Information Technology And Some Infrastructure Challenges Information Technology Essay

In sortingation applied science And more than or less Infrastructure Challenges Information engine room EssayTo roaringly implement an development engine room infrastructure into an musical arrangement, it is scathing that all levels take form and plan together, and that the planning performed be proactive and strategic. many components of the infrastructure whitethorn require an upgraded or be deleted however, some(a) components whitethorn non. Certain culture ab step to the fore discipline ashess, interaction, and movementes, once collected, organized, and comprehended, female genitalia form an of the essence(p) component of infrastructure which volition outlive m both of the upgrades to equipment and softwargon. The accent of this paper is to explain what passenger carial positions does breeding system support, how has the Internet exchange put out chain problems, list and describe the components of IT infrastructure that firms need to draw a direction, fig and describe the centering challenges posed by IT infrastructure, and finally define open- inception softw be.Management RolesManagers detain to perform critical roles in todays organizations. They befuddle a wide variety of responsibilities ranging from decision making, compiling schooling, making addresss, to organise meetings. To recognise film directorial role better, we must look at both the spotless and coeval models of managerial behavior.Classical ModelHenri Fayol was one of the most monumental depictrs to modern models of focus, having stated that the five primary functions of oversight were planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding, and promiseling (Rushing, 2010). Fayol believed management theories could be developed and then taught. Henri Fayol proposed that it is important to have social unit of measurementy of command. This concept that suggests there should be only one supervisor for each(prenominal) someone in an organization. Fayol also suggested that management is a common human body process that applies equally healthy to and organization as it does to a family. This type of management theory was basically unchallenged from the 1920s by dint of 1990s. The terms associated with Fayols management theory were of a formal nature rather than describe what a manager actually does in the performance of his job (Laudon Laudon, 2006).Contemporary ModelsThe contemporary behavioral scientists had discovered that managers do non typically behave as the classical models had first implied. Behavioral models state that actual behavior of managers see to be less systematic, more informal, less reflective, more reactive, less rise organized, and often more frivolous than students of information systems and decision making loosely expected it to be (Laudon Laudon, 2006, p. 87). Analyzing managers daily behaviors, Henry Mintzberg discovered that these actions could be classified into 10 managerial roles. Managerial roles posterior be described expectations of duties that should be performed by a manager in an organization. Mintzberg discovered that these roles could be low d proclaim into trio categories interpersonal, informational, and decisional.interpersonal RolesIn general, interpersonal roles will be established by the type of position you hold in an organization. For example, trim down level managers will have dissimilar interpersonal roles than middle management. The Interpersonal roles of a manager introduce be broken down into three categories figurehead, leader, or a connectedness.Figureheads within an organization speak for their companies to the outside field and carry out symbolic duties such as passing out awards to employees (Rushing, 2010). additionally, there be numerous administrative tasks and they argon also in the public and professional limelight. As a leader you are amenable for ensuring a safe and productive environment for your employees. The development of your dep cunningment and your employees lies on the figureheads shoulders and they must be able to promote egress while at the same time steering clear of conflict. As a liaison you must be prepared to correspond with separates. Liaisons non only report to upper management but will have to work with peers from otherwise factions within an organization such as vendors, and even clients. The liaison is obligated for k at fork uping who to get in touch with to get to the bottom of either situation.Informational RolesA monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson are the three informational roles that a manager whitethorn assume (Hartman, n.d.). These informational roles are lay downd as a terminus of enacting the set of interpersonal roles already described. A network of interpersonal contacts with both subordinates and individuals outside the work unit serves to establish the manager as an informational nerve center of the unit, trusty for gathering, receiving, and transmitting infor mation that concerns members of a specific department.A manager takes on the monitor role by ever scanning the environment for information or activities and events that may identify opportunities or threats to the organization. Much of the managers gathering of information is accomplished through the network of contacts established through the interpersonal roles. The information a manager gathers as a monitor must be evaluated and transmitted as appropriate to members of the organization. The transmittal of information by a manager activates the disseminator role. Privileged information may be disseminated to subordinates, peers, or supremes in the organization. on occasion, a manager must take on the role of a spokesperson by speaking on behalf of the department to multitude inside or outside the organization. This might involve lobbying for critical resources or appealing to individuals who have influence on activities that affect the work unit (Wren, 2005).Decisional RolesB oth interpersonal and informational roles are legitimately preludes to what are often considered to be a managers most important set of roles the decisional roles of entrepreneur, disturbance conductr, resource allocator, and negotiant (Laudon Laudon, 2006).The entrepreneur role comes into action when the manager seeks to improve the work unit (Rushing, 2010). This can be accomplished by adapting new techniques to fit a particular situation or modifying old techniques to improve individual or root activity. Managers usually victimize of new or innovative methods through information gathered in the monitor role. Whereas the entrepreneur role establishes the manager as the initiator of change, the disturbance handler role establishes the manager as a responder to change. Organizations, unfortunately, do non run so swimmingly that managers are never called upon to respond to unwelcome pressures. In these cases, the manager is take to act quickly to bring stability back to the o rganization. When a manager is placed in the position of having to decide to whom and in what quantity resources will be dispensed, the resource allocator role is assumed. Resources may accept funds, time, power, equipment, or people. During periods of resource abundance, this role can be easily performed by a manager. In most cases, however, organizations operate under conditions of resource scarcity thus, decisions on the allocation of resources can be critical for the success of the work unit, di imaging, or organization. As a decision piddler, the manager must strive not only to appropriately match resources with subordinates but also to ensure that the dissemination of resources is coordinated to effectively complete the task to be performed (Rushing, 2010). In attachment to decisions concerning organisational changes, disturbances, and resources, the manager must enact a negotiator role. The process of negotiation is possible only when an individual has the authority to c ommit organizational resources. Hence, as managers move up the managerial hierarchy and obtain control over more resources, they hold up more involved in the negotiator role. tally cooking stove ManagementSupply chain management (SCM) combines the art and science that goes into improving the way an organization discovers the components it require to make a product or swear out and deliver it to its customers (Laudon Laudon, 2006). The thinking of Supply Chain Management is built around two principal ideas. The first is that tho active e actually product that reaches a customer represents the collective stew of multiple organizations. Together these organizations are referred as the cut chain. The second idea is that although supply fetter have been around for a long time, galore(postnominal) organizations have only paid attention to what was happening within their own organization. Few line of descentes understood and managed the entire chain of procedures that eventual ly delivered products to the final customer. The result was disorganized and often ineffective supply chainsInternet and Supply ChainsSupply chains in more or less every commerce are at the start of a startling reinvention puddled by the growth of the Internet. The change extends beyond performance advancements and efficiencies acquired from estimatorization and communication to incorporate mug new possibilities to create value. This new value results from coordinated supply chains that can extend to larger markets and shape goods and services to meet the customers needs and new products and services that adjust to the highly agonistic and increasing environmental needs. The Internet alters the way in which supply chains are managed, knowing and controlled. The information, choices and practices that form Supply Chain Management are shifting to the Internet, prison-breaking old ideas and widening company boundaries. This common ground will be where entire supply chains truly can be synchronized. refreshed unknown specialist providers of both virtual and physical activities will create their own exclusive roles in the new infrastructure. In this ever changing environment, supply chain capabilities will be essential. But gaining those crucial competitive resources will not take place through the typical supply chain ideas of today (Challenges facing supply chain management, 2008).Internet Technology for Integrating Business ProcessesInformation technology (IT) has always been utilized to handle exchanges of goods, services, and information between organizations. With the arrival of Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) electronic markets, on the other hand, real opportunities for online transactions have begun to open up (Samson, 2010). The emerging internet was by all odds an unpredictable development. All the same, important working(a) criteria such as reliability, local structures and robustness always came to the fore. As a result, drug social functionrs had the opportunity to get door to a highly available international information network that waistcloth operative even in case of a breakdown of some single nodes. One important aspect of globalization is concentration. As a logical consequence, international companies have to merge or to collaborate with each other to meet the requirements for a global distribution of their goods and services. In a networked economy, these enterprises are bound to unseal some parts of their IT infrastructure to get out the engaged parties an exchange of product and accounting data as well as current status information in order to moderate the supply chain. Furthermore, employees need improved business practical applications with enhanced functionalities to manage their all-day work. These applications refill existing legacy systems by degrees. Long-ranging, these enhancements result in a abstruse network of computers and applications, as all those components require each o ther and have to be consolidated. In the context of integrating distributed business application systems, the vision of redundancy and robustness was not resumed consequently A changing business environment results in new technical developments and increasing demand of IT support execution of business processes (Needle, 2009).IT InfrastructureInformation technology infrastructure can be defined as the tangible hardware apply to fall in computers and users (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Infrastructure may include infection media and other instruments that direct transmission paths. Infrastructure can also consist of the bundle that is used to send, receive, and manage transmitted signals.Additionally, infrastructure can refer to interconnecting hardware and bundle product system and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. On the other hand, to some IT users, infrastructure is regarded as everything that maintains the continual catamenia and management of informat ion. IT infrastructure today is comprised of seven major components computer hardware platforms, operating system platforms, enterprise software applications, data management and storage, networking/telecommunications platforms, internet platforms, and consulting and system integration services (Samson, 2010).Computer computer hardware PlatformsThe physical part of the computer is referred to as the computer hardware. This includes the digital circuitry, which is divergent than the computer software that executes within the hardware (Laudon Laudon, 2006). The hardware of a computer is rarely changed as compared to the computer software and data, which are soft in the sense that they are quickly created, tailored or deleted from the computer. The microprocessor is the core of any computing device. The two major companies that manufacture most microprocessing secedes are Intel and locomote Micro Devices (AMD). Standard tests of the AMD chip alongside the Intel Celeron chip have s hown that the AMD chip was better in performance.Operating System PlatformsAn operating system is the computer program that, aft(prenominal) being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. The other programs are called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command language or a graphical user interface (GUI) (Greer, 2009).Enterprise Software ApplicationsThe goal of enterprise software applications is to amalgamate applications into seamless processes throughout an organization. The two most popular applications in this group are customer relationship management and supply chain management systems. Business processes that have traditionally been optimized for internal efficiency ca n now add the element of superior customer service, tailored to each customer, stir the skills of trained agents in the call center. Back office processes are greatly improved with better information from the customer. Additionally, agents can slowly decrease the flow of paper, in favor of more efficient communication avenues such as e-mail and the web (von der Weth Starker, 2010).Data Management and StorageOrganizations are salt away increasingly more data on its customers, employees, and even the organization itself. cosmos able to manage and storing the data so that it is readily inletible and supply meaningful information to the organization is developing into a discipline in and of itself (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Storage area networks (SANs) provide an organized, cost-effective way to combine data from across any system within the organization. Online users want direct access to data and SANs help organizations with a way to provide it.Networking/Telecommunications Platform sAs we continue towards a completely digital world, networking and telecommunications platforms will fuck off to merge together. quite than having a platform for networking computers and devices and a separate platform for telecommunications, we will begin to see businesses providing a combination of computers and peripheral devices, handheld PDAs telephone services, cubicle phone services, and wireless services all packaged together into one. A myriad of telecommunications companies have already merged with Internet service providers to provide complete digital service packages (Eren, Subasi, Coskun, 2008).Internet PlatformsThe Internet and subsequent technology continue to develop the services businesses are able to offer their employees, customers, suppliers, and other business partners (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Intranets and extranets constructed on Internet technologies provide businesses an easy and economical way of providing services that were extremely expensive just a fe w days ago.Many smaller and medium-sized businesses are using Web hosting services kinda of purchasing new hardware necessary to support Web sites, intranets, and extranets. Its more cost effective and easier to have these service-providers manage hardware, software, and security issues, leaving the organization to concentrate on its primary processes.Consulting and System Integration ServicesSystems used in many large organizations are so complicated that its almost impossible to manage them by alone. Integration services offered by the companies kindred IBM and Hewlett-Packard are essential in keeping up with all the changes. In various ways it makes more sense for a company touchstoneized Nike to focus on its core processes of making sports apparel and let a company standardized IBM take care of the technology issues.These services become more vital as many organizations combine their old legacy systems with newer technologies such as wireless networking. The old legacy sy stems merely move be thrown away but must work cleanly with todays newest technologies. Some organizations prefer not to completely replace legacy systems because its not cost effective, requires large amounts of training, and causes too much change in the organization. Its simpler to use middleware and other technologies to combine new and old systems (Schmidt, Otto, Osterle, 2010).Management ChallengesDeveloping and managing a sound IT infrastructure raises multiple challenges making wise infrastructure investments, coordinating infrastructure components, dealing with scalability and technology changes, and management and governance.Infrastructure InvestmentsJust like investments in home remodeling often fail to provide a square return on investment (ROI), it is frequently the case with investments in superior IT infrastructure components. IT Managers are constantly under the gun to decrease be in order to fund new projects or to meet cost-reduction goals. Managers should mak e decisions to prevent overspending on component parts of the organizations computer systems. For example, high reliability storage, will offer little value if matched with servers or network connections of turn away reliability. A string of high reliability components may surpass the necessities of the service they support. Any time the performance of any component notably goes to a higher place the requirements the incremental savings is pointless (Laudon Laudon, 2006).Coordinating Infrastructure ComponentsTodays organizations develop IT infrastructures by choosing a variety of onlysalers, people, and technology services and fit them together so that they work as a whole (Samson, 2010). Because each part of the whole IT infrastructure has its own priorities, managing them collectively can be quite difficult. Some components of infrastructure will need to be upgraded or are submit to upgrade or replaced, as is with most components of computing systems. However, some components are not. Specific information about information systems and associated processes can form an essential component of infrastructure which will outlive many upgrades of equipment or software. relations with Scalability and Technology ChangesIn general terms, scalability refers to the ability of a system to maintain, if not improve, its average performance as the number of clients grows (Laudon Laudon, 2006). As an organization continues to grow, it can quickly out grow its infrastructure. On the other hand, if an organization downsizes, they may be stuck with an infrastructure that is too big and expensive to keep running. every(prenominal) component of the infrastructure has some kind of management or operational overhead associated. Therefore, it is imperative that the organization recognizes these changes and takes appropriate actions to keep the organization pitiable forward.Management and GovernanceOne of the most vital tasks for successful information management is developin g the business governance over its program and related projects (Wren, 2005). Governance will apply a priority to the often-conflicting organizational pressures. It will take organizational plans and goals and help to form them into bounded endeavors. However, many organizations booking to get their governance programs up and running. They cant acquire interest, and they are in need of ideas to discuss after the initial objective is created.Information Systems and honorable IssuesInformation systems introduce new and often complex ethical issues (Carroll Buchholtz, 2006). This is very true today because of the challenges created by the Internet and e-commerce to the safeguard of privacy and apt property. New ethical issues caused by vast use of information systems include creating accountability for the consequences of information systems, establishing standards to safeguard system quality that look after the safety of individuals and society, and upholding values and establishme nts considered vital to the quality of life in an information world. Whether you manage your own company or work in a large business, youll be facing these issues, and youll need to know how to handle them.open-source SoftwareOpen-source software (OSS) is computer software that is created by a cooperation of several thousand programmers worldwide (Chan Husted, 2010). Some open source software is accessible within the public domain. The term open-source software was derived as part of a merchandising campaign for free software. Open-source software is based on the premise that it is superior to commercially produced proprietary software because thousands of programmers around the world working for no pay can read, perfect, distribute, and modify the source code much faster , and with more reliable results , than small teams of programmers working for a single software company (Laudon Laudon, 2006, p. 209).AdvantagesOpen-source software experts have identified several advantages and disadvantages. The key advantage for an organization is that open-source software is an excellent way for companies to attain better market penetration. Organizations that present open-source software are able to create an industry standard and, therefore, gain an advantage over its competition. Additionally, it has helped create loyalty to the developers. In turn, the developers intuitive feeling a sense of empowerment and ownership of the end product. Furthermore, less marketing and logistical services costs are required for OSS. Also, it helps organizations to keep up on of all technology developments. other advantage is that it is an excellent jibe to market an organizations image, incorporating its commercial products. The open-source software development method has produce reliable, high quality software rapidly and at a much lower cost. Likewise, it offers the promise for a more adaptable technology and speedy improvement. The mix of different perspectives, business obje ctives, and personal goals helps speed up innovation. Additionally free software can be developed in conformity with entirely technical requirements. Open-source software does not entail considering about commercial demands that tends to degrade the software quality (Chan Husted, 2010).DisadvantagesOn the other hand, it can be argued that the open-source development process may not be as clear and that some system testing and documentation may be overlooked. Nonetheless this is usually only true for smaller jobs. Bigger, successful jobs tend to define and impose, as a minimum, some rules because they are require to ensure good teamwork. In the most complex projects these rules may be as strict as reviewing even minor change by two independent developers.Even though many companies like IBM and sun Microsystems support open source software there are no great financial interest involved. A majority of the developers and advocates of free source software tend to believe in an unreal istic society that does not involve intellectual property rights Therefore most of the applications are not dependable and you cannot run essential business operations on them.Another disadvantage is that once you choose to use open-source software you are on your own. Although there is a lot of help available on the Web, there is no real skilled support available. Basically, you have to learn how to install and use applications on your own, without damaging your data and hardware. There are no documents and manuals made available to help you since the software is being constantly being changed (Chan Husted, 2010).An additional drawback is that most of the open-source applications are not harmonious with some of todays devices (Chan Husted, 2010). For example, there is no such thing as cab and play hardware when you are using open-source operating systems. Occasionally it is hard to get modems to work with open source operating systems.Finally, technical support is more expensiv e compared to commercial software (Chan Husted, 2010). People who offer support for open-source software count on earning lots of money to provide support and in fact this is the only income model aver in support of the open source software movement.