Week 8 - Organisations and Information Systems

A problem always needs a solution and different people have different view points to solve a problem.

The ingredients of a system are components, the relationship between the components, the behavior or activities of a system, its relevant environment, the input and the output and special interest of the observer.

A system is an organized assembly of components.

We went through the difference between a system and a heap.

Ackoff suggests that there are 3 steps process of analysis:

Take something apart, understand what the parts do and aggregate the understanding of the parts into understanding of the whole

Viable Systems Model (VSM) - VSM was developed by Stafford Beer. VSM has been used as a conceptual tool for understanding organisations, redesigning them and supporting the management of change. The VSM looks at a company as it is a living thing and describes how it should structure to operate most effectively in the environment.

Beer's studies led him to view human form as five interacting systems
System 1 : activities and operations of the body (muscles and organs)
System 2 : Monitoring (Nervous system monitoring the muscles and organs)
System 3 : Autonomous control (Part of the brain which oversees the entire system of muscles and organs)
System 4 : The mid brain (Scanning environment through senses, future planning and projections)
System 5 : Higher brain functions, policy decisions

Five systems of the VSM
System 1 : The entire collection of interacting operational units
System 2 : The system responsible for coordination of operational units
System 3 : Autonomous
System 4 : Intelligence
System 5 : Policy

Using information systems effectively requires an understanding of the organisation (culture, people, process & information technology shaping the systems)
An information system creates values to the firm as an organisational and management solution to challenges that are posed by the environment

Week 7 - Managing resources and Security

Security should be a management priority and not an IT issue. Security is always a negative deliverable to the business, but it cannot be avoided as it's like we accepting security risks.

Types of security threats : Unauthorized data disclosure, Incorrect data modification, faulty service, denial of service and loss of infrastructure

Internal company threats : The ill willed employees who intentionally sells customer database to outsiders. Not destroying sensitive data as per the schedules planned by the company

How to respond to these internal threats : Strict security policies and ensure that every employee understand the code of conduct of the company and follows the same.

Risk Mitigation strategies : There are three risk mitigation strategies:
Risk Acceptance : Not investing time and money in countermeasures but just accepting the risk of security breach.
Risk Reduction : Actively investing in the safeguards designed to mitigate the security threats and investing in the security protection
Risk transference : Passing a portion of the risk that the company encountered to a third party

There are lot of internet related threats as well like : Denial of service, Brand abuse, cybersquatting, cyberstalking, cyberterrorism, online stock fraud, social engineering and phishing. To manage the internet threats we have a range of software applications that needs to be installed, like firewalls, intrusion detection softwares and Artificial intelligence softwares

In 1984, data protection act was formulated which had the following 8 principles:

1. Fairly and lawfully processed

2. Processed for limited purposes

3. Adequate, relevant and not excessive

4. Accurate and up-to-date

5. Not kept for longer than necessary

6. Processed in accordance with individual’s rights

7. Kept secure from unauthorised access/destruction

8. Not transferred to countries outside EEA unless 

The 1984, data protection act did not cover the data protection online, as internet technology came into existence only in the early 1990s. So in 2003, we had the privacy and  electronic communications act.


 

Week 6 - E-Commerce

Definitions of E-Commerce and E-Business
-----------------------------------------------------

E-Commerce - Transactions between an organisation and its suppliers and customers.
E-Business - The transformation of key business processes through the use of internet technologies.

E-Commerce can also be described as the subset of E-Business.

We learned about the company Boo.com who were the pioneers in introducing the Avatar model to the world, where the customer can choose his clothing online. Boo.com was not successful among customers as it had lot of technological glitch due to the poor internet speed in early 1990s. Due to this Boo.com which spent a lot of money on its technology went on to face huge loss.

Nowadays internet has become the integral part of every employee. E-Business application like Yammer a cloud based enterprise social network tool, which is used for business communications within the organisation. Ford, Pitney Bowes are among many who this tool to communicate within their organisation.

Also, now a days most of the games, movies are available online, you just have to pay for the game or the movie and just download the same to the computer, you are no longer required to use a cd/dvd to install games or watch movies.

There are 8 unique features of e-commerce technology, they are:
Ubiquity, Global reach, Universal standards, Richness,Interactivity, Information density, Personalization and Social technology

We can categorize business models according to:
-E-Commerce sector (B2B, B2C, C2C)
- Type of e-commerce technology i.e. m-commerce
- Some companies like e-bay apply multiple business models.

Firm Value Chains are the activities that a firm engages in to create final products from raw inputs

Firm Value Webs are Network business ecosystems. It uses the internet technology to coordinate the value chains of business partners within an industry/within a group of firms.

A virtual organisation is a flexible organisation dynamically built from components of existing organisations. It is characterized by quick assembly and disassemsbly, as well as sharing of components among multiple organisations.