The Benefits of Using ICTs in

Business & Finance

by Ian Linton; Updated May 22, 2018

Information and communications technology systems include desktop computers,

laptops and tablets, fixed and mobile telephone systems, communications
networks and software. Your business can use ICT systems to benefit from
improvements such as reducing costs, increasing efficiency, improving decision-
making and increasing your competitiveness in the marketplace. An effective ICT
investment can make an important contribution to your organization’s success and
growth.

Better Decision-Making
ICT systems allow your business to store, process, analyze and share vast amounts
of data. The information available from corporate data enables managers and
employees to make decisions quickly and accurately so that they can manage
operations effectively and respond rapidly to business opportunities or threats.
Communication networks also enable decision-makers in different locations to
work together easily when they need to take joint decisions.

Increased Manufacturing Productivity

By automating business processes and giving employees ICT tools, your business
can improve its individual and overall productivity. On the production line, for
example, solutions such as computer-aided design can help to reduce set-up times
and improve manufacturing accuracy so that employees spend less time on
reworking. Access to manufacturing data enables managers to plan production
more effectively, making better use of resources and reducing lead times.

Improved Customer Service

Quality of customer service is an important differentiator for businesses. Your
company can use ICT solutions to offer faster response to and higher standards of
service to its customers. If you run a call center, for example, your agents can
access databases that provide comprehensive customer information, including
purchase history and product preferences. The information helps them deal quickly
and efficiently with inquiries, boosting customer satisfaction. Service personnel
working in the field can access customer, service and product databases using
smartphones with secure Internet connections. This enables them to fix problems
quickly and effectively, again boosting customer satisfaction.

Greater Collaboration
Communication networks enable your project teams to collaborate effectively. By
using videoconferencing or web conferencing over the Internet, teams can hold
virtual meetings that bring together members from different locations, or different
organizations, such as suppliers or business partners. This helps to create stronger
project teams and enables the teams to maintain progress on important projects,
rather than waiting for members to meet in a single location. In a product
development program, for example, teams can reduce overall project time and get
new products to market faster, giving the company a strong competitive advantage.

Improved Financial Performance

ICT solutions can help your organization reduce costs, increase revenue and
improve profitability. Using videoconferencing to host meetings between members
in different locations, for example, reduces travel costs. Production data can help
staff identify quality problems, reducing waste and reworking costs. Call center
agents can use information available on their customer databases to increase
revenue by identifying opportunities for selling additional products or services. Cost
reductions and revenue gains make an important contribution to overall
profitability.

The Importance of Computer Technology

in Your Engineering Career
April 26, 2012 By Anthony Fasano

This is a guest blog by Nancy Evans

One might think that computers and engineering are distinct technological pursuits, as
people often equate engineering with large macroscopic projects while computers are
seen as producing effects that are contained on microscopic chips. However, since the
90s we have increasingly seen a merger of the two fields, which is not only resulting in a
rise in software engineering jobs but in the widespread adoption of computer-aided
technologies into traditional engineering fields. As a result, engineers are seeing a
significant expansion of options in how they can pursue work. Here are a few different
ways young engineers can integrate computer technology into their careers:
Learn CAD software

One of the major uses of computer technology in engineering is with CAD software.
Computer aided design software is the application of computer technology for the
purposes of design. This industrial art is now widely used in many traditional industries,
such as automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, aerospace, prosthetics, architectural
projects and even special effects in movies.

How Is Computer Technology Used in Law

Enforcement?
by Clare Edwards

The use of computers in law enforcement has changed and developed rapidly,
especially in recent years. Computers are used to hold databases of information, to
run sophisticated software that can recognize faces or identify fingerprints and to
connect to the Web, an avenue for communication and a rich source of intelligence.
As well as desktop computers, law enforcement personnel also use mobile devices,
such as laptops and tablets, to do their job.

Databases

Computer technology allows law enforcement services to store and retrieve vast
amounts of data. This information can include details of incident reports, criminals'
descriptions, fingerprints and other identifying marks. It can also include
descriptions and registrations of vehicles involved in criminal activity. Another
crucial pool of information is DNA data taken from suspects. DNA databases allow
samples of DNA taken from suspects to be matched with samples taken from crime
scenes.

Sharing Information

Computers are an invaluable tool for communication between individuals,

departments and law enforcement agencies. Documents, photographs and other
material can be sent almost instantaneously from one location to another, saving
valuable time. Email is a good example: Encrypted emails can be used to send
important data securely while mitigating the risk that the information they contain
will fall into the wrong hands.

Crime Scene Computing

Mobile computing devices -- laptops,
[notebook](https://society6.com/notebooks?utm_source=SFGHG&utm_medium=ref
erral&utm_campaign=2389) computers and tablet PCs -- are very useful to law
enforcement. Armed with a laptop, a police officer can take notes, access records or
contact colleagues in other districts, all without leaving a vehicle. Mobile devices can
be used to check the identity or other credentials of individuals at the scene of a
crime, as well as recording and tracking vital data such as vehicle license
plates. Computers can also be used to track the position of GPS devices, helping
law enforcement officers to find vehicles.

The Internet

The Internet is used by law enforcement agencies in innumerable regards. Web

sites can be used by law enforcement agencies to educate and inform the public,
appeal for information or alert people to ongoing situations such as a missing child
or a felon at large. Because criminals often use the Internet to share information, it
can be very useful in crime prevention and detection. For instance, those
responsible for a crime sometimes incriminate themselves by discussing it on social
sites such as Facebook or Twitter -- this information can be used to prosecute them.

Cyber Crime

Law enforcement agencies must also use the Internet when tackling online crime.
This can include the sharing of illegal material, such as pirated commercial movies
or music. "Phishing" and other forms of identity theft that use email or the Internet
must also be addressed using computer technology, as must attacks using viruses
and hacking attacks. Law enforcements from different countries must often work
together to tackle cyber crime.

ICT in Medicine
Quick revise
Body scanners
A body scanner sends electromagnetic rays through a patient’s body and sensors detect
how much different parts of the body absorb the rays.
A computer uses this data to build up an image of the inside of a patient’s body.
Body scanners allow doctors to find and treat conditions such as tumours in their early
stages when the chances of treating them successfully are much greater.
Patient monitoring
Computers are used in hospitals to monitor critically ill patients in intensive care units.
The patient has sensors attached to him which detect changes in heart rate, pulse rate,
blood pressure, breathing and brain activity.
If any of these fall below a preset level the computer sounds an alarm and alerts the
medical staff.
The data is also logged and used to analyse the changes in a patient’s condition over a
period of time.
Organ transplants
Computerised databases are used to help match patients who are waiting for organ
transplants such as a new kidney, liver or heart, with suitable organs from donors.
Patient records
Computerised databases are used by every hospital in the country to store information
about patients.
Uses of these databases include: organising the transfer of patients between wards
recording the history of a patient’s appointments with a consultant booking outpatient
appointments booking ambulances ordering equipment.
How computer science equips medical research
This video shows recent advances in computing has enabled biologists to sequence and
decode species' entire genetic codes into a gnome. The use of a BBC newsreel and
interviews highlight the increasing dependency of scientists on the storage and processing
capabilities of computer systems; and how this is being used to compare the genetic codes
of bacteria to identify the source of infectious diseases such as cholera. It also highlights
some of the data storage and processing challenges associated with collecting, storing, and
effectively and efficiently interrogating extremely large data sets.