ICT Revolution: Enhancing Business Operations with Information & Communication Technologies

1. Chapter 4 Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

2. Chapter Objectives • What does ICT means? • How ICT enhance business operation? • Identify ICT Revolution

3. Introduction • Information and communication technologies (ICTs) enhance the ability of organizations to: • manage the resources, • increase their productivity, • communicate their policies and market their offerings, and • develop partnerships with all their stakeholders

4. ICTs also enable organizations to expand geographically and coordinate their activities regionally, nationally and globally. • The more powerful and complex ICTs become, the more affordable and user-friendly they become, enabling more people and organizations to take advantage.

5. Defining ICTs, information system, information management and their relationship • ICTs include hardware, software, groupware, netware and intellectual capacity (humanware). • ICT come from: • Information technology • Communication Technology

6. Information Technology (IT) was defined by Pappard (2003) as • the enabling mechanism that facilitates the processing and flow of information in an organization and between organizations, encompassing the information the business creates, uses and stores, as well as the technologies used in physical processing to produce a product or provide a service.

7. ICTs have been considered as the entire range of electronic tools and facilitate the operational and strategic management of organizations by enabling them • to manage information, functions and processes as well as • to communicate interactively with their stakeholders • To achieve their mission and objectives

8. The stages of ICT revolution • The four main eras of technological evolution • Data processing • Management information systems (MIS) • Strategic information systems (SIS) • The network era

9. Data processing • the main objective was to improve operational efficiency by automating information-based process. • Management information systems (MIS) • The principle aim of this era was to increase management effectiveness and efficiency by satisfying organization information requirement.

10. Strategic information systems (SIS) • this era aim to improve competiveness by changing the nature or conduct of business, to enhance performance and to coordinate activities across functional and business unit. • The network era • This era is gradually alternating the competiveness of firms in the global marketplace and reducing the location and size.

11. ICTs are used as indispensable tools for almost all business functions as they facilitates: Quick communication Reliable and timely information transfer and retrieval Integration of the different divisions within organizations Flexibility of services Sharing of information and

12. Networking and the information superhighway • The Internet described as “the network of all networks” • The Internet provides a window to the external world and facilitates the interactivity of organizations globally. • The development of the Internet introduced a whole range of new tools as well as benefits and challenges for organizations.

13. As a result organization are able to: • Accelerate knowledge and information distribution • Reduce their transportation, and communication costs • Increase their communication and coordination efficiency • Improve and shorten the decision-making process • Support their interactivity with all stakeholders

14. Internet Capabilities and function

15. Technological convergence and new ICT developments • It is predicted that the majority of households in the developed world will own personal computers at the same level as televisions and refrigerators. • The introduction of digital and interactive television will bring the Internet to the living room and will allow technologically challenged people to access the information superhighway