Introduction Business
Information Systems
Pat Brans
([email protected])
System implementation
Agenda
History of IS in businesses
What businesses use IS for now
Forces driving the evolution of IS
IS and business strategies
Cross-organizational business processes
History of IS in business
1940s: ENIAC (one of the world’s first
electronic computers) Businesses used computers to:
1950s: IBM sells first business
computers
1960s: Time-sharing computers Automate repetitive tasks:
payroll, inventory, billing
1970s: Minicomputers bought by
businesses, networking takes hold
Improve personal productivity:
1980s: PCs and LANs become popular
word processing, spreadsheets
1990s: Explosion in computer and
Gain competitive advantage:
Internet use
ERP, CRM
2000s: Smartphones, video
conferencing
2010s: Social networking, Big Data,
AI
Pat Brans (
[email protected])
What businesses use IS for now
Now companies use computers in almost all aspects of the
business:
Operations: manufacturing, finance, accounting
Workforce productivity: e-mail, productivity apps
Marketing and advertisement: collecting information
about customers and about the market, advertising to the
market
E-commerce: selling products directly to customers
Supply chain management: ordering for suppliers,
sharing information with suppliers
Pat Brans (
[email protected])
Forces driving the evolution of IS
Processing power: “Moore’s law” states that every
eighteen months, the processing power of computer
chips will double. This has been true since the 1960s.
Storage: Smaller, faster, cheaper, and bigger
storage
Networking: Faster, more reliable networking
The network effect: The more individuals and
businesses use Internet, the more valuable the
Internet is to individuals and businesses.
IS and business strategies
Broadly speaking there are two kinds of business
strategies:
Low cost: a company can try to minimize costs and
then market its products and services at a lower price.
For example, Asus, Nissan, or Yamaha
Differentiation: a company can try to make its
products and services unique. For example, Apple,
Porsche, or Stradivarius
Pat Brans (
[email protected])
IS and business strategies
IS plays a different role depending on the strategy
Low cost: use IS for workforce productivity and
to make manufacturing more efficient
Differentiation: use IS for product design and to
allow customers to place special orders
Cross-organizational business processes
Examples of cross-organizational business processes
Procurement
Order fulfillment
Cross-organizational business processes
What’s required from IS:
Common database: All applications use the same database.
Compatible software systems: Applications that need to
interface, can and do interface.
Transactional integrity: When an update is made to the
database, if something goes wrong during an update to the
database, the transaction is “rolled back” – i.e. the database is
put back into the state it was before the update begin.
Transactional integrity means either all of the update is made, or
the transaction is rolled back.
Access control: Administrators can control which people in
which departments can read or update which data.
Pat Brans (
[email protected])
Pat Brans (
[email protected])
