Discuss Positive and Negative Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies

Introduction - Positive and Negative Impacts of Information Technologies on Business Evolution Assignment Sample

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Evolution in technological, societal and cultural advancements in recent history had a major involvement of Information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICTs have enabled organisations to make subsequent changes to their business and organisational activities to provide the best service for their customers. Due to technological advancements, people are starting to use smart technologies daily in order to communicate, travel and conduct business. However, the increase in cybercrime has created major problems for organisations and common people.

This essay has provided a detailed discussion regarding the positive and negative impacts of ICTs on business, culture and society. Role of computer professionals in ensuring ethical use of ICTs has been discussed inside this essay.

Positive and negative impacts of ICTs upon business

Information and communication technology has been at the forefront of technological business innovations. Due to the usage of ICTs, companies have been able to reduce workflow for their employees and simultaneously increase work efficiency. However, improvements in ITCs have increased the number of cybercrimes associated with businesses. Following are some positive impacts of ICTs on businesses

Business efficiency: /b>Small and medium enterprises (SME) plays a pivotal role in developing and sustaining economical growth (Al Busaidi et al. 2019). Technological advancements have enabled SME’s to incorporate automation technologies to assist in daily business activities such as distribution, sales and production. Approximately 90% of SMEs use computer-based activities for conducting their daily businesses (Al Busaidi et al. 2019). Therefore, subsequent positive changes in business activities will create opportunities for businesses to improve their organisational performances.

According to Barba-Sanchez et al. (2018), ICTs have created a positive impact on labour performance and IT investments. Organisations are investing in ICTs improvements by incorporating cyber security systems within the organisation. Authors have also discussed that data acquisition become relatively easier due to the incorporation of improved technologies.

Quick Customer Responses: One of the major success factors in today’s business environments is responses to customer pReferences. Obrenovic et al. (2020) have opined that organisations that react quickly to customer preferences have a greater chance of success in today’s business environments. The recent global pandemic has created major restrictions in conducting face-to-face business. Organisations that are using customer feedback from several social media platforms and making subsequent changes according to customer preferences are gaining advantages over their business rivals.

Alzoubi and Yanamandra (2020) have opined that effective communication between customers and organisations can create a level of satisfaction for consumers that will help in future businesses. Advancements in ICTs have generated several communication mediums such as texts, video conferencing, separate company cloud communications systems, social media platforms, conference calls and group video calls. These mediums are used by today’s business organisations in order to communicate with their customers for providing the best services.

Following are several negative impacts of ICTs associated with business activities

Financial issues: Businesses are facing the threats of cyber attacks on a daily basis. Hackers are using several forms of online traps in-order to extort money from business owners. Technological advancements have created several digital monetary platforms for sending money. However, due to poor security services, hackers are stealing money from business owners. Globally approximately 18% in mobile activities and 18% in botnet cyber-attacks have been reported in 2020. Taghipour et al. (2020) have suggested that people need to be more careful about sharing information on several platforms in order to reduce the number of cybercrimes associated with their businesses.

Technological Glitches: One of the major problems associated with ITC’s is that they are vulnerable to technological glitches. Power related issues are capable of stopping the whole business process at once. According to Ajie (2019), companies had to invest a massive amount of money and resources in order to install several precautionary measures such as the installation of software updates and ant viruses, providing password protection and so on. Sometimes time is taken for rebooting causes companies millions due to stoppage in services for a few hours.

Positive and negative impacts of ICTs upon Society

Communicational improvements: Improvements in communication services has initiated revolutionary changes in communications possibilities. Bahrini and Qaffas (2019) have suggested that ICTs are at the forefront of communication re3volution of the world. The Internet has enabled people to connect with each other on various social media platforms. People from several parts of society are using improved communication processes in order to establish communication. Ferri et al. (2020) have suggested that the online education system has used an improved communications system in order to conduct educational activities across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students from all over the world used various forms such as Google meet, Zoom calls of communication services to finish their educational activities.

Increased Accessibility: Improvements in technological systems has enabled people to access various resources from different devices. Pouri and Hilty (2018) have suggested that sharing economy has been created due to the advancements in the digital transition. People from different parts of society regardless of their race or colour can access the several services and products offered by companies.

Lifestyle changes: Technological advancements have made so many changes across our society that people have adjusted their lifestyles according to the imposed changes. Ehn et al. (2018) have suggested that regular physical activities can prevent several injuries associated with people. Authors have suggested that there is a 40% less chance of suffering injuries due to regular physical activities. However, people are becoming lethargic due to fact of technological innovation, which is becoming a concern for governments.

Positive and negative impacts of ICTs upon Culture

Globalism: Technological advancements have enabled people to adopt a global culture for their daily lifestyles. According to Ergashev and Farxodjonova (2020), adding national culture with global culture will create a bond among societies that will provide a suitable process for development. Authors have also suggested that a positive cultural environment is created due to co-operations and interactions.

Social Diversity: Achieving social diversity with the help of ICTs has been a positive aspect of technological advancements. People to communicate with each other irrespective of race and colour use several social media platforms. According to Kim et al. (2021), the language used in Twitter can be used to create a culturally diverse community irrespective of their geographic locations. Adopting positives from a different culture of people have become relatively easier with the help of Technological innovations.

Increase in Anxiety: Various communication platforms have increased anxiety for people on a daily basis. Mheidly et al. (2020) have suggested that physiological disorders and an increase in stress and anxiety are side effects of increased social media usage. Authors have also suggested that the level of anxiety will increase with the increase in the duration of time spent on social media platforms.

Computer professional roles in ensuring ethical use of emerging ICT for future

Risk management: The development of technologies has enabled computer professionals to assess several types of risks associated with technology usage. Computer professionals need to educate people to implement an effective password protection system for several platforms. Calvard and Jeske (2018) have suggested that people will be able to anticipate risks associated with several online services due to the incorporation of effective security precautions. Professionals need to ensure that people use unpredictable passwords in order to ensure the overall safety of systems.

Privacy Concerns: Incorporation of privacy precautions has enabled people to safely use different forms of social medial and online services. Computer professions include important rules and regulations via privacy that enable organisations and common people to use technological devices effectively and safely. Finn and DuPont (2020) have opined that computer Professionals play a massive role in understanding the emerging changes needed in existing privacy policies. Computer professionals address necessary changes in privacy policies according to modern requirements. 

Conclusion

It can be concluded that this essay has been developed to provide an extensive overview regarding the impacts of ICTs on business and society. This essay has discussed the positive aspects of ICTs in businesses and societies. An increase in business efficiency has been discussed briefly within this essay. ICTs have enabled business organisations to respond quickly and efficiently in order to provide necessary solutions for customers. Major improvements in connectivity band globalism of cultures have been discussed as positive effects of technological advancements. However, an increase in cybercrime has been identified as a major negative impact of ICTs. Technological difficulties and privacy concerns are creating major impacts on the daily lives of people. An increase in anxiety and stress has been identified as negative impacts of technological advancements in ICT.

However, computer professional splays a key role in providing the necessary knowledge to people regarding the safe usage of several services and products of today’s business environments. Computer professionals can observe adding the necessary privacy concerns associated with people from various backgrounds. Appropriate computer professionals in terms of people’s age can make adjustments within privacy rules. From the assessment, it can be concluded that safe usage of technologically advanced services and devices are the way forward for people to avoid the negative impacts of advancements in ICTs. 

Reference

Ajie, I., 2019. A Review of Trends and Issues of Cybersecurity in Academic Libraries. Library Philosophy and Practice, pp.1-20.

Al Busaidi, N.S., Bhuiyan, A.B. and Zulkifli, N., 2019. The Critical Review on the Adoption of ICTs in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Developing Countries. International Journal of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2(2), pp.33-40.

Alzoubi, H.M. and Yanamandra, R., 2020. Investigating the mediating role of information sharing strategy on agile supply chain. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, pp.273-284.

Bahrini, R. and Qaffas, A.A., 2019. Impact of information and communication technology on economic growth: Evidence from developing countries. Economies, 7(1), p.21.

Barba-Sanchez, V., Calderón-Milán, M.J. and Atienza-Sahuquillo, C., 2018. A study of the value of ICT in improving corporate performance: a corporate competitiveness view. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 24(4), pp.1388-1407.

Calvard, T.S. and Jeske, D., 2018. Developing human resource data risk management in the age of big data. International Journal of Information Management, 43, pp.159-164.

Ehn, M., Eriksson, L.C., Åkerberg, N. and Johansson, A.C., 2018. Activity monitors as support for older persons’ physical activity in daily life: qualitative study of the users’ experiences. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 6(2), p.e8345.

Ergashev, I. and Farxodjonova, N., 2020. Integration of national culture in the process of globalization. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7(2), p.477.

Ferri, F., Grifoni, P. and Guzzo, T., 2020. Online learning and emergency remote teaching: Opportunities and challenges in emergency situations. Societies, 10(4), p.86.

Finn, M. and DuPont, Q., 2020. From closed world discourse to digital utopianism: the changing face of responsible computing at Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (1981–1992). Internet Histories, 4(1), pp.6-31.

Increased access

 Johnson, J.2021. Distribution of cyber attacks in selected global regions during 1st half 2020, by category.[Online].Available at:https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085784/cyber-attack-share-global-by-category/.[Accesseed 31 December, 2021]

Kim, H.M., Sabri, S. and Kent, A., 2021. Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and livability: A conceptual framework. In Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation (pp. 9-28). Academic Press.

Mheidly, N., Fares, M.Y. and Fares, J., 2020. Coping with stress and burnout associated with telecommunication and online learning. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, p.672.

Obrenovic, B., Du, J., Godinic, D., Tsoy, D., Khan, M.A.S. and Jakhongirov, I., 2020. Sustaining enterprise operations and productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic:“Enterprise Effectiveness and Sustainability Model”. Sustainability, 12(15), p.5981.

Pouri, M.J. and Hilty, L.M., 2018. Conceptualizing the digital sharing economy in the context of sustainability. Sustainability, 10(12), p.4453.

Taghipour, M., Soofi, M.E., Mahboobi, M. and Abdi, J., 2020. Application of cloud computing in system management in order to control the process. Management, 3(3), pp.34-55.