Chapter 1, pg. 36: Are Electronic Medical Records a Cure for Health Care?
The problem described in this case is on medical record keeping due to the increasing number of patients seeking medical services. According to the case, about 12 percent of healthcare spending goes towards record keeping (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Traditionally, medical records have been kept in files and folders, which make it difficult for healthcare professionals to access and share information. This problem can be solved by adopting electronic medical systems.
What people, organization, and technology factors are responsible for the difficulties in building electronic medical record systems? Explain your answer.
The application and use of electronic medical records is compelling because they can make healthcare less expensive, efficient, and improve the quality of care by enabling easy access and sharing of medical history of patients to all who treat them. With the rapid emergence of technology, businesses including healthcare providers require to adopt new practices to enable them streamline and maintain processes. However, building and maintaining an electronic medical record system comes with its challenges and difficulties. These challenges include factors such as people, organization, and technology factors. The people factor includes government agencies, doctors, insurance companies, and patients.
In the case of doctors, the main challenge comes with the extended amount of time required to ensure that they get adequate training to successfully handle or use an electronic medical records system. Doctors are already short of time required to learn how to successfully use electronic medical system and they could spend up to twenty hours on training alone (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Some doctors have expressed dissatisfaction with electronic medical systems claiming that they are clunky and time-consuming, designed more for bureaucrats than physicians. The government plays a significant role in ensuring successful implementation of electronic medical system (March & Smith, 1995). The short-term goal of the government is to ensure that medical facilities and insurance companies institute a successful electronic medical system by the year 2015. The main challenge comes with the long-term goal of ensuring a nationwide electronic medical system. There exist different types of electronic systems that medical facilities can integrate, but not all these systems will be compatible with one another. This will prove challenging when it comes to nationwide accessibility.
Insurance companies also play a significant role in the implementation of electronic medical systems. Implementing electronic medical system will enable insurance companies to process claims immediately. However, people are more concerned about the confidentiality of online medical records. Electronic medical record contains confidential personal information, medical data, test results, medical history, diagnosis, treatments, prescription medications, and the effects those treatments of an individual. This makes it important for people to get concerned about the confidentiality of their records because such information are held and shared among different organizations.
What is the business, political, and social impact of not digitizing medical records (for individual physicians, hospitals, insurers, patients, and the U. S. government)?
The business implication of not digitizing medical record to physicians is that it will be hard to access patient information, which will force them to incur additional costs due to redundant tests. The government will be able to reduce the spending on providing health care services because it is easy to offer preventive measures electronically, and that healthcare providers could share health records, thus avoiding duplication of tests. These benefits could improve medical quality while decreasing the cost at the same time. On the other hand, EMRs are expensive to buy, decrease office efficiency and expensive to buy, but allow doctors to charge more for the same services. As such, not digitizing would help doctors to keep operational costs low.
Patients can feel frustrated over competitive paperwork, which can hinder their willingness to provide that information. In addition, paper forms are in most cases not specific to the current reason for patient’s visit, and therefore fail to give patients the opportunity to express their real health concerns. Handling large volumes of paper works to manage do not allow front-desk staff to have adequate time to administer clinical screenings, in addition to focusing on customer services. However, the U.S. government would not be in a position to its expenditure in providing health care to all Americans.
What are the business and social benefits of digitizing medical record keeping?
The advantages of digitizing medical recordkeeping include improving quality of care, such as nurse scan tags for patients and medication to ensure correct dosage is administered to the right patient. This feature reduces medication errors, which is one of the most costly and prevalent error as well as speeding up treatment. Patients that have been treated through the Veteran Affairs (VA) system have reported that the system is more efficient compared to paper-based providers because the instant processing of claims are some of the benefits of EMS system (O'Brien & Marakas, 2010).
Are electronic medical record systems a good solution to the problem of rising health care costs in the United States? Explain your answer.
Electronic medical record system is a good solution to the problem of rising health care costs in the United States because electronic medical record system has the potential of increasing the efficiency of delivering health care services. Having such system would enable heath care providers to prevent prescription drug interactions and avoid redundant tests. According to the case studies, electronic records can help reduce health care costs in the future by as much as $ 80 billion per year (Laudon & Laudon, 2012).
Chapter 2, pg. 75: Should companies embrace social business?
Identify the management, organization, and technology factors responsible for slow adoption rates of internal corporate social networks
Employees that engage in collaboration and conducting business in more traditional manner should adopt the use of social networks. Most companies do not give their employees such incentives and only 22 percent of social media users believe that the technology is necessary in performing their duties (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Ability of an organization to embrace social media also depends on many factors including sophistication, competence, and other technologies. When adopting corporate social networks, organizations require time to promulgate, implement, and assimilate the new technologies. In some case, some employees feel that technology does not help the in executing their duties.
Organizations have also made the process of adopting social networks take a slow pace. Companies that have attempted to adopt internal social network have found that employees prefer doing business in certain ways and changing their organizational inertia may prove difficult. According to the case study, enterprise social networking systems were not at the core of how most of the companies surveyed collaborate (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Approximately half of the people surveyed said that internal social networks did not have significant impact on employee retention, the reduction of meetings, or the speed of decision-making.
The increased job efficiency and ease of use are more important than the peer pressure in driving the adoption of corporate social networking technologies. According to the case study, majority of information technology professionals consider their own internal social networks to be just average or below average and the main reason they give is low adoption rates on the part of employees. The content provided in the social networks should be up-to-date, relevant, and easy to access; users need to connect with people with the information they need, and that would prove impossible to reach.
Why have each of the companies described in this case been successful in implementing internal social networks? Explain your answer.
The case study mentions a situation of a company, CSC, which adopted a very passive approach in its effort to implement social business networking software platform. One such approach was to allow users to form their own groups without engaging the management of the company (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Presidents and other executives of the group set an example by using the social tool to blog. Additionally, the company offered a “virtual water cooler” for topics that are not related to work to enable employees use the social tool in a more casual setting. According to the case study, all employees adopted the social tool, significant amount of intellectual property generated within the networks of groups and communities.
Another company, Yum! Brands, which is the largest restaurant company in the world took the opposite approach in implementing social networking by marketing the network to its employees the same way it would have done with its products. The expectation was to achieve 100 percent adoption rate within the first years of its introduction. The system has enabled the company to help eradicate redundant resources and allow users download and upload documents (Laudon & Laudon, 2012.). The third firm, Red Robin, a hamburger restaurant chain adopted a viral approach to increase adoption of its social networking system. The CIO of the company has reported mass movement from the use of email and collaborative portals like SharePoint towards texting and social networking. He wants to let employees perform status updates, create conversations, upload and share files, and create work groups for small project teams. Even though its usage has not reached the level expected by the executives, people are increasingly experimenting with the system.
Should all companies implement internal enterprise social networks? Why or why not?
All companies should adopt the implementation of internal enterprise social networks because they are easier to use and cheaper than external social networks and help in reducing expenses in other areas. Additionally, the systems improve productivity and reduce wastage in some companies. However, companies must provide incentives in order to encourage adoption of the new collaborative methods. Executives should take the lead in their use in order to enhance adoption. The management must tie these social networks to financial results. Additionally, management should initiate the necessary organizational culture changes to ensure success of the social networking tools.
Chapter 3, pg. 99: Technology Helps Starbucks Find New Ways to Compete
Analyze Starbucks using the competitive forces and value chain models.
The case study on the global coffee chain, Starbucks draws on the ability of the firm to compete with the assistance of technology. In the contemporary business world, successful firms use management information systems to assist in achieving competitive advantage in many ways such as efficiency and product quality as well as customer service. Starbucks prides itself as the owner of 16,850 shops, with an increasing number of global franchises. The firm experienced some shortfall following the global depression of 2008 and had to adopt a different business strategy (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Concerning competitive forces, Starbucks had to change their business model in order to remain competitive in the industry.
Starbucks was able to achieve low cost leadership by using information systems. This enabled Starbucks to ensure low operational costs that enabled the company to afford to charge lower prices to its customers. Starbucks adopted the use of the digital mobile platform after realizing that more than a third of its customers owned smart phone. The Starbucks App allow customers with emergency to make their payments quickly, exhibiting the use of management information systems at the retail level of the supply chain thereby enabling customers to enjoy better quality and efficiency (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Streamlining the business process resulted into a shorter customer wait due to the reduction in waiting time, which meant each barista could produce more drinks per hour, thereby increasing revenue.
The company also used information system and product differentiation to modify their existing menu. Starbucks has introduced new items for customer convenience and introduced price-reduced specials. The firm was also able to charge lower prices because of the alterations it made to its supply chain. Even though they had to match what their competitors offered, Starbucks enjoyed the cost leadership that enabled it to operate more efficiently and save on operational costs because of better and faster customer service delivery. The reduced cost in making drinks enabled the company to return to profitable levels.
Another competitive force that Starbucks implemented was the focus on market niche by narrowing the target market it served than their competitors. Starbucks gained from information system to implement this strategy, as it is able to analyze future marketing techniques and sales (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). After realizing that many of its customers use smart phones, Starbucks introduces the ‘Starbuck Digital Platform,’ which is portal designed specifically for mobile devices and optimized for smart phone operating system. The network offers various benefits including iTunes download and The Wall Street Journal access among others. Customers loyal to the firm spend more time in the store as they receive free Wi-Fi access.
It is essential for large firms to strengthen supplier and customer intimacy because some customers may feel less significant. According to the case, some customers felt that their experience at a fast food chain were very brief (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Starbucks therefore used information management system to streamline businesses processes in order to translate time saving into enhancing customer service. Starbucks found that with such strategies, customer felt more connected with a friendlier service, and the store started adding names of their customer to customized drinks to offer a more personalized service and better customer experience.
What is Starbucks’ business strategy? Assess the role played by technology in the business strategy.
The business strategy of Starbucks is to offer high-end specialty coffee and enhance customer service for customers so that they do not feel like they were visiting a local fast food chain. In addition, the firm also aims at improving customer service and eliminating inefficiency in the production of coffee. Technology played an important role in the business strategy due to the incorporation of the Starbucks Digital Network and the digital platform, allowing customers to enjoy free Wi-Fi access and Starbucks Apps to access on their smart phones.
How much has technology helped Starbucks compete? Explain your answer.
Had it not been for the use of technology, Starbucks could not have been able to launch the Starbucks Digital Network and paying for services via the Starbucks App available on smart phones. In addition, the introduction of store technology enabled baristas to make drinks faster, improving customer service and speed of service, enabling the firm to generate more revenue.
Chapter 4, pg. 151: Wasting Time: The New Digital Divide
How does information technology affect socioeconomic disparities? Explain your answer.
The use of information technology has an effect on social disparities in a number of ways. First, recent studies indicate that users of technology from poorer and less educated backgrounds use technology to reinforce rather than eliminate socioeconomic disparities. Research shows that minority youth spend more time consuming entertainment media compared to white youth. Minority youth spend more time with entertainment media at the expense of using information technology to advance in education. A study conducted by the Kaiser Foundation found that minority children spend more time with the media than white children do (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Consequently, poorer children waste more time on their assorted computer and electronic gadgets more than affluent peers. Instead of enjoying the education potential of computers, they rarely use them for educational purposes thereby worsening the socioeconomic disparity. The effort to close the digital divide has not improved the educational outcomes of low-income children because their parents have the least ability to monitor their usage of electronics or limit their time.
Why is access to technology insufficient to eliminate the digital divide?
The increased access to technology is insufficient to eliminate the digital divide because as access to devices has spread, children from poorer backgrounds are increasingly spending more time compared to affluent children using their gadgets and television to consume entertainment media. Access to technology cannot eliminate this divide because of factors such as socio-economic status, ethnicity, ethnicity, and geographic region. According to Matt Ritchell (2012), income continues to determine household internet access. Despite access to digital devices in urban areas, many families cannot afford the monthly fee required to pay for broadband connection. Additionally, many families do not have computers at home. Taken together, these trends will increase the time it will take low-income families to match the level of internet use among high-income families.
Ethnic minorities have traditionally lagged behind in enjoying the plethora of opportunities presented by this digital world. Minority groups have historically suffered educationally due to lack of experienced teachers and educational tools, and currently the digital technology upsurge is aggravating the problem due to lack of access to online content (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). A white family is three times likes o have internet access compared to a black family. Geographic location also affects access to digital content as children living in rural America have substantially lower chances of getting internet access compared to those living in urban areas.
How serious a problem is the “new” digital divide? Explain your answer.
The “new” digital divide is a serious problem because children from poor families are wasting more time on their electronic and computer gadgets compared to affluent children. Despite the educational advantages of computers, children from poor families rarely use computers for educational or meaningful purposes compared to their use for entertainment purposes (Laudon & Laudon, 2012). Efforts to close the digital divide are not improving their educational outcomes, in part because their families do not monitor their usage of electronics or limit their time.
Why is the digital divide problem an ethical dilemma?
The digital divide problem is an ethical dilemma because increased access to computers and electronics have made people less productive as they spend more time on their devices and not engage in constructive activities. Scientist argue that smart phones, internet, video games, television, and other media are the main source of distractions that are “massively remodeling” human brain (Kaiser and Family Foundation, 2010). Another study showed that companies that embraced social media reported that their employees waste time at work than improve efficiency. Even though few would agree that technological advancements are bad, technology companies, governments, and parents and children must consider the risks associated with modern technology (Matt, 2012).
Works Cited:
Kenneth C. Laudon, & Jane P. Laudon. Management Information Systems 13th Edition. Pearson Education Limited 2013. 2013
March S., & Smith G. Design and natural science in Information Technology (IT), Decision Support Systems, Vol. 15. 1995
O'Brien, James, A. Introduction to information systems: essentials for the e-business enterprise. McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA. 2003
O'Brien, James. A. & Marakas, George. Introduction to Information Systems 15th Edition. McGraw-Hill. 2010
Matt, Richtel “Wasting Time is New Divide In Digital Era”, The New York Times, May 29, 2012
Kaiser and Family Foundation, “Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically from Five Years,” January 20, 2010.
