Chapter - 5
Information and communication technology (ICT) in organizations
Limits
Although computers have made out lives easier and more efficient, there can be limitations in their powers: hardware limitations - speed of components. software limitations - poorly written or incompatible software. Computers have limits. They are programmed. They can do whatever they are programmed. Beyond that they can't do anything. They cannot operate without the instructions given by humans. They are programmed to work effectively, fast and accurately. computers cannot think by itself and does not have common sense.
How IT has become embedded
Embedded systems refer to the use of software and electronics with a dedicated purpose within a larger system or product. Embedded systems are far more ubiquitous than the general-purpose computer found in almost every home.
IT becomes embedded in our everyday life. It is involved in every sector. The best example is the use of electronic motor. There are numbers of appliances which contain small motor in our home, such as a hair drier or food mixture. So the motor technology has now become embedded.
The microchip is already an embedded technology. There are microprocessors in many domestic appliances, such as the video cassette recorder, the microwave oven and the phone. Already these can carry out functions which were not feasible before digital technology. A simple example would be the 1471 feature on the UK phone system. Pressing these numbers gives us the number of the last person to call and has provided a major bonus in reducing nuisance and harassing phone call.
Combining computer and communications technology means that devices can offer new functions. Linking sensors to computer which can communicate offers a range of new possibilities, including the car which diagnoses its own breakdown and calls a breakdown service without the driver's intervention.
Electronic commerce
E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is the buying and selling of goods or services electronically on the internet. It is conducted over computers, tablets, smartphones, and other smart devices. It can also refer to other online activities, such as auctions, ticketing and banking. Online stores like Amazon, Flipkart, Shopify, Myntra, Ebay, Quikr, Olx are examples of E-commerce websites.
E-commerce is an essential part of many businesses that rely on the sale of physical products or services online. Here are the main kinds of e-commerce:
Business-to-consumer (B2C): B2C is the most common kind of e-commerce. When shoppers buy something from an online store, they are involved in business-to-consumer e-commerce.
Business-to-business (B2B): B2B is when businesses sell raw goods or parts through e-commerce to other companies that will then use those materials to create their own products.
Consumer-to-consumer (C2C): C2C e-commerce is when consumers sell to other consumers. Sites like eBay and Craigslist are examples of this kind of e-commerce.
Consumer-to-business (C2B): C2B e-commerce is when consumers sell their products or services to businesses.
Business-to-administration (B2A): B2A e-commerce refers to transactions between businesses and public administration, which includes areas such as social security, employment and legal.
Consumer-to-administration (C2A): C2A e-commerce refers to transactions between consumers and public administration, where consumers pay for services like taxes and legal document preparation.
Advantages of eCommerce
There are a number of prominent and not-so-obvious advantages for doing business on an online platform. Understanding exactly how e-Commerce works can help individuals leverage them to their and their businesses advantage:
1. A Larger Market: E-Commerce allows individuals to reach customers all across the country and all around the world. E-Commerce gives business owners the platform to reach people from the comfort of their homes. The customers can make any purchase anytime and anywhere, and significantly more individuals are getting used to shopping on their mobile devices.
2. Customer Insights Via Tracking And Analytics: Whether the businesses are sending the visitors to their eCommerce website via PPC, SEO, ads, or a good old postcard, there is a way of tracking the traffic and the consumers’ entire user journey for getting insights into the keywords, marketing message, user experience, pricing strategy, and many more.
3. Fast Response To The Consumer Trends And The Market Demands: Especially for the business people who do “drop ship,” the logistics, when streamlined, allow these businesses to respond to the market and the trends of eCommerce and demands of the consumers in a lively manner. Business people can also create deals and promotions on the fly for attracting customers and generate more sales.
4. Lower Cost: With the advancement of the eCommerce platforms, it has become very affordable and easy to set up and run an eCommerce business with a lower overhead. Business people no longer need to spend a big budget on TV ads or billboards, nor think about personnel and real estate expenses.
5. More Opportunities For “Selling.”: Business people can only offer a limited amount of information about a product in a physical store. Besides that, eCommerce websites give them the space to include more information like reviews, demo videos, and customer testimonials for helping increased conversion.
6. Personalised Messaging: E-Commerce platforms give people in business the opportunity to provide personalised content and product recommendations for registering customers. These targeted communications can help in increasing conversion by showing the most relevant content to the visitor.
7. Increased Sales Along with Instant Gratification: For businesses selling digital goods, eCommerce allows them to deliver products within seconds of placing an order. This satisfies the needs of the consumers for instant gratification and assists increase sales, especially for the low-cost objects that are often known as “impulse buys.”
8. Ability to Scaling Up (Or Down) Quickly Also Unlimited “Shelf Space.”: The growth of any online business is not only limited by the availability of space. Even though logistics might become an issue as one’s business grows, it’s less of a challenge compared to running any brick-and-mortar store. E-Commerce business owners can choose to scale up or down their operation quickly by taking advantage of the non-ending “shelf space,” as a response to the market trends and demands of consumers.
Disadvantages of e-Commerce
Running a business that is e-commerce is not always rainbows and unicorns. There are unique challenges to this business model — learning about them will help business people navigate the choppy waters and avoid common pitfalls.
1. Lack of Personal Touch: Some customers appreciate the personal touch they offer when visiting a physical store by interacting with the sales associates. Such personal touch is especially essential for businesses that sell high-end products as customers will want to buy the products and have an excellent experience during the process.
2. Lack of Tactile Experience: No matter how good a video is made, customers still can’t feel and touch a product. Not to mention, it’s never an easy task to deliver a brand experience that could often be including the sense of touch, taste, smell, and sound via the two-dimensionality of any screen.
3. Product and Price Comparison: With online shopping, customers can compare several products and find the least price. This forces many businesses to compete on price and reduce their profit margin, reducing the quality of products.
4. Need for Access to the Internet: This is obvious, but don’t forget that the customers do need access to the Internet before purchasing from any business! As many eCommerce platforms have the features and functionalities which require a high-speed Internet connection for an optimal consumer experience, there’s a chance that companies are excluding visitors who have slow internet connections.
5. Credit Card Fraud: Credit card frauds are a natural and growing problem for online businesses. It can lead to many chargebacks, which result in the loss of penalties, revenue, and a bad reputation.
6. IT Security Issues: More and more organisations and businesses have fallen prey to malicious hackers who have stolen information of the customers from their databases. This could have financial and legal implications, but it also reduces the company’s trust.
7. All the Eggs in One Basket: E-Commerce businesses rely solely or heavily on their websites. Even just some minutes of downtime or technology glitches could be resulting in a substantial revenue loss and customer dissatisfaction.
8. Complexity in Regulations, Taxation, and Compliance: Suppose any online business sells to its consumers in different territories. In that case, they’ll have to stick to the regulations in their own countries or states and their consumers’ places of residence. This could be creating a lot of complexities in accounting, taxation and compliance.
Communication Problems in the application of information and communication technology
We know that ICT is characterized by human-to-computer and computer to computer communication. The computer's ability to process information and to communicate is determined by software. This software depends on the skills of programmers as well as the amounts of money developers are prepared to spend. So it is easy to program a computer or software but it is not easy to program hardware.
Many human-to-computer interactions gives rise to problems because of the limitation of the software being used, and because of the system is not primarily designed from the user perspective. An example is the telephone answering systems used by many businesses. These computerized systems are designed to:
- route incoming calls to the correct destination;
- give information that the caller may need;
- take message for absent recipient.
Problems arise because information comes in a rigid sequence and we often have to listen to a mini-directory being read out before we reach the choice that we need. We may also have to listen to unwanted message and music. This response of the system often gives the impression that it has been designed for the convenience of the organization and certainly not ours. Organization should consider such applications very carefully as many of them clearly violate guidelines for good communication.
What Does Digital Revolution Mean?
The Digital Revolution refers to the advancement of technology from analog electronic and mechanical devices to the digital technology available today. The era started to during the 1980s and is ongoing. The Digital Revolution also marks the beginning of the Information Era.
The Digital Revolution is sometimes also called the Third Industrial Revolution.
The rise of electronics, telecommunications and computers: is ordinarily stated as digital revolution. The industrial revolution has been ongoing throughout 1980s which change analog mechanical and electronic technology to digital technology. Analogous to the Agricultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution, the Digital Revolution marked the beginning of the Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age).This digital revolt comprises mass production and extensive utilized of digital logic circuits as well as its derivatives such as computer, digital cellular phone, and fax machines. The significant technological, social, economic, and political concerns brought about illuminate its revolution-like nature. Advanced improvements throughout the revolution is entails digital television, digital democracy, gaming, mobile phone, the World Wide Web, online social networking, virtual communities, music and multimedia, digital divide among others.
Historical Development Of Digital Technology
The 1947 invention of the revolutionary transistor is credited with sowing the seed for digital technology to come. By the 1950’s and 1960’s, many governments, military forces, and other organizations were already using computers. Soon after, the computer was introduced for household use and by the 1970’s, many families had computers for personal use. This occurred at around the same time that video games became popular, both for home systems and arcade use. The infiltration of digital technology even led to the creation of jobs. As businesses moved to digital records keeping, the need for data entry clerks grew. The 1980’s brought computer production to films, robots to industry, and automated teller machines (ATMs) to banks. By 1989, 15% of all households in the US owned a computer. Analog mobile phones made way to digital mobile phones in 1991 and the demand soared. This was the same year that the internet was made available to the public. By the end of the decade, the internet was so popular that many businesses had a website and nearly every country on earth had a connection. When the 21st century began, cell phones were a common possession and high-definition television became the most common broadcasting method, replacing analog television. By 2015, around 50% of the world had constant internet connection, and ownership rates of smartphones and commonness of tablet possession have nearly surpassed those of home computers. The ability to store information has grown exponentially with terabyte storage now being very accessible.
The Digital Revolution has also led to several invention becoming obsolete. Some of these now antiquated devices include analog radio, the fax machine, VHS tapes, typewriters, mail correspondence (with the exception of packages), telegrams, and even landline phones to a certain degree.
Societal Impacts
Without question, the Digital Revolution has resulted in broad social impacts and widespread lifestyle changes. It has increased and improved the ability to communicate and find important information. Additionally, it has made globalization possible which has, in turn, resulted in more effective and efficient business productivity. Unfortunately, many people believe that the Digital Revolution has decreased personal privacy, diluted professional journalism, and made separating personal and professional life more difficult.
What The Digital Future Holds
While some experts claim that the world has moved out of the Digital Revolution and into the Information Age, others believe that the Digital Revolution has only just begun. The argument behind this is that these digital advances are now changing the industrial sector. Areas such as three-dimensional (3D) printing and computer design are constantly advancing contributions to science, particularly in the area of robot design. Some of these robots now work with humans and some organizations work with only robots! While that may sound as if robots could replace humans in the near future, this technological advancement has actually increased manufacturing output. With digital inventions, on-line retail has also become very common. People constantly buy from on-line retailers and that trend is expected to continue growing. The Digital Revolution has just recently begun to have an impact on the medical industry as well. This will be particularly important to genomic medicine, the use of genetic information for personalized treatment plans. One thing is certain, the Digital Revolution has changed human lives, bringing with it both positive and negative aspects. These changes are only expected to continue growing in the future.
Fundamental Features of computing technology
The characteristics of computer systems can be defined as the silent features they possess from time to time.
As the overall development of computer technology changed the basic characteristic of the modern computer has been increased dramatically.
Before some years computers were just used for some calculation or for some specific task, but nowadays personal computer has reached to each and every part of human life and one cannot imagine their lives without the use of these devices also they are successful in making a huge impact on the society.
Because of the more advanced features of modern computers, they have gained an important place in human society and one cannot imagine our daily routine and life without their use.
From schools, institutions to hospitals they are everywhere.
The personal computer has taken the human workload on their shoulders and provided us with Great AND Amazing results.
The Basic Characteristics of Computer are as following:
Speed
Accuracy
Memory
Diligence
Versatility
Reliability
Low Cost & Reduced Size
Automatic
No Feeling & No IQ
Speed:
Let’s talk about speed, computers have an incredible speed with accuracy that is beyond human capabilities, Not only they have speed but the speed with accuracy and Pinpoint solutions to every problem that arises before them.The speed of the computer is considered one of the most important characteristics of a computer. As per human beings, the smallest unit of time is considered to be second, but not for computers seconds are further divided into milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds, and picoseconds.
The powerful personal computer can work almost 5 million instructions per second. When we discuss the speed of computer milliseconds are hundredth of a second, microseconds are the millionth of a second, nanoseconds are the billionth of a second, and picoseconds are trillionth of a second.
Speed is primarily the main characteristic of computers, their speed is measured in terms of GIGAHERTZ and MEGAHERTZ.
They can solve complex to complex numerical and logical problems with ease compared to human beings.
Accuracy:
They have a great speed and are unbelievably deadly accurate.
The Errors occur due to improper or wrong or inaccurate input given to the computer system. Computers primarily depend upon the inputs.
Say if a user enters wrong or improper or inaccurate information to the computer obviously the output generated by them will be wrong, improper, or inaccurate.
The Errors we received while using a personal computer are generally called “Human Errors” or the errors of programmers who write a program for better computer functions.
GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out)Is a well-known term used for computer accuracy, if the input is wrong or inaccurate the output will also be wrong and inaccurate.
Memory:
This is also one of the most essential characteristics of computers these days they can store or save almost any volume of data due to their high storage capabilities.
Once the data or instruction is saved to the computer memory it remains in the memory, until and unless someone deletes, users can recall or retrieve the data anytime, at any location they require,
As the human being tends to forget small information given to them, but these machines stores all the information was given to them permanently.
These Machines can store the data as long as the user desire. The measurement of memory is MEGABYTES (MB), GIGABYTES (GB), and TERABYTES (TB).
Hard disk and pen drives are examples of memory.
Every piece of information given to the computer can be recalled or retained by the user whenever they request or demand.
Even after several years, the information recalled would be 100% accurate as the day when it was fed to the computer system.
A computer system forgets any bit of information when it is asked by the user.
Diligence:
They can work long hours without tiredness or boredom with the same speed and accuracy. As the computer is a machine it does not refuse to work and works for hours and hours with the same consistency.
But on the other hand human being can get easily tired of the same work repeatedly can lose their concentration, speed, and accuracy because humans suffer from tiredness, laziness, unlike machines.
Versatility:
They can perform several tasks at the same time, such as user can play songs, work on documents, search for any documents on the hard disk, surf the net, download software, calculate, a computer can perform several functions at the same time with the same speed, accuracy and with consistency.
Unlike humans, computers are far more versatile. Due to modern computers’ amazing features and characteristics, they have easily replaced their counterparts and entered human’s daily routine life.
They do not have feelings and self IQ. They do not feel anything unlike humans i.e. tiredness, boredom, laziness, envy, or jealousy.
As they do not have their own IQ they entirely depend upon humans for inputs, the computer cannot take their own decisions based on logic.
PC has errors only when an input is wrong or incorrect,
Computer scientists are working on AI (Artificial Intelligence) which will make them so powerful and accurate that they will make their own decision, and logic when giving some instruction.
This type of computer will have unbelievable characteristics which will change the entire Generations of computer systems.
0 Comments