Information And Communication Technology

Impact of Information and Communication

ØInformation and communication technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that covers all advanced technologies in manipulating and communicating information. ØIT or ICT encompasses all mediums, to record information (magnetic disk/tape, optical disks (CD/DVD), flash memory etc. and arguably also paper records); technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and technology for communicating

ØIt also includes the wide varieties of computing hardware like PCs, servers, mainframes, networked storage. ØIt has rapidly developed a personal hardware market that comprises mobile phones, personal devices, (MP3, MP4, MP5 and MP6) players, laptops, palmtops

Overlook on Growth of ICT • It took 35 years from the date the telephone was invented for it to reach 25% of the world population. • It took 26 years for the television to achieve the same feat, • 16 years for the personal computer,

• Internet users worldwide have quadrupled between 2000 and 2005 • In the world, now there are more mobile than fixed line phones • Approximately 75 % of the developing world’s population now lives within

Impact on Business • Organizations Business strategy - collapsing time and • •

• • •

distance, enabling electronic commerce Organization Culture - encouraging the free flow of information Organization Structures - making networking and virtual corporations a reality Management Processes - providing support for complex decision making processes Work - dramatically changing the nature of professional, and now managerial work The workplace - allowing work from home and on the move, as in telework

• ICT - new opportunities for innovation including parallel • resequencing: • • • •

processing of data-bases simultaneity: making information instantly available in several systems time extension: offering 24 hour a day; 365 days a year service portability: taking service and products closer to the user reusability: using information captured for one purpose (e.g. transactions), and using same for others (e.g. customer targeting)

• ICT is very effective in allowing instant feedback on levels on commodities such as: • Funds in bank accounts • Availability of seats in airplanes • Stock levels in a chain of supermarkets • Keeping track of books

• The diagram below shows the instant feedback available from an on-line booking system. In this example there is one seat left on the flight. It is booked instantly by a customer. Shortly after (it could be a fraction of a second later), a request for the seat comes from another customer. The computer has filled the seat and the customer is told that the

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