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Information System Planning
How has the Internet changed the way information intensive organizations operate ?
Interaction with gathering methods (the Internet) has supplemented the "static methods" of yesterday (library cards). One of the main problems today is not the gathering of information but the deciphering of it. Competition will require concerned organizations to fabricate their own method of operations applying this medium (Internet). Data must be changed into information at a ever increasing rate of speed. Information is now gathered and sorted by companies which work "around the clock" (at least the computers do). Global applications can now occur which would of been impossible only a few years ago. The Internet also "gives" organizations new ideas for all facets of operation from management to marketing. The Internet allows companies to "view" into competitors strategies and adjust their own "mission plan" for optimality. The Internet is evolving so fast that all of it’s potential will not be known for some time, if ever. With voice, video, sound, and text all becoming "engineered" into the "NET" the list of applications is limited only by the strategist and their planners. While several types of businesses will "survive" without the "NET", information intensive organizations are not one of them. The Internet is a catalyst for "brain-storming".
Risks and Benefits of allowing outside entities to access Company information.
Benefits of allowing outside inquires include new customer awareness and increased sales. Outside solicitors which number in the many would also become familiar with the organization. Suppliers would be an example as well as towns and cities looking for relocating your firm to a more desired area of the country. Global presence is now possible with the smallest firm. New applications of this "marketing technique" is growing businesses daily.
Risks include direct assault by the competition with the information furnished by the company. A competitor is able to take ideas from the company (from the new source of information, the Internet) and improve on it and the original company must then improve once more creating a "leap frogging" of one company over the other, which at this time sees no end. Intruders for fun and desire can destroy and-or corrupt data of the company. Perhaps the resources required for these operations (home page, maintenance, etc.…) could also be considered a risk (wasted moneys and resources). New liabilities will occur for firms, limited only by the imagination of attorneys and judges.
Unfair business practices, prejudices, and fraud are sure to multiply with this new "engine of business".
Why should you replace working computer equipment, even if still functioning ?
Today’s operating systems and information requirements require speed and storage not available optimally only a couple years ago. Software applications drive develop of the hardware and without the software the computer itself actually becomes a liability (taking resources). With hardware and software prices going down as fast as the speed and storage is increasing, only an idiot would argue to keep computer equipment running until failure. I must also note that the competition already knows this and will overtake the "idiot’s" company. Like a capital-intensive manufacturing company which "lives by it’s machinery", an information-processing company must continually monitor it’s status on the "machinery" and update as often as the company believes is necessary to keep the "edge". The older equipment can be moved into a "print server" position or other area which is not "mission critical". Hey , donate it to the schools.
Why will Databases on the Internet change the way Marketing works ?
A knowledgeable organization can now gather, sort and output data around the clock. Databases on customers, products, buying patterns, geographical information all allow for getting information at basically "the speed of light".
The Internet allows this around the clock information and some forms of
information is almost free. Marketing can not only find new markets but contact
existing customers of other companies and "steal them" with superior
products and services. Databases on CD-ROM’s can be applied with Internet databases
for perhaps a more optimal environment. The old saying that nothing happens
until the "SALE" is even more a burden or opportunity for the
marketing phase to apply this new "tool"(Internet). Once again the
competition will not sit back, and innovation for a company is becoming
essential not only in development but also all phases of an organization. New
market development which would take likely two to five years with yesterday’s
operations must be able to find new markets is as little time as perhaps ninety
days. In the development climate of today it would not surprise me if companies
are finding new markets, products and techniques "on the fly".
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