The success of any business is synthesized from the successful marrying of several components of business, one of which is technology and knowledge or information. According to Zack (1999), the more the specific areas are synthesized the better the success the organization will enjoy. in his words, “To remain competitive, organizations must efficiently and effectively create, locate, capture, and share their organization’s knowledge and expertise. This increasingly requires making the organization's knowledge explicit and recording it for easier distribution and reuse” (Zack, 1999). The use and application of technology in the improvement of business is not as easy as it sounds and it requires the application of various components, which requires the mastering of the most important components including the input, the processing mechanisms and the output. This way, technology will be able to provide an appropriate flow of information or knowledge through the necessary stages between acquisition of knowledge and using it to perform the necessary functions in business. Zack (1999) goes on to mention the five stages as the capturing of knowledge into the system, the need for defining the knowledge, indexing it and even storing it appropriately, and finally its presentation in a way that it can have some meaning to the users and the business management.
Input components
For a business to make a decision within the confines of business analytics, it is essential to have a mechanism that can interact with all the necessary points of information in order to access all the data required for decision-making. According to business analytics, the most important issues and elements that assist in decision- making are data (mostly quantitative), which in turn becomes the inputs for querying and reporting. Business analytics ensure that data, which is collected over time, is processed and synthesized in order to make decisions and in other cases, make appropriate predictions for future performance. An organization makes decisions based in data and further, based on the processed data from the input information. Depending on the organization, the input data could be made by the administration or directly by the customers or clients in the form of a feedback approach. However, many organizations use an interactive software which collects all the necessary data from the customer ends and relays it to the management in a different easier to analyze format.
Software
The software is the non-tangible aspect of a computer that makes it work and accomplish set instructions. Computer software takes several forms and in many cases, it can be custom made to accomplish specific tasks and even perform functions and process in a very short time. it is not possible to use any computer hardware without software. Software is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language in order to ensure sufficient interaction with humans. The software will take in the data inputs and receive instructions through coding or interactions with a person and then makes a return or output that can be used in decision-making (Ginsburg, 2013).
Output
An organization can decide the items that it needs as its output. The output is the data that the organization can effectively use in order to make a decision and in the format most suitable for this purpose. In some cases, the software can have more than one format of output, which are availed for either different levels of management, or different offices or departments, all from the same input data. It is this output that will advise the organization on the best approaches to take in order to ensure that the perform as well as they would like to, or that they hit the necessary objectives.
Conclusion
It is noteworthy, that the use of technology is not a simple and quick process to incorporate into an organization or industry. Ideally, it requires intensive and extensive investment to be made in the acquisition of the technology. Another area that has recently taken center-stage in the technology and its application is training. This is among the most essential areas that many organizations had previously ignored, but have recently shifted their focus towards. The organization needs to ensure that the technology aspect chosen to deliver the results required is both user friendly, and that the staff is well trained to use it appropriately. This will be costly to the organization in the short-run, but is will subsequently save the organization a lot of losses in both time and finances in the long- run (Locke, 2012).
Another aspect frequently ignored is the constant upgrading of the technology requirements. Technology gets outdated very frequently and in many cases, it becomes easier to have a technology consultant to advice on the trends and the best investment options. This trend brought about the fete of own software and thus, custom-built software for different organizations. Zack (1999) mentions that “without the ability to collect, index, store, and distribute explicit knowledge electronically and seamlessly to where needed when needed, the organizational capabilities and incentives will not be fully exploited”.
Works Cited
Ginsburg, A. (2013, August 5). Smart Companies are Using Business Analytics to Understand Social Data. Retrieved May 13, 2014, from The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ibm-social-business/2013/08/smart-companies-are-using-business-analytics-understand-social-data/5/
Locke, D. (2012, December 26). Will business analytics outsourcing be successful? Retrieved May 13, 2014, from Business Analytics Journal: http://businessanalyticsjournal.com/
Zack, O. H. (1999). Managing Codified Knowledge. Sloan Management Review 40 (4), 45-58.