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The Importance of Data and Information Systems in a Modernizing Business Environment

Alfonso Logrono

University of Salford

Blog: https://alfonsolog.wordpress.com
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Introduction

The modern business landscape is rapidly moving to the digital world and being hosted

on the cloud, because of this trend it is critical for decision makers to be kept abreast of any and

all developments in the field. There is an increased focus on data as an asset, and this report will

key in on two theoretical papers that deal with this topic in depth. Furthermore, we’ll take a look

at two white papers from companies that use data to provide solutions for firms’ information

technology and systems departments. Lastly, this report will explore the content of a webinar

focused on adapting to the rapid pace of change in the modern business environment.

Reflective One Minute Paper

This Unit is about Data and information. While data and information are very related,

they do not have the same meaning. Data is basically raw unorganized strings, numbers,

characters etc that can be found anywhere. In the other hand information is data that has been

processed and organized to give a meaning. In other words in the business world information is

data that is specific, accurate, organized for a purpose, and its presented with contents that gives

its meaning and value.

Information gains value as its affect outcomes and decisions. Information has a lifecycle

process that is needed to keep running the exchange of information in businesses. Capture, store,

use/generate, share, maintain, secure, archive, and destroy are all part of the information lifecycle

process, which is a process conducted by information systems.

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In a lot of parts of the world their is legislation for data and information that is basically

protection of data, data retention and information security, intellectual property, and privacy. So

in a lot of countries ( especially developed countries) businesses need to meet certain standards

(quality information).
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Theoretical Paper 1

The topic of this theoretical paper is to explore the emerging concept of using data as a

new form of currency. The authors observe that personal data has an economic value and can

furthermore be commoditized and securitized. The research problem the authors set out to solve

is finding the proper role, if any, that government should have in the data marketplace. Indeed, in

a world where governments have trouble regulating and maintaining their own monetary

systems, it begs the question of how will they be able to efficiently legislate this emerging

instrument of exchange.

Despite any trepidation we citizens might have regarding heavy handed regulations, the

authors write that whether we like it or not, governments will get involved and attempt to

regulate. One reason for this is that governments have a right to a seat at the table because they

are one of the biggest producers of data, and moreover, provide a lot of it to the public free of

charge. It is estimated that over one million data sets from governments around the world are

available on the web. Another bullish reason to bet on governments regulating the data

marketplace is the fact that, much like businesses who respond to their customers’ demands,

governments will cater to their citizens as privacy advocates ratchet up their demands.

Furthermore, the authors point out that this debate has taken front and center in the public

discourse since the revelations of the misuse of private data by the US intelligence community.

Not to mention, there are several other culturally relevant incidents involving misuse of private

personal data, such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal involving US megacorporation

Facebook. In any case, some sort of public consensus will be essential to realizing the full

potential of any future data marketplace, the question is then: Will governments do more help

than harm when it comes to the ever growing data economy?

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The authors stipulate that government can play three principal roles in the data

marketplace: Producer, consumer, and facilitator. In the following sections we will briefly

summarize the details of each role.

Producer

The authors point out that the base layer of many of today’s most useful apps and

services are built off of datasets collected and provided by the US government. For example, any

application that uses GPS owes its existence to the data provided by Geographic Information

System (GIS) compiled by the US military.

Consumer

By the same token, governments are taking cues from private industry and realizing the

transformative power data can have in improving, and in some cases saving, the lives of their

citizenry. Indeed, according to the authors, the public sector is one of the largest customer

segments in the data economy. For example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) uses an application called MappyHealth that predicts and monitors aggregate disease

trends in combination with real-time health data provider Google Flu Trends to better track and

predict the spread of disease.

Facilitator

There are three main ways that governments can act as facilitators in the data economy.

The first way is to create parameters. Through regulation, governments can nurture an

environment that promotes innovation while also respecting privacy. Of course, finding this
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delicate balance is not easy, but the authors aptly point out that most governments already have

relevant experience by way of regulating and protecting intellectual property. The authors push

for a development of standards and suggest a “Digital Privacy Bill of Rights” as a step in the

right direction.

The second way is to build the proper infrastructure, such as providing online platforms

to foster thriving data markets. The authors use India to illustrate their example, calling attention

to the Indian government’s attempt to manage the identities of its people. Known as Aadhar,

India’s Unique Identification (UID) program is creating a unique set of biometric and

demographic data points for each one of its 1.21 billion citizens. It goes without saying that the

applications for this kind of dataset are innumerable, the authors highlight a few though:

Building lender confidence, extending microfinance to remote areas, and introducing new

personalized health care services.

The final way that governments can facilitate the analysis and dissemination of data

driven information is by “leading from the front.” According to the authors, the modern data

economy is still too reminiscent of the “Wild West” where there is rampant commercial

ingenuity, a fast pace of technological change, and nonexistent regulation. The authors believe

that government can help bring a semblance of order to the data economy by providing a positive

example or to serve as a guide, as it were. Some ways they can do this is by being transparent

and opening as much data as possible, pushing for open-source development and to persuade and

provide incentives for private companies to donate their datasets as a form of philanthropy.

All in all, it is plain to see that this paper is spot on both in terms of the research put into

it and also the conclusions drawn. Despite being somewhat outdated (the paper is six years old at
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the time of this critique), it is incredible how prescient the authors were. The level of foresight

needed to get ahead of these problems is immense and it is laudable to see this work being done.

Quality of the Research

Is the research question or objective clearly Yes, from the get-go the authors state their

stated? objective clearly in the abstract and in the

introductory paragraph.

Is the research question interesting and Yes, the topic of the proper role of

important? government in regulating an emerging data

marketplace is hotly contested. Therefore, due

to its cultural relevance, the research question

is incredibly interesting and important.

Is the work original? The work is indeed original, even though the

paper is mostly conclusion and solution driven

so there was not much in terms of first-hand

research.

Is the background research clear and relevant? The background information could not have

been any clearer or relevent. Truly, the

background info was top notch.

Are there any ethical problems? I wouldn’t say the researchers themselves ran

into any ethical problems. However, of course

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when it comes to personal private data and the

role outside actors could/should play there are

myriad ethical concerns.

The Research Method

Summarize the research method: Basically, the way the research was done was

to look at second and third hand sources and

then draw normative conclusions based off of

that.

Does the research method seem appropriate I feel like this is the area that could have been

for the research question? improved upon the most. I wouldn't say that

the methods were inappropriate, just that they

could have benefited from a deeper dive by

conducting first-hand research.

Are the methods adequately described? Not really, it was more of a link to the citation

and infer from there.

Were the analyses done correctly? Yes

Are the conclusions supported by the data? Yes

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Quality of Presentation

Is the work well presented? Yes, easy on the eye, proper headings, font

colors and sizes etc.

Is the paper well structured? Yes, every section is clearly labeled and built

off each other.

Are symbols, terms, and concepts adequately Yes

defined?

Would additional tables or figures help to I am of the belief that there can never be too

clarify the work? many tables or figures,so, yes, any additional

charts would help clarify the work.

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Theoretical Paper 2

The idea of personal data being thought of as a tradable asset is rapidly gaining

momentum in the larger public discourse, and the topic this paper sets out to research is the

examination of the economic, social, and ethical issues pertaining to personal data markets. The

authors focus specifically on the privacy challenges that are raised in the emerging personal data

marketplace, hoping to shine a light on this pertinent issue.

Why Personal Data Markets Matter

“Personal data is the new oil of the Internet and the currency of the digital world.” The

authors open the article by quoting the former European Commissioner for Consumer Protection,

Meglena Kuneva, to illustrate the importance of data in the digital economy. This idea of

comparing personal data to an easily identifiable commodity such as oil is a great way for the

authors of this article to get their point across to the layman.

There is a growing consensus in the business community that the sectors most heavily

involved in the commoditization of personal data will zoom past the rest of the economy in the

coming years. Indeed, the World Economic Forum has determined that personal data is a new

asset class due to its potential for creating added value for stakeholders. They’ve noted some key

use cases for companies to leverage personal data:

● Reduce search costs for products via personalized and collaborative filtering of offerings

● Lower transactions for themselves and consumers

● Conduct a more thorough risk analysis on customers

● Increase advertising returns through more robust targeting

● Collect, clean, analyze, and packaging of data is in and of itself a lucrative market
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On the other hand, data also comes with its own set of challenges. For example, there

exists a huge liability that comes with the legal uncertainty surrounding the proper protection and

management of personal data. Because there is no semblance of global standards when it comes

to this, it is difficult for compliance teams to efficiently navigate through the evolving legal

landscape with regard to personal data management. Moreover, because data is seen as the new

oil, holders of large amounts of data become prime targets for cybercriminals.

Personal Data Markets and Their Challenges

When the idea of creating personal data markets first arose, many in the research

community argued that people’s privacy concerns and their various legal rights to privacy would

be a hurdle to overcome if personal data was to be treated as an asset class. Despite this, the

market for data is developing in the opposite direction, with firms often operating in legal grey

areas, especially when it comes to harvesting data.

Intertwined Legal and Economic Challenges

Perhaps the most salient legal and economic challenge is achieving asset class status in

order to be able to enforce the rights that come with this privilege. The authors point out that we

must deal with the fact that, in many ways, data has the traits of a free commons. Personal data is

inherently non-rival, cheap to produce, cheap to copy, and cheap to transmit. This clearly

differentiates data from other commodities such as gold or oil. For any proper marketplace to

arise, we’d have to rely on a legal framework that establishes alienability, rivalry and

excludability, and assign initial ownership to an entity such as the data subject. That is, every

individual is sovereign over the data they directly produce, be it biometric or browser history.
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Social and Ethical Challenges

The authors raise some interesting social and ethical concerns, as it pertains to the

“propertization” of personal data, in this article. They correctly point out that there is massive

disagreement between different cultures on whether people’s lives (aggregated by the trail of

data they leave behind) should be considered property.

They then pose a series of questions to the reader:

● Can personal data really evolve to become an asset for people?

● Can people develop a psychology of ownership for their data in the same way they do for

tangible assets?

● Will people not want to continue freely communicate online, chat, talk, post and provide

their data?

● Due to heterogeneous preferences when it comes to privacy, will the desire to remain

private disadvantage some people in personal data markets more than others who are

more willing to sacrifice their privacy.

A Final Outlook on Personal Data Markets

Given the concerns laid out above, the authors provide their solution: Companies that

collect and trade their customers’ personal data should “go back to more trustworthy

relationships with their customers.” One way to do this is to give their users the ability to “opt-

in” to the packaging and sharing of their personal data with third parties.
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Quality of the Research

Is the research question or objective clearly Yes, the question and objective is clearly

stated? stated throughout the entire paper.

Is the research question interesting and This topic is emerging as perhaps the most

important? important of our time.

Is the work original? Yes

Is the background research clear and relevant? The background research is very much clear

and relevant, it set the tone for the rest of the

paper.

Are there any ethical problems? As always with discussing normative values

on what we should or should not do with

sensitive personal data, there comes a degree

of ethical grayness, but the issue should not be

out of scope of public discourse.

The Research Method

Summarize the research method: Observe trends and historical data, make

assumptions based off of that.

Does the research method seem appropriate Yes

for the research question?

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Are the methods adequately described? Yes

Were the analyses done correctly? Yes

Are the conclusions supported by the data? Yes

Quality of Presentation

Is the work well presented? Yes, easy on the eye, proper headings, font

colors and sizes etc.

Is the paper well structured? Yes, every section is clearly labeled and built

off each other.

Are symbols, terms, and concepts adequately Yes

defined?

Would additional tables or figures help to I am of the belief that there can never be too

clarify the work? many tables or figures,so, yes, any additional

charts would help clarify the work.

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White Paper 1

Software developer Citrix and Google partner up to support businesses in their ongoing

digital transformation efforts by integrating Citrix’s existing workspace infrastructure with G

Suite and the Google Cloud Platform. Citrix is trying to alleviate the mounting pressure put on

CIOs as firms rapidly attempt to modernize and digitize every aspect of running a business.

Currently there is a mismatch between available market solutions and software packages that

effectively streamline a top-to-bottom digital transformation. This endeavour is an interesting

problem to tackle because of how crucial it is for legacy businesses to update their workflows in

order to better compete in this modern age.

In their White Paper, Where Innovation Gets to Work, Citrix presents some startling

research regarding the share of responsibility for key digital transformation aspects between

CIOs and CEOs. According to the research done by the IBG Study, on top of ensuring the daily

operational needs of the IT infrastructure are met, CIOs are increasingly being tasked with

leading the efforts in key digital transformation aspects such as: Data security and protection

strategy, Roadmap development, Workforce strategy, Determining the metrics of success.

Moreover, when the IBG Study polled CIOs across different sectors, 88% said their role is

“becoming more digital and innovation focused”, while 73% said that it is “challenging to find

the right balance between business innovation and operational excellence” and 71% said that IT

is “under too much pressure to keep up with unrealistic demands.” These polls indicate that

businesses are placing the burden of digital transformation on CIOs and their IT departments.

Citrix’s solution is to offer firms a completely integrated one-stop workspace application where

employees can log in with their credentials and have access everything they need. This product

streamlines the company's workflow by unifying all the enterprise software and apps in one
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centralized platform that can be tailored to individual employees based on their workload.

Instead of the inherent scatteredness that comes with downloading and installing a host of

separate apps and programs, Citrix allows remote web access to these programs via the Cloud,

thus allowing for a greater degree of centralization which in turn streamlines organizational

workflows. Lastly, by running the enterprise software on remote servers, Citrix removes the

headache of having to secure each and every terminal in case of a breach.

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White Paper 2

Technology company IPsoft touts the advantages of integrating an AI-enabled cognitive

agent into existing IT service desk strategies in their White Paper, The Cognitive-Enabled IT

Service Desk: Driving Agent Scalability Through AI. IPsoft outlines the most daunting

challenges facing IT decision-makers, namely having IT service agents take on a higher volume

of service requests at a greater level of complexity while maintaining operating costs low.

The company claims that up until now, IT executives have tried tackling the issue by

making use of technology that increases the number of calls each individual agent can take, such

as intelligent call routing and web call back systems. However, even with the marginal increase

in overall efficiency and productivity, service desk managers have not been able to lower the

overall cost of the operation because there appears to be a bottleneck in the agents’ capability to

handle above a certain volume of queries. Because of this, it has become increasingly difficult

for IT service desk teams to hit their benchmarks with consistency, thus causing a cascading

effect of lowering morale which inevitably leads to high turnover in employees. Attempting to

retain and/or retrain employees in this kind of environment puts a serious financial burden on

businesses. Indeed, having to spend so much on human capital just to inefficiently maintain

these operational processes becomes an incredibly unenviable task.

The company sets out to solve the problem the IT service industry has in scaling the

number of successful solution outcomes in both customer-facing and employee-facing IT service

desk operations by introducing to the reader its featured product: An AI live-chat agent known as

Amelia. According the IPsoft, Amelia is able to interact like a real person without using static

scripts, is capable of discriminating between relevant and necessary data and can identify user

intent based on experience by using a proprietary machine learning algorithm.

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IPsoft lays out a two-pronged approach to the radical shift in strategy they say is needed

to break through the bottleneck mentioned above, and their product offering is well positioned to

meet the demands of both. The first approach is to focus on text chat over voice calls when

servicing requests. IPsoft cites the SDI study claiming that 75% of end users regularly use chat

for IT help desk interactions. Owing to this shift in popularity, texting and emailing has become

the go-to method of communication both inside and outside of the workplace. Furthermore, live

chatting allows for a more immediate response than traditional phone calls, thus further

increasing the scalability of successful servicing solutions.

The second approach suggested by the White Paper is to increase what they term as the

“industrialization of cognitive technologies.” In other words, make the presence of enterprise-

grade artificial intelligence technologies ubiquitous in the workplace. The main advantage of this

approach is that AI’s are not bound by physical limitations in the same way a human is.

Therefore, given enough time, the machine learning algorithm trained in natural language

processing should be able to maintain a conversation with a human user that would be

indistinguishable from a person-to-person conversation.

Overall, IPsoft’s whitepaper on their Amelia product offering is clear and concise. They

effectively communicated the market problem and provided an easy to implement strategy in

order to deal with it. Moreover, there was plenty of informational graphics that help the reader

understand the scope of the problem and exactly how their preferred method is the solution you

should choose.
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Webinar Review

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMvqAje84ms

The webinar is titled “What Your Information System Can Do For You Now!” and is

mainly concerned on how to implement a functioning Information System to fulfill consumer

demand while streamlining the value chain and maximizing return on investment. The presenter

is Robert McKee, part of the senior management team at cloudsuite application provider Fortude.

The target audience is business professionals and IT decision makers who are looking to

integrate an enterprise-level software suite to streamline their information systems. The topics

covered in this webinar are:

● The changing state of consumer products

● Who is currently changing the consumer products industry?

● How to efficiently fulfill customer demands

● Why systems are crucial to the consumer industry

The Changing State of Consumer Products

Dynamic and fundamental changes are happening all around us, while consumer

demands have always driven the market forward, we’ve reached an unprecedented level of

consumer power. However, many firms use yesterday’s logic to solve the problems of today, and

because of this they struggle to adjust to the shifts in consumer behavior.

Who Is Currently Changing the Consumer Products Industry

Those who are responding best to the consumer are leading the pack, these game

changers are the companies that are best positioned to thrive in the modern marketplace. The
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presenter uses companies like Amazon, Zara, and Everlane as examples of companies that have

responded well to consumer demands and point to their profitability as an illustration of this

successful method.

How to Efficiently Fulfill Customer Demands

McKee says that, “Consumers want what they want, not necessarily just what we want

them to want” and consumers have recognized that they gave the power to change the entire

value chain to satisfy their wishes. He points out that the recent shift towards curation is a perfect

example of consumers exerting their demands and decision makers in businesses reflecting their

demands by offering a host of curated product selection.

Why Systems Are Crucial to the Consumer Industry

In today’s ultra competitive landscape, businesses need to act on information faster than

ever before, and those decisions have to be as accurate as possible. This is where a robust

information system is crucial to data gathering. McKay tells us that when it comes to

information, businesses become the consumer, so they must apply the same mantra of “You want

what you want - when you want it - in the manner you want to receive it.” It its critically

important for businesses to seek out as much data as possible, whether from first-hand collection

or via third-party providers. He closes the presentation by saying that the only thing that can

affect better decision making is more faster access to a more robust information system.

Overall, this short webinar was very informative and well presented. One can easily tell

that the speaker is very knowledgeable on the subject due to his vast experience in the field. His
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expertise really shone through on every slide as he was incredibly comfortable in explaining his

thought processes.
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Video Material
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Conclusion

The modern business landscape is moving rapidly into the digital world and being stored

on the internet, because of this phenomenon it is important that decision-makers are kept up-to-

date with any and all innovations in the industry. There is now a greater focus on data as a

commodity, and this document has reviewed two theoretical papers dealing in depth with this

subject. In addition, we looked at two white papers from organizations using information to

provide solutions for the IT departments of businesses. We’ve drawn the conclusion that

information systems are rapidly approaching the top spot in terms of importance in the business

stack, and it would be wise for stakeholders to be as well informed as possible when it comes to

this industry. If not, they will wither on the vine and ball behind the rest of their peers.

References
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Acquisti, A. (2010). The economics of personal data and the economics of privacy. Background

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Bruder, Jessica. “What if Web Users Could Sell Their Own Data?” The New York Times, Oct.

2, 2012, https://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/what-if-web-users-could-sell-their-own-

data/

Bean, Randy “Big Data Analytics: The Currency of the 21st Century Enterprise,” Sept. 10, 2012,

http://www.information-management.com/news/big-data-analytics-the-currency-of-the-21st-

century-enterprise-10023139-1.html

Hong, W., & Thong, J. Y. L. (2013). Internet privacy concerns: an integrated conceptualization

and four empirical studies. MIS Quarterly, 37(1), 275–298.

John, L., Acquisti, A., & Loewenstein, G. (2011). Strangers on a plane: context-dependent

willingness to divulge personal information. Journal of Consumer Research, 37(5), 858–873.

Spiekermann, S., Acquisti, A., Böhme, R., & Hui, K.-L. (2015). The challenges of personal data

markets and privacy. Electronic Markets, 25(2), 161–167. doi: 10.1007/s12525-015-0191-0