Chapter 1

Functional Areas

Functional Silos --> takes a specific core business function, interdependent

Accounting

Provides quantitative information about the finances of the buisness including recording, measuring, and describing financial information

Finance

Deals with the strategic financial issues associated with increasing the value of the business, while observing applicable laws and social responsibilites

Human Resources

Includes the policies, plans, and procedures for the effective management of employees

Sales

Is the function of selling a good or service and focuses on increasing customer sales, which increases company revenues

Marketing

Is the process associated with promoting the sale of goods or services. The marketing department supports the sales department by creating promotions that help sell the company's products

Operations management

The management of systems or process that convert or transform resources into goods and services

Management Information Systems

Is a general name for the buisness function and academic discipline covering the application of people, technologies, and procesdures collectively called information systems to solve business problems

Information technology

Is a field concerned with the use of technology in managing and processing information

Data

Are raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event EX. Date, item number, item description

Information

Is data converted into a meaningful and useful context Ex. Best selling item

Business Intelligence

Refers to applications and technologies that are used to gather, provide access to, and analyze data and information to support decision making efforts

Best Position for Success

People use information technology to work with information

Information- Functional Culture

Using info in order to have influence or power over others.

Information- Sharing Culture

trust other employees to use info in order to improve their performance.

Information- Inquiring Culture

Search for info to better understand the future, align themselves with current trends, and new directions

Information-Discovery Culture

Open to new insights about crisis and radical changes and seek ways to create competitive advantages

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

CFO

Chief Financial Officer

COO

Chief Operations Officer

CIO

Chief Information Officer; Is a manager, leader, and communicator (in charge of IT)

CTO

Chief Technology Officer; responsible for speed, accuracy, availability, and reliability of an org. IT

CSO

Chief Security Officer; responsible for the security of IT systems

CPO

Chief Privacy Officer; Ethical and legal use of information within an org.

CKO

Chief Knowledge Officer;Collecting, maintaining, and distributing the org. knowledge

Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Are the measures that are tied to business drivers. Metrics are the detailed measures that feed KPI's.

Efficiency IT metrics

Measures the performance of the IT system itself such as throughput, speed, and availability.

Effectiveness IT Metrics

Measure the impact IT has on business processes and activities....

Benchmarks

Baseline values the system seeks to attain

Benchmarking

Is a process of continuously measuring system results

Competitive Advantage

A product or service that an organization's customers place a greater value on than similar offerings from a computer

First-mover advantage

Occurs when an organization can significantly impact its market share by being first to market with a competitive advantage

Environmental Scanning

Is the acquisition and analysis of events and trends in the environment external to an organization

To analyze competitive advantages

1. Five Forces Model 2. Three generic strategies 3. Value chain analysis

Five Forces Model

1. Buyer power 2. Supplier Power 3. Threat to substitute products or services 4. Threat to new entrants 5. Rivalry among existing competitors

Buyer Power

High when many choices to choose form (vice versa)

Loyalty Programs

Reward customers based on the amount of business they do with a particular org.

Supplier Power

High when buyers have few choices of whom to buy from

Supply Chain

All parties involved, directly or indirectly in procurement of a product

B2B (business to business) marketplace

Internet based services brings together many buyers and sellers

Private Exchange

Single buyer posts needs and opens the bidding to any supplier

Reverse Auction

Is an auction format in which increasinly lower bids and be increasingly low prices