IMPACT OF IT SYSTEMS ON BUSINESS:

In 2008, the relevance of IT in the field of business was somewhat negligible compared to its
significance today. It cannot be put under the term of non-existent as there were IT professionals in all
major industrial companies but they weren’t having that immense stature or the most dependable
characteristic in the workplace, they were considered as the unproductive machine repairers and they
were given the name of so-called uninteresting nerds or book worms. With time, the revolution in IT
sector changed the dynamics of business and the IT experts gained their respect and made a massive
place for their own division in the workplace which led to a global level impact on business and
service industries that embarked new heights in profitability, investment and expansion.
Taking the example of Shinsei Bank, Japan under consideration, their vision was to create rapid
business development through an open source, and the challenges they faced were very important to
be addressed while simultaneous efficient functioning of work was carried out. The challenge was to
change and improve the engine of the plane while it was mid-air. As a result, there were various steps
taken in all sectors that not only consisted of extreme programming and customer satisfaction, but
also outsourcing strategies and business experiments. Taking that approach results in rigid, costly
systems that are outdated from the day they are turned on. What's needed for today's businesses is IT
that serves not only as a platform for existing operations but also as a launchpad for new functions
and businesses. They formulated a plan for revolutionizing retail banking in Japan by offering a value
proposition that was unique in the country at that time that is high-quality products and services
provided on a convenient, easy-to-use, low-cost basis. The strategy called for Shensei to offer services
that were then uncommon in Japan, including ATMs available 24/7 free of charge, internet banking,
online foreign-exchange trading, online bilingual banking, and quick service supported by real-time
database reconciliation and also adopted the policy of deriving competitive advantage not only at the
internal customer level but also externally to other alternative competitors by giving additional
features to the Shensei bank account holders in the particular bank’s ATM branch which was a new
and innovative idea and famously preferred by the customers as it increased convenience. Basically,
the bank provided the customers with great functionality at a fraction the cost. The system database
was also upgraded to allow no failure stemming which could lead to leaks of sensitive information of
the clients, hence a sophisticated memory management and debugging tool was prescribed to prevent
all kinds of leaks. The major challenge was to convince the masses as not everyone wanted to be
involved into IT, and it was important for consumers to accept and use it.  In this article, the authors
present a path-based approach that addresses the primary challenges of IT: the difficulty and expense
of mapping out all requirements before a project starts because people often cannot specify everything
that they need beforehand; the other unanticipated needs that almost always arise once a system is in
operation; and the tricky task of persuading people to use and "own" it. Japan's Shinsei Bank emerged
during the authors' research as a standout among the companies applying the path-based method. The
firm designed, built, and rolled out its system by forging together, not just aligning, business and IT
strategies; employing the simplest possible technology; making the system truly modular; letting it
sell itself to users; and ensuring that users influence future improvements. Some of the principles are
variations on old themes, while others turn the conventional wisdom on its head. They also had an
upper hand after they got rescued from the ashes of the archaic of Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
They transformed the whole banking system by building a new system rather than packaged software.
An open source and off the shelf technology was created by using mixing method. Some of the other
results that Shensei bank was able to accomplish were improvement of design which did not provide
access to functionality immediately but gradually. The services were made available to the consumers
with one-fourth of the lead-time and ten percent of the cost basic packaged solution. Taking all these
changes into effective implementation, they were able to achieve the rank of number one in customer
services in Japan in just two years. The management of the bank had to follow certain principles with
discipline to attain such glory, one of which was to use rapid, incremental improvement rather than
bringing about complete change at once which would again cause confusion and mismanagement as
the staff would face difficulty with familiarity with the new systems and terms. They also adopted the
use of technology for solving human problems by replicating the old systems as the subsets of the
new system, introducing new double-sided screens for the tellers and also working on the outsourcing
strategy. Dvivedi and his team create an architecture that would allow Shinsei to address business
issues then break it down into its constituent pieces and would then determine a technology solution
for each one. The solutions are, instilling two internet connections from two different providers that
uptime from the network connection. Staggered reboot at frequent intervals to solve memory leaks.
Developed reusable module that able to use from other projects in Shinsei. Apply modularity to
clearly specify user interfaces by applied modular architecture that accelerating the speed of
development and make it easier to upgrade the technology. Modular structure simply replaces one part
without affecting the rest. Also allowed to change its IT without having to risk upsetting customers.
General Managers need to be sure that the IT staff understands the business in the organization and
this can be done by having the head of IT report to the CEO. Business managers also need to have an
understanding of what IT can do by focusing on the foreseeable business objectives, not the existing
environment. Managers must build an IT strategy that fits them. The way to do this is to have constant
interaction between the business and IT groups about business goals and IT decisions and constraints.
Other concerns like customer resource management, enterprise resource management were also
addressed and given an important preference.
Since its introduction into business, IT has had significant impact in making business activities easier
for individuals by decreasing human efforts and increasing convenience, by taking small step-by-step
improvement measures reaching a level of complete dependence as major business models of
companies IT based, as a result the demand for experts and technology systems has reached an all
time high. The rise of information technology has paved the way for various innovations. With the
digitization of information, more and more businesses are increasingly leveraging the benefits of
digital tools to improve their prospects. Information technology has been crucial in turning this
process into a sustainable and economical business endeavour. Information technology has
dramatically transformed the lives of individuals. It provides businesses the scope to analyse data and
plan business strategies accordingly. Utilizing information technology means that the data analysis is
accurate, thus optimizing profits.
Information Technology has had major impact on various business aspects, some of which are,
Cloud Computing.
The concept of cloud computing is immensely popular among businesses owing to the efficiency in
business operations that it provides. Cloud computing utilizes information technology to capitalize on
its ability to provide improved agility and time and resource management for businesses. Increasingly,
businesses are shifting to the cloud computing to leverage its many benefits. It has been predicted that
more than 1 trillion dollars will be impacted on IT systems by the transition of businesses to cloud
computing by 2020.
Automation of Business Processes
The movement towards increased automation of business processes has gained traction over the years.
It improves efficiency and increases workflow considerably. Information technology helps in
developing automated processes critical for business efficiency. This not only helps in reducing the
cost of operation but also saves time. The time saved can be utilized to focus on other tasks, thus
speeding up business processes significantly. Processes like billing, tracking metrics, collecting
customer data, monitoring certain processes etc. can be automated easily. There is numerous
automation software that can be utilized for this purpose.
Working Remotely
Implementation of information technology provides the ability to remotely access your company’s
network, throw on a headset, and get things done with your team. As a result, it equips employees
with the ability to get the work done even if they are not physically present at the workplace.
Mobile Technology
Mobile technology has picked up momentum owing to its convenience, efficiency and speed. With
the rise in the popularity of information technology, implementation of mobile technology has gained
ground quickly. The trend of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is on the rise owing to increased
employee satisfaction. As many as 74 percent of the organization are already utilizing this trend or
plan on doing so in the future. In fact, the BYOD market is estimated to reach $181.39 billion by
2017. Mobile technology takes business communication to a whole new level. A mobile team can
improve the workplace productivity considerably. There are numerous ways to integrate mobile
technology in the workplace. In fact, chances are, your employees are already using it.
Protecting Information
Every organization has a mammoth database comprising various information related to business
transactions, client details and so on. Such information is extremely valuable to a business and can
cause a host of legal issues if it is lost. This is where information technology becomes relevant. It
provides the right resources to store the information in a way that ensures maximum protection.
Virtual storage systems can keep information safe by allowing a limited number of users to access
these. Increased protection also ensures that these systems are not hacked and the information is not
wiped out owing to some problems. Therefore, information technology helps in upholding business
integrity.
Providing Customer Satisfaction
Customer experience and satisfaction are crucial aspects of all businesses. The key to customer
satisfaction is a strong customer support team and its availability to cater to the requirements of the
customers. Information technology provides the best tools for communicating with customers and
solving their problems in real time. It has unlocked the facilities like email, social media and other
messaging platforms for this purpose. A happy customer-base is important for the growth of a
business. Various cloud-based communication channels have made customer experience more
improved. Help desk software can also improve the support experience. A ticketing system can
streamline the entire process and not only improve employee workflow but also provide more
accurate and timely support. An automated system is the ideal solutions for handling tickets as it
eliminates common errors, delays, and misdirected requests by turning service requests and alerts into
tickets. Even the most dedicated representatives can handle only so much. High volumes, coupled
with limited resources, can result in poor experiences for your internal customers. It seems clear that
help desk technology is a worthwhile investment for any organization. Additionally, you can also pick
and choose which features are most relevant to monitoring performance, ticket status, as well as
satisfaction. All of this allows you to modify the software to integrate seamlessly into your existing
strategy.
Management of Resources
A business has a variety of resources. These may include financial resources, human resources and so
on. For large organizations, managing resources becomes quite difficult. Information technology
plays a vital role in managing these resources effortlessly by introducing a wide range of feasible
solutions. For example, the integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has improved the
efficiency of various business processes. ERP is a business management software that enables an
organization to use a series of integrated applications that can manage and automate various business
operations. Information technology is at the core of such software. The implementation of ERP is
progressing at a rapid rate with more and more businesses implementing this efficient technology to
make certain business processes hassle-free.
Open-Source Software
Information technology has paved the way for various open-source software that allow free usage of
certain tools for various organizations. The primary benefit of open-source software is its flexible
license. This allows modifications to the source code. This means that you have the facility to
customize its functions according to your requirements. Almost every software that businesses use has
open-source variants that are widely available on the Internet. Utilizing these could mean multiple
benefits at reduced expenses. Such benefits of the increased implementation of information
technology have provided businesses with competitive advantages. What matters most is, how
businesses are utilizing this technology to maximize their profits and ensure long-term success. Done
right, this can help your business scale new heights.