J. Valacich – Information Systems Today (7th edition)

Автор: J. Valacich
Название книги: Information Systems Today (7th edition)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Экономические дисциплины
Страницы: 530
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Approach
Information systems have become pervasive. Mobile devices, social media, and cloud computing
have transformed organizations and society. Organizations see the possibilities of the Internet of
Things, in that not only computers, but various sensors, motors, actuators, or even cameras can
generate a wealth of potentially useful data. Businesses face unprecedented opportunities, but
also challenges, through the ability to utilize Big Data. What does all this mean? What are the
catalysts of these concepts and of all this change? More important, how can organizations thrive
in this dynamic and highly competitive marketplace? The answer to these and many similar questions
is that information systems and related information technologies are driving globalization,
new business models, and hypercompetition. It is little wonder that teaching an introductory
course on information systems has never been more crucial—or more challenging.
One of the greatest challenges that we face in teaching information systems courses is how
to keep pace in the classroom with what is happening out in the real world. Being relevant to
students while at the same time providing the necessary foundation for understanding the breadth,
depth, and complexity of information systems has never been more difficult. We wrote Information
Systems Today, Seventh Edition, with this overarching goal in mind, to be both rigorous and
relevant. To accomplish this, we want students not only to learn about information systems, but
also to clearly understand the importance of information systems for individuals, organizations,
and society. Additionally, we do not want to simply spoon-feed students with technical terms
and the history of information systems. Instead, students must understand exactly what innovative
organizations are doing with contemporary information systems and, more important, where
things are heading. Finally, we want to empower students with the essential knowledge needed
to be successful in the use and understanding of information systems in their careers.
To this end, we wrote Information Systems Today, Seventh Edition, so that it is contemporary,
fun to read, and useful, focusing on what business students need to know about information
systems to survive and thrive in the digital world.
Audience
Information Systems Today, Seventh Edition, is primarily for the undergraduate introductory
information systems course required of all business students. The introductory information systems
course typically has a diverse audience of students majoring in many different areas, such as
accounting, economics, finance, marketing, general management, human resource management,
production and operations, international business, entrepreneurship, and information systems.
This book was also written for students studying topics outside of business, especially in the
growing and broad area of information sciences. Given the range of students taking this type of
course, we have written this book so that it is a valuable guide to all students, providing them
with the essential information they need to know. Therefore, this book has been written to appeal
to a diverse audience.
Information Systems Today, Seventh Edition, can also be used for the introductory course
offered at the graduate level—for example, in the first year of an MBA program. Such usage
would be especially appropriate if the course heavily focused on the diverse set of cases provided
in each chapter.
What’s New to the Seventh Edition
Our primary goal for Information Systems Today, Seventh Edition, was to emphasize the importance
of information systems to all business students as the role of information technology
and systems continues to expand within organizations and society. Most notably, we extensively
examine how five big megatrends—mobile, social media, the Internet of Things, cloud computing,
and Big Data—are transforming how individuals and organizations use information systems.
Given this clear focus, we are better able to identify those topics most critical to students and
future business professionals. Consequently, we have made substantial revisions to the basic content
of the chapters and pedagogical elements that we believe achieve this goal. New or expanded
chapter topics include the following:
■ A revised chapter—Chapter 1, “Managing in the Digital World”—focuses on not only on
defining what an information system consists of but also provides an update on the role
of the five big megatrends as catalysts for tremendous change, as evidenced by the rise of
globalization
and emerging ethical issues.
■ An extensively revised chapter—Chapter 2, “Gaining Competitive Advantage Through
Information Systems”—provides new content describing how information systems play a
key part in the business and revenue models of most organizations.
■ A revised chapter—Chapter 3, “Managing the Information Systems Infrastructure and
Services”—provides a stronger focus on the need for a reliable, adaptable, and scalable
infrastructure to support the needs of today’s organizations. Chapter 3 also covers essential
infrastructure concepts related to hardware, software, storage, networking and the Internet,
and data centers, and provides an extended discussion on cloud computing and related
concepts
and their role in supporting an organization’s information systems infrastructure.
■ A revised chapter—Chapter 4, “Enabling Business-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce”—
focuses primarily on topics related to e-commerce involving the end consumer, with
expanded
coverage of mobile commerce and payment and related issues.
■ A revised chapter—Chapter 5, “Enhancing Organizational Communication and
Collaboration
Using Social Media”—centers around various topics related to the need
for organizational communication, and discusses how organizations use both traditional
communication
and collaboration tools and social media for communication, collaboration,
cooperation, and connection.
■ A revised chapter—Chapter 6, “Enhancing Business Intelligence Using Information
Systems”—
provides extended coverage on databases to include Big Data
and organizations’
use of non-relational databases for handling and analyzing the
ever-
increasing amount of data.
■ An extensively revised chapter—Chapter 8, “Strengthening Business-to-Business
Relationships
Via Supply Chain and Customer Relationship Management”—greatly
expands
the coverage of supply chain management by including foundational topics
of business-to-business electronic commerce. This chapter further provides extended
coverage
of customer relationship management (CRM) by including evolving topics such
as social
CRM.
■ An extensively revised chapter—Chapter 10, “Securing Information Systems”—provides
extended coverage on pertinent topics such as IS risk management.
■ A revised Technology Briefing covers foundational concepts related to various information
technologies. The Technology Briefing provides the foundations for a deeper understanding
of the topics introduced in Chapter 3 and is intended for use in more technically
oriented
courses. Each section of this briefing was designed to stand alone—it can be read
with or without the other sections.
Beyond the chapter content and features, we have also made substantial changes and refinements
to the end of each chapter. First, we carefully revised many of the end-of-chapter problems
and exercises to reflect content changes and new material. Second, we have carefully updated the
end-of-chapter cases about contemporary organizations and issues to illustrate the complexities of
the digital world. Each case mirrors the primary content of its chapter to better emphasize its relevancy
within the context of a real organization. Third, we have updated the Team Work Exercises
based on interesting, important trends related to Internet usage within a variety of contexts;
these exercises encourage students to keep up to date on these topics, discuss the significance of
changes brought about by the Internet, and visualize and present the most pertinent findings. All
these elements are discussed more thoroughly next.
Our goal has always been to provide only the information that is relevant to all business
students, nothing more and nothing less. We believe that we have again achieved this goal with
Information Systems Today, Seventh Edition. We hope you agree.

Key Features
As authors, teachers, developers, and managers of information systems, we understand that in
order for students to best learn about information systems with this book, they must be motivated
to learn. To this end, we have included a number of unique features to help students quickly and
easily assess the true value of information systems and their impact on everyday life. We show
how today’s professionals are using information systems to help modern organizations become
more efficient and competitive. Our focus is on the application of technology to real-world, contemporary
situations. Next, we describe each of the features that contribute to that focus.
A Multitiered Approach
Each chapter utilizes cases in a variety of ways to emphasize and highlight how contemporary
organizations are utilizing information systems to gain competitive advantage, streamline organizational
processes, or improve customer relationships.
Opening Case—Managing in the Digital World. All chapters begin with an opening case
describing a real-world company, technology, and/or issue to spark students’ interest in the
chapter topic. We have chosen engaging cases that relate to students’ interests and concerns by
highlighting why information systems have become central for managing in the digital world.
Each opening case includes a series of associated questions the students will be able to answer
after reading the chapter contents. The organizations, technologies, or issues highlighted in these
cases include the following:
■ Apple’s rise, fall, and reemergence as a global technology giant
■ How Groupon achieved a first-mover advantage by reinventing the business model of
group buying
■ Google’s meteoric rise and the challenges associated with maintaining its success
■ How Chinese e-commerce company Taobao became a leader in the world of e-commerce
■ How Facebook has emerged as one of the most successful and powerful social media sites
■ Intelligence agencies’ use of social media to gather intelligence about changes in worldwide
public sentiment
■ Amazon.com’s use of its sophisticated infrastructure to automate the supply chain for both
large and small customers
■ How Walmart became a leader in managing its global supply chains
■ How Microsoft’s Xbox rose to the top with the help of an ecosystem of devices and apps
■ How the hacking group “Anonymous” uses various tactics to further its ideological goals
Brief Case. Each chapter also includes a brief case that discusses important issues related to
companies, technologies, or society. These are embedded in the text of the chapter and highlight
concepts from the surrounding chapter material. Discussion questions are provided to seed critical
thinking assignments or class discussions. The organizations, trends, and products highlighted
in these cases include the following:
■ How Starbuck’s CIO is turning the organizational IS-ship around by introducing various
internal and external IS-based innovations
■ How broadband Internet access in airplanes has overcome its teething problems
■ How domainers—those who buy and sell lucrative domain names on the Internet—have
grown into a multibillion-dollar industry
■ How organizations such as CrowdSpring enable the crowdsourcing of services
■ How crowdfunding is transforming startup companies
■ How companies such as eLoyalty use business intelligence to identify hotline callers’
personality
types
■ How Amazon Studios crowdsources movie ideas and scripts, allowing aspiring
screenwriters
to bypass Hollywood production companies
■ How Demand Media creates a supply chain for content published on sites such as eHow,
Livestrong.com, and Trails.com
■ How hardware and software companies are fighting a global patent war
■ How law enforcement uses 3D technology to re-create crime scenes

End-of-Chapter Case. To test and reinforce chapter content, we present two current real-
world
cases at the end of each chapter. Sources for these cases include BusinessWeek, CIO magazine,
InformationWeek, Wired, and various Web sites. Like the Brief Cases within the chapter,
these cases are taken from the news and are contemporary. However, these are longer and
more substantive
than the Brief Cases. They too are followed by discussion questions that
help the student
apply and master the chapter content. The organizations, products, and issues
highlighted
in these cases include the following:
■ How the One Laptop per Child program is attempting to bridge the digital divide
■ How YouTube has grown into a mainstream Web marvel
■ How LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, can help people find jobs, useful
business contacts, and business opportunities
■ How streaming video is disrupting the movie rental and TV broadcasting industries
■ How creators of social games like FarmVille and Candy Crush Sage struggle to overcome
infrastructure challenges
■ How the deep Web fuels legal and illegal activities
■ How Bitcoin created a shadow currency
■ How PayPal created a global currency to enable worldwide collaboration and commerce
■ How social media giants have joined the world’s most valuable companies
■ How Wikipedia has become both a useful and a sometimes controversial Web resource
■ How the National Security Agency, or NSA, is being viewed as the National Surveillance
Agency
■ How web analytics are providing unprecedented insights into consumer behavior on the
Internet
■ How Software as a Service has enabled small and medium-sized organizations to utilize
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
■ How Bridgestone’s ERP failure turned into a blame game
■ How natural disasters disrupt global supply chains
■ How customer relationship management is evolving to include social media capabilities
■ How the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security joined
forces in developing a comprehensive database of biometric information to better track and
apprehend criminals
■ How the rise of open source software systems, such as the Linux operating system, Apache
Web server, and Firefox Web browser, is transforming the software industry
■ How the National Security Agency is attempting to stop insider leaks
■ How China limits information exchange within its society through its “great firewall”