Midterm Review

Question 1

5 IT Mega Trends

Answer 1

[Mobile]
Mobile devices are often the primary means of accessing the internet.

[Social Media]
The rise of social media is largely based on the network effect

[Internet of things]
A network of a broad range of physical objects that can automatically share data over the internet

Ex. Cardiac monitor that can alter physicians of patients health risks; Home automations sensors; Apple Watch, Smart fridge

[Cloud Computing]
Using the internet as the platform for applications and data
ex. iCloud, google docs, etc.

[Big Data]
Extremely large complex datasets, which are characterized as being of high volume, variety, and velocity.

Question 2

Component of IS systems

Answer 2

Hardware
Refers to physical computer equipment, such as a computer, tablet, or printer, as well as components like a computer monitor of keyboard.

Hardware includes not only “traditional” computer components but a variety of other input and output devices including sensors, cameras, actuators, and the like.

Software
Refers to a program or set of programs that tell the computer to preform certain tasks

Software enables organizations to utilize the hardware to execute their business processes and competitive strategy by providing the computer hardware with instructions on what processing functions to preform.

Telecommunications Networks
Refer to group of two or more computer systems linked together with communications equipment

Telecommunications networks allow computers to share data and services, enabling the global collaboration, communication, and commerce we see today.

Question 3

Types of Information systems

Answer 3

Management information systems

Collaboration System

Social Software

Geographic Information System

Question 4

Management information systems

Answer 4

Produce detailed information to help manage a firm or part of a firm
Ex. Inventory management and planning system, student enrollment management

Question 5

Collaboration System

Answer 5

Enable people to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate with each other
Ex. E-mail system with automated, shared calendar.

Question 6

Social Software

Answer 6

Facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing

Ex. Social network, connecting colleagues and friends

Question 7

Geographic Information System

Answer 7

Create, store, analyze, and manage geographically referenced data.
Ex. Site selection for new shopping mall

Question 8

Five Primary Competitive Forces

Answer 8

1. The rivalry among competing sellers in your industry
   Ex. Competition in price, product, distribution and service.
2. The threat of potential new entrants
   Increased capacity in the industry, reduced prices and decreased market share.
3. Bargaining power of buyers
   Ex. Reduced prices, need for increased quality, and demand for more services.
4. Bargaining power of suppliers
   Ex. Increased costs and reduced quality
5. Threat of substitute products or services from other industries
   Ex. Product returns from customers, decreased market share, and losing customers for life

Question 9

Location Based Services

Answer 9

Location
Determining the basic geographic position of the cell phone

Mapping
Capturing specific locations to be viewed on the phone

Navigation
The ability to give route directions from one point to another

Tracking
The ability to see another persons location

Question 10

Downsides of Using Social Media

Answer 10

• Online Product reviews
  • Microblogging
    A blogging platform where the amount of information that can be shared per author is either enforced to be very short. Ex. Twitter
  • Social Network
    Posting the wrong content online (personally and professionally)
  • Bad vibes going viral
    Incidents that go viral

Question 11

Issues When Social Media Enters the Workplace

Answer 11

Enterprise (not equal to) Web
Success with technology/social media in a consumer environment does not always translate to success in a corporate environment.

Ex. MySpace shows that success at one point in time is not guaranteed to continue. What appears as seamless magic collaboration is sometimes based on intricate processes

Culture
Many businesses face strong culture resistance. Social media applications, based on the premise of open communication, do not always do well within traditional top/down organizational structures based on rigid hierarchies and control. Further, social media applications base their success on user-driven self-expression.

Organizational Context
Any implementation of social media applications should be driven by a specific usage context; Employees should use the tools (technology/social media) for the right purpose.

Organizational Hierarchies
Organization-wide implementations typically need changes in terms of organizational culture and processes and often the flattening of organizational hierarchies. Therefore, social media implementations need the support and active involvement of senior management to cope with large magnitude of change.

Network Effects and Critical Mass
Within organizations, achieving the critical mass needed for successful social media implications is often difficult and takes a considerable time and patience
Ex. Wikipedia only has a small number of people who choose to actively participate in the creation of content

Generation Gap
When an organization is comprised mainly of baby boomers they are less likely to fully embrace the capabilities of organizational social media applications.

Technological inertia
People are not willing to witch to new applications unless they see real, tangible benefits.

Technology Integration
Organizations have to ensure that any social media applications are integrated well with the organizations existing information systems infrastructure to reap the greatest benefits

Security
Securing information systems infrastructure is a paramount concern. Companies have to balance their desire for enhancing collaboration with the need to protect intellectual property and compliance with rules and regulations

Question 12

Types of Organizational Strategies

Answer 12

Low-Cost Leadership strategy (Broad & Narrow)
Offers best prices in its industry on its goods and/or services.
Ex. Walmart

Differentiation Strategy (Broad & Narrow)
Attempts to provide better products or services that its competitors.
Ex. Porsche, Nordstrom, and IBM

Best-Cost Provider
Offering products or services of reasonably good quality at competitive prices.
Ex. Dell

Narrow Market
Focusing on a particular segment of consumers

Ex. Apple when they focused on high quality computer for how and educational markets

Broad Market
Aims at many different types of consumers

Question 13

Components of a Business Model

Answer 13

Business Model
A summary of a businesses strategic direction that outlines how the objectives will be achieved; specifies the value proposition as well as how a company will create, deliver, and capture value.

Customer Segments
The customers targeted with he product/service offering

Value Proposition
The utility that the product/service has to offer to customers

Channels
The ways in which the product/service offerings reach the target customers

Customer Relationships
The relationships formed with the target customers

Revenue Streams
The way a firm generates income

Key Resources
The most important assets needed to make the business model work

Key Activities
The most important activities needed to make the business model work

Key Partners
The network of partners and suppliers needed to make the business model

Question 14

Revenue Types

Answer 14

Affiliate Marketing
Paying businesses that bring or refer customers to another business

Advertising
Free services are provided to customers and paid for by a third party

Subscription
Users pay a monthly or yearly recurring fee for the use of product/service

Licensing
Users pay a fee for using protected intellectual property

Transaction Fees/Brokerage
A commission paid to business for aiding in the transaction
Ex. PayPal, eBay, Groupon ect.

Traditional Sales
A consumer buys a product/service from the website

Freemium
Basic services are offered for free, but a premium is charged for special features

Question 15

Moores Law

Answer 15

Intel Cofounder Dr. Gordon hypothesized that the number of transistors on a chip would double about every 2 years.

Question 16

Issues Associated with IS Systems

Answer 16

Big Data and Rapidly Increasing Storage Needs

Organizations face issues pertaining to the amount of data available and the amount of data needed to stay ahead of the competition. Capturing more data requires ever more storage space and ever more powerful computing hardware and database management systems for managing and analyzing the data.

Demand Fluctuations
The demands for computing resources are often fluctuating, leading to either having too few resources at some times or having too many idle resources most of the time. *it is not that easy to make quick changes to the IS infrastructure based on changing needs.

Ex. Stores during the holiday experience large spikes during the pre-holiday season, and increased capacity is needed to handle this demand.

Increasing Energy Needs
Rising energy costs are becoming a major issue. As computers process data, they consume electricity; further, various components generate heat, and most computers have multiple fans to control the temperature. More powerful hardware needs more energy to enable the increase in computing power; at the same time, having more powerful hardware requires more energy for cooling.

Question 17

Types of Cloud Computing

Answer 17

Infrastructure

- Only the basic capabilities of processing, storage, and networking are provided.
- Provides customers with the greatest flexibility 
- Managing software licenses is the responsibility of the customer, and setup costs are relatively high 

Platform

- Customers can run their own applications, which are typically designed using tools provided by the service provider.
- Users have control over the applications but has limited or no control over the underlying infrastructure. 

Ex. Windows Azure; acts as a cloud services operating system that customers can use to deploy custom applications.

Software

- Customers only uses applications provided via cloud infrastructure. 
- The customer only cares about the application, with no knowledge or control over the underlying infrastructure and typically has only limited ability to control or configure application- specific settings.
- Customer does not have to worry about maintaining or updating the software, the underlying platform, or the hardware infrastructure.

Question 18

Business Strategies

Answer 18

Brick-and-Mortar Business Strategy
Traditional physical storefronts; solely operating in physical locations

Click-Only Business Strategy
Businesses that only conduct business electronically in cyberspace

Ex. Amazon

Click-and-Mortar Business Strategy (aka Bricks-and-Clicks Business Strategy)

Business who operate in physical storefronts and choose to utilize the internet to extend their traditional offline retail channels.

Ex. Barnes & Noble

Cross-channel retailing: Transactions take place across multiple environments. Ex. When a customer places an order online but picks it up in a retail store

Omni-channel retailing: Entails providing seamless, simultaneous interactions using different channels, such that a customer does not interact with a single channel but why the brand as a whole. Ex. A consumer in Best Buy can scan a QR cod to receive more info or product reviews, which are located on Best Buys app.