Essay on Information Technology

''Information Technology is increasingly being used by firms in order to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage when engaging with stakeholders.''

Introduction:

The technological change that the world is undergoing is complex and above all at a rapid rate.  It is also important to comprehend the fact that technology is one sector that is constantly changing. As Waser (2012, p.41) posited, “the only that is changing the world at a constant rate is the technology.”  With the emergence of more and more people coming into the global business filed, the sector of information technology, especially its usage and developments is occurring with the occasion.

Oliveira and Martins (2011) defines the information technology as the study as well as the use of any computers, networking or any other devices related to it, also the processes as well as the infrastructure for processing, creation, storage, exchange and security of data in the electronic form.  While Mel and Grance defines it as the skills specially utilized in analyzing, comprehension development, creation, allocation and operation of computer software and hardware, or any other structures related to computers for the control and the management of electronic data. Or in other words, information technology is the usage of all the update technology that world has currently, and uses those technologies to gather information through effective communication, even though some of the aspect requires strong assessment to avoid any errors.  

According to Walker and Madsen (2016), almost all the companies use information technology one way or the other.  In a recent study conducted in 150 multinational companies in Europe and Australia, it has been affirmed that 98.9% of the companies adapts to various kinds of services from the modern information technology. The study also profoundly points that 99.2% of all the start-ups that are emerging today in Europe and Australia uses information technology as a base for the growth, sustenance and also competitive advantage of their businesses.

Although there are many definitions posited various authors from different field, the concept of information technology is vast.  As Schwalbe (2015, p.91) posited, “It is important to understand that the concept of information technology cannot be defined or in other words conceptualized towards a single idea, and this is mainly because with the course of time the technological aspect integrated to concepts are numerous, hence it becomes difficult to cover all that perspective in a single definition.”

Today the time of information technology is changing the entire world, especially the corporate sector. This notion was supported Holtshouse (2013) in his work, and according to him the time of information technology is profoundly changing the way people are approaching the corporate world. This is evident in many of the business activities and operations such as monetary transaction and the communication with various stakeholders. On the other side development and the immense progress that various multimedia as well as programming is achieving is also catapulting the growth and the success of the corporate, and companies like Intel, Apple and Microsoft are few of the best examples.

With the emergence of social media in the late 2000, the entire model of information technology existed those time became more complex and even enhanced in a significant way. Social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter opened new opportunities for the business and the corporate world. As Miller (2012, p. 159) posted in his work ‘Social networking sites’, “When social networking entered into the global business sector, this has opened new ways of innovations and opportunity that they never thought before.”  Apart from the social networking sites that offered numerous opportunities for the business world, many other sites and web pages emerged in support of the business sector by offering various kinds of promotion, and some of the examples include search engine optimization, web development and traffic optimization.  

Therefore as discussed before, the current context of information technology is not only a limited activity of sharing information or data, since it encompasses a larger perspective. As per Schwalbe (2015), it is not only communication that the information technology is mainly utilized for, rather to comprehend the people’s requirement as well as their necessity.

The sector of information technology is going to make immense difference in the current as well as in the future, since it is all about innovation and progress that integrates human needs and requirements as discussed.  It is also becoming a significant platform for the corporate and business world in terms of communication and storage.  When it comes to communication, the current information technology has put the business-customer, customer-business and business-business interaction into a whole new level. As Bloom et al (2014) posited, the organization are now using information technology in order to acquire market and business advantage, and they are successful in achieving it in a significant manner. It is indeed a fact that this is mainly due to the much developed level of stakeholder interaction that these organizations could sustain  due to the current services and solution that the information technology have offered.

The essay aims to assess and determine the role of information technology as a tool used by the organizations today, for the acquisition and sustainment of competitive advantage within the chosen market, through interacting or in other words engaging with the stakeholders.

Information Technology and Competitive Advantage:

The revolution of information technology is changing the global economy.  As Porter and Miller (1985) stated earlier in their work, “Soon the information revolution would sweep our economy, and no organization would be able to escape from its impact.” It is evident now, on how this change is really taking over, the effect that is bought forth, especially by bringing down the cost of processing, transmitting and obtaining of the information, which in turn is dramatically changing the business sector.

Jones and George (2015) defines competitive advantage as an ‘advantage’ that an organization gains through offering a service or a product that a customer values; or in other a condition that allow an organization to manufacture specific goods or serves at prices that are lower or in a more desirable way a customer needs.  Through these scenarios the companies would be able to generate more sales and profit, hence by acquiring the advantage over its rival.  Understanding this aspect, it is important to comprehend the very fact that it the role of information technology not as a direct contributor to the competitive advantage, rather indirect. As Jones and George (2015) pointed out that it is the effective use of information technology that creates the competitive advantage or the difference. Therefore it is important for the company to utilize the tool of information technology in a creative and effective manner to gain competitive advantage.