The importance of Information technologies and the role of managers
Мировые расходы на ИТ достигнут в 2012 году $3,6 тлрн, что на 3% выше 2011 года, когда этот показатель составил $3,5 трлн. Такой прогноз дает исследовательская компания Gartner по состоянию на июль 2012 года. Кварталом ранее Gartner прогнозировала только 2,5% повышение мировых расходов на информационные технологии.
Managers are no longer able to afford the luxury of abdicating (отказываться от) participation in information systems decisions. Managers who choose to do so, risk having their business decisions compromised.
With the proliferation (распрространение) of the Web and e-business, information systems are at the heart of virtually every business interaction, process and decision. Becoming a knowledgeable participant means learning the basics and feeling comfortable enough to ask questions.
Why do managers need to understand and participate in the information decisions of their organizations? Most companies maintain entire departments dedicated to managing information systems (IS). These departments are staffed with highly skilled professionals devoted to the field of technology.
Shouldn’t managers rely on experts to analyze all the aspects of IS and to make the best decisions for the organization? The answer to this question is NO.
Managing information is a critical skill for success in today’s business environment. All decisions made by companies involve at some level the management and use of IS. Managers need to know about their organisation’s capabilities and uses of information as much as they need to understand how to obtain and budget financial resources.
Definitions of Information Technology
There are rather many definitions and the terminology may differ a bit.
1. Information Technology or IT, also called as Information Service (IS) or Management Information Service (MIS), can be defined as the development, design, study, implementation and management of computer related information. It can also be defined as the use of computer (hardware and software) to manage information.
2. Information technology (IT)--the amalgamation (слияние, объединение, смешение) of hardware, software, data, people, and procedures
3. Information Technology is related to studying, designing and developing the information related to computers.
Let’s define information technology as the hardware and software component of an information system (IS). An information system is defined as a system of hardware, software, people, procedures, and policies embedded (встроенный, внедренный) within a social context.
However, it is quite common for researchers and practitioners to use these terms interchangeably, such as referring to IS skills or IT skills; IS leaders or IT leaders; IS resources or IT resources.
This field – IT, IS – is growing at a very fast pace over the last few years and according to successful and well-known people in the Information Technology sector, this growth is expected to remain stable. Due to the robust (устойчивый) growth, millions of jobs have been created in this field. However, it is very essential for us to understand what is the importance of information technology.
In the era of 1960s and 1970s, information technology was limited to people working in the banking sector, mathematical engineers and computer scientists.
In 1980s, the arrival of personal computers made it possible to be used in many more sectors and gave rise to a surge (подъем, рост, всплеск) in the field of information technology. Previously, for the purpose of business, storage tapes were created by a single network administrator to interconnect employee workstations. The information stored in this workstation was placed in a server farm, located far off from the industry. However, now people communicate, using e-mails instead of snail-mails. It is an industry which deals with the usage of computer hardware and software and networking. Information technology has accomplished a lot in the 21st century. IT is a combination of computer and communication technology. It is the transfer of information from one peer to another. Why is Information Technology important?
Nowadays, in most business sectors increased market competition and customer expectations
create a growing need for:
value-added customer services and quality of service over multiple delivery channels;
reduction of the time-to-market of new products and services;
containment (сдерживание) of operational costs (e.g. for IS maintenance and operation) and operational inefficiencies;
rapid responsiveness to the business’s strategic priorities. Adaptation of corporate structures
and work methods to a constantly changing business environment, including re-engineering in
response to large-scale strategic decisions (e.g. mergers and acquisitions).
Information technology is used for storing (хранение), protecting (защита), processing (обработка), securing (обеспечение безопасности), transmitting (передача), receiving (получение) and retrieving (извлечение) information.
In business establishments, information technology is used for solving mathematical and logical problems.
Information technology helps in project management system (системы управления проектами). Firstly, planning is done, then the data is collected (собраны), sorted (отсортированы) and processed (обработаны), and finally, results are generated. It helps managers and workers to inquire about a particular problem, conceive (понимать) its complexity and generate new products and services, thereby improving their productivity and output.
Information technology is useful in ensuring the smooth functioning of all the departments in a company such as the human resource department, finance department, manufacturing department and in security related purposes.
Due to the development of the information technology sector, the companies are being able to keep themselves aware of the changes in the global markets. Information technology has a great use in the automated production of sensitive information, automated upgradation of the important business processes and the automated streamlining of the various business processes.
The primary importance of information technology in education is that various learning resources can be accessed instantly, by students as well as teachers, at their convenience. Learners can also adopt multimedia approach and collaborative learning. The information is authentic and the latest updated information is available. Multiple communication approaches like chats, forums, e-mails, etc. can be adopted by them. Students can access the on-line libraries, and distance learning is also possible. Information technology has proved to be a significant employer. Many people with knowledge of computers have got jobs in the field of information technology and have successfully made it into a career. It has helped in finding cures for many diseases thereby serving mankind in many ways. Different kinds of software are provided for hearing and visually impaired people which aid them in their passion for learning new things and gathering information. Information technology has advanced tremendously since its invention and will continue to advance in the future. In today's world, owing to its wide applications, sound knowledge (твердые знания) of information technology is a must for having a successful career.
Let’s repeat some of the Basic terms such as
DATA, INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE and then return to the concept of IT.
Data is the representation of facts as text, numbers, observations, measurements, graphics, images, sound or video. Technically, data is the plural form of the Latin word datum, meaning "a fact." However, people commonly use the term as a singular thing. Facts are captured, stored, and expressed as data.
Data is
the foundation of information, knowledge, and ultimately, wisdom and informed action.
BUT! Data can be inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, and misunderstood.
On a practical level, we speak about information that must be of the highest quality – data that is available, relevant, complete, accurate, consistent, timely, usable, meaningful, and understood.
Information
Information is data in context, processed data. Data that have been organized and interpreted, and possibly formatted, filtered, analyzed, and summrized. Without context, data is meaningless; we create meaningful information by interpreting the context around data. This context includes:
The business meaning of data elements and related terms.
The format in which the data is presented.
The timeframe represented by the data.
The relevance of the data to a given usage.
Example: a Weather station report
2597, 1400, 12, 30.2R, 10NW, 28.
Weather station 2597 reported at 14:00, a temperature of 12 C, a wind velocity of 10mph from the north-west, and a humidity of 28 percent.