chapter 12 information system trends 2012

Chapter 12 Information System Trends

2012What managers need to know about the emerging and enduring trends in Information Systems management

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The Hype Cycle

• Technology Trigger: When a new technology becomes available

• Peak of Inflated Expectations: When over enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations fuel rapid adoption

• Through of disillusionment: When failures become public

• Slope of Enlightenment: when the true benefits of the technology become apparent to the organizations

• Plateau of Productivity: the phase when the benefits and risks of the technology become widely understood and accepted

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The Hype Cycle -2005

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The Hype Cycle - 2010

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Current & Emerging IS/IT Trends• Enterprise Systems• Supply Chain Management• Customer Relationship Management• Business Intelligence• Digital Data Genius• Knowledge Management Systems• Mobile Computing• Web 2.0 Technology• Social Media• Gesture Based Computing

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Enterprise Systems

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Enterprise Systems• In the early 1990s developers realized the

limitations of the functional approach

• This led to a class of standardized software applications that would enable and support integrated business processes

• These applications are known as Enterprise Systems (ESs)

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Enterprise Systems

• Provide native integration• Attempt to support all components of the firm’s IT

infrastructure.• Defining characteristics:

– Modular– Integrated – Software applications – Span all organizational functions – Rely on one database at the core.

• Custom developed or purchased off-the-shelf

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Characteristics of ESs

• Modularity– Enables the organization to decide which

functionalities to enable and which ones not to– Allows for flexibility at the design stage– No need to pay for unnecessary components

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• Application Integration:– Events in one module automatically trigger events

in one or more separate modules

• Data Integration– Data is stored in one

central database

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• Configurable– Enterprise Systems are parameterized– Firms choose among a predefined set of

configuration options during the implementation of the application

– The firm can extend the capabilities of the standard application by creating “bolt-on modules”

– This customization process further tailors the ES to the specific needs of the organization

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Advantages of Enterprise Systems

• Efficiency– ESs are able to rein in complex, generally hard-to-

mange and support legacy IT infrastructures– Potential to reduce direct costs

• Example: No redundant data entry

– Potential to reduce indirect costs by streamlining business processes and operations

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• Responsiveness– ESs can deliver improvements in the firm’s ability

to respond to customers and market demands

• Knowledge Infusion– The application embeds the state of the art in

industry practice– ES can be used to update obsolete business

processes within the firm

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• Adaptability– Offer a degree of customizability rarely offered by

off-the-shelf applications– Achieved through the use of configuration tables

and bolt-on functionality

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Limitations of Enterprise Systems

• Standardization and Flexibility– Organizations are encouraged to implement as close to a

standard version of the software as possible.– So called “Vanilla” implementation ensure that firms take

advantage of the economies of scale created by the vendor

– But flexibility is sacrificed by this approach– ESs are often referred to as software concrete

• Much of the adaptability only occurs during the implementation process.

• Once set, ESs are difficult to change

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• Limitations of best practice software– It will force the firm to adapt– It is unclear how “best practices” are defined– The “best” practice may differ for different firms – Its not enough to implement a software program

to enact a new practice– A firm’s own best practices may not be supported

by the new ES

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• Strategic Clash– A firm will have to choose amongst the set of

business processes supported by the software– What if one of your unique and differentiating

practices is not supported by the ES?

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Return to Current & Emerging IS/IT Trends

Supply Chain Management

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• The set of coordinated entities that contribute to move a product or service from its production to its consumption– Upstream

Supply Chain– Downstream

Supply Chain

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Modern Supply Chain Management

• Tight linkages between upstream (i.e., suppliers) and downstream firms (i.e., customers)

• Inter-organizational systems increasingly supported by the Internet

• Integration with enterprise systems• Increasing attention to IT-enabled supply

chain management

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Supply Chain Management Trends

• Radiofrequency Identification (RFID)• A new frontier in SCM:

– No line of sight requirements– Embedding potential– Writing capabilities– Storage capacity– Speed up the receiving process– Improve monitoring and control of inventories

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Knowledge Management

“All the value of this company is in its people. If you burned down all out plants, and we just

kept out people and out information files, we should soon be as strong as ever.”

--Thomas Watson, the CEO of IBM

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Knowledge

• Knowing What: Based on the ability to collect, categorize, and assimilate information

• Knowing How: Ability to recognize or create the sequence of steps that are needed to complete a task

• Knowing Why: Based on understanding of cause-effect relationships

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Knowledge

• Categories of Knowledge– Explicit Knowledge

• Can be articulated• Codified• Transferred with relative ease.

– Tacit Knowledge• The type of knowledge that individuals possess but find

difficult to articulate

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Knowledge Management

• Set of activities and processes used to:– Create– Codify– Disseminate knowledge in the organization

• IT is a key component and enabler• Aspects of knowledge management:

– Creating – Capturing– Storing– Disseminating

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Creating Knowledge

• Knowledge creation is the first stage in knowledge management:– Generate new information– Devise solutions to existing problems– Identify new explanations for events

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Capturing and Storing Knowledge

• Enables the organization to:– Codify new knowledge– Maintain an organizational memory

• Content Management Systems (CMSs):– Applications used to capture and store knowledge– A knowledge repository is a central location and

search point for relevant knowledge

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Disseminating Knowledge

• The last phase in a knowledge management initiative

• When knowledge is formatted and easily accessible, dramatic improvements in effectiveness and efficiency can be achieved.


Business Intelligence

• The ability to gather and make sense of information about your business– A set of techniques– Processes– Technologies

• Designed to enable managers to:– Gain superior insight about the organization– Gain superior understanding of the business– Make better decisions

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Business Intelligence

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Components of BI

• Data Warehouse: – A data repository – Collects and consolidates data– Multiple sources

• Characteristics:– Large in size– Large in scope– Enabling data integration– Designed for analytics

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Components of BI

• Data Mart: – A scaled-down version of a data warehouse – Focuses on the needs of a specific audience– Smaller in scope, thus easier to build

• Online Analytical Processing (OLAP):– User-driven– Enables a knowledge worker to easily and

selectively extract and view data from analytical databases

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Components of BI

• Data Mining: – The process of automatically discovering non-obvious

relationships in large databases. – Used to analyze historical information– Machine-driven

• Possible Patterns:– Associations– Sequences– Classifications– Forecasting


Customer Relationship Management

• CRM is a strategic initiative, not a technology• CRM relies on transactional data and is designed to

help the firm learn about customers• Designed to use data to make inferences about

customer:– Behaviors– Needs

• The objective is to create value for the firm by optimizing the relationship with each customer

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CRM Infrastructure

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Limitations of CRM

• CRM is firm centric– Only relies on transactional and behavioral data

pertaining to the interactions of the customer with the firm

• Limited predictive ability– Some events are unforeseeable and only the

customer knows about their occurrence

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Customer Managed Interactions

• In CMIs customer data is stored and managed by the customer

• CMI solves the limitations of CRM initiatives:– The customer’s personal data warehouse holds

complete historical information – Future events are more likely known– Inferences are more precise

• Infomediaries may maintain customers’ data warehouses

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Customer Managed Interactions

• CMI is not only about the lowest prices– CMI completion may depend on lower price– More likely will stem from the quality of the

recommendation

• CMI technology– The Internet provides the infrastructure for data

transfer– Falling costs of storage make personal data

warehouses a feasible alternative

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Customer Interactions in the CMI Paradigm

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Web 2.0 Space

• Some of them are technological components (e.g., AJAX, RIA‘s, and XML/DHTML)

• Some are principles (e.g., participation, collective intelligence, and rich user experience)

• Some are applications and tools (e.g., Wikipedia, Flickr, and Mashups).

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Technology Push/Demand Pull Theory• Demand Pulls Technology

– Market and consumer needs may create a demand for new technology/service

– Forces research and development efforts to accelerate innovation.

• Technology Pushes Demand – New technology/service may evolve to spawn

innovative uses – Thereby generate demand.

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Examples• Technology Push

– Early internet allows for early version of e-mail– I/O devices move from teletype machines to CRT– Networking PCs – Cell Phone Displays – LCD

• Demand Pull– E-mail Servers & Clients– GUI’s – MAC, Windows 3.0, etc.– Graphical Web Browsers– Custom Graphics & Ringtones

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Conceptual Framework of Web 2.0 Paradigm

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Web 2.0 Tech Push/ Demand Pull Layers• Web 2.0 Technology Layer

– Enabling technologies or technological concepts – Provide the infrastructure and building blocks for Web 2.0 RIAs – Supports Web 2.0 principles.

• Web 2.0 Principle Layer – Common fundamental characteristics observed from current web 2.0

platforms – Different from traditional applications or platforms.

• Web 2.0 Application Layer – Web 2.0 RIAs that implement the lower layer principles using the enabling

technologies in the technology layer.

• Web 2.0 Driver Layer – Market/social/user driving forces that pull the fundamental shifts in

technology, online business networks, online communities, and individual online behaviors.


The Web 2.0 Revolution, Social Media, and Industry Disruptors

• social mediaThe online platforms and tools that people use to share opinions, experiences, insights, perceptions, and various media, including photos, videos, and music, with each other

• disruptorsCompanies that introduce a significant change in their industries, thus causing a disruption in normal business operations

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Social Media

• Social Media Makes History

Chapter 12 2012 51Return to Current & Emerging IS/IT Trends

Digital Data Genius

• We are rapidly moving toward a world where events, transactions, and processes are all digitized– Purchasing a book online– Using RFID devices to track items– Using a search engine (Google, Bing) to locate

information– Using our cell phone to retrieve voice-mail

messages

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Digital Data Genius Requirements

• In order to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by digital data genesis, a firm must develop a digital data genesis capability– Choosing IT to generate and capture data in its

native digital form– Integrating IT in the business processes that

generate the data of interest– Managing the digital data so produced

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Digital Data Genius Strategies & Decisions

• Digital data genesis strategies require a disciplined approach to digital data generation and capture, predicated on the recognition of the value of data and the consequent need to architect systems that originate it in a digital format

• Digital data genesis decisions about digital data genesis should be driven by the desire to seamlessly and unobtrusively collect data that answers basic questions about a transaction

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Digital Data GeniusBasic Questions

• When did the transaction take place?• Where did the transaction occur?• What was the nature of the transaction?• How was the transaction executed?• Who initiated the transaction?• What was the outcome?

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Digital Data GeniusAutomation

• Machine to Machine (M2M)– IT-enabled everyday objects (e.g., utility meters) and

pervasive connectivity (e.g., wireless networks) make it is possible to leverage data that is born digital to let the machine generating an event communicate directly with the other machines that can act upon that event.

• Machine to Person (M2P)– When the actuator on the receiving end of the digital

data generated by IT-enabled everyday objects is a person, rather than an object, we talk about M2P transactions.

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Digital Data GeniusOpportunities

• The proliferation of sensors and sensor data that produce usable information with unprecedented speed and granularity provides the opportunity to design information systems expressly designed to take advantage of this environmental change

• At its most fundamental level, digital data genesis offers the opportunity to bridge the gap between the digital and physical world. In other words, as more and more physical activities come with an automatically generated information representation of the activity, it is increasingly possible to extract value from the symbiotic relationship of physical and digital systems

• One approach to analyzing this symbiotic relationship between physical activities and information is through the lens of ubiquity, uniqueness, unison, and universality

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• Ubiquity– Information access that is unconstrained by time and

space ranks high on the ubiquity scale. – Data that are generated natively in digital form are

theoretically available in real time. – Ubiquitous information provides opportunities for

rationalizing the use of resources. • Uniqueness

– Information access that is personalized and individually tailored to the needs of a person or other entity ranks high in uniqueness

– Digital data genesis enabled unprecedented levels of uniqueness

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• Unison– Information that is consistent and devoid of

redundancies ranks high in unison– At a procedural level unison translates into the

standardization of the activities necessary to perform an activity

• Universality– Information that is standardized and easily shareable

across platforms ranks high in universality– At a procedural level universality describes the ease

with which separate processes can interlock and coordinate

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The Super Crunchers• “In an information-rich world, the wealth of

information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes”

• Digital data genesis exacerbates this problem by enabling the creation of unprecedented amounts of information

• Because data is in a digital form, some argue that the future belongs the supercrunchers– Those who will be able to exploit the availability of data to

their advantage and the advantage of their organizations by quickly and effortlessly testing their hunches and intuitions with data


The Mobile Platform

• The most visible trend in computing today is the widespread adoption of the mobile platform

• A recent development in the area of mobile computing is the rise to prominence of tablets, characterized by their light weight, multi-touch input screens and sustained battery power

• hanks to its technological characteristics – portability and connectivity –the mobile platform gives users the opportunity for constant access to computing power and access to the data grid

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Characteristics• Ubiquity

– Ubiquity represents the idea that users of the device can access needed resources from (in theory) anywhere

• Identifiabilty – Identifiabilty represents the idea that mobile devices uniquely

identify their user. In order to access the data grid, both smartphones and tablets utilize the cellular network and use a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM card)

• Context Awareness – Context Awareness is enabled by the fact that mobile devices

can be geolocated. In other words, modern smartphones that incorporate a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver can communicate their position to any software application running on them

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Mobile Commerce

• Mobile commerce – Refers to the ability to complete commercial

transactions using mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets

– Also known as M-Commerce or mCommerce

• Has recently received significant impetus as consumers have shown its viability by adopting electronic commerce and self-service through digital mobile devices

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Location-Based Social Networking

• The rise to prominence of the mobile platform has enabled social networking firms to allow users to reach (some would say annoy!) their contacts more often and in a more timely manner using mobile versions of their service

• Location-based social networking – Extension of mobile social networking whereby the

geographical location of the user becomes an integral component of the service enabling efficient access to context-dependent services

– Enable social network users to bridge the gap from access to their friends ratings and reviews (what friends say), to their actual behavior (what friends do) – the ultimate high tech version of “voting with your feet!

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Augmented Reality• Augmented reality is a field of

computing that has recently received increased attention thanks to the launch of a few augmented reality applications for smartphones, such as Wikitude and Layar

• Augmented reality consists of superimposing an information layer on top of a real image.

• Augmented reality is not confined to the mobile platform

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Green IS vs. IT • Environmental sustainability:

– The notion that it is imperative for the human species to take the lead in the conservation of the natural environment and the sustainable management of its resources

• Green IT – Focus on reducing energy consumption of IT devices

and data centers • Green IS

– Focus on broadening the role of IT in minimizing adverse impacts on environmental sustainability


Gesture-Based Computing

Prototype of Mouse - 1965

Gesture-Based Computing• Gesture-based Computing refers to the ability to interface

with devices through natural human movement.

• Gesture Based Computing is already used widely today. – iPod touch, – Smart Phones,– Tablets,– Nintendo Wii,– Kenect

• Playstation Move and SMART Boards all respond to natural human gestures.


• Different devices can recognize a variety of Gesture-Based inputs.

• Touch Screens and Surfaces recognize– Touch– Taps– Swipes– Multiple Fingers/Touches

• Handheld Devices respond when they are– Tilted– Shaken– Moved in space


• Game Systems (like the Wii) use hand held remote and an infared sensor to determine players location and movement in 3-D space

• Hands-Free Systems (like Xbox 360 Kenect) require no controls. A set of cameras recognizes full-body motion.

• Gesture-based interfaces are changing the way we interact with computers

• Provide with us a more intuitive way to control devices. • New devices take advantage of certain motions that are easy and

intuitive to perform• Allowing an unprecedented level of control over the surrounding

devices. • Cameras and sensors translate movements of our bodies without the

need of remotes or hand held tracking tools. • As the underlying technologies evolve, a variety of approaches to

gesture-based input are being explored. • The most common applications for gesture-based computing are:

– computer games, – file and media browsing, and – simulation and training


Examples

• iPhone - iPad• Children’s Demo• Control Surgical Device• Hands Free Access Information• Marketing Technique• Add a Sixth Sense – Information Access• The Future - BCI

• "Good Bye" to the mouse and keyboard

• "Hello" to Gesture Based Computing!

• BCI is next

• Comments and/or Questions?


Return to Current & Emerging IS/IT Trends

chapter 12 information system trends 2012

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