Each question needs to be answered at least 1 page. 

Q1.

Name and describe four quality of life impacts of computers and information systems. Explain how these have impacted your personal or business life. How would ethics support these four quality of life issues?

Q2

You are the new IT Manager for the Cougar Corporation, a firm of 500 employees, with 5 buildings located in three different states.  Much of the information is critical to the operation of the business and contains key customer information.  As the new IT Manager, one of your employees comes to you concerned with the safeguarding of the firm’s information.  As you investigate this issue further, you too are concerned as it does not appear many methods of safeguarding the firm’s information are in place.  What methods would you want to make sure are in place to help with the safeguarding of information?  What role do you see firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus systems playing in promoting security?  – Write up a memo to your supervisor detailing methods you would like to see implemented across the firm and the role of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus systems in promoting better safeguarding of the firm’s information.  – Your supervisor will need this no later than 11:59pm CT on Sunday evening.

Q3.

How has e-commerce transformed marketing? Explain how social networking and the wisdom of crowds help companies improve operations.  Research and discuss two examples of social networking.

Q4.

Explain how knowledge work systems provide value for a firm.  Why do you think knowledge work systems are important today?  Discuss how CAD, virtual reality, and augmented reality are used today.  What has been your experience with these three tools?  Are there similar technologies to CAD, VR, and AR that you see on the horizon that will benefit firms in the future?

Q5

Distinguish between the four kinds of organizational change that can be promoted with information technology.  Explain how you have been impacted by one of these kinds of organizational change.  What were the benefits and disadvantages from your perspective?  Describe how, in your personal experience, information technology was used to promote the change.  If you have not experienced organizational change previously, research an example of how one of the four kinds of organizational change was promoted with information technology in a company or organization.

Solution

Q1. Name and describe four quality of life impacts of computers and information systems. Explain how these have impacted your personal or business life. How would ethics support these four quality of life issues?

The four quality of life impacts of computers and information systems includes; dependence and vulnerability, the rapidity of change, balance of power, and maintaining boundaries.

Dependence of power with respect to business refers to how operations of businesses today are getting more reliant on the use of information systems to operate. Companies today store their documents and information electronically (Najjar, n.d.). Even though this is convenient for most businesses, it constantly poses the challenge of what’s next in the case that such valuable information is permanently lost. Companies can be left vulnerable in the case that such a glitch is experienced.

The rapidity of change is the other impact of information systems and computers on businesses. This impact shows how computers in recent years have improved our global markets an in the process making them effective. Organizations today can rapidly respond to such factors like competition and demand change in global markets through innovation and inventions, making them able to be ahead of their competitors (Najjar, n.d.). A lack of innovation and inventions can mean that business eventually can lose their share of the marketplace.

Balancing of power is the shift from the impression of having decentralized decision making process through computing to the lower levels of employees in an organization.  In the early computer age, it was always a fear of many business owners that by using big centralized mainframes would lead towards a concentration of powers to our nation’s capital thus creating a dependence on government. One problem with this kind of impact is the fact that all decisions made by lower level employees are always viewed as unimportant with most important decisions always thought to be centralized. 

The last impact is that of boundaries maintenance. With the coming of laptops and computers, it has been possible for most employees to work from any location and at their own conveniences. However, the added ease of working anywhere has brought with it the challenges of having to balance between family, work, and leisure (Najjar, n.d.). Employees who work away from the office always find it difficult to find the right balance in their personal lives and work life.    

The four qualities of life have directly impacted me in various ways. For instance, the rapidity of change has always impacted the way I shop due to the fact that I do a lot of online buying. Due to the difficulty of finding what one needs online and also due to such factors like quality of product delivered and the time that getting an order to be delivered to me, I tend to not shop from different online shops but rather shop in one, Alibaba. Because of that, I tend to search for any product that I want on Alibaba before I shop online or go to a store, to compare such things like quality and price. When it comes to balance of power, I have noticed at work that employees at lower levels like me only make decisions as far as their area of work is concerned or how an assigned task ought to be done. Making decisions that are considered more important are still centralized to the executives alone. Maintaining ones boundary is important to anyone who values privacy. For security reasons, I always remind my wife to carry her laptop with her wherever she goes. While at home, she never does any work as it is always strictly family time as we have two children in their teenage years. She always has to find a balance between work and family and so do I. Working as an IT consultant means that a store a lot of information related to work in both our hard drives.  This has proved important because all the information I require is always available whenever I need it. However, last year I ran into a little bit of a problem when I accidentally deleted temporarily all the information in my laptop after losing it lost my laptop. Retrieving all the information lost meant that I faced massive downtime and this was a pointer to just how dependent our lives have been on information systems just like many businesses.

Ethics can support these four qualities by first and foremost allowing companies to take responsibility. By taking responsibility, it means that a company is willing to incur the costs that come with their decision making. When companies do not take the initiative to safely and securely save important company files electronically, then they only have themselves to blame.  Accountability is the ethical other step a company can take to protect itself from the risks that come with using computers and information system (Najjar, n.d.). Accountability refers to when mechanisms are put in place to seek out whoever is responsible. I have to be accountable in all the things that happen in my house in order to achieve both sanity and stability with everyone that stays there. The last is being liable. Liability refers is to the existence of set rules that determines the person at fault and holding them answerable. In the event that a person or a business entity is culpable of stealing intellectual property, then one whose work has been copied has the right to hold the perpetrators liable if they have proof of owning the intellectual property in order to be paid damages (Najjar, n.d.).  

Q2. You are the new IT Manager for the Cougar Corporation, a firm of 500 employees, with 5 buildings located in three different states.  Much of the information is critical to the operation of the business and contains key customer information.  As the new IT Manager, one of your employees comes to you concerned with the safeguarding of the firm’s information.  As you investigate this issue further, you too are concerned as it does not appear many methods of safeguarding the firm’s information are in place.  What methods would you want to make sure are in place to help with the safeguarding of information?  What role do you see firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus systems playing in promoting security?  – Write up a memo to your supervisor detailing methods you would like to see implemented across the firm and the role of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus systems in promoting better safeguarding of the firm’s information.  – Your supervisor will need this no later than 11:59pm CT on Sunday evening.

 The methods that I would have in place to help in the protection of the company’s information as the IT Manager would be to see to it that the company adopts all the latest measures of securing information systems in the market today like securing information with the latest firewall application, ensuring the information systems have better working antivirus systems to prevent any viruses from invading the system. The other method would be to introduce into the system, an intrusion detection system to detect and cancel any unapproved attempts of intrusion into the system (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

Firewalls, antivirus systems, and intrusion detection systems play an important role in promoting security in information system as they both contribute hugely in the protecting system, both from unwanted and harmful programs and gaining unapproved access to a system. Whereas having a firewall helps businesses to set rules and to regulate the activities of its online users through setting packet filters, stateful, and proxy services intrusion detectors antivirus (Laudon & Traver, 2016).    

 

SUBJECT: Implementing Methods for Safeguarding the Firm’s Information Systems and the Role of intrusion detection systems, anti-virus, and firewalls.

I’m writing to inform you that the matter above has been brought to my attention and that there is the need to protect the company’s information system from external attacks as we risk losing valuable information concerning the company’s operations and information about our customers to potential attackers from outside the company.

I feel that with our company operating in three different states and with over 500 employees and thousands of customers, the company has not done much to secure all the information’s that are important to our operations. The existing security measures in place are either not up to date or not effective. Thus, I feel that it is important that the company invests on the various security measures like using firewall systems, intrusion detection systems, and anti-virus scanners to help secure the company’s information from external interference and intrusion. In addition to that, the company should also insist on training all its staff and customers on security awareness to reduce instances where security breaches are experienced.   

Creating firewalls, installing intrusion detection systems, and applying the use of anti-virus scanners among using other security measures to protect the information base of our company will not only save us the hustle of having to operate normally for fear of being hacked, it also helps in protecting confidential information of the company and keeping it safe. Most importantly, all these improvements to our information security will ensure that there is accountability, confidentiality, and integrity in our information systems, thus increasing employees’ output while also increasing our customers trust and confidence in the company.

I hope that you will take the above matter seriously and see to it that it is implemented with the urgency that it requires.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.       

Q3. How has e-commerce transformed marketing? Explain how social networking and the wisdom of crowds help companies improve operations.  Research and discuss two examples of social networking.

E-commerce has hugely transformed marketing processes in the sense of expanding online markets. Because of e-commerce, there has been an increase in the use of Wi-Fi and mobile phones, making it possible for business people to not only perform various business transactions online, but also making it possible for online marketing. Physical access is not a necessary factor with e-commerce as people are not dependent on it. There is no physical meeting in order for goods or services to be exchanged and this leads to the expansion of both the quality and quantity of products that are accessible to consumers. This has seen the expansion of marketing globally with more and more businesses transacting online (Laudon & Traver, 2016). Additionally, conducting e-commerce globally has ensured that marketing can now be tracked on a global scale simply by looking at strategies of multinationals like Google, and Amazon. E-commerce has greatly helped visionaries in business access newer markets, increasing not only competition between traders but also the competition between manufacturers.  

As a result of e-commerce, there has been a rise in social networking sites where companies have been able to access millions of potential customers who are attempting to discover new clients, leading to new customers, or sales. In addition to that, social networking has also helped in making improvements in other marketing areas like making it possible to communicate with customers through the use of websites like posting advertisement videos on YouTube to attract potential customers. Listening and receiving customer’s comments and reviews have also helped businesses to understand their needs while making sure that they improve on them to provide customers with the best experience (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

Q4. Explain how knowledge work systems provide value for a firm.  Why do you think knowledge work systems are important today?  Discuss how CAD, virtual reality, and augmented reality are used today.  What has been your experience with these three tools?  Are there similar technologies to CAD, VR, and AR that you see on the horizon that will benefit firms in the future?

Knowledge work systems, also referred to as KWS are systems that are specialized and used by scientists, engineers, and individuals in search of knowledge. These systems are designed to ensure proper integration into the business of new knowledge and technical expertise. Such systems are in use because they bring out the special needs often related to knowledge workers. In the modern world of business, works of knowledge are proving critical to most organizations that seek an advantage over their competitors or those companies that are trying to seek knowledge that might enable them to keep up with other companies that might be trying for better strategic advantages (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

The reason why KWS is important in the modern world is because of their adequate computing powers that enable them to not only handle complex calculations but also work out specialized tasks. Additionally, KWS also provides external databases with easy access to support research while at the same time providing a user-friendly interface. The software that runs KWS has an intensive graphic that has communication capabilities and is also able to manage documents and analysis increasing productivity of the knowledge workers who are highly paid.

Computer-aided design (CAD) systems and virtual reality (VR) systems are systems that create simulations that are interactive in nature and whose behaviors are like in the real world. Not only do they require graphics but they also have very powerful modeling capabilities. In the case of financial professionals, KWS provides them with access to external databases that helps them in analyzing massive amounts of financial data swiftly (Laudon & Traver, 2016).   

CAD systems are able to computerize the creation and revision of designs of sophisticated graphic software with the help of computers. Some of the benefits of CAD include reducing production time of designs, fewer prototypes can be prepared, more sophisticated and functional designs can be produced, expensive engineering changes can be done at lower costs, and finally, CAD has facilitated the tooling and manufacturing processes.

On the other hand, VR systems have capabilities that range from visualization, simulation capabilities to rendering. The VR system uses interactive graphics software to create replications that are computer-generated that are so close to reality that users often believe they are participating in the real world. In most cases, users usually feel immersed in the computer-generated world with such virtual reality being able to provide scientific, business, and educational benefits (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

Augmented reality or AR refers to virtual reality which enhances visualization by providing both live direct and indirect views of the physical real – world like environments whose elements are augmented through imagery that is computer-generated. Users remain grounded in the real physical world with the virtual images merging with the real view to create an augmented display (Laudon & Traver, 2016).

The only instance I have used VR is with my smartphone. Through downloadable apps found on the application stores, I downloaded a video game which could be used with headsets that most smartphones can slide into. These smartphone apps range from roller coaster rides to fighting games. Because I haven’t interacted with VR tools at the work place and rarely in my personal life, I might not be in the position to have any ideas of any similar technologies that uses the technologies of VR apart from the headsets used with smartphones mentioned above.

Q5. Distinguish between the four kinds of organizational change that can be promoted with information technology.  Explain how you have been impacted by one of these kinds of organizational change.  What were the benefits and disadvantages from your perspective?  Describe how, in your personal experience, information technology was used to promote the change.  If you have not experienced organizational change previously, research an example of how one of the four kinds of organizational change was promoted with information technology in a company or organization.

Information technology is known to promote organizational change with these changes valuable in the short and long term successes of any business. The four types of structural organizational change include automation, re-engineering, rationalization, and a shift in paradigm (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

Automation is the first form of organizational transformation that is IT-enabled. Information technology has been used time and time to improve and assist employees in their efficient and effective task performance. Examples of earliest instances of automation at the work place included bank tellers being given instant access to customers deposit records and also in the calculation of payroll registers and paychecks.

The other method of organizational change that immediately follows automation is rationalization. Procedure rationalization refers to the streamlining of standard procedures due to the daily challenges that come with production processes. Thus, rationalization of processes through the use of computers in the workplace helps in making the work more manageable and more rationally structured to achieve desired results (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

Re-engineering of business processes on the other hand is a more powerful type of organizational change involving the simplification, analyzing, and redesigning of businesses. With the help of information technology, businesses can easily achieve their business process through streamlining and rethinking their business process, improving quality, speed, services (Glick, 2015). The advantage of business re-engineering is that it helps in reorganizing an organization’s work flow. This is achieved when different steps of production are combined to cut down not only on waste, but also eliminating repetition on the line of production. However, one shortcoming of this organizational change is that it can also eliminate jobs along the way.

The last change organizational change is the paradigm shift which refers to the most radical change in business processes. Usually, a shift in paradigm entails the quick rethinking of the business and the organization’s nature. However, a shift in paradigm is often related to failure due to their extensive organizational change that have always proved so difficult for many businesses to orchestrate (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015).

I have not had any personal experiences with any of the above examples of organizational change at my place of work. However, a good example of an organizational change involving re-engineering is the invoice less processing adopted by Ford Motor Company. This genius re-engineering method not only eliminated the paper-intensive task involved with invoice processing at Ford, it also significantly reduced the headcount in the organization North American Accounts Payable that totaled to 500 people by 75% percent (Glick, 2015). This was an improvement from the experiences of payable account clerks who before the re-engineering breakthrough, were spending more time resolving instances of discrepancies ranging from getting documents, purchase orders, and invoices which proved cumbersome. By re-engineering their accounts payable processes, Ford was able to come up with an online database where their purchasing department would enter purchase orders which would in turn be checked by the receiving department upon the arrival of the items ordered. If the received goods matched the posted descriptions of the purchased order, then the system would generate a check automatically for the accounts payable and send it to the vendor. This system did not require the vendor to send any invoices (Glick, 2015).   

References

Al-Haddad, S., & Kotnour, T. (2015). Integrating the organizational change literature: a model for successful change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28(2), 234-262.

Glick, W. H. (2015). Business Process Reengineering. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-2.

Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2016). E-commerce: business, technology, society.

Najjar, M. Management Information Systems.