Introduction
The world economy is on a continuous upward growth trend since the past decades. With the world population continuously surging to new highs, it is only normal for the greater world economy to expand with it. After all, every person or population consumes a certain volume of product or service. This means that the larger the population is, the greater the demand for market products and services would be. The world economy can be divided into various fields and industries. It is important to note that each economic sector and or industry experiences a more or less unique trajectory and pace in terms of growth or if not, contraction. The sectors that would be focused on in this paper would be the construction, information technology, and logistic sectors.
Aims and Objectives
The objective of this paper is to discuss the different progress that has been achieved in the information systems industry in the past decades—progress that are relevant to the construction, information technology, and logistic sectors.
Research Methodology
Secondary sources will be used in this study. The researchers will qualitatively review academic journals and studies that have been published in the past twenty years about the use of information systems in the field of information technology, construction, and logistics management. The researchers will then qualitatively discuss the studies that would be gathered and make an analysis based on what the researchers collectively suggest about the trends on the use of information systems in the abovementioned sectors. Specifically, there will be separate discussions for the information technology, construction, and logistic sectors. The academic journals and studies have to be published between 1995 and 2015 in order to qualify for the review. The objective of the researchers in the review would be to describe the general trend on the development and use of information systems in the information technology, construction, and logistic sectors.
Literature Review
An information system may be operationally defined as a network of people or computers that share the same set of information. The purpose of sharing the information amongst a group of people or computers is to enable collective processing and interpretation of information. The term may also be used to refer to the software solutions that big ticket corporations often acquire to run a database of information. In this rapidly globalizing and interconnecting world, it has been often said that the person or group of persons that has access to the most sophisticated forms and largest volume of information is the one that would emerge as the winner.
This is one of the practical applications of the theory that suggests that knowledge is king. This is where the purpose of information systems, especially when linked to the construction, information technology, and logistics sectors, comes in. The main purpose of information systems is to enable businesses and organizations to pool and collect significant volumes of information that are relevant to the processes and operations that are being executed in the affiliated organization. That way, the organization gains access to information that it would be able to use later on.
Between the three sectors, the information technology sector is the one that is most directly involved in information systems. Essentially, the development and use of information systems can be classified as one of the latest developments in the information technology sector. The information technology sector is just one of the many beneficiaries of a rapidly and continuously expanding economy. Because of the increasingly high demand for information in a highly globalized and interconnected world, new product developments (such as the information system software solutions in this case) are being developed. It is important to note that information systems are just some of the latest developments in the field of information technology. Information systems are flexible in that they can be used in almost any industry or sector. It can be used in the field of medicine, education, human resources, architecture, engineering, and construction, and even in logistics and supply chain management.
Nevertheless, the main purposes of information systems remain the same and that is to ensure faster integration, processing, and distribution of information. This is, in fact, the ultimate goal of the latest developments in the information technology industry. In an academic journal published in Information Systems Outsourcing in 2006, the authors discussed the maturation of offshore sourcing of information technology work. This has been one of the latest trends in the information technology industry that experienced a significant boost since the beginning of the twenty first century.
Through the development and use of information systems, businesses and organizations are now able to outsource their work, operations, and processes overseas, something which they were completely unable to do before the dawn of information systems. The authors concluded that this trend in information technology and on outsourcing of work is likely to continue for decades to come . This was also supported by other previously published studies on the topic .
The construction sector has also benefited from the emergence of information systems. One key area in the construction sector that makes use of information systems is on the project management area. According to Clear Path LLC, a rapidly expanding construction firm “during the construction phases and the lifecycle of a building, the construction industry depends on large amounts of information; it is important that the information provided to the construction site enables task control, data integration, material and resource control, and communication between the company and the suppliers” .
Information systems that focus on cloud computing, project management, and mobile device management, especially the ones that have been specifically designed to be used in the construction industry, are the ones that would most likely be relevant. Between those information systems, project management information systems are of the utmost importance especially for large construction projects because they enable the storage and integration of large amounts of information .
The same can in fact be true for the logistics industry. Project management is also an important aspect in the logistics industry because it handles all forms of information between product arrivals and deliveries, especially in large scale logistical operations. By using information systems, logistics firms can handle larger logistics operations by automating the processes. In the same manner, they can prevent commission of errors which can serious affect performance and quality of service . All in all, the trends suggest that the use of information systems in the logistics industry would also continue to expand .
Scopes and Constraints, Resources
The study would be limited to accomplishing the objective describing the general trend on the development and use of information systems in the information technology, construction, and logistic sectors. The study will also make use of a qualitative approach in doing so which means that no quantitative computations would be conducted. Additionally, only secondary sources published since 1995 will be used in the study.
Research Question
What is the General Contemporary Trend in the Use of Information Systems in the Information Technology, Construction, and Logistics Sectors?
Specific Questions
What is the trend (upward, downward, or sideways) in the use of information systems in IT, Construction, and Logistics Sector collectively
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the latest trends in the IT, Construction, and Logistics Sector on the Organizational, Technological, and Economic levels?
What are the barriers that hinder these sectors to overcome the current trends?
Timetable
Bibliography
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