Business Essentials Chapter 14: Information Technology (IT) for Business

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering Information Technology impacts, resources, systems architecture, management tools, and security risks as outlined in Chapter 14 of Business Essentials.

Information Technology (IT)

Various appliances and devices for creating, storing, exchanging, and using information in diverse modes, including visual images, voice, multimedia, and business data.

E-commerce

The use of the Internet and other electronic means for retailing and business-to-business transactions.

Mass Customization

Creating new manufacturing capabilities that offer customers greater variety and faster delivery cycles.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

A system used to change the nature of the management process by improving management processes through IT.

Internet

A gigantic system of interconnected computer networks linked together by voice, electronic, and wireless technologies.

World Wide Web

A branch of the Internet consisting of interlinked hypertext documents, or web pages.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

A communications protocol used for the World Wide Web, in which related pieces of information on separate web pages are connected using hyperlinks.

Intranet

An organization’s private network of internally linked websites accessible only to employees.

Extranet

A system that allows outsiders limited access to a firm’s internal information network.

Electronic Conferencing

Information technology that allows groups of people to communicate simultaneously from various locations via e-mail, phone, or video.

VSAT Satellite Communications

A network of geographically dispersed transmitter-receivers (transceivers) that send signals to and receive signals from a satellite, exchanging voice, video, and data transmissions.

Computer Network

A group of two or more computers linked together by some form of cabling or by wireless technology to share data or resources, such as a printer.

Client-Server Network

A common business network in which clients make requests for information or resources and servers provide the services.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

Computers that are linked over long distances through telephone lines, microwave signals, or satellite communications.

Local Area Network (LAN)

Computers that are linked in a small area, such as all of a firm’s computers within a single building.

Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN)

A network that uses airborne electronic signals instead of wires to link computers and electronic devices over long distances.

Wi-Fi

Technology using a wireless local area network.

“Super Wi-Fi” Network

A powerful Wi-Fi network with extensive reach and strong signals that flow freely through physical objects such as walls.

Information System (IS)

A system that uses IT resources to convert data into information and to collect, process, and transmit that information for use in decision making.

Data

Raw facts and figures that, by themselves, may not have much meaning.

Information

A meaningful, useful interpretation of data.

Information Systems Managers

Managers who are responsible for the systems used for gathering, organizing, and distributing information.

Data Warehousing

The collection, storage, and retrieval of data in electronic files.

Data Mining

The application of electronic technologies for searching, sifting, and reorganizing pools of data to uncover useful information.

Knowledge Information System

An information system (IS) that supports knowledge workers by providing resources to create, store, use, and transmit new knowledge for useful applications.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

An information system with software that helps knowledge workers design products by simulating them and displaying them in three-dimensional graphics.

Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

An information system that uses computers to design and control equipment in a manufacturing process.

Management Information System (MIS)

A computer system that supports managers by providing information—reports, schedules, plans, and budgets—that can be used for making decisions.

Decision Support System (DSS)

An interactive system that creates virtual business models for a particular kind of decision and tests them with different data to see how they respond.

Hacker

A cybercriminal who gains unauthorized access to a computer or network, either to steal information, money, or property or to tamper with data via methods like DoS attacks.

Identity Theft

Unauthorized use of personal information (such as Social Security number and address) to get loans, credit cards, or other monetary benefits by impersonating the victim through methods like phishing or pharming.

Intellectual Property

Something produced by the intellect or mind that has commercial value.

Spyware

A program unknowingly downloaded by users that monitors their computer activities, gathering e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, and other information that it transmits to someone outside the host system.

Spam

Junk e-mail sent to a mailing list or a newsgroup.

Firewall

A security system with special software or hardware devices designed to keep computers safe from hackers.

Anti-Virus Software

A product that protects systems by searching incoming e-mails and data files for “signatures” of known viruses and virus-like characteristics.

Encryption System

Software that assigns an e-mail message to a unique code number (digital fingerprint) for each computer so only that computer, not others, can open and read the message.