Information technology in the business world through the years and beyond!

Journal of the Academy of Business and Economics, March, 2004 by Ihssan Alkadi, Ghassan Alkadi

Besides just continuing to upgrade the Windows desktop, Microsoft has many other new ideas that they are working on. One big idea that is not far from being reality and that is to make the Web talk. Web applications, such as an airline Web site that allows users to make reservations by talking into a microphone on their computer, said James Mastan, group product manager for Microsoft's .Net speech technologies group (Roberts, 2002). "It allows a user to maneuver (through the Web) much more quickly and comfortable. The idea is to make the experience easier for the user, and that's really what speech enablement is all about" (Roberts, 2002).

3. CONCLUSION

Computer technology has many effects on the business world. Everyday there are new technologies and new breakthroughs of technology systems and applications for organizations. For organizations to continue in the market they must stay updated with these new technologies and implement them the correct way. Information technology has changed the roles of many positions in the work force and is continually going towards making decisions faster and easier, flexibility, consumer satisfaction, and accessibility (Berger, 2002). Today for one to succeed in the business world, obtaining computer literacy is no alternative.

Information Technology has made the unthinkable happen in less than 20 years. Speed, efficiency, quality, productivity, and many other aspects of the business world are affected by information technology. From the way companies market their product, to how business associates communicated on a day-to-day basis, information technology will continue to improve all business transactions and operations. These great advances in Technology will only increase with time, which will present new opportunities and will affect our way of living to where we never thought possible. In conclusion, the average information technology is moving ever closer to the complete efficiency that software developers and systems architects have envisioned since the commencement of computing. Stores like Levi Strauss and Wal-Mart are realizing that information technology can cut their holding costs and increase the inventory turnover. The U.S. Army is using information technology to track inventory and personnel. By using information technology companies will demand more respect and turn higher profits than their competitors. Today in every business in every type of industry IT is playing a leading role. Computer systems link executives with middle managers, middle managers to ground floor employees, businesses to suppliers, suppliers to customers, etc. The costs of storage are vanishing as E-document management takes hold. Multimedia presentations improve the quality of training and advertising of firms. Data warehousing allow for large amounts of storage and data mining discovers relationships never realized before. E-commerce has put the customer in control of transactions and driven competitors to compete with price and quality. Healthcare is an industry on the brink of realizing new core competencies based on IT. Management is considering measures that could make the hospitals more profitable and more efficient. While problems arise, IT professionals continue to supply what each business needs. The flexibility of IT is needed to combat the problems such as inefficient implementation, inadequate management, and the inherent complexity of each individual firm. Information technology will continue to be a factor which drives markets and industries to improvement. Quality, speed, and accessibility achieved by computer systems continue to cement the place of IT in the business world.