BUS 1100 C14 Information Technology for Business

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

Use of the internet and other electronic means for retailing and business-to-business transactions.

Improved operational efficiency

Advances in IT that have altered business practices and how employees and customers interact.

New communication methods

Email, internet, teleconference as a result of advances in IT.

Creating portable offices

Providing remote access to instant information through devices like smartphones and laptops.

Smartphones, laptops, wifi

Technologies that save time, money, and are more convenient.

Enabling better services

Facilitating coordination of remote deliveries and shipping from various warehouse locations.

Creating leaner, more efficient organizations

Allowing more work and customer satisfaction to be accomplished with fewer people.

24 hour banking, ordering, routing software

Technologies that enable continuous access to services.

Enabling increased collaboration

Using collaboration software and other IT communication devices for interaction.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

Using ERP to change the nature of the management process.

Mass customization

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

Panera touch screen order

Example of providing new business opportunities through technology.

Internet

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

World wide web

Branch of the internet consisting of interlinked hypertext documents, or web pages.

Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)

Communications protocol used for the world wide web, in which related pieces of information on separate web pages are connected using hyperlinks.

Intranet

Organization's private network of internally linked websites accessible only to employees.

Extranet

System that allows outsiders limited access to a firm's internal information network.

Electronic conferencing

IT that allows groups of people to communicate simultaneously from various locations via email, phone, or video.

Data conferencing

People can work on a single document from various locations.

VSAT Satellite communications

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

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

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

Wireless wide area networks (WWAN)

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

Wifi

Technology using a wireless local area network that links network computers/devices.

Super Wifi Network

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

Hardware

Physical components of a computer network, such as keyboards, monitors, system units, etc.

Software

Programs that tell the computer how to function, what resources to use, how to use them, and application programs for specific activities.

Information system (IS)

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

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

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)

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

Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)

IS that uses computers to design and control equipment in a manufacturing process.

Management information system (MIS)

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

Decision support system (DSS)

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

Cybercriminal who gains unauthorized access to a computer or network, either to steal information, money, or property or to tamper with data.

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.

Phishing

Link to bogus website.

Intellectual property

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

Spyware

Program unknowingly downloaded by users that monitors their computer activities, gathering email addresses, credit card numbers, and other information that it transmits to someone outside the host system.

Spam

Junk email sent to a mailing list or a newsgroup.

Firewall

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

Anti-virus software

Product that protects systems by searching incoming emails and data files for 'signatures' of known viruses and virus-like characteristics.

Encryption system

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