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chapter

Business Essentials, 7th EditionEbert/Griffin

© 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.

Information Technology for Business

Instructor Lecture

PowerPoints PowerPoint Presentation prepared by Carol Vollmer Pope Alverno College

IT Basics

• Information Technology (IT)– The various appliances and devices for creating,

storing, exchanging, and using information in diverse modes, including visual images, voice, multimedia, and business data

• E-commerce (Electronic Commerce)– The use of the Internet and other electronic

means for retailing and business-to-business transactions

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IT Impacts

• Creating Portable Offices– Providing remote access to instant information

• Enabling Better Service– Coordinating remote deliveries

• Creating Leaner, More Efficient Organizations– Allowing more work and customer satisfaction to be

accomplished with fewer people

• Enabling Increased Collaboration– Using collaboration software and other IT communication

devices

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IT Impacts (cont’d)

• Enabling Global Exchange– Fostering collaboration on a worldwide scale

• Improving Management Processes– Using enterprise resource planning (ERP) to

change the nature of the management process

• Providing Flexibility for Customization– Creating new manufacturing capabilities that offer

customers greater variety (mass customization) and faster delivery cycles

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IT Impacts (cont’d)

• Providing New Business Opportunities – Creating entirely new businesses where none

existed before

• Improving the World and Our Lives– Advancing medical and diagnostic techniques

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FIGURE 13.1 Networking for Mass Customization

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IT Building Blocks: Business Resources

• Internet– A gigantic system of more than 100 million

interconnected computers in more than 100 countries

• World Wide Web– A standardized code for accessing information and

transmitting data over the Internet

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IT Building Blocks: Business Resources (cont’d)

• Intranets– Private internal information networks accessible

only by employees

• Extranets– Allow outsiders limited access to internal

information networks

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IT Building Blocks: Business Resources (cont’d)

• Electronic Conferencing– Allows groups of people to communicate

simultaneously from various locations via email, phone, or video

• Data conferencing• Video conferencing

• VSAT Satellite Communications– Satellite-based private network for voice, video,

and data transmissions

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Networks: System Architecture

• Computer Network– A group of two or more computers linked together by

some form of cabling (fiber-optic, coaxial, or twisted wire) or by wireless technology to share data or resources such as a printer

• Client-Server Network– Clients

• The laptop or desktop computers through which users make requests for information or resources

– Servers• The computers that provide the services shared by users

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Types of Networks

• Wide Area Networks (WANs)– Computers linked over long distances

• Local Area Networks (LANs)– Computers linked in a smaller area, such as all of

a firm’s computers within a single building

• Wireless Networks– Use airborne electronic signals to link computers

and devices• Blackberry system

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FIGURE 13.2 Blackberry Wireless Internet Architecture

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Types of Networks (cont’d)

• Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)– An access point that forms its own small network

• Wireless LAN or WLAN – A wireless local area network

• WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)

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Hardware and Software

• Hardware– Physical components such as laptops, desktops,

handheld computers, keyboards, monitors, system units, and printers

• Software– System software– Application (productivity) software– Groupware

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Information Systems: Harnessing the Competitive Power of IT

• Data– Raw facts and figures

• Information– The meaningful, useful interpretation of data

• Information System (IS)– A system that uses IT resources and enables managers to

turn data into information for use in decision-making– Information system managers operate the systems used

for gathering, organizing, and distributing information

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Leveraging Information Resources

• Data Warehousing– The collection, storage, and retrieval of data in

electronic files

• Data Mining– The application of electronic technologies for

searching, sifting, and reorganizing pools of data to uncover useful information

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Types of Information Systems

• Information Systems for Knowledge Workers– Provide resources to create, store, use, and

transmit new knowledge for useful applications• Information Systems for Managers

– Management information systems (MIS)• Provide reports, schedules, plans, and budgets that can

then be used for making decisions– Decision support systems (DSS)

• Interactive systems that create virtual business models and test them with different data to see how they respond

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IT Risks and Threats• Hackers

– Cyber criminals who gain unauthorized access to a computer or network, either to steal information, money, or property or to tamper with data

• Wireless mooching• Denial of service (DOS) attacks

• Identity Theft– Stealing of personal information to get loans, credit cards, or

other monetary benefits by impersonating the victim• Phishing• Pharming

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IT Risks and Threats (cont’d)

• Intellectual Property Theft– Theft of a product of the mind—something produced by

the intellect, with great expenditure of human effort—that has commercial value

• Computer Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses– Malicious programs that, once installed, can shut down a

computer system

• Spyware– Software that transmits stolen personal information

• Spam– Widely broadcast, unsolicited e-mail

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IT Protection Measures

• Preventing Unauthorized Access– Firewalls

• Security systems with special software or hardware devices designed to keep computers safe from hackers

– Components for filtering messages:• Security policy• Router

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IT Protection Measures

• Preventing Identity Theft– Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2005

• Preventing Viruses– Anti-virus software

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IT Protection Measures (cont’d)

• Protecting Electronic Communications– Encryption software

• Works by locking an e-mail message to a unique code number (digital fingerprint) for each computer so only that computer can open and read the message

• Avoiding Spam and Spyware– Anti-spyware software– CAN-SPAM Act of 2006

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Key Terms

anti-virus softwareclient-server networkcomputer networkcomputer-aided design (CAD)datadata miningdata warehousingdecision support system (DSS)e-commerceelectronic conferencingencryption systemextranetfirewallhacker

hardwareidentity theftinformationinformation systeminformation systems managersinformation technology (IT)intellectual propertyInternetintranetknowledge information systemlocal area network (LAN)management information system

(MIS)mass-customization

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Key Terms (cont’d)

softwarespamspywareVSAT satellite communicationswide area network (WAN)Wi-Fiwireless local area network

(wireless LAN or WLAN)wireless wide area network

(WWAN)World Wide Web

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