Business Development And Its Relationship To Ict Information Technology Essay

From time to time, Information and Communication Technology has made a great impact in contributing to the business development and improvement that enables a business to become more efficient, beneficial and also it also provide secure jobs. Besides, Information and Communication Technology has assist in effective communication and also co-operation between a company and its clients. Unlike the old days, when Information and Communication Technology has not been widely introduced and used into the society, business people are unable to speed up their work and also less efficient.

In the globalizing technology society today, Information and Communication Technology is used in marketing, by helping companies to reach new markets and to offer customers to purchase goods and services at anytime they need, and almost all the time, at a reduced cost and also enhancing the level of customer service by using website. Business people also use e-mails to contact their clients and also to market their products and services directly to their potential customers and also to stay in contact with many customers and suppliers. In fact, by using the advanced marketing strategies, it will increase the effectiveness in communication and is able to access information through their websites, so that customers are able to gain information and to increase their business needs. Before the society started using Information and Communication Technology, business people uses pamphlets, banners and etc. to market their products. Without Information and Communication Technology, businessmen have difficulties staying in contact with their customers and hardly reach to other potential customers and suppliers.

On the other hand, finance has also developed in the Information and Communication and Technology. Practically almost all companies use software program in business society today. In example, Sage and Excel are companies that manage other companies’ accounts and monitor at the financial information from time to time. These companies help to respond to the customers by offering discounts and also help in improving the management of their finances. With the help of these advanced technologies, many companies are relief for their accounts are managed by a company that alters at almost 24 hours. In the 80’s, when Information and Communication Technology has not even exist, accountants have to spend wee hours checking the accounts in their offices or even at home in order not to make any mistakes in the finances. Even so, without these advanced technologies in the 80’s, accountants had to record and file the companies’ account in files and papers and often, accountants had difficulties in finding the old records when needed. However, Information and Communication Technology has helped many accountants in saving companies data in the database which is easier to locate when the files are needed.

In the business society, companies often need their staffs to be away from their desk and office to attend meetings and meeting clients at almost everywhere. From this aspects, many employers demand for an adjustable working systems which is accessible to the computer. Now that the society is so dependable in Information and Communication Technology, business people can work out of their office with laptops, PDA and smart phone. During the time when Information and Communication Technology has not exist, staffs and business people can only access into customers and suppliers needs and information from files in the office only and this could not help to satisfy a customer needs in any changes. In an office that have two or more computers creates a network, which allows the resources like printers, internet access, files and information to be share among colleagues and staffs can also access into the information and files at home to remote working systems that supports changing business needs. Back when the Information and Communication Technologies had not exist, staffs and business people can only access to resources like files or printers one thing at a time. This will delay one’s work speed.

Moreover, in the developing 21st century today, Information and Communication Technology is widely used in social media. The society today connects among themselves via advanced technology and social network like Facebook and Twitter, networks that helps in spreading messages faster and in simpler ways. Besides, it is essential that businesses are dominated by Facebook and Twitter which are used in business line that provides better solution for customers because business people and customers tend to communicate more in two-way communication instead of one-way communication. Business people also use social media to market their products, provides information about their products and deliver application to their user base towards the society today who uses and connects into social network every day. Studies show that the society today connects themselves into the social media two times more than before. Hence, business people who want to market their products connect themselves to social network like e-Collaboration, Facebook and Twitter and post them online to market their products for a wider coverage. Before Information and Communication Technology was introduce into the society, where there weren’t any advanced social network like Facebook and Twitter, business people cannot market their products into a wider coverage of the society and resulting low marketing sales and lesser the profit for the company. Back then, business wasn’t as developed as how it is for now.

Also, many companies today are very dependable on the Information and Communication Technologies in managing and monitoring customers and clients. Many companies use advanced technologies like Customer Relationship Software(CRS) to manage their existing clients and also generate potential clients from there. Companies that use Customer Relationship Software have many data recorded in their database to keep track with customers, send messages and promotion to the potential clients. During the time when Information and Communication Technology hadn’t been brought up, customers’ data and records are recorded in papers and files, which has never made it easy for business people to keep track with the potential customers. Without the technologies before, things weren’t any easier for business people.

In addition, the impact of Information and Communication Technology in business is great and has influenced and change many things in many ways. In example, Information and Communication Technology is used in e-Business in order to reduce the transaction costs and also to widen the marketing coverage, as well as to increase the productivity and speed of doing business. Trinidad and Tobago are the examples of how the technologies has helped in e-Business in modernizing the private sector, to aim in encouraging e-Business

For example, where the impact of ICT in Business like the E-business as the use of ICT in business to reduce transaction costs, to broaden market reach, and to increase the productivity and speed of doing business. E-business is a catalyst for modernizing the private sector in general, such as Trinidad and Tobago, seek to encourage e-business with a view to increase demand for domestically produced ICT products. To this end, the government of Trinidad and Tobago plans to co-develop, with private sector, an integrated e-business application for local companies to conduct online sales. Furthermore, the government has offered to help identify comparative advantages for local e-business and will collaborate in the development of “skillnet,” a service that provides recruitment, learning and career information.

It is the close alignment between ICT and business processes that can provide competitive advantage to organizations and produce high quality products and services at lower cost, resulting in a strategic advantage(McCabe, 2003; Nevens, 2002). In general, there are two types of enterprise applications that support business processes example, logistics,CRM, etc and applications that directly implement business processes like example, electronic banking,mobile telephony, airline e-tickets and so on. For the first type of enterprise applications, it is possible to gain competitive advantage by combining ICT with unique company culture and knowledge. This unique combination enables the company to function effectively and utilize key assets such as organizational knowledge and culture. The second type type of enterprise application provides a service or product to customers and its timely deployment and unique features can result in competitive advantage.

Due to the impact of ICT on the main factors influencing the way of doing business abroad, manifold changes are taking place within the organizational structures of the economy. The analysis below examines the consequences of these changes for three ares; the internal organization of companies, the organization of markets, i.e. the relationship between companies and its customers, and the organizational forms of co-operation between different companies. This classification is useful, since the fiscal analysis will refer to these three categories. ICT also serve as a platform for the business activities of a company, for example if the supply of information and services constitute its main business activities. Moreover, companies may market ICT and the Internet itself, example, if they provide memory capacity or websites, as an Internet Services Provider (ISP). Using ICT tools, such as video-conferencing or e-mail, decisions which are relevant to the company can be taken either in different locations or at the same time in different places. In addition, the management of a company may often be situated elsewhere and not in the company itself. As link between different companies can be created using ICT, it is possible to cooperate internationally without needing to centralize all activities in one location. Thus, activities are no longer dependent on geographical distances

Information and Communication Technology has expended so great in business and it was so successfully developed especially in telecommunication, and it has impacted so many people in good aspects. Maxis and Digi are examples of how Information and Communication Technology has successfully developed in telecommunication. Information and Communication Technology has contributed as a communication tool and aided in keeping everyone in contact in just a key button away even though the distance is very far away. In this case, it is known that Digi uses many communication tools in keeping track with its customers especially via Facebook in Malaysia. Besides, Information and Communication Technology has helped telecommunication in keeping track with business partners and people via video conferencing in business plans, and research shows that it is two times more of people communicate via face-to-face in various forms. Moreover, business people need not travel far to attend a meeting instead they can sit in their office and attend the meeting via video conferencing.

However, there are also negative impacts of Information and Communication Technology on business sectors in telecommunication. People tend to abuse the usage of Information and Communication Technology that has expended so great to assist the society in a different form while some people uses Information and Communication Technology in a way which it is not created for. Some people uses the advance in telecommunication in Information and Communication Technology to start a crime, such as kidnapping and also blackmailing someone else. It has been shown in research that telecommunication usage is abused with other way especially in identity stealing.

Business Development and its relationship to ICT?

Business Development is the process of improvement that enables a business to become more efficient, profitable, and thereby creating or safeguarding jobs. Business development therefore does not only concern marketing and sales departments, but all parts of a business which constitute its value chain and requires effective communication and co-operation within a company.

Over the last 20 years ICT has increasingly been identified as a major contributor to the process of business development and improvement and it has been identified that “ICT …. is responsible for around half of productivity growth in modern economies. It drives improved efficiency and better services and products across the entirety of the private and the public sectors.” (Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society).

What has been the impact of ICT on Business?

The use of ICT and technology has affected every aspect of business, transforming not only the way that business is conducted but also creating new business sectors and jobs. The creation of companies like Google and e-Bay which did not exist 10 years ago, was only made possible by advances in technology and the changes that this has created in the way that people behave (currently Google is valued at £44billion – Source BBC 5th June 05).

Some examples of the nature of this change include: