Introduction to Information Systems
The "Harry Potter" example that leads off this reading provides an excellent example of pre-planning, organized business processes, and the need for flexibility in information systems. Each Potter volume increased the pre-orders exponentially, and Amazon used its prior experiences to create policies and practices designed to improve customer experience. As you will see, business processes are a blueprint for success, supported by technology, information systems, and a range of other required services.
The Textbook's Three Themes
Challenges and Opportunities for the Business Professional
Are you preparing yourself to be effective in the future? Will you be
able to adapt to advances in technology? Are you equipped to take
advantage of technology improvements? You should prepare
yourself to use the available technology and to participate in
planning for and growing with the technology. For example, Chapter
5 introduces business intelligence systems and explains why the use
of such systems is a competitive imperative for many organizations.
These are not conditions of the distant future; most of these changes
are already underway. For example, the Radio Frequency ID tags
described in Technology Insight 1.1 (page 6) will have a major
impact on how material is acquired, warehoused, assembled into
products, and distributed to customers. The people, activities, and
technologies involved in all processes within the supply chain will
change because of the impact of RFID.
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