Strategies for information

Question 1

The benefits of a proposed information system

Answer 1

The benefits of a proposed information system should be evaluated against the cost. Several factors need to be considered. These include the following:

Increased revenue
Improved marketing and use of data analytics can help organisations achieve a
competitive advantage.

Cost reduction
Automated production, computer aided manufacturing and improved stock
control may improve profitability.

Enhanced service
Computerised systems may improve reliability and CRM systems can help to
manage customer relationships.

Improved decision-making
Accurate and up-to-date information can aid forecasting and scenario planning.

Question 2

Development and implementation of a new information system

Answer 2

Stages to follow when developing and implementation a new information system

Analysis
Identify the needs of the new system

Design
Design a system that needs those needs

Programming
Outline specifications to programmers

Testing
Ensure that requirements have been met

Conversion
Existing data is migrated to the system

Implementation
User training and on-going maintenance

Question 3

Digital disruption

Answer 3

Digital disruption refers to the rapid change that is happening in many industries as
organisations move to digital transformation. This is through the use of technological
advances to challenge the status quo and create value in new ways

Question 4

Digital technology has been used to disrupt many industries, including:

Answer 4

 Transport e.g. Uber taking on traditional taxi firms
 Accommodation e.g. Airbnb competing against hotels
 Advertising e.g. social media influencers competing with traditional advertising
agencies

Question 5

Data analytics

Answer 5

Data analytics is the process of collecting, organising and analysing
large sets of data to discover patterns and other information which an
organisation can use for future decisions.

Collection of data
Organisations have access to greater
quantities of data available from a number
of internal and external sources.

Organisation of data
Once the data has been captured it needs
to be organised and stored for future use,
often using data warehousing facilities.

Analysis of data
Data mining software uses statistical
algorithms to discover correlations and
patterns to create useful information.

Question 6

Big Data

Answer 6

Big Data is a term that describes large volumes of data that inundate a
business on a day-to-day basis

Question 7

The key features of Big Data are described as the 4Vs:

Answer 7

Volume
Considers the
amount of data fed
into the organisation
 Does the organisation have the resources
available to store and manage this data?
 Or does it have the financial resources
required to invest in or upgrade IT/IS?

Velocity
Considers the speed
that data is fed into
the organisation
 Are systems able to capture and process
‘real time’ data?
 Does the organisation have the skills to
provide timely analysis of this data?

Variety
Considers the
various formats of
data received
 Are systems compatible and capable of
accepting various forms of data?
 Legally, is the data owned by the
organisation or by the third party?

Veracity
Considers the
reliability of the data
being received
 Can the organisation challenge data
received from third parties?
 Is the data received fully representative of
the whole data population?

Question 8

Barriers and limitations of Big Data

Answer 8

 Data overload
 Ability to verify the data
 Representative data
 Shortage of talent to analyse the data
 Fear of cyber attack
 Legal and regulatory compliance

Question 9

Cognitive technologies (also known as intelligent systems)

Answer 9

Computer-based systems that represent, reason about and interpret
data. In doing so they learn about the structure of the data and analyse
it to extract patterns and meaning.
They then derive new information and identify strategies and
behaviours built upon the results of their analysis.

Question 10

Artificial intelligence

Answer 10

 Increasing use of computers to perform tasks thought to require human
intelligence such as learning and reasoning, including:
– Medical diagnosis through interpretation of medical images
– Home assistants learn our language and habits to better predict and
understand our requirements.

Question 11

Machine learning

Answer 11

 Is a subset of AI that applies algorithms or other techniques to data to give
computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed to do so.
Performance can be improved with experience of repeating processes.
– This can reduce costs, improve efficiency and reduce dependence on
human intervention
– For example: computer speech recognition to translate audio into text

Question 12

Automation

Answer 12

 The creation of technology and its application to control and monitor activities
without human interference. Cognitive technologies and artificial
intelligence facilitate the process of automation.
– Benefits include more productivity, accuracy, consistency and availability
– Challenges include the investment required, lack of operating skills and
potential redundancies.

Question 13

Internet of things

Answer 13

This describes the inter-connection via the internet of computing devices embedded
in every-day objects, enabling them to send and receive data.
This has benefits for individuals (e.g. a heating system that responds to the changes
in weather) and also for businesses.

Question 14

Digital assets

Answer 14

A digital asset is any text or data file that is formatted into a binary
source which includes the right to use it; digital files that do not carry
this right are not considered digital assets.

A business needs to protect and manage their digital assets in the same way they
would manage their tangible assets. If a logo was wrongly altered and then used
within an advertisement it could damage the reputation of the company.
Businesses use methods such as encoding, encryption and watermarks to protect
digital assets

Question 15

Two common types of digital asset are:

Answer 15

 Media assets (images and multimedia)
 Textual content (documents, PDF files)

Question 16

Implementing a digital asset management strategy

Answer 16

This requires the consideration of a number of practical issues:

Infrastructure capabilities and storage needs – this may need to be outsourced
to a digital management company if the business does not have the capability

Management support – implementing a new strategy will be disruptive and
expensive and will need management support

Selection of supplier – needs to be able to retrieve the assets on a timely basis
and provide the necessary support

Question 17

Blockchain technology

Answer 17

A blockchain has been described as a decentralised, distributed and
public digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many
computers so that the record cannot be altered without the consensus
of all involved parties.
The main benefit of blockchain is that is gives added security in the digital era.
As new transactions take place, they form a block which gets added to the chain; the
chain is never broken and so the transaction is permanently recorded and cannot be
altered retrospectively. One of its main uses is to provide security for cryptocurrency

Question 18

Cryptocurrency

Answer 18

A form of digital currency designed to facilitate the virtual exchange of
transactions

Question 19

Cryptocurrencies are not controlled by a central banking mechanism, which has led
to the value fluctuating dramatically. Companies looking to accept cryptocurrency as
a form of payment need to consider the following:

Answer 19

Impact on reputation – as cryptocurrencies can be sent anonymously they have been used by criminals as a way to transfer proceeds of crimes, leading to a
negative reputation associated with it.

Capabilities required – the infrastructure to collect cryptocurrency needs to be in place. Intermediaries exist to collect currency such as Bitcoin and exchange for sterling. There is a charge for this service due to the fluctuations in value.

NOTE: These developments in technology do not necessarily provide a company
with a competitive advantage as they are widely available. Combining components
with experience and rapidly learning from the technology is what presents a
competitive advantage.

Question 20

Types of knowledge

Answer 20

Knowledge is the potential for action based on data, information,
intuition and experience.

Explicit knowledge is knowledge that the company knows it has.

Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge and expertise held by people
within the organisation that has not been formally documented.

Question 21

Purpose of knowledge management

Answer 21

Knowledge management is a range of strategies and tools that
capture all of the knowledge that is valuable to an organisation, and
deliver it to the people in such a way that it can be acted on quickly, to
the competitive advantage of the business.

Question 22

Knowledge management considers the process of collecting, storing and using the
knowledge held within an organisation. This includes the following

Answer 22

Designing and installing techniques and processes to create, protect and use
explicit knowledge.

Designing and creating environments and activities to discover and release
tacit knowledge.

Question 23

Knowledge management strategy
Stages to follow when implementing a knowledge management strategy

Answer 23

Identify the knowledge that exists
within the organisation

Capture and document existing
knowledge

Disseminate knowledge to appropriate
people

Determine ways that knowledge can be
developed and tracked

Ensure that key strategic knowledge is
kept secure and confidential

Question 24

Cyber security risks

Answer 24

Cyber security is the protection of systems, networks and data in cyberspace. Cyber
risk is any risk of financial loss, disruption or damage to the reputation of an
organisation from some sort of failure of its IT systems.

Human threats – hackers may be able to get into the organisation’s internal
network, either to steal data or to damage the system

Fraud – the theft of funds by dishonest use of a computer system

Deliberate sabotage – commercial espionage or malicious damage or industrial
action

Viruses and other corruptions – these can spread through the network to all of
the organisation’s computers

Denial of Service (DoS) – an attempt by hackers to prevent legitimate use of a
service. This is likely to result in frustrated customers and lost sales

Question 25

IT Risk management procedures

Answer 25

Ensuring appropriate systems development and maintenance takes place

Have back-up servers

Have access controls, data encryption, firewalls in place for payments and data

Quality controls in place for other companies in the systems chain, that share
information

Hire individuals with the specialist skills and expertise.