Management Information Systems DMA II-16 Ma Eaindray Oo 29 June 2021

1. Digital strategy focuses on using technology to improve business performance, whether that
means creating new products or reimagining current processes. It specifies the direction an
organization will take to create new competitive advantages with technology, as well as the
tactics it will use to achieve these changes. What are key components of a digital strategy for
an organization to achieve competitive advantages? Discuss.

Digital strategy focuses on using technology to improve business performance, whether

that means creating new products or reimagining current processes. It specifies the direction an
organization will take to create new competitive advantages with technology, as well as the
tactics it will use to achieve these changes. This usually includes changes to business models, as
new technology makes it possible for innovative companies to provide services that weren’t
previously possible.

Today, technology has integrated with business to become something more than hardware
or software. As digital technology becomes more pervasive and companies move further in the
journey of digital transformation, digital strategy and business strategy will be the same thing.
For now, it is still useful to use the term “digital strategy” to focus the effort behind digital
initiatives.

It’s important to remember that digital strategy is both a concept and a thing — that is, a
digital strategy should eventually lead to the creation of a concrete plan or roadmap. While you
can keep changing the specific tactics you’ve decided to pursue, there should also be a clear
commitment to your understanding of what digital means for your company.

As an example, say your digital strategy (ultimate goal) is to monetize basic productivity
software that your business has already developed and uses internally. At first, you lay out a
strategy (plan) to package it as a mobile app and sell it to individual users. Later, you realize that
it has more value if you sell it to businesses to incorporate into their own mobile apps. Your
strategy (ultimate goal) didn’t change, but your strategy (plan) did. Changing the guiding idea of
your digital strategy should amount to a big shift or reorientation for your company, but ideally,
the concrete steps will be flexible enough to allow you to pivot as needed.

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The 9 key components of a digital strategy are:

• Online presence. Your online presence refers to how and where the community and other
businesses see your business online.
• Digital marketing.
• Selling online.
• Customer interaction.
• Online security.
• Supplier interaction.
• Mobile-based solutions.
• Efficiencies through technology.

Digital strategy, on the other hand, focuses on technology, not culture. Digital strategy is
most relevant to changes in business models, and uses technology to create the capabilities a
company needs to become a digital business. Setting down a strategy is a key component of the
transformation process, and ensures that technology is being implemented in a way that supports
the business objectives.

Benefit of implementing Digital Business Strategy

Digital business strategies ensure that businesses keep up with the industry yet some people
still doubt its efficacy. This detailed and statistically-based article on the benefits of
implementing a digital business strategy will aim to demonstrate its potential.

1. Real-Time transaction can be achieved with Digital Business Strategies

Mobile phones transactions have become a popular trend because of the
convenience. Nearly 40% of companies have confirmed that they are enabling real-time
transactions according to the report of Economist Intelligence Unit. Implementing this
digital strategy greatly improves customer experience as a 3-day long transaction can be
accomplished instantly with the real-time data processing capability of Blockchain
technology. Costs are minimized, and so are chances of fraud. The opportunity to reach
more people with reduced costs and faster turnaround time is a reality.

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2. Accelerated Product Development

25% of business executives noted the great impact of digital transformation in
accelerating product development. With large volume of data being stored in the cloud,
this can be a primary source of further improvement on products and services the
organization is offering. Such data is advantages in analytics and decision-making
processes. The more data the business has, the better placed it is to capitalize on it and
create stepping stones towards product excellence.

3. Creating and Discovering New Scales Channels

The benefits of social media marketing can be incorporated in the company's
digital platform. With hundreds of millions of users on Facebook alone, the social media
channel for your trade has become established, improving the reach of your business.

4. Better Management Decision through Artificial Intelligence

There are many useful functions that Artificial Intelligence brings to the corporate
world. It can analyze data as well as providing quick, instant responses to customers, and
even automate administrative tasks. Artificial Intelligence may threaten parts of the
human workforce, but it makes the managerial and business processes easier and faster. It
can provide larger amounts of accurate information that are necessary to improve
decision-making for all levels of managers.

5. Easy Acquisition of the right talent & highly skilled workforce

These digital talent platforms deliver transparency and efficiency within the labor
market. Surveys reveal how working from home is increasingly possible with flexible
hours. Technology creates opportunities for stay-at-home mothers and students to work
for even just a few hours in a week. This allows firms to fully maximize the skills of the
population and positively contribute to the economy. The problem of job disparity is less
likely to happen because of online analytical screening procedures, thus assuring the
acquisition of desired skillful workers for the company. Another benefit of digital
business strategy to be considered is how it helps its employees to match suitable jobs
easily.

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6. Increase Market share

From investing in digital transformation, advertising experts have observed a
sustained return on investment because of the increased efficiency in delivering customer
needs and ensuring satisfaction. The market has become fast, convenient and simple
which is what customers want. For example, certain markets such as communications,
automotive and finance have strong shares in category searches over the web, as well as
website traffic. This is possibly due to the increased use of digital devices around the
globe.

7. Better Customer Interaction Through Web and Mobile channel

Simplicity and real-time services are what customers love about businesses
undergoing digital transformation. The countless possibilities for improving customer
relationships through the accessible channels of web and mobile are one of the many
benefits cited by 32% of global executives after witnessing effects of digitalization. This
technological advancement has its main goal set on improving customer experience,
which was made possible through shifting focus onto customer needs, analyzing data
from all customer interactions, and using the results to make meaningful changes.

Common elements of Digital strategy

• Choose a Leader — This is arguably the most important part of creating a digital strategy,
but choosing the right person will depend on company culture, structure and priorities.
Whether companies place leadership with the CEO or an appointed Chief Digital Officer,
the leader’s influence will need to match the scope of digital strategy; otherwise, it will
be difficult to create the full buy-in from each department necessary to make effective
changes.
• Attack vs. Defend — Companies would do well to categorize their potential threats and
opportunities in digital business, then compare these against their own purpose. This
clarifies whether a proactive or defensive stance needs to guide new initiatives.
• Take a Measured Approach — Digital strategy often incorporates a process for assessing
whether new technology will really complement or grow the current business. If you fear
that your company is already behind on digital, it can be tempting to rush into a project

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without looking at how it fits your current strategy. By taking a measured approach, you
can avoid wasting resources on initiatives that don’t align with your business’s needs and
priorities.
• Future Proof — The goal of digital transformation is to create an appropriate foundation
for digital business. This means creating an organization that can continue to reinvent
itself as necessary to keep up with changes in technology and customer expectations.
Digital strategy should be visionary enough to carry companies through changes in the
digital economy, in a way that continues to bring a digital edge to the business.

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2. As futuristic as it sounds, early-stage applications of the Spatial Web or Web 3.0 are already
here. Now is the time for leaders to understand what this next era of computing entails, how
it could transform businesses, and how it can create new value as it unfolds. Discuss Web 3.0
and the next generation of online business.

Web 3.0 is based on “intelligent” web applications using natural language processing,
machine-based learning and reasoning, and intelligent applications. Web 3.0 is the next step in
the evaluation of the Internet and web applications. Business leaders who explore its
opportunities will be the first to market with competitive advantages.

Web 3.0 offer the way for people to describe information such that computers can start to
understand the relationships among concepts and topics.

Applying this type of advantage relationship knowledge to a company can create new
opportunities. After all, businesses run on information. Where Web 2.0 brings people to closer
with information using machines. Web 3.0 brings machines closer together using information.
These new relationships unit people, machines, and information so a business can be smarter,
quicker, more agile and more successful.

It is Web applications, cloud-based services and social networks are making it easier and
easier to create, provide and manage this data. Companies that are committing themselves to the
collection, analysis and application of this information are the one’s who will be the successful.

One goal of Web 3.0 is to tailor online searches and requests specifically to users’
performances and needs. For example, instead of making multiple searches, the user might type a
complex sentence or two in a Web 3.0 browser, such as “I want to see a funny movie and then
eat at a good Mexican restaurant. “What are my options?”. The Web 3.0 browser will analyze the
request, search the web for all possible answers, organize the results and present them to the
user. An example of this might be your computer remembering your tastes and interests, so that
your browser becomes like a personal assistant when you search or look for recommendations.

Most importantly, Web 3.0. is an exponential increase in computer intelligence, to the

point where computers will be able to reason and analyze. But they’ll be better and more
efficient at it.

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Web 3.0 helps a business gain a competitive advantage through its use of semantic
technology, combining information from multiple sources on the web in real time. It helps
identify needs.

The cost to publish content and advertise in a Web 3.0 environment is significantly lower
than trying to have an equal amount if useful reach on traditional media channels. Lowering the
cost of entering into a market encourages small business creation and helps more new small
businesses succeed.

For small business owners, the possibilities for advertising and marketing to potential
customers are with Web 3.0 technology is limitless. More than 78 percent of Myanmar Citizens
have smartphones and that total has been rising by 10% every year for the past three years. And
these mobile devices can be used for listening to the radio, watching TV shows, searching the
internet, shopping, and chatting with friends (oh, right… phone calls, too). And business owners
can advertise to them directly on the device. It’s like people are walking around with little
advertising boxes that are just waiting to receive messages for potential customers.

There are also huge benefits for small business owners in the ways of market research
and advanced segmentation. For good or ill, computers programs are now advanced enough to

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cross-reference, interconnect, process and merge information from different sources to identify
patterns for web traffic, shopping patterns, emerging trends among consumers. This means it’s
much easier for business owners to reach their target audiences in more cost-efficient ways, and
with the advanced data on web browsing habits, it will become easier to craft messages that will
resonate with potential customers. An example of this sort of semantic web can be seen in
Facebook Open Graph. Graph search feature lets user find valuable information about what their
target audiences like and that information can be used to reach the people who are the target
audience for an organization niche. This greatly reduces the start-up costs for new businesses.
The cost to publish content and advertise in a Web 3.0 environment is significantly lower than
trying to have an equal amount of useful reach on traditional media channels. Lowering the cost
of entering into a market encourages small business creation and helps more new small
businesses succeed.

The internet is still growing and there is no reason to believe that business owners have
seen everything that the web can do to increase profitability. Improvements in technology have
reduced the cost to start a business, created new and more effective ways to communicate with
potential customers, and allowed for smarter web systems that provide valuable information to
consumers and sellers alike. As Web 3.0 technology becomes more prevalent, entrepreneurs and
small business owners stand to reap a great bounty is they are ready to take advantage of the next
phase of internet evolution.

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3. We are currently living in the so-called information age which can be described as an era
were economic activities are mainly information based (an age of informationalization). This
is due to the development and use of technology. The main characteristics of this era can be
summarized as a rise in the number of knowledge workers, a world that has become more
open - in the sense of communication (global village/Gutenberg galaxy) and
internationalization (trans-border flow of data).This paradigm shift brings new ethical and
juridical problems which are mainly related to issues such as the right of access to
information, the right of privacy which is threatened by the emphasis on the free flow of
information, and the protection of the economic interest of the owners of intellectual
property. Discuss ethical issues in the use of information technology.

Ethic is the principal and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.
Information ethics means govern the ethical and moral issues arising from the development
and use of information technologies, as well as the creation, collection, duplication,
distribution, and processing of information itself.
Privacy, accuracy, property and accessibility, these are the four major issues of information
ethics for the information age. Business issues related to information ethics are,
1. Intellectual property
2. Copyright
3. Pirated software
4. Counterfeit software
5. Digital rights management
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and
artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.
Copyright
The information security specialists are to be familiar with necessary concept of the
copyright law. Copyright law works as a very powerful legal tool in protecting computer
software, both before a security breach and surely after a security breach. This type of breach
could be the mishandling and misuse of data, computer programs, documentation and similar

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material. In many countries, copyright legislation is amended or revised to provide explicit

laws to protect computer programs.
Pirated software
Pirated software is the unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted
software.
Counterfeit software
Counterfeit software is software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as
such.

Digital Rights management

A technological solution that allows publishers to control their digital media to discourage,
limit, or prevent illegal copying and distribution

Fig: Acting Ethically and Acting Legally are not always the same things

Individuals form the only ethical component of MIS are,

• Individuals copy, use, and distribute software
• Search organizational database for sensitive and personal information
• Individuals create and spread viruses
• Individuals hack into computer systems to steal information

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• Employees destroy and steal information

Information itself has no ethics. It does not care how it is used. It will not stop itself from
spamming customers, sharing itself if it is sensitive or personal, or revealing details to third
parties. Information cannot delete or preserve itself. Therefore, it falls to those who own the
information to develop ethical guidelines about how to manage it.
Developing information Management Policies

Organization should develop written policies establishing employee guidelines, employee

procedures and organizational rules for information. Epolicies are policies and procedures that
address information management along with the ethical use of computers and the Internet in the
business environment.

Fig: Overview of Epolicies

Cyberbullying includes threats, negative remarks, or defamatory comments transmitted

via internet or posted on website.

A threat is an act or object that poses a danger to assets. Click-fraud is the abuse of pay-
per-click, pay-per-call, and pay-per-conversion revenue models by repeatedly clicking on a link
to increase charges or costs for the advertiser. Competitive click-fraud is a computer crime where
a competitor or disgruntled employee increase a company’s search advertising costs by
repeatedly clicking on the advertiser’s link.

An ethical computer use policy contains general principals to guide computer user
behavior.

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4. Many corporations and information systems units recognize that environmental sustainability
is an urgent problem to address. If you are information system manager, how the
transformative power of information system can be leveraged to create an ecologically
sustainable society.

We have spent much time researching how information systems are designed, developed,
adopted, used, diffused, maintained, and retired. We have been inspired by and have
influenced it through our research and teaching. Currently, many organizations have an
opportunity to tackle sustainable development while improving productivity, reducing costs,
and enhancing profitability. Their poor environmental practices result in many forms of
waste; unused resources, energy inefficiency, noise, friction, and emissions are all waste
products that subtract from economic efficiency. We need to show leadership in applying the
transformative power of information system to create an environmentally sustainable
society.
There are two parties to any energy consumption transaction: a supplier and a consumer.
Both sides of this transaction needed to be considered in developing an integrated solution.
While the approaches to managing supply and demand are different, they should share a
common information system to ensure a cohesive solution. On the supply side, economic
and regulatory issues and corporate norms are likely to drive change. Every organization
wants to reduce its energy consumption, as this is a cost of business. Less energy contributes
to higher profits and lowers carbon emissions. Organizations also need to comply with
government regulations (e.g., limits to CO2 emissions) that likely will be increasingly
applied as governments tackle global warming. In addition, corporate opinion leaders (such
as the CEOs of Walmart and GE) are pushing a green agenda and setting norms for a
positive role by other firms.

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Fig; MIS and The Environment

Increased energy consumption – The amount of energy consumed by business processes and
systems. Huge increase in technology use have greatly amplified energy consumption. The
energy consumed by a computer is estimate to produce as much as 10 percent of the amount of
carbon dioxide produced by an automobile.

Increased Carbon emission – The major human-generated greenhouse gases, such as carbon
emission from energy use, are very likely responsible for the increase in climatic temperature
over the past half a century. Additional temperature increases are projected over the next
hundred years, with serious consequences for Earth’s environment, if carbon emissions,
including the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide produced by business processes and systems
are not reduced.

Ewaste – Ewaste refers to discarded, obsolete, or broken electronic devices. Ewaste includes
CDs, DVDs, thumbs drive, printer cartridges, cell phones, iPods, external hard drives, TVs,
VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, and so on.

Combating ewaste, energy consumption, and carbon emissions requires a firm to focus on
creating sustainable MIS infrastructures. A sustainable MIS infrastructure identifies ways that a
company can grow in terms of computing resources while simultaneously becoming less
dependent on hardware and energy consumption.

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Fig: Sustainable MIS Infrastructure Components

Grid computing is a collection of computers, often geographically dispered , that are

coordinated to solve a common problem. With grid computing a problem is broken into pieces
and disributed to many machine, allowing faster porcessing than could occur with a single
system. Computers typically use less than 25 percent of their processing power, leaving more
than 75 percent available for other tasks. Grid computing takes advantages of this unused
processsing power by linking thousands of individual computers around the world to create a
“virtual supercomputer” that can process intensive tasks.

Virtualization creates multiple “virtual” machines on a single computing devices. In the

past you had to purchase a fax machine, copy machine, answering machines, and computer
printer separatly . This was expensive , required enough energy to run four separate machines,
not to mention created additional amount of ewaste. Virtualization is essentially a form of
consolidation that can benefit sustainable MIS infrastrucuture in ca variety of ways.

There are three basic categories of virtualization,

• Storage virtualization: combines multiple network storage devices so they appear to be a

single storage device.
• Network virtualization: combines networks by splitting the available bandwidth into
independent channels that can be assigned in real time to a specific device.
• Server virtualization: combines the physical resources, such as servers, processors and
operating systems, form the applications.

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Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network

access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (eg, networks, servers, storage,
applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing offers new ways to store,
access, process and analyze information and connect people and resources from any location in
the world where an internet connection is available.

Fig; Cloud Computing Advantage

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