London School of Commerce

In association with the University of Suffolk

Individual Report

Course Name: BABS Foundation

Student Name:

Student ID:

Submission date: 30th May, 2022.

Word Count: 2268

 Abstract

As we can see, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become the most

important aspect in the current period. The individual assignment will emphasize the role ICT

plays in digital business. In the introduction section, we will first introduce ICT and then

explore how ICT assisted businesses throughout the epidemic. In the literature review section

of this assignment, I will cover the definitions, usage, pros, and cons of the following topics:

collaboration tools, cloud storage, cloud computing, security, and privacy. The following

section is Analysis and Discussion, in which I will talk about two collaboration tools, cloud,

and how they benefited companies throughout the epidemic, as well as how they became the

lifesavers for organizations. In this study, I will also explore the private internet in the United

Kingdom, as well as the merits and problems of the U.K. private internet.

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 Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4

Literature Review.......................................................................................................................6

Collaboration Tools................................................................................................................6

Cloud storage.........................................................................................................................8

Cloud computing..................................................................................................................10

Privacy and Security............................................................................................................13

Analysis and Discussion..........................................................................................................15

Privacy & Security Threats in Business...............................................................................15

Prevention of Privacy & Security from Threats in Business...............................................15

Private vs Public Internet.....................................................................................................16

Collaboration tools...............................................................................................................17

ProofHub:.........................................................................................................................17

Zoom................................................................................................................................19

Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................21

Reference List..........................................................................................................................22

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 Introduction

The full meaning of ICT is Information and Communication Technologies which refers to a

set of technological resources and tools and by using these tools and resources, users can

create, store, transmit and share information.

ICT’s main focus in business is to reach mass customers and gain higher profit in a short

time. Using different ICT-controlled equipment, it is feasible to create more in less time. This

reduces the cost of creation. Product promotions may be distributed all over the world via the

internet, and ads for products or services can be pushed at a minimal cost or for free via blogs

or social networking sites. Database software of many forms may be used to maintain product

inventories, customer information, and correct accounts (Hudson, 2002).

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During Corona Pandemic, all businesses, big and small, are hit hard. That is when online

business became very popular. People start businesses through different pages and websites.

The inclusion of ICT in digital marketing or online business coronation has come as a

blessing in disguise which has saved many entrepreneurs from losses.

This assignment's literature review covers collaborative tools, cloud storage, cloud

computing, security, and privacy. In the Analysis and discussion, I will speak about two

collaboration tools, cloud, and how they helped firms throughout the outbreak. In addition, I

plan to examine the advantages and drawbacks of the UK's private internet in this research.

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 Literature Review

Collaboration Tools

Collaboration is a well-known working method for achieving company goals and objectives.

Individuals utilize collaboration as a method for collaborating with one another.

Usages of Collaboration Tools

Collaboration tools assist individuals in working together. Tools like these are designed to

help a group of two or more people work together to achieve goals and objectives. It may be

used in classrooms, enterprises, and workplaces (Wallace, 2021).

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Advantages:

 Quick communication

 Provides high security

 Project Management

 Save time

 Hold virtual meetings

Disadvantages:

 Expensive cost

 Sometimes it difficult to adopt

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is a kind of cloud computing that stores and maintains data through the usage

of the internet. Users may access the stored data at any time and from any location.

Usages of Cloud Storage

Data and files can be stored in the cloud and accessed remotely through the internet

connection. When data is sent for storage to the third-party cloud provider, the company has

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no right to control its own data.

Sustainability & Application of Cloud storage

In order to test and develop an application, cloud storage is the best choice. With very low

capital and investment, a company can use cloud storage to store its data and information.

People are now able to manage their resources, create backups, and share their data from any

location with the assistance of cloud storage. Additionally, it offers standardized interfaces,

which will be useful to many other network services. The B-cloud system is a cloud storage

solution that was built in-house. A data connection to the internet is required in order to save

data and files in a cloud storage service. When data is transmitted to a third-party cloud

provider for storage, the firm that originally owned the data is no longer in control of the data

after it is stored there.

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Advantages of Cloud Storage:

 Higher Data Security

 Cheap Cost

 Automatic Back-up

 Access Data from anywhere.

Disadvantages of Cloud Storage:

 Lack of central authority

 Need Internet to access.

Cloud computing

Cloud computing provides many services through the internet, including servers, data

storage, databases, networking, and software.

Uses of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has recently become one of the most exciting technologies in the world of

computers. Everything in current information technology depends on this cloud. Cloud

computing has started a new revolution in the world of computers, both economically and

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technologically. We've been involved with cloud computing for a long time (Linthicum,

2018). For example, almost all of us use Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail to use email. If you have

an email account, you can use Gmail from anywhere, anytime, from any device. Cloud

computing is being used in many fields like Picasa, the weather of the world or the census of

a country, huge data management, scientific or business.

Advantage

 Public, private, or hybrid storage offers can be chosen depending on security and

other considerations.

 Having an internet connection can be used to access the required applications or data

from anywhere.

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  Due to the network backup of cloud computing, hardware failure does not result in

data loss.

 Cloud computing uses remote resources, and saves servers and other necessary

database organizations.

 Cloud-based solutions are suitable for enterprises with variable or extended

bandwidth requirements.

 You can save projects online and access them if you need to use cloud computing for

business. This will make the database and other files more secure.

 More reliable and secure system.

 Activities can be easily monitored. As a result, activities can be managed in line with

the budget and time.

 One of the great benefits of cloud computing is that it allows many people to share or

use information together.

Disadvantage

 There is always a risk that a user’s data may be accessed by other people (hacking).

 Cloud computing is dependent on the Internet. This means that you must be connected

to the Internet to use it.

 There is No control over data, information or programs, or applications.

 Cloud computing companies sometimes fail to provide adequate customer support.

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  The service is interrupted due to weather or internet connection.

Privacy and Security

Privacy refers to regulating your personal information and how it is used. Any data that may

be used to identify you is considered personal data. Cyber security is an important aspect of

technology that protects networks, devices, programs, and data while also preventing illegal

access. As we know that huge amount of data is collected and stored in personal computers

and other gadgets, for this reason we have to ensure network security. Situation will go

unfavorably impact if significant data (such as monetary, personal data, government data)

will have unapproved access or exposure (Cleary and Felici, 2015).

Many companies send sensitive information across computer networks and other electronic

devices using cyber security when doing business. This term refers to the practice of ensuring

the safety of data and the technologies that are used to create or store it. In the business

world, some companies ensure data privacy and security when companies exchange sensitive

information. Cyber assaults are considered the best dangers to national security, indeed fear-

based oppression. Cyber security ought to be given significance.

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Privacy & Security challenges in Business:

There is a chance that recent political changes in the United States might lead to a national

privacy legislation than corporations. According to attorney Tomu Johnson of Parsons Behle

& Latimer, the recent democratic victories in the White House, the House of Representatives,

and the Senate might lead to changes to current privacy legislation (Cleary and Felici, 2015).

Businesses may also have to go back to fix any remaining data security risks caused by the

fast shift to remote work that happened in 2020. An executive of the Expedia Group, Mike

Russell, predicts that organizations would have to focus on infrastructure issues, including

keeping up with the most recent software patches, to reduce security attacks' risks.

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 Analysis and Discussion

Privacy & Security Threats in Business

Here, I will discuss about the threats that businesses faced during pandemic.

 Fraud or other illegal activity can be committed by hostile staff, because work from

home is less monitoring and technology restrictions in place than office.

 The activities of hacktivists increase the dangers to computer systems and network

infrastructure.

 Script kiddies are testing and developing cyberattack packages in many businesses.

 Hackers are knowing that the existing data security measures are "not suitable for

purpose" or are not robust enough to stop successful assaults (Impact of COVID-19 on

Cybersecurity, 2022).

Prevention of Privacy & Security from Threats in Business

To prevent the privacy and security threats in businesses during COVID19 pandemic, in the

below I mention some steps and those are:

 In order to prevent the low level of privacy and security attacks, employees should

use malware and antivirus software in their devices.

 Organizations can be preventing cyber-attacks by using VPN (Impact of COVID-19

on Cybersecurity, 2022)

 Employees should be aware when receiving emails.

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 Private vs Public Internet

In the next part, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a local private

internet network in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom has been active in developing

and growing the internet from its inception. Fiber optics, cable networks, and wireless

connections are some of the private internet access methods that have been made available in

the United Kingdom's residential and business regions (Kara, 2017).

The benefits of the Private Local Network:

 Provides Higher Security

 Availability of Network

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  No monthly fees

 Can be Customized

 Better control

Challenges of the Private Local Network:

 Limitation of Bandwidth

 Sometime speed can be slower in bad weather

 Higher Implementation cost

Collaboration tools

In this section, I will discuss two collaboration tools (such as ProofHub and Zoom) in the

below:

ProofHub:

ProofHub is a virtual collaboration tool and software. It has all essential features and by using

those, people can manage projects.

Uses of ProofHub:

People use this for the group project, where the project break into tasks and those tasks

divided in group members. By using Kanban boards, people can see the tasks moving through

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different stages of the project and with the help of grant chart, people can see are the tasks

finished on time or not.

ProofHub's Advantages

 Collaborative features consisting of messaging, mentions, announcements, and email

are included.

 Organizing features such as calendar, project templates, request forms, notes

 Delivering Features

 Unlimited users

 Easy and fast communication

 All the features available in one place

ProofHub's Disadvantages:

 No budget function has in ProofHub

 It takes time to load.

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 ProofHub’s impact on business during the pandemic

Organizations had managed remote employees during the pandemic. It was essential for

employees to keep in touch with their teams. ProofHub is an easier collaboration tool that

helps employees with instant communication.

The instant messaging facilities provided by ProofHub allowed staff members to

communicate crucial information to one another in a timely manner, both sending it and

receiving it. The managers of the large projects made use of Kanban boards to break the

projects down into various phrases and then allocate those phrases to the appropriate teams.

The Grant chart is just another incredible tool that can be found in ProofHub. The manager

was able to keep an accurate record of the working hour thanks to the grant chart. ProofHub

assisted businesses throughout the pandemic in maintaining a constant workflow, which

allowed the majority of those firms to continue to make a profit despite the economic crisis.

Zoom

Zoom is also a collaboration tool that provides video conferencing service.

Uses of Zoom: Zoom is utilized for many purposes, such as webinars, virtual meetings, video

demos, video conferences, and online training (Video Conferencing, Cloud Phone, Webinars,

Chat, Virtual Events | Zoom, 2022).

Advantages

 Provides high quality audio and video

 Ensure users’ security and privacy

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  Free collaboration without any hassle.

Disadvantages

 High Pricing

 Few features

Zoom’s impact on business during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in an economic slump, compelled all of us to

devise innovative strategies to carry out our jobs to protect the general population. In order to

maintain continuity, many individuals have turned to collaboration tools; among these

resources, Zoom is one of the solutions that let people work from home. In order to examine

the economic impact that remote work and video communications technologies had during

the epidemic, Zoom commissioned the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to undertake a

survey and economic study. The poll focused on determining which sectors were successful

in reorienting their business processes through the use of video conferencing, which led to

continued business operations and even expansion in the face of major economic upheaval.

According to the findings of a survey that was carried out by BCG in the year 2020, it was

discovered that managers are more open to flexible remote working models than they were

before the pandemic. The survey was administered to business managers in the year 2020 (A

Story of Agility and Innovation: Findings from the Impact of Video Communications During

COVID-19 Report, 2022).

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 Conclusion:

Creating, storing, transmitting, and sharing information are all integral components of ICT.

During the COVID19 epidemic, the business sector gains enormously from the use of

information and communications technology. Throughout the outbreak, organizations were

responsible for managing distant staff. It is essential for employees to maintain

communication with their colleagues; however, with the assistance of collaboration tools,

employees are able to interact immediately with one another. During the COVID-19

outbreak, the majority of dangers to both security and privacy have gotten increasingly

severe.  Hackers are improving techniques and create new malware, and target business

organizations so that they can get benefits in this situation. Stuffs should have to maintain

strong cyber hygiene in their devices as they work from home during this crisis. It is

imperative that companies strengthen their IT departments in order to protect their privacy

and security.

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 Reference List

Cleary, F. and Felici, M., 2015. Cyber Security and Privacy. Cham: Springer International

Publishing.

Deloitte Switzerland. 2022. Impact of COVID-19 on Cybersecurity. [online] Available at:

<https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/risk/articles/impact-covid-cybersecurity.html>

[Accessed 20 May 2022].

Hudson, B., 2002. Information & communication technology. 3rd ed. Chichester: Liberty

Hall.

Kara, A., 2017. Private-to-private communications over the internet. Computer, 37(5), pp.53-

59.

Linthicum, D., 2018. Approaching Cloud Computing Performance. IEEE Cloud Computing,

5(2), pp.33-36.

Projectpractical.com. 2022. [online] Available at:

<https://www.projectpractical.com/proofhub-review-pros-cons-must-read-before-purchase/>

[Accessed 20 May 2022].

Wallace, V., 2021. Dig into Information Literacy with Tools of Collaboration. IASL Annual

Conference Proceedings.

Wheeler, A. and Michael Winburn, 2017. Cloud Storage Security. 6th ed. Elsevier Science.

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Zoom Blog. 2022. A Story of Agility and Innovation: Findings from the Impact of Video

Communications During COVID-19 Report. [online] Available at:

<https://blog.zoom.us/findings-from-the-impact-of-video-communications-during-covid-19-

report/> [Accessed 20 May 2022].

Zoom Video Communications. 2022. Video Conferencing, Cloud Phone, Webinars, Chat,

Virtual Events | Zoom. [online] Available at: <https://zoom.us/> [Accessed 20 May 2022].

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