Technology Supporting Business Processes

Assignment 1: Discussion—Technology Supporting Business Processes

Over the twentieth century, the ability to process information in terms of labor units has improved by a factor in the order of 1 to 5 trillion. This improvement represents a compounded growth rate of between 30 to 35 percent per year for a century. At the turn of the twentieth century, the mechanical calculator offered a modest productivity increase but the number of workers required to maintain the accounts of a medium-sized business still remained very high. Many tasks would take a large investment in equipment and a significant number of accountants’ weeks to process. A hundred years later, the same tasks can be completed by a standard desktop computer in minutes. The challenge for management has transitioned from a simple reduction in labor requirements to leveraging the increased processing power to develop competitive, efficient, and profitable organizations.

With this example in mind, use the assigned readings for this module and respond to the following:

• Explain how information systems influence businesses to be more competitive, efficient, and profitable.
• Provide at least one example for each factor.

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Assignment 2: Discussion—How Technology is Changing the Face of Business Today

The traditional retail model has focused on finding high-margin, high-volume products or services because limited space means reduced space inventory. For example, organizations such as Walmart select the biggest hits from the broadest genres, called the “short head.” The short head means Walmart will only carry a select mix of country, pop, and rock that is calculated to provide the greatest cost/benefit. The business model of Amazon is different. Amazon provides the short head but also provides the “long tail” of more than 100,000 different audio selections. The competition for customers between the Walmart and Amazon marketplace is profoundly changing the face of retail business today.

Using the assigned reading and the  University online library resources, find at least three scholarly articles that address similar current trends related to e-business and how e-business is changing the face of businesses today.

Using your company or a real-world example from your research, respond to the following:

• Describe how technology is changing the face of businesses today.
• Describe the most critical business processes that utilize information systems in your selected company.
• Explain how IT makes the company’s business processes faster, cheaper, more accurate, and customer-savvy than that of competitors.
• Cite at least three sources found in your online library research.

Give reasons and examples from your research to support your responses.

Write your response in approximately of 300 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

From the textbook Management information systems: Managing the digital firm (11th ed.), read the following chapters:

• Information systems in global business today
• Global e-business: How businesses use information systems