The Effective Use of Information Technology in Business

Introduction

     he growing developments that technology and communications have taken so far have been an essential part of the growing system of technological applications. Along with the technological advancements, the social living of humans also is further enhanced. Both economic and social lifestyles were advancing but there was no rest in incurring the best possible progress that the developers of technological systems wanted. With the introduction of computers to the society, the easier way of living and completing everyday tasks has become a trend for many industrial workers. (Deitel, et al, 2004, 15)

     However, as mentioned earlier, the development in the eyes of the ones who are in charge of the enhancement of the operating systems is never ending. Hence, although there were already some great achievements in terms of the developed operating systems, things got better each time there are new innovations introduced (Warford, 2005, 41). Most of the sectors of the entire society actually depended on technology ever since the time it was first introduced to the human civilization. It could not be denied then that among the said sectors are business entities.

     The development of different operating systems that actually perform the tasks needed in business, from the most basic calculating procedures toward the complicated procedures of accounting and systematic planning of business transactions, the computer technology or most likely known as Information technology have actually been the main source of successful trade and exchange transactions in the business industry. However, to have a deeper understanding of the matter, it is necessary to have an overview of what an OS or Operating System is.

The Operating System-What is It?

     With the introduction of the computer technology to the human society during the 19th Century, the works or the tasks of people have been further created with ease. With the implementation of computer systems within the existing systems of completion for human tasks, the jobs of people, which can be merged with technological arrangements, were enhanced to becoming easily completed.

     Today, 95% of the whole population of man all around the world utilizes the computer systems for their everyday application. Even ordinary appliances are now compiled with complex operating systems based upon computer arrangements to be able to meet the best possible performance that they could render the human society. (Tanenbaum, 2006, 15).Now, even more complex role is played by the application of operating systems in the daily dealings of people has been introduced. With the development of the communication systems such as the internet, learning from home, using top of the art facilities and technologies became possible for many students who cannot attend universities because of some unavoidable circumstances. Through the existence of the emerging technological innovation on communication and information transfer, everything became possible and available through the Internet (Ensor, 2006, 12). As of the present situation, there are still other innovations that have been affected by the developing Operating Systems. The world trade systems has become more easy for the traders since the Internet systems allow them to connect with others easily and effectively transact with their business partners abroad. (Tanenbaum, 2006, 19)

     Every computer system is controlled by an operating system. A pre-programmed system controls the operations that the computer system is supposed to perform. This mainly pertains to the responsibilities of the computer and how it is able to complete the tasks that are further addressed to its performance. At present, the operating systems are referred to as computer programs that are supposed to manage both the hardware and software systems of the entire computer facilities. There are five main tasks that the OS performs as a program:

• Controlling and Allocating Memory

  This task mainly focuses on the capability of the   computer programs to assimilate the memory priorities of    the entire computer system. To allocate the memory means    designating the memory priorities on which its   performance is most needed.

• Prioritizing System Requests

          Most of the time, the system follows a “first Come First Serve” arrangement. As a result, in multi tasking systems the operations are carried on basing on what request came first and what has been allocated by the system to come in priority.

• Controlling Input and Output Devices

  The input devices are the ones used to enter information within the computer memory while the output devices are     the ones used to produce hardcopy of the informations entered within the system. The operating systems that      is   present within the computer makes it possible for the     computer device to perform well and do as it is     programmed to.

• Facilitating Networking

  To be able to connect to others, networking the systems is needed. Once an operating system is programmed to   perform such tasks, it would be able to connect two    different systems together to be able to have a   connected exchange of information and communication as   well.

• Managing Files

  To manage files means to arrange them on what part of the memory should be utilized by the files. It also    sorts out the files with the necessary section of the     computer memory should it be stored in.

  (Source: Warford, J. Stanley. (2005).   Computer    Systems. Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 3rd edition. ISBN-     10: 0763732397.)

     With the mentioning of the five major roles of the operating systems, it should be clear to the readers how the operating systems make the computer programs and facilities work in coordination with the tasks that they are supposed to complete. Along with these tasks, there are other responsibilities that the operating systems hold for better performance of the computer. The following are called OS services. It is by the existence of the OS that computers are able to render the following services:

• Process Management

  Every existing program within the computer system is a process. The first   produced computers could only perform one process at a time. The ability of the computer to perform different tasks is then limited.

  However, when the computer program facilitators introduced the computer developments, multi tasking became possible. At present, the     modern computers consist of an OS that could perform different processes at one time. The prioritizing of the input processes that are inserted within the system is then performed randomly by the OS of a specific computer.

  With the implementation of such system, the reducing of the time of   process is then prolonged. As for example, if the OS is running a single process, the reading of the operation would be fast. However, when multi tasking is applied the processing time is prolonged for the system to be able to cater to all the tasks that are supposed to be completed.

• Memory management

  The Parkinson’s Law says, “Data Expands to fill the space available for storage”. Hence, the memory manager is an OS that fixes the memory of the computer as to what program or data should it cater to in priority. Today, the modern developed computers posses a kind of operating system that can arrange the data in a hierarchical system whereas the fastest performing data comes first while the slow ones are set aside to perform at the last.

  This is happening because of the RAM that each data requires. As a result, the operating system is able to prioritize the programs that require larger memories in order for them to perform well. One more part of the essential factor that memory management plays is the managing of the virtual addresses. In the Internet, the memory of each website should be arranged well for them not to overlap each other’s performance when people are surfing within the same site simultaneously. The system works by maintaining the tables which are most known as page tables and matching them with the virtual addresses along with the physical addresses as well.

• Disk and File Systems

        Files differ from their origin. There are native files that each OS posses. The native file systems are the most efficient and reliable among all the Windows system applications. The process of allocating files within the memory of the computer system is utilized to be able to have an extra file arrangement once there occurs to be a system crash. To be able to do this, the operating system journalizes the necessary directories that should be journalized within the system. The separation of the directories with the use of a backslash is also utilized to set a certain section f the computer memory for a certain directory.

• Networking

  The modern operating systems are capable of utilizing TCP/IP networking protocols. This system allows different addresses to share files and printing processes. Through either wired or wireless connections, the sharing of tasks and informations becomes possible.

• Security

        There are two main ideas that govern the existence of security managers within the operating systems of certain computer facilities:

1. The operating system allows people to have an access to different informations and resources that are in the form of files that could be utilized by the computer operators;
2. the operating system is supposed to have the ability to distinguish the authorized from the unauthorized personnels that are able t have an access on the system applications and the confidential files as well.

Hence, with these ideas and reason of security application, it is necessary that there exists two different bases of security measures:

1. Internal Security: an original program device running within the operating system that has an ability to recognize the system requests that are to be allowed to process and those that are not.

2. External Security: a new request from the operators that control the program. These system applications include login prompts from the users of the computer program services. Some include electromagnetic cards that are owned by the ones who are authorized to operate the system. Without the required requests, the system is not going too operate.

(Source: Silberschatz, Abraham . (2004). Operating System Concepts. John Wiley & Sons; 7 edition. ISBN-10: 0471694665).

With these security measures, the operating system assures that only the authorized operators are able to access to several hidden files that are not set for public notice or public information.

     The computer’s operation system’s ability to perform the services as mentioned in this part of the review shows the capability of the OS to perform the requested tasks that it is supposed to perform for its operators. More than just the performance and the complex responsibilities of the OS, it could be noted that modern produced OS have a considerably different approach as to the ease of the operators who are able to utilize and benefit from its services. (Harris, 2001, 18)

     Today, the usage of Graphical User Interface (GUI) devices is already a part of the modern operating systems application. Now, human interaction is then encouraged when taking over the operations that the computers are supposed to perform. During the earlier years, the only interaction of the human operators towards the computer operated systems is by the cards or the input commands that they are able to type through the keyboard inputs. An example of such is the DOS Command Systems. However, in today’s present situation, it could be noted that even non-experts of the computer operations could already utilize the services that the computer systems render its operators. As a result, the production of Personal Computers increased, and the people owning such technological devices increased in number as well. (Harris, 2001, 3)

     As it could be observed, gone are the days when only the large business companies are able to utilize computer devices for their own convenience. Modern day students are even able to carry with themselves cell phones and laptops that are able to help them get along with their student lives through the assistance of technological innovations (Pajagopal, 1999, 14). Furthermore, modern day operating systems are now capable of providing the best graphical designs possible for the benefit of the users, making information transfer and computer application system much easier to understand than before.

     What Could Be Expected of OS Applications in the future? As further discussed earlier, it could be noted that the developers have been observed and foreseen by the researcher of this paper to becoming highly concerned in further more developments that they could include in the existing operating systems and .NET technologies that are already utilized for applications today.

     More likely, basing from the developments that have been shown in the tables earlier, the improvement on the said technology would mainly be focused on the performance capability of the system. The constant application of improvement on the system would further allow it to cater to more than just the operations that it is able to handle today.

     It could be noted that the improvements would be much likely created to host the economic needs of the current human society. The government systems would also be made available to the public through the internet as it is already right now. However, once it would be improved, it could be expected that it would be more applicable for the public to utilize. Certainly, whatever the modern operating systems along with its merging with the current .NET technologies offer to the society could be more developed based form the trend of improvement that the technological developers take in consideration. (Silberschatz, 2004, 62)

     Most likely, this status of the Operating Systems and its continuing advancement has been the primary reason why business enthusiasts tried to take advantage on all the benefits it has to offer. Most likely, as globalization strikes, the merging of technology and business has also boomed out together. To better understand this situation, the examples of the said situation as mentioned above shall be presented within the paragraphs that follow.

The Issues on the Dot.Com Dot.Bomb Developments

     Today many people once bewildered by the stock market are investing in stocks. Why? For one thing, the Internet has enabled investors to access in moment’s financial news, investment advice, and stockbrokers. Paul Farrell, editor in chief of Wall Street News, writes: “For [individual investors], cyberspace investing is the new frontier, the new gold rush, the freedom to be yourself, with the opportunity to become financially independent while working at home.”

Along with the blooming of the Internet systems, commerce also took the chance to be a part of a very promising source of profit for many business firms. To do this, there existed a birth to the Dot.com business arena. Many people who would rather invest on a business than to be employed in a company took chances on investing in this kind of business. But as years passed, the hoped to be “tiger” market that would hit sky high revenues for the firms taking part on it fell apart. How is this possible? And how could this kind of market have been saved? The following paragraphs shall discuss the said topic further.

     During the earlier times of the introduction of Internet, it was seen that this kind of communication could enable many people to connect to each other from far places in the world. The said idea on worldwide interconnection gave many businessmen the thought that using the worldwide web would help their companies and other business firms to reach their potential revenues and income at a very minimal time or better yet, even double or triple the income they have expected.

     With this, the dot.com business arena was given birth. It is more likely that the investors who invested in this kind of economic environment were the ones who realized that new business models would soon arise based on the possibilities of Internet commerce or more popularly known as E-commerce. As a result of wanting to be the first ones to gain profit from the said provisions of this new technology, they risked thousands of dollars to invest in the said Internet market.

     The first years of the operation of the dot.com market paved way to many sellers of products and services to be connected to many consumers worldwide. Obviously though, among the three major gainers of profit in this kind of market are several internet-help companies. The said technology groups are the Internet and Network Infrastructure which hosts the construction of official websites posted through the net, the Internet Tools such as Netsacape which assists on the navigation process in the Internet, and the Internet-direct consumer websites such as Yahoo! which allows numerous ads to be posted through their website.

     Between the years 1998-1999, the interest rates on putting up e-commerce firms were way affordable for many investors. This is the reason why many inexperienced businessmen chose to loin this market as a beginning of joining the business industry. Although many of the said investors had concrete and realistic plans regarding a business, most of them lacked administrative abilities.

On the other hand, inviting investors to join the Internet market had been easier through the use of offering great promises and benefits that the web hosts post to attract the prospect businessmen (Warford, 2005, 45). True, this way of luring investors worked pretty well. As proved by the many growing e-commerce members during the years 1998-1999, the dot.com industry continued to flourish.

To recognize the best Internet websites that are present in the e-commerce industry, there had been an annual awarding of the top websites of the year. It started on the year 1995, which was characterized by extravagant programs and undeniably expensive presentations. It was annually held in San Francisco California near the heart of the Silicon Valley. The said event has peaked during the year 2001 when thousands of attendance joined the lucrative awarding. When the year 2003 came in, the celebration became somber due to lower attendance not to mention that some of the nominees are not able to attend the event because of company belt-tightening and the fear of loosing their jobs. This is more likely because of the high interest rates that the Internet web hosts are already putting on the investors to continuously operate in the system (Silberschatz, 2004, 15). This event showed that the dot.com industry is not as productive as it was before anymore. As a fact, many of its members already lost on the investments they preempted to be bringing them great profits.

Lessons Learned for History

     There are namely ten outstanding lessons learned from the economic mistakes incurred in the dot.com industry. Enclosed here are some of the said lessons. One is that time is needed to achieve any economic success in any kind of business. Another is that many consumers would still prefer the old stuff than the new ones especially concerning purchasing process. It should be expected that there should be a considerable time-gap for consumer adjustments. Another is on Internet creativity; this involves using the power of Internet to attract consumers. Many of the investors lacked computer experience, which made their website presentation rather dull and unattractive. These key lessons could help the now dot. bomb companies to regain their hopes in making it in the e-commerce industry. One of the micro-economic policy that could have solved the problems that occurred in the dot.com industries is that of the Keynesian Economic Theory which helps businessmen understand the importance of state and the private sector sharing responsibilities for a certain economic environment. The dot.com industry was more likely considered to be an independent economic environment. Involving the state could have helped many investors to realize more fully what kind of investment they are actually putting their money into. 9Pajagopal, 1999, 16)

     On the other hand the macro-economic policy, which could have been applied in this kind of economic industry, is the policy on continuously regaining strength from every economic failure. If only the members of the e-commerce industry could have helped each other to realize that there could still be hope for regaining the profits from this kind of business venture then the dot.com industry could have survived longer. Business as they say is a very risky investment. This should help everyone understand that in this kind of industry, a careful examination of acts of investment should be considered by every businessman as this should help them avoid the frauds especially behind the attractive world of e-commerce.

The Role of Information Technology in Current Business Transactions

     Although the past have already placed a strong impact on how the people viewed business operations done through the Internet, several business enthusiasts never ceased finding ways by which they would be able to attain success within the said industry. Many among the business owners around the world still believe in the benefits that investing in online business ventures would naturally bring their organizations. As for a fact, the said situation is quickly becoming a trend both among organizations that are already established and the business and even those business entities that are just starting to join the said competitive industry. Most of the benefits that the said system of business transacting has mainly attracted investors as well as stockholders in making a great decision of joining in the process of industrial change though the innovative integration of technology within the system.

     To understand this claim further, a diagrammatic presentation shall be shown herein:

Diagram 1: Efects of Information Technology in the relationship between clients and business organizations

Diagram Analysis:

     From the presentation made above, it could be observed that the reason behind the business entities joining the band wagon of taking advantage of the provisions of science and technology in the modern society is indeed worthwhile. As it could be seen, the five major effects that have been presented through the diagram actually directly affect the growth rate of the organizations in a modern society. This is indeed an attractive provision that IT could ever offer business entities.

Conclusion

     From the discussion and the presentations made in this paper, it could be observed that there is indeed a need for business entities to take the risks in making it within the industry of virtual business. Making their business services and products available through the Internet for the sake of advertising or even selling as it is would surely offer the organizations a progressive future in the fields that they are joined with. Certainly, the innovations brought about by information technology actually radically changed the economic trade of the entire global state of business industries. This is the reason why a particular entrepreneur trying to make the business scene in the current era of globalization needs to know the basic of computer applications and internet system operations for their business organization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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            http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2000/review/1069169.stm. (June 08,2006)

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Deitel, Harvey M.; Deitel, Paul; Choffnes, David (2004). Operating Systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-182827-4.

Silberschatz, Abraham; Galvin, Peter Baer; Gagne, Greg (2004). Operating System Concepts. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-69466-5.

Tanenbaum, Andrew S.; Woodhull, Albert S. (2006). Operating Systems. Design and Implementation. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-142938-8.

Silberschatz, Abraham . (2004). Operating System Concepts. John Wiley & Sons; 7 edition. ISBN-10: 0471694665.

           Implementation of .NET Technologies in Modern Operating Systems Page 14.

Warford, J. Stanley. (2005).   Computer Systems. Jones & Bartlett Publishers; 3rd edition. ISBN-10: 0763732397.

Harris, J. Archer. (2001).   Schaum’s Outline of Operating Systems. McGraw-Hill; 1 edition. ISBN-10: 0071364358.

Rajagopal, Raj . (1999). Multi-Operating System Networking: Living with UNIX, NetWare, and NT. AUERBACH; 1 edition. ISBN-10: 0849398312.

Silberschatz, Abraham. (2003).   Operating Systems Concepts with Java. John Wiley & Sons; 6 edition. ISBN-10: 0471489050.

Ensor, Jim . (2006). Future Net: The Essential Guide to Internet and Technology Megatrends. Trafford Publishing; 1st edition. ISBN-10: 1553957245.