Globalization and IS Infrastructure and

Services

Managers are facing unique

challenges as digital technologies
permeate the workplace

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Information System Today

▪ Today, information systems (IS) are ubiquitous:

• Traditional desktop computers, laptop computers,
smartphones, tablets, ...
• Information systems are all around us, whether
you see them or not.

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Emergence of Digital World

• Over the past decades, the advent of powerful,

relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use computers has
had a major impact on business and society.
• Increasing global competitiveness has forced
companies to find ways to improve and do things
less expensively.

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Emergence of Digital World (Cont.)

• Many organizations use information systems to

support innovative business models, or build
their entire business models around
technological innovations and that IS is also
global.

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Emergence of Digital World (Cont.)

• We are living in a digital world, some have

even argued that we are living in the post-PC
era, where wireless, mobile devices will
replace traditional desktop and laptop
computers.
• Initially created as consumer devices, tablets
have become common in warehouses,
showrooms, airplane cockpits, and hospitals.

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Emergence of Digital World (Cont.)

• Changes in technology have enabled new

ways of working and socializing; whereas
traditionally, people were bound to a
stationary PC to do essential tasks, they can
now perform such tasks from almost
anywhere they have a cell phone signal.
• Likewise, it enabled performing tasks anytime.

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The Digital Divide

• In the new economy there is a Digital Divide,

where those with access to information systems
have great advantages over those without access
to information systems.
• The digital divide is one of the major ethical
challenges facing society today when you
consider the strong linkage between computer
literacy and a person’s ability to compete in the
digital world.

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The Digital Divide (Cont.)

• For example, access to raw materials and

money fueled the Industrial Revolution, “but in
the informational society, the fuel, the power, is
knowledge”

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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age

• Five megatrends in information technologies that

influence individuals, organizations, and society.

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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
1- Mobile Computing
• In the developing world mobile
devices often leapfrog traditional
PCs.
• For organizations, this increase in
mobility has several Implications:
– Increased collaboration
– New ways to reach customers
– The ability to manage business in
real time

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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
1- Mobile Computing (Cont.)
• For organizations, this trend can be worrying (due to
concerns related to security), but it can also provide
opportunities, such as:
– Increased productivity,
– Higher customer satisfaction.

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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
2- Social Media
• The rise of social media is
largely based on the network
effect. It refers to the notion
that the value of a network
(or application based on a
network) increases with the
number of other users.
• Organizations use social
media to encourage
employee collaboration or to
connect with their customers
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• Social media has emerged
as a dominant force in
online socialization.
• Examples: Facebook for
friends and families, Google+
for “social circles.”
• Businesses can leverage
social media to communicate
with customers
• Business intelligence can be
conducted, mining social
media sites for good and bad
sentiment toward a business
and the factors driving it.
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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
3- The Internet of Things

• Devices have embedded

computers and sensors,
enabling connectivity over the
Internet.
• Internet of Things (IoT): a
network of physical objects
that can automatically share
data over the Internet.
• By 2008, more devices were
connected to the Internet than
people living on earth

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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
3- The Internet of Things (Cont.)

• Examples of IoT include:

– Monitoring home temperatures while on vacation
– Alerting drivers of parking spaces and traffic volumes
– Cardiac monitors alerting physicians of potential health
risks
– Smart cities, smart homes, and e-health
• As the number of sensors and devices IoT will evolve to
become the Internet of Everything (IoE), where just
about any device’s functionality is enhanced through
connectivity and intelligence.
• [Link]
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Five IT Megatrends in the Information Age:
4- Cloud Computing

• Web technologies enable using

the Internet as the platform for
applications and data
• Applications that used to be
installed on individual computers
are increasingly kept in the cloud
– e.g., Gmail, Google Docs, Google
Calendar.
• It frees users from the task of
installing or updating traditional
desktop applications or worrying
about storing or backing up data.
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The IS Infrastructure

• Businesses rely on an information systems infrastructure

– Hardware
– System software
– Storage
– Networking
– Data centers

*Already covered in the course

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Issues Associated with Managing the IS
Infrastructure

• Rapid Obsolescence and Shorter IT Cycles:

– As IT cycles shorten, hardware that may still perform its
intended function becomes obsolete and needs to be
replaced and upgraded.
• Big Data and Rapidly Increasing Storage Needs:
– Modern companies are seeing a tremendous influx of data
driven by both compliance requirements and business
intelligence needs.
– These new levels of data are driving infrastructure changes
to support them, both in terms of storage capacity and
processing capabilities.

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Issues Associated with Managing the IS
Infrastructure
• Demand Fluctuations:
– Businesses often face large demand fluctuations on their
infrastructure, building architectures that can handle peak
loads, which are underutilized most of the time.
• Increasing Energy Needs:
– Computing can require a lot of power
– Hardware draws power, which generates heat
– Heat requires cooling, which requires more power

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Globalization in the Digital World

• The process by which businesses or other

organizations develop international influence
or start operating on an international scale.
• You can see the effects of globalization in
many ways, such as
– the greater international movement of
commodities,
– money, information, and labor
– development of technologies, standards, and
processes to facilitate this movement.
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Key Driving Impacts of Globalization

• Economic change
– International trade,
global finance, labor
outsourcing
• Cultural change
– Multiculturalism from
media, international
travel, ethnic foods
• Technological change
– Computing and
communication
platforms, global patent
and copyright laws
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GLOBALIZATION:
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES.

• For organizations, globalization has opened up

many opportunities:
– People can make voice or video calls around the
globe for free using services such as Skype, Google
Hangouts, or WhatsApp.
– To a large extent fueled by movies, television, and
other forms of media, the increasing globalization
has moved cultures closer together.

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GLOBALIZATION:
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES (Cont.)

• The rapid rise of a new middle class in many

developing countries has enabled established
companies to reach new markets, enabling
them to sell their products to literally millions
of new customers.

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GLOBALIZATION:
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES (Cont.)
• Yet globalization has also brought about a number
of operational challenges for organizations:
– Organizations face governmental challenges related to
differences in political systems, regulatory environments,
laws, standards, or individual freedoms.
– Likewise, geoeconomic challenges include differences in
infrastructure, demographics, welfare, or workers’
expertise.
– Organizations face cultural challenges, such as dealing
with differences in languages, beliefs, attitudes, religions,
or life focus.
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Strategies for building global systems

❖ The strategies for building global systems :

• Understand global environment.
✓ Understanding business drivers and forces for global competition
✓ Examine the inhibitors and negative factors creating management challenges

• Develop corporate strategy for global competition.

• Develop organization structure and division of labor.

• Consider management issues.

✓ Design of business process, discover user requirements , change in
✓ local units to conform global requirements, and coordinate system development.

• Consider technology platform.

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