Operational Excellence- businesses continuously seek to improve the efficiency of their operations in order to achieve higher profitability.
New Products, Services, and Business Models- Are a major tool for firms to create new products and services, as well as entirely new business models. A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth. (ex: apple transformed old cd/records to an online download source.)
Customer and Supplier Intimacy- when a business really knows their customers and serves them well, the way they want to be served, the customers generally respond by returning and purchasing more. (will raise revenues and profits) The more a business engages its suppliers, the better the suppliers can provide vital inputs. (This will lower costs)
Improved decision making- many business managers operate in an information fog bank, never really having the right information at the right time to make an informed decision. Instead, managers rely on forecast, best guesses, and luck. (raise costs and loose customers)
Competitive Advantage- when firms achieve one or more of these business objectives-operational excellence; new products, services, and business models; customer/supplier intimacy; and improved decision making. Chances are they have already achieved a competitive advantage. (higher sales and higher profits)
Survival- buiness firms also invest in information systems and technologies because they are necessitiees of doing business. Sometimes these necessities are driven by industry-level changes.
2. What is the difference between information technology and an information system?
Information system is a set of interrelated components that collect (or recieve), process, store and distribute information to support decision making, corrdinating and control in an organization. Help managers and workers analyze