Disadvantages of Information and Communication Technology

1. Privacy:
Information technology may have boosted, simplified, and improved communication,
but it has also given rise to privacy concerns. People are increasingly concerned that their
formerly private information may become public knowledge due to mobile phone signal
interceptions and e-mail hacking. Apart from these issues, Computer worms, Trojan horses,
malware, spam, and phishing are a few of the various threats that may ruin our daily lives.
a. More and more data regulations:
In the modern world, information is a huge business. This is why data
protection and ethical usage of it are of paramount significance to regulatory
authorities and lawmakers. Enterprise owners can not afford to be ignorant of what is
involved in client data protection. Some sectors have much higher regulations than
others, such as the financial services and healthcare industries, because in their day-
to-day business operations, these businesses accumulate private and sensitive
information from patients and clients.
Nonetheless, just because you own a fashion store doesn’t mean you are free
of regulations. The way you handle email lists; the process of confirming the age of
the individuals you gather information on; and how you manage credit card data, is
all regulated. Having preparation and adopting standard protocol is key to protecting
your company and your clients.
2. Reliance on Technology:
Professor Ian Robertson, a neuropsychology specialist at Trinity College Dublin who
conducted the study, said: "People have a lot to remember nowadays, and they're dependent
on technology for the memories, but the less you use your memory, the weaker it becomes.
Because they utilize a spell-checker or a calculator to complete simple addition or subtraction,
many don't bother learning."
a. Excessive dependence on technological devices:
As we all know, technological devices are useful in the automation of
complicated enterprise processes. This is great for your company. However, all
machines can break down at any point due to several factors. When that happens,
production operations are suddenly halted and this can throw your business into a
state of panic.
When work is automated, people tend to depend too much on technological
devices. As a result, they feel it is unnecessary to understand how these processes can
be carried out manually. The entire business operation comes to a halt whenever
there’s a problem with the technological devices. This is why as a business owner,
you should not allow your operations to be solely dependent on technological
applications.
Train your workers so they know what to do whenever the technological
applications are malfunctioning. In addition, you should have full manuals that
specify what should be done to get the company and business operations ruining in
the unforeseen case of a device failure.
b. Reduction in available job opportunities for humans:
Organizations consider technology a better “employee” when it’s utilized in
the production processes of the business. Not only can work be finished on time, but
also certain processes can be automated for ease of operation. Hence, software tools
have the capacity to perform tasks that are meant for human employees. The
 implication of this is that they have become a competition for humans as companies
don’t see the need to hire as many individuals for jobs that can be carried out by
fewer employees and smart software.
While this decrease in the demand for human labor may be good news to
business employers, it is however not advantageous to human workers. When
technology is employed instead of humans, business ventures see no essence of hiring
them. Consequently, the rate of unemployment increases and the society has more
people who are struggling to feed their household and pay their bills. It is thus
important that companies understand how to employ human workers instead of
simply laying them off as a result of technological advancements.
For instance, it’s better if business enterprises can retrain their workers, and
after the training, the employees should be reassigned to execute other roles and
occupy new positions that machines cannot. Moreover, it’s pertinent to remember that
technological devices will only function optimally when they are operated by skilled
human employees.
3. Information Reliability:
Just because something is online doesn't guarantee it is dependable. Anybody with
computer and internet access can create a blog or post something on a website. The open-
source encyclopedia Wikipedia is an excellent illustration of this because, although being a
good source of knowledge, academic institutions do not accept it as a reliable source of
references.
a. Cultures were becoming dominant:
Although ICT could have made the globe more interconnected, it has also led
to one society absorbing a weaker one. For instance, it is currently said that American
teens have an influence on how the majority of young teenagers throughout the world
today act, dress, and behave.
4. Costs of implementation and regulatory compliance:
It takes time and money to get new solutions implemented. Typically, business
services become interrupted as new phases of the operations are implemented. Extra
employee training is needed and customers may have to endure a decline in the quality of
service during the process of the implementation.
Organizations typically hire external contractors to execute the implementation of
new hardware and software solutions. While Information Technology solutions have become
less expensive with the improvements in technology, organizations that have extensive
compliance requirements must ensure that they adhere to all regulations or they will stand the
risk of legal actions and penalties.