MANAGAMENT IFORMATION SYSTEM QUESTION 1 What is the difference between information technology and information system?

Describe some of the function of information system ?

The main difference between information technology and information systems (IS) is that IS personal are business oriented and focus on the applications and implications of computing in the business domain. IT does not focus on a single domain in which IT is practiced, but instead focuses on the selection, integration and deployment of computing technology. IS requires the business skills to thrive in the Board Room and learn enough about the technology to make sound strategic decisions. On the other hand IT generally consists of planning and deploying networking infrastructure or integrate databases or build significant Web sites. In layman's terms IS deals with the business side of technology as IT deals with the technical side.

Information Systems is a large umbrella referring to systems designed to create, store, manipulate, or disseminate information. Example of an information system is a pencil and a piece of paper. The two objects themselves are just tools, but together they create a system for writing (information). The term Information systems has been around a lot longer than the computer, or the term information technology. These days the two are sometimes thought to be synonymous, but that, in most cases is a misconception. Information technology falls under the information systems umbrella, but has nothing to do with systems per say. IT deals with the technology involved in the systems themselves, e.g. an information system like wiki.answers.com contains many information technologies. Servers, server operating systems, web-server software (IIS, Apache, et al), and code written for the webserver software (PHP, C#, VB, PERL, Ruby, et al). Even your computer and browser make up part of this information system. Like the pencil and paper example, each one of the mentioned parts of this information system in itself is an information technology. That being said, most people in the profession no longer make a distinction. Moreover, companies call their IS/IT department a wide range of titles based on more on culture and tradition than anything else.
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The function of an information system is to enable users to access information by using the different communication channels available in an organization. An information system refers to a

combination of information technology and people's actions whose aim is to support operations and management.

Define business process. What might be a business process used at a hospital?

A business process is an activity or set of activities that will accomplish a specific organizational goal. Business process management (BPM) is a systematic approach to improving those processes.
A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks that produce a specific service or product (serve a particular goal) for a particular customer or customers. It often can be visualized with a flowchart as a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points or with a Process Matrix as a sequence of activities with relevance rules based on the data in the process.

business ecosystem
The term business ecosystem stands in contrast to the term environment. The term environment technically means anything outside of an organization. Practically, especially in the realm of strategic management, it takes on the connotation of the most powerful frameworks. The most powerful, influential strategic management framework has been Porter's Five Forces Model that essentially defines environment as industry. This definition is not true to the intent of what needs to be considered 'environment' in order to survive, thus the term 'business ecosystem' came to reflect the more expansive view, and correct view, of environment. The term as used in this strategic management framework -The term business ecosystem refers to the environment containing a business organization. It is essentially the same as a business environment, ecosystem has a more provocative connotation. This connotation addresses --

the systems nature of the environment and the elements making up that environment, the dynamic interactions of these 'external' systems and the business organization, the evolutionary nature of the environment, the adaptation of the organization, and the coevolution of the business organization and its environment.

The ecosystem both sustains and threatens the organization. An alternative usage of the term -The term business ecosystem has been used to refer to a specific type of environment where ""...clusters of companies that locate their operations in close geographic proximity to each other with a defined focus on a specific type of business or technology. Within the broader focus, these companies may be quite diverse, but they are brought together by the complementary nature of their activities and, in particular, by the perceived value in accessing shared knowledge. A variety of specialized infrastructure service businesses, including finance,

legal, executive recruiting, accounting, consulting, and marketing and public relations firms, help provide some of the networks that link the practitioners in these diverse businesses. In addition, other institutions like universities and government agencies may also serve both as magnets and as network nodes within the local business ecosystem."" (Hagel III, 2005).

Business Ecosystem Definition

The business ecosystem concept was derived from the term "ecosystem," normally identified with nature and biology. A business ecosystem examines the interactive relationships among all entities involved in production or delivery of a certain product.

Ecosystem Basics

"Ecosystem" is a biological term that explains the symbiotic relationships of all living things in a natural environment. It describes how those living things work in close proximity to create and maintain a self-sustaining system.

Business Ecosystem Basics

In business, the ecosystem includes all organization types that are a part of the process of delivering a product or service to the market. Suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors and government agencies are among common organizations that participate in a particular business ecosystem.

Business Function
Each organization involved in a particular business ecosystem must consider how it interacts with and is affected by other ecosystem members. This requires the organization to flex, adapt, grow, evolve or make other necessary adjustments over time to survive and thrive.

WHAT IS A BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM?

What innovative idea could I bring to my customers if I could orchestrate a wider community of players to endorse it that would be profoundly more effective than what
I [can offer alone]?

A business ecosystem is a network of firms with a common customer focus, system vision, and enabling technologies. Like a biological ecosystem, the business ecosystem is comprised of hub firms and niche firms that are mutually dependent on one another for sustainable health. In the best examples, ecosystems include the ultimate consuming customer as a primary voice in decisions targeting increased market share and more robust margins. Key ecosystem principles. An ecosystem is by definition a collaborative effort to creating competitive advantage and value, first for end customers in the value chain and then for the allied firms within the ecosystem. Because value chain partners tend towards adversarial buyer/seller relationships, such collaboration can be strategically appealing and difficult to achieve without an agreed upon framework that explicitly aligns behaviors within and across ecosystem firms. Developing and managing such a framework requires leaders who: Recognize that todays complex challenges may require solutions and resources outside the boundaries of the firm; and Are capable of mastering the art of managing assets they do not own. The elephant in the room, of course, is: which firms will be asked to make decisions that support the overall ecosystem but sub-optimize their own short-term margins, and why would they make such a decision? In healthy ecosystems, the answer is twofold: Long-term growth. A dynamic ecosystem differs from a static value chain in that the firms are not merely negotiating their share of a fixed profit pie but collaborating to grow market share and overall profit for all. Any short term sacrifices by ecosystem partners must be seen within the context of a longer term vision for growth or they will not be possible to achieve. Short-term survival. At the end of the day, strategy and management toolboxes include both carrots and sticks. Ecosystem partners who cannot buy into the collaborative vision and plan will likely find themselves on the outside of a value/supply-chain that is harder than ever to penetrate.

Making it work. An ecosystem can appear to be a complex solution to increasingly complex markets. In truth, though, it simply requires applying well-developed leadership principles and skillsets outside the firm as well as inside of it. Key steps to making it work include:
Identify the ecosystem. Who are the critical participants? What role does each one play? What market value is created, individually and as a whole? Who is/are the leader firm(s) those closest to the end consumer and/or able to exert the most influence across the ecosystem? How do we include the end consumer in the ecosystem to ensure decisions with the greatest impact on market share and profitability?

Create a shared vision for growth. What opportunities for overall growth are possible due to collaboration? Where is the greatest leverage in the value chain to create unique customer value? What are the short-, medium- and long-term strategic priorities for increasing value? Establish quality and equity commitments. What pricing and margin agreements are possible and necessary across the ecosystem? Are immediate changes necessary, or is the focus on reaching target levels by target dates? What commitments are necessary regarding current or improved levels of quality and timeliness? Build the plan. What are the key roles, responsibilities, accountabilities? Who are the most appropriate firms and individuals to lead collaborative initiatives? What targets, timeframes, strategies and

plans are necessary and mutually acceptable? Lead and manage. What incremental management infrastructure is required to oversee collaborative achievement of shared performance targets? People? Metrics? Communications? Incentives?

Reaping the benefits. In the end, there are three primary benefits to firms that engage in a business ecosystem model: System-wide margin improvement. Within a framework that guarantees equity for all participants, historical margin adversaries gain the freedom of transparency and collaboration to identify efficiencies that would otherwise be impossible to see or achieve. Sustainable market share gains. With a commitment to innovation across the Whole Offering Model (see below), the potential for repeatedly creating a superior customer value proposition based upon design and/or cost far exceeds the options for competitors with a more narrow approach to the value chain. Long-term profit growth. The model is clear: superior value drives customer loyalty, and customer loyalty is the most significant predictive factor in long-term growth and profitability.

IN CLOSING To support the development of healthy business ecosystems, Empresarismo Ahora has developed the Co-Destiny Conference a facilitated environment that brings together ecosystem participants for system-wide strategic planning. Combining the capabilities of multiple partners enables the development of innovations unimaginable apart from a cooperative effort. Competitive advantage via continuous improvement is a path that is easily replicated by competitors who are willing to spend the time and money. Continuous innovation, though, provides a more defensible advantage especially when it is accelerated by the integration of capabilities across firm boundaries. Bottom line, the ecosystem framework provides a mechanism for developing, delivering and sustaining break-through competitive advantage.

Example Console makers such as Sony or Nintendo work with independent game developers to develop an ecosystem around the games/ software. Some games/ software can only be played on their consoles. For example, the virtual painting and drawing software "Art Academy" can only be used on the Nintendo DS range (handheld consoles). Building such an ecosystem around a core product increases its value to the user as such complements increase the scope of usage of the basic product. In the case of Sony or Nintendo, game consoles without the ancillary software have little or no value to the user. Ecosystems also create strong barriers to entry for new competition, as potential entrants not only have to duplicate or better the core product, that is the console, but they also have to complete against the entire system of independent complementors and suppliers that form the network

description: A business ecosystem describes the structure and behaviour of a network of high-tech organisations that share a key technological platform and the ways individual firms can flourish in such an environment. Dr. James F. Moore was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society where he founded the Open Economies Project. He studied change in large scale social, economic, and technical systems and is the pioneer and originator of biological metaphors of organisation behaviour such as business ecosystems, Internet ecosystems and the ecological approach to alliances and alliance-based competition. His research is primarily based on case studies in the high technology sector where the PC and Internet technologies favoured network based competition. Moores Harvard Business Review article "Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of Competition" won a McKinsey Award for best Harvard Business Review article in 1993. The essence of a business ecosystem is that networks between companies need to be analysed from a higher conceptual level rather than from the viewpoint of individual organisations. A business ecosystems scope is the set of positive sum relationships (symbio sis) between actors who work together around a core technology platform. Irrespective of an organisations individual strength, all actors in a business ecosystem are connected and share the success or failure of the network as a whole. One example is the technology platform of MS Windows that induces a s ynergy between MS windows compatible companies delivering hardware, software, services, etc. Another example is Reverse Osmosis whose water treatment technology has an ecosystem of companies involved in membranes, pumps, filters, piping, services, etc. Aspects of ecosystem are:

actors (species) relations between actors (network) performance (health) dynamics (evolution) strategies and behaviour of actors (roles). A business ecosystem has seven types of actors: customers markets products processes organisations stakeholders

government / society. The health (performance) of an ecosystem is defined by the following four factors: value (niche creation) critical mass (robustness) continuous performance improvement (productivity) co-evolution or the joint learning and optimization effects. The dynamics or evolution of the system is determined by its performance. If one of these healthiness factors is lacking, t hen the ecosystem will probably not succeed: 1. BIRTH during the birth and pioneering stage, the focus should be on the acquisition of critical lead customers, key suppliers and important channels. This ensures value creation while simultaneously protecting competitors from doing business within the ecosystem. 2. EXPANSION Next, the system expands. Critical mass can be reached by increasing scale and scope with partners and by standardization in key market segments. 3. LEADERSHIP The third stage is characterized by leadership or authority. The focus is on the red queen effect; on the one hand, companies should encourage suppliers and customers to work together to continuously improve the complete offer, while on the other hand they will want to maintain their strong bargaining power towards these partners. 4. SELF-RENEWAL The last stage is self-renewal where the implementation of new ideas stands central. Other business ecosystems with similar new ideas need to be delayed by means of barriers such as consumers switching costs or competitors entry costs. The latte r is critical since a non-selfrenewable ecosystem will lead to the end of the evolution, meaning death. Moore describes the life and death of predators and preys in the ecosystem. Iansiti and Levien expanded the number of arc hetypical roles using keystones, dominators and niche players. Within the ecosystem, four effective strategic roles can be chosen: 1. KEYSTONE An effective keystone strategy insures an organisations survival and prosperity by improving the health of the ecosystem as a whole; new network members create and share value. Typically, this is achieved by creating a platform whose value increases rapidly when the number of ecosystem members that support the standard goes up. Basically, keystones exercise a system-wide regulator role despite its small part in their ecosystems mass. 2. PHYSICAL DOMINATOR aims to integrate horizontally or vertically to directly own and manage a large proportion of a network. Physical dominators the ultimate aggressor take over their ecosystem and leave no room for other network members. This behaviour damages the health of the system by reducing diversity, eliminating competition, limiting consumer choice and stifling innovation. 3. VALUE DOMINATOR By contrast, the value dominator has little direct control. It creates little value while extracting as much as possible. It leaves too little value to sustain the ecosystem which ultimately collapses and brings the value dominator down with it. 4. NICHE PLAYERS When allowed to thrive, niche players represent the bulk of the ecosystem and are responsible for most of the value creation and innovation. Niche players aim to develop specialized capabilities that differentiate them from other companies in the network. By leveraging complementary resources from other niche players or from an ecosystem keystone, niche players can focus all their energies on enhancing their narrow domain of expertise. Niche players naturally come into conflict with other niche players, keystones and especially dominators. They may get swallowed up if they do not move away. Innovation at the core of their strategy of specialisation and differentiation is critical to a niche players success in these battles.