Chapter 9: Technology and Business

The History of Technology

Technology Influences Businesses

• Technology refers to the tools and machines that people have invented to make life easier.

• Perhaps the most common technology staple in businesses today is the computer.

• Even the simplest invention can have a huge impact on business.

• Telephones were so useful that making them became a big business.

  • Companies specialized in making them.

  • Machinists were needed to make parts.

• There was a constant demand to produce new and more efficient tools.

• In time, cordless phones, cell phones, and radio telephones became useful tools for business and consumers.

• Since the invention of the telephone, countless new inventions have changed the way we live, work, and do business.

• Business and consumers constantly demand smaller, faster, cheaper, and more powerful electronic devices.

Technology and the E-Workforce

• The $e-workforce$$$e-workforce$$ consists of people who work with computers while doing business.

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 77 million workers use computers daily.

• Electronic commerce, or $e-commerce$$$e-commerce$$, which uses the Internet to do business, means businesses can reach customers directly anywhere in the world.

• Innovation means more jobs and more people learning new skills.

• Technology allows people to work easier and faster.

• A $digital workflow$$$digital workflow$$ links all the steps in a process digitally.

  • Paper workflow, sending information in paper form, requires workers to exchange many pages of paper.

  • By switching to a digital format, less paper is involved.

E-Commerce

The Importance of Virtual Business

• The ease of doing business via the Internet has created a boom in new online businesses.

• A $start-up$$$start-up$$ is a newly formed business that is usually small.

• Everyone hooked up to the Internet is a potential customer.

• $E-tail$$$E-tail$$ is electronic retail.

  • E-tailers sell products over the Internet through e-commerce.

• This type of company is called a $multi-channel retailer$$$multi-channel retailer$$.

  • It uses several methods to sell products.

• Businesses often call their stores and warehouses $brick-and-mortar$$$brick-and-mortar$$, referring to the actual buildings.

• Businesses that also use the Internet are called $clicks-and-mortar$$$clicks-and-mortar$$ operations.

  • Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is a clicks-and-mortar company.

• E-tail benefits include convenience and choices

• E-tail disadvantages include buying power, additional charges, immediacy, and relying on observation

• Businesses find that customers want to buy more goods and services online.

• Using their computers, people can now purchase an $e-ticket$$$e-ticket$$, or electronic ticket.

  • Approximately 70 percent of travelers in the United States now shop for airline tickets online.