Impact of IT on Organization and Society

Impacts of IT on Organizations and Society
 Concern about the impact of technology on people, organizations, and society is not new.
 As early as the 1830s, with the effects of technologies that had given rise to the Industrial
Revolution.
 Most of us recognize that technology and information systems are essential to maintaining,
supporting, and enriching many aspects of the lives of individuals, operations of
organizations, and functioning of societies.
 One of the most noticeable advantage of information technology is the elimination of
numerous barriers that traditionally separated individuals, organizations, and societies at
different geographic locations.
Globalization
 Offshore outsourcing is one of the manifestations of the trend toward globalization —
blurring of geographic barriers— that is accelerated by information technology
Working from Home or Virtual Office
 All forms of telecommuting give employees greater flexibility in their working locations and
hours.
 Working in a virtual office is one way an employee can telecommute by completing job
duties virtually anywhere—a car, hotel room, airport, or any hotspot.
 Telecommuting (or telework) played a significant role in business continuity and continuity
of operations planning.
IT Impacts on People
 Access to information
 Good services
 Improved access to education
 Distance learning and on-line tutorials
 New tools, new opportunities
 News software
 Information technology significantly impacts individuals, organizations and societies.
 Globalization and telecommuting are transforming the ways in which people work and
organizations operate.
 Vast amounts of data and information made available in the Information Age are exceeding
the capacity of people to absorb and process them.

IT Impacts on organizations
 Communication:
 E-mail, websites, video conferencing, etc.
 Information management:
 Data mining of customer information to produce lists for targeted advertising.
 Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage, better cash flow, etc.
 Security:
 Encryption methods can keep data safe from unauthorized people, both while it is being
stored and while it is being sent electronically.
 This is important for reasons such as data protection legislation or commercial secrecy.

IT Impacts on Society
 Increasing opportunities for education.
 Improving communication.
 Allowing people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society.
 The ability to perform ‘impossible’ experiments’ by using simulations.
 Machines and information systems can displace humans from their jobs, Such changes can
be extremely disruptive for an individual employee or an organization. .
 Robotics, decision support systems, and other manifestations of information technology are
improving the quality of human lives by relieving people from tedious and hazardous tasks.
 Information technology challenges traditional value systems by emphasizing the
significance of issues such as security and privacy, freedom of speech and protection against
inappropriate content, as well as respect for intellectual property and fair use.

IT Negative Impacts on Organizations and Society
 Any given technology is likely to affect multiple entities in ways that may be both positive and negative.
 This can have numerous negative effects, such as: causing a digital divide between those
who can access information and those who cannot, reducing levels of education and
understanding due to the vast amount of incorrect and misleading information that is
available, causing moral and ethical problems due to the nature of some of the material
available
 Cost: A lot of ICT hardware and software is expensive, both to purchase and to maintaining.
 Competition: this is usually thought of as being a good thing, but for some organization
being exposed to greater competition can be a problem.
 Security: Data must be kept secure, Internet connections must be