189Information technology (IT) is a key enabler for organizations of all sizes, both public and private. Businesses and
other organizations are not the same as they were a decade or two ago. They are more complex but have fewer
layers of management; they tend to offer more customized products and services; they are increasingly
international in scope; and they are heavily dependent on the accurate and timely flow of information. And this
change in organizations is accelerating, not decelerating.
As a current or future manager, you must be aware of IT and its potential impact on your job, your career, and
your organization. You cannot afford to leave consideration of IT solely to the information systems (IS) specialists.
As a business manager, you must perform many critical roles if you and your organization are to be successful:
conceptualize ways in which IT can be used to improve performance; serve as a consultant to the IS specialists who
are developing or implementing applications for your organization; manage the organizational change that
accompanies new IT applications; use the technology applications and help enhance them; and facilitate the
successful implementation of new IT applications.
Where do we start getting you ready for your new roles? We start with an awarenessof how IT is being
used in a variety of organizations. The first four chapters of this book have already begun the process of
building awareness of IT applications. This chapter and the following two chapters will provide a systematic
introduction to a wide variety of IT applications. We think you will be impressed with the breadth of areas
in which IT is being employed to make organizations more efficient and effective. We hope these three
chapters will stimulate your thinking about potential applications in your present or future organization. Most
of the obvious applications are already in place. Nearly every organization uses a computer to handle its
payroll, keep inventory records, and process accounts receivable and payable; almost every organization uses a
telephone system and facsimile machines. But many applications remain to be discovered, most likely by
managers like you.
Application Areas
To consider a topic as broad as IT applications, some type of framework is needed. We have divided applications into
those which are interorganizationalsystems and those which are intraorganizationalsystems. Electronic commerce
or e-business applications, including electronic data interchange (EDI) systems, represent obvious examples of
interorganizational systems, or systems that span organizational boundaries. The importance of applications that link
businesses with their end consumers (B2C) or link businesses with other business customers or business suppliers
(B2B) has been fueled by the growth of the Internet. Knowledge about e-business applications is so important today
that we devote all of Chapter 7 to this topic.
To provide some structure to the broad range of intraorganizational systems, we have divided these
applications into two major categories: enterprise systems, designed to support the entire enterprise (organization)
or large portions of it, and managerial support systems, designed to provide support to a specific manager or a