Impacts of Information Technology on Society in the New Century
In the past few decades there has been an explosion in the field of computing and communication, and all indications are that technological advances and the use of the information age will proceed to progress at the speed of light. In conjunction with and facilitating the rapid increases in the technology and power of new technologies in information has been the reduction in the cost of communications due to both technological improvements and increased competition. According to Moore's Law, the processing power of microchips is increasing by a factor of in every one year. These technological advances offer many important opportunities but also pose major issues. The advances in the field of information technology are having vastly varying effects across many areas of society, and policy makers are addressing questions relating to economic productivity, intellectual property rights, privacy protection, and affordability of information and access. Making decisions now can be a long-lasting impact and attention should be given to their social and economic impacts.
The most important consequences of the rapid development of information technology is likely electronic commerce on the Internet and a revolutionary method of conducting business. While it's only a few months older, it is likely to affect economic activities as well as the social context. Already, it affects such vast areas as communications, finance and retail trade and might expand to areas like health and education. It involves the seamless use of information and communication technology throughout the value chain of any business that is managed electronically.
The impact of information technology , electronic commerce and other technologies on business models, commerce and market structure, the job market, education private life, and society as a whole.
Business Models, Commerce and Market Structure
One important way in which the impact of technology on work is through reducing the importance of distance. In many fields the geographical working patterns are changing significantly. For example, some software companies have discovered they can beat the stifling local market for software engineers by transferring the projects they are working on to India or other countries where wages are less. Additionally, these arrangements can benefit from the time difference so that important projects can be worked on almost all the time. The companies are able to outsource their manufacturing to other nations and rely on technology to keep marketing as well as R&D teams in close contact with manufacturing companies. Thus the technology can enable a finer division of labour among countries and, in turn, affects the need for specific abilities in each country. The technology enables various types of work and jobs to be separated from each other. Firms have greater freedom to locate their economic activities, creating greater competition among areas in the labor, infrastructure capital, as well as other resource markets. This also opens the way to regulatory arbitrage as firms can increasingly choose which tax authority and other regulations apply. Clevernero
Technology for communication and computers encourage more market-like methods of distribution and production. An infrastructure of computing and communication technologythat provides all-hours access to nearly any price and information about products sought by buyers, can reduce the obstacles to information to a more efficient market operation. The infrastructure could also offer the possibility of executing real-time transactions and make intermediaries such as sales clerks, stock brokers as well as travel agencies, whose job is to provide an essential information link between buyers and sellers they are redundant. The elimination of intermediaries could decrease the costs of the production and distribution value chain. Information technology has enabled the advancement of enhanced mail-order retailing in which goods can be ordered quickly by using telephones or computer networks. Then, they are dispatched by suppliers through integrated transport companies that rely extensively on computers and communication technologies for controlling their operations. Non-physical items, like software, can be delivered electronically, eliminating the entire transportation channel. Payments can be made in different ways. This results in a disintermediation across the distribution chain, resulting in cost reduction, lower end-consumer cost, and increased profits margins.
The impact of information technology on firms cost structure is most clearly illustrated by the electronic commerce instance. The key areas of cost reduction that can be achieved when conducting an online sale instead of in the traditional retail store are physical setting up, order placing and delivery, client service and support, robust inventory management, and distribution. While setting up and managing an online shop may be costly, it's definitely less expensive to maintain the storefront than a physical one , as it's always accessible, can be accessed by millions of people across the globe and comes with a few variable costs, so that it can be scaled up to meet the demands. With one store instead of a number of stores, duplicate inventory costs are reduced. In addition, e-commerce is highly effective in reducing costs associated with attracting new customers since advertising costs are typically lower than other mediums and more targeted. In addition, the digital interface permits merchants who sell online to verify whether an order is constant and that the invoice as well as the invoice correspond. Thanks to e-commerce, businesses are able to move much of their customer support services on the internet so that customers are able to gain access to databases or manuals on the fly. This is a significant reduction in costs and generally improving the quality of support. Online stores require fewer workers, however, they require highly skilled employees. E-commerce also permits savings in cost of carrying inventory. The quicker the product can be purchased and shipped more efficiently, the less you will need to store a large quantity. The impact on cost associated diminished inventories is particularly noticeable in industries that use products with short shelf-life (e.g. bananas), is subject to rapid technological change or price reductions (e.g. computers), or where there is a rapid flow of new products (e.g. books, music). Although shipping costs can increase the cost of many goods that are purchased through electronic commerce and significantly increase the final cost, distribution costs are significantly reduced for digital products such as financial services, travel and software, which are key e-commerce categories.
While electronic commerce leads to the disintermediation between some intermediaries but it also increases the dependence on others, and the ability to perform completely new intermediary functions. One of the services intermediaries provide that could add costs to the transactions made through e-commerce are advertising, secure online payment and delivery. The ease of becoming a merchant and opening stores can result in numerous options that consumers can easily be overwhelmed. This makes it more important to advertisements to establish a brand name and create a sense of familiarity and confidence. In the case of new start-ups in e-commerce the process could cost a lot and result in an enormous transaction cost. The openness, global reach and the absence of physical indicators that are the fundamental characteristics of e-commerce can make it prone to fraud and thus increase certain costs for e-commerce merchants in comparison to traditional stores. New techniques are being developed to ensure the security of credit cards for e-commerce transactions, but the need for increased security and verification results in higher costs. One of the main benefits of online shopping is the ease of receiving purchases directly. In the case of tangibles like books, it is necessary to pay charges for delivery, which can cause the prices to increase in many cases, which negates many of the savings associated with online shopping and significantly increasing the cost of transactions.
With the Internet online, e-commerce is expanding into a fast-moving, international market with increasing numbers of players. The global and open nature of online shopping is expected to expand market size and alter the structure of markets, both in regards to the size and number of players and the way that players are competing in international markets. Digitally-enabled products can move across borders at any time, and consumers can shop 24/7 a day, seven every day of the week and companies are being faced with international online competition. The Internet is helping to enlarge existing markets , by breaking down many of the obstacles to distribution and marketing that can prevent firms from having access to international markets. E-commerce helps reduce information and transaction costs when operating on foreign markets, and is a cost-effective and efficient way to strengthen relationships between suppliers and customers. Additionally, it encourages companies to come up with innovative ways to advertise, delivering and supporting their product and services. Although e-commerce on the Internet offers the potential for international markets, certain elements, such as language, transport costs local reputation, transport costs, and differences in cost and accessibility to networks, limit the potential of this to a lesser or greater degree.
Workplace and Labour Market
Technology for communication and computers allow people to communicate with another in ways complementary to traditional face-to-face, telephonic, and written communication. They allow collaborative work that involves diverse groups of people who rarely, if ever, meet physically. These technologies utilize communication infrastructures that are both worldwide and continuously online and available 24 hours a day, allowing for 24/7 activity and synchronous interactions between groups, individuals, as well as organizations. The social interaction of organizations will be affected by the usage of technology for communication and computers. Peer-to peer relationships across department lines can be improved through sharing of information and coordination tasks. The interaction between subordinates and superiors will be more intense because of social control issues caused by the use of computers for monitoring, but contrary to that the use of electronic mail will lower the barriers to conversations across various status levels which will result in more open communication between supervisors and subordinates.
The fact that the significance of distance will be diminished by computers and communication technology can also encourage telecommuting and consequently, will affect the patterns of residence of citizens. If workers discover that they are able to do the bulk of their work at home rather than at a central office, the demand for homes in climate- and physically attractive regions would increase. The consequences of such a shift of employment from the suburbs to remote areas would be profound. Property values would rise in the most desirable areas, and decrease in suburbs. The rural, historic, or charming aspects of life and landscape in the new regions could be at risk. Since the majority of telecommuters would be in the top tier of educated and higher paid, the demand in these areas for high-income and high-status services like gourmet restaurants and clothing stores would rise. Also , there will be an expansion of services of all types that would result in more job opportunities for the local population.
Through reducing the fixed cost of working The widespread use of telecommuting can allow individuals to be able to work at a flexible time or to work part-time and to split jobs or to have two or more jobs simultaneously. Since changing employers would not necessarily require changing one's location in residence, working from home will boost job mobility and accelerate the process of advancement in your career. This flexibility may also reduce job stress and increase satisfaction at work. Since stress in the workplace is one of the main factors that affect health there may be additional advantages, such as reduced costs for health and lower mortality rates. But, on the flip side,, one may also think that the use of technology will increase the number of tasks required of workers and the array of skills needed to perform these tasks can speed up the pace of work and increase the amount of stress and work pressure on workers.
The question that is the most difficult to answer is the impact that computers and communications might impact on the work force. The ability of computers and communications to complete regular tasks, such as bookkeeping faster than humans leads to concern that people are going to be replaced by computers and communications. The argument is that, even when computers and communication lead to the removal of some workers, other jobs will be created, specifically for computer professionals and that the increase in output will boost overall employment. It is more likely that technology and communication will result in changes to the type of workers needed to fill different positions, as opposed to changes in the total number of jobs. Clevernero
There are a variety of industries affected by electronic commerce. Distribution is the most directly affected by e-commerce, since it is a means of selling the delivery of goods and services. Other industries, in indirect ways, are ones related to the field of information and communications technology (the infrastructure that enables e-commerce) as well as content-related industries (entertainment, software) related to transactions (financial sector and travel, as well as advertising transportation, and finance). eCommerce might also create new markets and expand market coverage beyond the traditional boundaries. Expansion of markets can have a positive effect on the number of jobs. Another issue is the interconnections between businesses affected by ecommerce. In the event of an increase in e-commerce related expenses for intermediate goods and services could create jobs in the indirect manner, on base of the number of electronic transactions as well as the impact they have on prices, cost and productivity. The convergence of communications, media and computing technology is creating a brand new integrated supply chain for the production and delivery of multimedia as well as information content. The majority of jobs are related to the e-commerce industries as well as communication infrastructure like the Internet.
Jobs are both created and destroyed by technological advancements trade, technology, and organizational change. These processes also cause shifts in the skills composition of employment. Beyond the net benefits to employment or losses caused by these processes, it's clear that people with various level of skill are affected in different ways. The growth of online commerce is definitely driving the demand for IT professionals but it also requires IT expertise to be coupled with business-specific skills thus resulting in the need for a diverse, multi-skilled workforce. There is a rising need for greater integration of Internet front-end apps with enterprise operations, applications , and back-end databases. A majority of IT knowledge requirements to provide Internet support can be fulfilled by lower-paying IT workers who manage the organization services needed for basic web page programming. However, wide-area networks, websites that are competitive and more complex network applications require more expertise than an IT job that is platform-specific. Since the skills required for e-commerce are in short supply and in high demand and in high demand, e-commerce can increase the rate of upskilling in a variety of countries, by requiring highly-skilled computer scientists in order to replace less skilled information clerks such as cashiers, market salespersons and cashiers.
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