1. decision making and control in an
1. An information system can bedefined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (orretrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decisionmaking and control in an organization. In addition to supporting decisionmaking, coordination, and control, information systems may also help managersand workers analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create newproducts. Information systems contain information about significant people,places, and things within the organization or in the environment surroundingit. By information we mean data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningfuland useful to human beings. Data, in contrast, are streams of raw factsrepresenting events occurring in organizations or the physical environment beforethey have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understandand use. (Kenneth C Laudon, Jane P Laudon, 2017)The definition of an informationsystem is based on the more general concept of work system.
Businesses operatethrough work systems. Typical business organizations contain work systems thatprocure materials from suppliers, manufacture physical and/or informationalproducts, deliver products to customers, find customers, create financial reports,hire employees, coordinate work across departments, submit tax payments, and performmany other functions. A work system is a system in which human participantsand/or machines perform work (processes and activities) using information,technology, and other resources to produce specific products and/or servicesfor specific internal or external customers.An information system is a worksystem whose processes and activities are devoted to processing information,i.e.
, capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating, and displayinginformation. Thus, an information system is a system in which humanparticipants and/or machines perform work (processes and activities) usinginformation, technology, and other resources to produce informational productsand/or services for internal or external customers. (Alter, 2008)Now days, organizations are heavilyrelying on information system for getting success in business and also people’slife style are changing rapidly as we can’t stand without information system inour daily life. Wireless communications, including computers and mobilehand-held computing devices, are keeping managers, employees, customers,suppliers, and business partners connected in every way possible.
Email, onlineconferencing, the Web, and the Internet, are providing new and diverse lines ofcommunication for all businesses, large and small. Through increased communicationchannels and decreased costs of the communications, customers are demanding moreof businesses in terms of service and product, at lower costs. E-commerce ischanging the way businesses must attract and respond to customers.
The following facts are reason why informationsystem is so essential to the organizations,1 Economic Importance:Even though the cost ofinstallation and maintenance of an information system quite high (depends uponkind of system) in the beginning, but in due course the costs drop and appearsfair deal when compared to kinds of benefits enjoyed with the help of it. Alsowith the passage of time cost of information systems tends to decrease,whereas, costs of its substitutes (for instance labour) has been historicallytends to rise (Laudon, 1990). Furthermore, information systems use networks,which help an organization to reduce the transaction costs, by making itworthwhile for organization to contract external suppliers instead of usinginternal resources. 2. Information Systems ImprovePerformance:Information Systems are designed toimprove the overall efficiency and effectiveness of a process.
The informationsystems speed up the process and reduce the time by removing non-value addingsteps in the operation. For instance, Citibank developed the Automatic TellerMachines and Bank Debit Cards in 1977( Laudon and Laudon 9th Ed.).
It madefinancial transactions easy and was a huge success. Further, banks continued toinnovate and these days with the help of reliable and secure informationsystems from TEMENOS, Infosys, Oracle etc, most of the customer can do majorityof transaction from their home computer or even from mobile telephone.Moreover, information systems provide real time information which reduces thescope of errors, hence, increases the quality of the output of the process.3.
Importance in Decision Making:Information Systems provides thetools for managers enabling them to monitor, plan and forecast with moreprecision and speed then ever before. They also enable managers to respond morerapidly and adapt swiftly to the fast changing business environment. TheDecision Support Systems can significantly improve results both on quantitativeand qualitative fronts. For instance, there are around 142 million employeesworking in United States generating $12.
2 trillion of Gross Domestic Products.If the decision making quality of these employees could be improved by just 1%in a year the GDP might be expand substantially. 4. Organizational Behavior Change:Behavioral researches illustratethat information systems facilitate flattening of hierarchies by broadening thedistribution of information to empower lower-level employees. It pushes thedecision making rights to the lower level in the organization as the lowerlevel employees receives the information they need to make decisionseliminating the need of middle managers.
This also leads to the reduction isthe administrative costs of the organization. 2. Various types ofsecurity threats to any information system of an organization.The followings are types ofsecurity treats to information system;a) Malicioussoftware: Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses and SpywareMalicious software programs arereferred to as malware and include a variety of threats, such as computerviruses, worms, and Trojan horses. A computer virus is a rogue software programthat attaches itself to other software programs or data files in order to beexecuted, usually without user knowledge or permission. Worms, which areindependent computer programs that copy themselves from one computer to othercomputers over a network.
Unlike viruses, worms can operate on their ownwithout attaching to other computer program files and rely less on humanbehavior in order to spread from computer to computer. A Trojan horse is asoftware program that appears to be benign but then does something other thanexpected. The Trojan horse is not itself a virus because it does not replicate,but it is often a way for viruses or other malicious code to be introduced intoa computer system. spyware also act as malicious software. These small programsinstall themselves surreptitiously on computers to monitor user Web surfing activityand serve up advertising.
b) Hackersand Computer CrimeA hacker is an individual whointends to gain unauthorized access to a computer system. Hacker activitieshave broadened beyond mere system intrusion to include theft of goods andinformation, as well as system damage and cybervandalism, the intentionaldisruption, defacement, or even destruction of a Web site or corporateinformation system. In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, hackers flood anetwork server or Web server with many thousands of false communications orrequests for services to crash the network. The network receives so manyqueries that it cannot keep up with them and is thus unavailable to servicelegitimate requests. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack usesnumerous computers to inundate and overwhelm the network from numerous launchpoints. Most hacker activities are criminal offenses, and the vulnerabilitiesof systems we have just described make them targets for other types of computercrime as well.
Computer crime is defined by the U.S. Department of Justice as”any violations of criminal law that involve a knowledge of computer technologyfor their perpetration, investigation, or prosecution.” Many companies arereluctant to report computer crimes because the crimes may involve employees,or the company fears that publicizing its vulnerability will hurt itsreputation. The most economically damaging kinds of computer crime are denialof service attacks, activities of malicious insiders, and Web-based attacks.
c) InternalThreats: EmployeeWe tend to think the securitythreats to a business originate outside the organization. In fact, companyinsiders pose serious security problems. Employees have access to privilegedinformation, and in the presence of sloppy internal security procedures, theyare often able to roam throughout an organization’s systems without leaving atrace.
Both end users and information systems specialists are also a majorsource of errors introduced into information systems. End users introduceerrors by entering faulty data or by not following the proper instructions forprocessing data and using computer equipment. Information systems specialistsmay create software errors as they design and develop new software or maintain existingprograms. d) SoftwareVulnerabilitySoftware errors pose a constantthreat to information systems, causing untold losses in productivity, andsometimes endangering people who use or depend on systems. Growing complexityand size of software programs, coupled with demands for timely delivery tomarkets, have contributed to an increase in software flaws or vulnerabilities. Amajor problem with software is the presence of hidden bugs or program codedefects.
