© 2012, published by flat world knowledge 1-1 information systems: a manager’s guide to...
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© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-1
Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology
By John Gallaugher
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-2
This work is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.To view a copy of this license,visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/or send a letter toCreative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105,
USA
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-3
Chapter 1Setting the Stage:
Technology and the Modern Enterprise
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-4
Learning Objectives
• Appreciate how in recent years, technology has helped bring about radical changes across industries and throughout societies
• Name firms across hardware, software, and Internet businesses that were founded by people in their twenties (or younger)
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-5
Learning Objectives
• Appreciate the degree to which technology has permeated every management discipline
• See that tech careers are varied, richly rewarding, and poised for continued growth
• Understand the structure of this text, the issues and examples that will be introduced, and why they are important
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-6
Tech’s Tectonic Shift:Radically Changing Business Landscapes
• Billions of people have access to computing and telecommunications
• Google and Facebook have changed the way firms advertise and people communicate
• Open source software has lowered computing costs
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-7
Tech’s Tectonic Shift:Radically Changing Business Landscapes
• Sophisticated, high-powered computing is turning into a utility via:
– Cloud computing
– Software as a service
• New technologies have also:
– Fueled globalization
– Redefined concepts of software and computing
– Crushed costs
– Fueled data-driven decision making
– Raised privacy and security concerns
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-8
It’s Your Revolution
• Many of the world’s most successful technology firms were created by young people
– Bill Gates was an undergraduate when he left college to found Microsoft
– Michael Dell was a sophomore when he began building computers at the University of Texas
– Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook as a nineteen-year-old college sophomore
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-9
It’s Your Revolution
– Tony Hsieh of LinkExchange and Zappos
– Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!
– Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube
– Steve Jobs of Apple
– Jeff Bezos of Amazon
– Catherine Cook of MyYearbook
– Shawn Fanning of Napster
– Linus Torvalds – Linux operating system
– Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-10
Geek Up—Tech Is Everywhere and You’ll Need It to Thrive
• There isn’t a single modern managerial discipline that isn’t being deeply and profoundly impacted by tech
• Tech skills are becoming more important for jobs everywhere
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-11
Finance
• The tech industry continually sprouts new businesses
– Suited to IPO markets
• Tech firms are actively involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
• Finance careers also involve:
– Lending to tech firms
– Evaluating the role of technology in firms in an investment portfolio
• Technology-based trading platforms
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-13
Accounting
• The reliability of any audit is inherently tied to the reliability of the underlying technology
• Increased regulation has strengthened the link between accounting and tech
– Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• Major accounting firms have spawned tech-focused consulting practices
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-14
Marketing
• Firms are shifting spending from traditional media to the Web because of its ability to:
– Track customers
– Analyze campaign results
– Modify tactics
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-15
Marketing
• Firms are using social media to:
– Generate sales
– Improve their reputations
– Better serve customers
– Innovate
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-16
Marketing
• Central components of the new marketing toolkit include:
– Search engine marketing (SEM)
– Search engine optimization (SEO)
– Customer relationship management (CRM)
– Personalization systems
– Managing the balance between gathering data and respecting consumer privacy
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-17
Operations
• Tech-centric operations include:
– Quality programs
– Process redesign
– Supply chain management
– Factory automation
– Service operations
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-18
Human Resources
• Knowledge management systems are morphing into social media technologies
• Technology is used for employee training, screening, and evaluation
• Recruiting has moved online
– Grounded in information systems that scour databases for specific skill sets
– Job seekers are writing resumes with key words in mind
• Professional social networks have put added pressure on employee satisfaction and retention
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-19
The Law
• Activity has increased in the areas of intellectual property, patents, piracy, and privacy
• Firms need legal teams with the skills to:
– Determine whether a firm can legally do what it plans
– Uncover licensing fees if patents stand in the way
– Help them protect proprietary methods and content
– Help enforce claims in the home country and abroad
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-20
Information Systems Careers
• Programmers
• Experts in user-interface design, process design, and strategy
• Consulting and field engineering
• Chief information officer
• Chief technology officer
• “C-level” specialties in emerging areas
– Chief information security officer (CISO)
– Chief privacy officer (CPO)
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-21
Your Future
• Study business and technology to develop critical-thinking skills
– To help in the evaluation of new, emerging technologies
• Those not trained to evaluate and make decisions risk irrelevance, marginalization, and failure
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-22
The Pages Ahead
• Chapter 2 - Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners from Losers
• Chapter 3 – Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems
• Chapter 4 - Netflix in Two Acts: The Making of an E-commerce Giant and the Uncertain Future of Atoms to Bits
• Chapter 5 - Moore’s Law: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager
• Chapter 6 – Understanding Network Effects
• Chapter 7 - Social Media, Peer Production, and Web 2.0
• Chapter 8 - Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph
© 2012, published by Flat World Knowledge 1-23
The Pages Ahead
• Chapter 9 – Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers
• Chapter 10 – Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free
• Chapter 11- The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage
• Chapter 12 – A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications
• Chapter 13 - Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else)
• Chapter 14 - Google in Three Parts: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond