How can information technology support a company’s business processes and decision making and give it a competitive advantage? Give examples to illustrate your answers

Information technology plays important role in business, and it can be an important enabler of business success and innovation.


First of all, Information system and technology provide various channels to communication like E-mail, Instant messages, SMS servers, etc to all employees at any time all over the world. This type of software helps to saving time and cost. 


Second, Businesses regularly utilize computer-based information systems in order to record customer purchases, keep track of inventory, pay employees, buy new merchandise, and evaluate sales trends. Without the support of information technology, businesses would ultimately fall apart. For example if a business did not choose to use computer-based information systems, they wouldn't be able to evaluate what items were selling better than others and ultimately lose valuable information for future success. Information technology can also aid in decision making for a business. Decisions are made based on analysis provided by computer-based information systems. For example a store manager may make the decision whether to discontinue an item for sale or keep it on the floor due to analysis of sales trends provided by computer-based systems.


Finally, information technology helps a business create a competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is a product or service that an organization’s customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a competitor. For instance, FedEx created a first-mover advantage by creating its customer self-service software, which allows people and organizations to request parcel pickups, print mailings slips, and track parcels online (Paige Baltzan, 2011).


References


Paige Baltzan, A. P. (2011). Information Systems. (T. Hauger, Ed.) Denver, United States of America: McGraw-Hill, Page 19.


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What major trends are occurring in software? What capabilities do you expect to see in future software packages?

Many trends are occurring in software. Like at first, the computers were very hard to maintain. But nowadays software has made it very easy to maintain computers. The major trends or changes occurring in software are:

Have too much of flexibility , now used for daily communication, are used for security systems, and are also used for robbing(hacking). 

Software has too much flexibility: Flexibility has become one of the major attributes of modern softwares in the sense that, now developed software are becoming more easier to use .It does not really acquire tutorials or have to be thought before one can use a software on the market these days. This is due to cues and depicting of naturalness in software making it meaningful for users to see and use without haven to be explained before use. For example early versions of Microsoft Office were that uneasy to use but with current versions of this Application software (That is in 2007-2010), the organization is more simple therefore becoming more flexible because you can easily manipulate around with it.

In the future, it is hard to say what to expect from software packages. I’m sure they will be even faster and more user friendly than they already are. Prices will more than likely continue to drop, since more research and development will play a role in economies of scale. More and more software programs will probably be used over the World Wide Web. Using the World Wide Web saves space on computers.