Information Systems
Essay Preview: Information Systems
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CHAPTER 1
Information Systems and the Role of General and Functional Managers
Basic definitions
General manager
Knowledge worker in charge of an entire organization/business unit
Functional manager
Functional worker in charge of functional area or team
End user
Individuals with direct contact with software applications
Managers sometimes act as end-users
Importance of IS
Quote from Thomas Watson Jr
As long as you still have the people and information, you can always rebuild a company as strong as ever even if one was to burn down the infrastructure
IS is NOT a job of the “IT guy”
Modern general and functional managers are responsible for working in partnership with IT pros
IS managers should be PROactive in finding the work rather than waiting for the work to come to you
Critical lessons
Managers have to make educated decisions about the use of IT
Organizations use new IT to serve growing/changing business needs
Savvy managers partner with IT pros to ensure information systems success
Managers may or may not be end-users of the new systems they help introduce
End user
Comes into direct contact with the technology
Use technology to complete their day-to-day work + improve own productivity
General and Functional managers sometimes also end-users; but critical skills are diff
The new CIOs
Increasing prevalence of IT > necessary understanding of how to use resource
Broad view of operations, business processes, inter-organizational coordination challenges, + opportunities
Broad understanding of how the firm is positioned to execute strategy
Modern CIO skills
Perpetually develop the IT Team/organization
Effectively manage change while in pursuit of:
Marketplace innovation
Process improvement
Maximum agility
Leverage of legacy systems
Achieve 100% customer satisfaction
Consistently improve business performance
IT Trends of Managerial Significance
IT is the enabler of new strategy, initiaves, and effective mgt
Processing power, storage, + battery life continue to increase rapidly
IT consists continue to decline rapidly
IT continues to be user friendly
More IT trends of Managerial Significance
Data storage cost continues to decline