and timelines, and establishment of evaluation methods (Galliers and Leidner, 2014). They have been described below- Requirement analysis- In this phase, the requirements of the implementing process has been analyzed before making the plan. The requirements of the information system and technology implementation such as software, hardware, design would be analyzed (Dahlstrom, Walker and Dziuban, 2013). A proper plan is to be employed for implementing the system after analysis of requirements. Identification of resources- the second phase consists of evaluating the requirements for developing the resource sheet of the implementation process. The available resources are indentified and analyzed for the implementing process. It would help in allocating the resources for the specific processes of the information system and information technology implementation process. Establishing and prioritizing the goals and tasks- In this phase the steps that would be followed for implementation is made. The tasks have been allocated to individuals in a chronic order and are aligned to the goals of the organizations. The prioritization of the tasks is done on the basis of importance of the task and its urgency for completion. Creating assignments and timelines- In this phase the operations are scheduled for functioning. The planning process is almost completed and is ready for implication (Webster, 2014). Each of the operations of the implementation process is assigned a schedule for completion. The summations of all the schedules of operations would provide the final deadline of the implementation process. Establishment of evaluation methods- In this method the plan is evaluated for the information system and information technology implementation process. The plan is evaluated by following some evaluation methods to make sure that the plan has met all the requirements of the system operations and processing. Business management process for Information technology and Information system The management process for the implementation of the Information technology and Information system consists of formation of MIS or management information system plan that can be helpful for providing the benefit of the achieving the specific targets of business organization. The management information system would be helpful for providing the support system for the strategic, tactical, and operations of the business organization (Davies, Dean and Ball, 2013). The MIS plan consists of the evaluation of objectives, goals, and processes. The strategy of the information system would be easily managed by the use of the management information system. The architecture of the management information system helps in complying the decision making process in the organization. The process of implementing the management information system can be implied by prototyping process. The prototyping has been shown in the figure below: Issues of Information technology and Information system The Information technology and Information system implementation system would provide the benefit of ease of operations and faster services (Kellermann and Jones, 2013). However, there are many problems associated with the implemented information system and information technology in business organizations such as privacy issues, complex actions, costlier in using, and design issues. The issues in the Information technology and Information system can be divided into three types. They are process driven, context driven, and content driven issues. The list of the issues and their descriptions has been shown in the table below: S. No Issue Type Description of the issue Examples 1 Process Driven Issues These issues are related to the planning phase of the Information system. Planning phase issues can occur at any point such as business planning, project management, project planning, and change management process (Bonham-Carter, 2014). The risk factors for the implementation process would also lead to the process driven issue. Weak structure of scope, miscalculation of scope, and underestimation of time factors 2 Context Driven Issues These issues are specifically related to the Information technology and Information system both. The affect of this issue is on the system designs, knowledge source, and IT/IS professionals. Incomplete specifications, scope creep, and complexity 3 Content Driven Issues These issues are related to the environment of the information technology. The issues have deep affect on the firms culture, management structure, and internal communications. Absence of change management and lack of proactive style Table 1: Description of issues in Information technology and Information system (Source: Kellermann and Jones, 2013, pp-63) Hence, the issues of Information technology and Information system have difference of affecting area. The content driven issues have largely affected the IT in relevance to firms culture and structure. The product driven issues have affected the IS along with designing flaws and planning phase errors. The context driven issues have affect on both IT and IS as it have equal impact on scope and complexity of operations. Improvement strategies for information system The improvement of information system can be achieved by the use of change management, hybrid implementation mode, development of communication plan, and contingency planning in the implementation of the information system. They have been explained below: 8 Step model of change management: The 8 step model of John Kotter can be used for improving the information system in the business organization (Cassidy, 2016). The 8 step model was designed by Dr. Kotter for getting better results of the change implemented. The 8 steps included for the implementation of the change management are shown in the figure below: Hybrid implementation mode: The hybrid implementation mode can be used for planning the implementation of the Information technology and Information system (Stair and Reynolds, 2013). The IT systems would be suited for implementing the Information technology and Information system for the operations of the business organization. The customized IT system would be helpful for developing the advanced structure for the iterative business model. Communication plan: The use of communication plan would be helpful for providing the best solutions for the implementation process. The communication plan would be helpful for identification of the stakeholders and their interests in the project operations. The need of communication is for informing everyone in the project of implementation of Information technology and Information system about the project requirements. The use of communication plan would ensure the results for the implementation process. Contingency planning: The contingency planning would be helpful for supporting the process of the implementation of the Information technology and Information system for the business organization (Bilbao-Osorio, Dutta and Lanvin, 2013). The contingency planning consists of evaluating the risk for the implementation process and developing some strategies for mitigating the risk factors. New Business opportunities The implementation of Information technology and Information system would help in improving the operations of the business organizations. The use of IT/IS structure would provide the development of various options like online facility, app development, and cloud computing implication. The use of Information technology and Information system would provide the benefit of improving the operations. Online Facility: The online facility would be able to apply with the help of implementing the Information technology and Information system. The business organizations would use online facility for promoting their products and service for increasing their sales and revenue. App Development: The Information technology and Information system would also assist the development of mobile app. It would ease the process of the information processing and facilitate better customer experience. Cloud Computing: The cloud computing provides the benefit of the wireless data access and scalability. The use of Information technology and Information system would help in deploying the cloud services for the business organization and their processes. Conclusion It can be concluded from the information system and information technology has been developing the business organizations for gaining more specific system and opportunities at the market. The report had highlighted the issues, role, and implementation process for the information system and information technology. Both of the information system and information technology have been providing various opportunities like vast data storage, solution of many problems, and innovation of operations. Their integration on a single platform had resulted in improving the operations of business organization and vast data storage and processing of information. The processes like requirement analysis, identification of resources, establishing and prioritizing the goals and tasks, creating assignments and timelines, and establishment of evaluation methods are required for easing the process of implementing the information system in the business organization. Recommendations Some recommendations for the process of implementing the information system and information technology have been given below- Improved Planning process: The business organizations would have to implement the information system and information technology with the help of system implementation planning process that includes the activities like requirement analysis, identification of resources, establishing and prioritizing the goals and tasks, creating assignments and timelines, and establishment of evaluation methods. Implication of effective communication plan: The effective communication plan would be helpful for providing the ease of information sharing and discussion of problems for developing solutions. The channelizing of the issues and flaws in the project of implementing the information system would be helpful for formation of flawless plans. 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