CHAPTER 1
The Modern Organization Functioning in a
Global Environment
CHAPTER OUTLINE
1.1 Business Processes and Business Process
Management
1.2 Information Systems: Concepts and
Definitions
1.3 The Global, Web-Based Platform
1.4 Business Pressures, Organizational
Responses, and IT Support
1.5 Why Are Information Systems
Important to You?
1.6 The Plan of the Book
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Describe business processes and discuss
business process management
 Differentiate among data, information, and
knowledge
 Differentiate between information technology
infrastructure and information technology
architecture
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
(continued)
 Describe the global business environment
and the new information technology
infrastructure
 Discuss the relationships among business
pressures, organizational responses, and
information systems
Chapter Opening Case
Moai on Rapa Nui
Homo Conexus
 You are the most connected generation in
history
 You practice continuous computing
 You are surrounded by a personal, movable
information network
Personal movable information network
And…..laptop
in briefcase!
1.1 Business Processes
Business Process
Business Process Management
Example of Business Process (Figure 1.1)
The next slide shows an example
of a business process: Ordering an
E-ticket from an airline Web site
Traveler
Plan Trip
Receive Ticket
Order
Seats
Available
Airline Web Site
NO
Notify Traveler
YES
Check Flights
NO
Seats
Available
?
YES
Reserve Seats
Use
Credit
Card?
NO
NO
YES
Frequent
Flyer
Mileage
Sufficient?
YES
Charge Credit Card
Subtract Mileage
Submit Ticket Order
Charge
OK?
Receive e-Ticket
YES
Confirm Flight(s)
Issue e-Ticket
NO
Notify Traveler
1.2 Information Systems:
Concepts and Definitions
Data Item
Information
Knowledge
Data
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom
Next?
Information Systems:
Concepts and Definitions (continued)
Information Technology Architecture
Information Technology Infrastructure
IT Architecture of Online Travel Agency
IT Components, IT Platform, IT Services, and
IT Infrastructure
1.3 The Global, Web-Based Platform
 Best represented by the Internet and the
World Wide Web
 Enables us to connect, compute,
communicate, collaborate, and compete
everywhere and anytime
 Operates without regard to geography, time,
distance, and language
The Stages of Globalization
(From Thomas Friedman in The World is Flat)
 Globalization 1.0 (from 1492 to 1800)
 Globalization 2.0 (from 1800 to 2000)
 Globalization 3.0 (from 2000 to the present)
Globalization 1.0
Christopher Columbus
Globalization 2.0 (first half)
Railroads
Steam engine
Globalization 2.0 (second half)
Satellites
Fiber optics
Netbook
OpenMoko open source smart phone
Globalization 3.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
Globalization 3.0 (continued)
Schematic Map of the Internet
Thomas Friedman’s Ten Flatteners
 Fall of the Berlin Wall
 Netscape goes public
 Development of work-flow software
 Uploading
 Outsourcing
 Offshoring
 Supply Chaining
 Insourcing
 Informing
 The Steroids
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Rise of the European Union
(a consequence of the Fall of the Berlin Wall)
Netscape Goes Public
Marc Andreessen
(wrote Mosaic
browser and
Netscape browser)
Workflow Software
Uploading
The Open Source Movement
(essential ingredient of uploading)
Apache Web server
Linux
The Open Source Movement (continued)
Firefox
Thunderbird
Mozilla
The SeaMonkey Project
Formerly the Mozilla
Application Suite
Outsourcing
Outsourcing gained
momentum and “took
off” with Year 2000
(Y2K) problem
Offshoring
Call center in India
Supply Chaining
Insourcing
Informing
It’s not just
There are MANY other interesting search
engines as we see in Chapter 5
The Steroids
 Digital
 Mobile
 Virtual
 Personal
First Steroid: Computing (processing)
TO
Charles Babbage’s
Difference Engine
(1822)
Ultramobile personal
computer
Computing (continued – storage)
TO
First disk storage unit by IBM (1956)
Capacity: 5 megabytes
Size: Refrigerator
Sony Micro Vault Thumb Drive
Capacity: 2 gigabytes
Second Steroid:
Instant Messaging and File Sharing
Instant messaging
(example)
File sharing (example)
Third Steroid:
Voice over Internet Protocol
Fourth Steroid:
Videoconferencing
A telepresence system in a conference room
Videoconferencing (continued)
An individual telepresence system
Videoconferencing and Medicine
New Zealand used Polycom, a leading vendor
of telepresence systems, to provide a
telemedicine application for children.
Fifth Steroid:
Computer Graphics
Sixth Steroid:
Wireless Technologies
Using cell phone
in motion
Geostationary satellite
Bluetooth phone
sunglasses
The Great Convergence
We are in a convergence of three powerful,
technological forces:
(1) Cheap and ubiquitous computing devices
(2) Low-cost, high bandwidth
(3) Open standards
The Great Convergence (continued)
In essence, we have computing everywhere
and anywhere, anytime and all the time, with
access to limitless amounts of information,
services, and entertainment.
The Great Convergence (continued)
We have the creation of a global, Web-enabled
playing field that allows for multiple forms of
collaboration – the sharing of knowledge and
work – in real time, without regard to
geography, distance, or, in the near future,
even language.
The field now includes some 3 billion new
people, formerly digitally disenfranchised.
And the result of all this?
See the Power of Technology
1.4 Business Pressures, Organizational
Responses, and IT Support
Business Pressures



Market Pressures
Technology Pressures
Societal Pressures
Business Pressures, Organizational
Responses, and IT Support
Market Pressures
The Global Economy and
Strong Competition
The Changing Nature of the Workforce
Powerful Customers
Technology Pressures
 Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
 Information Overload
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
Obsolescence: Slide Rule
Innovation: Early calculator
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
(continued)
Innovation: Telegraph
Obsolescence: Pony Express
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
(continued)
Innovation: iPod nano
Obsolescence: old phonograph
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
(continued)
Innovation:
digital camera
Innovation: “Credit
card” digital camera
Obsolescence: old
analog camera
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
(continued)
Obsolescence:
Horse and Buggy
Innovation: Ford Model T
Technological Innovation and Obsolescence
(continued)
Obsolescence: Manual
typewriter
Innovation: Notebook
computer with word
processing software
Information Overload
Societal Pressures
 Social Responsibility
 Government Regulation and Deregulation
 Protection Against Terrorist Attacks
 Ethical Issues
Green IT
See CBS video on disposal of e-waste
Social Responsibility
One Laptop per
Child initiative
Social Responsibility (continued)
Internet over satellite in developing nations
Social Responsibility (continued)
Bridging the
Digital Divide
Social Responsibility (continued)
Youth Computer
Club in Cuba
Social Responsibility (continued)
Cuban Youth
Computer Club
mobile unit
Microlenders (IT’s About Business 1.2)
Organizational Responses
 Strategic Systems
 Customer Focus
 Make-to-Order and mass customization


See Reebok
See Bodymetrics video
 E-business and E-commerce
1.5 Why Are Information Systems
Important to You?
 Information systems and information
technologies are integral to your lives
 Information systems offer career
opportunities
 Information systems are used by all
functional areas in an organization
Build Your Own Multinational
(IT’s About Business 1.4)
Misinformation about Information
Systems Career Opportunities
 Myth #1: There are no computing jobs.
 Myth #2: There will be no IT jobs when I
graduate.
 Myth #3: All IT-related jobs are moving
offshore.
 Myth #4: IT salaries are lower due to cheap
overseas labor.
1.6 The Plan of This Book
 The major objective of this book is to help you
understand the roles of information
technologies in today’s digital organizations.
 The book is designed to help you think
strategically about information systems
 The book demonstrates how IT supports all of
the functional areas of the organization
 Each chapter introduces a major topic in
Information Technology
Chapter Closing Case
The Blur XC Carbon