Introduction
Information technology is becoming inevitable in modern business organizations. It is becoming apparent that for an organization to succeed information technology should be incorporated into the business operations. IT plays an important role in organizations. Information technology plays a role in communication infrastructure of the organization, inventory management, data management, management of information systems, customer relationship management and product development and marketing. Integration of IT in an organization is a priority and all stakeholders should be involved. With information technology being used to manage organizational information, it is important to have proper plans to manage the growth of technology in the company. This paper will focus on the development and growth of the company information technology. With the development of the internet, web analytics have been an important source of business intelligence. The company requires a plan that will build and integrate the internet technology for better use of data. There are new technologies that the organization can use in the meantime to get the most out of the data that are found on internet use. Business function integration with IT in an organization is a process that should be done with a lot of care and planning. Management information strategy is very important in ensuring that an organization successfully integrate its day-to-day activities with IT. IT services that can be integrated into business functions are data management and information architecture, database management systems among other technologies (Marchewka, 2009).
An implementation of a system that analyzes each datum from the different companies and consolidates them to obtain processed financial reports will be achieved. The new system will need to provide audit capabilities and track compliance with relevant government regulations. There is a need for the company to analyze, predict and plan for future production and sales targets (Marchewka, 2009).
Background of the company
The company deals with data collection and analysis. This is becoming complex as the data is increasing with the increased use of the internet. The company collects data from the internet and analyzes information to get important trends regarding business transactions. Data collection is becoming a tedious process as the information is sought from the websites which are increasing in number. The company has to sieve through the data from the internet to remain with the information that will give important information. The company undertakes the process of data analysis. Data analysis is one component in a business that is crucial for forecasting and planning. As it stands, the company uses file systems to track customers, orders and sales. Content information systems are necessary to help the company analyze, predict and plan for future production and sales targets (Marchewka, 2009).
The business the company is involved
The company is involved in data collection and analysis. The data is analyzed to get the information that will help companies to make new strategies to undertake in order to get the edge they need for the competition. The company gets data from company websites in order to assess the data that the websites receive. This data has important information that will help companies make important decisions in their business transactions.
Outsourcing and offshoring activities
Data collection and analysis is an important aspect in any organization. With the wide use of information from different sources, there is a need to have data from different quotas. Outsourcing and offshoring are important processes that are to be integrated in the system. Some of the outsourcing and offshoring procedures that will be undertaken include getting email messages and important processed data from third-parties. This information can be obtained or delegated to be processed by third parties. Businesses like supermarkets, banks, and institutions of learning can help the company with processed data. Organizations and businesses have adopted information systems in their business operations. The data that is obtained from the information systems are the ones that are outsourced to organizations ho own these information systems (Kerzner, 2013).
Offshoring comes into play due to the fact that there are data companies which have important data and information which could be important to the company. This is where the offshoring process is undertaken. Companies like Google and Yahoo have important information which can be used in the process of data management and processing.
Information systems personnel in place
There are information systems personnel who are working in the company. They help in the day-to-day running of the information processing within the company.
Systems administrator
This is the personnel who are concerned with the running and integration of different information systems in the company. There are various information systems which are supposed to work together. The system administrator is tasked with the smooth running of information systems. These information systems are run from a server room. This is where the system administrator works from.
Network administrator
This is the person that is tasked with ensuring that the network is working. After the data has been collected, it has to be accessed from various points in the organization. The network administrator is tasked with ensuring that the computer network is working smoothly.
Database administrator
This is the personnel who are tasked with database management in the organization. After the data has been collected, they will be keyed into the database from where they will be analyzed. The database administrator is tasked with the storage and manipulation of the collected information in the organizational database.
Programmer
This is the person who will be tasked with programming the interface and integration of the applications with the web.
System analyst
The system analyst is tasked with ensuring that new systems in the company meet the client requirements. Before a new system is installed, there is a need to ensure that business requirements are met. This is the work of the system analyst.
Data that is collected
The data that is collected on the company includes sales data. This is the data that show how sales are undertaken within organizations. This data will help the decision makers visualize how some actions have effects in the sales trends in the organization. Sales data is an important type of data that is used to make important decisions for many decision makers.
Another type of data that is being collected in the organization is the financial information. This shows the money information in the company. It shows how the company is doing in the finances.
Information systems
Operating system – the company will have to look for an operating system that will be used to run all the services. Currently, the company makes use of Windows operating system. The version that is used in the company is that of Windows 7 and some computers still use Windows XP. This operating system is easy to use and manage. It is also compatible with many information systems that have been installed in the company. If there will be newer information systems to be installed in the company, it will not be hard to install them when it comes to compatibility issues. With time, there will be the introduction of other operating systems in the network. This will be to take care of the new information systems which are not supported by Windows (Schwalbe, 2010).
Databases - the company should have a database that will be used to store information. This is where the collected data will be stored. The best database management system that the company should have is MySQL which is open-source. There is the server version of this software which can be installed in the server. The database management system will be integrated with the operating system that is used in the company and all other information systems that are used in the company.
Analytics and interface – the company makes use of Google analytics which is useful in getting the data it needs. With Google Web analytics the company is able to harvest information from its clients and mine the data from these clients for further improvement. The data it gets from the clients include how they found that particular company, what products they downloaded, and what they feel about that company among other things. She gives an example of Google Analytics which is offered for free. The interface that the company uses to interact with the online content is the Google Analytics PHP Interface (GAPI). This is open-source and readily integrates with Google analytics system (Schwalbe, 2010).
Infrastructure and security – the setup of the company is that of web systems where the information systems used is web based. This is efficient because Google Analytics is web-based. There will also be on-site information systems which will be used to collect local data.
The network that the company currently supports is a wired one. This is the bus network where computers are connected to the internet through the use of network cables. There is a need to have provision for inclusion of a wireless network infrastructure. This will support the use of mobile gadgets. With the shift to the use of mobile devices in the workplace, this is becoming a reality. It is important to have a network infrastructure that will support the use of these mobile devices. With the expansion of the company and its operations, there is a need to include this infrastructure to include these new forms of information systems (Kerzner, 2013).
The security of the company’s information systems will be provided by third-party vendors like Google. These companies have their own security measures and mechanisms to handle their applications. For the on-site applications, the company uses a firewall to secure the applications that run within the company network. There are also security applications and tools that have been installed on the computers that are working in the company. These tools include anti-viruses and network monitoring for the network administrators (Schwalbe, 2010).
Conclusion
There is a need to have a network infrastructure that will take care of the expanding business. The paper focuses on the need to ensure that the technologies that are used to accommodate future expansion of the business. With the expansion of the company to more rooms and more space, there is a need to have measures taken to accommodate the new network. There should be security measures undertaken to secure the new network.
References
Kerzner, H. R. (2013). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. Wiley.
Marchewka, J. T. (2009). Information technology project management. Wiley.
Schwalbe, K. (2010). Information Technology: Project Management. Cengage Learning.
