Higher Business Management: Information and ICT Unit

1. Information and ICT
Higher Business Management
2008-2009
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2. Unit Outline
• What is information? • Types of ICT
• Sources of • Business Software
Information • Costs and Benefits of
• Types of Information ICT
• Value of Information • Effects of ICT
• Uses of Information • Legislation
in Business
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3. Data and Information
Data: Information:
• collections of facts • data that has been
or quantities, which processed into a
have been form that will
assembled in some assist in decision-
formal manner making and planning
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4. Sources of Information
• Primary • Internal
• Secondary • External
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5. Primary Information
• first-hand information gathered and
processed for a particular purpose
• mainly collected by observation,
interview, questionnaire etc
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6. Secondary Information
• second-hand information gathered for one
purpose but reused for another
• mainly collected from reference books,
business and government statistics, market
research companies, competitors,
newspapers, Internet
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7. Internal Information
• data and information that come from the
organisation’s own records eg sales records
• only people within the organisation can use
this information
• used for control purposes within the
organisation
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8. External Information
• data and information that come from
sources outwith the organisation
• used for decision-making and planning
• analysis of factors outwith the
organisation’s control
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9. Primary Information
Advantages Disadvantages
• Specific for purpose • Market research costs
• Information is private are high
• Up-to-date • Research flawed eg
Source can be verified sample size
•
• Respondents may have
lied
• Time consuming
• Researcher bias
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10. Secondary Information
Advantages Disadvantages
• Inexpensive • May not be relevant
• Ease of access • May have author bias
• Wide variety of • May be out-of-date
sources • Available to
competitors
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11. Internal Information
Advantages Disadvantages
• Accurate information • Costs of setting up a
after the business is recording system
established • New organisations
• Accurate records help have no information
achieve targets • Regular updating
• Ease of access required
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12. External Information
Advantages Disadvantages
• Wide range of sources • May contain bias
available • Can’t guarantee
• Relatively inexpensive integrity
• Useful for strategic • May be out-of-date
decisions when used • Available to
with PESTEC competitors
• Time consuming to
gather
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13. Types of Information
Quantitative Qualitative
• Descriptive
• Definable
• Value judgements
• Measured
• Opinions
• Expressed in figures
• Useful to analyse people’s
views
• Used for comparisons eg
target monitoring
• What can be done to improve
a service?
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14. Types of Information
Presentation
• Written – text eg reports, memos, letters
• Oral – verbal eg telephone calls, presentations, meetings
• Pictorial – pictures and photos
• Graphical – graphs/charts eg pie, line, bar
• Numerical – numbers eg tables, spreadsheets
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15. Value of Information
CccOAaaT
Accurate Complete
Objective
Appropriate Concise
Timely
Available Cost-effective
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16. Uses of Information in
Business
• helps to monitor and control
• assists in decision making
• measures performance
• identifies new business opportunities
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17. Types of ICT
Mainframe computer:
expensive and powerful computers eg
Ministry of Defence and NASA
Server computer:
runs server applications, often under heavy
workloads, unattended, for extended time
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18. Types of ICT
Personal Computers (PC):
computers found in homes and offices –
their power has increased significantly
over recent years
Computer Network:
PCs can communicate across networks
(cabled or wireless in either a LAN or
WAN)
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19. Local Area Network (LAN)
• computers within an organisation or
within a local area
• owned by one organisation only
• useful to share files and manage
resources eg printing
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20. Wide Area Network (WAN)
• computers in remote locations are linked
by telephone lines or satellite links
• there can be many owners/organisations
linked to the system
• communication is the main use rather
than data transfer
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21. The Internet
• a worldwide system of computer networks
• includes:
– Web pages (www) – ability to cross reference
– File transfer (ftp)
– Email facilities
– IRC (Internet Relay Chat) eg MSN
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22. The Internet
• can be used to advertise products
• banking services - including e-commerce
• staff may use the Internet
inappropriately – need company policies in
place
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23. E-commerce
• products displayed on a website
• customers can order online and can pay
electronically
• enables a worldwide market place
• internet-only businesses cut costs as they don’t
have the burden of large premises and high
numbers of sales staff
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24. Electronic Mail
• fast and efficient method of communication
• can be sent to more than one person
• can attach files eg graphs, electronic forms etc
• messages can be prepared in advance
• can be printed if necessary
• can be forwarded onto others
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25. Electronic Mail
Some problems:
• increase in unnecessary communications –
important messages may get lost
• reduces interpersonal communications
• only of use if everyone is trained in using it and
does use it
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26. Video Conferencing
• enables people in different locations to have
meetings without the need to travel
• saves travelling and accommodation costs as well
as lost work time due to travel
• connections can be poor or disrupted
• the number of people who can effectively take
part in a video conference is limited
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27. Interactive DVD
• used for training exercises
• users make choices and see the
consequences of their decision
• a common example is flight simulation
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28. Computer Aided Manufacture
(CAM)
• involves robots and computer-controlled machines in production
• saves on labour costs
• produces consistent quality
• does not stop for rest breaks
__________________________
• breakdowns can halt production
• expensive and time consuming to fix breakdowns
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29. EPOS
Electronic Point of Sale
• records all purchases made throughout the day
• used to predict demand and assist in the placing of orders
• linked with store cards provides customer profiling
• can use customer profiles to alter the marketing mix to
suit individual geographical requirements
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30. Business Software
• Word Processing
• Databases
• Spreadsheets
• Desk-Top Publishing
• Computer-Aided-Design (CAD)
• Personal Productivity Software
• Presentation software
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31. Costs of ICT
Costs
• price of hardware/software
• staff training
• loss of efficiency (until familiar)
• errors/glitches
• data loss or corruption
• commercial espionage
• Health and Safety 31

32. Benefits of ICT
Benefits
• increased speed of information handling and decision making
• flexibility of integrated systems
• increased productivity and administrative efficiency
• enhanced reputation
• competitive edge
• reduction in staffing costs
• relocation of administrative centres to cost effect locations
facilitates home-working and tele-sales centres 32
•

33. Gorfingly Good Deliveries
You have an unlimited budget! Please advise … Work in
Groups of 3
Gorfingly Good Deliveries wish to move into the
technology era and invest in ICT
They are a haulage firm providing services to other
businesses up and down the country.
They need ICT in order to manage customer lists, finance,
win new contracts, communicate with drivers, schedule
meetings for managers, prepare final accounts.
In addition they have thought about opening another
office in the North of Scotland.
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34. Effects of ICT on Employees
• greater productivity - fewer staff required
• remaining staff will require retraining
• older staff may feel under pressure being unable to cope
• relations with customers change
• staff do not have the same personal contact with each
other
• staff may take advantage of homeworking
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35. Effects of ICT on
Organisations
• can lead to decentralised decision making
• additional departments may be created eg
ecommerce
• redundancies and delayering may occur
• the span of control of managers may decrease
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36. Data Protection Act 1998
• obtain and process information fairly and lawfully
• register the purposes for which they hold it
• not disclose the information in any way that is different from those purposes
• only hold information that is adequate, relevant and not excessive for the purposes
they require
• only hold accurate information and keep it up-to-date where necessary
• not hold the information for longer than necessary
• give individuals copies of the information held about themselves if they request it –
amending/erasing as necessary
• keep information safe
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37. Computer Misuse Act 1990
• accessing computer material without permission e.g. looking
at someone else's files
• accessing computer material without permission with
intent to commit further criminal offences e.g. hacking
into the bank's computer and increasing the amount in your
account
• altering computer material without permission e.g. writing a
virus to destroy someone else's data
• writing a virus or deliberately spreading one is illegal.
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38. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988
• It gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic
works the right to control the ways in which their material may be
used.
• The rights cover: broadcast and public performance, copying,
adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many
cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the
author and to object to distortions of his work.
• Copyright arises when an individual or organisation creates a work, and
applies to a work if it is regarded as original, and exhibits a degree
of labour, skill or judgement.
• If a work is produced as part of employment then normally the work
belongs to the person/company who hired the individual.
• Only the owner, or his exclusive licensee can bring proceedings in the
courts against an infringement. 38

39. Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002
• The Freedom of Information Act came into
force on January 1st 2005.
• It gives you the right to ask any public body for
all the information they have on any subject you
choose.
• Unless there’s a good reason, they have to give it
you within a month. You can also ask for all the
personal information they hold on you.
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40. Congratulations
You have completed
Information and ICT
in
Higher Business Management
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