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CSIT118 - IT Applications in Business

The document provides an overview of computers, covering their evolution, basic structure, applications in various fields, and the distinction between hardware and software. It outlines the historical development of computers from the abacus to modern AI-based systems, highlighting key technological advancements across different generations. Additionally, it defines essential terms related to computing, such as data, information, and computer programs.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
17 views278 pages

CSIT118 - IT Applications in Business

The document provides an overview of computers, covering their evolution, basic structure, applications in various fields, and the distinction between hardware and software. It outlines the historical development of computers from the abacus to modern AI-based systems, highlighting key technological advancements across different generations. Additionally, it defines essential terms related to computing, such as data, information, and computer programs.

Uploaded by

barrettogerald
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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IT Applications in Business 1

Module-I: World of Computers


Notes

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Strucutre:

Unit-1.1: Introduction to World of Computers


1.1.1 Introduction to World of Computers

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1.1.2 Basic Structure of Computer System

Unit-1.2: Applications of Computer


1.2.1 Computers in Home

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1.2.2 Computers in Education
1.2.3 Computers in Workplace

Unit-1.3: Types of Computer


1.3.1 Computers on the Move
1.3.2
1.3.3
Generation of Computer

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Types of Computer (Size and Technology wise)

Unit-1.4: Software
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1.4.1 Support Systems - Hardware and Software

Unit-1.5: Computer Peripherals


1.5.1 Computer Peripherals
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Unit-1.6: Memory
1.6.1 Memory Management
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)A
(c

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2 IT Applications in Business

Unit-1.1: Introduction to World of Computers


Notes

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Objectives:
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:

●● Learn the basics of computers’ evolution


●● Learn the concepts of system and be able to distinguish computer system from system.

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●● Learn and understand how the computers developed enormously within a very
short span, from very huge machines of the past, to modern compact designs of
the present with incredible advances in technology.
●● Understand the concepts of general classifications of computers.

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●● Understand the concepts behind characteristics of computers such as speed,
efficiency, accuracy, storage, versatility, and capacity.
●● Understand computer limitations.
●● Discuss the similarities and differences between the human and the computer.
●●
●●
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Understand the concepts of component of the computer.
Learn basic computer applications.

Introduction
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The computers of today are vastly different in appearance and performance when
compared to the computers of earlier days. But from where did this technology arise
from and where is it heading? It is important to understand the evolution of computers
to completely understand the impact of computers on today’s world and what promises
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they hold for the future.

1.1.1. Introduction to World of Computers

Evolution of Computers
In the previous 6 decades or plus, PCs have evolved from room-size mega
m

boxes to work areas to workstations to our personal laptops and pocket sized
computing devices. Be that as it may, the genuine history of machine-assisted human
computation (“Computer” initially referred to an individual, not the machine) returns
considerably further. To lend a hand the traditional Technorati achieve over buying and
)A

selling partners who had been nonetheless manually counting cows and amphorae
by hand, abacus was once offered for first time in history. Antikythera mechanism is
the oldest recognized complex computing device which just about dates back to 87
B.C; it’s assumed the Greeks made use of this gear-operated contraption (excavated
in a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea in 20 AD, although its significance wasn’t learned
till 2006) to analyze astronomical positions and lend a hand them find the best way
during the seas. Computing took some other center of attention in 1843, when English
(c

mathematician Ada Lovelace has written the primary pc set of rules, in cooperation
with Charles Babbage, who developed a theory of the first programmable laptop. But
the fashionable computing-machine period started on with Alan Turing’s conception of
the Turing Machine. The three Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor, which made
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IT Applications in Business 3

modern style computing achievable and earned them the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
For a long time, computing generation was once best limited to the government and Notes

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the army; later, academic establishments began coming on-line. Steve Wozniak used
to be the first one that built the circuit board for Apple-1, making house computing
imaginable. On the other hand, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, and a
browser was constructed by Marc Andreessen, and that’s how we got here to reside in
an international with knowledge on fingertips. With wearable PCs, embeddable chips,
brilliant machines, and different advances in innovation and not too far off, the journey

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towards building more intelligent, quicker, and more skilled PCs is remarkably starting.

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(Figure Source-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adkib8dKeYo)

The First Generation: The first Generation Computer technology “The Abacus”,
which began about 5000 years ago in Asia Minor and is still used today. It allows users
to make calculations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a frame. Early days
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merchants used “Abacus” to keep trading transactions.

The first-generation computers used:

a) Vacuum tube technology


b) Punched cards and paper tape for output
c) Punched cards for data input
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d) Magnetic tapes and drums for external storage


e) Machine Language for writing programs
The Second Generation: Early supercomputers stretch by IBM and LARC
)A

by Sperry Rand were the first large scale machines those took lead of the transistor
technology. The main purposes of this machine development were mainly for atomic
energy laboratories. Few examples for classic computers of the second generation
were the Honeywell 200, IBM 1400 and 7000 series, and General Electric.

The second-generation computers used:

a) Vacuum tube technology has then replaced by transistorized technology


(c

b) Computers bulky size started reducing


c) Machine language was replaced by Assembly language

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4 IT Applications in Business

d) Stored program concepts begun


Notes

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e) High level languages were designed.
The Third Generation: Multiprogramming was introduced which was an
important characteristic feature of Third generation. Thus, the machines were capable
of performing several jobs at the same time. Computers accomplished speeds of
performing millions of instructions per second. Commercial mass production became
cheaper and simpler. Higher level languages were developed such as Pascal and

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Report Program Generator (RPG). And also new applications-oriented languages such
COBOL, FORTRAN, and PL/1 were developed.

The third-generation computers used:

a) Integrated circuits

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b) Significant reduction in size and power intake of the machines
c) Remarkable increase in computation speed
d) Profitable production of computers
e) Magnetic tapes and drums for external storage were used
f)

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Invention of OS (operating systems) and new higher-level languages

The Fourth Generation:


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Computer production became affordable and the era of Personal Computers (PCs)
started. In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer for use in office, home, and
schools. In direct competition, the Macintosh was introduced by Apple in 1984.

a) Discovery of microcomputers
b) Very Large-Scale Integration were used
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c) Personal Computers were introduced for the first time


d) Networking started taking a new foundation
e) Fourth Generation Languages were introduced
The Fifth Generation: Defining the fifth-generation computers is a bit difficult
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because the field is still in its beginning stage. The computers recently &tomorrow
would be characterized by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Computers are recently updated to
smarter versions and one such example for AI based computers is Expert Systems.

Today, nearly all of us in the world utilize computers in one way or the other. It
)A

is used in various fields of research, medicine, engineering, commercial, and others.


Not only in these refined areas, but also in our daily lives, computers have become
crucial. They are currently seen almost everywhere, in all the devices that we use daily
like games, cars, microwaves, washing machines, etc. and seen in computations like
banking, electronic mails, reservations, internet and many more.

The term computer is derived from the word “compute”. The word compute means
(c

“to calculate”. The computer was initially defined as a super-fast calculator. It had the
ability to solve complex arithmetic and scientific problems at incredibly high speed.
But after recent advancements in addition to solving complex arithmetic computations,

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IT Applications in Business 5

computers perform many other tasks like sorting, accepting, moving, selecting,
comparing various types of information. They also complete arithmetic and logical Notes

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operations on alphabetic, numeric, and other written programs along with types of
information. This information is provided by the user to the computer which is known as
data. The information in a single form is presented to the computer which is known as
the “input information or input data”.

Information in a new form is presented by the computer after executing a process

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on it. This information is known as the “output information or output data”.

The set of commands given to the computer to carry out a range of operations is
called as the “computer program”. “Data processing” refers to the process of converting
the input data into the required output form using a computer program. The computers

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are therefore also known as “data processors”. Thus, the computer is also defined as
a high-speed and accurate data processing system which accepts commands and
performs various data operations along with storing the data and showcasing results
step by step based on the commands given to it.

The terms “hardware” and “software” are most frequently used in connection with
the computer.

●●

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The Hardware: The machinery itself is known as “Hardware”. It consists of the
physical parts or devices of the computer system such as magnetic storage
media, the electronic Integrated Circuits (ICs), and other mechanical devices
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like output devices, input devices, etc. All these various hardware items are
assembled to form an effective functional unit. A variety of hardware types
are used in the computers, and have evolved from vacuum tubes of the first
generation to Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuits of the present generation.
●● The Software: The computer with just hardware itself is not capable of doing
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anything by its own. It has to be given clear directions or commands to operate


and execute the specific task. The processing activities of the computer are
controlled by the computer program. The computer thus functions according to
the commands written in the program. These computer programs, procedures
and other documentation used in the operation of a computer system all
together make up the Software. “Software” in short is a collection of programs
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which operate and improve the capability of the hardware

Definition of terms
)A
(c

Figure- Parts of Computer (https://winstartechnologies.com/introduction-to-personal-computer/)

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6 IT Applications in Business

Definition of a Computer: A PC is a digital electronic device that purposes (works)


Notes below by regulation of methods saved in memory unit.

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A Computer processes raw information to give data as output. It is a digital system
that accepts information as “input” and transforms to desired “output” underneath the
influence of a set of particular directions known as “Programs”.

Explanations include-

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1. A Computer is outlined as a digital device as it’s made up of electronic elements
and utilizes electric power (electrical energy) to serve as.
2. It has an “internal memory”, which store data & knowledge, directions those
want to be processed, or even holds the transitional result (knowledge) sooner
than it is transferred to the recipients throughout the “Output devices”.

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3. Computer works on the knowledge using the instructions delivered thru a
program, which means that that it cannot do any operations by itself. A PC
works only as in keeping with the set of instructions issued via the user
4. The information is authorized via the pc handiest in one form and it produces or

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delivers the knowledge in some other form. The information is most often held
inside the computer as its being processed.

What is a program?
A Computer Program is nothing however a collection of related directions written
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in computer language & is used to make the PC execute a selected task (to place in
simple phrases direct the computer what to do).

Program is a suite of related directions which state how the information is meant to
be processed.
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OR It is a group of instructions used as information by PC to accomplish a process.

Data: Data is a few raw (unprocessed) information, directions or figures that


wouldn’t have much meaning to the person. Data is also in form of alphabets/letters or
symbols, numbers, and will also be processed to yield knowledge.
m

Types of Data:
There are two sorts/kinds of information:

Digital (discrete) data: Analogue (continuous) data:


Digital data is “discrete” in nature. It must be Analogue data is “continuous” in nature. It
)A

represented in form of alphabets, numbers, is represented in physical nature in order


or symbols for it to be processed by a to be processed by the computer.
computer. Analogue data is acquired by measurement.
Example- Digital data is obtained by E.g. Pressure, Humidity, Temperature,
numerical form Lengths or Time, etc.
such as: The output is represented by smooth
(c

1, 2, 3, .. graphs from which the data can be read.

Data Processing- The strategy of accumulating all the knowledge in combination


& converting them into knowledge is known as knowledge processing. The term
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IT Applications in Business 7

“processing” refers to the method the information is operated (or handled) to show it
into information. The processing might include comparison, calculation, or some other Notes

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common sense to supply the essential result.

Information: It is the knowledge which has been delicate, concise& manipulated in


the way user needs it, or right into a more meaningful shape for decision-making. The
information must be timely, meaningful, accurate, whole, and relevant.

Characteristics of a Computer: Until 20th century, the data were processed

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manually or via use of easy computing machines. Today, virtually everybody is using
computers in offices and at house to produce and store all types of information

The following features make computers widely permitted & utilized in our day by
day activities:

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Speed: Computers carry out operations at very prime velocity and perform many
functions inside a very short time. Computers perform difficult duties much sooner than
a human may just complete.

The pace of PC is measured in Fractions of seconds. Measurements used are:

●●
●●
●●
●●
Millisecond: one thousandth of a second.
Microsecond: a millionth of a second.
Nanosecond: a thousand millionth of a second.
Picosecond: one million millionth of a second.
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1.1.2. Basic Structure of Computer System

What is a Computer System?


Definition: Computer System is a collection of entities such as hardware, liveware
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and software that are designed to receive instruction, process, hold and present data in
a meaningful format.

Computer System - Components


1. Computer Hardware - Computer hardware are the physical components that
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a computer system requires to function. It includes everything with storage


devises, input and output devises, circuit board that operates inside a PC or a
laptop; together with the motherboard, CPU (Central Processing Unit), graphics
card, ventilation fans, power supply, webcam, and so on.
)A

2. Computer software - The system software is a pool of programs designed to


operate, control, and prolong the processing proficiencies of the computer itself.
Computer manufacturers generally prepare the system software. These software
products consist of programs written in low-level computer languages; those
interact with the hardware at a very basic level. System software works as the
interface between the end users and the hardware. Few examples of system
software include Interpreter, Operating System, Assemblers, Compilers, etc.
(c

3. Liveware – It is a slang term used to denote people or simply the computer


user.

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8 IT Applications in Business

Computer Hardware
Notes

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Hardware term refers to the physical computer equipment and devices that provide
sustenance for major functions such as processing (computation, internal storage,
and control), input, secondary storage (used for programs and data), output, and
communication.

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Figure-Computer Hardware
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(https://peda.net/kenya/ass/subjects2/computer-studies/form-1/the-computer-system)

Hardware Categories (Functional Parts)


“A computer system is a set of integrated devices which input, output, process, and
store data and information. Computer systems are currently built around at least one
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digital processing device.” There are mainly five hardware components in a computer
system:

1. Input
2. Processing
3. Storage
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4. Output
5. Communication devices

A. Input Devices
)A

Input devices are used for entering data or for providing instructions to the central
processing unit. They are classified according to the mode they use to enter data.

i) Keying Devices - They are the devices that use a set of keys to enter data into
the computer. Examples include key-to- storage, Keyboard, and keypad.
(c

The keyboard
Keyboard is known to be main input device of a computer. It contains three
different types of keys namely alphanumeric keys, function keys, and special keys.
All alphabets, numbers, and special symbols like $, @, %, A, etc., are typed using
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IT Applications in Business 9

alphanumeric keys. To provide special commands depending upon the need, functional
keys operate, eg: <F1>, <F2>, …<F12>. One such example for special command Notes

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operated by the functional key is <F5> is used to refresh/reloads the browsing page.
Special keys include<Ctrl>, <Shift>, <Alt>, <Scroll Lock>, <Home>, etc. is used for
special functions. One such example is <Ctrl> + C= to copy the selected data. The
function of key could be well understood only after working on a PC. An electronic
signal is produced when any key is pressed. This signal is sent as a binary code
related to the key pressed to the CPU and is detected by a keyboard encoder. 101 keys

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keyboard is the most used one; however, there are many other variants as well.

How are the Keys organized?


Based on function, keys on the keyboard are organized under several groups:

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i. Alpha-numeric keys: These keys are used for typing purpose. They include
the alphabets, number, symbol keys, and punctuation, like the keys found on a
traditional typewriter.
ii. Cursor Movement keys: These keys are used for navigating cursor around
in documents or WebPages and while editing text. These keys include END,

iii. ni
arrow keys, HOME, PAGE DOWN, PAGE UP, ARROW KEYS, DELETE and
INSERT.
Function keys: These keys are used to perform specific tasks. They are labeled
as <F1>, <F2>, and so on, up to <F12>. Example- <F5> is used to reload or
U
refresh a browsing page. The functionality of these keys changes from program
to program.
iv. Special keys: Also known as Control keys. These keys are either used alone
or in combination with other keys to perform certain functions. The special keys
those frequently used are CTRL, ALT, the Windows key, and ESC. Example for
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the function- CTRL V- is used to paste the copied content.


v. Numeric keypad: The numeric keypad is in easy reach for entering numbers
quickly. The keys are grouped together in a square that looks like a conventional
calculator.
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)A

Figure – Keyboard (Source- https://www.advance-africa.com/functions-of-every-key-


keys-on-the-computer-keyboard-and-their-functions.html)
(c

B. Pointing Devices
An input interface known as pointing device allows user to control and deliver

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10 IT Applications in Business

data to the computer with physical gestures by moving a hand-held mouse or related
Notes devices. The main purpose of pointing devices is to control the position of the cursor or

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pointer seen on the screen and let the user to choose options displayed on the screen.
Most frequently used pointing devices are mouse, and it is including the pointing stick,
digitizer, touch pad, and others.

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i) Mouse: Mouse is of two types namely mechanical mouse and optical mouse.
Mechanical mouse is built with a ball inside the mouse and it rolls as it touches
a surface with the movement of the mouse. Unlike mechanical mouse, optical

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mouse use special chips and laser beams to encode data for the computer.
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m
)A

ii) Trackball: Trackball comes with a movable ball mounted on top of the stationary
(c

device. This ball specially gives an advantage for good moving locations where
a mouse cannot sufficiently move around. This type of device is widely used in
manufacturing industries.

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IT Applications in Business 11

Notes

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iii) Touchpad: Touchpad are like touchscreen, but touchpad limitation is they could
be only can be used in their provided space, commonly square or rectangle in
shape. This touchpad works by sliding your finger over their small flat surface

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and tap your finger on the surface when you need click options. This feature is
available on all laptops.

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iv) Pointing Stick: This is a pressure-sensitive small nub used like a control point.
This button like is found in between the keys of few laptops that allow the user
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to control the pointer by directing the stick. This pointer stick is commonly seen
in between ‘G’ and ‘H’ keys and a few times found below the spacebar.
m
)A

v) Touchscreen: Touchscreen could be a device embedded into the screen of


the LCD monitor. This is used to interact or perform key functions using a finger
touch. This device is sensitive to finger touch on the screen. Mostly this type
of function is used in smart devices, mobile phones, Televisions, ATMs, Voting
machines, reservation kiosks, vending machines, etc.
(c

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12 IT Applications in Business

Notes

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vi) Multi-touch Screens: Multi-touch screen is a device that allows detection of
several fingers at a time/ multiple touch at a time to operate a function. Example-
Multiple fingers stretching in a down direction allows the smart phone to take a

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screenshot or a photograph, etc.

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vii) Pen Input: This device is a user-interface that uses pen like tools. This device
allows handwriting recognition to translate cursive writing into data. Most found
in wireless tablets, Notepads, smartphones, etc.
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m

viii) Light Pen: It is a light-sensitive pen like device. This device uses a wired
connection to transmit data. The concept is like a mouse where in just bring
the pen to desired location and press a button to identify the screen location.
This type of device is used by the users whose hands are usually covered. For
)A

example, graphics, engineers, artists.


(c

ix) Digitizer: This device is an electric pen that converts photos or drawings into

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IT Applications in Business 13

digital data which a computer can process. This device is mostly used by
engineers or artists who use special tablets with this extra feature. Notes

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x) Digital Pen: Digital pen is also an electronic device that consists of a microchip

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within a pen to capture the brush strokes or handwriting of user. These devices
then store it after converting the same into digital ink and then could be written
on paper. This writing is converted and sent to computer as image file. This type
of device could be seen with Engineers working for civil, architects, etc.

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m

Figures Source-https://sites.google.com/site/htechnology23/extra-credit/pointing-
devices/mynote-pen_002.jpg?attredirects=0
)A

C) Scanning Devices
Scanning devices capture an object or a document directly from the source. They
are classified based on the technology used to capture data e.g. Document readers and
Scanners.

i) Scanners- This device converts the source document into an electronic form.
(c

Example: HandHeld, Flat Bed Scanners

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14 IT Applications in Business

Notes

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ii) Document readers: This device reads the data from the source document

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and convey as input as electronic signal. There are various types of document
readers namely:

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a) Optical Mark Reader (OMR): Optical Mark Readers detect pencil or pen
marks made in pre-defined positions on paper forms as responses to
questions and convert them to electronic data. It provides incomparable
accuracy while it reads huge number of sheets in less time. Example OMR
sheets in examinations, surveys, etc.
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b) Barcode readers: This is an electronic device that allows reading of


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printed barcodes.
)A

c) Optical Character Readers: It is an electronic device that allows


mechanical conversion of images of handwritten, typed, or printed text
(c

into machine-encoded text.

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Notes

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iii) Magnetic Readers: This device reads the data using magnetic ink.

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The Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor:

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CPU is also known as the brain or the heart of a computer.

CPU consist of three units namely -

i) Main Memory unit (MMU) or Storage unit


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ii) Control Unit (CU)
iii) Arithmetic logic Unit (ALU)
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m
)A

The system unit is well-known as a “chassis” or “tower.” It contains the main


components of a desktop computer including the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and other
components usually located as a rectangular box placed on or underneath your desk.
(c

There are many digital elements that process data inside of this field. The maximum
vital one amongst those parts is the central processing unit (CPU), or microprocessor
that acts as the “brain” of your PC. Another important component is random access

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16 IT Applications in Business

memory (RAM) that briefly retail outlets information. One will have to be cautious as the
Notes ideas saved in RAM are deleted when the PC is turned off.

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One can practice that almost each part of your laptop connects to the machine
unit the usage of cables plugs into specific ports (openings), generally on the back
of the system unit. Hardware is also known as peripheral software that isn’t part of
the machine unit. Peripheral devices are external devices such as printer, mouse,
keyboard, external Zip force, observe, or scanner. Few peripheral units are interior,
like CD-R drive, CD-ROM drive, or internal modem. Internal peripheral devices are

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sometimes called integrated peripherals. There are two types in line with their shape
namely, tower and desktop.

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Figure: Tower System Unit or Desktop System Unit
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Motherboard: It’s also known as system board, mainboard, planar board, or logic
board. This is the main printed circuit board found in other expandable systems and
computers. This holds many of the important electronic components of the system such
as CPU, memory and provides connectors for other peripheral devices.
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m
)A

Figure- Motherboard
(c

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IT Applications in Business 17

Processors:
Notes

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I) Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC): CISC with single instructions
can execute several low-level operations such as an arithmetic operation, load
from memory, and memory storage or to put simpler are capable of multi-step
operations within single instructions.
ii) Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC): RISC is a type of microprocessor
architecture that utilizes a small, highly-optimized set of instructions.

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Functions of Central Processing Unit

●● Processing data
●● Control all parts of a computer
●● Control operations sequence within the computers

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●● The usage of the main memory in storing of data and instructions is controlled
by CPU
●● It offers temporary storage (RAM) as well as permanent storage (ROM) of
data
The Control Unit: The control unit controls the complete work-flow of the CPU.

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Control unit works only when other devices perform their functions as control unit
doesn’t give outputs, take inputs, process data or store data by itself. The main purpose
of control unit is to run the whole computer by using the instructions stored in RAM and
ROM.
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Functions of Control Unit-
1. Fetching instructions from primary memory, collect required data, and operate
to perform those instructions.
2. Sending the fetched instructions to ALU to perform additions, subtractions,
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multiplication etc.
3. Receiving and transferring results of operations of ALU to primary memory
4. Collecting programs from input and secondary memory and passing them to
primary memory
5. Transferring results from ALU stored in primary memory to output
m
)A
(c

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18 IT Applications in Business

Summary
Notes

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●● The history of computers dates back about 2000 years ago in Babylonia
(Mesopotamia), when abacus was used for first time. It was a wooden rack
holding two parallel wires with beads strung on them.
●● Computer is an electronic device capable of receiving information (data) in a
specific form and of performing a series of operations in accordance with a
programmed but variable set of procedural instructions (program) to produce

rs
a result in the form of information or signals.
●● Although initially computers were used to perform arithmetic calculations at
high speed, now their uses have been spread in nearly every field.

Check your Understanding

ve
1. Match the following.
a) Very Large-scale Integration i) Second Generation
b) Generation Stored Program ii) Fourth Generation
c) Semiconductor Technology iii) Third Generation

2.
d)
e)
Vacuum Tube Technology
Superconductor Technology
Write True or False
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v)
Fifth
First Generation
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A. The Analytical Engine was designed by Charles Babbage.
B. “Abacus” was the world’s first all-purpose computing machine.
C. Machine language for programming was used in first generation computers.
D. An example for artificial Intelligence is Expert Systems.
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E. Personal Computer (PC) was used in the first generations.

Check your Progress


1. Fill in the blanks
a. The set of instructions to perform various operations is called a .....................
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b. Compute means to ............................................ of the computer.


c. Mechanical devices are a type of .........................................................
2. Answer in brief.
)A

a. Define a computer.
..........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................
b. What is software?
..........................................................................................................................
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..........................................................................................................................

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IT Applications in Business 19

Answer the following questions


Notes

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1. Name the components of CPU
2. Write a note on components of motherboard.

References
1. Inside Technology: Inside Computers, 1st Edition • Angie Smibert • Published
By: Core Library • ISBN-10: 1532170750 •

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2. Foundations of Computer Technology by Alexander John Anderson. 1st Edition.
Published September 8, 1994 by CRC Press.

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20 IT Applications in Business

Unit-1.2: Applications of Computer


Notes

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Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the chapter, you should have the skills to:

●● Work effectively with a range of current, standard, Office Productivity software


applications.

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●● Evaluate, select, and use office productivity software appropriate to a given situation.
●● Apply basic adult learning and assessment principles in the design, development,
and presentation of material produced by office productivity applications.
●● Demonstrate employability skills and a commitment to professionalism.

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●● Operate a variety of advanced spreadsheet, operating system, and word processing
functions.
●● Solve a range of problems using office productivity applications and adapt quickly
to new software releases.
●●

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Maintain quality assurance through critically evaluating procedures and results.

Introduction
Computers play an important role in every field of life. Computers help us
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in numerous ways. For example, they find important applications in Education &
Communications, delivering lectures in colleges, Entertainment- an example for Digital
Media Delivery, Smart Appliances, medicine, aviation industry, industrial process,
making bills in Malls, shops, and a lot more. Not just to that they are also used in
homes, business, research organizations, government offices, etc.
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1.2.1. Computers in Home


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Computer could be used at home in the following ways:

Home Budget - One can easily calculate expenses and income with the help
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of a basic application like Microsoft Excel. In MS Excel anyone can prepare a simple
worksheet to calculate daily expenses and income. This way one can always keep track
of your budget spend analysis. Also, there are many free online tools that provide alerts
on crossing your spending limit.

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IT Applications in Business 21

Notes

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Computer Games - Another significant use of computer at home is playing games. A
variety of games are available those could be downloaded free of cost from the websites.
Using internet connection games could be plays online, too. As we know playing games

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once in a while improves child coordination, improves focus, brain speed etc.

Entertainment
With the creation of the “Internet” and more rapidly data processing, file sharing
and entertainment became a trendy use. Computers have infinite uses in the
entertainment industry by openly marketing products to users. You can listen to music,

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watch movies, promote products, and find information on Internet. TV shows, Video
and audio songs, dramas, movies, or are some of the entertainment media that can
be accessed by computers having internet. Lots of cartoon and animation movies keep
toddlers engaged. Computers at the present have almost limitless access to any song
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by any artist. Numerous website services permit users to purchase albums or individual
tracks directly to their computer. Not just listen or participate, recently the people with
internet are able to create their own videos, other skills such as drama, songs and
upload through various social media platforms and gain a lot of fame without making
any efforts or getting into entertainment industry.
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Use of computer in an individual business


Computer with the internet facility could be used to start, run, and manage the
business. Not just that we may also grow the business using a computer. To name
few most successful companies, Google, LinkedIn, Amazon, Facebook, and Alibaba
all are websites formed using computers and the internet. Businesses and companies
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use a computer to plan a business, execute and do marketing to grow their business.
In addition, they use a computer to document customer data, and they also use
a computer to manage goods and services. Thus, in every step they make use of
computers. In every business it became easy to manage or hire employees around the
)A

world with the use of computers and the internet.

With computers at home, any individual could start their business. “Freelancing” is
a big example. Freelancers earn decent money by working remotely from home with the
use of computers and the internet. Lot of work opportunities are there for free lancers
who can just few some hours or do full time and make money as per their choice.

Home Appliances- There are quite a lot of development recently. There are many
(c

home appliances those use smart technology and use internet.

1. Voice box- You can talk to a virtual audio and ask questions such as directions
or any problems with fixing up a tube-light etc. Alexa is one of the best examples.

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22 IT Applications in Business

‘Alexa’, is a virtual assistant AI technology that offers voice interaction, play


Notes music, provide information, deliver news and sports scores, tell you the weather,

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control your smart home.
2. Smart video doorbells- This allows the owner to view when they ring the bell.
Such system is much safe as even if someone is trying to disconnect or break
the bells it gives information to the nearby security.
3. Security cameras- If you can place these cameras hidden you may capture if

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any suspicious situations happen.
4. There are lots of smart kitchen appliances such as smart refrigerators, stirrers,
dishwashers, conventional oven, washing machines, toasters etc., It makes
human life easier and much easier to handle any tasks.

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5. Smart vacuum cleaners and plant sensors, smart air purifiers are few latest
innovations.
6. Smart Home- Many technology lovers have already updated their residence as
smart homes. This allows the individual to just visit, automatically light, AC and
other necessities will begin to work. Once the individual leaves automatically

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they switch off. This way you may save a lot of electricity.
Home computers: There are many benefits in using home computers. For
example, most important advantage is to relax. After coming back from work, people
who had a tiring or a busy day can surf on the internet by home computers. They may
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play games watch movies, or listen to the music, etc., to relax or burn out stress. It’s
one of the important accessories for people to relieve stress so that they can do well
in their job. Another important advantage is that people can learn on the Internet. From
navigation to a lost direction to that of learning to master a skill couldn’t be possible
without computers. In a family of different aged people, home computer engages and
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develops everyone at its best. For toddlers, it could be helpful to show colorful videos
and help them interact and learn with joy, school children would like to play games and
learn lessons through activities or visual based lessons. Similarly, the working men
could use to learn more about resolving problems encountered at work, make online
payment of bills and woman could also do some freelancing, cook and the elderly watch
the entertainment episodes of their choice.
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1.2.2. Computers in Education


Acquiring basic knowledge as well as skills to operate computers to perform
better jobs is very much needed. Computer, along with internet facility could be the
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one stop learning device that children can utilize to become skilled at any area and
master abilities in education. Innovation in “Computer technology” has a deep impact
on education. In recent days computer has been part of school curriculum as it is a
necessary part of every individual today. Computer education in schools plays the most
important notable role in the career development of young children.

Computers in Learning & Teaching Process - Computers are used to aid the
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learning process in children who are being actively involved with educational institutes
like schools, big universities, colleges, Tutorials, Coaching institutions where computers
are used to support the learning process of students. Lectures given by Professors in
colleges & teachers in schools make use of audio-visual techniques to organize lesson
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IT Applications in Business 23

plans for children. Most of the presentations given by students make use of Microsoft
PowerPoint to prepare electronic presentations about their Projects, lessons, etc. Notes

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Professors or Teachers present these electronic presentations on multimedia using
sound projectors in classrooms or lecture halls. Microsoft PowerPoint is quite simple
method to use and learn for students. Use of multimedia, audio-visuals provide great
impact on understanding the concepts the Speaker is delivering. It helps the student
visualize the situation or concept where they make a deep impression on student
understanding.

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Research
Computers are great source for online education & research. Using internet,
students can find necessary information about their assignment’s projects, and also

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can take gather information from other researcher’s work as they hoard & organize their
research materials in computers or online platforms.

Computer-Based Training (CBT) for Corporate Education


In CBT (Computer Based Training), a variety of educational programs & projects

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are prepared on computers using assistance of expert educators and audio-visual
media help. These educational programs are generally set up in the form of webinars,
poster presentations, and lectures on a specific subject / topic & are given via email.
Students can learn whenever they wish at their homes.
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Computer-based training (CBT), often also referred as e-Learning that is education
primarily administered using a computer rather than an in-person tutor. CBT is typically
presented over the web by means of training platforms such as a learning management
system (LMS). This enables user to learn a skill, practice and re-learn or revise
concepts at their ease.
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Corporate training has recently adopted all the end-to-end process through such
LMS systems and customized learning tools. This provide employee to significantly take
time to understand the concepts, training and get back with questions. Using alternative
training methods such as e-Learning could be a great way to make training more
engaging and easier to understand.
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Benefits of Computer Education include:


●● Increased creativity and thinking skills
●● Archived data to revise at your convenient time
●● Provides well-organized & better use of Trainings
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●● Benefits of e-learning for career aspiration


●● Improves browsing research work & helps in communicating with diverse
education experts
●● Gives information instantly on any topic in just a single click & many more
●● Uses of Computer in Education
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1. Huge & organized store of information


Immense storage is another main important characteristic of a computer.
College or Academic Institutions need to maintain records of various aspects such as
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24 IT Applications in Business

admissions, fees, alumni record etc. This type of storage could be easily maintained
Notes through Computers. Students and teachers may also download and store a lot of

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educational materials, lecture/ address notes, books, question papers, presentations,
and so on in computers. Students can find solutions to the problems they aren’t able to
solve.

2. Rapid processing of data

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Computer process the data within the fraction of seconds and thus speed could
be considered as fundamental attributes. We can easily find any information available
on the internet with just a single click. Complex calculations and solutions are easily
performed within seconds.

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3. Audio-visual guides in teaching course for a practical learning
One of the principals uses of computers in education is “the Access to the Internet”
for information search about any topic. Animations and visuals provide data a greater
impact for the student to understand. Using computers various concept maps and
content maps could be created which is very easy for a student to learn.

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4. Parents can know the progress of their children
The Computer has facilitated parents & guardians to grasp the progress of their
youngsters by checking every minute via computers and by surfing the institution’s
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website online. They can look at different analysis results, attendance reports, tests,
participation in curricular and co-curricular activities, and considerably more.

5. Quick Communication & Correspondence


Another primary advantage of the usage of computers in the training box is the
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growth in the high quality of teaching-learning procedure. Many children can’t understand
concepts in single shape. Computers allow them to browse the same information in quite
a lot of formats equivalent to movies, images, and drift charts and many others, which
make the student easily perceive within the approach they’re happy with.

1.2.3. Computers in Workplace


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Computer usage is quite common in most of the companies and they find it
impossible without its presence. Thus, computers have become one of the most
important aspects to conduct business and monitor the progress of the workers.
Computers play a major role in any company from their recruitment level to training,
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monitoring, assessments, performance comparisons, and technical trainings, etc.


Almost each company depends on computers or computerized tools for some task, and
a lot of organizations depend upon employees to use computers every day.

Computers at workplace play many roles. To list a few:

Improving Communication
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Computers can progress communication between the workplace and when


handling the customers. An e-mail can convey a large amount of information internally
within the organization or externally to the clients at one time and can be viewed at the

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IT Applications in Business 25

convenience of the recipient. It also allows passing the same information to multiple
people at once by copying email addresses in the copy section. This can get rid of the Notes

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endless game of “telephone tag” as well as the delay of sending written information
through postal mails. Computers also give customers an extra method of raising
inquiries, tickets, complaints or receiving information. Internal Office staffs are now able
to pass announcements or information all through the office rapidly and efficiently, as
most office system has an alert option that allows pop-up alarm to show when a new
message or mail is received by an individual computer.

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Internet also greatly enhances communication options, to conduct webinars,
video conferencing, group meetings and to converse or carry meetings from different
destination clients.

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Using electronic communication like instant messaging, email, and webcasts,
organizational head and managers can talk with a very large number of employees in
real time despite different physical location. Computers also help facilitate electronic
communication with other major stakeholders like suppliers, investors, and customers
to quickly get service or even place an order using electronic communication.
Computers can scale back unnecessary physical trip and thus lend a hand organization

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cut back on conversation costs by way of facilitating video meetings or establishing
voice connections that do away with the need for standard telephones.

Additional Communication Options


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Common office equipment like phone systems, computers and fax machines has
improved how companies can communicate. Instead of wanting to visit or meet face to face,
staff can have face-to-face video conferences using apps like Skype on their computers,
and email or use instant messaging applications those leave 24/7 communication.

Companies could make and take calls from clients and customers through phone
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programs that make it easy to transfer calls and host meetings. At the corresponding time,
fax machines allow businesses to share essential paperwork and messages rapidly.

Improving Efficiency
Computers can increase the velocity and accuracy of the many work processes,
which improves total employee potency. Documents are frequently written and
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edited far more temporarily with the help of an information processing program, and
procedures, like billing and accounting, may also occur quicker and with fewer
mistakes. Computers can produce reports with great velocity and permit for the simple
insertion of enhancements, like charts, graphs and pictures if desired. Computers also
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assist firms in administrative tasks, like keeping up-to-date and correct records.

The main goal of workplace apparatus is to give a boost to your company’s


operations and allow your personnel to figure extra successfully. Communication
gadget like telephones, fax machines and computers saves you from traveling to meet
with others and lets you share knowledge quickly.

You can use enterprise software that automates not unusual tasks in areas
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like management, human sources and accounting, while productivity device comes
with ready-to-use templates to temporarily make important paperwork. Having a

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26 IT Applications in Business

multifunction printer means that you can briefly and easily print and scan items you
Notes desire to without creating any discussion with an area workshop.

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In the days earlier than computers was ubiquitous in organizations, staff in roles
with complex purposes like accounting and analysis regularly needed to perform
complicated calculations with little somewhat a pencil, paper and a calculator.
Employees tasked with developing documents also needed to write down out their
productions by way of hand. Computers offered an electronic part that permits staff

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to make virtual records data without the necessity for writing on paper, and digital
spreadsheets allowed staff to perform advanced mathematical calculations through
simply typing them into the machine. When a four-H extension organization in St. Paul,
Minn., introduced computers in 1986, in keeping with the Journal of Extension, brokers
quickly discovered potency positive aspects in producing coaching materials or even

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producing press releases.

Less Paper
As offices rely more closely on computers, the necessity for paper can also
build up. Some companies will even institute a policy of getting rid of the usage of

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paper wherever possible with the remaining function of changing into a paperless
organization. Reducing paper would possibly cause a discount in office supply prices
and open extra working area that had previously been to store paper paperwork in
report cupboards. Paperless offices were given to expand contingency plans to offer
protection to against computer crashes or the lack of wisdom.
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Workplace Culture
Computers can play an important position in how an organization operates, which
additionally affects the office culture. Able staffs who reside in an extended distance
from the administrative center can telecommute with the assistance of a computer, and
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due to this fact the required ability to pool when process openings occur additionally
increases. Employers who imagine a bit culture that relies on telecommuters will have
to seek out inventive tactics to deal with morale and a way of teamwork within the
group, as employees may not meet face to face as often.

The Advantages of Computers at Office


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The creation of computer systems has revolutionized many industries, with


forms being no exception. Computers have helped to make stronger the efficiency
and accuracy of administrative center employees by offering different instrument and
conversation functions to help execute workings tasks. Computers are now an area of
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nearly each and every workplace, with maximum places of work now unable to serve as
without the utilization of computer systems.

Data Storage
The information storage and retrieval capability of computer systems is simply
getting larger and more complicated as generation improves. Files are simply
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retrievable through search functions, and difficult drives can dangle remarkable
volumes of records data and knowledge. For places of work with huge databases, like
governments, charities or different member-based associations, this data storage and

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IT Applications in Business 27

retrieval function supplies unparalleled advantages over conventional paper document


storage, like the ease and velocity of data retrieval, the ease of adjusting information Notes

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records and subsequently the easy monitoring changes made to customer, member or
citizenry data.

Data Sharing
In a listing of place of job benefits that computer systems are offering; the computing
web site Spam Laws again and again acknowledges the ability of computer systems and

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networks to facilitate knowledge sharing. Employees residing in a single location can
construct digital paperwork, and workers in different location — even another nation —
can retrieve the record in just few minutes later. Because electronic information takes in
only a point of fact tiny amount of bodily area, staff may also take files with them when

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traveling or electronically access them from an international location.

Networking
According to the Spam Laws web website, record sharing is one amongst
the important thing advantages of networking computer systems in a workplace

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environment. Office networking or the advent of a place of work intranet, method
a typical database of files is out there to any or all customers. This also applies to
instrument and management of computers, which considerably reduces costs for
workplaces, as they’re going to acquire one networkable software bundle quite than
having to get more than one copies for particular person computer systems. Networking
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also offers collective get admission to printers, fax machines and copiers.

Productivity
Computers within the office setting considerably beef up productivity. Consistent
with the Reference for Business website, computer systems throughout the place
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of business increase productiveness no longer most effective in spaces like data


processing, data management and data access, but also in content introduction, unfold
and in the end storage. The amount of your time most administrative center staff spend
at the system has, alternatively, given upward push to variety of repetitive pressure
wellbeing problems on eyes, wrists, and arms.
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Professionalism
Just as computer systems permit staff to make documents extra efficiently, the
machines also lend a hand worker give those documents a polished and professional
appearance. Instead of submitting a handwritten or typed manuscript to an area
)A

newspaper or newsletter, as an example, staff can generate the file all the way through
a tool utility; electronically check for spelling and grammar errors, and post the record
on to an editor. Sales professionals can use computer systems to get graphs and charts
demonstrating some great benefits of their services and products, and presenters can use
computers to broaden and deliver skilled, animated, or even interactive slide shows.

More Organizational Tools


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Whether you want to organize bodily items throughout the place of business
or virtual files, place of work machines like computers, printers and label makers can

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28 IT Applications in Business

assist. You’ll digitize essential paperwork, get them organized in folders and use seek
Notes gear on your computer for straightforward get access. Printers permit you to print

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essential documents that you simply can organize for your file; while label makers help
you make stickers that you just can position on stuff round your place of work for quick
identification later.

Reduced Office Costs


While you are accountable to position some cash into making an investment

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in place of job equipment initially, your prices are usually lower than for cherished
machines like those you would possibly use for production. Furthermore, you’ll pass
looking out to induce just right offers because of the range of options and distributors
from which you’ll be able to select.

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You also get price financial savings when you consider what quantity money and
time you save the usage of units like computer systems, printers, and phone methods.
For example, you’ll save travel prices, reduce labor costs because of automation, pay
much less to print every web page compared to using a replica shop and cut back costs
you possibly can in all probability incur thanks to inaccuracy and security problems.

Improved Accuracy and Security

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Computers for your workplace assist you to use applications that check data for
accuracy and help companies make higher choices. For example, accounting device
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can hit upon problems in transactions entered and might help with auditing. You
moreover would possibly get a lift in safety since you can use computer systems to
store and copy necessary documents digitally and feature less of a risk of dropping
them totally if one thing occurs.

Similarly paper shredders help make your business safer since you’ll ruin bodily
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paperwork that contain company procedure and thus this will assist save you fraud also
as stolen business secrets.

Simple Care of Office Equipment


The upkeep of place of work equipment is typically simple for businesses, and
servicing options are broadly available in case you are facing a drag you cannot repair.
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Maintaining pieces like printers, fax machines and label makers is generally as simple
as fixing a jam or including more ink or materials.

You can merely clean items like telephones and use software tool to stay
computers working successfully. Once you do have to exchange the equipment,
)A

you always have many options due to the huge availability of the ones products for
companies, so you can discover inexpensive and convenient options.

Summary
●● Increased creativity and thinking skills
●● Archived data to revise at your convenient time
(c

●● Provides well-organized & better use of Trainings


●● Benefits of e-learning for career aspiration

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IT Applications in Business 29

●● Improves browsing research work & helps in communicating with diverse


education experts Notes

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●● Gives information instantly on any topic in just a single click & many more

Check your Understanding


I) Choose the right Option
1: The …........……… tells the computer how to use its components.

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A) Utility
B) Application
C) Operating System

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D) Network
E) None of the above
2: What does C O stands in C O B O L ?
A) Common Object
B)
C)
D)
Common
Computer Oriented
Common Operating ni
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E) None of the above
3. The function of an assembler is?
A) To convert basic language into machine language.
B) To convert high-level language into machine language.
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C) To convert assembly language into machine language.


D) To convert assembly language into a high-level language.
E) None of the above.
4. F O R T R A N stands for
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A) Formal Translation
B) Formative Translation
C) Formal Transaction
D) Formal Translation
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E) Formula Translation
5. Software refers to
A) The physical components that a computer is made of
B) firmware
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C) programs
D) people ware

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30 IT Applications in Business

E) None of the above


Notes

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Answer the following
1. Write important computer applications in Education
2. Gather most advanced applications of computer in 21st century

References

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1. Introduction to Information Technology: ITL Education Solutions. Pearson
Education India; 2nd edition (1 January 2012)
2. FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTERS. By Balaguruswamy. McGraw Hill
Education (24 June 2009).

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IT Applications in Business 31

Unit-1.3: Types of Computer


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Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the chapter, you should have the skills to:

●● To identify the different types of computers


●● Describe a range of emerging technologies

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●● Define what is meant by hardware and software and give examples
●● Identify the main components of a general purpose computer
●● Identify operating systems, including those which contain a graphical user

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interface or a command line interface
●● Show an understanding of a range of documents that communicate knowledge and idea

Introduction

History

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Handheld computers have served a purpose within the workplace since 1972
introduction with pocket-sized calculators. By the first 1980s, variety of manufacturers
had introduced handheld computers designed for business applications, but these
rudimentary devices often lacked monitors and required employees to physically
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connect the devices to stationary devices to be used. Handhelds with liquid shows
emerged within the past due 1980s, and fully functional, networked handheld devices
attached expanding numbers of workers during the 1990s. By the late 1990s, handheld
computer systems had transform prolific enough that consumers began to recognize
the units all over a lot of industry packages.
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Function
Many handheld computer systems within the place of business function throughout
a client-server configuration. Though the gadgets feature extensive processor power,
they in most cases use wi-fi networking protocols to speak with a central server that
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space important device applications. This configuration allocates the central server to
coordinate input from a lot of workers at the same time as keeping up correct real-time
information. Employees usually go back the units to a charging station on the height of
a shift, regardless that some hand held computer systems use disposable batteries.
)A

Applications
●● Handheld computer systems have an excellent array of applications within the
workplace.
●● Though the gadgets can serve in virtually any capability, they regularly seem
in warehouses, delivery, retail and different businesses that want workers to
stay track of things or stock.
(c

●● Businesses that need staff to steadily be in contact with a central location, like
servers speaking with a busy kitchen, even have a high deployment fee of
handheld computer systems.

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32 IT Applications in Business

●● Workplaces with cellular employees, like transportation companies and


Notes dispatching businesses, even have very top usage of hand held computers; all

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over this application, despite the fact that, the gadgets would possibly keep in
touch with a central server over commercial wi-fi networks as an alternative of
local Wi-Fi networks.
●● Even industries that reputedly have little use for handheld computers, like
building, use the units to increase efficiency.

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Considerations
Deploying hand-held computer systems throughout the place of job can grasp
a high preliminary tag, as central servers and comparable instrument generally
cost thousands of bucks and individual devices can cost many bucks every. Though

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producers in most cases design handheld computers for use inside the place of work
for heavy use and unintentional drops, trade house owners must allow changing hand-
held computers that workers would possibly harm. Business homeowners will have to
additionally allow upgrading servers, device and units, as technological advances will
most likely make periodic upgrades and alternative essential.

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1.3.1. Computers on the Move (Portable and Hand held Computers,
Self-Service kiosks, GPS Applications)

Handheld and Portable Computers


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●● Handheld and portable computers are small, lightweight computers the ones
designed to be operated as held by means of hand or from a desk or tabletop.
●● They have a processor, memory, I/O ports, and enlargement slots.
●● They additionally provide an OS, interface, and battery power.
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●● There are three basic forms of handheld and portable computer systems.
●● Tablet private computer systems (PCs) are pocketbook computers that
function a liquid display (LCD) on which customers can write with a special
pen referred to as a stylus.
●● Tablet PCs digitize handwriting and occasionally come with a keyboard or
mouse. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are small in dimension than tablet
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PCs and come with a stylus or keyboard.


●● Typically, PDAs function as a phone, fax sender, browser, and confidential
organizer.
●● They’ll also provide handwriting reputation and voice reputation applied
)A

sciences.
●● Pocket PCs, a 3rd sort of hand-held and conveyable computers are complex
PDAs with low power processors, good trans-reflective color displays, wireless
communication features, and a whole lot of add-on options.
●● Pocket PCs have one or more growth slots for additional memory.
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Display Technologies
●● Many hand held and conveyable computer systems come with flat panel
presentations (FPDs) that use LCD or gasoline plasma technologies.

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IT Applications in Business 33

●● In LCDs, an electrical present pass through a liquid answer that’s trapped


between two sheets of polarizing subject matter. Notes

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●● The crystals align themselves so that light cannot pass, generating an image
at the display.
●● LCDs are ceaselessly monochrome or color.
●● Color shows can use a passive matrix or a lively matrix.
●● Passive matrix presentations enclose a grid of horizontal and vertical wires by

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way of an LCD component at each intersection.
●● In lively matrix displays, each pixel features a transistor that is switched
without delay on or off, bettering reaction instances.
●● Unlike LCDs, fuel plasma displays contain an array of pixels, every of which

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accommodates pink, blue, and inexperienced sub pixels.
●● Within the plasma state, gasoline reacts with the sub pixels to show the
appropriate color.
●● The LCDs and gasoline plasma display’s resolutions include pixel
measurements of 160 x 160, 320 x 240, 320 x 320, and 480 x 160.

Performance Specifications
●●
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Handheld and transportable computers range about growth slots, efficiency
specifications, I/O ports, interface options, and communication options.
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●● Performance specs contain processor type, OS type, and random get right of
entry to memory (RAM).
●● I/O ports permit connections to peripherals like keyboards, mouse, infrared
transceiver ports, universal serial bus (USB) ports, modems, Ethernet ports,
and IEEE-1394 ports.
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●● Expansion slots use secure digital (SD) and protected virtual enter/output
(SDIO) playing cards, additionally as specialized boards like multimedia
playing cards (MMCs).
●● Interface choices for hand-held and portable computers include color shows,
integrated speakers; display backlighting, membrane keypad interfaces,
handwriting recognition, headset jacks, tactile keyboard interfaces, contact
m

display screen options, voice recorders, and voice recognition.


●● Communication features include built-in Bluetooth®, wi-fi LAN (WLAN), and
wi-fi native house community (Wi-Fi®) applied sciences.
●● Bluetooth is also a registered trademark of the Bluetooth hobby Group (SIG).
)A

●● Wi-Fi may be a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.


●● As handheld computers have proliferated, their enterprise applications have
made them just about indispensable within the place of business.
●● By placing computing control at staff’ fingertips, those units building up
competence and accurateness even as making manufacturing of work extra
(c

handy for busy workers.


●● Technology advances have decreased the worth of hand-held computers to
some degree that even small-business house owners can equip workers with
the newest handheld gadgets.
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34 IT Applications in Business

The Rise and Rise of Self-Service Kiosks


Notes

ity
Self-service kiosks became a frequent match in many of our lives in recent years.
Whether we’re trying to find a fast thanks to pay and go at ordering at a quick food
outlet, supermarket checkouts, or using information points in airports, train stations, at
conferences or events, these devices are accessible in many shapes and sizes. Do
they really make things easier for clients or businesses? What are the pros and cons?
Are they well worth the investment for the retail, travel, events, healthcare, food & drink,

rs
banking, and hospitality industries?

In this chapter, we’ll attempt to answer these questions and more; helping those in
any industry to discover if self-service kiosks might be the suitable choice for his or her
particular applications.

ve
What is a self-service kiosk?
Also sometimes referred to as an interactive kiosk, a self-service kiosk is in fact a
screen device at a hard and fast point, but unlike a typical tablet kiosk, a self-service
tablet kiosk is one that somebody uses themselves. The self-service kiosk definition
might be a small, self-standing structure that display information or facilitate an action.

ni
It might be some extent of sale (PoS) self-service touch screen kiosk check-out, like
those utilized in supermarkets up and down the country, an information point during a
tourist attraction, or a kiosk in an airport that permits people to check-in without joining a
counter queue. The self-service kiosk meanings are going to be different for everybody,
U
counting on your specific planned application.

A brief history of the self-service kiosk


If you pay no attention to vending machines those are around since the mid-1830s,
then self-service evolution with reference to shopping started within the UK in the
ity

1950s. Until now, shops essentially had a counter from which customers were served
and staff who did all the of the fetching; there have been no passageway to steer down
or shelves to lift things off ourselves, and baskets or trolleys required weren’t even
around.

The transition to people serving themselves in shops took a while! Even during the
m

1960s and 70s, self-service in some stores or at petrol stations (in terms of filling up
your own car with fuel) took an extended time to become the norm.

In 1967, an automatic teller machine was invented, but the self-service still wasn’t
prevalent until the 1990s.
)A

It was a natural progression that self-service shopping should eventually reach self-
service kiosks that permit you to see out and buy your purchases without the required
participation (although not every time) of an actual person too. It’s not just supermarkets
that have gotten involved; everywhere from IKEA to B&Q or WHSmith and Boots also
use self-service PoS now.

Apart from retail, for instance, in airports and other travel environments, self-
(c

service kiosks that hand out information, allow you to see in or print tickets, became
more common since round the year 2,000 and a technology repair has completely
changed the experience for travelers or customers since then. Everything you need to
travel or sign up is provided by a kiosk, there’s no use for interactions with human staff,
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IT Applications in Business 35

unless something goes wrong, or your requirements aren’t standard, and you would like
some intervention so as to realize the specified outcome. Notes

ity
The benefits of self-service kiosks
Self-service kiosk benefits are several. Counting on the world during which they’re
utilized, these could include:

●● Less human staff being required to serve customers/passengers, leading to

rs
resources savings for the business
●● Staff free for personalized/enhanced customer service
●● Less queuing or reducing waiting times for customers/passengers, who also
helps reduce stress for any remaining counter staff

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●● More people served during a shorter space of your time, increasing efficiency
and related profits
●● Improving the customer working out via giving them manual to find information
or checking in/out
●● Providing an adaptable and evolving resolution, because the era used are

●● ni
continuously upgraded with no need to replace the entire kiosk, in lots of
circumstances
Offering multiple options and purposes; an identical kiosk gives data also
as take payments, print tickets and generate more earnings via up sells and
U
promoting
●● Smaller kiosks, like pill kiosks, can regularly are adjustable, which is excellent
for ergonomics, accessibility and means they are going to be moved when
required to satisfy the necessities of what you are promoting.
ity

The disadvantages of self-service kiosks


Anyone who has ever had a problem using a self-service kiosk will know that
it’s now not all the time the time-saving and simple revel in it should be. Self provider
kiosks even have a few disadvantages comparable to:

●● Customer or passenger frustration in the event that they don’t perceive how
you can use the kiosk, or if it isn’t functioning correctly – an ‘unexpected item
m

within the bagging area’ in all probability?


●● Large kiosks with heavy hardware tend to be fastened in situ, so cannot be
easily moved around to satisfy converting wishes of the business.
)A

●● Unattended kiosks may lead to an increased possibility of shoplifting, which


that means other measures need to be introduced, like personnel on-hand
throughout the self-checkout space
●● Hardware or software disasters or downtime. Occasional technical faults and
failures are an unavoidable a part of the use of this sort of era and regular
repairs is required
●● The prices of initial outlay for the kiosks are steadily important
(c

●● Non-standard transactions like those that require age verification e.g. alcohol
sales, still need staff to get available

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36 IT Applications in Business

●● Person to person interactions is limited. Whilst it’s going to make many cheer,
Notes some other people in society experience and achieve nice benefit from the

ity
human interactions they experience when going about their day by day
actions, and self-service kiosks reduce this.

Self-service kiosk trends


Self-service kiosks don’t just come just during a standard supermarket check-out
set-up but are available in many various forms and designs. Including on what they’re

rs
getting to be used for, a self-service kiosk design could contains an enormous portrait-
style touch screen, like the McDonalds self-service kiosks where you place an order in
one among their restaurants. Or, large square self-service kiosks are accessible that
are ideal for informational applications, like in tourist attractions, museums, or libraries.

ve
Also, small businesses often make use of mini-kiosks and tablet stands for patrons
ordering/buying and making payments.

Other self-service kiosk examples consist of those with built-in printing capabilities
to dispense tickets or receipts. You’ll also find a rising number of i-Pad self-service
kiosks in locations and settings where a smaller screen is right, like at mobile points
of sale, or in kiosks at events or exhibitions when having a light-weight solution is
important.

Self-service kiosks in retail ni


One of the foremost common settings during which we encounter self-service
U
kiosks within the UK is in retail, thanks to the advantages that something like self-
service payment kiosks be capable of making a retailer’s bottom line. One or two
staff members can oversee multiple self-service kiosk PoS units, which frees up other
workers for other tasks, like providing enhanced customer service.
ity

A retail self-service kiosk doesn’t necessarily need to be within the same location
as manned tills either, and usually take up a way smaller footprint per unit. during a
retail setting, where previously underutilized shop-floor spaces are often modified to
supply self-service PoS kiosks for patrons , it are often much more profitable at peak
times to enable more customers to finish their purchases via either option; reducing the
amount of shoppers that abandon their basket or cart once they spot an extended or
m

slow-moving queue.

This type of self-service kiosk technology doesn’t stop with standard check-out
units, you’ll also utilize self-service kiosk market-style units, which may weigh and label
up fresh produce with ease, allowing shoppers to settle on unpackaged food and see
)A

what proportion it’ll cost them before they get to the payment till.

It’s no wonder that the retail industry has grabbed self-service kiosks and run with
them, but it’s an unquestionable fact that human staff are still considerably needed
on the workplace too. Whether it’s guiding a confused customer through the method
of employing a self-service till, or handling customer service enquiries and special or
unusual requests, sometimes a real face-to-face interaction with another person is that
(c

the only thanks to affect a situation. The machines aren’t taking up completely – yet.

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IT Applications in Business 37

Self-service kiosks in healthcare


Notes

ity
This type of technology is firmly establishing an area for itself within the healthcare
sector. Hospitals in various parts of the united kingdom now use self-service health
kiosks to let patients to see themselves certain outpatient appointments, which reduces
the strain on reception staff and is additionally designed to scale back queuing times.
Also employed by many local surgeries to assist regulate patient arrivals and waiting
times, this sort of technology is becoming ever more useful during this sort of setting.

rs
Another potential self-service kiosk healthcare application is an update to the
weighing machines that is found everywhere the country. A screen on which you’ll not
only see your weight, but also can input a couple of other select details, like height and
age, offer a variety of healthy choice recommendations to the buyer.

ve
Self – Service kiosks within the food & drink industry
Self-service kiosks for food purchases are getting more common. Additionally, to
the McDonalds example earlier, there are now KFC self-service kiosks within the UK,
currently at service stations on the motorway network, alongside Burger King self-
service kiosks in similar locations. In settings like this, with huge volumes of consumers

ni
coming through year-round, it is sensible to introduce queue and order time reducing
measures which will maximize revenue by fulfilling more orders during a shorter amount
of your time through self-service kiosks for easy and hastle-free transactions.

Whilst this sort of self-service food kiosk solution lends itself alright to nutriment
U
outlets, where people want to order and receive their food as quickly as possible, does
this also translate to self-service kiosks in restaurants which have more ‘destination’
and pragmatic qualities?

Self-service kiosk marketing research and test projects globally have shown that
ity

customers tend to spend extra money when ordering via a kiosk or table-based tablet
system than they are doing when ordering from waiting staff; around 20% more, in
fact, was reported by US chain Chili’s, after they installed self-service tablets. Theories
for the larger orders via self-service restaurant kiosks and tablets include the notion
that a screen doesn’t judge what proportion you order or eat, but an individual might;
alongside the thought that folks are more likely to order food or drink that they’re unsure
m

the way to pronounce from a self-service module, than they’re to invite it aloud from an
individual, and risk getting it wrong.

Using this type of ‘touch ‘n’ buy’ self-service kiosks in food and drink outlets won’t
be easy for everybody. Those visiting a traditional restaurant aren’t likely to require
)A

ordering via a screen, as they value the service of the staff and therefore the whole
experience of getting their order taken and addressed personally, highly. For now, at
least, there’s room for both sorts of experience within the food and drink industry.

Self-service kiosks within the travel, leisure & hospitality industry


One of the primary places to take on widespread use of self-service kiosks was
airports. This technology lends itself well to the sort of busy, fast-paced environment
(c

where many repetitive tasks don’t necessary require a person’s interaction within most
cases. Self-service kiosks in airports are often an enormous help when think about

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38 IT Applications in Business

queue and waiting time reduction, although not every passenger is comfortable yet with
Notes using them.

ity
Airports don’t have the monopoly when it involves the travel sector; train operators
have also been using self-service ticketing kiosks and knowledge points for a few
times. Passengers having the chance to avoid the counter queues and instead use a
self-service printing kiosk for easy ticket purchases, or to seek out the solution to their
frequently-asked question, are some things that free up staff resource for other activities

rs
and may help to enhance the flow of individuals through the railroad station and on to
their destinations.

Anyone who has ever acknowledged a hotel on a pre booking to hitch a queue just
to urge to the counter will understand why self-service check-in kiosks are getting more

ve
and more popular during this industry. Hotel self-service kiosks aren’t almost reducing
waiting times though; many establishments also install them to assist with accessibility
for guests with disabilities, as tablet kiosks are often installed at any height and a few
are ergonomically adjustable too.

Another industry that’s reaping the advantages of this sort of technology is


cinemas. With a self-service movie ticket kiosk, people can choose their film, buy,

ni
and print their tickets instantly. Take this a step further and that they could pre-order
concessions/refreshments too, lowering on queuing time once they get inside and
allowing people to maneuver into their seats more quickly and smoothly.
U
Self-service kiosks in Banking
When it involves in-branch banking, anyone with a more composite requirement
than enthusiastic to withdraw or pay in money has conventionally needed to line up at
a counter or arrange a meeting to talk to a member of staff. However, with self-service
banking kiosks, customers can’t only perform simple transactions in reference to their
ity

account, but also determine about other financial products, like mortgages, loans,
insurance or savings accounts; beat once in place and with staff available if needed to
start out the method immediately if required.

Self service kiosks in banks not only reduce queuing time and release staff for
other duties, but they also put customers on top of things of their banking. For some, a
m

self-service machine won’t be enough if they need a very complex enquiry or if getting
to their local branch is the maximum amount a social visit as a practical one, except for
many purchasers, the less time they spend there doing ‘life admin’, the better; kiosks
can play an enormous part in facilitating this.
)A

Other uses for self-service kiosks


Other applications for this kind of technology include self service kiosks in the
Post Office for labeling, weighing, and sending letters and parcels, where people can
connect an SD card or smartphone and print out their digital photos, supermarket
additional installations such as ASDA or Tesco self-service photo kiosks, and even self-
service kiosk shredders, which offer a safe and multi-functional shredding solutions to
(c

businesses and organizations.

Libraries across the UK also use self-service machines, which can be very useful
in high-traffic settings, such as university libraries. They can often be used for issuing,

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IT Applications in Business 39

renewing, or returning items, buying printing credits or checking accounts and to pay
any fines that are due. Notes

ity
Information kiosks for tourists or visitors to attractions are also popular. Whether
it’s an interactive map on screen for them to plan out their route, a way for them to find
out more about a specific exhibit, art installation or display, this type of technology can
enrich the experience and reduce the staffing need at the same time.

rs
Are self-service kiosks worth the investment?
As with any potential investment for a business or organization, the numbers need
to be crunched to determine whether it’s financially viable and how long it will take the
savings made as a result of self-service kiosks to outweigh the outlay and maintenance
costs.

ve
How much does a self-service kiosk cost?
Depending on the requirements of your business or organization in the case of
self-service kiosks, the prices of the hardware and software required will vary broadly,
as will ongoing repairs costs. It can price up to several thousand pounds for each

ni
and every unit, relying on the complexity of duties that the kiosk needs to carry out;
however, smaller and lighter kiosks, similar to those using tablet devices for interactive
display features, tend to figure out far more affordably.

When bearing in mind whether to buy self-service kiosks for what you are
U
promoting, you need a transparent concept of the necessities of the set up for your
setting. The self-service kiosk value will normally be decrease if the model is a typical
one, but when you wish to have a bespoke kiosk to be developed to your wishes; this
means you need to issue the design and construction stages into the venture funds too.
ity

Maintenance prices also need to be thought to be, and the false financial system
of shopping for the units from an inexpensive supplier can come again and chew you
if the kiosks high quality is low and regular maintenance, upkeep or replacements
are required. For a kiosk this is going to be public-facing or utilized by a big quantity
of people in a high-traffic atmosphere, robustness of build and use of high-quality
materials to create the kiosk are essential.
m

Challenges within the self-service kiosk industry


For self-service kiosk manufacturers in the UK and beyond and for the self-service
kiosk industry, a big challenge lies in the incredible number of different applications
for this type of installation now, and the settings in which they are used. With so many
)A

different requirements, how is it possible to develop cost effective solutions that will
work across different sectors and purposes?

At Ergonomic Solutions, we offer a range of technology mounting solutions that


could be the answer to many of the questions and reservations that businesses may
have in relation to self-service kiosk implementation. Using tablet devices, mounted
in a kiosk style setting, many informational and transactional tasks can be carried out
(c

without the need for a permanently fixed, bulky traditional kiosk.

As well as offering multiple standard options to meet quick turnaround times, our
organization includes a design and development team that are dedicated to creating

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40 IT Applications in Business

bespoke solutions for our clients to fit with their requirements, however complex. If you
Notes would like more information about how our products can be used to offer self-service

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kiosk facilities within your business or organization, get in touch today.

Global Positioning System (GPS) is an area based totally satellite TV for PC


navigation machine that provides location & time knowledge in all-weather prerequisites
anyplace on or near the earth where there is an unobstructed line Of sight (LOS) to 4 or
more GPS satellites.

rs
While standard civilian handheld GPS receivers are generally correct to about 5
meters, there also are very expensive, extremely complex GPS receivers which might
be capable of providing positions accurate to inside a centimeter! These receivers have
revolutionized a whole lot of industries, where extremely correct positioning is used for

ve
so many different duties. The following sections provide a snappy abstract of the way
GPS is used in some industries.

Aviation
Almost all models of airplanes are fitted with more than one GPS receivers. This
provides pilots (and sometimes passengers) with a real-time aircraft place and map of

ni
each flight’s progress. GPS additionally allows airline operators to pre-select the safest,
quickest, and maximum fuel-efficient routes to every destination, and ensure that each
path is adopted as closely as imaginable when the flight is underway.
U
Marine
When high accuracy GPS is fitted to boats and ships, it lets in captains to navigate
via unfamiliar harbors, delivery channels and waterways without operating aground
or hitting recognized stumbling blocks. GPS is also used to place and map dredging
operations in rivers, wharfs, and sandbars, so different boats know exactly where it is
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deep enough for them to perform.

Farming
Farmers rely on repeat planting season after season to maximize their crop
productions. By placing GPS receivers on tractors and other agricultural equipment,
farmers can map their plantations and make certain that they return to exactly the
m

similar areas when stitching their seeds in long run. This technique also lets in farmers
to proceed working in low visibility prerequisites equivalent to fog and darkness, as
each piece of equipment is guided by way of its GPS place instead of visual references.
High accuracy GPS could also be used to map soil pattern places, permitting farmers to
)A

see the place the soil is maximum fertile across person fields or even entire farms!

Science
Scientists use GPS technology to habits a wide range of experiments and analysis,
ranging from biology to physics to earth sciences. Traditionally, when scientists wanted
to understand the place and the way ways animals roam, they had to tag animals with
(c

steel or plastic bands and then apply them to quite a lot of locations to watch their
motion. Today, scientists can fit animals with GPS collars or tags that routinely log the
animal’s movement and transmit the information by means of satellite TV for PC back to

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IT Applications in Business 41

the researchers. This supplies them with extra detailed information about the animal’s
movements without having to relocate explicit animals. Geo scientists additionally use Notes

ity
GPS era to conduct a variety of research. By installing prime accuracy GPS receivers
on bodily features corresponding to glaciers or landslips, scientists can observe and
find out about each the rate and route of movement, helping them to know the way
landscapes exchange through the years. Similarly, GPS receivers may also be installed
on cast bedrock to help perceive very small and gradual changes in tectonic plate
motion across the world.

rs
Surveying
Surveyors are chargeable for mapping and measuring options on this planet’s
floor and beneath water with prime accuracy. This includes things like figuring out

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land boundaries, tracking adjustments in the shape of buildings or mapping the ocean
flooring. Surveyors have historically required line-of-sight between their instruments
to undertake such paintings, but the availability of high accuracy GPS receivers has
lowered the desire for this.

GPS can both be setup over a single level to establish a reference marker, or it

ni
can be utilized in a moving configuration to map out the boundaries of more than a few
features. This data can then be transferred into mapping tool to create very fast and
detailed maps for patrons.

Military
U
The GPS gadget was at the beginning advanced by way of the United States
Department of Defense to be used by way of the US military but was later made
available for public use. Since then, GPS navigation has been adopted through many
different military forces around the world, including the Australian Defense Force. Some
ity

nations have even decided to expand their very own satellite TV for PC navigation
networks for use all over wartimes. Today, GPS is used to map the location of cars and
different belongings on more than a few battlefields in genuine time, which helps to
regulate sources and give protection to soldiers on the floor. GPS generation could also
be suited for military automobiles and different hardware akin to missiles, offering them
with monitoring and steering to more than a few targets at all times of the day and in all-
weather stipulations.
m

1.3.2 Generations of Computers


Generation in computer terminology may be a transformation in era a computer
)A

is/was used. Initially, the technology term was once referred to distinguish between
varying hardware applied sciences. Nowadays, technology comprises both hardware
and software, which together structure a whole computing device. There are five
computer generations recognized thus far. Each technology has been mentioned rather
well along their time frame and characteristics. Within the next table, approximate dates
against each technology had been mentioned, which might be typically authorized.
(c

Following are the five generations of computers.

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42 IT Applications in Business

Sl. No. Generation & Description


Notes

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1 First Generation
The period of first generation: 1946-1959. Vacuum tube based
2 Second Generation
The period of second generation: 1959-1965. Transistor based
3 Third Generation
The period of third generation: 1965-1971. Integrated Circuit based

rs
4 Fourth Generation
The period of fourth generation: 1971-1980. VLSI microprocessor based
5 Fifth Generation
The period of fifth generation: 1980-onwards. ULSI microprocessor based

ve
First Generation Computers
The period of first generation used to be from 1946-1959. The computer systems of
first generation used vacuum tubes because the basic elements for reminiscence and
circuitry for CPU (Central Processing Unit). These tubes, like electric bulbs, generated
tons of warmth and therefore the installations fuse frequently. Therefore, they were very
expensive and most effective huge organizations were ready to find the money for it.

ni
This generation used principally batch processing operating gadget. Paper, punch
cards, and magnetic tape have been used as input and output units. The computers all
through this technology used device language as programming language.
U
ity
m

Figure- ENIAC Computer


(Figure source- https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/78)
)A

The main features of the primary generation are:

●● Vacuum tube technology


●● Huge size
●● Very costly
(c

●● Generates lot of heat


●● Need of AC
●● Slow input and output devices

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IT Applications in Business 43

●● Supports machine language only


●● Variable
Notes

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●● Non-portable
●● Consumes lot of electricity
Some computers of this generation were:

●● ENIAC

rs
●● UNIVAC
●● EDVAC
●● IBM-701
●● IBM-750

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Second Generation Computers

The second-generation period ranged from 1959-1965. During this generation,


transistors were being used that consumed less power, were cheaper, more compact in
size, more consistent and faster than the first-generation machines made from vacuum
tubes. During this generation, magnetic cores were used as magnetic tape and the

ni
primary memory and magnetic disks as back up storage devices.

In this generation, programming language and high-level programming languages


like FORTRAN, COBOL were used. The computers used and multiprogramming OS
and batch processing.
U
The main features of second generation are:

●● Use of transistors
●● Reliable as compared to first generation computers
ity

●● Smaller size as compared to first generation computers


●● Generates less heat as compared to first generation computers
●● Consumed less electricity as compared to first generation computers
●● Faster than first generation computers
●● Still very costly
m

●● AC required
●● Supported machine and assembly languages
)A
(c

Figure- IBM 1620 (Source- https://www.pinterest.com/pin/266134659199924035/)

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44 IT Applications in Business

Some computers of this generation were:


Notes

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●● IBM 1620
●● IBM 7094
●● CDC 1604
●● CDC 3600
●● UNIVAC 1108

rs
Third Generation Computers
The era of third generation was from 1965-1971. The computers of third generation
used Integrated Circuits (ICs) in situ of transistors. One IC has many resistors,
transistors, and capacitors along with the associated circuitry.

ve
The IC was invented by Jack Kilby. This development made computers smaller
in size, reliable, and efficient. During this generation time-sharing, remote processing,
multi-programming OS were used. High-level languages (FORTRAN-II TO IV, PASCAL
PL/1, BASIC, ALGOL-68, COBOL, etc.) were used during this generation.

ni
U
ity

Figure-IBM360 (Source- https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/


system360/impacts/)
m

The main features of third generation are:

●● IC used
●● More reliable as compared to previous two generations
●● Smaller size
)A

●● Generated less heat


●● Faster
●● Lesser maintenance
●● Costly
●● AC required
(c

●● Consumed lesser electricity


●● Supported application-oriented language

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IT Applications in Business 45

Some computers of this generation were:


Notes

ity
●● IBM-360 series
●● Honeywell-6000 series
●● PDP (Personal Data Processor)
●● IBM-370/168
●● TDC-316

rs
Fourth Generation Computers
The era of fourth generation was from 1971-1980. Computers of 4th generation
used Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. VLSI circuits having about 5000
transistors and other circuit elements with their associated circuits on one chip made it

ve
possible to possess microcomputers of fourth generation.

Fourth generation computers became more compact, powerful, reliable, and


affordable. As a result, it gave rise to non-public Computer (PC) revolution. During this
generation, real time networks, sharing, distributed OS were used. All the high-level
languages like C, C++, DBASE etc., were utilized in this generation.

ni
U
ity

Figure: DEC PDP-10 (Source https://www.livingcomputers.org/Computer-Collection/


Vintage-Computers/Mainframes/DEC-PDP-10-KI-10-(DECsystem-10).aspx)

The main features of fourth generation are:

●● VLSI technology used


m

●● Portable and reliable


●● Rock bottom
●● Use of PCs
●● Pipeline processing
)A

●● Very small size


●● No AC required
●● Great developments within the fields of networks
●● Concept of internet was introduced
●● Computers became easily available
(c

Some computers of this generation were:

●● DEC 10
●● STAR 1000
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46 IT Applications in Business

●● PDP 11
Notes ●● CRAY-1(Supercomputer)

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●● CRAY-X-MP (Supercomputer)

Fifth Generation Computers


The era of fifth generation is 1980-till date. In the 5th generation, VLSI technology
became ULSI (Ultra Large-Scale Integration) technology, leading to the assembly of

rs
microprocessor chips having ten million electronic components.

This generation is predicated on multiprocessing hardware and AI (Artificial


Intelligence) software. AI is an emerging branch in computing, which interprets
the means and method of creating computers think like citizenry. All the high-level

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languages like C and C++, Java, .Net etc., are utilized in this generation.

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U
ity

Figure: Desktop (Source- https://www.gadgetsnow.com/featured/dell-hp-and-asus-on-


why-they-are-still-betting-on-desktop-pcs/articleshow/64946246.cms)

The main features of fifth generation are:

●● ULSI technology
m

●● Development of true AI
●● Development of tongue processing
●● Advancement in multiprocessing
)A

●● Advancement in Superconductor technology


●● More user-friendly interfaces with multimedia features
●● Very powerful and compact computers at cheaper rates
Some computer sorts of this generation are:

●● Desktop
●● Laptop
(c

●● Notebook
●● Ultrabook

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IT Applications in Business 47

●● Chromebook
Notes

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1.3.3 Types of Computers: Classification of Computers by Size &
Technology
Computers are found everywhere nowadays and there are many various ways
people are using them. That’s why there are numerous ways of classifying them
supported their power, architecture, brand, price, to name a few.

rs
Today, we are ready to mention a specific classification of computers that the bulk
users won’t even remember of. We are talking about classifying computers supported
their size. By this we don’t just mean the size difference between laptops and desktops,
although this example does fall into this classification also. Classification of computers

ve
supported their size doesn’t only ask their dimensions but also their applications and
power capacity. Roughly speaking, there are four differing kinds of computers supported
their size which are those we’ll be mentioning below:

PC (Personal Computer)

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A PC can be defined as a small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for
an individual user. PCs are based on the microprocessor technology that enables
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manufacturers to put an entire CPU on one chip. Businesses use personal computers
for desktop publishing, accounting, word processing, and for running spreadsheet
and database management applications. At home, the most popular use for personal
computers is playing games and surfing the Internet.

Although personal computers are designed as single-user systems, these systems


are normally linked together to form a network. In terms of power, now-a-days high-
m

end models of the Macintosh and PC offer the same computing power and graphics
capability as low-end workstations by Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.

Workstation
)A
(c

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48 IT Applications in Business

Workstation may be a computer used for engineering applications (CAD/CAM),


Notes software development, publication, and other such sorts of applications which require

ity
a moderate amount of computing power and comparatively top-quality graphics
capabilities. Workstations generally accompany a high-resolution graphics screen,
outsized, great deal of RAM, inbuilt network support, and a graphical interface. Most
workstations even have mass memory device like a disc drive, but a special sort of
workstation, called diskless workstation, comes without a disc drive.

rs
Common OS for workstations is UNIX and Windows NT. Like PC, workstations also
are single-user computers like PC but are typically linked together to make a local-area
network, although they will even be used as stand-alone systems.

Computer Types by Size

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Microcomputers
The term “microcomputer” is additionally known now a days with the term “personal
computer”, but they were named microcomputers once they were introduced to the
masses, because of the emergence of microprocessors. One among the foremost well-

ni
known early microcomputers was the Altair 8800, which was released way back in 1975.

Today, the moniker is employed as an umbrella term for desktop machines,


laptops, ultra-books, onboard computers found in cars or planes, gaming consoles,
including people who are hand-held, also as portable devices, like smartphones
U
and tablets. Palmtop computers and PDA devices, which are now obsolete, also are
considered microcomputers.

Microcomputers structure the bulk of computers within the world, and are the
primary thing we expect about when someone mentions the word “computer”, which is
a component of the rationale why the bulk is unaware of minicomputers, mainframes,
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and supercomputers, despite counting on services provided by them a day .

Minicomputers
Minicomputers fit right in between the foremost powerful microcomputer, and
therefore the least powerful mainframe. This sort of computer is additionally called a
mid-range computer on occasions. However, today, the term is essentially archaic,
m

because true minicomputers are relegated to the pages of history.

Nowadays, small to midrange servers are used for business and scientific
applications, those require computers that are ready to serve multiple users at an
)A

equivalent time. Minicomputers were first introduced within the 60s by IBM.

In terms of computing power, minicomputers are capable of multitasking and


multiprocessing, and are more powerful than desktop computers, and fewer powerful
than both mainframes and supercomputers. Several the minicomputers used today are
SPARC, POWER, and Itanium-based machines developed by Oracle, IBM, and HP.

Minicomputers started disappearing from the market because of microcomputers


(c

becoming more powerful and cheaper, and since of the event of local area network
technology which, in essence, enable several less expensive microcomputers to
function together large and expensive minicomputer. One among the most important

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IT Applications in Business 49

computer manufacturers which disappeared from the market at that point was DEC
(Digital Equipment Corporation), which was second only to IBM. Notes

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Mainframe Computers
Mainframe computers, or just mainframes, are larger and more powerful than
minicomputers. In fact, their computing power, massive space for storing , and therefore
the ability to figure reliably without ever breaking down is what makes them one among

rs
the cornerstones of recent business operations, which needs the power to process
large amounts of knowledge .

Another characteristic of mainframes is that they’re not only ready to multitask


and serve multiple users, but also capable of running multiple operating systems, and
switching between them with end users not even noticing. To place their processing

ve
power into perspective, imagine up too many hundred servers and their ability to
process information. That’s how powerful mainframes are.

The origin of mainframe computers dates to the 1940s. Throughout the whole
history of mainframes, the foremost popular manufacturers have always been IBM,
Hitachi, and Amdahl. As we’ve acknowledged previously, mainframes are the inspiration

ni
of companies which depend upon reliable, large-scale computing operations.

For instance, all major IT giants, also as all the most important companies within
the world believe the facility of mainframe computers. Their application also extends to
the fields of drugs, e-commerce, banking, insurance, security, government operations,
U
also as ensuring that certain items, like utilities, function smoothly on an outsized scale.

Although minicomputers haven’t been ready to fight the emergence of cheaper and
more powerful technology, mainframes are far more impervious thereto, just because of
their sheep power, stability, and compatibility with all platforms. In fact, they’re not only
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ready to run the foremost complex and demanding applications which currently exist,
but also those which were written several years, or maybe decades ago.

Supercomputers
These are far and away the foremost powerful sort of computers currently in
use today. As against mainframes, whose performance is measured in MIPS (million
m

instructions per second), computing power of supercomputers is measured in FLOPS


(floating-point operations per second). The most important supercomputers within the
world can perform several quadrillions of FLOPS.

Supercomputers were introduced within the 1960s, with the name Cray being
)A

related to the bulk of supercomputers released at that point. Within the 1970s, the
facility of supercomputers was modest by today’s standards, as they only featured a
couple of processors.

A major incline in their performance happened during the 1990s, as


supercomputers featuring thousands of processors began to emerge. These days,
supercomputers those have tens of thousands “stock” microprocessors are considered
(c

standard. The foremost powerful supercomputer within the world is Tianhe-2, built by
China, and can perform up to 33.86 quadrillions of FLOPS.

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50 IT Applications in Business

Supercomputers are mostly introduced to perform extremely complex and


Notes computing-intense operations, like meteorology, all types of simulations and modeling,

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climate research, space and Earth exploration, analyzing the structure of nuclear bomb
detonation simulations, huge molecules, fluid dynamics, and cryptanalysis.

Summary
1. Although computing power are some things that’s relative and keeps on changing
over the course of your time, with microcomputers of today being equally powerful

rs
as supercomputers of tomorrow, classifying computers supported their size is
additionally done by their application also.
2. While minicomputers are mostly a thing of the past, the remaining three sorts of
computers are still going strong today.

ve
3. Tablet device kiosks are a versatile solution for several different applications, offering
the right blend of security and utility in high-traffic locations.
4. Interactive kiosks also are making their ways into gyms and leisure centers across
the country. Offering a fast thanks to pay or sign up for any service, like fitness
classes, pool entry, courts and anything that needs a ticket or session payment.

Check your understanding


1. ni
Which of the given computers can be operated with the touch of the fingers?
U
1. Tablets
2. Mainframe Computers
3. Desktop
4. Laptops
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5. None of the above


2. Which of the given computers is the most expensive?
1. Super
2. Mainframe
3. Mini
m

4. Micro
5. Desktop
3. Which is the most powerful type of computer?
)A

1. Mini
2. Micro
3. Mainframe
4. Supercomputer
5. Laptop
(c

4. Which of the given type of computers work on batteries?


1. Mainframe

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IT Applications in Business 51

2. Super
Notes

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3. Mini
4. Laptop
5. Desktop
5. What are the different types of computer?

References

rs
1. Computer Fundamentals: Concepts, Systems & Applications- 8th Edition by Periti
Sinha. BPB Publications; 6th edition (30 November 2004); BPB Publications
2. Computer Fundamentals, 1e by Goel. Pearson Education India; First edition (1
January 2010)

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ni
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m
)A
(c

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52 IT Applications in Business

Unit-1.4: Software
Notes

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Objectives:
If you do well in this chapter, you should be able to:

●● Distinguish between Operating Systems software and Application Systems


software.

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●● Describe commonly used operating systems.
●● Identify the primary functions of an Operating System.
●● Describe the “boot” process.

ve
●● Identify Desktop and Windows features.
●● Use Utility programs.
●● Discuss the pros and cons of the three major operating systems.

1.4.1. Support Systems - Hardware and Software

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Introduction
Software and Hardware support is significant to a business’s IT. It works to make
sure smooth, trouble-free operations. Additionally, to driver, software, and firmware
updates, software and hardware can fail, requiring troubleshooting and repairs.
m

Program
A program is defined a set of instructions for solving a specific problem. Using
programs, a person can use the basic hardware components like CPU, Memory etc.
)A

Software
Software is nothing but a set of programs. Computer software is further divided into
two broad categories: 1) System software and 2) Application software. System software
directs the computer’s hardware resources. It provides the interface between the
hardware and the users to use the hardware. Application software, on the other hand, is
(c

directly accountable for helping users solve their problems.

A variety of types of software are as shown in the below diagram:

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IT Applications in Business 53

Notes

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System Software: This contains programs those manage the hardware resources
of a computer and perform required information processing tasks. These programs may
be divided into three classes: 1) Operating System, 2) System Support and 3) System
Development.

1)

ni
Operating System/OS: OS provides the interface between the application
software/user and hardware. The primary purpose of this software is to keep
the system operating in well-organized manner while allowing the users access
to the system. Examples: Vista, Windows XP, Seven, UNIX, Linux, MAC OSX,
MAC Lion etc.
U
2) System Support: Utilities and other operating services to work with hardware
are provided by system support. This software comes along with the OS.
Examples: Sort programs, Disk format software, etc.
3) System Development: This consists of various programs that help the
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developers to create application software. Examples: Interpreters, Compilers,


Linkers, Debuggers, etc.

Application Software:
For various purposes this software is used where it allows the users to use the
computer. Application software is divided into two classes: 1) General purpose software
m

and 2) Application specific software.

1) Application Specific Software: This software is used only for a definite


purpose. Example: Turbo C Complier, Tally, etc.
)A

The relationship between hardware, system software and application software


are as shown in the below diagram:
(c

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54 IT Applications in Business

Notes

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2) General Purpose Software: This software can be used for multiple purposes.
Examples: Photoshop, Microsoft Office Suite, Visual Studio etc.

Software Support
Software support services are required because software developers regularly

ni
update their applications by issuing security patches and software updates. ‘Patches’
and ‘updates’ are small programs that patch known software vulnerabilities, determining
recently discovered conflicts with other programs or devices, or add new features to the
software. Software must be kept updated with the newest patches and updates to solve
U
existing problems and avoid others.

While keeping software updated usually sounds good in theory, however,


frequently fails in practice. All your computers can have dozens of applications installed
thereon. Keeping a whole network updated on your own becomes an enormous task
that’s often neglected.
ity

Software support services are normally technical support or break/fix services


that are offered for specific software products. These services include revenue
derived from long-term technical-support contracts or pay-as-you-go, incident-based
support. Software support services usually include remote troubleshooting capabilities,
installation assistance and basic usability assistance. Remote troubleshooting functions
m

is also delivered using phone and on-line conversation media or without human help
through automatic way reside on the buyer’s device or are available on the on-line.

Software support products and services might come with new product set up
services and products, installation of product updates, migrations for major releases
)A

of software, different forms of proactive or reactive on-site products and services and
strengthen for custom software or infrastructure instrument. Services are also delivered
by a product supplier, a consulting company or third-party device maintainers.

Software merchandise and applied sciences lined below this class come
with commercial and customized working programs, utility tool, and infrastructure
instrument. Software toughens services and products do not include software license
(c

code updates and upgrades, which distributors continuously document as software


maintenance.

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IT Applications in Business 55

Software requiring regular support includes:


Notes

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●● Web browsers
●● Email servers and clients
●● Business productivity software
●● Propriety software
●● Accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation software

rs
●● Content management software
●● Graphic design software
●● Computer security software
Software support usually extends to troubleshooting file corruption, software

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conflicts, and errors. Software maintenance and support services take in long-term and
pay-as-you-go (incident-based) support contracts. Software support contracts consist
of remote troubleshooting and support provided via the phone and online channels,
also as installation assistance and basic usability assistance. In some cases, software
support services may include installation of product updates, new product installation
services, migrations for major releases of software and other sorts of proactive or

ni
reactive on-site services. Software products and technologies enclosed under this
category include OS and infrastructure software. Software support services don’t
include the acquirement of subscriptions those provide claim and rights to use future
minor versions (point releases) or future major releases of software.
U
Hardware Support
Not only must your software and applications be updated, but your hardware such
as memory chips, hard disks and motherboards must also receive consistent updates
and hardware support. Like software updates, hardware updates are known to patch
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identified vulnerabilities, resolve conflicts with other devices, and add new features.
Keeping your hardware and devices patched with the newest updates can explain and
stop issues and add new features. Updating hardware and devices is complicated than
updating software. Most updates are particular to the device and the OS. Choosing
the wrong updated might be devastating. Managing your hardware support, yourself is
often unapproachable, hard, and dangerous if you’re doing by not understanding what
m

you are doing.

In addition to basic maintenance, hardware support services focus on hardware


failures. Whether you’ve got a failing hard disc array, a server that keeps rolling credit
to memory issues, or devices that do not work, hardware support team is required to
)A

assist. Many issues are often resolved remotely while others may have need of onsite
support. Either way, timely repairs are one amongst our top priorities.

Maintenance services comprise both hardware maintenance and support services,


and network software maintenance and support services.

Hardware maintenance and support services are precautionary and remedial


(c

services that physically repair or optimize hardware, including contract maintenance and
per-incident repair. Hardware support also comprises support for setup and online and
telephone technical troubleshooting and one fee-based hardware warranty upgrades.

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56 IT Applications in Business

Sales of all parts also are inclusive, exclusive of parts bundled with maintenance
Notes contracts. This segment includes only external customer expenses over these services.

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Hardware and peripherals of all types include:
●● Memory chips
●● Motherboards / CPUs
●● Sound cards

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●● Graphics cards
●● Power supplies
●● Webcams
●● Speakers

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●● Data ports
●● Network adapters
●● Hard disks and arrays
●● Optical drives
●●
●●
●●
Monitors

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Keyboards and pointing devices
Printers and scanners
U
Summary
●● System software has two key components: (1) the OS and (2) system utilities for
several maintenance functions.
●● It becomes almost impossible for the computer to work without software—the
set of instructions that instruct the computer what to do—a computer is just a
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collection of wires and components.


●● The OS synchronizes a range of functions of the computer’s hardware and
provides support for running application software.
●● An OS is considered as an intersection of application software between the user,
and the computer’s hardware.
m

●● The basic functions of OS are running applications, starting the computer,


managing memory, and managing internal messages from input and output
devices, and serves as communication means with the user.
)A

Check your understanding


Answer the following Questions-

1) What are the important categories of software?


2) What is the main difference between a computer program and computer software?
3) Describe the software development process in brief
(c

4) What is verification and validation?


5) What is computer software?

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IT Applications in Business 57

6) What are software requirements?


Notes

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References
1. Mahbouba Gharbi. Software Architecture Fundamentals: A Study Guide for the
Certified Professional for Software Architecture(r) - Foundation Level - Isaqb
Compliant. 2019. Rocky Nook Publishers.
2. Reema Thareja. Fundamentals of Computers. Oxford University Press; Second

rs
edition (1 May 2019)

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ni
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ity
m
)A
(c

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58 IT Applications in Business

Unit-1.5: Computer Peripherals


Notes

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Objectives:
If you do well in this chapter, you should be able to:

●● Indicate the names and functions of hardware ports and the parts of the
motherboard.

rs
●● Identify the names and distinguishing features of different kinds of input and output
devices.
●● Describe how the CPU processes data and instructions and controls the operation
of all other devices.

ve
●● Identify the names, distinguishing features, and units for measuring different kinds
of memory and storage devices.
●● Search your personal computer for the various hardware components it contains.

1.5.1. Computer Peripherals

Introduction

What is Peripheral Device?


ni
U
Definition- A peripheral device, also sometimes called an ‘auxiliary device’, is any
associated device (internal or external) that provides a computer with extra functionality.

Peripheral devices fall into three main categories:

●● Input devices - send data to the computer.


ity

●● Output devices - receive data from the computer.


●● Input/output devices – Also known as storage devices.

Peripheral devices include -


1. Mouse
m

2. Keyboard
3. Webcam
4. Microphone
)A

5. Monitor
6. Speakers
7. Projector
8. Printer
9. USB Flash Drive
(c

10. External Hard Drive

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IT Applications in Business 59

1. Mouse
Notes

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A mouse is a data input device that permits you to use point-and-click technology
to interact with a computer. Modern mouse generally has two buttons with a scroll
wheel between them. This device was named a “mouse” as the inventors thought that
the wire to connect the device to the computer look like a mouse tail. Nowadays, mouse
often connect to the computer using wireless technology.

rs
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Figure- Mouse (Source https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m190-wireless-
mouse.910-005900.html)

2. Keyboard

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Keyboards are the most familiar input device. The user enters numbers, letters,
and other symbols to provide computer data and instruction. Typing is the term used to
enter a lot of information using a keyboard. The keyboard functions through mechanical
switches or push buttons known as keys which, when pressed, pass a signal to the
computer. In the past, keyboards were connected to the computer via a DIN connector,
U
but recently they are often connected via a USB port or be wireless.
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3. Webcam
These input devices are video cameras those connect to a computer. Webcams
could be external or built in. They are most often used to facilitate people to see each
other while conversing over the internet, or making other videos, or for recording video
m

blogs, etc. Like webcams, they are also being built into mobile phones. Webcam was
first developed in 1991 at the University of Cambridge. It was focused at a ‘coffee pot’
so that researchers across the Computer Science Department could notice if it was full
before they got up from their desks.
)A
(c

Figure- Webcam (Source- https://www.logitech.com/en-in/product/hd-pro-


webcam-c920)

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60 IT Applications in Business

4. Microphone
Notes

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Microphones are “audio input devices”. The microphone supplies a sound signal to
the computer, where it can be recorded or streamed across the internet. Microphones
are frequently built into webcams in laptops, and mobile phones these days. The
earliest microphones were nothing but ‘telephone transmitters’ invented in the second
half of the nineteenth century. Various designs were developed, but the first to have
realistic sound quality were (loose-contact) carbon microphones which were developed

rs
autonomously by David Edward Hughes in England, Thomas Edison, and Emile
Berliner in US.

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Figure- Microphone
(Source: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Flexible-USB-Microphone-Mic-for-Mac-
MacBook-Air-PC-Skype-MSN-Desktop-Laptop-/302182582145)

5. Monitor
ni
The most general output device, monitors allow users to interact with a computer
more easily. The monitor basically exhibits a signal sent by the computer in a visual
U
format. Monitors look like televisions in outward appearance, but normally have a
superior display resolution than televisions, facilitating greater visual detail, plus they
lack a tuner to change channels. Like televisions, modern computer monitors use flat
screen technology and are cheaper in price in recent years.
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m

Figure: Monitor
(Source: https://www.samsung.com/in/monitors/flat/led-sf350-27-inch-ls27f350fhwxxl/)

6. Speakers
)A

A computer speaker is one more common output device. They usually are available
in pairs to supply stereo sound and sometimes with a subwoofer unit too to reinforce
bass frequency. Computer speakers usually have in-built amplifiers and thus require a
power supply from the batteries, mains, or via a USB port. Within the past, speakers
normally received their audio signal via a 3.5 mm jack plug, but it’s increasingly
common nowadays for computer speakers to be wireless and use Bluetooth
(c

technology. Altec Lansing claim to have produced the 1st commercially available
computer speakers in 1990.

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Notes

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Figure- Speakers
(Source- https://www.logitech.com/en-ca/product/s150-usb-stereo-speakers)

7. Projector

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Projectors are optical output devices that enable a roomful of individuals to discover
visuals generated by one computer. As their name suggests, projector “projects” a still
or moving images onto a blank wall or screen or another surface. Digital projectors first
came onto the market within the early 2000’s and have now almost completely replaced
older, pre-digital models. They typically used for watching movies, presentations, or as an
equipment, and typically connected with the pc via the HDMI port.

ni
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Figure- Projector
(Source- https://www.viewsonic.com/in/products/projectors/PA503XP.php?app=1)
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8. Printer
Printers are another common sort of output device. There are developed to
generate hard copies of electronic data stored on a computer, most frequently images
or text onto paper. The 1st electronic printer to be invented was the EP-101, released
by the Japanese company Epson in 1968. Laser and Inkjet printers are two of the
m

foremost common sorts of printer found today, with modern printers connecting to the
pc via the USB port or WI-FI. The increases of other technologies like data storage
devices and email have fairly diminished the importance of printers in recent years.
)A

Figure- Printer
(Source- https://store.hp.com/in-en/default/hp-laserjet-pro-p1108-printer-ce655a.html)
(c

9. USB Flash Drive


Also called a gig stick, thumb drive, pen drive, flash stick, USB stick, jump drive,

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62 IT Applications in Business

memory stick, flash-drive, or USB memory, the USB flash drive is a data memory
Notes device that consists of non-volatile storage with an integrated USB interface. Small

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and lightweight, USB storage drives are usually removable and rewritable. Since their
appearance within the year 2000, these storage devices have gradually increased
their storage capacity, while falling in price. They commonly used for transporting and
transferring information and are durable, because of a scarcity of moving parts.

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Figure- USB Flash Drive (Source - https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/usb-flash-
drives/sandisk-cruzer-blade-usb-2-0)

10. External disk drive

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External hard drives are input/output storage devices that sometimes connect
with a PC via USB. They hold relatively large amounts of data and plug and play drive
functionality enables them to be easily used with a reach of various computers. There
are two categories of external hard drives: desktop and portable. Portable external drives
are more compact, usually powered by USB and designed for transportation, whereas the
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desktop version is in general larger and requires external power ports for power.
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Figure: External disk drive


(Source- https://www.freevector.com/external-hard-disk-vector-27361)

Few other Peripheral device include


m

Pointing Devices
Pointing devices interpret gestures, taps, and drawing enters, both through wi-
fi or stressed out interfaces. From clicking on a menu with a mouse or trackball, to
tapping on a touchpad or contact screen, or drawing on a graphics tablet, these devices
)A

instigate instructions and help retouch photographs, create illustrations and simulate
the behavior of other devices, together with paintbrushes and airbrushes. CAD pucks
enable you decide actual points of reference on a plan or 3-D rendering. Recreationally
speaking, the planet of computer games is dependent upon devices that translate 3-D
gestures, race observe, combat scene or together with joysticks, recreation pads and
using simulators.
(c

MIDI Devices
Keyboards, synthesizers, and different musical technologies provide pc input
inside such MIDI data. The device Digital Interface specification contains three kinds
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IT Applications in Business 63

of information pathways, gained, and transmitted through MIDI IN, MIDI OUT and MIDI
THRU ports. Instruments connect with a MIDI IN jack on a computer interface, which Notes

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plugs in to a USB or other standard information port. Instruments attach into collection
of chained devices by means of their MIDI THRU a jack, which allows the output of one
piece of hardware to control or affect the conduct of any other.

Specialized Hardware

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From checking out and diagnostic apparatus, laboratory size devices and
manufacturing hardware to assistive era that creates computers obtainable to persons
with disabilities, specialized input hardware unravel similarly specialized issues or
overcomes explicit challenges. Alongside gadgets designed for scientific, scientific,
engineering and production use, these special-purpose input gadgets include gestural

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hardware that translates 3-dimensional movement of the hands or body into persona
movement for animation or provides a replacement for standard pointing devices.

Summary
●● Peripheral devices fall into three main categories: Input devices - send data to

ni
the computer. Examples- Keyboard, Mouse, etc. 2. Output devices - receive data
from the computer. Example- Printers, Monitors, etc. 3. Input/output devices – Also
known as storage devices. Example -flash drive, USB sticks, etc.
●● Peripherals are devices used to enter information into or receive information out of
U
a computer.
●● Several new devices such as smart phones, digital watches and tablet computers
have interfaces those allow them to be used as a peripheral by a computer,
although they are not host-dependent.
●● According to the most technical definition, there are only few parts of a computer
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not considered to be peripherals such as power supply, CPU, motherboard, and


computer case.

Check your Understanding

MCQ
m

1. I am an input device which allows a user to transmit letters, numbers, and symbols.
A) Camera
B) Mouse
)A

C) Keyboard
D) Printer
2. I am a storage device which stores many files, photos, and videos.
A) USB Drive
B) Monitor
(c

C) Keyboard
D) Speakers

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64 IT Applications in Business

3. I am an output device that allows a user to have a paper copy of what is on the
Notes screen.

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A) Printer
B) Monitor
C) Keyboard
D) Game Controller

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4. A monitor is...
A) An input device that shows images what it is happening in the computer.
B) An output device that shows images of what is happening in the computer.

ve
C) A computer.
D) A storage device.
5. What data does a webcam transmit into a computer?
A) Pictures/Videos

ni
B) Sound
C) Letters and numbers
D) Clicks and movement
U
Skills Practiced
●● Reading comprehension - ensure that you draw the most important
information from the related computer science lesson
●● Information recall - access the knowledge you’ve gained regarding the types
of peripheral devices
ity

●● Knowledge application - use your knowledge to answer questions about


how much a computer relies on peripherals

References-
1. Laplante, Philip A. (Dec 21, 2000). Dictionary of Computer Science, Engineering
m

and Technology. CRC Press. p. 366. ISBN 0-8493-2691-5.


2. “Output device”. A Dictionary of Computing. Oxford University Press. 2008.
Retrieved 3 June 2012
3. Lemley, Linda. “Chapter 6: Output”. Discovering Computers. University of West
)A

Florida. Retrieved 3 June 2012


(c

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Unit-1.6: Memory
Notes

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Objectives:
After completing this section, you should be able to:

●● Describe the different strategies employed by operating systems to manage the


sharing and allocation of memory among several processes, including paging,

rs
segmentation, and segmentation with paging.
●● List the memory-management algorithms discussed in the text, explain the key
ideas behind their operation, and describe their advantages, limitations, resource
overhead, and hardware requirements.

ve
●● Describe how an operating system may implement shared memory.
●● Describe address binding at compile, load, and execution time.

1.6.1. Memory Management

ni
Introduction
Memory management is that the functionality of an OS which handles or manages
primary memory and moves processes back and forth between main memory and
disk during execution. Memory management keeps track of each memory location,
U
no matter either it’s allocated to some process or it’s free. It ensures what proportion
memory is to be allocated to processes. It chooses on which process will get memory
at what time. It follows and tracks whenever some memory gets free or unallocated and
correspondingly it updates the status.

Basic concepts associated to Memory Management:


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Process Address Space


The process address space is defined as set of logical addresses that a process
references in its code. For instance, when 32-bit addressing is in use, addresses can
range from 0 to 0x7fffffff; that is, 2^31 possible numbers, for a complete theoretical size
of two gigabytes.
m

The OS takes care of mapping the logical addresses to physical addresses at the
time of memory allocation to the program. There are three categories of addresses
used in a program before and after memory is allocated −
)A

S.N. Memory Addresses & Description


1 Symbolic addresses
The addresses used for source code. The variable constants, names, and
instruction labels are the basic elements of the symbolic address space.
2 Relative addresses
At the time of compilation, a compiler alters symbolic addresses into relative
(c

addresses.
3 Physical addresses
The loader creates these addresses at the time when a program is loaded into
main memory.
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66 IT Applications in Business

Virtual and physical addresses are similar in compile-time and load-time address-
Notes binding schemes. Virtual and physical addresses vary in execution-time address-

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binding scheme.

The set of all logical addresses created by a program is referred to as a logical


address space. The set of all physical addresses related to these logical addresses is
known as a physical address space.

The runtime mapping from virtual to physical address is accomplished by the

rs
memory management unit (MMU), a hardware device. MMU make use of the following
method to convert virtual address to physical address.

●● The value in the base register is supplementary to every address generated


by a user process, which is treated as offset at the time it is sent to memory.

ve
For instance, if the base register value is 10000, then an attempt by the user
to use address location 100 will be dynamically reallocated to location 10100.
●● The user program by no means sees the real physical addresses as it deals
with virtual addresses.

Static vs. Dynamic Loading

ni
The choice among Static or Dynamic Loading is made when the computer program
developed. If you load the program statically, then at the time of compilation, the complete
programs will be assembled and linked without separating any external program or
module dependency. The linker merges the object program with other necessary object
U
modules into an absolute program, which also contains logical addresses.

When writing a dynamically loaded program, compiler will compile the program and
for all the modules which may include dynamically, only references will be provided and
rest of the work would be completed at the time of execution.
ity

The absolute program (and data) is loaded into memory to start at the time of
loading, with static loading.

Dynamic routines of the library are stored on a disk in reloadable form when using
dynamic loading and are loaded into memory only when they are needed by the program.
m

Static vs. Dynamic Linking


As elucidated above, when static linking is used, the linker merges all other
modules wanted by means of a program into a single executable program to avoid any
runtime dependency.
)A

It is not required to link the real module or library with the program when dynamic
linking is used; fairly a connection with the dynamic module is presented at the time of
compilation and linking. Good examples of dynamic libraries are Dynamic Link Libraries
(DLL) in Windows and Shared Objects in UNIX.

Swapping
(c

Swapping is mechanisms that can be swapped temporarily out of primary memory


(or move) to secondary storage (disk) and make that memory available to different
processes. The system swaps back the process from the secondary garage to major
reminiscence at some later time.
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The explanation why Swapping is also known as one way for reminiscence
compaction is as even if efficiency is normally affected by swapping procedure, it is Notes

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helping in operating multiple and massive processes in parallel.

rs
ve
ni
The total time taken by swapping process is both the time it takes to move the
entire process to a secondary disk and then to copy the process back to memory, as
well as the time the process takes to regain main memory.
U
For example, if the user process is of size 2048KB and on a standard hard disk
where swapping will take place has a data transfer rate around 1 MB per second. Then
the actual transfer of the 1000K process to or from memory will take

2048KB / 1024KB per second


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= 2 seconds

= 2000 milliseconds

Now taking into consideration in and out time, it will take 4000 milliseconds plus
other overhead where the process contends to regain main memory.

Memory Allocation
m

Main memory generally has two partitions −

●● Low Memory − OS resides in this memory.


●● High Memory − User processes are seized in high memory.
)A

OS uses the following memory distribution mechanism.

S.N. Memory Allocation & Description


1 Single-partition allocation
In this type of allocation, relocation-register scheme is used to protect user
processes from each other, and from changing operating-system code and data.
(c

Relocation register contains value of smallest physical address whereas limit


register contains range of logical addresses. Each logical address must be less
than the limit register.

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68 IT Applications in Business

2 Multiple-partition allocation
Notes

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In this type of allocation, main memory is divided into a number of fixed-sized
partitions where each partition should contain only one process. When a partition
is free, a process is selected from the input queue and is loaded into the free
partition. When the process terminates, the partition becomes available for
another process.

rs
Fragmentation
The free memory space is broken into little pieces as processes are loaded and
removed from memory. It usually happens a few times when processes cannot be
allocated to memory blocks considering their small size and memory blocks remains

ve
unused. This kind of problem is known as “Fragmentation”.

Fragmentation is of two types –

S.N. Fragmentation & Description


1. External fragmentation

ni
Total memory space is enough to satisfy a request or to reside a process in it,
but it is not contiguous, so it cannot be used.
2 Internal fragmentation
Memory block assigned to process is bigger. Some portion of memory is left
unused, as it cannot be used by another process.
U
The following diagram shows how fragmentation can cause waste of memory and
a compaction technique can be used to create more free memory out of fragmented
memory −
ity
m
)A

External fragmentation can be reduced by compression/compaction or shuffle


memory contents to place all the free memory together in one single large block.
Relocation should be dynamic to make compaction feasible.

The internal fragmentation could be reduced by efficiently assigning the negligible


partition but large enough for the process.
(c

Paging
A computer can tackle more memory than the amount physically installed on the

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system. This extra memory is referred as virtual memory and it is a section of a hard
disk that’s set up to emulate the computer’s RAM. Paging method plays a significant Notes

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role in implementing virtual memory.

Paging is a “memory management technique” where in the process address space


is broken into blocks of the same size called pages (size is power of 2, between 512
bytes and 8192 bytes). The size of the process is measured via number of pages.

Similarly, main memory is divided into several small fixed-sized blocks of (physical)

rs
memory called frames and this size of a frame is maintained same as that of a page to
have best possible utilization of the main memory and to avoid external fragmentation.

ve
ni
U
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Address Translation
Page address is known as logical address and is characterized by page number
m

and the offset.

“Logical Address = Page number + page offset”

Frame address is known as physical address and is characterized by a frame


number and the offset.
)A

“Physical Address = Frame number + page offset”

To keep a track of the relation between a page of a process to a frame in physical


memory, a data structure called page map table is used.
(c

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70 IT Applications in Business

Notes

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rs
ve
It translates this logical address into a physical address when the system allocates
a frame to any page and creates entry into the page table to be used all through the
execution of the program.

ni
Its resultant pages are loaded into a few accessible memory frames when a
process is to be executed. For example, if there is a program of 8Kb and your memory
can accommodate only 5Kb at a given point in time, the paging concept is applied.
When a computer runs out of RAM, the OS will move idle or unwanted pages of
memory to secondary memory to empty RAM for other processes and later brings them
U
back its needed by the program.

This process continues during the whole execution of the program where the OS
keeps removing idle pages from the main memory and write them onto the secondary
memory and bring them back when required by the program.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Paging


Here is a list of advantages and disadvantages of paging −

●● Paging reduces external fragmentation, but still experience on or after internal


fragmentation.
m

●● Paging is easy to execute and assumed as a resourceful memory


management technique.
●● Swapping becomes very easy due to equal size of the pages and frames.
●● It may not be good for a system having small RAM as Page table requires
)A

extra memory space.

Segmentation
Segmentation is a memory management procedure in which each work is divided
into quite a few segments of different sizes, one for each module that contains pieces
that perform related functions. Each segment is a different logical address space of the
program.
(c

Its corresponding segmentation is loaded into non-contiguous memory although


every segment is loaded into a contiguous block of available memory when a process
needs to be executed.
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IT Applications in Business 71

Segmentation memory management works very much related to paging but here
segments are of variable-length whereas paging pages are of fixed size. Notes

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A program segment consists of the program’s main function, data structures, utility
functions, and so on. The OS upholds a segment map table for every process and a
list of free memory blocks along with segment numbers, their size and corresponding
memory locations in main memory. The table stores the starting address of the segment
and the length of the segment for each segment. An indication to a memory location

rs
includes a value that detects a segment and an offset.

ve
ni
U
ity

Summary
●● Memory management is that the functionality of an OS which handles or manages
primary memory and moves processes back and forth between main memory and
disk during execution.
m

●● The OS takes care of mapping the logical addresses to physical addresses at the
time of memory allocation to the program.
●● The choice among Static or Dynamic Loading is made when the computer
program developed.
)A

●● The system swaps back the procedure from the secondary storage to main
memory at some later time.
●● The free memory space is broken into little pieces as processes are loaded and
removed from memory.
●● A computer can tackle more memory than the amount physically installed on the
system. This extra memory is referred as virtual memory and it is a section of a
(c

hard disk that’s set up to emulate the computer’s RAM.

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Check your Understanding


Notes

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1. CPU fetches the instruction from memory according to the value of:
A. program counter B. status register C. instruction register D. program status word
2. A memory buffer used to accommodate a speed differential is called:
A. stack pointer B. cache C. accumulator D. disk buffer
3. Which one of the following is the address generated by CPU?

rs
A. physical address B. absolute address C. logical address D. none of the mentioned
4. Run time mapping from virtual to physical address is done by:
A. memory management unit B. CPU C. PCI D. none of the mentioned

ve
5. Memory management technique in which system stores and retrieves data from
secondary storage for use in main memory is called:
A. fragmentation B. paging C. mapping D. none of the mentioned

References
1.

2. ni
Gibson Tang, Maxim Vasilkov. Objective C Memory Management Essentials.
2015. Packt Publishing
Hasso Plattner. A Course in In-Memory Data Management: The Inner Mechanics
of In-Memory Databases. 2013th Edition. Springer
U
ity
m
)A
(c

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IT Applications in Business 73

Module-II: Computer Networks and Internet


Notes
Technology

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Structure:

Unit-2.1: Introduction to Computer Networks


2.1.1 Introduction to Computer Networks

rs
2.1.2 Networking Components
2.1.3 Classification and Types of Networks

Unit-2.2: Network Topologies

ve
2.2.1 Network Topologies
2.2.2 Network Topologies-Overview with Advantages and Disadvantages
2.2.3 Communication Channels
2.2.4 Client Server Architecture
2.2.5 LAN Concepts

Unit-2.3: Introduction to Internet ni


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2.3.1 Introduction to Internet
2.3.2 Introduction to Internet-History, Concepts, & Myths
2.3.3 Difference between Internet, Intranet and Extranet
2.3.4 Domain Name Service
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2.3.5 Internet Protocols and Addressing


2.3.6 Services of Internet
2.3.7 Internet and Support Technologies
2.3.8 Censorship and Privacy issues
m
)A
(c

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74 IT Applications in Business

Unit-2.1: Computer Networks and Internet Technology


Notes

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Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

●● Describe a network
●● Describe reasons for using networks

rs
●● Identify advantages and disadvantages of networks
●● List the essential basic network components
●● Provide an overview of different communication media (wired/wireless)

ve
●● Describe different types of networks
●● Differentiate between client-server and peer-to-peer networks
●● Explain the reasons for logging into a network and connecting to a server.

Introduction

ni
Networking or computer networking is the practice of exchanging and transporting
data between nodes over a shared medium in an information system. Networking
comprises not only the design, construction and use of a network, maintenance,
and operation of the network infrastructure, but also the management, software, and
U
policies.

Computer networking facilitates devices and endpoints to be linked to each other


on a local area network (LAN) or to a larger network like the internet or a private wide
area network (WAN). This is an important purpose for service providers, businesses,
ity

and consumers worldwide to use or share resources, offer services, and communicate.
Networking makes possible everything from telephone calls to streaming video to text
messaging to the internet of things (IoT).

The level of skill necessary to operate a network is directly correlated to the


complexity of a given network. For instance, a large enterprise may have thousands
of nodes and precise security requirements, such as end-to-end encryption, requiring
m

expert network administrators to oversee the network.

At the further end of the spectrum, a layman may set up and execute basic
troubleshooting for a home Wi-Fi network with a short instruction manual. Both
examples compose computer networking.
)A

Types of networking
There are two main types of computer networking: wired and wireless networking.

For transport between nodes, wired networking requires the use of a physical
medium. Commonly used for digital communications in businesses and homes is
Copper-based Ethernet cabling, which is popular due to its low cost and durability. On
(c

the other hand, optical fiber which has several tradeoffs, including higher costs and
more fragile components is used to transport data over greater distances and at faster
speeds.

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To enable devices to be connected to a network without any cabling wireless


networking uses radio waves to transport data over the air. Wireless LANs are the most Notes

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renowned and widely installed form of wireless networking. Options include satellite,
microwave, cellular and Bluetooth, among others.

Wired networking bids greater reliability, speed and security compared to wireless
networks. Wireless networking also tends to offer more mobility, flexibility, and scalability.

It is prominent that these types of networking apprehend the physical layer of the

rs
network. Based on how it’s built and designed, encompassing approaches that include
software-defined networking (SDN) or overlay networks, networking could also be
classified. Another way networking could be categorized is by environment and scale,
such as campus, LAN, WAN, storage area networks or data center networks.

ve
Components of networking
Computer networking requires the utilization of physical network infrastructure --
including switches, routers, and wireless access points -- and therefore the underlying
firmware that operates such equipment. Other components include the software
necessary to watch, manage and secure the network. Additionally, networks believe the

ni
utilization of ordinary protocols to uniformly perform discrete functions or communicate
differing types of knowledge, no matter the underlying hardware.

For instance, voice over IP (VoIP) can bring IP telephony traffic to any endpoint
that maintains the protocol. HTTP provides a standard way for browsers to display
U
webpages. The web protocol suite, also referred to as TCP/IP, may be a family of
protocols liable for transporting data and services over an IP-based network.

Introduction to Computer Networks


Modern world scenario is ever changing. Network and Data communication have
ity

changed the way business and other daily business works. Now, they highly believe
computer networks and internetwork.

A set of devices often mentioned as nodes connected by media link is named a


Network.

Nodes are often a tool which can send or receiving data generated by other nodes
m

on the network sort of a computer, printer etc. The devices connected to the links are
called Communication channels.

Computer network may be a telecommunication channel using which we will share


data with other computers or devices, connected to an equivalent network. It’s also
)A

called Data Network. The simplest example of network is Internet.

Computer network doesn’t mean a system with one Control Unit connected to
multiple other systems as its slave. That’s distributed system, not network.

A network must be ready to meet certain criteria’s, these are mentioned below:

●● Performance
(c

●● Scalability
●● Reliability

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76 IT Applications in Business

Computer Networks: Performance


Notes

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It can be measured in the following ways:

●● Transit time: It is defined as the time taken to travel a message from one
device to another.
●● Response time: It is defined as the time completed between enquiry and
response.

rs
Other ways to measure performance are:

●● Efficiency of software
●● Capability of connected hardware
●● Number of users

ve
Computer Networks: Reliability
This factor decides the frequency at which network failure takes place. Less is the
network’s reliability means more are the failures.

Computer Networks: Security

ni
Protection of data from any unauthorized user or access is security. While travelling
through network, data passes many levels of network, and data can be traced if
attempted. Hence security is an important characteristic for Networks.
U
Properties of a Good Network
Interpersonal Communication: We communicate with one another simply
and efficiently. Example: chat rooms, emails, video conferencing etc., all of those are
possible due to computer networks.
ity

Resources are often shared: we will share physical resources by making them
available on a network like printers, scanners etc.

Sharing files, data: Authorized users are permitted to share the files on the network.

Uses of Computer Networks


m

Had it not been of high importance, nobody would have bothered connecting
computers over a network. Let’s start exploring the uses of Computer Networks with
some traditional use cases at companies and for people then advance to the recent
developments within the area of mobile users and residential networking.
)A

Computer Networks: Business Applications


Following are some business applications of computer networks:

1. Resource Sharing:
The goal is to form all programs, equipment’s (like printers etc.), and particularly
data, available to anyone on the network without reference to the physical location of
(c

the resource and therefore the user.

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IT Applications in Business 77

2. Server-Client model:
Notes

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One can imagine a company’s data system as consisting of 1 or more databases
and a few employees who got to access it remotely. During this model, the info is stored
on powerful computers called Servers. Often these are centrally housed and maintained
by a supervisor. In contrast, the workers have simple machines, called Clients, on their
desks, using which they access remote data.

3. Communication Medium:

rs
A network can provide a strong communication medium among employees.
Virtually every company that has two or more computers now has e-mail (electronic
mail), which employees generally use for an excellent deal of daily communication

ve
4. eCommerce:
A goal that’s beginning to become more important in businesses is doing business
with consumers over the web. Bookstores, Airlines, and music vendors have discovered
that a lot of customers just like the convenience of shopping from home. This sector is
predicted to grow quickly within the future.

The most popular forms are listed in the below figure:

Tag and Full Name


B2C-Business-to-Consumer
ni
Example
Ordering books on-line
U
B2B Business-to-Business Car manufacturer ordering tires from supplier
C2C - Consumer-to-Consumer Auctioning second-hand products on line
G2C-Government-to-Consumer Government distributing tax forms electronically
P2P-Peer-to-Peer File sharing
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Computer Networks: Home Applications


For home users most important uses of the Internet are as follows:

●● Person-to-person communication
●● Access to remote information
m

●● Electronic commerce
●● Interactive entertainment

Computer Networks: Mobile Users


)A

Mobile computers, such as and Mobile phones, notebook computers are one of the
fastest-growing segments of the entire computer industry. Although wireless networking
and mobile computing are often related, they are not identical, as the below figure shows.

Wireless Mobile Applications


No No Desktop computers in offices
No Yes A notebook computer used in a hotel room
(c

Yes No Networks in older, unwired buildings


Yes Yes Portable office; PDA for store inventory

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78 IT Applications in Business

2.1.1. Introduction to Computer Networks


Notes

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A computer network is a collection of devices associated with each other through
a transmission medium such as cables, wires, etc. These devices can be printers,
computers, Fax machines, scanners, etc.

The point of having computer network is to send and receive data stored in other
devices over the network. These devices are often termed as nodes.

rs
There are five basic components of a computer network

Message: It is the information or data that requires to be transferred from one


device to another device over a computer network.

Sender: Sender is the device that has the data and requires transferring the data

ve
to another device connected to the network.

ni
U
Receiver: A receiver is the device that looks forward to receiving the data from
other device on the network.

Transmission media: We need a transmission media such as cables, wires, radio


waves etc., in order to transfer data from one device to another device.
ity

Protocol: A protocol is a set of rules that are approved by both sender and
receiver, without a protocol two devices can be linked to each other, but they cannot
communicate. We need set of rules that are called protocol to build a consistent
communication or data sharing between two different devices. For instance, http and
https are the 2 protocols used by the web browsers to get and post the data to internet;
similarly, smtp is a protocol used by email services connected to the internet.
m
)A
(c

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IT Applications in Business 79

A network has following features:


Notes

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Performance: Performance of a network is measured in terms of reaction time.
The reaction time of sending and receiving data from one node (computer during a
network are often referred as node) to a different should be minimal.

Data Sharing: One among the reasons why we use a network is to share the info
between various systems connected with one another through a transmission media.

Backup: A network has a central server that maintains the backup of all the info

rs
that’s to be shared over a network in order that just in case of a failure it should be
ready to recover the info faster.

Software and hardware compatibility: A network must not limit all the computers
during a network to use same software and hardware; instead it should allow the higher

ve
compatibility between the various software and hardware configuration.

Reliability: There shouldn’t be any failure within the network or if it occurs the
recovery from a failure should be quick.

Security: A network should be secured in order that the info transmitting over

ni
a network should be safe from unofficial or unauthorized access. Also, the sent data
should be received when it is at the receiving node; this suggests there shouldn’t be
any loss of information during transmission.

Scalability: A network is supposed to be scalable which suggests it must allow


U
adding up new computers (or nodes) to the previously existing network. For instance,
a corporation runs 100 computers over a network for his or her 100 employees, let’s
imagine they hire another 100 employees and need to feature new 100 computers to
the already existing LAN then there in case the local area network should allow this.

Computer Network Architecture


ity

A Computer Architecture may be a design during which all computers during a


network are organized. Architecture defines how the computers should get connected
to urge the utmost advantages of a network like better reaction time, security, scalability
etc. The 2 most recent computer architectures are P2P (Peer to Peer) and Client-Server
architecture.
m

Peer to Peer Architecture


Within the network all the computers during a network relate to every computer.
Every computer within the network uses an equivalent resource as other computers.
)A

There’s no central computer that acts as a server rather all computers act as a server
for the info that’s stored in them.

Advantages of a Peer to Peer Architecture


1. Less expensive as there’s no central server that has got to take the backup.
2. Just in case of a computer failure all other computers within the network aren’t
(c

affected and that they will still work as same as before the failure.
3. Installation of peer to peer architecture is a bit easier as each computer manages
itself.

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Disadvantages of a P2P Architecture


Notes

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1. Each computer shall backup individually instead of a central computer and
therefore the security measures are supposed to be taken by all the computers
separately.
2. Scalability is a real problem during a P2P Architecture as connecting each
computer to each computer may be a headache on a very large network.

rs
Client Server Architecture

ve
ni
U
In Client Server architecture a central computer acts as a focal point and serves all
the requests from client computers. When a request is made by the client computer all
the shared data stored in the server computer is shared with the client computer.
ity

All the communication takes place through the server computer, for instance
if a client computer needs to share the data with other client computer then it has to
transfer the data to server first and then the server will send the data to other client.

Advantages of Client Server Architecture


m

1. Data backup is cost effective and easy as there is no requirement to manage


the backup on each computer.
2. Performance improves as the response time gets better because the server is
more powerful computer than the other computers in the network.
)A

3. Security is better as unauthorized accesses are left out by server computer and
all the data pass through the server.
4. Scalability is not an issue in this type of Architecture as large number of
computers could relate to server.

Disadvantages of Client Server Architecture


(c

1. Entire network is down in case of server failure.


2. As the server is the main component in this Architecture, its maintenance cost
is high
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IT Applications in Business 81

3. Another reason for the cost to be high is as the server needs more resources to
handle that many client requests and to uphold large amount of data. Notes

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Computer Network Components

Basic components of a computer network

rs
ve
over a computer network. ni
Server: Servers are a computer that runs OS and hold data that could be shared

Client: A client is a ‘computer’ which is connected to other computers in the


U
network and can receive data sent by other computers.

Transmission Media: Transmission media connects all computers in a computer


network relate to each other. Examples include wires, coaxial cables, optical fiber cables, etc.

Network Interface card: Every system or computer in a computer network must


ity

have network interface card (NIC). The main purpose of network interface card is to
format and send the data and receive the data at the receiving node.

Hub: It’s a device that connects the entire computer in a network to each other. Any
request that comes from a client computer is first received by Hub and then transmits this
request over a network so that the correct server receives and responds to it.
m

Switch: Switch uses the physical device address in the incoming request to
transfer the request to correct server computer. Rest of the function is like hub.

Router: Router joins several computer networks to each other. E.g.- let’s say a
company runs 100 computers over a local area network (LAN) and another company
)A

runs another LAN of 120 computers. These both LANs can relate to each other through
an internet connection which is provided by the router.

LAN cable- One computer or other devices such as printers and scanner are
connected to each other by LAN Cable.

Topology is the term used when Geometric representation of how the computers
(c

are connected to each other. There are 5 types of topology – Mesh, Star, Bus, Ring and
Hybrid.

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Types of Topology
Notes

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There are five types of topology in computer networks:

rs
ve
1. Mesh Topology
2. Star Topology
3. Bus Topology

ni
4. Ring Topology
5. Hybrid Topology

Mesh Topology
U
ity
m

In mesh topology the device is connected to each other on the network through a
dedicated point-to-point link. When we use the term dedicated means that the link only
carries data for the two connected devices only. E.g., Let’s say we have ‘n’ devices in
the network then each device must relate to ‘n-1’ devices of the network. Number of
)A

links in a mesh topology of ‘n’ devices would be n(n-1)/2.

Advantages of Mesh topology


1. Data traffic issues are minimal as there is a dedicated link between two devices
where the link is only available for those two devices.
2. Mesh topology is robust and reliable as breakdown of one link doesn’t affect
(c

other links and the communication between other devices on the network.
3. Mesh topology is very much secured as there is a point-to-point link unauthorized
access is not possible.

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4. Fault recognition is easy.


Notes

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Disadvantages of Mesh topology
1. Number of wires required to connect each system is huge, tedious and
headache.
2. As every device needs to relate to other devices, the number of I/O ports
required is also huge.

rs
3. This method is not scalable because a device cannot relate to large number of
devices with a dedicated point to point link.

Star Topology

ve
ni
U
In this type of topology each device in the network is connected to a central device
called hub. Unlike Mesh topology, this doesn’t allow direct communication between
devices as its mandatory to communicate through hub. If one device sends data to
other device, it must first pass the data to hub and then the hub transmits that data to
the designated device.
ity

Advantages of Star topology


1. It is less expensive as each device needs one I/O port only that relates to hub
with one link.
2. Easy to install
3. Fewer amounts of cables required as each device needs to be connected with
m

the hub only.


4. Robust, other links will work just fine even if one link fails.
5. Fault detection is quick as the link can be easily identified when there is a fault.
)A

Disadvantages of Star topology


1. None of the devices can work without hub, thus if hub goes down everything
goes down.
2. More resources and regular maintenance are required because it is the central
system of star topology.
(c

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Bus Topology
Notes

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rs
In bus topology all the devices are connected to a main cable through drop lines.
Tap device connects the drop line to the main cable. As all the data is transmitted over
the main cable, drop lines and the distance a main cable can have is limited

Advantages of bus topology

ve
1. Each cable is connected with backbone cable and thus could be easily installed.
2. Less cables required than other two topology such as Mesh and star topology

Disadvantages of bus topology

ni
1. Fault detection is difficult.
2. Scaling becomes difficult as there is a limit of how many nodes one can connect
with backbone cable.

Ring Topology
U
ity

In this each device is connected with the two devices on each side of it. There
m

are 2 dedicated point to point links a device has with the devices on each side of it.
This structure forms a ring thus the name ring topology. If a device needs to send data
to another device then it sends in one direction, each device in ring topology has a
repeater, if the received data is proposed for other device then repeater forwards this
)A

data until the proposed device receives it.

Advantages of Ring Topology


1. Easily installable.
2. Easy to manage as to add or remove a device from the topology only 2 links
need to be changed.
(c

Disadvantages of Ring Topology


1. A link failure can fail the entire network as the signal cannot pass due to failure.

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2. Since all the data is circulating in a ring data traffic issues may occur.
Notes

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Hybrid topology

rs
ve
A combination of 2 or more topology is known as hybrid topology. E.g., A
combination of star and mesh topology is hybrid topology.

Advantages of Hybrid topology


1. Choice is increased based on our concern E.g. If scalability is an issue, then we

ni
can use star topology instead of bus topology.
2. As we can reduce the difficulties of connect problems with other computer
networks, it becomes more reliable and scalable.

Disadvantages of Hybrid topology


U
1. Fault detection becomes difficult.
2. Installation is also difficult.
3. Maintenance becomes expensive as the design is complex.
ity

Types of Computer Network: LAN, MAN and WAN


A computer network is known as a group of computers connected to each other
through a transmission medium such as cable, wire etc.

Types of Computer Network


m
)A

There are 3 types of computer networks mainly based on their size:

1. Local Area Network (LAN)


2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
(c

3. Wide area network (WAN)

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1. Local Area Network (LAN)


Notes

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rs
●● LAN is a group of computers connected with each other in small places such
as hospital, school, apartment etc.
●● LAN is secure as there is no outside connection with the local area network

ve
thus the data shared is safe on the LAN and can’t be accessed outside.
●● Due to small size of LAN are considerably faster and their speed can range
anywhere from 100 to 100Mbps.
●● LANs are not restricted to wire connection; there is a new development to the
LANs that allows local area network to work on a wireless connection.

ni
2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
U
ity

MAN network covers larger area by connecting LANs to a larger network of


computers. In Metropolitan area network various LANs are connected with each other
via telephone lines. The size of the Metropolitan area network is smaller than WANs
(wide area networks) but larger than LANs. A MANs is capable to cover the larger area
of a city or town.
m

3. Wide area network (WAN)


)A
(c

WAN provides long distance transmission of data. The size of WAN is bigger than
LAN and MAN. A WAN is known to cover country, continent or even a whole world.
One best example for WAN is Internet connection. Other examples include mobile
broadband connections such as 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.

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Advantages of WAN:
Notes

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Centralized infrastructure: One of the main advantage of WAN is the that we do
not need to maintain the backup and store data on local system as everything is stored
online on a data center, from where we can access the data through WAN.

Privacy: We can setup the WAN where in it encrypts the data that we share online
and thus the data is secure and reduces the risk of unauthorized access.

Increased Bandwidth: With the WAN we may select the bandwidth based on the

rs
need. For example, a large organization can have larger bandwidth that can carry large
amount of data quicker and efficiently.

Area: Global diversity of WAN can cover even a whole world though internet
connection thus we can connect with the person in another country which is not

ve
possible is other type of computer networks.

Disadvantages of WAN:
Antivirus: Due to connectivity with large amount of systems, there is possibility
for unknowingly download the virus that becomes threat to our privacy and may lead to
data loss.

Expensive: Installation cost is very expensive.


ni
Issue resolution: Issue resolution takes time as the WAN covers large area,
U
it becomes hard to pinpoint the exact location where the issues were raised, and the
problem being caused.

Interconnection of Networks:
We have read MAN, LAN, and WAN above, we also talked about internet. You can
ity

say that an internet is a combination of MAN, LAN, and WAN.

Computer Network – Data and Signals in Physical layer


One of the main roles of Physical layer is to transmit the data in form of signals
through a transmission medium. It doesn’t matter what kind of data, it can be text,
image, audio, video etc. everything is transferred in form of signals. This happens
m

because information can’t be sent because it is over a transmission medium, it must be


converted to a form that’s acceptable by the transmission media, and signals are what a
transmission medium carry.

Analog and Digital- Both the data and the signal can be represented in form of
)A

analog and digital.

Analog and Digital Data:


Analog data is continuous data that keeps changing over time, e.g. In an analog
watch, the hour, minute and second hands keep moving so you assume the time by
looking at it, it keeps changing. Similarly, digital watch shows you distinct data such as
(c

12:20 AM, 5:30 PM etc. at a particular moment of time.

Analog and Digital Signals:


Like data, a signal can be analog or digital. An analog signal can have infinite
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88 IT Applications in Business

number of values in each range; similarly, a digital signal has inadequate number of
Notes values in each range. The following diagram shows analog and digital signals.

ity
rs
2.1.2. Networking components
In general, a computer network composed of one or more servers, network

ve
interface cards, workstations, active and passive hub, bridges, routers, gateways,
modem, software components like network OS, and other application software. The
following components extensively used for the construction of networks.

ni
U
ity

Computer Network Components


m

Figure- Diagram representing Computer Networking Components


(Source: https://i.ibb.co/KLTt5z3/diagram-of-network-components.png)

Server
)A

The most powerful computer within the network is server. In a LAN, usually,
a powerful microcomputer or an excellent microcomputer with the facility of a
minicomputer is employed as a server. There are 2 types of servers generally employed
in a LAN. They are 1. dedicated servers and 2. non-dedicated servers.

In a dedicated server, the server computers carry out the functions and services of
the entire network. It assists to run user applications proficiently and raises the overall
(c

system cost. Users cannot run their applications straight in a dedicated server. It gives
sharing of multiple hard disks, e-mail service, and sharing of other resources and faster
response time. For broader networks with a heavy load, dedicated servers generally
employed.
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In a non-dedicated server, a server also acts as an individual workstation apart


from the role of a network controller — the server equipped with an extraordinary Notes

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memory. Network operations require only a portion of server memory. The remaining
portion of the memory may utilize the user applications. Under light load conditions, it is
suggestible to use a non-dedicated server. Some servers can function on both modes,
according to the requirement of the user.

Network Hardware

rs
These are the devices used to interlink the components of the network, such as
the network cards, the cabling between servers and workstations, and the cables to
connect the peripherals.

ve
Resources to Share
There are resources of both Software and Hardware devices. The most common
hardware devices are drives, printers, hard drives, CD ROM drives, Pen drives,
External Hard Drives. Among the Software resources that are shared are files,
programs, applications, etc.

File Server

ni
The main goal of a computer network is to share data among numerous users.
They as well as make their attached disk drives, modems, printers, and unique
communication links accessible to the various client stations. Given that one computer
U
with one or more hard disks assists this. All client stations share data on these hard
disks. Clients make their requests to access any of the common facility to the server.
The file server is a potent computer, which runs special software. Files and other
shared resources to different users in the network are provided by file server. It offers
facilities like user security to various user programs, authentication, and data. Standard
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configurations of a server are Pentium 4 machine with 128MB or higher capacity RAM,
40 GB or higher capacity hard disk, to serve up to 10 nodes or workstations. It can
access through a network operating system (NOS).

All activities of a file server can be monitored and controlled from the monitor called
console. The network administrators gave special privileges. They gave supervisory
passwords. They perform the network administration operation for the entire network.
m

Any user of the network needs to get a new network service; they must contact the
network administrator and make a request for the specific service they need. The file
server has an extraordinary memory, which used for caching directories and files and
hashing directories. Novell Netware and Windows NT are the two network OS that run
)A

on a server machine.

Workstation
Another vital component of a network is the workstation or a client. A workstation
is an individual computer with abilities to communicate with other machines. It must be
provided with the software and hardware necessary to connect to a LAN. Generally, a
(c

Network Interface Card (NIC) or an Ethernet card or an Arc net card is employed for
this purpose. Part of the network OS is also available in the workstation. A workstation
can communicate with other workstations or to the server. The hardware need for
a workstation rely on the application and the size of the network. In a typical LAN of

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90 IT Applications in Business

a university computer center, a Pentium III system with 64MB RAM and 4 to 8GB
Notes hard disk capacity, with necessary network interface card can be used for a typical

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workstation. In general, the memory and hard disk capacity of a workstation are much
fewer than that of the server.

Network Operating Systems


Network operating systems (NOS) is the logical component that manages
communications, shared resources on the network, and provides distributed processing

rs
capacity. At first, the NOS only allowed to share printers and disks. A single station
could access a disk volume at a time. Currently, NOS give the basis for creating client/
server applications, integrating different types of computers, and forming workgroups.

In most networks, the OS works in conjunction with the computer’s operating

ve
system. The computer’s OS first processes system commands. When a local request
is made, a command that only specifies the resources/devices of the station is done at
the user station. When a request is made that requires the participation of the logical
equipment or network devices, it passes information to the NOS for processing.

Network Interface Unit

ni
Every computer on the network needs an add-on card called the Network Interface
Card (NIC) or Ethernet adapter or Network Interface Adapter. The role of NIC is to
transfer the serial signals on the network cables or media into parallel data stream
inside the personal computer. In some cases, two or more such NIC’s are used in the
U
server to divide the load. These interface units also have significant jobs of controlling
access to the media. It includes activities known as carrier sense (listen before
transmitting), following station number, and token passing. The above activities are
recognized as Media Access Control.
ity

Transmission Media
The data signal travels throughout this medium. There are two general categories.
They are bounded (guided) medium and unbounded (unguided) medium. Coaxial cable,
twisted pair, and fiber optic cables are all bonded media. The data signals pass through
within the boundaries of the transmission media. On the other hand, microwave, and
satellite transmissions, both travel along the air, which has no boundaries, hence called
m

unbounded transmission.

Hub
It is a centralized distribution point for all data transmission in a network. Hub may
)A

be also known as a concentrator Data packet from a NIC reaches at the hub. The hub
rebroadcasts the received data to other computers connected to it. Generally, the hub
network is a passive device. It does not know the end of a received data packet. Hence,
it is needed to send copies to all the hub connections. Hubs are classified into the
following three categories.

1. Stackable & non-stackable hubs


(c

2. Active & passive hubs


3. Intelligent & non-intelligent hubs

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Stackable hubs are stacked or interconnected to make a single hub appearance.


They are helpful for vendors to make hubs of a size suitable to customer requirement. Notes

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Non-stackable hubs can’t be interconnected. They were always given only a fixed
number of connections.

The hubs those connect to the network backbone are called active hubs. The hubs,
those connect only to active hubs, are called passive hubs.

Intelligent hubs consist of special firmware that can be accessed by remote

rs
workstations. The firmware is also called as the Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP). Network status data and Network performance read from SNMP.

Repeater

ve
A repeater is a communication device that joins two segments of the network cable.
It regenerates, retimes, strengthens the digital data, and drives them on their way again.
Repeaters are frequently used to enlarge the cable length to extend LANs. WAN consists
of many repeaters. Ethernet also frequently uses repeaters to extend the length of the bus.

Bridge

ni
A bridge interlinks two networks using the same technology (such as Ethernet or
Arc net). The bridge is more complicated than a repeater. A modern bridge interprets
the destination address of the received packet and finds out whether the address is on
the same segment of the network cables of the originating station. The bridge transmits
U
the packet into the traffic on that cable segment if the destination is on the other side of
the bridge. To fix two segments of the same LAN, Local bridges are used. Similarly, for
local LAN cables to thin long-distance cables to link two physically separated networks
remote bridges are used to link. Network administrators frequently use bridges to
separate the big networks into numerous small networks. Bridges are easily installed.
ity

They provide a simple way to carry out network management functions.

Router
Between the networks, a router transfers data. A router makes it possible to
transfer data between different compatible network technologies such as IBM token ring
and Ethernet. Routers are an integral part of the Internet as the Internet consists of
m

thousands of different network technologies. The address of router is present on the


network. A bridge doesn’t have an address. That’s why a router acts as an intermediate
destination. To put simply, a computer sends a data packet to the router of another
network and this router transfers the packet to the other network.
)A

Simultaneously, the bridge examines all the packets to determine which packets
must be transmitted between networks. Computers in general, never send packets
directly to a bridge. A router examines a packet that contains the router’s address.

A router could sometimes act as a bridge. The router accepts the packet and
examines if it supports the protocol used by the packet. If it doesn’t support then, it only
drops the packet which then is bridged using the physical address information.
(c

Gateway
Using a gateway two different networks can be connected. For instance, using a
gateway a mainframe can be connected and accessible to a PC network. A gateway
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generally converts the format of the data sent between two networks unlike the router.
Notes A router just adds addressing information to the data packet and never changes the

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content of the message. On the other hand, a gateway has multiple roles such as to
identify the protocols used in the networks, recognize the data format, and then convert
the message format into a suitable format that is accepted by the other network. WAN
often use gateways because there is many diverse networks present. Gateways
present excellent connectivity to several kinds of networks on the Internet.

rs
Modem
Modem is a significant network component. The term Modem is the shortcut term
of the name modulator-demodulator. Modern gives two-way communication facility
between a computer network and telephone network. As WAN uses the existing

ve
telephone network to connect to a distant network, it all the time uses a modern to dial-
up the telephone network. The modem alters the digital data from the computer into
useful analog signals that can pass on through a telephone network. Likewise, signals
from the telephone channels are converted back into digital data suited for a computer.

2.1.3. Classification and types of Networks

ni
Computer Network is a set of computers connected to each other that facilitates
the computer to communicate with another computer and share their data, resources,
and applications.
U
A computer network categorized by their size is mainly of four types:
ity

●● LAN (Local Area Network)


m

●● PAN (Personal Area Network)


●● MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
●● WAN (Wide Area Network)

LAN (Local Area Network)


)A

●● LAN is a set of computers connected to each other in a small area such as


office, building, etc.
●● LAN is used for connecting two or more PC through a communication medium
such as coaxial cable, twisted pair, etc.
●● It is less expensive as it is built with low-cost hardware such as network
(c

adapters, hubs, and ethernet cables.


●● The data is transferred at an exceptionally faster rate in LAN.
●● LAN gives higher security.

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Notes

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rs
ve
PAN (Personal Area Network)
●● PAN is a network arranged within an individual person within a range of 10
meters.
●● PAN is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use and thus the
term defined as Personal Area Network.
●●

●●
●●
PAN covers an area of 30 feet. ni
Thomas Zimmerman brought the idea of the Personal Area Network for the
first time.

Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area
U
network are the mobile phones, laptop, media player and play stations.
ity
m

There are 2 types of PAN:


)A

Types of Personal
Area Network
(c

Wired Personal Wireless Personal


Area Network Area Network

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94 IT Applications in Business

●● Wired Personal Area Network


Notes ●● Wireless Personal Area Network

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Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless PAN is a low range network
developed by simply using wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth.

Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is developed by


using the USB.

rs
Examples of PAN:
●● Body Area Network: Body Area Network is individual specific, which is “a
network that moves with a person”. For example, network in a mobile phone
moves with a person. Such as a person connects to another person by pairing

ve
with other network and share the information. The person lose the connectivity
with distance.
●● Offline Network: An offline network is created inside the home and thus also
referred as a home network. It is developed to integrate the devices such as
computer, printers, television but they are not connected to the internet.

ni
●● Small Home Office: This type of network is designed to connect a variety of
devices to the internet and to a corporate network using a VPN

MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)


●● MAN covers a larger geographic area by cross connecting a different LAN to
U
form a larger network.
●● Government bodies use Metropolitan Area Network to connect to the citizens
and private industries.
●● In Metropolitan Area Network, various LANs are connected to each other
ity

through a telephone exchange line.


●● The most widely used protocols in Metropolitan Area Network are RS-232,
ATM, ISDN, Frame Relay, OC-3, ADSL, etc.
●● MAN has a higher range than LAN.
m
)A
(c

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Uses of Metropolitan Area Network:


Notes

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●● It’s used in communication between various banks in a city.
●● MAN is important for communication in the military.
●● It is used in an Airline Reservation.
●● It can be used in various colleges in a city.
WAN (Wide Area Network)

rs
●● A Wide Area Network is a network that exceeds over a large geographical
area such as districts, states, or countries.
●● A Wide Area Network is extremely bigger network than the LAN.
●● A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over the

ve
world through a telephone line, fiber optic cable or satellite links.
●● The internet is one of the biggest examples for WAN in the world.
●● A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Government, Business, and
Education.

ni
U
ity

Examples of Wide Area Network:


m

●● Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a neighborhood or


country.
●● Last mile: A telecom company is employed to supply the web services to the
purchasers in many cities by connecting their home with fiber.
)A

●● Private network: A bank provides a personal network that connects the 44


offices. This network is formed by using the phone leased line provided by the
telecom company.

Advantages of Wide Area Network:


Following are the benefits of the Wide Area Network:
(c

●● Geographical area: a good Area Network provides an outsized geographic


area. Suppose if the branch of our office is during a different city then we

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96 IT Applications in Business

will connect with them through WAN. the web provides a leased line through
Notes which we will connect with another branch.

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●● Centralized data: just in case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore,
we don’t get to buy the emails, files or copy servers.
●● Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore,
the programmers get the updated files within seconds.
●● Exchange messages: during a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast.

rs
The online application like Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp allows you to speak
with friends.
●● Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we will share the
software and other resources sort of a disk drive, RAM.

ve
●● Global business: we will do the business over the web globally.
●● High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this
provides the high bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the info transfer
rate which successively increases the productivity of our company

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

●●
ni
The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:

Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to


LAN and MAN network as all the technologies are combined that makes the
U
safety problem.
●● Need Firewall & antivirus software: The info is transferred on the web which
may be changed or hacked by the hackers. Therefore, the firewall must be
installed. Some people can insert the virus in our system and thus antivirus is
required to guard from such a threat.
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●● High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high because it
involves the purchasing of routers, switches.
●● Troubleshooting problems: It covers huge area so fixing the problems,
errors is difficult.

Internetwork
m

●● An internetwork is defined as two or more network LANs or WAN or network


segments are connected using devices, and that they are configured by an
area addressing scheme. This process is understood as internetworking.
●● An interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or
)A

government computer networks also can be defined as internetworking.


●● An internetworking uses the web protocol.
●● The reference model used for internetworking is Open System Interconnection
(OSI).

Types of Internetwork:
(c

1. Extranet: An extranet may be a communication network supported the web


protocol like Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. It’s used for
information sharing. The access to the extranet is restricted to only those users

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who have login credentials. An extranet is that the lowest level of internetworking.
It is often categorized as MAN, WAN, or other computer networks. An extranet Notes

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cannot have one LAN, at least it must have one connection to the external
network.
2. Intranet: An intranet may be a private network supported the web protocol
like Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. An intranet belongs
to a corporation which is merely accessible by the organization’s employee or
members. The most aim of the intranet is to share the knowledge and resources

rs
among the organization employees. An intranet provides the power to figure in
groups and for teleconferences.

Intranet advantages:

ve
●● Communication: It provides an inexpensive and straightforward
communication. An employee of the organization can communicate with
another employee through email, chat.
●● Timesaving: Information on the intranet is shared in real time, so it’s
timesaving.
●●

●●
ni
Collaboration: Collaboration is one among the foremost important advantage
of the intranet. The knowledge is distributed among the workers of the
organization and may only be accessed by the authorized user.
Platform independency: it’s a neutral architecture because the computers
U
are often connected to a different device with different architecture.
●● Cost effective: People can see the info and documents by using the browser
and distributes the duplicate copies over the intranet. This results in a
reduction within the cost.
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Summary
Computer networks components encompass both physical parts and the
software required for installing computer networks, both at organizations and home.
The hardware components are the server, peer, client, transmission medium, and
connecting devices. The software components are OS and protocols.
m

Hardware Components
●● Servers − Servers are high-configuration computers that manage the
resources of the network. The network OS is usually installed within the server
then they provide user accesses to the network resources. Servers are often
)A

of varied kinds: file servers, database servers, print servers etc.


●● Clients − Clients are computers those request and receive check from the
servers to access and use the network resources.
●● Peers − Peers are computers that provide also as receive services from other
peers during a workgroup network.
●● Transmission Media − Transmission media are the channels through
(c

which data is transferred from one device to a different during a network.


Transmission media could also be guided media like coax, fiber optic cables
etc.; or even unguided media like microwaves, infra-red waves etc.

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98 IT Applications in Business

●● Connecting Devices − Connecting devices serve as middleware between


Notes networks or computers, by binding the network media together. Several the

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common connecting devices are:
a. Routers
b. Bridges
c. Hubs

rs
d. Repeaters
e. Gateways
f. Switches

ve
Software Components
Networking OS − Network Operating Systems is usually installed within the server
and facilitate workstations during a network to share files, database, applications,
printers etc.

Protocol Suite − A protocol may be a rule or guideline followed by each computer

a.
b.
ni
for digital communication. Protocol suite may be a set of related protocols that are laid
down for computer networks. The 2 popular protocol suites are −

OSI Model (Open System Interconnections)


TCP / IP Model
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Check Your Understanding
I) Complete all the review questions listed here to test your understanding of the topics
and concepts in this chapter.
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1. What is a group of web pages that groups of individuals can edit and view together
called?
A. Podcasting
B. Wiki
C. Weblog (blog)
m

D. Instant messaging
2. Which of the following are disadvantages of peer-to-peer networking? (Choose two.)
A. Expensive to set up and maintain
)A

B. No centralized administration
C. Complex configuration
D. Scalability
3. Which devices would be considered end devices on a network? (Choose four.)
A. Switch
(c

B. Printer
C. IP phone

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IT Applications in Business 99

D. Server
Notes

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E. Tablet computer
F. Wireless access point
4. What type of information would be found on a logical topology diagram?
A. Location of departmental printer
B. Length and type of all cable runs

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C. IP addressing scheme
D. Location of departmental switch
5. What is a network infrastructure that provides access to other networks over a wide

ve
geographic area?
A. LAN
B. WLAN
C. MAN

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D. WAN
E. SAN
6. Which of the following are business-class Internet connection technologies normally
supplied by a service provider? (Choose two.)
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A. Leased lines
B. Broadband cable
C. Metro Ethernet
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D. Mobile services
E. Cellular
7. Which technology would be best to provide a home user with a high-speed, always-
on Internet connection?
A. Dialup
m

B. DSL
C. Satellite
D. Cellular
)A

8. What is a converged network?


A. A network that makes use of both fiber-optic and copper connections
B. A network where voice, video, and data move over the same infrastructure
C. A network that makes use of both wired and wireless technology
D. A network that makes use of both satellite and terrestrial connections to
(c

move data
9. What is a fault-tolerant network?
A. A network that can provide priority treatment of voice and video traffic

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100 IT Applications in Business

B. A network that offers secure transactions


Notes

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C. A network that can reroute traffic in case of device failure
D. A network that is incapable of failing
10. What is true of Tier 3 ISPs?
A. They act as local providers of service directly to end users.
B. They connect directly to Tier 1 ISPs.

rs
C. They interconnect with other Tier 1 ISPs.
D. They provide high-speed redundant services to other ISPs.

Answer the following Questions

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1. Describe some common everyday uses of a modern-day network.
2. In what ways has the network transformed the way we learn?

References

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1. Dordal PL. An Introduction to Computer Networks. Release 2.0.4. 2021
2. Sandberg B. The Complete Reference. Networking. 3rd Edition. McGraw Hill
Education. 2015.
U
ity
m
)A
(c

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Unit-2.2: Network Topologies


Notes

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Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to achieve the entire three objectives
below:

●● Explain meaning of network topology with correctly.

rs
●● State three types of network topologies correctly.
●● Differentiate correctly between the three types of network topology..

Introduction

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The configuration, or topology, of a network is vital to determining its performance.
Topology is that the way a network is arranged, including the physical or logical
description of how links and nodes are found out to relate to every other.

There are numerous ways networks are often arranged, all with different pros and
cons, and a few are more useful in certain circumstances than others. Admins have a

ni
variety of options when it involves choosing a topology, and this decision must account
for the dimensions and scale of their business, its goals, and budget. Several tasks
enter effective topology management, including configuration management, visual
mapping, and general performance monitoring.
U
Topology is derivative of two Greek words ‘topo’ and ‘logy’, where topo means
‘place’ and logy means ‘study’. In computer networks, a topology explains how a
network is physically connected and the logical flow of information in the network. A
topology primarily explains how devices are connected and interact with each other
using communication links.
ity

In computer networks, there are mainly 2 types of topologies, they are:


1. Physical Topology: A physical topology explains the way in which the computers or
nodes are connected with each other in a computer network. It is the arrangement
of various elements (nodes, link, etc.), together with the device location and code
installation of a computer network. In other words, we can say that it is the physical
m

layout of workstations, nodes, and cables in the network.


2. Logical Topology: A logical topology explains the way, data flow from one computer
to another. It is bound to a network protocol. It defines how a data is moved all
through the network and which path it takes. To put simply, it is the way in which the
)A

devices communicate internally.


Network topology defines the virtual shape, layout, or structure of the network, not
just physically but also logically. A network could have both 1 physical topology and
several logical topologies at the same time.

We will mainly concentrate on physical topologies. We’ll learn about several types
of physical topologies, their advantages, and disadvantages.
(c

In a computer network, there are essentially 6 types of physical topology, they are:

1. Bus Topology

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2. Ring Topology
Notes

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3. Star Topology
4. Mesh Topology
5. Tree Topology
6. Hybrid Topology

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2.2.1 Network Topologies-Overview with Advantages and Disadvantages

1. Bus Topology
Bus topology is the simplest kind of topology. In this type a common bus or channel
is used for communication in the network which is connected to a variety of taps and

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droplines. Taps are the connectors, whereas droplines are the cables connecting the
bus with the computer. To put simply, there is only a single transmission line for all
nodes.

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When a sender sends a message, all other computers can hear it, but only the
receiver admits it (verifying the mac address attached with the data frame) and others
m

reject it. Bus technology is primarily suitable for small networks like LAN, etc.

In this topology, the bus acts as the backbone of the network, this joins every
computer and peripherals in the network. Both ends of the shared channel have line
terminators. The data is sent only in single direction and as soon as it reaches the
)A

end, the terminator eliminates the data from the communication line (to prevent signal
bounce and data flow disruption).

In a bus topology, each computer communicates to another computer on the network


independently. Every computer can share the network’s total bus capabilities. The devices
share the responsibility for the flow of data from one point to the other in the network.

Examples include Ethernet cable, etc.


(c

The advantages of Bus topology are as following:

1. Easy to use and install.

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2. It doesn’t affect other nodes even if a node fails.


Notes

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3. Less cabling is needed.
4. Implementation is cost-efficient.
Disadvantages of Bus topology:

1. Effectiveness is low when nodes are more (signal strength decreases).


2. The network will fail if bus fails.

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3. Number of nodes connected to the bus is restricted due to limited bus length.
4. Security issues and risks are extra as messages are transmitted to entire nodes.
5. Congestion and bus traffic as it are the only source of communication.

ve
Ring Topology
Ring topology – In this topology each computer is linked to 2 other computers to
form the ring. The message pass in one direction and circular in nature.

ni
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This network topology is fixed in nature, i.e., each computer is accessed for
transmission at a fixed time interval. The entire nodes are connected in a closed loop.
m

This topology essentially works on a token-based system and this token travels in a
circle in single specific direction.

In this ring topology, when the token is free and available, then the node captures
the token and attaches the data and destination address to the token, and finally leaves
)A

the token for communication. Once the token reaches the destination node, the data is
detached by the receiver and the token is made available back again to carry the next
data.

Example includes, Token Ring, etc.

Advantages of Ring topology are listed as follows:


(c

1. Easy to install.
2. Less Cabling Required.
3. Reduces probability of data collision (unidirectional).

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4. Fault node doesn’t pass and easy to troubleshoot (the faulty node does not
Notes pass the token).

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5. Each node gets similar access time.
Disadvantages of Ring topology:

1. The whole network will fail if node fails.


2. Data transmission speed is slow (each message must go through the ring path).

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3. Difficult to reconfigure (we must break the ring).

Star Topology
Star topology is a computer network topology. All the nodes in this type are

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connected to a centralized hub. The switch or hub acts as a middleware between the
nodes. First contact the hub for communication for any node request for servicing or
providing service.

ni
U
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The central device (hub or switch) has dedicated link (the point to point
communication link between the devices which cannot be accessed by some other
computer) with the devices. Based on the central device used, the central device then
broadcasts or unicasts the message as required. The switch unicasts the messages
m

by maintaining a switch table, while the hub broadcasts the message. Broadcasting is
known to increase unnecessary data traffic in the network.

Hub and switch act as a server in star topology whereas the other connected
devices act as clients. Only single input-output port and 1 cable are required to connect
)A

a node to the central device. This topology is safer in terms of security as the data
doesn’t pass through every node.

Example includes High-Speed LAN, etc.

The advantages of Star topology are as follows

1. Central control of the device.


(c

2. Cost is less.
3. Easy to find troubles & troubleshoot (the faulty node does not give response).

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4. Due to centralized control on nodes fault tolerance is good.


Notes

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5. Scalable (nodes can be added or removed to the network easily).
6. It will not affect other nodes when one node fails.
7. Reconfiguration and upgrade are easy (configured using a central device).
Disadvantages of Star topology:

1. The network will fail if the central device fails.

rs
2. Less number of devices in the network (due to limited input-output port in a
central device).

Mesh Topology

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Mesh topology is a computer network topology where in nodes are interconnected
with each other. To put simply, direct communication happens between the nodes in the
network.

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There are mainly two types of Mesh:

1. Full Mesh: Where each node is connected to every other node in the network.
m

2. Partial Mesh: Where some nodes are not connected to every node in the
network.
In a mesh topology that is fully connected, each device has a direct link with every
other device in the network. When, there are ‘n’ devices in the network, then each
)A

device would exactly have ‘(n-1)’ input-output ports and communication links. The data
moves only in single direction as these links are simplex links. In a duplex link the data
can travel in both the directions simultaneously and could replace two simplex links.

For simplex links, the number of communication links will be ‘n (n-1)’ for ‘n’ devices,
whereas for duplex links it is ‘n (n-1)/2’ in the mesh topology.
(c

Example includes the Internet (WAN), etc.

The advantages of Mesh topology are listed as follows:

1. Dedicated links make possible direct communication.


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2. No jamming or traffic troubles on the channels.


Notes

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3. Due to the dedicated path for each node, fault tolerance is good.
4. Very rapid communication.
5. Privacy and security are preserved due to a separate channel for communication.
6. Other alternatives are present in the network when a node fails.
Disadvantages of Mesh topology:

rs
1. High amount of cables is required.
2. Implementation is cost inefficient.
3. Requires large space to install the network and very difficult to implement.

ve
4. Maintenance and installation are very difficult.

Tree Topology:
Tree topology is a computer network topology where in all the nodes are indirectly
or directly connected to the main bus cable. It is a combination of Bus and Star
topology.

ni
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The whole network is divided into segments in a tree topology, which can be easily
m

maintained and managed. In this type of topology, there is one main hub to which all the
other sub-hubs are connected to each other.

The advantages of Tree topology are listed as follows:


)A

1. Possibility of large distance network coverage.


2. By checking each hierarchy, the fault check becomes easier.
3. Almost very less or no data loss.
4. Number of nodes can be connected directly or indirectly in large quantity.
5. When one network fails, other hierarchical networks are not affected.
(c

The disadvantages of Tree topology:

1. Hardware and cabling cost are high.

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2. Difficult to implement.
Notes

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3. Cabling is also required for Hub.
4. It is hard to manage a large network using tree topology.
5. This type of topology demands high maintenance.
6. The network fails when the main bus fails.

rs
Hybrid Topology:
A Hybrid topology is a computer topology where in a combination of two or more
topologies is seen. They are the most widely used in practical use.

ve
ni
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All topologies are interconnected in this topology according to the needs to form a
hybrid. This type benefits as one can use the good features of each topology to make
an efficient hybrid topology.

The advantages of Hybrid topology are listed as follows:

1. Handles a large volume of nodes.


m

2. According to our needs, it provides flexibility to modify the network.


3. When one node fails it will not affect the rest of the whole network.
The disadvantages of Hybrid topology:
)A

1. Design is very complex.


2. High cost to implement.
3. Requirement of Multi-Station Access Unit (MSAL).

2.2.2 Communication Channels


Communication is essential to all significant collaboration and teamwork.
(c

Communication keeps complete organization moving. There are several ways of


communication such as verbal communication, non-verbal communication, written
communication, and visual communication.

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108 IT Applications in Business

It is important that the information needs to be conveyed effectively by whatever


Notes type of communication we choose. Several modes or medium to broadcast and receive

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the information is known as “communication channels”.

Number of communication channels


There must be a direct channel between any of the 2 people involved in a
communication. “N (N-1)/2” is the number of direct channels that could exist with “N”
number of stakeholders will be. The number of channels increases much faster with

rs
increasing number of stakeholders in the team. The increasing number of channels can
make communication very difficult.

There are different types of communication channels as mentioned below:

ve
1. Face-to-face conversations
2. Audio conferencing
3. Videoconferencing
4. Written letters and memos

ni
5. Emails
6. Chats and messaging
7. Blogs
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8. Formal written documents
9. Spreadsheets etc.
The above channels need to identify and used effectively to achieve maximum
impact. However, the above communication channels further can be categorized as:
ity

1. Formal channels
Communication for official purpose is carried out through Formal channels. A
formal communication channel conveys information such as the policies, goals, and
procedures of an organization. Messages under this mode of communication channel
follow a series of command. This means information flows from a senior general
manager to manager to his subordinates and then to the next level of staff. Some
m

examples include business plans, instructions, agreements, company newsletters,


annual reports, board presentations, company-wide communications, etc.

2. Informal channels
)A

Informal channels are also an official way of communicating, with some extent
relaxed norms. The chain of command or hierarchy is not necessary in this kind of
communication. This type may be used within an organization without any involvement
of hierarchy, but they happen within the official framework. Some examples will include
lunch time conversations, many of the emails where formal command is not needed
such as someone is seeking some quick information, conversations on the work floor
(c

addressing queries of team members, etc.

Both formal and informal channels are used in official environment as needed.

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3. Unofficial channels
Notes

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An unofficial mode of communication exists in channel communication as well. This
communication doesn’t involve work related concerns or in short it is used to discuss
outside work discussions, casual conversations. General conversations between
colleagues, media, social, political, sports and personal communication are unofficial
channels. Either this type of channel exists during break or after office hours or, a
manager needs to be aware about the existence of such a channel and the content
flowing in them. Rumors and Gossips are also included under this type of channel.

rs
Let’s discuss few in detail:

Face-to-Face Communication or Personal Communication

ve
Face-to-face communication or personal communication is one of the richest
communication channels which are used within an organization. Physical presence,
facial expressions, and the tone of the speaker’s voice help recipients of a message
understand that message as the speaker intends. It allows for interaction between
speaker and recipients to clarify ambiguity, thus it is the best channel to use for
emotionally charged messages, or complex messages. A speaker can assess whether

questions.

Broadcast Media Communications


ni
an audience has received the message as intended by asking or answering follow-up
U
Television, Music, radio and loudspeakers all fall under broadcast media
communication channel. These types of media are generally used while addressing a
mass audience. Advertising business seeking to notify customers of a new product or
do promotions use a broadcast channel. Similarly, a CEO of the company may do a
global address by having a projector feed broadcast across company and display video
ity

on global sites. A broadcast channel should be used when the message intended for a
mass audience is presented in a visual or auditory format.

Electronic Communications Channels


Electronic communication channels encompass Internet, email, intranet, and
social media platforms. These channels are often used for group, one-on-one, or mass
m

communication. It’s more efficient as it is a less personal method of communication.


When using this channel, care must be taken to draft messages with clarity and to avoid
the utilization of sarcasm and overtone unless the message purposely involves it.
)A

Mobile Communications Channels


A mobile channel is used when a personal or more difficult message must be
relayed to an individual personally or a small group. A mobile channel allows for an
interactive exchange and offers the recipient the additional advantage of interpreting the
speaker’s tone along with the message. Some within a company may prefer to use this
channel versus a face-to-face channel to save lots of on the time and energy it might
interpret or may need a face-to-face meeting
(c

Written Methods of Communication


Written communication is used when a message doesn’t require interaction and

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110 IT Applications in Business

must be communicated to an employee or group. Policies, memos, letters, manuals,


Notes notices, and announcements are all messages that fit this channel. Recipients may

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either follow up through an electronic or face-to-face channel if there are further
questions on passed message.

2.2.3 Client Server Architecture

What is Client Server Architecture?

rs
Client-server architecture is also known as “Network computing Model” or “Client/
Server Network”. It is thus called because in this architecture all requests and services
are distributed over the network. Its functions like distributed computing system where
in all components are performing tasks independently from each other.

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Figure Source- http://digitalthinkerhelp.com/what-is-client-server-architecture-diagram-
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types-examples-components/

Examples of Client Server Architecture


There are 4 major examples of Client Server Architecture.
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1. Web Servers – Used to host multiples websites.


2. Mail Servers – Helps to send and receive all emails.
3. File Servers – Allow users to access all files.
4. DNS (Domain Name Server) – A huge database of several types of public IP
addresses linked with their hostnames
m

Client Server Architecture Components


Client-server architecture consists of 3 components - workstations, server, and
networking devices. These devices are connected with each other.
)A

1. Workstation
●● Workstation is also called as “Client Computer “.
●● There are different types of OS installed on the workstations like as Windows
XP, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 10.
●● These workstation OS are less expensive compared to server’s OS.
(c

2. Server
●● Server is an ultra-performer computer system.

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●● It contains more hard drive space, fastest memory, and faster speed
processors as they save and service off several requests coming from Notes

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workstation.
●● A server acts different roles such as database server, mail server, file server,
and domain controller at the same time duration.

3. Network Devices

rs
●● Network devices connect workstations and servers with each other.
●● Every network device has an independent function like hub.
●● Network device consists of repeater which is used for moving data from one
device to another device, making connection between server to multiple
workstations, and bridges helps to isolate of all network segments.

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Types of Client-Server Architecture

1-Tier Architecture
All client/server configuration setting, data logic, user interface environment, and
marketing logic system are present on the same system.

ni
These types of services are dependable however it is very difficult task to handle
as they contain entire data in different variance those allotted with replication of
complete work. This architecture also consists of different layers.
U
ity

For example – Business, Presentation, Data Access layer utilizing single software
package. Entire data is saved on the local machine. Some applications include MP3
m

player, MS Office

2-Tier Architecture
2-tier architecture gives the best client/server environment which helps to store
)A

user interface on the customer system and entire database is saved on the server
machine. Database logic & Business logic and are present with client or in server, but
they require maintenance. When data logic and business are collected on the client
terminal then it is called as “fat client thin server architecture”. Similarly, if Data Logic
& Business Logic are controlled at the server machine then it is called “thin client fat
server architecture”.
(c

Client-Server 2-tier Architecture


In this architecture, client and server machines are connected directly as if client
is shooting any input for server terminal then there shouldn’t be any intermediate. This

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makes the delivery of the output faster and resolve misunderstanding between the other
Notes clients. Example includes – online ticket reservations program

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Benefits are applications are easy to design, user satisfaction is high, Homogenous
environment is implemented, Performance is high.

Limitations include poor performance of connections, Security is low, Manufacture


database dependent, and Architecture is completely depended on a particular database

rs
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3-Tier Architecture

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In this 3-tier architecture, middleware is required. That is when a client machine sends
the request to server machine it is firstly received by middle layer, and finally transmitted
to server and vise a versa. Entire business and data logic are stored on the middleware.
Middleware is used to improve its flexibility and deliver excellent performance.
U
Client-Server 3-tier Architecture
3-tier architecture is divided into 3 layers such as 1) Client Tier or Presentation
layer - Client machine handles the presentation layer, 2) Business Tier or Application
layer- Applications are controlled by Applications layer and 3) Data Tier or Database
ity

layer-Server machine takes care of Database layer.

Benefits include - Best performance of Data integrity, improved security, and


database structure

Limitations - High complexity of communication due to middleware


m
)A

N-Tier Architecture
This architecture is also known as the “Multitier Architecture”. This type of
Architecture is derived form of 3-tier architecture. In this architecture, entire
presentations, application, and data management roles are isolated from each other.
(c

Benefits include deliverability of flexible and reusable applications.

Limitation is componentization of tiers is complex and hard to implement.

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2.2.4 LAN Concepts


Notes

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What is a LAN?
A LAN encompasses access points, routers, switches, cables, and other
components that facilitate devices to connect to web servers, internal servers, and
other LANs via wide area networks.

Virtualization has also fueled the development of virtual LANs; those facilitate

rs
network administrators to logically group network nodes and divide their networks
without need for major infrastructure changes.

For example, in an office with multiple departments, such as IT support,


accounting, and administration, each department’s computers could be connected to

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the same switch but fragmented to behave as if they are separate.

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Benefits of LAN
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The advantages of a LAN are like those group of devices networked together.

The devices can share files with one another, use a single Internet connection,
print through shared printers, and be accessed and even controlled by one another.

LANs were developed in the 1960s for use by research facilities (such as NASA),
universities, colleges, and primarily to connect computers to other computers. It came
into light after the development of Ethernet technology (1973, at Xerox PARC), its
m

commercialization (1980), and its standardization (1983) that LANs started to be used
extensively.

Although all understand the benefits of having devices connected to a network, it


wasn’t until the wide operation of Wi-Fi technology that LANs became usual in nearly
)A

every type of environment. Today, not just businesses and schools use LANs, but also
coffee shops, restaurants, stores, and homes.

Wireless connectivity also greatly extended the types of devices that can be
connected to a LAN. Now, nearly everything could be “connected,” from printers, PCs,
and phones to smart TVs, speakers, lighting, stereos, thermostats, door locks, window
shades, security cameras--and even refrigerators, coffeemakers, and toys.
(c

Types of LANs
There are 2 types of LANs: Peer-to-peer LANs and client/server LANs.

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A client/server LAN consists of more than a few devices (the clients) connected to
Notes a central server. The server manages application access, file storage, device access,

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and network traffic. Any connected device that runs or accesses applications or the
Internet could be a client. Clients are connected to the server either with cables or
through wireless connections.

In general, groups of applications can be kept on the LAN server. Users can
access email, databases, document sharing, and other services through applications

rs
running on the LAN server, with read and write access maintained by an IT
administrator or network. Most medium size to large business, research, government,
and education networks are client/server-based LANs.

A P-2-P LAN doesn’t have a central server and heavy workloads cannot be
handled as client/server LAN can, thus they’re usually smaller. On a P2P LAN, each

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device shares equal functioning of the network. The devices share data and resources
through wired or wireless connections to a switch or router. Most of the home networks
are P2P.

Summary

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Networking or computer networking is the practice of exchanging and transporting
data between nodes over a shared medium in an information system. Networking
comprises not only the design, construction and use of a network, maintenance,
and operation of the network infrastructure, but also the management, software, and
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policies.

Check Your Understanding


Multiple Choice Questions & Answers (MCQs)
1. A topology that is responsible for describing the geometric arrangement of
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components that make up the LAN.


a) Complex
b) Physical
c) Logical
m

d) Incremental
2. Bus is a type of topology.
a) True
b) False
)A

3. _____ LAN topology describes the possible connections between pairs of


networked endpoints that can communicate.
a) Complex
b) Physical
c) Logical
(c

d) Incremental
4. A term that refers to the way in which the nodes of a network are linked together.

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a) network
Notes

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b) topology
c) connection
d) interconnectivity
5. A network comprising o multiple topologies.
a) Complex

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b) Hybrid
c) Bus
d) Star

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6. What is true of Tier 3 ISPs?
a) They act as local providers of service directly to end users.
b) They connect directly to Tier 1 ISPs.
c) They interconnect with other Tier 1 ISPs.

7.
d)

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They provide high-speed redundant services to other ISPs.
Which type of traffic must receive the highest priority from QoS?
a) Web traffic
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b) Email
c) VoIP
d) Order processing
8. What are the primary requirements of information security? (Choose three.)
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a) Confidentiality
b) Integrity
c) Availability
d) QoS
m

e) Scalability

Answer the following questions


1. List four current network trends.
)A

2. Describe some common everyday uses of a modern-day network.


3. In what ways has the network transformed the way we learn?

References
1. Introduction to Computer Networks and Cybersecurity by Chwan-Hwa (John)
Wu (Author), J. David Irwin (Author), CRC Press; 1st edition (February 4, 2013).
(c

2. Introduction to Networks v6 Companion Guide 1st Edition, Kindle Edition by


Cisco Networking Academy (Author). Cisco Press; 1st edition (December 10,
2016)

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116 IT Applications in Business

Unit-2.3: Introduction to Internet


Notes

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Objectives:
●● Describe the important features of the Web and Web browser software
●● Evaluate e-mail software and Web-based e-mail services
●● Use search engines and directories effectively

rs
●● Find, evaluate, and use online information resources
●● Use FTP and other services to transfer and store data
●● Demonstrate the use of real-time chat and briefly describe the history of the

ve
wireless Internet
●● Use mailing lists, newsgroups, and newsfeeds
●● Create HTML documents and enhance them with browser extensions

Introduction

ni
Internet is a universal communication system linked together by thousands of
individual networks. It permits information exchange between two or more computers
on a network. It helps in transfer of messages through chat, mail, video & audio
conference, etc. It has become compulsory for day-to-day activities: online shopping,
U
bills payment, working, surfing, tutoring, communicating with peers, etc.

Internet first evolved in 1969, under ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects


Agency Network) project to connect computers at U.S. defense & different universities.
Soon after the people from different backgrounds such as scientists, engineers,
students, and researchers on track using the network for switching information and
ity

messages.

2.3.1. Introduction to Internet

What is the Internet?


m

The Internet is a global network of computer networks that connects government,


university, commercial, and other computers in over 170 countries. There are thousands
of networks, Lakhs of computers, and millions of users on the Internet, with the
numbers increasing daily. You can chat with colleagues, send electronic mail, around
the world, and obtain info on a wide diversity of subjects with the internet.
)A

3 main uses of the Internet are:

●● Electronic mail - Electronic mail, or e-mail, allow you electronically “mail”


communication to users who have an Internet E-mail address. Delivery time
varies in few minutes, but it’s likely to send mail across the globe and get a
response in minutes. “LISTSERVs” are special importance mailing lists those
(c

allow for the exchange of information between large numbers of people.


●● USENET newsgroups – ‘USENET’ is a system of special importance
discussion groups known as newsgroups, to which readers can send, or
“post” messages which are then distributed to other computers in the network.
Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education
IT Applications in Business 117

Newsgroups are prepared around particular topics, for example, alt.education.


distance, alt.education.research, and misc.education.science. Notes

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●● Information files – Government schools, agencies, and universities, interest
groups, commercial firms, and private individuals place a range of information
on-line. The files are mainly text only, but most of them contain pictures and
sound.

2.3.2. Introduction to Internet-History, Concepts, & Myths

rs
Introduction
By definition “the Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of
interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the

ve
standard Internet Protocol”. How did this become so popular and widely used around
the world? Did it always be so large and extensive, with information filled about
anything and everything you can possibly imagine and access from almost anywhere,
anytime? Then the right answer is no and it’s important to understand where it came
from to comprehend how to make the most of it to its fullest potential now.

Creation

ni
The Internet’s origins have their roots in a military project, the Semi-Automatic
Ground Environment (SAGE) program that networked country-wide radar systems
together for the first time. It was created ~ 1958 to regain the lead in technology from
U
the Soviet Union that launched Sputnik recently.
ity
m

SAGE Computer Room


)A

Licklider JCR was selected to lead the committee that controlled the SAGE project.
He predicted universal networking as an emerging human revolution. Licklider recruited
Lawrence Roberts to lead a project which executed a network. Roberts worked with
the U.S. Air Force on a packet switching system as contrasting to a circuit switching
system. On October 29, 1969, Licklider and Roberts organized the first two nodes
between UCLA and SRI International at Menlo Park, California. This was the beginning
(c

of the ARPANET that was one of the main networks which our Internet today was based
off. Network service was created soon after the first international packet-switched
between U.S. and U.K.

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118 IT Applications in Business

Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf introduced the first report of TCP in 1973. The term
Notes “Internet” was first used in 1974 to clarify a single global TCP/IP network detailed in the

ity
first full specification of TCP by Cerf and his colleagues written. When all hosts on the
ARPANET were switched over from the older protocols to TCP/IP the first TCP/IP-wide
area network was formed on January 1, 1983.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) commissioned in 1984, the construction of


a 1.5 megabit/second network and thus became or called as NSFNET. The US Federal

rs
Networking Council permitted the interconnection of the NSFNET to the commercial
MCI Mail system in 1989.

Soon after, other commercial e-mail services were connected such as Telemail,
OnTyme, and CompuServe. Three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were also created:
PSINET, UUNET, and CERFNET. Many more separate networks were created that

ve
eventually interconnected with this large, growing network of networks.

Although the quick growth of the Internet was due mainly to the accessibility of
commercial routers from companies such as Proteon and Juniper, Cisco Systems,
the availability of commercial Ethernet equipment for LAN and the widespread
implementation of TCP/IP on the UNIX operating system, the ability of TCP/IP to work

growth.

Growth
ni
over virtually any pre-existing communication networks allowed for a great ease of
U
The network didn’t gain public face until the 1990s although the basic applications
and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost more than a
decade. On August 6, 1991, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, (CERN),
which spans the border between France and Switzerland, exposed the new World Wide
Web project. In 1989, the web was invented by an English scientist Tim Berners-Lee.
ity
m

WWW Logo
An early accepted and popular web browser was ViolaWWW. It was eventually
replaced by Mosaic web browser popularity. By 1996 usage of the word “Internet” had
become routine, and as a result, had its use as a reference to the World Wide Web.
)A

Over the decade, the Internet successfully accommodated the greater part of previously
existing public computer networks (although some networks have remained separate).

Today’s Internet
Apart from the complex physical connections those make up its infrastructure,
the Internet is made possible by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts and
technical specifications or protocols those explain how to exchange data over the
(c

network. Certainly, the Internet has rigorously matured since its birth many years ago.
Approximately 1.5 billion people use the Internet today. That’s roughly a quarter of the
complete world (a lot of people).

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The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the
authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet, including Notes

ity
domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and protocol port and parameter
numbers. A globally unified namespace is essential for the Internet to function. Because
the Internet is a distributed network comprising many voluntarily interconnected
networks, the Internet, as such, has no governing body.

rs
ve
ni
ICANN Headquarters
Most used by people for the Internet is the World Wide Web. If one says they’re
“on the Internet” it means they’re using the WWW. Anyone surfing the Internet through
several pages means they are moving through WWW. However, that is not the sole use
U
for the Internet. “E-mail” is another very important use for the Internet. Internet e-mail
travels and be could be stored unencrypted on many other machines & networks out of
both the sender’s and the recipient’s control. “Remote access” is another very familiar use
for the Internet. Wherever they may be across the world, the Internet lets computer users
to connect to other computers and information gets stored easily. File sharing is also
popular. It allows people to send files through FTP, peer-to-peer networks, e-mail, etc.
ity

The ‘myth’ of the Internet invention


Gordon Crovitz writes “It’s an urban legend that the govt. launched the web. The
internet to reside its communications lines up even during a nuclear strike by the 1960s
technologists were trying to attach a new physical communications network into one
m

global network—a ‘world-wide web’ was the myth created by Pentagon. Through the
Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, the federal was modestly
involved. During a nuclear attack, its goal wasn’t maintaining communications, and it
didn’t build the internet.”
)A

The history of the Internet is very much complicated. Defense Department’s


interest in building a network of networks was to cut down inefficient and costly
redundancies in its computer systems. But it’s a blunder to involve national security
concerns such as survivability during a nuclear attack weren’t important to its creation.
Consider this report from DARPA called “A History of the ARPANET: The First Decade.”

Many of the concepts of the late developmental ARPANET and other computer
networks were first described within the chain of reports published in 1960 by RAND.
(c

These ideas comprise the improved reliability of a distributed network structure over
a central or star network and over so-called decentralized networks made from a set
of smaller star network. Extensive studies commenced, including simulation of some

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120 IT Applications in Business

grid networks, to work out how “survivable” a distributed network might be expected
Notes to plan an important node and link failures. This study was particularly concerned with

ity
the question of keeping a high percentage of the network available and performing
well within the face of enemy attacks on the network from the purpose of view of its
suitability for Department of Defense application.

Paul Baran was the lead author of the many of these reports. From his bio:

In 1962, a nuclear confrontation seemed imminent. The US and therefore the

rs
USSR were embroiled within the Cuban missile crisis. Both the US and therefore the
USSR were within the process of building hair-trigger nuclear missile systems. Each
country pondered post-nuclear attack scenarios.

US authorities considered ways to speak within the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

ve
How could any kind of “command and control network” continue to exist? A solution was
offered by Paul Baran, a researcher at RAND: design a more robust communications
network using “redundancy” and “digital” technology.

At the time, naysayers rejected Baran’s idea as unfeasible. But working with
colleagues at RAND, Baran persisted. This effort would ultimately become the

ni
inspiration for the World Wide Web.

And this is often from one among Baran’s first papers on the advantages of
distributed communications:

The distributed communications network concept was briefly reviewed by this


U
Memorandum and compares it to the hierarchical or more centralized systems.
The payoff in terms of survivability for a distributed configuration within the cases of
enemy attacks directed against nodes, links, or combinations of nodes and links is
demonstrated.
ity

2.3.3. Difference between Internet, Intranet and Extranet

1. Internet:
The network interconnection of millions of computers formed and linked together is
called Internet. Internet consists of:
m

●● People: People use, develop, and build the network.


●● Resources: Networks reach out a collection of resources.
●● A setup for collaboration: Research and educational committees worldwide.
)A

2. Intranet:
It is an in-house personal network built within an organization using Internet and
WWW standards and products that lets employees of an organization to get access to
corporate information.

3. Extranet: In this type of network, it permits access to users from outside to the
Intranet of an organization.
(c

Difference between Internet, Intranet and Extranet:

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Difference Internet Intranet Extranet Notes

ity
Accessibility of Public Private Private
network
Availability Global system Specific to an To share information with
organization suppliers and vendors
it male the use of public
network.

rs
Coverage All over the world Restricted area up Restricted area up to an
to an organization organization and some of
its stakeholders or so.
Accessibility of It is accessible It is accessible only Accessible only to the
content to everyone to the members of members of organization

ve
connected organization and external members
with logins
No. computers It is largest The minimal The connected devices
connected in number of numbers of devices are comparable with
connected devices are connected Intranet
Owner

Purpose of the
network
None

Its purpose is to
share information
Single organization

Its purpose is to
share information
ni Single/ Multiple
organizations
Its purpose is to share
information between
U
throughout the throughout the members and external,
world organization members
Security It is dependent It is enforced via It is enforced via firewall
on the user of the firewall that separates internet
device connected and extranet
ity

to network
Users General public Employees of the Employees of the
organization organization which are
connected
Policies behind There is no hard Policies of the Policies of the
setup and fast rule for organization are organization are imposed
m

policies imposed
Maintenance It is maintained It is maintained It is maintained by
by ISP by CIO. HR or HR or communication
communication department of an
department of an organization
)A

organization
Economical It is more It is less economical It is also less economical
economical to use
Relation It is the network It is derived from It is derived from Intranet
of networks internet
Example What we are WIPRO using DELL and Intel using
(c

normally using is internal network network for its business


internet for its business operations
operations

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122 IT Applications in Business

2.3.4. Domain Name Service


Notes

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What is DNS?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the directory of the Internet. Humans access
information online through domain names, espn.com or nytimes.com. Web browsers
work together through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS interprets domain names
to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.

rs
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other
machines use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to
memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer
alphanumeric IP addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).

ve
DNS
How does DNS work?

The process of DNS resolution engages converting a hostname (such as www.


example.com) into a computer-friendly IP address (such as 192.168.1.1). An IP
address is given to each device on the Internet, and that address is necessary to

ni
find the appropriate Internet device - like a street address is used to find a particular
home. When a user wants to load a webpage, a translation must occur between what
a user types into their web browser (example.com) and the machine-friendly address
necessary to locate the example.com webpage.
U
To understand the process behind the DNS resolution, it’s important to learn about
the different hardware components a DNS query must pass between. For the web
browser, the DNS lookup occurs “behind the scenes” and requires no interaction from
the user’s computer apart from the initial request.

There are 4 DNS servers involved in loading a webpage:


ity

DNS recursor - The recursor are often considered as a librarian who is asked to
travel find a specific book somewhere during a library. The DNS recursor may be a
server intended to receive queries from client machines through applications like web
browsers. In general, the recursor is then liable for making additional requests to satisfy
the client’s DNS query.
m

Root nameserver - The root server is that the initiative in translating (resolving)
human legible host names into IP addresses. They are frequently thought of like an
index during a library that points to different racks of books - typically it is a regarded to
other more specific locations.
)A

TLD nameserver - The top-level domain server (TLD) are often thought of as a
selected rack of books through a library. This nameserver is that the next step within the
look for a selected IP address, and it hosts the last portion of a hostname (In example.
com, the TLD server is “com”).

Authoritative nameserver - This final nameserver are frequently thought of as a


dictionary on a rack of books, during which a selected name is often translated into
(c

its definition. The authoritative nameserver is that the last stop within the nameserver
query. If the authoritative name server has access to the requested record, it’ll return
the IP address for the appealed hostname back to the DNS Recursor (the librarian) that
made the initial request.
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What are the steps in a DNS lookup?


Notes

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The 8 steps in a DNS lookup:

The resolver asks queries to DNS root nameserver (.).

The root server then responds to the resolver with the address of a Top-Level
Domain (TLD) DNS server (such as .com or .net), which stores the knowledge for its
domains. While checking out example.com, our request is pointed toward the .com
TLD.

rs
The resolver then makes an invitation to the .com TLD.

The TLD server then responds with the IP address of the domain’s nameserver,
example.com.

ve
Lastly, the recursive resolver sends a question to the domain’s nameserver.

The IP address for instance .com is then returned to the resolver from the
nameserver.

The DNS resolver then responds to the online browser with the IP address of the

ni
domain requested initially.

Once the 8 steps of the DNS lookup have returned the IP address for instance
.com, the browser is able to form the request for the online page:

The browser builds a HTTP request to the IP address.


U
The server at that IP returns the webpage to be delivered in the browser (step 10).
ity
m
)A

2.3.5. Internet Protocols and Addressing


When devices communicate with one another over an area network or “LAN” or
across the web, the message transmitted is ultimately directed to the target device’s
network hardware address that’s programmed into the device by the manufacturer.
This hardware address of “MAC” address is physically encoded considerably like an
(c

automobile’s VIN number that has information about the manufacturer and when the
device was created alongside a sequential number.

Unfortunately, MAC addresses aren’t helpful for routing communication messages


outside of a little number of locally interconnected devices because they’re randomly
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124 IT Applications in Business

scattered round the world, i.e., a tool with a MAC address of 10:20:30:40:50:60 might
Notes be in NY and another with a MAC address of 10:20:30:40:50:61 might be in Beijing.

ity
To enable devices to seek out one another easily regardless of where they’re within
the world, the creators of the web came up with a logical addressing scheme that made
it much easier for devices to seek out one another, regardless of where they were on
the web. These logical, Internet Protocol, addresses are commonly mentioned as “IP
addresses”.

rs
The form and organization of IP addresses
Note: for the aim of this discussion, we’ll be describing IPv4 addresses, a four-byte
address format that has been in use for many years and continues to be employed by a
majority of Internet connected organizations. The newest IP addressing scheme, IPv6,

ve
uses a six-byte address in order that more devices on the web are often addressed.

Each IPv4 address is four bytes long and is expressed within the form: “nnn.
nnn.nnn.nnn”, where each “nnn” may be a number from 0 through 255, the most
important value of which will be expressed in eight binary bits. For instance, the string
192.168.252.199 would be a syntactically correct expression of an IPv4 address.

ni
Each IP address string is made up of two components:
A network identifying component which is the leftmost part of the address, and a
device identifying component which is the rightmost part of the address
U
The network identifying component is used by network routing devices or “routers”
to determine the best way to send a communication message to take it closer to its
destination, the target device itself. The device identifying component of the IP address
is only of significance to the target device and any other devices sharing the same local
area network (LAN).
ity

The length of the network and device identifying components may vary based upon
the number of devices that an organization needs to address, but the total number of
bytes used for the address will always be four for IPv4 addresses.

Classful Routing
m

Message routing plans or “routers” that reassign messages from one organization
to a different use a highly organized method of IP addressing called “classful routing”,
where IP address ranges are grouped into 5 classes.

The following table explains the elemental IP address network classes including
)A

how the addresses are defined, the amount of device IP addresses the network class
can support, and samples of device IP address that might be included within the
network. The last column within the table shows the primary byte.
(c

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IT Applications in Business 125

Notes

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rs
ve
2.3.6. Services of Internet
Internet Services permits us to access huge amount of data such as graphics,
text, sound, and software over the internet. Following illustration shows the 4 different
categories of Internet Services.

ni
U
ity

Communication Services
There are various Communication Services accessible that present exchange of
information with individuals or groups. The following table gives a concise introduction
to these services:

S.N. Service Description


m

1 Electronic Mail
Used to send electronic message over the internet.
2 Telnet
Used to log on to a remote computer that is attached to internet.
)A

3 Newsgroup
Offers a forum for people to discuss topics of common interests.
4 Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Allows the people from all over the world to communicate in real time.
5 Mailing Lists
Used to organize group of internet users to share common information through
(c

e-mail.
6 Internet Telephony (VoIP)
Allows the internet users to talk across internet to any PC equipped to receive
the call.

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126 IT Applications in Business

7 Instant Messaging
Notes

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Offers real time chat between individuals and group of people. Eg. Yahoo
messenger, MSN messenger.

Information Retrieval Services


There exist several Information retrieval services offering easy access to
information present on the internet. The following table gives a brief introduction to
these services:

rs
S.N. Service Description
1 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
Enable the users to transfer files.
2. Archie

ve
It’s updated database of public FTP sites and their content. It helps to search a
file by its name
3. Gopher
Used to search, retrieve and display documents on remote sites
4. Very Easy Rodent Oriented Net wide Index to Computer Achieved (VERONICA)

ni
VERONICA is gopher based resource. It allows access to the information resource
stored on gopher’s servers

Web Services
U
Web services permit exchange of data between applications online. Using web
services or applications users can easily interact with one another.

The web services are offered using concept of Utility Computing.

World Wide Web (WWW)


ity

WWW is additionally referred to as W3. It proposes how to access credentials


cover the several servers over the web. These documents might contain graphics,
texts, video, audio, hyperlinks. The hyperlinks let the users to navigate between the
documents.

Video Conferencing
m

Video conferencing or Video teleconferencing might be a process


of communicating by two-way video and audio transmission with help of
telecommunication technologies.
)A

Modes of Video Conferencing

Point-to-Point
This mode of conferencing connects only 2 locations.
(c

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IT Applications in Business 127

Multi-point
Notes

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This approach of conferencing connects more than 2 locations through Multi-point
Control Unit (MCU).

rs
ve
2.3.7. Internet and Support Technologies
In 2018, there have been quite 1,8 billion websites within the world, which
suggests that there’s probably an internet site for each topic you’ll consider. Databases

ni
are especially important on websites where users create the content (like Facebook,
YouTube, and Wikipedia), since it might be impossible for a knowledge capturer to
feature this information manually. Instead, these websites are found out in order
that any information entered by users is automatically stored in several databases.
U
This includes items like status likes, updates, tweets and any videos or images the
user uploaded. User’s personal information, like their email address, username and
password is also stored in the databases.

Internet Services Technologies


ity

The table below mentions various types of websites and provides examples of
each type.

Type Description
Advocacy Advocacy websites are websites that fight to change laws or public
opinion. This can be about any topic that they feel strongly about
m

Blog A website that posts short, informal stories about any topic, so that the
newest story appears at the top of the website.
Business A website run by a business as a way of marketing the business and
communicating with customers.
Content A website that gathers news and information from many different area
)A

aggregator websites and provides links to the most interesting information


Educational A website meant to educate people. You can find both general and very
specific educational websites.
Information A website that provides people with information on a specific topic
News A website that provides up to date news on several different topics. New
news is usually posted daily
(c

Personal A website about a single person. A personal website can be a A


marketing tool for individuals, but it can also simply be a place to share
things with the world.

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128 IT Applications in Business

Portal A website that brings several different types of websites together. They
Notes

ity
are designed to be the one place you go to for everything but are often
not that good at any specific thing
Search A website that allows you to find information on the internet Search
engine engines are central to how you use the internet
Shopping A website that helps you to do your shopping online. Different online
shopping websites exist for different types of products.

rs
Social A website that connects you to people by making friends, seeing what
network they are up to, and posting your thoughts and photos.
Web An application that runs directly on a website, like a word processing
application application or a fitness tracker
Wiki A website that people across the world can build and edit together The

ve
most famous is Wikipedia, the online encyclopaeda, although wilds exist
for many different topics

Websites are made from web pages/online page. If the information be displayed on
an internet page is coded directly into the online page, then that online page is named

ni
static. In contrast, when the online page may be a resource that collects information
from a database supported user inputs (), such online page is named dynamic.

Remember, not everything you read on the internet is true. Creating an internet site
doesn’t cause you to an expert on a topic!
U
Websites also can be categorized on supported criteria, like whether the web site
is static or dynamic, uses location-based services and has been made accessible to
mobile devices. The rest of this unit will check out these characteristics.

Static Websites
ity

Static websites are websites where the knowledge is coded directly into the web
site using HTML. This suggests that the content of the web site will never change
unless someone changes the HTML of the web site. It also means an internet developer
has developed a separate HTML file for every page of the web site.

If Wikipedia was a static website, anytime they wanted to vary their logo, or add
m

an item, they might get to open many pages to form that change. This can make it
impossible for Wikipedia to form any large-scale changes to their website.

Advantages
• Easy to host and develop.
)A

• Affordable to host and develop.


• Can display multimedia.
Disadvantages
• Changes affecting multiple pages (such as to the header and footer) need to be
made on each page.
• Need to be a web developer to add content.
(c

• Information updates less frequently.


• Need to code a separate web page file for each page of your website.
• Website is not interactive.

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IT Applications in Business 129

Dynamic Websites
Notes

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In contrast, during a dynamic website the information displayed on the web site
is stored during a database and dynamically loaded onto pages supported the user’s
request. When the user visits the page about Banana Banana, an invitation is shipped
to the Wikipedia database that retrieves all the knowledge for the Banana Banana
webpage. This information is then placed into a typical Wikipedia website template. If a
special page is visited, then new information is requested and placed into an equivalent
standard website template.

rs
The advantages and drawbacks of dynamic websites are shown below.

Advantages
• Changes to the template can be made once and immediately affect all pages.

ve
• Can be updated without programming knowledge.
• Scripts can be used to update the website to only show the most relevant information.
• Can interact with the user.
• Since the content is dynamic, users are more likely to revisit the site to read the
new content.
• Can display multimedia.
Disadvantages



Takes longer and is more expensive to develop. ni
Requires more knowledge to develop the initial website.

A single template mistake can affect all pages using that template.
U
Location-Based Services Sites
Location-based websites work by making use of the user’s location to work out
which website or information to point out the user.
ity

Other websites like Facebook and Google make use of location-based services to
work out which advertisements and search consequences to point out to users, while a
service like Google Maps uses your location to ask for out the shortest route to nearby
locations.

Advantages of Location Based Service Sites


Location based services work, use real-time data from a mobile device or smartphone
m

to provide information, entertainment or security.


Some advantage of location based services are:
• Enable marketers to gain a better idea about the group of customers that are more
likely to favor a particular product or service.
)A

• By forming a netwrok, companies can support and promote each other; the success
of one company can prove beneficial to all the others.
• Once businesses identify their customers’ behavior pattern by using location based
services, they can be targeted by offering rewards and discounts for the services
that are used by them the most.
Did You Know
(c

Today, almost all popular websites, both large and small, are dynamic websites. This
allows these websites to be updated more easily, to stay relevant and to interact with
the user.

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130 IT Applications in Business

Supporting Technologies
Notes

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Part of the evolution of the web has been the developments of technologies
that help people use the web. The subsequent are several the foremost important
technologies:

●● HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is that the protocol that controls how
sites are sent from an internet server to a user’s browser. It helps to transfer
information like document, image, file, video between computers over internet

rs
●● HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) may be a secure version
of HTTP during which data is encrypted before it transferred. This sort
of technology is employed by, for instance, banks due to all the sensitive
information their client’s access when doing transactions on internet banking.

ve
HTTPS creates a secure channel over an insecure network. This ensures
reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks, provided that
adequate data suites are used and that the server certificate is verified and trusted.

Security Services

ni
Internet security services comprise services like:

Description Advantages Disadvantages


Multi-factor Individuals are • Protection in layers • Inability to login
U
authentication authenticated improves security due to theft of
for online • Achieves necessary smartphone or
services through compliance physical device
more than one requirements which is required
required security and may not be
• Increases
ity

and validation available.


productivity and
procedure. It • Cost of setting
brings a better
comprises of up this system is
usability experience.
physical, logical and high
biometric validation
techniques used to
m

secure an online
facility, product or
service.
)A
(c

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IT Applications in Business 131

One-time pin A password that is • Safe from re-use • Could get out of
Notes

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(ОТР) valid for only one attacks: a fraudster sync: algorithm-
login session or who uses trickery to based OTPs
transaction, on a capture your OTP need to cope
computer system or can’t reapply it, since with drifting out
other digital device. it’s no longer valid of sync with the
OTP is an example: for future logins or authentication
of a security token sessions server if the

rs
that is valid for • Allows you to keep system needs
limited period. your emails safe: the OTP to be
OTPs are generally submitted by a
received on mobile deadline.

ve
devices via SMS • Can lock you out
hence you don’t of your account: if
need to have access your OTP device
to your emai while is ever stolen
you’re connected to or lost multiple

ni
an unsecured Wi-Fi login attacks by
hotspot. the hacker can
• Convenient to use: permanently lock
most individuals own you out of your
a mobile phone, and account.
U
SMS functionality • May be costly for
exists on every the providers: for
device making OTP providers,
one-time passwords costs can be
convenient to use. a problem,
ity

especially if
they’re offering
OTP hardware.
Security The security token When you forget your If your email address
token valid for is generated password, the specific that is stored on that
limited period after successful site will generate a site is incorrect then
m

authentication of the security token that will you cannot receive


user. It remains valid be emailed to your a security token or
for a specific period account, which can be it might be sent to
that has been set. used to change your an incorrect email
)A

After the specified password. address


duration is over, the
authentication token
expires and cannot
be used to perform
operations.
(c

2.3.8. Censorship and Privacy Issues


Cybersecurity is essential to secure governments around the world from cyber threats,
but what happens if cybersecurity violates its bounds and threatens liberty and privacy?
Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education
132 IT Applications in Business

Governments and other organizations approximately the world are strengthening


Notes their cybersecurity efforts, not only to secure their information resources and systems,

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but also to fight cyber terrorism.

However, cybersecurity can frequently be caught up or controlled by privacy


concerns. Government proposals to look up information declaration can cross the line
into censorship and free speech issues, which could be the case, for example, with
China’s new cybersecurity law.

rs
China already has limiting internet policies, known as the ‘Great Firewall’, and has
passed a new law that further tightens its grip on information and how Chinese citizens
access information.

China’s Cybersecurity Raises Censorship Fears

ve
With more than 700 million users, China is the world’s largest internet market, but
it’s also the most controlled. Including Facebook and Google, eight of the world’s 25
most admired websites are blocked in China and experts fear that the country’s new
cybersecurity law may make issues worse.

ni
On Chinese servers, as well as enforce the country’s censorship policies on its
platforms, the legislation requires technology companies doing business in and outside
China to store their data. China says the procedures are needed to counter security
terrorization such as hacking and cyber-crimes.
U
However, critics say these measures not only hinder international tech companies
but also restrict Chinese internet users. Nearly 80 percent of American and European
companies believe censorship interferes with their business operations as per the
American Chamber of Commerce in China.

Sophie Richardson, China


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Director of the Human Rights Watch, states that: “If online speech and privacy are
a bellwether of Beijing’s attitude toward peaceful criticism, everyone, including netizens
in China and major international corporations, is now in danger. This law’s passage
means there are not any protections for users against serious charges.”

Despite this, China sees this legislation as a national security issue and is
m

developing international rules and standards for cybersecurity.

“There can’t be national security for one country while there’s insecurity in another.
(Countries) can’t seek their own so-called absolute security while sacrificing the safety
of another country,” states Liu Yaunshan, a pacesetter in China’s Communist Party and
)A

propaganda chief.

How Censorship and Cybersecurity Intersect


While many Western democracies start at China’s censorship policies, other
nations are imitating them, namely Russia.

Russia hosted a forum with China’s top internet censors because it seeks
(c

more control of the Russian internet earlier this year. Russia also tried to urge tech
companies to store user data on Russian servers in 2015, but companies didn’t fulfill.

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


IT Applications in Business 133

Notes

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rs
Andrei Soldatov, co-author of The Red Web: The Struggle between Russia’s Digital
Dictators and therefore the New Online Revolutionaries told Voice of America (VOA): “I
think this reflects their level of desperation inside the Kremlin. They need these coming
elections. And, it seems they have desperately to seek out some kind of solution to be
absolutely sure that they will control the web before the elections.”

ve
Not all cybersecurity measures cause censorship, but it’s a difficult balance.
Consistent with democracy watchdog organization Freedom House, albeit some new
laws address legitimate security concerns, they need the potential to violate free
speech and privacy rights.

ni
The organization’s Freedom on internet 2016 report had some sobering findings of
data assurance and censorship:

●● Internet freedom round the world declined for the sixth consecutive year
●● Two-thirds (67 percent) of internet user’s snooze in countries where criticism
U
of the govt or military is subject to censorship
●● 14 countries approved policies that would have a negative effect on free
speech or privacy
●● 34 countries had a decline in internet freedom since 2015
ity

It’s not only authoritarian nations that are straying into censorship issues. Brazilian
courts temporarily blocked WhatsApp because the corporate didn’t turn over user data
for criminal investigations, while Germany passed a law requiring telecommunications
providers to retain data for up to 10 weeks, despite the law’s violation of a eu Union
(EU) court ruling. Additionally, Germany and France requested the EU draft a law
requiring tech companies handy over encrypted data in terrorism cases.
m

How important is cybersecurity to national security? Inspect Cybersecurity and Its


Role in Government to seek out more.

Finding Balance
)A

Cybersecurity is usually a double-edged sword, and nations looking to secure


their interests, fight terrorism and maintain confidentiality face a balancing act with
cybersecurity policy.
(c

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134 IT Applications in Business

Ron Deibert of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy involves a


Notes transparent strategy during this arena. “Canada should be forging a number one

ity
position in global cyberspace governance and security. We certainly stand among
those with the foremost to lose should cyberspace continue its spiral into censorship,
securitization, militarization and crime.”

Cybersecurity may be a global issue that impacts international business,


diplomacy, and communication. Though security is top concern for nations, policies that

rs
drift into censorship can negatively affect relations in those areas.

Summary
1. Therefore, after learning a variety of computer network topologies, we can wrap up
some points those need to be considered when selecting a physical topology:

ve
●● Fault Tolerance.
●● Ease of Installation.
●● Cabling Required.
●● Reliable Nature.

2.
●●
●●
●●
Implementation Cost.
Maintenance Required.
ni
Easy Reconfiguration and up gradation.
Communication channels are the means to communicate through people in an
U
organization. There are several channels to communicate and are used to complete
various tasks, as using an inappropriate channel for a task or interaction would
cause negative consequences. Difficult messages require comfortable channels of
communication that aid interaction to make certain about clarity.
ity

3. Client-server architecture is a shared computer network architecture where several


clients from remote system send many requests and receive services from the
centralized server machine or host system.
Client–server model is an distributed application structure that partitions tasks or
workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service
requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate over a computer
m

network on separate hardware, but both client and server may reside in the same
system or same network.
4. Internet has gained lot of importance over the time - Information, learning, knowledge,
connectivity, communication, sharing, contact information, address mapping,
)A

banking, bills, and shopping, selling, making money, access to a global workforce,
collaboration, and work from home.

Check your Understanding


Answer the Following questions: -
1. What is the Internet?
(c

2. What is the Web?


3. How does the Internet work?

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


IT Applications in Business 135

4. List all the things you can do on the Internet.


Notes

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5. How do I connect to the Internet?
6. Brief up on Internet Cybersecurity.

References
1. Internet of Things: A Hands-On Approach Paperback by Arsheep Bahga (Author),
Vijay Madisetti (Author), Orient Blackswan Private Limited - New Delhi; First edition,

rs
2015.
2. Basics of Internet and Web by Dr. Surendra Jhangra (Author), Vayu Education of
India; First edition (1 January 2013)

ve
ni
U
ity
m
)A
(c

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136 IT Applications in Business

Module-III: E-Commerce
Notes

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Structure:

Unit-3.1: E-Commerce
3.1.1 Introduction to E Commerce

rs
3.1.2 E-Commerce Vs E-Business
3.1.3 Advantages & Disadvantages of E-Commerce
3.1.4 E-Commerce Transaction Models
3.1.5 E-Commerce Business Models

ve
3.1.6 E-Commerce Technologies
3.1.7 Hosting E-Commerce Site – Planning and constructing web services
3.1.8 Electronic Payment System,
3.1.9 E-Commerce Applications

ni
3.1.10 E-Core Values – Ethical, Legal, Taxation and International issues
3.1.11 E-Commerce Security Issues.
U
ity
m
)A
(c

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IT Applications in Business 137

Unit-3.1: E-Commerce
Notes

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Objectives:
●● To understand the complexity of e-commerce and its many facets
●● To explore how e-business and e-commerce fit together
●● To identify the impact of e-commerce

rs
●● To recognize the benefits and limitations of e-commerce
●● To use classification frameworks for analyzing e-commerce
●● To identify the main barriers to the growth and development of e-commerce in

ve
organizations

Introduction
Ecommerce also acknowledged as internet commerce or electronic commerce,
refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and money

ni
transfers and data to perform these transactions. Ecommerce is frequently used to refer
to the sale of physical products online, but it can also explain any kind of commercial
transaction that is aided through the internet.

Ecommerce refers specifically to the transaction of goods and services, while


U
e-business refers to all characteristics of operating an online business.
ity

Figure Source- https://makdigitaldesign.com/ecommerce/10-tips-to-increase-sales-


and-efficiency-of-your-ecommerce-store/
m

3.1.1. Introduction to E Commerce

E-Commerce – Introduction
E-commerce means using the web and therefore the web for business transactions
)A

and/or commercial transactions, which usually involve the exchange benefits (e.g.,
money) across organizational or individual boundaries reciprocally for products and
services. Here we specialize in digitally enabled commercial transactions among
organizations and individuals.

E-business applications become e-commerce precisely when an exchange useful


occurs. Digitally enabled transactions include all transactions mediated by digital technology
(c

and platform; that’s, transactions that occur over the web and therefore the web.

Hence, e-tailing may be a subset of e-commerce, which encapsulates all


“commerce” conducted via the web. It refers thereto a part of e-commerce that entails

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


138 IT Applications in Business

the sale of product merchandise and doesn’t include sale of services, namely railway
Notes tickets, airlines tickets and job portals.

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There are 3 sorts of destinations that cater to retail sales:

i. Traditional retail- brick-and-mortar


ii. Corporatized retail- brick-and-mortar
iii. Corporatized retail- e-tailing

rs
E-Commerce – History of E-Commerce

Early Development:
The history of E-commerce begins with the invention of the hand-phone/ telephone

ve
at the peak of last century. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is broadly analyzed as
the commencement of ecommerce. We could believe ecommerce as the networking of
business communities and digitalization of business information. Large organizations are
investing in development of EDI since sixties. It hasn’t yet gained reasonable acceptance
until eighties. The meaning of e-commerce has altered over the last 3 decades.

ni
Originally, electronic commerce meant the facilitation of economic transactions
electronically, using technology like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic
Funds Transfer (EFT). These were both introduced within the late 1970s, allowing
businesses to send commercial documents like invoices or purchase orders
U
electronically. The expansion and acceptance of credit cards, cash machine machines
(ATM) and telephones banking within the 1980s were also considered as various forms
of electronic commerce. Another majorly used form of E-commerce was the airline and
railway reservation system.

Online shopping is a crucial component of electronic commerce invented by


ity

Michael Aldrich from UK in 1979. Thomson Holidays was the world’s first recorded B2B
in 1981. Likewise the first recorded B2C was Gateshead SIS/Tesco in 1984. During the
1980s, online shopping was also used extensively within the UK by auto manufacturers
such as General Motors, Ford, and Nissan. The switched public telephone networks are
used by systems in dial-up and leased line modes.
m

From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce would additionally include data
processing, enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), and data warehousing. An
early online information marketplace showed that another pre Internet online system
was introduced in 1991 including online consulting such as the American Information
Exchange. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and altered the class
)A

telecommunication network into a worldwide everyman everyday communication system


called internet/ WWW. Commercial enterprise on the web was strictly prohibited until 1991.

Around 1994 although the web became famous worldwide when the first internet
online shopping started, it took almost about five years to establish security protocols
and DSL allowing continual connection to the web. By the crest of 2000, many
European and American business companies presented their services through the
(c

World Wide Web. With the authority of buying various goods through the web using
secure protocols and electronic payment services, people started to associate a word
“E-commerce”.

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IT Applications in Business 139

The Internet and therefore the Web:


Notes

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The Internet was envisioned in 1969, when the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (a Department of Defense organization) funded research of computer
networking. The web could find EDI without the emergence of the WWW in 1990s.
The online became a popular mainstream medium (perceived because the fourth
mainstream medium additionally to radio, print, and TV) during a speed which had
never been seen before. The online users and content were almost doubled every a

rs
few months in 1995 and 1996.

E-Commerce – Meaning
The term electronic commerce or e-commerce refers to any kind of business
transaction that involves the transfer of data through the web. It covers a spread of

ve
business activities which use internet as a platform for either information exchange or
monetary transaction or both sometimes.

For example, the numbers of consumer brand retail sites like Flipkart.com and
Amazon.com which normally provides information about products and allows monetary
transactions to happen over the web.

ni
On the contrary there are the public sales sites like Ebay.com and Quickr.com
where the information about specific listed services and products are provided but the
monetary transactions normally happen physically.
U
Apart from these 2 categories of e-commerce sites, there are a few sites which enable
businesses to exchange trading goods and service between 2 or more companies. All those
sorts of internet-based business platforms are referred to as e-commerce.

The way during which people used internet over the last ten years and the arrival
of e-commerce has transformed. People now aren’t barely using internet for gathering
ity

leisure, information, or socializing online but also at corresponding time they’re seeking
procedures to conduct business.

Even popular social networking sites like Facebook.com are allowing people to
market and sell products and services online and therefore the beginning of computer
and mobile based e-commerce application software like Shopify supplies evidence of
m

how e-commerce have boomed over the past 5 years.

3.1.2: Electronic Commerce


Indeed, even today, some significant time after the supposed ‘website/Internet
)A

turmoil, electronic trade (web-based business) stays a moderately new, arising and
continually changing zone of business management and data innovation. There has
been and keeps on being a lot of exposure and conversation about online business.
Library catalogues and shelves are loaded up with books and articles regarding
the information. Despite, there stays a feeling of disarray, doubt and misconstruing
encompassing the territory, which has been exacerbated by the various settings
wherein electronic business is utilized, combined with the heap of popular terms and
(c

abbreviations. This book intends to combine the significant topics that have emerged
from the new region of electronic trade and to give a comprehension of its application
and significance to the management. To comprehend electronic business, it is

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


140 IT Applications in Business

imperative to recognize the various terms that are utilized, and to survey their source
Notes and usage.

ity
As indicated by the supervisor in-head of International Journal of Electronic
Commerce, Vladimir Zwass, ‘Electronic trade is sharing business data, keeping up
business connections and managing deals by methods for media communications
organizations’. He maintains in its finest form i.e., electronic trade has existed for more
than 40 years, beginning from the electronic transmission of messages during the Berlin

rs
transport in 1948. From this, electronic data interchange (EDI) was the following phase
of web-based business improvement. During the 1960s an agreeable exertion between
industrial groups delivered a first endeavor at basic electronic information designs. The
arrangements, although, were just for buying, transportation and money information,
and were utilized principally for intra-industry exchanges. It was not until the last part

ve
of the 1970s that work started for public Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) principles,
which formed into the mid-1990s.

EDI is the electronic exchange of a normalized deal between a sender and


beneficiary PC, over some sort of private organization or worth added network (VAN).
The two sides would have a similar application programming and the information would

ni
be traded in a very thorough configuration. In areas like retail, auto, safeguard and
substantial assembling, EDI was created to coordinate data across bigger pieces of
an association’s worth chain from plan to upkeep so producers could impart data to
originators, support and different accomplices and partners. Prior to the broad take-up
U
and business utilization of the Internet, the EDI framework was pricey to run basically
on account of the significant expense of the private organizations. In this manner,
take-up was restricted to a great extent to money rich worldwide enterprises utilizing
their monetary solidarity to pressure and convince (with appropriations) more modest
providers to actualize EDI frameworks, regularly at an exceptionally significant expense.
By 1996 close to 50,000 organizations in Europe and 44,000 in the USA were utilizing
ity

EDI, addressing under 1 percent of the total number of companies in each of the
respective continents. As per Zwass, electronic business has been re-characterized by
the elements of the Internet and traditional commerce business that is quickly moving to
the Internet. With the appearance of the Internet, the term web-based business started
to include:
m

●● Electronic exchanging of actual merchandise and of intangibles like data


●● All the means associated with exchange, for example, on-line showcasing,
requesting installment and backing for conveyance.
●● The electronic arrangement of administrations, for example, after deals uphold
)A

or on-line legitimate exhortation.


●● Electronic uphold for joint effort between organizations, for example, collective
on-line plan and designing or virtual business consultancy groups.
A few of the meanings of internet business frequently heard and found in
distributions and the media are: Electronic Commerce (EC) is the place where deals
occur through broadcast communications organizations, particularly the Internet.
(c

Electronic business depicts the purchasing and selling of items, administrations, and
data through PC networks including the Internet. Electronic trade is tied in with working
together electronically. Web based business, internet business, or electronic trade is
characterized and managed through monetary exchange by electronic methods.
Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education
IT Applications in Business 141

The wide scope of business movements identified with online business achieved a
scope of other new terms and expressions to portray the Internet phenomenon in other Notes

ity
business areas. Some of these attract buying from on-line stores on the Internet. Since
exchanges experience the Internet and the Web, the terms I-trade (Internet business),
icommerce and even Web-business have been proposed however are presently
infrequently utilized. Different terms that are utilized for on-line retail selling incorporate
e-following, virtual-stores, or digital stores. An assortment of these virtual stores is now
and again accumulated into a ‘virtual shopping center’ or ‘cybermall’

rs
E-Business
Likewise, with internet business, e-business (electronic business) additionally
has various definitions and is utilized in various settings. One of the first to make use

ve
of the term was IBM, in October 1997, when it dispatched a mission worked around
e-business. Today, significant partnerships are reexamining their organizations as far
as the Internet and its new culture and abilities and this is the thing that some see as
e-business. E-business is the direct form of business on the Internet, purchasing and
selling as well as selling refurbishing products by clients and working together with
colleagues. E-business incorporates client assistance (e-administration) and intra-

ni
business errands. E-business is the change of key business measures using Internet
advancements. An e-business is an organization that can adjust to consistent and
nonstop advancements.

The improvement of intranet and extranet is important for e-business. E-business is


U
everything to do with back-end frameworks in an association. Practically speaking, web-
based business and e-businesses are frequently used while conversing.

E-Commerce, E-Business, Who E-Cares?


A few investigators and on-line money managers have concluded that e-business
ity

is endlessly better as a moniker than web-based business. That is deluding and


occupies us from the business objectives close by. The push to isolate the E-trade and
E-business ideas seems to have been driven by showcasing thought processes and
is terribly insufficient in substance. Here’s the significant thing: E-trade, E-business or
whatever else you might need to call it is a necessary chore.
m

The various names, definitions and words alluded to in the past areas are only
an example of the glossary that has begun from showcasing offices to sell an idea,
the media to portray a hair-raising ‘new’ wonder, experts to legitimize their expenses
and suggestions, and business to approve and actualize the new innovation. Truth be
)A

told there is nobody authoritative importance of online business or e-business that is


generally settled. The various terms are utilized to show alternate points of view and
accentuations of various individuals in various associations and business areas. Some
contend that it looks bad to have a prohibitive definition for the term internet business
since it is improbable that there will be concession to a solitary extraordinary definition.
‘Endeavoring to characterize E-trade or E-business is ensured to produce Byzantine
discussions with negligible roots. It helps me to remember attempting to address the
(c

accompanying inquiry: “In the event that one corresponding swimmer suffocates, could
the others follow?

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


142 IT Applications in Business

Due to this pattern, it is fundamental when undertaking any electronic trade,


Notes electronic business or some other e-related venture or task, to plainly characterize any

ity
term in the unique circumstance and climate where it is being utilized.

An E-Distinction
With the end goal of clarity, the qualification between online business and
e-business in this book depends on the separate standing trade and business.
Business is characterized as accepting the idea of exchange, ‘trade of product for a

rs
huge scope between various nations’. By affiliation, online business can be believed
to incorporate the electronic medium. Consequently, electronic business can be
comprehensively characterized as the trading of product (regardless of whether unique
or theoretical) for a huge scope between various nations utilizing an electronic medium

ve
– to be specific, the Internet. The consequences of this are that web-based business
joins an entire financial, media communications innovation and business framework
at the full-scale ecological level. Each of these components associates together, to
provide the basics of online business.

Business, then again, is characterized as ‘a business undertaking as ongoing

ni
concern. E-business can extensively be characterized as the cycles or zones
associated with the running and activity of an association that are electronic or
advanced in nature. These incorporate direct business exercises like promoting, deals
and human asset the board yet additionally aberrant exercises, for example, business
measure re-designing and change the executives, which sway on the improvement in
U
productivity and reconciliation of business cycles and exercises.

Figure 1.1 represents the significant contrasts in web-based business and


e-business, where web based business has a more extensive definition to the full scale
climate; e-business relates more to the miniature level of the firm.
ity
m
)A

Figure 1.1 Electronic commerce and electronic business.


(c

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/9598_book_item_9598.pdf

Albeit unique, both web-based business and e-business are likewise profoundly
coordinated and dependent upon one another.

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


IT Applications in Business 143

3.1.3. Advantages and Disadvantages of E-commerce:


Notes

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Advantages
The internet may be the absolute most significant aspect of present-day culture.
It assumes an essential part in everything from political talk and advanced education
to the way we behave and our organizations. It’s no big surprise; at that point, that
changing to an internet business model accompanies huge preferences.

rs
ve
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/ecommerce-pros-and-cons-1141609

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Online business disposes of the requirement for actual stores and permits
organizations to extend their client base. On top of killing the chance of long queues,
online business locales offer an enormous preferred position to the two customers and
stores that aren’t situated in major metropolitan regions. Regardless of whether you are
U
situated in a major city, web-based business opens new business sectors, permitting
you to build up another plan of action designed for your extending customer base.
Numerous organizations have discovered specific accomplishment in growing great
online business Search Engine Optimization, which drives more traffic to the website.
ity

Your business can likewise get a good deal on lease, utilities, upkeep, and different
expenses related with actual stores. Your web-based business store can basically stay
open every minute of every day without recruiting representatives to look after the store
and ensure things. Since you’re not restricted to a set measure of rack space, there
is no restriction to the quantity of things that can be sold on the web, and your store’s
stock can grow dramatically. Actual items in any case must be put away some place,
m

however extra rooms are frequently less expensive than retail spaces, and you will not
need to stress over variables like pedestrian activity and parking spots.

Computerized items can be offered online with almost no overhead expense.


Because of internet business, shoppers can buy music, recordings, or books
)A

momentarily. Stores would now be able to sell limitless duplicates of these


computerized things, without agonizing over where they’ll store the stock.

Online business likewise permits your business to scale up simpler than actual
retailers. At the point when a physical store develops, it needs to consider how it will serve
more clients in a similar little space. More workers are expected to speed up registration,
a greater amount of the floor gets devoted to framing lines, customers feel more swarmed
(c

as client base and stock develops. Obviously, coordination consistently gets harder as a
business develops, regardless of how the business works. With the correct decision of an
outsider coordination supplier, despite, online business organizations can deal with this
development without agonizing over the actual store viewpoints.

Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education


144 IT Applications in Business

Staying in touch with clients is frequently simpler for internet business


Notes organizations. Since the internet business trader catches contact data as email,

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conveying both mechanized and redid messages is basic. Tell clients about a deal,
advance another item, or simply check in with clients for an individual touch—all
with negligible exertion. Also, web instruments like treats consider predominant store
customization and buyer conduct investigation.

The advantages purchasers appreciate are shared by online business

rs
organizations with regards to the inventory network. Purchasers like web-based
shopping since they don’t need to manage money, stress over timetables, or stand by in
long queues. Those advantages additionally apply to whole stockpile fastens interlinked
with business-to-business online business frameworks. Acquirement turns out to be
quicker, straightforward, and there’s no compelling reason to deal with money notes

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or money. The outcome is less expensive, simpler exchanges with less freedom for
bookkeeping blunders.

At last, web-based business permits your business to follow coordination, which


is vital to an effective web-based business organization. Having everything digitized
makes it simpler to naturally gather information and do the math. While you can profit

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by understanding what’s selling best, you can likewise bear to face more challenges
on low-volume products. The regular retail system centers around loading quick
merchandise, yet the financial matters of online business allow sluggish and even old
items to be remembered for the index. Capacity is more affordable, and showing the
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item is just about as simple as adding another thing page to your site.

Disadvantages
While it might at first seem like web-based business will take care of all your
business issues, there are burdens to changing from an actual area to an online store.
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Numerous customers favor the individual touch and connections framed at a


physical shop. This can be particularly important to clients looking for specific items,
as they might need to counsel a specialist about the best item for their requirements.
A strong client assistance hotline can’t supplant vis-à-vis collaboration with a particular
salesman. Furthermore, numerous clients need to encounter the item before buy, like
when looking for garments.
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Security and MasterCard extortion are additionally colossal dangers when managing
internet shopping. Purchasers risk personality extortion and comparative perils each
time they enter their subtleties into a site. On the off chance that your site doesn’t
persuade customers that the registration cycle is secure, they could get frightened out of
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purchasing. Then again, organizations risk phishing assaults and different types of cyber-
attacks. If one of your workers opens only one noxious connection, it could bargain your
site usefulness, monetary data—or to top it all off, your clients’ data.

If shopping is about moment delight, customers are left with next to nothing. They
frequently need to either pay more for sped up delivery or hang tight for a few days until
the item shows up. The standby could drive away clients. For organizations, the delivery
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turns out to be extra convoluted when a client needs a discount. Developing web-based
business organizations need to extend their opposite coordination’s capacities, which
means the transportation back of merchandise and discounting of expenses.

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Talking about expenses, there’s an assortment of guidelines and duties that


accompany opening an internet business shop (and a considerable lot of disarray, too). Notes

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On June 21, 2018, the U.S. High Court decided that states can charge deals charge on
online business exchanges. Yet, the Supreme Court surrendered it to states to choose
what estimate of online retailers should settle deals charge, and what that expense rate
will be. That is only one illustration of the administrative disarray that has originated
from internet business’ quick development, and it doesn’t address worldwide exchange
laws. The outcome is an administrative interwoven that retailers are liable for learning,

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regardless of how convoluted.

3.1.4 E-Commerce Transaction Models


The internet business space has never been so flexible and more extensive.

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Tending to the new upsurge in worldwide business, mechanical headway and
individuals following internet shopping, the advanced space has opened adaptable
approaches to set up your internet business income model in the cluster and connect
with your crowd substantially more without any problem.

It has been only 25 years that the web has acquired the whole commercial center

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readily available. This has fashioned an extended way for eCommerce permitting
individuals to concoct diverse business over the web that is ordered into more extensive
viewpoints. In any case, before we enter our order of eCommerce plans of action, it is
important to refresh our meaning of eCommerce business.
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What is an eCommerce business?
In simple terms, eCommerce or electronic trade business refers to selling,
purchasing or making an exchange over the web in the advanced commercial center.
The items or administrations are exhibited through a site or versatile application through
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computerized signage frameworks that are incorporated with a got installment entryway
encouraging item buy and monetary exchange.

Presently let’s move with isolating the eCommerce plan of action dependent on
their income model.
The online business income model is normally thought to be describing
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eCommerce business as incomes mean the aggregate sum of cash that is being
received by the organization in the sake of exchanging its items or administration
with its clients. There is a scope of alternatives from where incomes can be created
including promoting, associate showcasing, membership and much more.
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The business never limits the impending of any better approach for creating
income. Although we will adhere to clarify the fundamental five eCommerce Revenue
Models with potential varieties to the methodology.

Advertising Revenue Model


For the most part, there is consistently a commission charged to sponsors to set
(c

up their commercials in a notable internet advertising stage. This is the exemplary rule
that is being followed for the business sorted for the Advertising Revenue model. They
exploit the tremendous traffic who consistently visits the picked stage to look around,
see the advertisement and get diverted to the real site.
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Notes

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This can be identified with a method of expanding the business on time. The
installments are made to the facilitating phase dependent on a fixed commission or
chose the traffic thickness that is headed to the business.

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Business following the Advertising Revenue Model presents a backhanded
method of procuring income through an advanced phase and the traditional methods
of setting up promotions for the most part incorporate showcase advertising that
incorporates a very flag, backdrop, high rise or rectangular advertisements. These
are paid by the traffic that is driven from the stage through the advertisements. The
overall pay structure depends on the solicitations raised against Cost per Click (CPC)

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or Cost per Action (CPA). Aside from the standard showcase promoting procedures
that are expected to divert the traffic going onto the eCommerce stage into where the
advertisements are connected to, associate promoting, and web crawler showcasing
are other popular ways.
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Google AdWords and AdSense are among the most moving and dependable
choices that permit you to put your promotions through the Google Search engine
permitting you to carry your business site to the highest point of the list items when
looked with the connected catchphrases. Comparative stages are Facebook and the
New York Times that permits you to show promotions dependent on a Cost Per Mile
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(CPM) premise.

Subscription Revenue Model


You more likely to know about Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube Premium,
and so who will allow you to make the most of their limitless administrations. These
eCommerce plans of action charge their clients or rather endorsers dependent on a
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specific time frame (day by day, month to month or yearly) to profit their administrations.
)A

Their assistance aid of these organizations by and large incorporates music,


(c

recordings, TV channels, magazines, unique administrations, and so on which is offered


to the endorsers at a cost to watch/tune in or get the most recent version. Presently, let
us understand certain instances of essential membership plans of action.

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●● Premium participation: Many online media and business stages like


Xing, LinkedIn, stay friends, and so offers memberships to profit of extra Notes

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administrations that get the endorsers of admittance to day by day refreshes,
bulletins, short notification, and so on. These data and brisk updates are
conveyed to them clearly to their record.
●● Internet specialist organizations: We all know about the month to month
and yearly membership of web access suppliers or rather a broadband
association empowering the endorsers of appreciate limitless network access.

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●● Publishers and content services: You are all around familiar with Netflix,
New York Times, Spiegel Online, and so on. These eCommerce plans of

year to gain admittance to their product.

Special services ni
action request membership charges dependent on month to month or every
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We realize that each eCommerce business makes them thing in like manner and
that is their installment door. These are organizations like PayPal, VeriSign whose
membership expense relies on the SSL accreditation and the time of administration.

Transaction Fee Revenue Model


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The eCommerce business following the exchange expense income model


charges a charge to a merchant for each exchange made through them. They are
the installment organizations that give the installment door administration to other
eCommerce business stages. By and large, the benefit is determined through
empowering or executing exchanges.

The administrator gives a stage to the eCommerce commercial center through


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which the exchange can be finished. Presently, the vital advances incorporate enrolling
of the merchant and the administrator so the characters are kept unblemished that may
later be needed for a business. The model has nearness to the offshoot market yet is to
some degree extraordinary.
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To clarify it in a better manner, we should take the case of PayPal. The


Notes organization charges an exchange expense to the dealers of the item once the

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exchange is finished. Essentially, eTrade acquires an exchange charge at whatever
point a stock exchange is made with a client. The sum to be paid to the administrator
is either chosen dependent on a rate or a fixed sum with the seller. Amazon is another
illustration of an exchange charge income plan of action.

Sales Revenue Model

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This is the most ordinarily followed eCommerce plan of action where wholesalers
and retailers sell their item over the web expecting to connect with a bigger objective
crowd. Likewise, more critically, this model brings bother for the client just as save them
time. Furthermore, the issue is to physically approach their actual store. There is an

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additional expense.

The costs are frequently serious in contrast with the genuine store cost. The
business following the online deals model regularly accompanies commercial centers
as basic passage focuses that permit them to manage different item sellers permitting
them to develop the commercial center and thus acquire more.

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In specific cases, the deals are simply infused into the business where the benefit
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is imparted to none. Based on the size of the business and the purpose of deals traffic,
certain functionalities of the business are moved to outsider merchants, for the most
part accomplished for the coordination and inventory network.

Models can be sited as far as all the single shop organizations selling their image
items over the web through their online stages. This structure a devoted method of
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doing deals and contacting an immense number of clients. Amazon, Otto, and so forth
are instances of organizations following a model for their web list-based business over
the web. Moreover, Buy.com, Etsy are examples of such commercial centers while
woot! iBood, guut.de are examples of live shopping commercial centers.
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Affiliate Revenue Model


Then, on the rundown, we have a partner income model that manages a business
that follows the rule of commission. Shippers and merchant’s accomplice up with
notable eCommerce stages to publicize and sell their item giving them a level of the
benefit as a commission.
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Affiliate marketing is a notable method of welcoming just as driving quality leads


into their business. The cycle essentially fills in as a connection that is hyperlinked to
the member and is documented on a host stage that gets ordinary traffic.

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Notes

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Any client who snaps to the associate connection is diverted to their site where the

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item or administration is inventoried. The partner or the trader hence pays a concurred
commission to the host administrator who’s conveying the connection for traffic driven
clients.

Amazon and affluent are notable models that let you partner your item connections
and drive traffic. For each lead headed to your site, you need to pay a specific rate
to Amazon or affluent as their bonus. Strangely, this brings a mutually advantageous

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arrangement for both the dealer, who sells his item and the member who publicized
or promoted their item. Such an eCommerce plan of action uses various varieties, for
example, pay-per-click, pennant trade, and furthermore, income sharing projects that
target driving the crowd starting with one stage then onto the next.
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There are great deals of other plans of action that are being utilized today to
acquire benefit from the online commercial center. In any case, it’s normal that
eCommerce business and advanced advertising go inseparably while conveying
the business objective. Today there is an expected ascent of 17% in the eCommerce
business since a year ago and can possibly develop high as can be in the coming
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years.

Conclusion
Although looking hasn’t yet left pattern, the vast majority of the business today
figure out how to control both the physical and online commercial center. Thus, there
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is consistently an extension for characterizing another method of working together


over the web. This implies, more plans of action are yet to be known for the online
eCommerce market.

3.1.5 E-Commerce Business Models


)A

Introduction
The world of eCommerce required, years and years to turn into the GDP sponsor
that it is today. Such a business has discovered accommodation in running their item
and an administration contribution in eCommerce stages as opposite to in the regular
other options. We should investigate the various sorts of E-Commerce Business Models
(c

that are as of now dynamic.

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Notes

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Kinds of E-Commerce Business Models
Ordinarily, to an average person, E-Commerce will sound interchangeable to
online exchange. However, as a proprietor of an E-Commerce store, you realize that

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it includes substantially more than purchasing and selling of items. Let’s investigate all
the capacities and kinds of eCommerce Business models.

Business-to-Business (B2B)
This kind of E-Commerce incorporates a wide range of electronic exchange that

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happens between two business associations. The exchange can be either merchandise
or administrations. The most widely recognized plans of action that are B2B are
organizations benefiting administration from another organization and makers offering
their items to wholesalers.
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For instance, if you are a Magento storekeeper and you profit the Magento advancement
administrations of Exinent LLC, you are taking part in a B2B business module.

A B2B business type requires more capital venture. They manage fewer customers
and work broadly in redoing their items and administrations according to the interest
of their customers. Normally, estimating approaches are unpredictable. Nonetheless,
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every customer gets individual consideration in regard to their exceptional prerequisites


and subsequently, if the quality is kept up, recharges and returns can be considered
typical more.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
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The B2C E-Commerce model is perhaps the most well-known types of


E-Commerce. As the name proposes, it includes a business connection between a
business and its clients. Consequently, the vast majority of these organizations are
retail in nature. Some of them can be specialist co-ops.
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This sort of business is creating an ever-increasing number of incomes every


year by selling results of virtually assorted types including food supplies, handiworks,
equipment, programming, style related products, and some more. Nonetheless, this
additionally implies that this market is exceptionally serious. It gives clients a great deal
of data and decisions.

For instance, Amazon was the first-historically speaking B2C E-Commerce store.
(c

Consumer to-Consumer (C2C)


C2C organizations electronically facilitate between two clients, regularly, through
an outsider. The outsider gathers a rate or fixed commission in return for giving a stage
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where the vender can grandstand their items and a purchaser can enroll their premium
or prerequisites. The outsider as a rule don’t engage during the time spent managing if Notes

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the two players maintain the spread-out principles and guidelines.

Regular C2C organizations include closeouts and exchanging of used things. For
instance, eBay, Craigslist, and so forth

Consumer-to-Business (C2B)

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To place it in the least complex words, C2B organizations include specialists and
people who offer possessed merchandise to organizations (who can exchange them
or save for ot.g. handicraftsman) yet have not set up a business for themselves, can
sell their work through this sort of business movement. Obviously, all the exchanges
happen electronically. Model: UpWork.

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Business-to-Administration (B2A)
B2A E-Commerce model is intended for electronic exchanges among organizations
and policy implementation. The business offers types of assistance, programming,
and their support to the authoritative division. Organizations can likewise give crude

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material and HR for development. It assists the public authority with keeping up records
of residents including their character, believability, wellbeing records, authoritative
archives, and all the other things. These organizations oblige just government
associations or any semblance of it.
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Customer to-Administration (C2A)
Electronic exchanges between the public authority and a resident involve the C2A
area of E-Commerce. It incorporates settling charges, paying scholastic expenses,
distance learning, e-wellbeing, e-casting a ballot, assortment of input structure from
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residents by the public authority, directing on the web overviews (for statistics), sharing
data (like street conclusion, spontaneous occasion, re-casting a ballot), and so on

3.1.6: E-Commerce Technologies


There is rarely an aspect inside an industry that hasn’t been moved by innovation.
Most strikingly, large information and AI are making ready for mechanical technology
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computerization, the moment move of information, and an assortment of fascinating


gadgets.

The retail business is no exemption with regards to exploiting innovation.


)A

Indeed, fruitful organizations are setting the bar by executing innovations like Artificial
Intelligence (AI), chatbots, and voice aides into their tasks. The reasons differ yet can
incorporate that these innovations help give magnificent client encounters through
moment correspondence, offering help without the assistance of live workers,
information the executives and security, and substantially more.

Artificial intelligence (AI)


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Man-made intelligence is uncovering significant bits of information into client


preferences — which can manage advertising efforts. It additionally can accommodate
the mechanization and move of information, the executive’s activities to manage and

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expand execution. In the retail and web-based business world, AI is being depended
Notes upon for a few aspects of business.

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Personalized user experience
74% of organizations accept that client experience is significant for improving
deals and transformations. Man-made intelligence gives a customized client experience
that 59% of clients say impacts their shopping choices. Man-made consciousness can
encourage a shopping experience that is upheld by clients’ very own preferences.

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Computer based intelligence, enormous information, and AI can offer investigation
and premonition into client personal conduct standards which can drive promoting
efforts, offer help and benefits, and computerize correspondence — all of which
increment commitment rates for organizations.

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Recommendations to customers
Since AI can foresee client standards of conduct, it can prescribe important and
valuable data to clients on items and administrations and the sky is the limit from there.
Simulated intelligence and AI calculations can proficiently estimate this data by taking

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in a client’s inquiry history and other outsider information. This can prompt successfully
recommending relevant data and answers for fulfill client needs.

Automated campaign management


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Client standards of conduct are a main impetus behind any showcasing effort.
Utilizing AI, organizations can target both potential and existing clients by taking a
gander at information, for example, past certain set of experiences. These examinations
can be utilized to give a superior pointed substance promoting system for organizations.

Substance and promotions may then be made with a tone that draws in different
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crowds and put on the right media stage to catch their consideration. Utilizing AI and
promoting mechanization can show a business the information essential for a key and
strategic mission.

The Cloud
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You will be unable to locate an effective business that doesn’t have at any rate one
part of their business tasks posted on the cloud. Overseeing and preparing information
in the cloud is fundamental for the moment access of information by any individual who
needs it, on any gadget. Particularly for web-based business organizations, a cloud
ERP can improve conveyance speeds, make your store more versatile, and achieve
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business strength and development.

Chatbots
Perceived for their consumer loyalty rates and wide-scale accessibility, chatbots
have rotated from restricted use in call communities to wide-spread internet business
site applications. As opposed to posing inquiries and giving data to those via telephone,
(c

online business sites that use chatbots can give an assortment of administrations and
arrangements.

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24/7 assistance
Notes

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Numerous organizations can’t give answers precisely when a potential client
is looking for them. Moreover, clients might be disappointed when required to be
postponed on the grounds that a business doesn’t have the staff to reply and watch out
for a high volume of clients.

Chatbots are accessible 24 hours/7 days, to give any answers and arrangements a
potential client may ask about. Having this mechanized correspondence can be important

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for organizations as it opens representatives to zero in on other business activities,
productively speaks with clients, and may even propose items and administrations.

Respond to queries

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Incorporated into a chatbot’s algorithm is the thing that is known as a Decision tree.
Decision trees use automated device figuring out how to automate complex business
measures, basically creating, keeping up, and continually developing a thorough
organization of if/proclamations.

By tending to generally pose inquiries and worries from clients, chatbots can

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develop their decision tree. Here, a chatbot can acquire data on if they’ve helped a
client. On the off chance that they have helped the client, this data might be given to
another customer with a comparable inquiry. If they have not satisfactorily fulfilled the
client, the chatbot may keep posing inquiries until they furnish the client with the data
they are searching for. At the point when they have addressed the client, the chatbot
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now has more options in their Decision tree to help clients later.

Send shipping and tracking information


Visualize if Amazon always forgot your location or payment details and never
disclosed to you when your request is booked to show up. It is a torment for clients to
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need to enter transporting data each time they need to arrange something from your
internet business site. Furthermore, it is a best practice for client experience to give a
client a time span for when the request will be at their doorstep.

Chatbots recall this data and can give ongoing transportation following subtleties
for clients. This can likewise help distribution center activities, as they could zero
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in on the production network and satisfying requests through their request the board
framework instead of telling clients where their packages are.

Voice assistants
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Not every person looks for items and data through mouse, keyboard, and console
in recent days. To oblige these expected clients, organizations should embrace voice
business — utilizing voice acknowledgment innovation and permitting clients to utilize
voice commerce to discover and buy items on the web. Voice associates, for example,
Siri, the Amazon Echo, and Google Home are getting progressively famous for their
benefit in looking for and buying items. To remain fruitful, online business organizations
should give this innovation and its advantages to catch another flood of customers.
(c

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Audio brand signatures


Notes

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Any organization jingle, music arrangement, or hear-able tone is viewed as
a sound brand signature. It is a route for organizations to more likely set up a brand
character and assist clients with recollecting their name.

Organizations can order their sound image mark to play through voice colleagues
to tell their clients where they are requesting their items from. By partner your image
with a hear-able mark, shoppers will know and recall that they are requesting from your

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store – in any event, when lying on their lounge chair, addressing a voice assistant.

Shopping lists
Clients would prefer to computerize their consistent shopping needs than incessant

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a site (or store) each month for their fundamentals. Through voice associates,
individuals can aggregate shopping records — requesting what they need from who
they need. This innovation learns the preferences of the proprietors, and numerous
organizations can benefit from brand reliability. On the off chance that a voice assistant
realizes that an individual needs an item from your store month to month, it can add
it to their shopping list. This can be gainful to organizations in measuring deals and
developing assistive technology.

Assistive technology
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In the advertising scene, assistive technology and voice commerce are assisting
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with arriving at a wide assortment of new crowds — not simply the more youthful age
who are utilizing new gadgets, but also to visually challenged. By utilizing speech-to-
text technology, the visually disabled can overcome difficulties of conventional inquiry
experience, and request what they need through new and creating assistive innovation.

All interconnected, AI, chatbots, and voice collaborators are getting vital for any
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online business to be fruitful. To remain with the occasions, organizations should adjust
to these new innovations which attract better to potential and existing clients.

3.1.7: Hosting E-Commerce Site Planning and Constructing Web Services


Ecommerce facilitating relates to hosting platform that serves an electronic
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commerce site, which incorporates highlights, for example, installment preparing


administrations, security activities, SSL, shopping basket programming and a few more.

There are numerous electronic commerce web hosts to browse. The correct one
relies upon your business volume, traffic, webpage size, financial plan, and involvement
)A

in web improvement. At the point when you depend on your site to convey your pay,
you need to begin by choosing the correct host.

Why It’s Important to Choose the Right Ecommerce Host


Your site content records should be stored some place. Site proprietors pay lease to
facilitating organizations; however, the facilitating organizations’ abilities change significantly.
(c

If you don’t pick the best host, you could encounter the accompanying issues.

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A. Customers will leave a slow website.


Notes

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We live during a time of moment satisfaction. Today, 47% of customers expect a
page load speed of two seconds or less.

Beside the client experience, Google utilizes site speed as a positioning element.
That is on the grounds that web search tools take more time to create results if they
can’t find and record sites rapidly.

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To discover pages, Google stretches out from your landing page or sitemap and
“crawls” the links. On the off chance that your site has moderate burden speeds, your
pages may not be remembered for Google’s indexing.

The best ecommerce organization will ensure that it can deal with the volume you
anticipate. This incorporates traffic spikes and different components that can meddle

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with execution, for example, reserving and Content Delivery Networks.

Caching makes website pages quicker by putting away page information as a usual
HTML page, eliminating calls to the data set and empowering future solicitations to be
served quicker.

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A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a far reaching gathering of servers that hold
your site’s accessible assets, like pictures and media documents, and work couple to
decrease your site’s load time. A CDN guarantees quicker burden times via naturally
routing visitors to the server nearest to their geographic area.
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B. Clients will not have the option to get to vulnerable sites.
Although anybody can begin an online business webpage, a business needs to
execute the legitimate safety efforts before clients can make buys.

Each program is unique, and some offer more security highlights than others.
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Chrome’s central goal is to protect shoppers as they surf the web. These aides make it
the most well-known program.

If your site isn’t encoded with HTTPS, your site will be recognized as “not secure”
when your crowd is utilizing Chrome. Seeing this in the URL bar doesn’t help customer
trust in your image.
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Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate are small files stored on server that encrypt
the information moved between your PC and a site’s server.

They additionally give an SSL certificate mark to confirm the site being utilized.
They are ideal for getting information shift, MasterCard exchanges, and are in any
)A

event, being utilized to get the perusing of different online media sites.

If you don’t have an SSL certification, Chrome will caution watchers before they get
an opportunity to see the page that they’re attempting to open. Furthermore, an SSL
authentication may even accelerate your site.

While some online business site proprietors are worried about the possibility that
(c

that adding an SSL certification is costly or confounded, a decent web host will offer
encryption as a component of their package.

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Additionally, keeping your security revived can be a regular work. Your internet
Notes business arrangement ought to have the option to redesign your product, add fixes,

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and keep their own worker programming secure. The organization’s help group ought to
likewise have the option to deal with the circumstance if your site is hacked.

C. You can’t afford downtime.


On the off chance that your clients can’t get to .your site, they can’t accept. The

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measure of income lost during one hour of downtime relies upon the hour of day, your
business volume, traffic, and the quantity of individuals affected.

As per Gremlin, Amazon would lose $220,318.80 each moment of downtime while
Costco.com would lose $11,082.00.

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If this happens as often as sufficiently possible, you’ll get a terrible standing.
Indeed, downtime could even sink your business.

Some of the time, web facilitating administrations plan arranged upkeep, which
could make your website go down. Unprepared downtime to a greater degree causes a
danger since it can take more time to revert.

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eCommerce has administrations that will frequently ensure a specific measure of
uptime. Don’t simply believe them, however. Search for client audits and see whether
anybody screens your site, so you know quickly if an issue emerges.

Considerations When Choosing a Host for Your Store


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Even though you may be baited into a reasonable arrangement that meets a
portion of your models, it’s essential to do some exploration prior to submitting. You
ought to likewise consider a web have that can develop with you.

You can change has whenever yet moving your site can be an issue for you and
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your clients. It’s a superior plan to pick the best web have forthright so you can acquaint
yourself with them as you scale up.

1. Encryption.
Security ought to be one of your top concerns when looking at web hosting
organizations. Be that as it may, a single factor will not make one internet business
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have in a way that is better than another.

Many hosting plans offer the accompanying security highlights:

●● Firewalls.
)A

●● SSL Certificates.
●● Spam filters.
●● DDoS protection.
●● Virus Protection.
●● Domain name privacy.
(c

Hacking is enormous business. A few programmers need to obliterate sites for the
sake of entertainment. Others need to gather significant data or benefit from your site.

They may infuse code into your site that puts viruses on your visitor’s PCs or hacks
advertising space. They can take passwords or encrypt the entirety of your documents
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IT Applications in Business 157

and require a payment installment to decode them.


Notes

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Any sort of fraud including your site could put your shop and notoriety in risk. A
secure hosted ecommerce should offer an assortment of safeguards, remembering the
ones for the rundown above, to give you satisfaction.

2. PCI Compliance.
PCI compliance ought to be presented by any ecommerce web host. At the point

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when you’re managing a gigantic measure of individual information, including Visa
or MasterCard numbers, a breach could be devastating. On the off chance that you
believe that this will not occur to you, reconsider.

Numerous organizations have encountered information breach. In 2019:

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●● 139 million Canva client accounts were undermined.
●● Third-party Facebook applications released the client data from 540 million
individuals.
●● An unsecure server uncovered 4 billion records of personal details.
Up to 90% of the logins to ecommerce sites might be fake. Around 20% of

About 30% prevent buying from that organization briefly.


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individuals who find out about a breach quit shopping at a specific retailer out and out.

Retailers are needed to submit to PCI DSS, guidelines that ensure client data. At
the point when you pick the correct web have, they’ll guarantee PCI consistence with
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the goal that you don’t need to stress over it.

3. File sizes.
On the off chance that you have an online store, you most likely have a picture
heavy site. With such countless records put on your website, you don’t need clients to
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encounter slow load times.

Probably the greatest offenders that cause site delays are visual recordings, high-
resolution photographs, and PDFs.

Your hosting plan needs sufficient bandwidth to help the support your files. The
best hosting stage will likewise manage you toward optimizing your picture and videos
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to optimum sizes to enhance your speed of website.

4. Backups
Your online shop may be not difficult to fabricate and oversee, yet what happens
)A

when things turn out badly? If your site gets hacked or doesn’t work appropriately after
an update, back up could save your situation.

Without a simple method to back up your site, you could lose client, request, and
item information. If you paid an office to assemble your site, you could lose the entirety
of that work and cash.
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You ought to back up however much information as could be expected consistently;


every day backups aren’t impossible. The backups ought to be put away on a different
worker from your site and be not difficult to get to if you need to re-establish your site. If

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you utilize a facilitating arrangement that backs up its whole stage, you don’t need to do
Notes it exclusively.

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5. Account Limitations.
You likely need to get the most value for your money from your web hosting
platform. At the point when you’re doing your exploration, make a point to read
thoroughly the fine print.

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Discover what you get with each arrangement. Realize whether you can refurbish if
you need greater versatility alternatives. Ensure you know precisely what each package
incorporates.

Here are some Account limitations that you may experience when you’re looking at

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ecommerce hosting plans:

●● Free ecommerce software that expects you to pay independently for SSL
certificates or hosting.
●● Limited files stockpiling.
●● Only a couple of free site templates; you may need to pay extra for the best

●●

●●
ones.

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Additional charges if you don’t utilize the hosting administration’s installment
processors.
Limits on sale volumes.
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●● No admittance to client customer care agents.
●● Hefty overage expenses on the off chance that you surpass the data
bandwidth.
●● Poor analytics and alternatives.
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●● Difficulty modifying and customizing your user-friendly site without developer


knowledge.

Ecommerce Hosting Types


There are a couple of varieties of hosting choices. Most retailers, particularly
independent ventures, don’t have their own locales. That is on the grounds that
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ecommerce hosting arrangements offer such countless advantages and affordability.

1. SaaS Hosting.
Programming as-a-organization, or SaaS, is one kind of cloud-based facilitating.
)A

SaaS uses outsider, cloud-based programming that is accessible by methods for the
web. Using a SaaS have lets free you to build up your business without worrying about
IT gives that you would have to manage in case you were self-facilitating.

Your host supervises:

●● Applications.
(c

●● Data.
●● Servers.
●● Runtime.

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●● Networking.
●● Storage.
Notes

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Anyway, long you have a web connection, you can use the product, which regularly
consolidates shopping containers, facilitating establishment, programming licenses
and applications that grant you to arrange the structure with financial and uncovering
programming.

You don’t have to download anything to your own PC. As a trade-off for your

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product access, you ordinarily pay a fixed month to month charge.

In like manner, you don’t have to worry about covered troubles. Your enrollment covers
everything from upkeep to security. SaaS stages require minor dedication from you.

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2. Self-Hosted (On Premise).
To have your site yourself, you need to have your own actual servers. While bigger
organizations may store these in a huge room or server farm, this alternative doesn’t
bode well for most online retailers.

Self-hosting gives you unlimited oversight over how you manage your servers. In

adaptability.
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any case, if you don’t have IT information, you will not have the option to exploit that

You’re answerable for everything from equipment breakdowns to programming


glitches. What do you do when the power goes out?
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When you buy the hardware and recruit a group to deal with your servers, you’ll
presumably wind up spending out more cash than you would in the incident that you
utilized another hosting alternative.
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3. Other Cloud hosting alternatives.


Infrastructure as-a-administration, or IaaS, is another cloud-based computing
choice that normally works by means of a return pay-as-you-use structure. It’s more
dependable and more secure than buying your own software. You can scale up as you
develop.
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In any case, with IaaS, a dealer normally pays one organization to permit the
product. Another gathering may have the site.

As an IaaS customer, you have complete command over the framework. Yet, to pick
the correct choices, you need to comprehend what ecommerce highlights you need.
)A

You deal with the runtime, applications working frameworks, middleware,


and information. The supplier deals with the servers, virtualization, and systems
administration.

Albeit this might be the most adaptable distributed computing model, it isn’t the
simplest to comprehend. Since everything is charged dependent on use, you may
encounter sticker stun in case you don’t know what abilities you need in advance. An
(c

IaaS supplier may likewise encounter execution issues when responsibilities are high.

The other kind of cloud-based processing is platform as-a-administration, or PaaS.


This additionally conveys software and equipment tools over the web; however, clients

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sign into a particular stage and control board to assemble applications. It is anything but
Notes an out-of-the-box administration, however.

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PaaS is most usually utilized by engineers. You don’t need to compose a novel
application without any preparation or manage broad coding. The engineer holds
unlimited authority over the applications, while the supplier oversees capacity, workers,
and systems administration.

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4. Criteria for Choosing an Ecommerce Host
Picking some unacceptable ecommerce host can cost you cash, time and headache.

Since relocating your site can be disappointing, it’s imperative to discover a host
that finds harmony between your spending plan, site advancement needs, uphold

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prerequisites and development potential.

1. How big is your budget?


You could pay $10 or $10,000 to assemble and have your ecommerce website.
Even though ecommerce website offers packages, you need to comprehend what

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you’re having the chance to choose whether they’re cost-productive. Paying more
doesn’t generally give you the best insight. In any case, picking the least expensive
alternative will ordinarily leave you searching for add-on abilities from elsewhere.
Sorting out charges from different suppliers is generally the costliest approach.
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Before you pick an online business have, settle on your spending plan for:

●● Web design.
●● Security.
●● Programming and functionality.
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●● Licensing.
●● Monthly hosting.
●● Maintenance.
●● Custom app creation.
If you pick an independent web host, you’ll need to explore the expenses of these
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administrations from different suppliers. In any case, if you take all-in-one hosts, you’ll
frequently find that you can choose a special package that incorporates these incredible
highlights and stays inside within your financial plan.
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2. How much development experience do you have?


Despite the size of your spending plan, you can decide to buy your hosting,
ecommerce platform and extensions independently otherwise you would have a great
deal of web development experience. Subjected to your requirements, this can be a
less expensive alternative.

Be that as it may, you’ll likely make back the initial investment with regards to
(c

your time. In addition, constructing and keeping up your site can divert you from your
essential business, which is selling your products or services.

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If you do have web development experience, the choice may reduce to a matter of
control. Notes

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Would you like to redo your site with a great deal of non-standard upgrades? Do
you have a non-standard plan of action? Would you be able to bear the cost of the time
and capital that you need to totally redo your site?

If you responded to yes to these inquiries, you should search for a platform with
the most abilities paying less mind to cost. You could likewise choose an independent

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hosting plan and construct your online store without any preparation.

3. What support will you need?


This inquiry is identified with your IT information. Since you have no clue about the

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thing you’re doing, you presumably need to pick the ecommerce with an easy to use
interface and assets — like a web designer — to assist you with making your website.
You may likewise require a significant expert help to keep up your site and troubleshoot
issues.

Search for services that have incredible audits for their client care. Some have

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24/7 chat features, while others expect you to open a ticket and sit for an answer thus
it becomes major problem if issues addressed very late. Your hosting provider is a
colleague and business partner. Select a dependable organization with which you can
build up a drawn-out relationship.
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Hosting Options for Your Ecommerce Platform
Ecommerce accompany fluctuating hosting choices. Understanding the critical
contrasts from platform to platform is vital for your online business methodology.
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1. Hosted ecommerce platform


BigCommerce stands out with the best uptime at 99.99%. Because of the Google
Cloud stage framework, you can expect highlights like quick burden times, inflexible
security, DDOS insurance, ISO/IEC 27001:2013 affirmed HTTPS, and Level 1 PCI
Compliant hosting. To make it better, you’ll approach these industry driving highlights:

●● Unlimited data transmission.


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●● Fast content conveyance organization.


●● Buy new space names.
●● Use a current space name.
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●● Shared SSL testament included.


●● Buy or move committed SSL declarations.

2. Nexcess
Nexcess is a web hosting specialist co-op that furnishes customers with a hosting
environment to address business issues. Nexcess has an assortment of plans intended
(c

for people or organizations proprietors, including little organizations and enormous


internet business stores.

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Platforms, for example, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Drupal and


Notes Wordpress are viable with Nexcess. Throughout the long term, Nexcess has become

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famous on account of its day in and day out client care, alongside different highlights
including:

●● Nexcess Cloud Auto Scaling and Accelerator.


●● Domain enrollment services.
●● PCI-consistent information services.

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●● SSAE-18 compliance.
●● Enterprise-level application stack.
Nexcess likewise offers free site transfers with all hosting arrangements.

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3. BlueHost
BlueHost is a web arrangements organization that is focused on driving WordPress
destinations.

Bluehost is ideal for starting bloggers, yet additionally serves ecommerce destinations

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for independent ventures. The entirety of its WordPress hosting plans includes:

●● Automatic WordPress establishment.


●● Microsoft 365 access.
●● Free area for one year.
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●● Automatic WordPress updates.
●● Secure login configuration setup.
●● Google My Business check.
It likewise offers shared hosting plans, VPS facilitating with SSD stockpiling or
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committed hosting.

4. SiteGround
SiteGround is a web hosting platform that spends significant time in site building
and the management. It gives answers for people and private companies.
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SiteGround is viable with WordPress and WooCommerce, and it offers oversaw


cloud hosting. A portion of its highlights include:

●● Smart AI framework to hinder malicious traffic.


●● Daily site reinforcement for easyrestore.
)A

●● Free SSL for each site prepared.


●● Regular server status checks.
●● NGINX Direct Delivery for improved browser caching.
Free Cloudflare CDN with Railgun is remembered for all plans.
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5. Rackspace
Rackspace is an overseen cloud arrangement that is regularly utilized with medium
size organizations and web retailers. Rackspace works with Microsoft, Amazon Web

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Services, Google Cloud and Oracle. Portions of its web hosting services include:
Notes

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●● 100% Production Platform Uptime Guarantee.
●● CDN for quick page loading.
●● Flexibility to scale your site.
●● 24x7x365 admittance to specialists.
●● Dedicated servers for quick deployment.

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Rackspace offers arrangement and framework choices to oversee, enhance,
manage, and optimize infrastructure, applications, and security.

6. A2 Hosting

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A2 Hosting offers “flaring rapid” answers for people and organizations, everything
being equal, including starting bloggers and expert designers. A2 Hosting works with
WordPress and PHP-based stages like Magento, Drupal, Joomla and OpenCart.
Accessible highlights include:

●● Turbo Server for quick hosting.


●●
●●
●●
●●
Free account transfers.
99.9% uptime responsibility.
Automatic back up.
Unlimited SSD space.
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It offers shared hosting, WordPress facilitating, VPS facilitating, affiliate facilitating
and committed facilitating.

7. WP Engine
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WP Engine offers answers for organizations alongside little, medium, and


undertaking level organizations. It utilizes WordPress to make a digital platform
experience and works with platforms like Amazon Web Services, New Relic, Cloud
Flare, Google Cloud, and Hubspot.

WP Engine highlights include:


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●● Auto relocation.
●● Geotargeting for expanded commitment.
●● Automated reinforcements.
●● Multisite transformation.
)A

●● WordPress modules for a customized insight.


WP Engine has workers across the Europe, United States, the Middle East, Africa
and in the Asia-Pacific area.

8. WordPress.com
Wordpress.com gives hosting answers for bloggers, private ventures and Fortune
(c

500 organizations. A portion of Wordpress.com’s highlights include:

●● Ability to have your own content.

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164 IT Applications in Business

●● Get top to bottom insights.


Notes ●● Utilize worked in SEO apparatuses.

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●● Create a strong, custom site.
●● Get found through WordPress Reader.

9. Liquid Web.
Liquid Web gives completely oversee hosting to mid-market and endeavor level

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organizations. It’s viable with WooCommerce, WordPress, and Magento. Accessible
Liquid Web highlights include:

●● Multi server hosting arrangements.


●● Single-inhabitant, on-request committed framework.

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●● HIPAA/PCI affirmations to guarantee security.
●● Protection against weaknesses.
●● 24/7 on location staff for tool replacement.
Liquid Web has a 100% uptime to ensure on their organization and power.

3.1.8. Electronic Payment System


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As the name recommends, an electronic installment framework or e-installment
framework alludes to the installment of products or managements over the web without
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the utilization of money or check and anyway advances the utilization of credit or debit
card and other online installment techniques.

The journey from barter system framework to the electronic installments framework
has been a rough ride yet a ride that has empowered us to make installments smooth
and secure that today, we can pay for anything, to anybody from any piece of the world
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in a split second. To be adequately simple, we are before long going to be a global


village where money would be a relic of past times.

The unexpected ascent in the quantity of customers liking to pay through online
exchanges and numerous retailers selling over the web dismissing COD or charging a
specific measure of whole extra for each COD energizes electronic-installments as well
as imprints a float from the customary money to card situation.
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E-payment cycle:
Also, before we continue any further, how about we comprehend the e-payment
cycle: the e-payment framework cycle is a confounded and prolonged interaction
)A

outside the domains of the average person like you and me and thus we should attempt
to pictorially depict the scene that goes behind each effective e-payment framework:
(c

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Notes

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https://www.atomtech.in/blog/electronic-payment-system/

Customer action – the cycle starts with the client starting the main move of visiting

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the shipper’s site and adding products or services to their truck, trailed by rounding out
the payment structure with certain data dependent on the payment choice chose by
him. For e.g., if it’s a UPI exchange, the client can just enter the VPA.

Payment authentication & authorization by the operator – this stage includes the
payment gateway supplier’s entrance in the greater perspective. The Payment gateway
operator checks whether the payment data entered is substantial and ensure funds

transaction status in like manner.


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are accessible in the client ledger for the payment. Furthermore, reports back the

Settlement of Payment in the sellers account – If the transaction is fruitful, the


online payment specialist moves the equivalent into the shipper’s record consequently
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finishing the electronic-payment cycle.

Types of e-payment system payments can be started in the below mentioned ways:

Card Payment System: the card payment system includes starting payments on
the web or through an electronic gadget and requires the utilization of a credit or debit
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card issued by a financial institute to the cardholder for making payments.

Net Banking or internet banking structure includes the exchange of assets carefully
to each other by means of the internet without having to truly visit the bank or any of its
branches. Some of the modes of net banking include IMPS, RTGS, NEFT.

Other than those strategies referenced above, transfer of assets can likewise be
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prepared under the beneath referenced ways:

E-wallet: the most recent and the widely utilized type of payments wherein account
details of the individual is added already, similar to a person’s debit or Visa, accordingly,
empowering smooth transfer of the money via online transfers. Alternate Payments
)A

Methods

Smart card: A plastic card with a microchip chip embedded that can be loaded with
funds to make exchanges safe and bother free.

Direct Debit: a plan made with a bank that permits an outsider to move cash from
an individual’s account on a concurred date for a concurred sum electronically to pay
(c

for products or services.

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166 IT Applications in Business

Stored-value card: this card includes a specific entirety sum of cash that is put
Notes away in the card beforehand and can be utilized to carry out an exchange at the issuer

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store. An example that is best suited for stored value card is gift vouchers.

UPI or Unified Payments Interface is an instant real-time payment gateway created by


the National Payments Corporation of India encouraging between bank exchanges of funds.

QR (Scan and Pay): QR or Quick Response Code is a machine-reliable code that


comprises of a network of dots in a highly matrix square, which can be scanned by the

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camera on a cell phone to start payments.

Advantages of Electronic Payment System


E-payment gateway has stunned the economic market in a manner which

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individuals might have never considered. Payment could be made so easily and
proficiently without the dispatch of real-time cash is what merchants are bowled upon.

Talked about beneath are a portion of the Key advantages for merchants adopting
e-payment:

●● When retailers or an online customer advances/upholds e-payment system in

●● ni
their site or retail location, they can connect with more customers around the
globe, consequently bringing about expanded sales and revenue growth.
The e-payment system is a channelized and precise structure of cash
collection and transfers -for exchange here are directed in a jiffy topped with
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high speed and accuracy.
●● Convenience is one more quill to its cap. Clients today can get to any sites,
quickly, whenever, and anyplace, 24*7 with just an internet connection and
pay for them independently!
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●● Lower exchange cost and reduced technology costs just adds more benefits
in the business, accordingly, promising ordinary limits on products and
empowering mass buy by customers.
●● E-Payment gateways providers offer high security and hostile to anti-fraud
devices on the payment gateways page to make transfers more reliable, free
from any threat for both-the sellers and the buyers!
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3.1.9: E-Commerce Applications


Benefits of utilizing ecommerce in business are motivating organizations to make
use of E-Commerce for their business. Different business regions like retail, wholesale
)A

and manufacturers are utilizing E-Commerce.

The most well-known Applications of E-commerce are as per the following:

Retail and Wholesale:


Internet business has various applications in retail and discount. E-retailing or
on-line retailing is the selling of merchandise from Business-to-Consumer through
(c

electronic stores that are planned to utilize the electronic catalogue and shopping
basket model. Cybermall is a single Website that offers various items and services at

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one Internet area. It draws in the client and the vender into one virtual space through a
Web browser. Notes

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Advertising:
Another application of e-commerce is marketing. Database collection about client
behavior, preferences, needs and purchasing behaviors is feasible through Web and
E-commerce. This aide showcasing exercises, for example, cost fixation, negotiations,
replace, item include improvement and relationship with the client.

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Finance:
Financial organizations are utilizing E-ecommerce to an enormous scale.

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Clients can check the balance of their saving and loan accounts, transfer cash to
their other account and pay their bill through on-line banking or E-banking.

Another use of E-business is on-line stock trading. Numerous Websites permit to


access news, diagrams, data about organization profile and expert rating on the stocks.

Manufacturing: E-Commerce is additionally utilized in the supply-chain tasks of

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an organization. A few organizations structure an electronic trade by giving together
purchase and sell products, exchange market data, and run back office data, for
example, stock control. This paces up the progression of crude material and completed
merchandise among the individuals from the business local area. Different strategic and
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competitive issues limit the usage of the business models.

Organizations may not confide in their rivals and may expect that they will lose
trade secrets if they partake in mass electronic trades.

Auctions: C2C E-commerce is immediate selling of merchandise and enterprises


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among clients.

It additionally incorporates e-auctions that include bidding. Offering is an


extraordinary type of sale that permits forthcoming purchasers to bid for a thing.

For instance, carrier organizations offer the client a chance to provide the cost
quotation for a seat on a particular course on the predetermined date and time.
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3. 1.10. E-Core Values – Ethical, Legal, Taxation and International Issues

Ethics, Social and Political issues


)A

Characterizing the rights of individuals to communicate their thoughts and the


property rights of copyright proprietors are only two of numerous ethical, social, and
political driven issues raised by the fast advancement of e-commerce.

The ethical, social, and political driven issues brought up in ecommerce, give
a system to getting sorted out the issues, and make suggestions for managers who
are given the obligation of operating e-commerce organizations inside regularly
acknowledged guidelines of fittingness. Understanding Ethical, Social, And Political
(c

Issues in E-Commerce Internet and its utilization in web-based business have raised
unavoidable moral, social and policy driven issues on a scale extraordinary for PC
innovation.

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168 IT Applications in Business

We live in an “information society,” where power and wealth progressively rely


Notes upon data and information as focal resources. Debates over data are frequently truth

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be told contradictions over power, riches, impact, and different things thought to be
important. Like different advances like steam, power, phones, and TV, the Internet and
ecommerce can be utilized to accomplish social advancement, and generally, this has
happened. Nonetheless, similar innovations can be utilized to commit wrongdoings,
spoil the climate, and threaten social values. Prior to cars, there was next to no
automobile offense and almost no government locale over crime. In like manner with

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the Internet: Before the Internet, there was almost no “digital crimes.”

Numerous business firms and people are profiting by the commercial advancement
of the Internet; however, this improvement likewise demands a cost from people,
associations, and social orders. These expenses and advantages should be

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deliberately considered by those trying to settle on ethical and socially capable choices
in this new atmosphere.

Public Policy Issues in E-Commerce


The major ethical, social, and political driven issues that have created around

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ecommerce in the course of the last seven to eight years can be inexactly ordered into
four significant measurements: data rights, property rights, administration, and public
wellbeing and government assistance. A portion of the ethical, social, and political
driven issues brought up in every one of these regions incorporate the accompanying:
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●● Information rights: What rights to their very own data do people have
in a public commercial center, or in their personal homes, when Internet
technology make data assortment so inescapable and productive? What
rights do people need to get to data about business firms and different
associations?
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●● Property rights: How can customary intellectual property rights are


authorized in a web world where ideal duplicates of ensured works can be
made and effortlessly disseminated worldwide in short order?
●● Governance: Should the Internet and web-based business be dependent
upon public laws? Also, if this is true, what law-production bodies have
purview - state, government, or potentially worldwide?
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●● Public safety and welfare: What endeavors ought to be attempted to


guarantee unbiased admittance to the Internet and ecommerce channels?
Should governments be liable for guaranteeing that schools and universities
access the Internet? Are online substance and exercises - pornography and
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gambling- a threat to public wellbeing and government assistance? Should


mobile ecommerce be permitted from moving vehicles?
To delineate, envision that out of nowhere society and people are pretty much in
a moral harmony achieved by a sensitive adjusting of people, social associations, and
political organizations. People realize what is anticipated from them, social associations,
for example, business firms know their cutoff points, capacities, and jobs and political
(c

foundations give a steady system of market guideline, banking and business law
that gives sanctions against violators. Abruptly people, business firms, and political
foundations are stood up to by additional opportunities of conduct. For example, people
find that they can download ideal advanced digital copies of music tracks, something
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IT Applications in Business 169

which, under the old innovation of CDs, would have been incomprehensible. This can be
done, even after fact that these music tracks still “belong” as a legal matter to the owners Notes

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of the copyright - musicians and record label companies.

The beginning of the Internet and e-commerce impacts political institutions,


societies, and individuals. These effects can be pooled into 4 good measurements:
property rights, administration, data rights, and public security and government
assistance. Then business firms find that they can make a business out of collecting

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these music tracks - or making a section for sharing music tracks-despite the fact that
they don’t “own” them in the conventional sense. The record organizations, courts,
and Congress were not set up from the outset to adapt to the assault of online digital
copying. Courts and administrative bodies should make new laws and arrive at new
decisions about who possesses advanced duplicates of copyrighted works and under

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what conditions such works can be “shared.” It might require a long time to grow new
understandings, laws, and satisfactory conduct in this one territory of social effect.
Meanwhile, as an individual and an administrator, you should choose what you and
your firm ought to do in legitimate “dim”- territories, where there is struggle between
ethical standards, yet no reasonable cultural rules. How might you use sound judgment
in this sort of circumstance?

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Prior to checking on the four good components of ecommerce in more prominent
profundity, we will momentarily survey some fundamental ideas of ethical thinking that
you can use as a manual for ethical dynamic, and give general thinking standards about
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social political issues of the Internet that you will look later on.
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Basic Ethical Concepts: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability


Ethics is at the center of social and political debates concerning the Internet.
Ethics is the study of ideas that folks and organizations can use to decide proper and
fallacious classes of motion. It is assumed in ethics that persons are loose ethical
(c

agents who can make choices.

Extending ethics from folks to business companies and even whole societies can
be tough, however it isn’t unimaginable. If there is a decision-making body or person

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170 IT Applications in Business

(Board of Directors, CEO in an industry, company, governmental frame in a society),


Notes their decisions are also judged towards various ethical rules. If you realize some

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elementary moral rules, your ability to reason about better social and political debates
can be stepped forward. In western culture, there are ability and legal responsibility
rules that all moral schools of idea percentage: duty, account- liability.

Responsibility means that as loose ethical brokers, people, organizations, and


societies are accountable for the actions they take. Accountability implies that people,

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organizations, and societies must be held accountable to others for the results of their
actions. The 3rd concept -liability - extends the concepts of duty and responsibility to
the world of legislation. Liability is a characteristic of political systems by which a frame
of legislation is in place that permits individuals to get better the damages completed
to them via other actors, systems, or organizations. Due process is a function of law-

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governed societies and refers to a process through which regulations are recognized
and understood and there is a capability to attraction to raised authorities to ensure that
the regulations have been implemented accurately.

Analyzing Ethical Dilemmas

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Ethical, social, and political controversies in most cases present themselves
as dilemmas. A dilemma is a scenario during which there are a minimum of two
diametrically hostile movements, each of which helps a fascinating result. When
confronted with a situation that turns out to offer ethical dilemmas, how are you able
to analyze and reason why concerning the scenario? The following is a 5-step process
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that should lend a hand.

●● Identify and clearly describe the information (facts). Find out who did
what to whom, and where, when, and how. In many circumstances, you will
be stunned at the errors in the to start with reported details, and often you are
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going to find that merely getting the info straight is helping define the answer.
It additionally is helping to get the opposing events curious about an ethical
catch to situation to agree on the facts.
●● Define the struggle or predicament and determine the higher order value
concerned. Ethical, social, and political issues all the time reference to higher
values. Otherwise, there can be no debate. The events to a dispute all claim
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to be pursuing higher values (e.g., privacy, freedom, protection of belongings,


and the -enterprise machine). For example, Double Click and its supporters
argue that their monitoring of consumer movements at the Web will increase
marketplace efficiency and the wealth of the entire society. Opponents argue
)A

this claimed efficiency comes at the expense of person privatives, and Double
Click will have to cease its or offer Web customers the choice of no longer
collaborating in such monitoring.
●● Identify the stakeholders. Every ethical, social, and political factor has
stakeholders: gamers within the game who would be interested in the result,
who’ve its vested within the situation, and in most cases who’ve vocal
opinions. Find out the identity of those teams and what they want. This will
(c

likely be useful later when designing an answer.


●● Identity the choices that you’ll moderately take. You may find that not one
of the choices satisfies all the pursuits concerned, but that some options do a

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better job than others. Sometimes, arriving at a “good” or ethical answer may
not, all the time be a balancing of consequences to stakeholders. Notes

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●● Identify the potential consequences of your options. Some options are
also ethically right kind, however disastrous from different issues of view.
Other choices might work in this one example, but now not in different similar
cases. Always ask yourself, “what if I choose this option consistently over
time?” Once your research is complete, you can check with the next well-
established moral idea to lend a hand come to a decision the subject.

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Privacy and Information Rights
The Internet and the Web provide a super setting for invading the private privacy
of hundreds of thousands of customers on a scale extraordinary in history. Perhaps

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no other recent factor has raised as much widespread social and political concern as
protective the privatives of over 160 million Web users in the United States by me.

The major ethical issues associated with ecommerce and private comprises the
following: Under what conditions must we invade the privacy of others?

What legitimates intruding into others’ lives via unobtrusive surveillance, market

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research, or other method? The primary social problems related to e-commerce and
privacy worry the improvement of “exception of privacy” or privacy norms, in addition to
public attitudes. In what spaces of should we inspire folks to suppose they’re in “private
territory” versus public view? The primary political issues associated with ecommerce
U
and self-worry the development of statutes that govern the family members between
record keepers and people.

The Concept of Privacy


Privacy is the ethical right of people to be left by myself, loose from surveillance
ity

or interference from different people or organizations, including the state. Privacy is a


girder supporting freedom: Without the privacy required to suppose, write, plan, and
associate independently and without worry, social and political freedom is weakened,
and in all probability destroyed. Information privacy is a subset of privacy. The right to
knowledge privacy comprises each the declare that sure knowledge should no longer
be collected in any respect by means of governments or industry companies, and the
m

claim of people to control over personal of whatever data this is accumulated about
them. Individual regulate over private knowledge is on the core of the privacy thought.
Due process additionally plays an important function in defining privacy. The highest
remark of due process in record protecting is given by means of the Fair Information
)A

Practices doctrine developed within the early 1970s and prolonged to the net privacy
debate in the past due 1990s (described below).

Legal Protections
In the United States, Canada, and Germany, rights to privacy are explicitly granted
in or may also be derived from, founding documents reminiscent of constitutions,
as well as in explicit statutes. In England and the United States, there could also be
(c

protection of privateness within the common law, a body of court decisions involving
torts or personal accidents. For example, within the United States, four privacy-
related torts had been outlined in court docket choices involving claims of injury to

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172 IT Applications in Business

folks led to through different private events intrusion on solitude, public disclosure of
Notes private info, exposure hanging an individual in a false gentle, and appropriation of a

ity
person’s name or likeness (mostly relating to celebrities) for a business objective. In
the United States, the claim to privateness towards executive intrusion is safe primarily
by the First Amendment promises of freedom of speech and association and the
Fourth: Amendment protections in opposition to unreasonable seek and seizure of
one’s non-public documents or house, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of
due process. In addition to commonplace legislation and the Constitution, there are

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both federal rules and state regulations that protect people in opposition to executive
intrusion and in some circumstances define privacy rights vis-à-vis private organizations
like monetary, training, and media establishments.

Table Federal Privacy Laws

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NAME DESCRIPTION
General Federal Privacy Laws
Freedom of Information Act Gives people the right to inspect information about
of 1966 themselves held in government files, also allows other
individuals and organizations the right to request

Privacy Act of 1947, as


amended
ni
disclosure of government records based on the publics
right to know
Regulates the federal government’s collection, use. and
disclosure of data collected by federal agencies. Gives
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individuals right to inspect and correct records. Makes
Electronic Communications conduct that would infringe on the security of electronic
Privacy Act of 1986 communications illegal
Computer Matching and Regulates computerized matching of files held by
Privacy different government agencies
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Protection Act of 1983


Computer Security Act of Makes conduct that would infringe on the security of
1987 computer based files illegal
Driver’s Privacy Protection Limits access to personal information maintained by
Act of 1994 state Motor vehicle departments to these with legit
mate business purposes Also gives drivers the option
m

to prevent disclosure of driver’s license information to


marketers and the general public
Privacy Laws affecting Private Institutions
Fair Credit Reporting Act Regulates the credit investigating and reporting industry.
)A

of 1970 Gives people the right to inspect credit records if they


have been denied credit and provides procedures for
correcting information
Family Educational Rights Requires schools and colleges to give students and their
and Privacy Act of 1974 parents access to student records and to allow them to
challenge and correct information limits disclosure of
such records to third parties
(c

Right to Financial Privacy Regulates the financial industry’s use of personal


Act of 1978 financial records establishes procedures that federal
agencies mist follow to gain access to such records

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Privacy Protection Act of Prohibits government agents from conducting


Notes

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1980 unannounced searches of press offices and files if no
one in the office is suspected of committing a crime.
Cable Communications Regulates the cable industry’s collection and disclosure
Policy Act of 1984 of information concerning subscribers
Video Privacy Protection Prevents disclosure of a person’s video rental records
Act of 1988 without court order or consent

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What Are the Common International Ecommerce Issues?
1. Language and Localization: When workings in a single country, language
problems are few and a way between. Even if you’re not a local speaker, the
truth that you’ve a single language to master way your consideration may also

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be devoted to this activity.
With world ecommerce, issues get complicated as the need to provide constant
customer reviews will increase. When a prospect comes from China or Germany,
even though their browser is about to English, they won’t essentially take hold
of subtleties, idioms, or colloquialisms.

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This challenge becomes more pressing while you imagine …
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m

Data compiled within The Global Ecommerce Playbook

2. Content and Cultural Perceptions: Of path, language isn’t the one factor that
determines whether content resonates. Sometimes, even the most efficient
)A

literal translations end up in embarrassing blunders, like when KFC’s motto


— “Finger-lickin’ good” — used to be translated in China to read: “We’ll eat
your fingers off.” Or when Ford’s advert — “Every car has a high-quality body”
— ended up reading in Belgium: “Every car has a high-quality corpse.” Worse,
other people groups have different cultural requirements and customs. What
may also be thought to be humorous or informal in a single tradition could also
be nonsensical or downright offensive to these from other backgrounds.
(c

3. Technical Infrastructure and Speed: Infrastructure inside of most evolved


nations is uniform, and — unless you opt for a cheap resolution — your visitors
will enjoy solid uptimes and loading speeds.

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When you progress overseas, issues alternate dramatically. If you depend at


Notes the same servers as a one-size-fits-all solution, you’ll soon understand that

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sure geographies have much slower get entry to.
The result is an inevitable drop in conversion charges.

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4. ni
Image and data via Skilled

Customer Support and Service: Depending on your merchandise, customer


support generally is an important attention. For instance, in case you promote
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digital apparatus or anything with that calls for meeting, it’s possible you’ll want
to supply both static instructions and live beef up in native languages.
Furthermore, chances are you’ll wish to provide upkeep and repair for the
goods themselves. Observing how your FAQ pages perform with consumers
in different languages — in addition to seek queries for your onsite seek — can
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uncover so much about what beef up different spaces want.


5. Currency and Payment Preferences: Converting costs into local forex is a
relatively easy activity that may be accomplished via your retailer’s theme,
customer-facing apps, or more storefronts.
m
)A

The real issue is offering optimized payment preferences. While bank cards are a
universally recognized cost approach, in some nations there are also other and extra
common strategies that users are merely extra acquainted with and because of this
extra trustful of. Try to determine if this may be the case and check out to mend this.
(c

How to Identify Your Site’s International Ecommerce Issues?


With the ones challenges in mind, the query becomes: “How do you identify and
solve the most critical international problems your visitors are facing?”

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The resolution lies in information …


Notes

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Google Analytics’ out-of-the-box setup provides granular geographical location,
even all the way down to the town users come from. With this data, you’ll apply the
conduct of visitors for your web page according to either their geo-location or language
and then measure how effective your website online is in engaging specific teams.

The elementary manner to try this is to make use of target audience reviews and
check the habits of various groups depending at the country they come from and the

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language they speak.

While the country field can be correct, the language box will depend on the
language settings of the visitor’s browser and OS. Remember, this doesn’t imply they all
talk English even though their browser is ready to US English.

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Using the common jump charge of different visitors and conversions in keeping
with goals, you can find out how effectively your website engages and addresses other
prospects.

ni
U
Of direction, you will have to step back prior to any analysis and notice if it is worth
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it. If your web page is not frequented via a significant portion of global visitors (i.e., not
up to 10% of periods), there’s little level in looking to make stronger their revel in.

You can also read about person landing pages through filtering according to nation:
m
)A
(c

However, to actually gauge the place to take a position your efforts and answers,
step one should be setting up segments, as these are the most readily to be had way
of exhibiting fractions of your website guests and inspecting their conduct cut loose the
others.
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Demographic Segments
Notes

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To create a section, click on at the ‘Add new segment’ button on best of your
document screen. Once a conversation field opens, choose ‘+New Segment.’

In this example, we can use a geographic location to investigate consumers


coming from other international locations. In the Demographics option, it is possible for
you to outline Location in step with Continent, Country, Region, or City to wreck down
your customers to ever smaller segments.

rs
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ni
Ideally, you’ll use segments to make sense of acquisition studies. For instance,
you’ll see how visitors from other nations reach your site as well as their behavior after
they arrive.
U
However, there’s one important facet of your ecommerce web page that you will
now not have the ability to analyze the use of segments — the conversion funnel.
Unfortunately, this record is unimaginable to segment, however there is a solution.

To make it conceivable, you’ll be able to create a distinct view of each essential


nation and/or language. By growing views, it is possible for you to ‘segment’ the funnel
ity

file in line with a country, but without having to use the Advanced Segments feature of
your analytics:
m
)A

Language Analysis
The easiest studies to identify issues with language and localization are the
general overview of demographic knowledge. The former will comprise a table of key-
metric comparisons:
(c

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Notes

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rs
ve
In this situation, we will be able to see that kind of 70% of all classes in this web
page use the English language (either US or GB variant). Those users appear extra
engaged with leap charges at 39% and 56% respectively and moderate pages in line
with consultation round four.

Sessions that used different languages have upper bounce charges, decrease

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reasonable pages visited, and longer moderate session duration. Likely, this implies
global visitors are suffering to interpret the content material after which leaving.

However, because scale of the issue seems restricted — in no instance did the
U
opposite languages include greater than three% of all visitors — the problem is not vital.

The conversion fee of English talking visitors is approximately 3%, while others
have a far decrease price — most often lower than zero.5%. Those varieties of bottom-
line disparities are precisely what you will have to be in search of on your own studies.
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Location Reports
Location stories are offered in a similar fashion to language:
m
)A

Location stories can be utilized as an extra indicator of potential issues world


guests have.
(c

While the language report indicates trouble with decoding content, location reviews
indicate different elements that obstruct the conversion of international visitors.

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For example, if a majority your orders come from your home country, as is the case
Notes here — with UK and Canada being the sole outliers — it’ll point out a problem with site

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velocity or pay gateways for international consumers.

This insight is particularly applicable should your intention for world growth. By
using these two reports you’ll determine areas you need to focus extra consideration
on.

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International Funnels
Google Analytics with Enhanced Ecommerce Features provides a very simple
strategy to phase your funnel and analyze behaviors:

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ni
U
By inspecting buying groceries behavior segmented in keeping with either
language or location (location is much better choice) you’ll uncover what probably
hinders your global visitors from completing their buy.
ity

If many drop out at product view, they possibly don’t fully perceive the offering … or
the product merely isn’t related to them.

If they added the product to cart however have now not completed the acquisition,
this may point out an issue with transport or value depending on the design of your
checkout waft. Dropouts at checkout most likely point out trouble with cost choices or
m

overall value.

While you cannot ensure without additional analysis (most likely via the usage of
surveys or person trying out), this narrows the potential problems down and you’ll be
)A

able to get started addressing them.

Sales through Country


As a last source of perception, Shopify’s “Customers by county” record should
be your big-picture benchmark to test your efforts in addition to gauge what world
opportunities are the ripest for developing localized storefronts.
(c

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Notes

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rs
When you figure out where most of your consumers come from, you’ll examine this

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information with the choice of visitors and see in case you are doing higher or worse for
customers coming from other international locations.

You can use your native language or home country as a benchmark and suppose
that everyone visitor must almost definitely convert at kind of the similar price. By
evaluating how different guests and consumers behaved, you can tell what is also

ni
fallacious or what attainable problems merit more consideration.

Similar to Google Analytics, Shopify Analytics be offering filters to create segments


of different visitors. Using filters, you’ll be able to make studies that display best
shoppers or visitors from a selected nation after which examine their conduct for your
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selected benchmark efficiency.
ity

Conclusion: Growing the world over hinges on localization. But diagnosing what
demanding situations are barriers to global enlargement can be a problem unto itself.

The first step in fixing international ecommerce problems is figuring out them via
m

analytics. After all, the one solution to clear up an issue is to pull it into the light.

3.1.11 E-commerce Security Risks

E-commerce Security Risks Currently Faced via Online Retailers


)A

Security risks related to e-commerce can be because of human error, a twist of


fate or unauthorized access to techniques. Online outlets are possibly to face bank
card fraud or knowledge errors. Their on-line retail outlets also are more likely to face
phishing assaults, disbursed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and man-in-the-middle
attacks as defined beneath.
(c

Credit Card Fraud


Credit card fraud is the most common security threat that on-line outlets face. It
occurs when a hacker gains unauthorized access to consumers’ personal and fee

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180 IT Applications in Business

data. To get entry to this knowledge, the hacker might penetrate the database of an
Notes e-commerce web site the use of malicious instrument methods. At instances, a hacker’s

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aim when stealing customers’ information is to promote it on black markets.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks


This type of safety threat focuses at, taking down an internet retail retailer by
sending overwhelming requests to its servers. The attack originates from thousands of

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untraceable IP addresses. When this type of risk hits the servers, they decelerate or
completely close down. An e-commerce site too can cross offline quickly when a DDoS
attack affects its servers.

Man-in-the-middle Attacks

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As hackers are changing into smarter with era, they’re devising ways of paying
attention to the communications made through users of an e-commerce web page.
Through a method referred to as a man-in-the-middle attack, those hackers maliciously
trick users into connecting to a public wireless network. They acquire access to people’s
gadgets once they are on public wireless networks. Hackers get to look at other

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people’s surfing history, bank card numbers, passwords and usernames if the internet
sites they are visiting lack robust encryptions.

Bad Bots
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Bots, either just right or bad, are in all places the global internet. Search engines
reminiscent of Bing and Google use excellent bots for indexing seeks results. On the
other hand, there are hackers that use malicious bots for collecting data akin to product
knowledge, inventories and pricing data. These bots also are able to having access to
the database of an e-commerce website online and list the logins of person accounts.
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Malware
In data generation, malware merely refers to malicious device methods. Attackers
in most cases inject internet pages or records data with those malicious methods to
help them in gaining access to online retails shops. Through approach equivalent
to SQL injection, they may be able to easily insert the malware right into a website’s
m

database permitting it to compromise the information saved in the database.

Phishing Scams
E-commerce websites also are susceptible to phishing scams sent by means of
)A

known or unknown other people in type of emails. These scams center of attention
on concentrated on essential user information like bank card numbers and login
credentials. An attacker might use a scheme referred to as social engineering to trap
online shoppers to present out their non-public information. When dispatched in an
electronic mail to an internet client, a phishing scam might include a link to a malicious
website that resembles an e-commerce website.
(c

Best Practices to restrain the Security Issues in E-commerce


Fraud prices online retailers billions of bucks yearly. To solve the protection
problems in e-commerce, traders and cost companies must collaboratively come up
with efficient answers. Though these security problems are turning into intense with
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time, there are solutions that on-line shops can implement without affecting the user
revel in of their websites. In different phrases, they may be able to adopt the following Notes

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answers without impacting the customer enjoys.

Choose a PCI Compliant Hosting Provider


PCI compliant hosting providers in most cases have stringent procedures and
policies in place for guaranteeing safe bills. They also are sure that internet buyers can
conveniently use their debit or credit card to pay for items or products and services.

rs
Measures that they adopt come with risk research, intensive monitoring, use of anti-
malware tool and encryption. Besides relying on a PCI compliant webhosting provider,
on-line shops must also deploy regular PCI updates and scans on their sites to prevent
safety threats.

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Use an Address Verification System (AVS)
One of the safest techniques on-line shops can facilitate credit card processing is
by means of an Address Verification System (AVS). This gadget is able to compare a
buyer’s billing deal with in opposition to the tips stored on record by way of a bank card
issuer. It could block any suspicious transactions if the tips equipped doesn’t match with
the only saved at the credit card.

Require stronger passwords ni


The explanation why hackers simply gain get admission to customers’ login
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credentials is that almost all e-commerce sites fail to invite customers to supply more
potent passwords. Hackers can utilize algorithms to determine the passwords easily. A
Robust password incorporates a mix of alphabetical letters and numbers.

Use SSL Certificates


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It is obligatory for e-commerce internet sites to have SSL certificate for facilitating
protected consumer connections. These certificates are also useful in authenticating
the identification of a web-based retail trade and securing customers’ checkout data.
They additionally keep shoppers of online retail stores secure from financial fraud or
knowledge loss.
m

Summary
The internet has opened such a lot of alternatives for doing industry on-line, and
e-commerce is likely one of the most well-liked ones. Not only does it require low
funding, it is a kind of industry that does not require a full-time dedication, particularly
)A

in case you are promoting a limited selection of products. You just make a web-based
presence and advertise the trade right here and there the usage of both free and paid
strategies. However, as each business, it has its certain and negative sides. If you want
to achieve good fortune, you’ll have to create an organized strategy which is in line with
realistic targets and comprehensive research of the marketplace.
(c

Advantages and Disadvantages


Website repairs, processing orders, customer services and website analytics are all the
tasks you’ll have to take care of once the store is live and operating, however this isn’t a
nine to five work. You do always not need to be there, sitting by way of your table, sure
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182 IT Applications in Business

via the fixed operating hours. Instead, e-commerce offers plenty of flexibility for the traders,
Notes and this is among the major characteristics that bring this profession into the listing of top

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desired ones for other people these days. It brings a degree of freedom to manage your
individual time and work flexible hours, which is a priceless factor to have in life.

Even regardless that this is a bonus many paintings pros can only dream of,
working an e-commerce trade additionally calls for being on-line and to be had all the
time. You always must monitor the notifications and be ready to lend hand customers.

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Since e-commerce is not limited via location or limited paintings hours, you can accept
the orders from any place at any time. For you, because of this maintaining a tally of
the task and customer improve emails are always going to be a demand. And this is
essential if you want to have a hit business because of excellent buyer fortify is without
doubt one of the best ways to attract and stay consumers unswerving.

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Consistency and Dedication
Running e-commerce industry calls for many consistency and dedication from
your end to create a success trade. You always need to keep it professional and use a
way that is according to your enterprise goals. The first part is the initial one where you

ni
are serious about planning and setting up the online industry. Besides planning, which
will be probably the most primary duties, you are going to even must concentrate on
website online construction, product web page creation, and optimization, and so on.
Before you are making services to be had to the shoppers, you are going to additionally
need to do many testings of the web page. You should especially focus on checking out
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of the integrations like checkout page and payment gateways. It is the most important
that the entirety works tremendous on your website because of any loading error will
most certainly turn away the prospective customers.

The 2d part of the work is finished as soon as the shop is revealed on-line, and
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these tasks are excited about website online maintenance, product promotion, and
customer service. Consistency within the way you use is necessary right here as well
as a result of each social media publish, every newsletter, and every advert represents
your corporate and provides up to the general public image you create for the industry
you run. If you want to be taken seriously, if you want to construct a good on-line trade,
it’s a must to be professional and devoted to representing your corporate in the best
m

possible way. After all, every online job might be scrutinized by doable customers, and
you do not want to give them any reason why to doubt your credibility.

E-Commerce and Online Marketing


)A

Throughout the guide, crucial duties and targets of an e-commerce website online
were highlighted. Online advertising, or one of the most segments of internet online
affiliate marketing, is discussed on several occasions. This is because of having an
e-commerce industry requires using internet online affiliate marketing tactics and
techniques.

You will need search engine optimization to optimize your web page. You should
find out about website online analytics to be able to analyze and strengthen the
(c

efficiency of your site. Promotion of the e-commerce website online can’t be executed
without search engine marketing, social media marketing, e-mail advertising and
marketing or even internet affiliate marketing.

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IT Applications in Business 183

This signifies that e-commerce is a part of the machine. It is an internet business,


and as such, it is dependent at the internet online affiliate marketing strategies that can Notes

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deliver luck. To take advantage of out of those strategies and to make sure you are
doing all that is imaginable to advertise your e-commerce trade, you should explore the
subject of internet online affiliate marketing in more main points. The focus of this guide
used to be to turn you other aspects of running an e-commerce industry, and internet
affiliate marketing and its varieties are discussed to a restricted extent, which does not
mean you must forestall there.

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For instance, when you’ve got discovered that e-mail marketing will let you with
selling your e-commerce, find related resources on e mail marketing and then discover
strategies that can be applied to what you are promoting.

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Finally, it is necessary to highlight the effect of cellular units as soon as once more.
There is surely that cellular user revel in is one of the number one objective you want
to assume because the statistics in desire of mobile customers are keep growing. This
impacts the introduction of a sub-sector known as m-commerce. It is left to be observed
how this pattern will influence promoting online, but what is clear now is that cellular
customers contain a significant portion of general visitors, and as such, they can’t

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be omitted. You will have to not overlook the visitors that would help you build up the
selection of patrons, as a result of; after all, that’s what you are trying to do with quite a
lot of promotion methods.

The bottom line is that the web changed the idea of shopping perpetually. So
U
many obstacles are now extinct because you’ll be able to purchase goods from
anyplace in the world. Even so, some boundaries are a part of this on-line experience
corresponding to incapacity to the touch and feel the product prior to it is delivered. All
this adjustment the best way buyers consider shopping, and this is something you, as a
business owner, want to take into consideration.
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This industry is all about consumers. Understanding their needs and expectations,
at the side of defining your corporation goals and techniques is going that will help you
with working a hit e-commerce trade. Have in mind that the online international is an
excessively dynamic setting, and to be on best of your sport, you wish to have to make
industry research and web site analysis your top priorities.
m

Check your Understanding:


Answer the following Questions
1. What would you describe as the core features of ecommerce?
)A

2. What are some of the main differences between ecommerce and the more traditional
commerce?
3. Can you mention and describe a few ecommerce models?
4. What are some key metrics to track in any ecommerce model?
5. What do you think are some of the disadvantages of ecommerce as a business
(c

model?

Multiple Choice Questions-


1. B2C commerce
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184 IT Applications in Business

A. includes services such as legal advice


Notes

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B. means only shopping for physical goods
C. means only customers should approach customers to sell
D. means only customers should approach business to buy
2. Which among the following is an example for vertical portal?
A. I-village

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B. Yahoo
C. Google
D. None of these

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3. A …………………….is a software that scours the internet collecting data about
every website and every webpage within it
A. spiders
B. Search Engines

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C. robots
D. none of these
4. The user reaches this page when they specify the address of a website
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A. Home page
B. Web page
C. Summary page
D. None of these
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5. Which of the following is not an example for B2B e-commerce?


A. Invoice and shopping
B. Sending and receiving orders
C. all of these
m

D. none of these

References
1. ECommerce (B.Com Hons) by Shruti Mathur, Pinnacle Learning, 1 January
2020.
)A

2. e-Commerce [Choice Based Credit System (CBCS)] by Dr. Shivani Arora,


Taxmann; 1st Edition, July 2017.
(c

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Module-IV: Database Management System


Notes

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Structure:

Unit-4.1: Database Management System


4.1.1 Introduction to Database Management System

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4.1.2 Need for DBMS
4.1.3 Components of DBMS
4.1.4 Benefits of DBMS over Traditional File System
4.1.5 Types of Database Models

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4.1.6 Database Approach – Its Benefits and Disadvantages

Unit-4.2: Enterprise Resource Planning


4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.2 History of ERP
4.2.3
4.2.4
4.2.5
Scope and Benefit
ERP and Related Technologies ni
ERP Implementation Methodology – Implementation Life Cycle
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4.2.6 ERP and its Success Factors
4.2.7 Pitfalls and Management Concerns
4.2.8 ERP Market – Renowned vendors and the packages.
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m
)A
(c

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Unit-4.1: Computer Networks and Internet Technology


Notes

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Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, the successful student will:

●● Have a broad understanding of database concepts schema and database


management system software

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●● Have a high-level understanding of major DBMS components and their function
●● Be able to model an application’s data requirements using conceptual modeling
tools like ER diagrams and design database based on the conceptual model.
●● Be able to write SQL commands to create tables and indexes, insert/update/delete

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data, and query data in a relational DBMS
●● Be able to program a data-intensive application using DBMS APIs

Introduction

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●● Database management device is a device which is used to regulate the database.
For instance: MySQL, Oracle, and many others are a highly regarded business
database which is utilized in different applications.
●● DBMS provides an interface to perform quite a lot of operations like database
U
creation, storing knowledge in it, updating data, creating a desk within the
database and a lot more.
●● It supplies coverage and security to the database. In the case of multiple
customers, it additionally maintains knowledge consistency. DBMS allows
customers the next tasks:
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●● Data Definition: It is used for creation, modification, and elimination of definition


that defines the organization of data within the database.
●● Data Updation: It is used for the insertion, amendment, and deletion of the
particular information within the database.
●● Data Retrieval: It is used to retrieve the data from the database which can be
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utilized by way of programs for various functions.


●● User Administration: It is used for registering and tracking customers, care for
information integrity, imposing data security, dealing with concurrency keep watch
over, tracking efficiency and recovering knowledge corrupted through sudden
)A

failure.
●● 4.1.1: Introduction to Database Management System
●● Database: Database is a collection of inter-related information which is helping
in efficient retrieval, insertion and deletion and organizing the information within
the form of tables, perspectives, schemes, studies etc. For instance, college
database organizes the information about professors, school, and admin group of
(c

staff, students and many others which is helping in efficient retrieval, insertion, and
deletion of information from it.

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●● DDL is brief title of Data Definition Language, which offers with database schemes
and descriptions, of the way the information lying in the database. Notes

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●● CREATE: to create a database and its items like (table, index, views, store
process, function, and triggers)
●● ALTER: alters the formation of the existing database
●● DROP: delete tools from the database

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●● TRUNCATE: take away all information from a table, together with all areas
allocated for the data are removed
●● COMMENT: upload comments to the information dictionary
●● RENAME: rename an object

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DML is brief title of Data Manipulation Language which offers with data
manipulation and comprises most not unusual SQL statements such SELECT, INSERT,
UPDATE, DELETE, and so on, and it is used to retailer, modify, retrieve, delete and
replace information in a database.

Database Management System: The database managing software is known as

ni
Database Management System (DBMS). For instance, MySQL, Oracle, are well-known
industrial DBMS used in other packages. DBMS permits users the following duties:

Data Definition: It is helping in introduction, amendment and removal of definitions


that define the group of information in database.
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Data Updation: It helps in insertion, modification, and deletion of the actual
information within the database.

Data Retrieval: It is helping in retrieval of knowledge from the database which can
be used by way of programs for various functions.
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User Administration: It helps in registering and tracking users, implementing


knowledge safety, monitoring performance, maintaining information integrity, coping
with concurrency control, and convalescing knowledge corrupted by way of surprising
failure.

Paradigm Shift from File System to DBMS


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File System manages knowledge using records and data in hard disk. Users can
create, delete, and replace the records or data according to their requirement. Let us
consider the instance of document primarily based on University Management System.
Students data are needed to sort as per to their respective Departments, Academics
)A

Section, Result Section, Accounts Section, Hostel Office, and many others. Some of
the data is not unusual for all sections like Roll No, Name, Father Name, Address and
cell phone choice of students but some data is to be had to a specific segment only like
Hostel allotment number which is a part of hostel place of business. Let us discuss the
problems with the course:

Redundancy of knowledge: Data is said to be redundant if similar knowledge is


(c

copied at many places. If a student wants to change Phone number, he must get it up to
date at quite a lot of sections. Similarly, previous information should be deleted from all
sections representing that pupil.

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188 IT Applications in Business

●● Inconsistency of Data: Data is alleged to be inconsistent if a couple of


Notes copies of identical information does no longer match with every different. If

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Phone number is other in Accounts Section and Academics Section, it is going
to be inconsistent. Inconsistency could also be because of typing mistakes or
no longer updating all copies of same knowledge.
●● Difficult Data Access: A person must know the precise location of file
to access information, so the process may be very bulky and tedious. If
user wants to look pupil hostel allotment selection of a student from 10000

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unsorted scholars’ records, how tough it may be.
●● Unauthorized Access: File System may result in unauthorized entry to data.
If a pupil gets get right of entry to file having his marks, he can make edits
which is an unauthorized method.

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●● No Concurrent Access: The access of similar data by means of multiple users
at identical time is referred to as concurrency. File gadget does now not allow
concurrency as knowledge will also be accessed via just one user at a time.
●● No Backup and Recovery: File machine does now not incorporate any
backup and recovery of information if a file is misplaced or corrupted.

4.1.2. Need of DBMS


ni
A database management system (DBMS) can help deal with the employee count
state of affairs and a variety of even more complex eventualities related to cost, order
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standing or inventory management via presenting the similar data to everyone in the
trade on the similar time. A DBMS additionally eliminates the irritating hunt for the
proper version of the appropriate spreadsheet on an infinite and disorganized network
force.

●● As businesses grow, the volume of data they accumulate grows exponentially.


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Managing this data deluge becomes increasingly difficult just at the moment
when superior data management becomes more important to business
success.
●● As businesses expand, more sophisticated tools are needed to manage data.
Tools that serve start-ups well are overwhelmed by the demands faced by
larger business.
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●● A database management system (DBMS) is a powerful tool used to store


data, secure it, protect it and make it quickly available to people who need it.
●● A DBMS enables a business to squeeze more value from the data it collects
)A

for improved decision-making.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Database Systems


Several Advantages of making use of database system in software device are
bought including:

1. Control of data redundancy- The database approach attempts to eliminate


the redundancy via integrating the database. Although the database tool does
(c

not get rid of redundancy completely, it controls the number of duplicates within
the database.

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2. Data consistency- By getting rid of or controlling redundancy, the database


approach reduces the chance of inconsistencies happening. It ensures all Notes

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copies of the information are saved constant.
3. More knowledge from the same amount of information with the mixing of the
managed data in the database approach, it may be possible to derive additional
info for a similar knowledge.
4. Sharing of data- Database belongs to the entire group and can also be shared

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by all licensed customers.
5. Improved data integrity- Database integrity supplies the validity and consistency
of stored data. Integrity is generally expressed relating to constraints, which
might be consistency regulations that the database is not accepted to violate.

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6. Improved safety- Database method allows reporting of the information from
the unauthorized users. It would possibly take the term of customer names and
passwords to identify person kind and get their entry within the system and
carryout retrieval, insertion, updating and deletion.
7. Enforcement of standards the integration of the database enforces the

8. ni
essential standards together with information formats, naming conventions,
documentation requirements, update procedures and get entry to rules.
Economy of scale Cost savings can also be got by way of combining all
organization’s operational information into one database with applications to
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work on one source of data.
9. Balance of conflicting necessities- By having a structural design within
the database, the conflicts between customers or departments can also be
resolved. Decisions might be in accordance with the base use of resources for
the group as an entire relatively that for a person entity
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10. Improved knowledge accessibility and responsiveness: By having


integration within the database approach, information gaining access to may
also be crossed departmental limitations. This characteristic supplies more
functionality and better services and products to the users.
11. Increased productiveness: The database supplies the entire low-level file-
m

handling routines. The provision of those functions lets in the programmer to


concentrate extra on the explicit capability required by the users. The fourth-
generation environment equipped by the database can simplify the database
software construction.
)A

12. Improved maintenance: Database method provides information independence.


As a transformation of data structure within the database will probably be impact
the applying program, it simplifies database software upkeep.
13. Increased concurrency: Database can arrange concurrent data get entry
effectively. It ensures no interference between users that might no longer result
any loss of information or loss of integrity.
(c

14. Improved backing and recovery services of products- Modern database


management tool provides facilities to reduce the quantity of processing that

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190 IT Applications in Business

can be misplaced following a breakdown through the usage of the transaction


Notes manner.

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Disadvantages
The following disadvantages can be listed with:

1. Complexity

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DBMS is a particularly advanced piece of tool. All actions will have to be
accustomed to its potential and take complete advantage of it. Therefore, coaching for
the directors, designers and users is needed.

2. Size

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The DBMS needs quite main memory as well as a huge quantity of disk space so
to make it run successfully.

3. Cost of DBMS
A multi-user DBMS is also very expensive. Even after the setup, there is recurrent
annual repairs value on the tool.

4. Cost of conversion ni
When moving from a file-base tool to a DBMS, the corporate is needed to have
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additional expenses on hardware acquisition and training cost.

5. Performance
As the database means is to cater for plenty of applications quite than only for a
selected one, some applications would possibly not run as fast as earlier.
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6. Higher affect of a failure


The database means will increase the vulnerability of the device due to the
centralization. As all users and systems reply at the database availability, the failure of
any component can bring operations to a halt and impact the services and products to
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the buyer significantly.

4.1.3: Components of Database Management System

Components of DBMS
)A

DBMS have several components, each playing very important tasks within the
database management system. Below is a list of components within the database and
its surroundings.
(c

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Software:
Notes

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This is the set of programs used to control and manage the whole database.
This comprises the DBMS software itself, the OS, the network instrument being used
to percentage the information amongst users, and the appliance methods used to get
access to information within the DBMS.

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Hardware:
Consists of a set of physical digital gadgets such as computers, I/O units, garage

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devices, and many others. This offers the interface between computers and the real
international methods.

Data:

ni
DBMS exists to gather, retailer, procedure and get right of entry to information, a
very powerful part. The database incorporates each the true or operational information
and the metadata.
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Procedures:
These are the instructions and rules that assist on how to use the DBMS, and in
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designing and running the database, the use of documented procedures, to guide the
customers that operate and manage it.
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Database Access Language:


This is used to get access to the information to and from the database, to go into
new information, replace current information, or retrieve required information from
)A

databases. The consumer writes a set of appropriate commands in a database access


language, submits those to the DBMS, which then processes the data and generates
and displays a collection of effects right into a consumer readable form.
(c

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Query Processor:
Notes

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This transforms the user queries into a sequence of low degree instructions. This
reads the net person’s query and interprets it into an effective series of operations in a
form in a position to being sent to the run time operational manager for execution.

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Run Time Database Manager
Sometimes it is also referred as “the report generating system”. It is the central tool
element of the DBMS that interfaces with user-submitted utility methods and queries,

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and handles database get access to run time. Its function is to transform operations
in user’s queries. It supplies reports for the consistency, integrity and safety of the
information.

Data Manager
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Also called the cache manger, this is chargeable for handling of data within the
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database, providing a recovery to the system that allows it to get well the information
after a failure.
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Database Engine
The core provider for storing, processing, and securing information, this gives
controlled access and rapid transaction processing to deal with the necessities of the
most not easy data consuming packages. It is often used to create relational databases
for online transaction processing or online analytical processing information.
m
)A

Data Dictionary
This is a reserved house inside a database used to retailer information about the
database itself. A Knowledge dictionary is a set of read-only table and views, containing
the different information about the information used within the enterprise to ensure that
database illustration of the data apply one usual as defined within the dictionary.
(c

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Report Writer
Notes

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Also referred to as the report generator, this can be a program that extracts
knowledge from one or more files and presents the information in a specified format.
Most record writers permit the user to select information that meet sure stipulations and
to display decided on fields in rows and columns, or also layout the information into
other charts.

Source: https://www.dataentryoutsourced.com/blog/components-of-a-database-

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management-system/

4.1.4: Benefits of DBMS over Traditional File System


Drawbacks of File system

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●● Data redundancy: Data redundancy refers to the duplication of data, let’s
say, we are managing the information of a university student which is enrolled
for two classes, the similar student details in such case will probably be saved
two times, which will take an extra storage than needed. Data redundancy
steadily results in higher storage costs and poor access-time.
●●

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Data inconsistency: Data redundancy ends up in data inconsistency, we
could take the same example that we have taken above, a scholar is enrolled
for 2 lessons and we now have pupil information saved twice, now we could
say pupil requests to change his address, if the changes are made at the
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correct enrollment and not at the other place or on all of the records then this
can result in data inconsistency.
●● Data Isolation: Because knowledge is scattered in quite a lot of information,
and files could also be in numerous formats, writing new software techniques
to retrieve the fitting information is tricky and tedious.
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●● Dependency on software programs: Changing records data would lead to


interchange in application systems.
●● Atomicity issues: Atomicity of a transaction refers to “All or nothing”, which
means either all the operations in a transaction executes or none.
For instance: Let’s say Rahul transfers 100$ to Neha’s account. This transaction
m

is composed multiple operations like debit 100$ from Rahul’s account, credit
100$ to Neha’s account. Like any other device, a computer gadget can fail let’s
imagine it fails after first operation then if so Rahul’s account would had been
debited via 100$ but the amount is now not credited to Neha’s account, in such
case the rollback of operation must occur to handle the atomicity of transaction.
)A

It is difficult to succeed in atomicity in document processing methods.


●● Data Security: Data should be secured from unauthorized access, for
instance a student in a college should not be able to see the payroll details
of the lecturers, such safety constraints are tough to apply in file processing
methods.
(c

Advantage of DBMS over file system


There are several benefits of Database management device over File system. Few
of them are as follows:

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●● No redundant data: Redundancy is eliminated by information normalization.


Notes No data duplication saves storage and improves get access to time.

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●● Data Consistency and Integrity: As we discussed earlier the basis motive of
knowledge inconsistency is information redundancy, since data normalization
looks after the information redundancy, information inconsistency additionally
been taken care of as part of it
●● Data Security: It is easier to get access to constraints in database programs

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in order that most effective official person is able to access the information.
Each user has a distinct set of access this information is secured from the
issues corresponding to identity robbery, information leaks and misuse of
information.
●● Privacy: Limited gets access to way privacy of information.

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●● Easy access to information – Database systems manages information in
the sort of approach in order that the data is out there with speedy response
times.
●● Easy restoration: Since a database system keeps the backup of information,
it’s easier to do a complete recovery of data in case of a failure.
●●

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Flexible: Database systems are extra versatile than report processing
methods.

4.1.5: Types of Database Models


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Database Model: It determines the logical construction of a database and basically
determines wherein information can also be saved, arranged, and changed.

There are four common forms of database model which can be useful for several types
of information or data. Depending upon your specific needs, such models can be used.
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1. Hierarchical databases.
2. Network databases.
3. Relational databases.
4. Object-oriented databases.
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1. Hierarchical databases
It is without doubt one of the oldest databases models evolved via IBM for info
Management System. In a hierarchical database model, the information is organized
into a tree-like structure. In easy language we will say that this can be a set of
)A

organized information in tree structure.

This type of Database style is never used in this day and era. Its construction is
sort of a tree with nodes representing records and branches representing fields. The
windows registry used in Windows XP is an example of a hierarchical database.
Configuration settings are saved as tree constructions with nodes.
(c

The hierarchical data model lost traction as Codd’s relational model became the
de facto standard used by virtually all mainstream database management systems.
A relational-database implementation of a hierarchical model was first discussed in
published form in 1992. Hierarchical data organization schemes resurfaced with the

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advent of XML in the late 1990s. The hierarchical structure is used primarily today for
storing geographic information and file systems. Notes

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The following determine displays the generalized the construction of Hierarchical
database style in which information is saved within the form of tree like structure (data
represented or saved in root node, guardian node and child node).

rs
ve
The following figure presents the example of hierarchical database model for the

storing information.

Advantages
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university control system. This form of database employs the “parent-child” form of
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●● The style permits us easy addition and deletion of new data.
●● Data on the best of the Hierarchy could be very rapid to get accessed.
●● It labored well with linear information storage mediums such as tapes.
●● It relates well to anything else that works through a one - many relationships.
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For example, there’s a president with many managers underneath them, and
those managers have many employees below them, but each employee has
only one supervisor.
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)A

Disadvantages
●● It calls for information to be repetitively saved in many various entities.
●● Now an afternoon there is no longer use of linear info storage mediums similar
(c

to tapes.
●● Searching for information calls for the DBMS to run via the entire type from
top to backside until the desired data is located, making queries very gradual.

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●● This model stick up to just one - many relationships, many - many


Notes relationships aren’t supported.

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2. Network databases
This is looks like a Hierarchical database model because of which many times it is
called as changed model of Hierarchical database. Network database model organized
information more like a graph and will have more than single parent node. The network
model is a database method received as a flexible means of representing objects and

rs
their relationships.

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Advantage
●●
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The network type is conceptually easy and simple to design.
U
●● The network type can constitute redundancy in information more successfully
than within the hierarchical model.
●● The network model can maintain the one - many and many - many
relationships which is genuine assist in modeling the real-life circumstances.
●● The data get admission to be easier and versatile than the hierarchical style.
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●● The network model is better than the hierarchical model in setting apart the
programs from the complex bodily storage main points.

Disadvantage:
●● All the information is maintained by using of guidelines and therefore the
m

entire database structure becomes very complex.


●● The insertion, deletion and updating process of any document require the
massive number of guidelines changes.
●● The structural adjustments to the database could be very tricky and tedious.
)A

3. Relational Database
A relational database is developed by E. F. Codd in 1970. Quite a lot of software
systems used to maintain relational databases is called as a relational database
management machine (RDBMS). In this model, information is organized in rows and
column structure i.e., two-dimensional tables and the connection are maintained via
storing at a common field. It consists of three main parts.
(c

In relational style, 3 key phrases are heavily used such as relations, attributes,
and domain names. A relation is a table with rows and columns. The named columns
of the relation are called as attributes, and in the end the domain is the set of values

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IT Applications in Business 197

the attributes can take. The following figure help with overview of relational database
model. Notes

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rs
ve
Terminology used in Relational Model
●●
●●

●●
Tuple: Each row in a table is known as tuple.

ni
Cardinality of a relation: The number of tuples in a relation determines its
cardinality. In this case, the relation has a cardinality of 4.
Degree of a relation: Each column in the tuple is called an attribute. the
U
number of attributes in a relation determines its degree. The relation in figure
has a degree of 3.

Keys of a relation:
●● Primary key-it is the key that uniquely identifies a table. It doesn’t have null
ity

values.
●● Foreign key-it referes to the primary key of some other table. It permits only
those values which appear in the primary key of the table to which it refers.
Some of the examples of relational database are as follows.
Oracle: Oracle Database is commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply
m

as Oracle. It is a multi-model database management system produced and


marketed by Oracle Corporation.
MySQL: MySQL is an open-source relational database management system
(RDBMS) based on Structured Query Language (SQL). MySQL runs on virtually
)A

all platforms, including Linux, UNIX and Windows.


Microsoft SQL Server: Microsoft SQL Server is an RDBMS that supports
a wide variety of transaction processing, business intelligence and analytics
applications in corporate IT environments.
PostgreSQL: PostgreSQL, often simply Postgres, is an object-relational
database management system (ORDBMS) with an emphasis on extensibility
(c

and standards compliance.


DB2: DB2 is an RDBMS designed to store, analyze and retrieve data efficiently.

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The following tables’ show the sample relational database style for the financial
Notes institution atmosphere where the data related to the bank is stored within the shape two

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dimensional tables.

customer_id customer_name customer_street customer_city


192-83-7465 Johnson 12 Alma St. Palo Alto
677-89-9011 Hayes 3 Main St. Harrison
182-73-6091 Turner 123 Putnam Ave. Stamfor

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321-12-3123 Jones 100 Main St. Harrison
336-66-9999 Lindsay 175 Park Ave. Pittsfield
019-28-3746 Smith 72 North St. Rye

(a) The customer table

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account_number balance
A-101 500
A-215 700
A-102 400
A-305
A-201
A-217
A-222
ni 350
900
750
700
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(b) The account table

customer_id account_number
192-83-7465 A-101
192-83-7465 A-201
ity

019-28-3746 A-215
677-89-9011 A-102
182-73-6091 A-305
321-12-3123 A-217
336-66-9999 A-222
019-28-3746 A-201
m

(c) The depositor table

Advantage
)A

●● Relational method is one of the most popular used database models.


●● In relational model, adjustments within the database construction do not affect
the data access.
●● The revision of any information as tables consisting of rows and columns is
way easier to know.
●● The relational database supports each information independence and
(c

construction independence concept which makes the database design,


maintenance, administration, and usage much more uncomplicated than the
other models.

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IT Applications in Business 199

●● In this we will be able to write complicated query to access or alter the


information from database. Notes

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●● It is simpler to handle safety in comparison with different models.

Disadvantages
●● Mapping of items in relational database could be very tricky.
●● Object orientated paradigm is lacking in relation approach.

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●● Data Integrity is difficult to ensure with Relational database.
●● Relational Model isn’t suitable for big database but suitable for small
database.
●● Hardware expenses are incurred which make it costly.

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●● Ease of design may end up in bad design.
●● Relational database device hides the implementation complexities and the
bodily data storage details from the customers.

4. Object-oriented databases

ni
An object database is a system through which information is represented within the
form of objects as used in object-oriented programming. Object orientated databases
are different from relational databases which are table oriented. The object-oriented
data model is in response to the object-oriented- programming language thought,
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which is now in extensive use. Inheritance, polymorphism, overloading. Object-identity,
encapsulation and data hiding with the right way to provide an interface to things, are
several the key ideas of object-oriented programming that have discovered packages in
information modeling. The object-oriented information approach additionally helps a rich
sort object, together with structured and assortment varieties.
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The following figure presentations the variation between relation and object-
oriented database model.
m
)A

The following figure shows an example of object-oriented model.


(c

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Notes

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Advantages
●● Object database can handle various kinds of information unlike relational
information base handles single information. Unlike traditional databases like

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hierarchical, network or relational, the object-oriented databases can used
for the different types of data, for instance, footage, voice video, together with
textual content, numbers and so on.
●● Object-oriented databases supply us code reusability, real global modeling,
and stepped forward reliability and versatility.
●●

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The object-oriented database is having low maintenance prices as compared
to other model because most of the tasks inside the device are encapsulated,
they may be reused and incorporated into new tasks.

Disadvantages
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●● There is no universally defined data model for an OODBMS, and most models
lack a theoretical foundation.
●● In comparability to RDBMSs using OODBMS is still somewhat limited.
●● There is a Lack of good security in OODBMSs that don’t provide good enough
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safety mechanisms.
●● The implementation is more advanced than that of conventional DBMSs.
Source: https://www.learntek.org/blog/types-of-databases/

4.1.6: Database Approach – Its Benefits and Disadvantages


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An information system that makes use of a Database Management System


(DBMS) to manage its information has a particular edifice, comprising three parts: Data,
DBMS, and Application tool. This structure as described below is referred to as the
database strategy to information machine construction.
)A

The central part of the database way is the DBMS. This instrument could also be
known as the “database engine” or the “back end.” About the data it manages, it has
several responsibilities together with the following:

●● Data Definition: providing a technique to outline and build the database


●● Data Manipulation: providing a method to insert and replace data within the
database
(c

●● Query Execution: retrieving information from the knowledge in the database


●● Data Integrity: making sure that data stored is well-formed

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IT Applications in Business 201

●● Data Security: imposing restrictions about who can access what data
●● Provenance: logging capabilities to offer an audit trail for knowledge changes
Notes

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●● Multiuser Concurrency: supporting the activities of many users on the same
time
As can also be seen from the above listing, a DBMS is noble software. While
all database control systems may not supply all these options, these are the overall
characteristics of latest DBMSs. Using a database requires substantial experience and

rs
information regarding the DBMS getting used. Some of the extra widespread DBMSs
today are MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access, and
IBM’s DB2.

The second component in the database method is the information. Although the

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bodily location or approach through which the data are stored could also be important
for performance causes, the positioning of the information does no longer resolve
whether a system is developed with the usage of the database. As longer the DBMS
has access, it will perform its duties regarding the data, the information storage details
aren’t related.

The ultimate element of the database approach is applying, also called “front-end”

ni
software. Application device interacts with the DBMS to offer information to a person. It
might also supply a way for a user to invoke other capability of the DBMS. In fact, the
DBMS software itself is non-visual that means that the person does not engage without
delay with the DBMS. Any software that provides an interface for the consumer to raise
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procedures in the DBMS we will outline as application software.

Once the application has decided what the user is trying to perform, it sends
a request to the DBMS. The request could also be an instruction to switch data or a
request for info such because the list of employees who have been employed on a
particular date. All relational databases use a typical language to receive and process
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requests. The same old language is called Structured Query Language (SQL).

The DBMS receives the request and determines if the operation asked is allowed
for the authenticated consumer. If the operation is permitted, the DBMS completes the
operation and sends a response to the appliance. The software then communicates
the information to the person. If the operation isn’t authorized for the user or if there’s
m

an error in accepting the operation, the DBMS responds with an acceptable message.
Again, it is as much as the applying to show that to the person. It is an essential
characteristic of the database method that the application never bypasses the DBMS to
get entry to stored information immediately.
)A

Figure illustrates one of the crucial number one components of a typical DBMS
and how they are used in an information system. The user interacts with the DBMS
normally through writing SQL statements during the front end. (Although an advanced
front finish may just format the SQL statements itself in accordance with other varieties
of consumer input.) These SQL statements are interpreted and performed by way of
the DBMS by means of either updating the information or returning result from the
information. In this chapter, we can focus on query statements, whose purpose is to
(c

retrieve information from the database and provide it in a sort that is understandable by
means of the consumer.

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Notes

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Advantages of Database Approach:

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The database mode emphasizes the combination & sharing of data right through
the group. The database approach provides several doable benefits in comparison to
the normal document processing machine. Some advantages of the database approach
are as follows:

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1. Minimal Database Redundancy: In traditional database approaches each
division maintains its own information for handling its knowledge processing
programs. For examples: The college database would possibly have two teams
of users e.g. the Staff department & the accounts department. Most of the data
is stored two times within the records data of every division. This downside
may also be avoided through having a centralized database. For consistency,

2. ni
a database will have to store each logical information item: such as students’
names – in just one place in the database.
Improved Data Consistency: By getting rid of controlling information
redundancy, we cut back the opportunities for inconsistency. Updating
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information values is greatly simplified when each value is stored in a single
position. Finally, we clear of the wastage cupboard space that results from
redundant information storage.
3. Improved Data Sharing: The information saved at a centralized location can
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easily be shared by current applications. The similar stored data can be used
with the new programs also.
4. Enforcement of standards: The interchange of data between methods
necessitates, standardization of the information representation, with the central
control over of the database, the database administrator can put into effect
requirements within the representation of data. These standards will include
m

data high quality standards and uniform procedures for gaining access to,
updating, and protecting data.
5. Improved Data Integrity: The database method provides numerous
mechanism and processes to improved data quality & integrity. Integrity implies
)A

the correctness and accuracy of information. Centralized control of the data


permits the database administrator to define integrity constraints to ensure the
accuracy and correctness of data saved within the database.
6. Improved Data Accessibility: With a relational database, end-users without
programming experience can regularly retrieve and show information.
7. Improved Data Security: The Database Administrator (DBA) can also be
(c

outlined as safety regulations to check unauthorized get entry to information.


Some customers could also be given the right to only retrieve information.
Similarly, others are also permitted to retrieve and edit the information. The

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IT Applications in Business 203

Database Administrator can formulate other rules for each form of get entry to
(retrieve, regulate, delete) to every piece of data within the database. Notes

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8. Increased Productivity: A significant benefit of the database approach is that
it very much reduces the price & time for developing new business applications.
9. Reduce Program Maintenance: Stored information will have to be changed
regularly for a variety of causes: new information item, sorts are added,
information formats are changed and so or in a database, inside of limits, we

rs
will be able to exchange the information without necessitating a change in other
components, as a result, program maintenance can be considerably lowered in
a contemporary database surroundings.

Summary

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A Database Management System (DBMS) is computer tool designed for the aim of
managing databases in accordance with a variety of information models.

A DBMS is a complex set of software systems that controls the group, control,
storage, and retrieval of data in a database

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When a DBMS is used, information programs may also be modified a lot more
simply as the organization’s information necessities alternate. New classes of data may
also be added to the database without disruption to the prevailing device.

Often, it’s fascinating to limit who can see or alternate which attributes or teams
U
of attributes. This may be managed directly through person, or through the project of
individuals and privileges to groups, or (in essentially the most elaborate models)
through the task of individuals and teams to roles which might be then granted
entitlements.

A DBMS can also be characterized as an “attribute management tool” where


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attributes are small chunks of knowledge that describe something. For instance, “color”
is a characteristic of an automobile. The worth of the characteristic is also a color
reminiscent of “crimson”, “blue” or “silver”.

Querying is the method of asking for attribute knowledge from quite a lot of
perspectives and mixtures of things. Example: “How many 2-D automobiles in Texas
m

are green?”

As computers grew in capability, this trade-off become more and more pointless
and plenty of general-purpose database methods emerged; by way of the mid-1960s
there were several such programs in commercial use. Interest in a standard started to
)A

develop, and Charles Bachman, writer of one such product, IDS, founded the Database
Task Group within CODASYL

Check your Understanding


Answer the following MCQ and check your concepts
1. Which of the following is generally used for performing tasks like creating the
(c

structure of the relations, deleting relation?


a) DML(Data Manipulation Language)
b) Query

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204 IT Applications in Business

c) Relational Schema
Notes

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d) DDL(Data Definition Language)
2. Which of the following provides the ability to query information from the database
and insert tuples into, delete tuples from, and modify tuples in the database?
a) DML(Data Manipulation Language)
b) DDL(Data Definition Language)

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c) Query
d) Relational Schema
3. The given Query can also be replaced with_______:

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SELECT name, course_id
FROM instructor, teaches

WHERE instructor_ID= teaches_ID;


a) Select name,course_id from teaches,instructor where instructor_id=course_id;
b)
c)
d) ni
Select name, course_id from instructor natural join teaches;
Select name, course_id from instructor;
Select course_id from instructor join teaches;
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4. Which one of the following given statements possibly contains the error?
a) select * from emp where empid = 10003;
b) select empid from emp where empid = 10006;
c) select empid from emp;
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d) select empid where empid = 1009 and Lastname = ‘GELLER’;


5. What do you mean by one to many relationships?
a) One class may have many teachers
b) One teacher can have many classes
m

c) Many classes may have many teachers


d) Many teachers may have many classes

References
)A

1. Database Management Systems by Raghu Ramakrishnan and Johannes


Gehrke, McGraw Hill Education, Third edition, 2014.
2. Introduction to Database Management Systems by Atul Kahate, Pearson; 1st
edition, 2004.
(c

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Unit-4.2: Enterprise Resource Planning


Notes

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Objectives:
The objectives of this Course are:

●● To provide a contemporary and forward-looking on the theory and practice of


Enterprise Resource Planning Technology.

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●● To focus on a strong emphasis upon practice of theory in Applications and
Practical oriented approach.
●● To train the students to develop the basic understanding of how ERP enriches the
business organizations in achieving a multidimensional growth.

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●● To aim at preparing the students technological competitive and make them ready
to self-upgrade with the higher technical skills.

4.2.1. Introduction
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) refers to software that organizations use to

ni
manage day-to-day trade activities corresponding to procurement, accounting, venture
management, possibility management and compliance, and supply chain operations. A
Whole ERP suite also comprises endeavor performance control, tool that helps plan,
funds, are expecting, and record on a company’s monetary effects.
U
ERP methods tie in combination many commercial processes and permit the glide
of information between them. By collecting a company’s shared transactional records
from more than one resource; ERP programs get rid of information duplication and
provide information integrity with a single supply of truth.
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Today, ERP methods are vital for managing thousands of companies of all sizes
and in all industries. To these companies, ERP is as indispensable as the electricity that
helps to keep the lighting on.

ERP Fundamentals
ERP methods are designed around a single, defined data structure (schema) that
m

most often has a familiar database. This helps make sure that the tips used around
the enterprise is normalized and in accordance with common definitions and individual
experiences. These core constructs are then interconnected with business processes
driven via workflows across trade departments (e.g. finance, human resources,
engineering, advertising, and operations), connecting techniques and the individuals
)A

who use them. Simply put, ERP is the vehicle for integrating folks, processes, and
technologies throughout a contemporary undertaking.

For instance: imagine an organization that builds cars by buying portions and parts
from more than one supplier. It could use an ERP device to trace the requisition and
purchase of those goods and be sure that every part throughout all the procure-to-
pay process uses uniform and clean records connected to enterprise workflows, trade
(c

processes, reporting, and analytics.

ERP additionally guarantees that those information fields and attributes roll up
to the right kind account in the corporate common ledger so that each one costs are

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206 IT Applications in Business

properly tracked and represented. If the entrance brake pads have been referred to
Notes as “front brakes” in a single tool gadget (or possibly a suite of spreadsheets), “brake

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pads” in any other, and “front pads” in a third, it could be difficult for the car production
corporate to figure out how a lot is spent yearly on front brake pads, and whether or not
it must transfer suppliers or negotiate for better pricing.

A key ERP principle is the central selection of information for extensive distribution.
Instead of several standalone databases with an endless stock of disconnected

rs
spreadsheets, ERP programs convey order to chaos so that every single customer—
from the CEO to accounts payable clerks—can create, retailer, and use the similar
records derived through common processes. With a safe and centralized data
repository, everyone within the group will also be confident that records are proper, up-
to-date, and complete. Data integrity is assured for each job carried out all over the

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group, from a quarterly financial remark to a single outstanding receivables file, without
relying on error-prone spreadsheets.

The Business Value of ERP


It’s impossible to ignore the impact of ERP in trade global. As enterprise data
and processes are corralled into ERP techniques, companies can align separate

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departments and reinforce workflows, leading to important bottom-line savings.
Examples of specific trade benefits include:

●● Improved business perception from real-time data generated by reports


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●● Lower operational prices through streamlined trade processes and perfect
practices
●● Enhanced collaboration from customers sharing knowledge in contracts,
requisitions, and purchase orders
●● Improved potency via a not unusual user revel in across many industry
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purposes and well-defined industry processes


●● Consistent infrastructure from the back administrative center to the front office,
with all trade activities having the same feel and appear
●● Higher user-adoption charges from a commonplace consumer experience and
design
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●● Reduced possibility via stepped forward data integrity and monetary controls
●● Lower management and operational costs via uniform and built-in methods.

4.2.2: History of ERP


)A

As one of the crucial number one organizing laws of our current social
international, huge endeavor corporations have more and more grow to be reliant
on ERP — Enterprise Resource Planning — systems to verify the accuracy of the
complicated undertakings of these entities. Delving into the roots of the one’s strategies
can let us know so much about their provide iterations in addition to the initiatives
they’re supposed to enhance.
(c

Exploring the historical past of ERP


ERP tactics are expansive items of software with a wide variety of functions and
packages to be had to their customers. As ERP answers are finally supposed to help
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IT Applications in Business 207

coordinate large-scale business processes, their history is most often reflective of this;
they began with the intention to prolong the coordination of various manufacturing Notes

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undertakings underneath one endeavor and later advanced to incorporate additional
back-end professionals as correctly.

ERP programs—like maximum generally used software solutions—were first


innovated so to resolve a basic drawback of human endeavor. In this situation, ensuring
the validity of information across rapidly growing businesses that will have been in the

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past now is not imaginable. As the shape and construction of commercial has changed
over the last few many years, so too has the instrument meant to make stronger it
evolved.

In some ways, the historical past of ERP techniques is carefully tied to the stunning
development of laptop hardware that characterized much of the tech space within the

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latter part of the 20th century. Each decade has reputedly introduced its private new
permutation of ERP tool alongside the latest trends.

The expanding accessibility of tough computer systems has also formed the
history of this software; turning it from a sumptuous few may just have the funds for to
a necessity for enterprise producers that has cast a not-insignificant presence amongst
mid-market organizations.

Evolution of ERP programs


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ERP ways date again to the 1960s; on the other hand, they’ve perfect become
U
understood of their current form prior to now few a few years. They’ve passed through
a lot of iterations since their invention. The period ‘ERP’ wasn’t coined till 1990 and has
had several diversifications on that classification within the intervening years.

The precursor: inventory keeps watch over methods


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Before the lifecycle of this actual device solution began, maximum product-based
organizations used their own centralized computing programs that computerized stock.
These ‘IC systems’ emerged within the 1960s and had been typically complex internally
and infrequently went previous tracking the presence or lack of final merchandise
towards per thirty days or quarterly production quotas.
m

Such applications may appear simplistic by these day’s necessities—they lacked


a number of the functions of their fresh opposite numbers—then again, they constitute
step one in the use of computational machines to assemble and utilize knowledge in
product-based production with the particular goal of optimizing manufacturing and
distribution in a technical manner.
)A

MRP software
MRP tool Materials Requirements Planning—MRP—device emerged from
collaboration between IBM and a producer of tractors and building equipment: J.I
Case. The talent to calculate the specifics of business has been a core requirement of
businesses worldwide over since the days of mercantilism, and modern incarnations of
(c

this were no exception.

By making use of computational machines to the daily operations in their industry,


the manufacturers at J.I. Case discovered they were in a position to meet and even

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208 IT Applications in Business

surpass the markets increasing needs to achieve a better degree of coordination


Notes between production merchandise, purchasing raw materials, and the delivery of goods

ity
to and from their factories. The instrument completed this by automating the scheduling
of operations and procurement.

In its earliest incarnation, this software was simplest used by a select few
manufacturing companies. These kinds of companies have been fertile flooring for a
machine like early MRP instrument to develop due to the unique requirements of buying

rs
uncooked fabrics, producing items, and transferring those merchandise to the final sellers.

The limits of computational generation had been also keenly felt by way of many
organizations in the 1970s; the hardware had to run a complex program like MRP
device could incessantly require complete rooms as a way to access the similar
processing energy we can get admission to in our smartphone as of today.

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Source: https://learn.g2.com/history-of-erp
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Only a few enterprise-level organizations had the capital readily available to feed
such insatiable mechanical beasts.

MRP II
The 1980s noticed several advances in generation, together with the invention
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of the CD and release of Nintendo’s Gamer. For manufacturing software, it saw the
improvement of Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) programs.

This iteration of pre-ERP device had an emphasis at the optimization of


manufacturing processes through an integration of uncooked subject material
necessities and production schedules. These systems incorporated the capability of
m

outdated MRP systems, however, began to integrate overarching coordination between


the different departments chargeable for the introduction of the group’s finish product.

ERP
It wasn’t until the 1990s that we first saw right kind ERP tool coming into the arena.
)A

This saw the total integration of complete industry throughout one single database to
create agile adaptations to the demands of the market for the schedules of MRP and
MRP II techniques.
(c

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IT Applications in Business 209

ERP methods are outlined by means of how they build a database that acts as the
single “source of truth” for production-based companies. The development of this tool Notes

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presentation over MRP systems is in the integration of reputedly different departments,
reminiscent of advertising, finance, and HR into one digital ecosystem.

ERP II
Following the discharge and subsequent in style adoption of ERP methods saw
most of the tool’s respective vendors developing much more functions past the core

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front-to-back integration.

These add-ons or “apps” created the speculation of prolonged ERPs which could
take on all kinds of different industry issues corresponding to incorporating shopper
interactions into the core dataset buyer courting control via integration with customer

ve
dating control (CRM) programs.

At this level, it would look like ERP methods had merely grown to be far larger than
was affordable. However, the fact reveals that every next add-on to the base device
served to extend the predictive power of this system. The more sources of knowledge
an ERP device has at its disposal—thru external systems corresponding to a CRM—the

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better customers can react to adjustments in demand or new traits in their business.

This is what characterized ERP II: an integration with other environment friendly
business tool solutions that permits the otherwise gradual and bulky equipment of huge
businesses to instead strike like lightning when an otherwise impossible situations arise.
U
ERP and the cloud
This most up-to-date iteration of ERP tool has observed many organizations
adopting ERP as an application or collection of applications which can be delivered
remotely over the web in the tool as a carrier (SaaS) approach.
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This leading edge manner of ERP deployment is imaginable due to the staggering
advances made in the web where complete software packages can also be delivered
and operated remotely without the desire for the top user to put money into the
hardware or infrastructure important to run large techniques like ERP on-site.

This has vastly reduced the barrier to access for plenty of companies and has been
m

more and more liable for the proliferation of ERP device among mid-market organizations.

The historical past of ERP companies


This history of ERP was once no longer best influenced by means of the
)A

encompassing technological developments. The corporations that evolved these


software solutions additionally performed a large position in including their very own
personal and historical elements to the improvement of ERP techniques.

While the upward thrust of the SaaS model has opened the market to dozens of
new ERP distributors, the 4 oldest listed here have by means of far wielded essentially
the most influence on the trajectory of this burgeoning industry.
(c

SAP
Started by a crew of former IBM engineers in Germany, Systems, Applications
and Products in Data Processing (SAP for brief) was founded in 1972 to provide trade

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210 IT Applications in Business

instrument for enterprise-level producers. They launched their first ERP gadget, R/2, in
Notes 1992. However, it wasn’t till the discharge of the following iteration of this device, R/3

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that they exploded in their general market share and briefly rose to prominence as one
of the best vendors in the trade, with over 17,000 customers by means of 1999.

JD Edwards & Co
JD Edwards was founded in 1977 in Denver, Colorado, as a supplier for software
for the IBM System i; an early minicomputer used by many companies sooner than the

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turn of the century. They launched their ERP device, OneWorld, as a flexible selection
to greater merchandise with a reach into many mid-market organizations. It used to be
received by means of Oracle in 2003 for $1.8 billion.

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The BAAN Company
A Netherlandish company founded in 1978, BAAN entered the ERP marketplace
with the belief that the web is the “ultimate enabler”, and it’s easy to see that philosophy
within the method to their explicit tool resolution. They are recognized for his or her
extraordinary cross-functionality amongst quite a lot of other industry sides and feature

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get admission to a different software, Orgware that is helping with implementation
prices and has led it to change into a pacesetter within the protection and aerospace
industries.

Oracle
U
The present trade chief, Oracle is a titan within the ERP house, and for excellent
reason. It’s the second one biggest tool corporate on this planet after Microsoft, and has
been in the ERP area since 1987. Their ERP machine, Oracle Applications, has one
of the vital intensive stables of programs and their database control tool has served as
the root for other ERP methods, making them each a partner and competitor to these
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corporations.

4.2.3: Scope and Benefit

The Scope of ERP Software


m

The industry functions of start-up companies, particularly the SMEs and MSMEs,
are to start with processed and streamlined manually using basic digital systems.
The everyday activity of those trading entities is controlled immediately by means of
its proprietor(s) or beneath their direct supervision. As the business takes form and
expands with regards to clientele, income, expenditure, manpower, generation,
)A

production capability, logistics, geographical presence, and so forth, it turns into tough
to comprise the management of the trade within the scope of straightforward digital
solutions and manual supervision. This is where the need arises for an effective ERP
like Roadmap ERP.

ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning, is an integrated suite of modules which might


be comprehensively devised to digitally collection and streamline the trade purposes
(c

that may be categorized underneath the following:

1. Planning & Manufacturing

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IT Applications in Business 211

2. Supply Chain Management


Notes

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3. Financial Management
4. HR & Payroll Management
5. Customer Relations Management
6. Plant Maintenance
7. Budget Management

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8. Cost Management
9. Project Management
10. Engineering

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11. Fleet Management
ERP also interlinks every department with the other so that necessary data might
be accessed for making the suitable business decisions and for successfully carrying
out all industry purposes. ERP laws out data misinterpretations and communication
gaps through storing all business data in a common repository and by way of granting

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role-specific get right of entry to uniform information for all licensed team of workers.
Internet-powered faraway get admission to industry empowers business stakeholders
to do business in real-time at any time and from anywhere, even while on the transfer.
These faculties empower industry decision-makers and bosses to make data-driven,
U
precise, and successful choices.

ERP can also be carried out On-Premise or On-Cloud. On-Premise ERP resolution
is put in right through the corporate premises in the company’s hardware and servers
and then controlled through the company IT team of workers. The whole tool is owned
by means of the business and supported through the ERP dealer. In the On-Cloud
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ERP implementation situation; all equivalent hardware, instrument, and knowledge


repository are installed and operated from Cloud products and services. Businesses
don’t personal the system in this case on the other hand use the ERP on a user-based
subscription payable to the seller. a Bunch can choose the type of implementation
that best fits its interests in accordance with trade/business sort, distinctive workflow,
geographical presence, monetary capacity, and so forth.
m

By deploying a world-class virtual machine like Roadmap ERP, companies can


combine disparate entities, eliminate wastage and redundant activities, maximize
usage of resources, optimize productivity, empower business stakeholders to make
timely proper choices, make sure absolute statutory compliance, at all times be in real-
)A

time contact with the industry without reference to time and house, and increase User
Experience in addition to Customer Experience.

Benefits of ERP
Specifically, key trade advantages of ERP tool are:

1. Enhanced Business Reporting:


(c

 Better reporting tools with real-time data


 A single source of truth – one integrated database for all trade processes

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212 IT Applications in Business

2. Better customer support:


Notes

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 Better get entry to buyer knowledge
 Faster reaction instances
 Improved on-time delivery
 Improved order accuracy
3. Improved Inventory Costs:

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 Only carry as much stock as wanted, avoid these not unusual issues
 Too a lot inventory, and better overhead prices
 Too little inventory and longer buyer achievement times

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4. Boosted Cash Flow:
 Better invoicing and better collections gear to carry cash in faster
 Faster money means more money on-hand for the industry
5. Cost Savings:



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Improved inventory making plans
Better procurement control
Better customer service
U
 Improved supplier relationship control
6. Better Data & Cloud Security:
 Dedicated safety assets
 Avoid putting in malicious software
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 Data dispensed across multiple servers


7. Modernized Business Process Standardization:
 Dedicated security resources
 Avoid installing malicious device
m

 Data allotted throughout multiple servers


8. Superior Supply Chain Management:
 Effective demand forecasting and lean inventory
)A

 Reduce production bottlenecks


 Transparency during the trade

4.2.4: ERP and Related Technologies (BPR; MIS; DSS; EIS; SCM;
OLAP)
BPR or Business Process Reengineering is the basic rethinking and radical
(c

redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic enhancements in, critical, fresh


measures of efficiency comparable to cost, high quality, service and speed.

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IT Applications in Business 213

Notes

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Source: https://www.synconics.com/erp-business-process-reengineering/

Business Process Reengineering Phases:

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Project kick off: Project purpose, project team and conversation standards are
agreed upon. Quite a lot of workshops are held in the place venture scope, sponsors
dedication, venture risk, milestones and deliverables are discussed. Strength, Weakness,
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Opportunities and Threat research is performed with lively participation of all.

Process id and data accumulating: “As is” processes are assembled through
glide charts. Current practice of Interfacing with business companions is accrued.
Bottlenecks, delays, complexity, internal blame games, idle assets and many others are
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introduced ahead. Use of present technologies is comprehended. Major and strategic


trade processes to be reengineered, are recognized. Stakeholders categorize the
processes to be reengineered and agreed upon at the timeline of implementation.

Process consulting: BPR consultants outline goals, finalize scope, make a


selection procedure, process champion, and kickoff assembly. After this they acquire
information from quite a lot of departments, map the current process, learn about IT
m

capacity, and establish metrics and procedure issues. In the next step they analyze
procedure issue, do GAP research, and recommend answers. Then they re-design
processes, outline metrics, outline implementation road map and expand industry
case. In the final step they implement solution and monitor metrics, refine targets and
)A

unfastened track the method.

Process Reengineering: In this phase, exact reengineering begins. A lot


of brain storming periods are held with mission team and other stakeholders, the
place present trades processes are severely analyzed to resolve non price adding
actions and determine excess regulate and take a look at, all the time with customer
value as a point of interest. Impact of latest technologies on procedure improvement
(c

may be evaluated. New process ideas with decreased test and keep an eye on and
enabling technologies reminiscent of Workflow automation and ERP, are envisaged.
Benchmarking is also done with very best of breed business friends.

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214 IT Applications in Business

Blueprint of recent machine: Blueprinting comes to modeling workflow and


Notes data requirement, of new industry processes. “To be” processes are modeled using

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various modeling tools. New group constructions, human resource want, performance
tracking and compensation, technological needs, are also outlined. Normally, a first
reduce redesign scheme is produced which is changed after accumulating actionable
comments from the stakeholders.

Change control: BPR specialists finalize the crew, get ready mission, carry

rs
out chance research and increase venture plan within the making plans step. In the
following steps they focal point on project oversight, client courting, standing document,
studying review and venture closure.

Transformation: A migration technique and a migration plan is the first step of


transformation. Migration strategy might come to a decision as a pilot, levels, or giant

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bang implementation. The migration plan would include established order of new
organizational structure, detailed coaching, and reallocation of personnel, and cut off
dates for implementation. Change management and advent of recent technologies
will shape the most important part and might need engagement of outside consultants
for this explicit purpose. There will have to be provision on the plan to tweak the

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implemented machine to be able to get maximum worth out of it.

Project management: BPR consultants plan awareness marketing campaign,


most sensible management workshop, conversation workshop. They trade profile
traits, trade readiness evaluates, change management plan, and put in force exchange
U
management plan.

Business Process Reengineering or Enterprise Resource Planning: For


a hit of BPR implementation, Information Technology plays the role of a key enabler.
Therefore, a query is raised if it is logical to directly enforce ERP and re-engineer trade
processes by means of adopting world magnificence practices, contained in ERP
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applications. This method would steer clear of embarking on BPR which is expensive,
time eating and regularly dangerous. Also reengineered process coming up out of BPR
workout might not be absolute best of class. On the opposite hand, there’s a grave
possibility on this way if a correct ERP package isn’t chosen. Process orientation
and ownership will likely be missing from staff which would possibly lead to primary
implementation difficulties.
m

MIS (Management Information System) is a consolidated knowledge base that


retail outlets all to be had information about funds, operational actions, workforce, and
dealing processes of an undertaking.

The primary position of this software kind is the collection, garage, processing,
)A

and distribution of knowledge, drawing up data-based reports, and offering information


reinforce for control selections. The primary options include analytical forecasting, long-
term and current planning, sensible regulate of operations.

The huge scope of functionality led to separate solutions considering capabilities,


akin to ERP in MIS, decision-making makes stronger programs (DSS), and place of
business automation platforms (OAS).
(c

MIS is first adapted to an undeniable type of industry, which individually boosts the
potency and profitability of operations. Such techniques are used in finance, advertising
and marketing, manufacturing, IT, and lots of other skilled spaces.
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IT Applications in Business 215

Pros and cons of MIS


Notes

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The advantages of MIS come with:

1. Centralized information base: Managers and staff get right of entry to the
entire information they wish to resolve day by day duties in a single place. This
is helping easy out the float of business operations since up-to-date data is all
the time to hand. Employees can standardize data collection strategies using
templates or questionnaires.

rs
2. Task prioritization: There is no need to spend hours storing or retrieving
records manually. Consequently, the corporate saves on labor costs and staff
get more room to stay productive.
3. Improved decision-making algorithm: The system features information

ve
processing equipment that generate reviews in response to records input from
more than one sources. This makes it easier to control subject material flows,
workloads, and extra.
4. Increased personal responsibility: MIS additionally has tools for monitoring
employee process. You can see who makes what decisions and the way lengthy

5.
ni
it takes. This in the end is helping source faults and price in-house performance.
Minimized paperwork: Data is saved digitally and access to a centralized
database is supplied over the company’s public community. This significantly
speeds up the process of reviewing documents and helps scale back the
U
expenses for paper, printing units, pens, ink, and so forth.
6. Accurate review of the financial state of affairs: MIS helps best managers
assess the entire financial state of a company. They can test the standing
stories of various initiatives at any time and conclude at the industry progress
and success.
ity

7. Boosted competitiveness: MIS stores and processes data in a sooner and


easier method. Customer requests are processed faster, which helps higher
retain customers. Employees do away with routine duties and get more efficiency
motivation. This is how companies reach better ends up in two important spaces
of work.
m

MIS (Management Information System) is a consolidated knowledge base that


retail outlets all to be had information about funds, operational actions, workforce, and
dealing processes of an undertaking.

The primary position of this software kind is the collection, garage, processing,
)A

and distribution of knowledge, drawing up data-based reports, and offering information


reinforce for control selections. The primary options include analytical forecasting, long-
term and current planning, sensible regulate of operations.

The huge scope of functionality led to separate solutions considering capabilities,


akin to ERP in MIS, decision-making makes stronger programs (DSS), and place of
business automation platforms (OAS).
(c

MIS is first adapted to an undeniable type of industry, which individually boosts the
potency and profitability of operations. Such techniques are used in finance, advertising
and marketing, manufacturing, IT, and lots of other skilled spaces.

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216 IT Applications in Business

Pros and cons of MIS


Notes

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The advantages of MIS come with:

1. Centralized information base: Managers and staff get right of entry to the
entire information they wish to resolve day by day duties in a single place. This
is helping easy out the float of business operations since up-to-date data is all
the time to hand. Employees can standardize data collection strategies using
templates or questionnaires.

rs
2. Task prioritization: There is no need to spend hours storing or retrieving
records manually. Therefore, the corporate saves on labor costs and staff get
more room to stay productive.
3. Improved decision-making algorithm: The system features information

ve
processing equipment that generate reviews in response to records input from
more than one sources. This makes it easier to control subject material flows,
workloads, and extra.
4. Increased personal responsibility: MIS additionally has tools for monitoring
employee process. You can see who makes what decisions and the way lengthy

5.
ni
it takes. This in the end is helping source faults and price in-house performance.
Minimized paperwork: Data is saved digitally and access to a centralized
database is supplied over the company’s public community. This significantly
speeds up the process of reviewing documents and helps scale back the
U
expenses for paper, printing units, pens, ink, and so forth.
6. Accurate review of the financial state of affairs: MIS helps best managers
assess the entire financial state of a company. They can test the standing
stories of various initiatives at any time and conclude at the industry progress
and success.
ity

7. Boosted competitiveness: MIS stores and processes data in a sooner and


easier method. Customer requests are processed faster, which helps higher
retain customers. Employees do away with routine duties and get more efficiency
motivation. This is how companies reach better ends up in two important spaces
of work.
m

Programmed and Non-programmed Decisions

●● There are two sorts of choices - programmed and non-programmed decisions.


●● Programmed choices are mainly automated processes, normal regimen
paintings, the place −
)A

●● These choices have been taken several instances.


●● These choices observe some guidelines or laws.
●● For instance, deciding on a reorder degree for inventories is a programmed
decision.
●● Non-programmed decisions occur in extraordinary and non-addressed
(c

situations, so −
●● It could be a new decision.
●● There may not be any regulations to observe.

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IT Applications in Business 217

●● These decisions are made in keeping with the previous data.


●● These decisions are in response to the manger’s discretion, instinct,
Notes

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perception, and judgment.
For instance, investing in a new technology is a non-programmed resolution.

Decision strengthen methods in most cases involve non-programmed choices.


Therefore, there will likely be no precise report, content, or format for those systems.
Reports are generated at the fly.

rs
●● Attributes of a DSS
●● Adaptability and flexibility
●● High level of Interactivity

ve
●● Ease of use
●● Efficiency and effectiveness
●● Complete control by means of decision-makers
●● Ease of development
●● Extendibility
●●
●●
●●
Support for modeling and analysis
Support for information get admission to
Standalone, integrated, and Web-based
ni
U
Characteristics of a DSS
●● Support for decision-makers in semi-structured and unstructured problems.
●● Support for managers at quite a lot of managerial ranges, ranging from most
sensible govt. to line managers.
ity

●● Support for people and teams. Less structured issues continuously require the
involvement of several individuals from other departments and organization stage.
●● Support for interdependent or sequential choices.
●● Support for intelligence, design, choice, and implementation.
●● Support for variety of resolution processes and styles.
m

●● DSSs are adaptive through the years.

Benefits of DSS
●● Improves efficiency and velocity of decision-making actions.
)A

●● Increases the keep an eye on, competitiveness and capacity of futuristic


decision-making of the organization.
●● Facilitates interpersonal communication.
●● Encourages finding out or training.
●● Since it is mostly utilized in non-programmed selections, it finds new
approaches and units up new evidences for an unusual resolution.
(c

Helps automate managerial processes.


●● Components of a DSS

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218 IT Applications in Business

Following are the parts of the Decision Support System –


Notes

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●● Database Management System (DBMS) − to resolve an issue the vital
information would possibly come from interior or external database. In a
company, interior information is generated by a device reminiscent of TPS
and MIS. External information comes from quite a lot of sources equivalent to
newspapers, on-line information products and services, databases (financial,
marketing, human assets).

rs
●● Model Management System − It shops and accesses models that managers
use to make selections. Such models are used for designing manufacturing
facility, analyzing the financial wellbeing of a company, forecasting demand of
services or products, and many others.
Support Tools − Support gear like on-line help; pulls down menus, consumer

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interfaces, graphical analysis, error correction mechanism, facilitates the person
interactions with the device.

Classification of DSS
There are several techniques to classify DSS. Hoi Apple and Whinstone classifies
DSS as follows −

●●
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Text Oriented DSS − It accommodates textually represented data that
will have a concerning resolution. It permits paperwork to be electronically
created, revised, and considered as needed.
U
●● Database Oriented DSS − Database plays a major function right here; it
contains arranged and highly structured information.
●● Spreadsheet Oriented DSS − It comprises knowledge in unfold sheets that
permits create, view, adjust procedural knowledge and likewise instructs the
ity

machine to execute self-contained directions. The hottest device is Excel and


Lotus 1-2-three.
●● Solver Oriented DSS − It is in line with a solver, which is an algorithm or
procedure written for acting positive calculations and specific program type.
●● Rules Oriented DSS − It follows sure procedures adopted as rules.
●● Rules Oriented DSS − Procedures are followed in laws oriented DSS. Export
m

gadget is the instance.


●● Compound DSS − It is built via using two or more of the 5 constructions
defined above.
)A

Types of DSS
Following are some conventional DSSs −

●● Status Inquiry System − It helps in taking operational, control level, or middle


degree management selections, for example day by day schedules of jobs to
machines or machines to operators.
●● Data Analysis System − It wishes comparative analysis and makes use of
(c

components or a set of rules, for example cash go with the flow analysis,
inventory analysis and so on.

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IT Applications in Business 219

●● Information Analysis System − In the program information is analyzed and


the ideas record is generated. For example, gross sales research, accounts Notes

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receivable systems, market analysis and so forth.
●● Accounting System − It keeps monitor of accounting and finance
comparable data, as an example, final account, accounts receivables,
accounts payables, etc. that keep track of the main aspects of the trade.
●● Model Based System − Simulation models or optimization fashions used for

rs
decision-making are used from time to time and creates general pointers for
operation or management.
An Executive Information System (EIS) is a decision support system (DSS) used to
help senior executives in the decision-making procedure. It does this through providing
smooth get right of entry to essential knowledge wanted to reach strategic objectives

ve
in an organization. An EIS typically options graphical presentations on an easy-to-use
interface.

Executive data programs can be utilized in many several types of organizations to


observe endeavor efficiency as well as to identify opportunities and problems.

ni
An Executive Information System (EIS) is one of those decision support system
(DSS) utilized in organizations to lend a hand executive in resolution making. It does so by
means of offering easy get entry to essential data wanted in a company to achieve strategic
objectives. An EIS normally has graphical presentations on a user-friendly interface.
U
Executive knowledge techniques can be utilized for tracking corporate performance in
lots of various kinds of organizations in addition to for figuring out alternatives and issues.

Early government knowledge methods had been developed on mainframe


computer systems as computer-based systems to provide the description, gross sales
efficiency and/or market analysis information for senior executives of a company.
ity

Executives, alternatively, were not all literate or assured concerning the computer
systems. Also, EIS knowledge endorsed most effective executive-level decisions that
did not essentially toughen all the company or endeavor.

Current EIS information is available on local area networks (LANs) right through
the company or undertaking, facilitated through non-public computer systems and
m

workstations. Employees can get admission to corporate data to assist in making


selections of their offices, departments, divisions, and so forth. This allows employees
to offer relevant knowledge and concepts above and under the level in their company.

Executive strengthen systems are intended to be used without delay by way of


)A

senior managers to enhance unscheduled strategic control decisions. Often such


information is external, unstructured, or even unsure. Often, the exact scope and
context of such knowledge are not known in advance.

This data is in line with information,

●● Business intelligence
●● Financial intelligence
(c

●● Data with technology fortify to analyze


Executive Information System-Key Characteristics - The under mentioned figure
describes about key characteristics of EIS
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220 IT Applications in Business

Notes

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rs
Source: https://www.includehelp.com/MIS/executive-information-system-eis.aspx

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●● Detailed information – EIS supplies absolute data from its current database.
●● Integrate external and inside knowledge – EIS integrates combine
external and inside knowledge. The exterior knowledge accrued from various
resources.
●●

●● ni
Presenting knowledge – EIS represents available data in graphical shape
which is helping to research it simply.
Trend research – EIS is helping executives of the organizations to knowledge
prediction in line with pattern information.
U
●● Easy to use – It is a very most simple system to use.

Advantages of EIS
●● Trend Analysis
●● Improvement of corporate performance in the marketplace
ity

●● Development of managerial leadership abilities


●● Improves decision-making
●● Simple to use by way of senior executives
●● Better reporting method
●● Improved place of job efficiency
m

Disadvantage of EIS
●● Due to technical purposes, not too simple to use through everybody
●● Executives may encounter overload of knowledge
)A

●● Difficult to control database because of the large measurement of data


●● Excessive prices for small business organizations

Supply Chain Management (SCM)


Supply Chain Management is the process of planning, enforcing, and controlling
the operations of the availability chain as efficiently as possible.
(c

SCM spans all motion and garage of raw materials, work-in-process stock, and end
items from point-of-origin- to point-of-consumption.

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IT Applications in Business 221

SCM is the oversight of fabrics, information, and budget as they transfer in an


activity from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to shopper. Notes

ity
A supply chain is a network of amenities and distribution options, that plays the
purposes of procurement of fabrics, transformation of these fabrics into intermediate
and completed merchandise and the distribution of those finished products to
consumers.

rs
OLAP: Online Analytic Processing
It is a computing way that solutions multi-dimensional analytical queries at a far
sooner pace and in a smoother approach. OLAP is a unit of business intelligence (BI).
It holds the relational database and knowledge mining and reporting options within or
in other phrases, OLAP encompasses RDBMS and knowledge mining & reporting.

ve
OLAP equipment gives capability to the user to analyze multidimensional knowledge
from a couple of perspectives. All the OLAP gear is built upon 3 fundamental analytical
operations.

Consolidation: Also known as roll-up operation plays information aggregation that


may be computed in lots of dimensions. For example, the entire retail offices rolled as
much as a retail division to forecast retail traits.

ni
Drill down: Drill down is a contrasting way to consolidation that permits users
to navigate through knowledge details in a reverse approach to consolidation. For
example, customers can view retail patterns of individual products.
U
Slicing and dicing: Slicing and dicing are a method during which users take out
(slice) a collection of data called OLAP dice after which additional cube the information
dice (slice) from different viewpoints.

OLAP is a class of instrument generation that permits analysts, managers, and


ity

executives to gain perception into information thru speedy, consistent, interactive


get right of entry to a wide variety of imaginable perspectives of data that has been
reworked from raw information to replicate the dimensionality of the enterprise as
understood by means of the user.

OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) is a generation for discovery of knowledge


m

which contains capabilities like prediction, report viewing and complex analytical
calculations. It also lets in customers to simply extract the knowledge to investigate it
from different points of view.

OLAP Applications
)A

Typical applications of OLAP embody industry information for marketing, sales,


management information, business manner management (BPM), budgeting and
prognostication, money information and similar spaces, with new packages arising, like
agriculture.

Types of OLAP programs


(c

There are 3 main kinds of OLAP servers are as following,

1. Relational OLAP (ROLAP) – Star Schema based –

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222 IT Applications in Business

ROLAP can take care of massive quantities of data. ROLAP will leverage
Notes functionalities inherent inside the electronic knowledge provider.

ity
Advantages of ROLAP style:
1. High information potency, Scalability
2. Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP) – Cube based totally –MOLAP retail outlets
information on disks in a specialized dimensional array structure.

rs
3. Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) –HOLAP can be an aggregate of ROLAP and MOLAP.
HOLAP servers permit storing the massive knowledge volumes of detail
knowledge.

Features

ve
1. The knowledge unearths the hidden ways of find out how to perform more
effectively and lucratively.
i. These applied sciences permit collecting nice amounts of industrial
knowledge, translating it into a readable and transparent layout, and

ni
acting a holistic research. That is why an increasing number of companies
implement OLAP BI answers.
ii. To be able to spice up efficiency and minimize bills an increasing number
of companies nowadays put in force BI answers.
U
Advantages of OLAP

High Speed of Data Processing


The primary advantage of OLAP is the velocity of question execution. A correctly
ity

designed cube typically processes a standard user query inside 5 seconds. The data
will always be proper at your fingertips to seek advice from while there’s a necessity to
rapidly take the most important determination. The users don’t have to spend a lot time
on calculations and composing complicated heavyweight studies.

Aggregated and Detailed Data


m

When running with OLAP, customers first see the consolidated data. All the data
is stored in tables attached to the famous person schema within the middle. The tables
arrange a cube with multiple dimensions which makes it simple and fast to navigate
through lots of knowledge. The users can detail the information down to separate
details through “drill down “function and do the other the usage of “drill up” serve as.
)A

Multidimensional Data Representation


OLAP data is represented by means of cubes. Each edge of the dice
accommodates positive attributes of an analyzed business procedure. Measures and
dimensions define the cube axes in a multidimensional coordinate machine. Such
information construction allows customers to look data from different points of view
(c

(slices). A cube slice is a two-dimensional desk, which is a clear and familiar manner of
information representation.

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IT Applications in Business 223

Using Familiar Business Expressions


Notes

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OLAP dimension within the cube displays positive aspects of the company’s fiscal
and financial actions. Instead of manipulating database table fields, the tip consumer
interacts with common trade categories reminiscent of products, consumers, salesmen,
staff, territory, date, etc. That is why OLAP-based tools are quite simple to use even for
non-technical customers.

rs
“What-if” Scenarios
If the cubes you utilize give a boost to write-back function, you can analyze no
longer handiest exact knowledge but in addition create different “what-if” scenarios
and change the data you work with while additionally ensuring the true cube data isn’t
overridden or lost. This function of OLAP lets users substitute the values to see what

ve
different results may take place if there are adjustments presented into the industry.
Through this BI software it is possible to deeply analyze an ongoing business state,
foresee losses, and save you them.

Flat Learning Curve- High velocity of knowledge processing - Aggregated &


detailed data, Multidimensional information illustration, Using acquainted business
expressions, “What-if” scenarios.

ni
Analyze stories at the “speed of thought” and manipulate them in actual time--
You can create and analyze new studies in actual time via interactive OLAP Services
manipulations.
U
Share Intelligent Cube data securely MicroStrategy’s centralized metadata and
Intelligence Server architecture allows Intelligent Cube knowledge to be shared in a
safe style.
ity

Schedule Intelligent Cube execution and maintenance


To scale back tension on the Intelligence Server, you can agenda when Intelligent
Cubes are achieved. This means that you can take advantage of Intelligence Server
down time to execute Intelligent Cubes without affecting performance to your consumer
group.
m

Drill from abstract knowledge to transaction-level main points


You can drill from predefined studies to behavior complex analysis and take
complete advantage of the Intelligent Cube characteristic. Drilling is authorized inside
of an Intelligent Cube for quick-response MOLAP analysis. Drilling can be enabled
)A

outdoor of an Intelligent Cube for complete ROLAP research.

Increase person self-service and productivity--Since accessing Intelligent Cubes for


OLAP analysis does not require runtime processing on the data warehouse and can
use schedules to reduce IT management, users have increased flexibility to create and
alter their very own stories to fit their unique paintings surroundings.
(c

Additional benefits
1. OLAP could also be a platform for every type of industrial includes designing,
budgeting, reporting, and analysis.

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224 IT Applications in Business

2. Information related calculations area unit is constant in an OLAP cube. This can
Notes be a necessary profit.

ity
3. Easily seek OLAP information for large or terms.
4. OLAP provides the building blocks for trade modeling tools, knowledge
processing tools, performance information equipment.
5. It permits users to try and do slice and cube dice knowledge all by a large
number of dimensions, measures, and filters.

rs
6. It is nice for examining statistics.
7. Finding some clusters and outliers is simple with OLAP.
8. It could also be an impressive image online analytical approach components

ve
that provides quicker reaction times.
9. Processing massive amounts of knowledge in a kind handy for the top user and
performance efficient knowledge research.
10. It is user-friendliness and scalability.
11. It fits all users from small and medium businesses to very large corporate teams.

ni
12. OLAP is a key of BI and essentially intended to relieve big information dealing
with and add worth to the method of industrial management.
13. Many times stored owing to speedy execution of the queries in the OLAP formula
U
14. Increase in customers’ pleasure charge tied to extra thorough and reasonable
industry control.
Disadvantages of OLAP system--High price, OLAP is relational--Computation
capability, Some attainable chance.
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Some other forms of OLAP

Web OLAP (WOLAP)


It is a Web browser-based generation and requires no deployment on the
consumer gadget. All that is required is a Web browser and a network connection to the
intranet or Internet.
m

Desktop OLAP (DOLAP)


DOLAP stands for desktop analytical processing. In that person can obtain the
information from the source and work with the dataset, or on their desktop. It has an
)A

inexpensive cost.

Mobile OLAP (MOLAP)


MOLAP is a Wi-Fi capability or mobile devices. Users are paintings and access the
data thru mobile units.

Spatial OLAP (SOLAP)


(c

Merge capabilities of both Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and OLAP into
the only consumer interface, SOLAP egress. SOLAP is created because the information
comes in the form of alphanumeric, symbol, and vector.
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4.2.5: ERP Implementation Methodology–Implementation Life Cycle


Notes

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The ERP implementation procedure includes putting in your device, shifting all your
data, financial and transactional information, mapping your processes, and coaching
your users to if truth be told uses the software. This process will determine whether
your ERP implementation is a good fortune or a failure.

Implementation existence cycle

rs
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is made to automate any process. With ERP,
it’s easy to control each division under one unmarried database. This consumes not
much time and is simple and fast method to do paintings with. Developed in 1990s,
Enterprise Resource Planning is foundation machine for domestic and international
operations, supporting most or all functional spaces of their daily operations. Is one of

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the crucial extra common categories of business software, especially with large-scale
companies? It is industry strategy and set of industry-domain-specific applications
that build customer and shareholder community’s value network system via enabling
and optimizing venture and inter-enterprise collaborative operational and monetary
processes. ERP at its core is a good way of centralizing data and workflow processes

ni
thru data control. ERP helps to keep your whole workflow information in one place.

Example:

Any enterprise’s planning, production, sales, and marketing efforts are put below
one management device and then it combines to one unmarried database machine.
U
ity
m

Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/erp-implementation-life-cycle/

Different stages of ERP Implementation:


)A

1. Pre-evaluation screening:
This segment starts when company decides to go for ERP machine. For this, seek
for package starts. It is time-consuming procedure because each and every package
deal has to research first sooner than achieving to any decision. As all packages don’t
seem to be identical and each has its own strengths and weak point. This procedure
should get rid of those programs that aren’t suitable for company’s industry processes.
(c

2. Package Evaluation:
It is an important phase in implementation. This segment depends upon success
and failure of entire undertaking with package deal variety. Most important issue whilst
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226 IT Applications in Business

deciding on any package is that no longer each package deal can also be completely
Notes best for venture but at-least it will have to be just right are compatible for undertaking.

ity
3. Project Planning Phase: This section plans and designs implementation process.

4. Gap Analysis:
It is the most an important phase on this implementation. Here, gaps are analyzed
between company’s practices and that practices that are supported by ERP package.

rs
It has been estimated that even highest ERP bundle only meets 80-85% of corporate
useful requirements.

5. Re-engineering:

ve
It is the elemental rethinking and radical redesign of commercial processes to
succeed in enhancements.

6. Customization:
It is the primary functional area of ERP Implementation. Arrived solution should

ni
match with total objectives of company. Prototype will have to permit for thorough
checking out and makes an attempt to solve logistical drawback.

7. Implementation Team Training:


U
Now after above processes, implementation staff knows learn how to enforce
device. This is segment where corporate trains its employees to put into effect and later
run gadget.

8. Testing:
ity

This is the segment the place staff brake system. Sometimes, gadget overloads
or multiple users looking to login at identical time etc. Test circumstances are designed
specifically to search out vulnerable links in gadget. Different varieties of testing are:
Unit testing, integration testing, acceptance trying out, safety checking out, performance
and stress testing.
m

9. Going Live:
Once technical and functional facet is correctly running, and testing is done. There
comes next segment i.e., “Going Live”. Once machine is ‘live’, outdated machine is
removed & new device is used for doing trade.
)A

10. End-User Training:


This is the phase where person of gadget is given coaching on methods to use
system. Employees and their skills are known, and training is given to them in teams
based on their present talents. Every employee is supplied with training of job which he
is going to accomplish.
(c

11. Post-Implementation:
It is crucial and significant factor. Post Implementation is based on two words-

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IT Applications in Business 227

Operation and Maintenance of system. Duration of this section depends upon coaching
efficiency. Necessary enhancements & upgrades are made on this phase. Notes

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4.2.6: ERP and its Success Factors
One of the most typical fallacies with ERP implementations is that organizations
are ready for the undertaking. Organizations wish to not simplest recognize
and understand the good fortune drivers, but also to act on related preparatory

rs
recommendations that make stronger them.

Success is defined as getting what you wish to have with the ERP implementation,
on time, on price range and with a sufficient Return on Investment (ROI).

The key factors are:

ve
1. Project Startup
2. Management Commitment
3. Project Scope
4. Project Team
5.
6.
7.
Change Management, Communication and Training
Customizations/Modifications
Budget
ni
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8. Project Closure

1. Project Startup
Perform the due diligence of having the project not off course by preparing the
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entire necessary data and communicating it to the right team of workers.

Recommendations:

●● Prepare/evaluation the business strategy.


●● Prepare/overview the IT technique.
●● Prepare/evaluation the ERP strategy.
m

●● Prepare/assessment the challenge scope (included in more detail under).


●● Prepare the group for process adjustments and the new device by making use
of the proper exchange control strategies and strategies.
)A

2. Management Commitment
An ERP implementation goes to impact how a company operates by means of
updating industry processes and changing device transactions. IT will have to not be
the only area chargeable for the undertaking. Senior managers and mid-level managers
must be involved within the mission from its inception to its final touch. This gives the
undertaking the right kind visibility around the organization and displays the personnel
(c

in general the significance of the venture.

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228 IT Applications in Business

Recommendations:
Notes

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●● Involve control in project sponsorship, a guidance committee, issue escalation
and issue solution. This involvement will help to deal with control reinforce and
keep them knowledgeable about the project.

3. Project Scope
The core ERP gadget will possibly no longer satisfy the entire needs of the group.

rs
Develop the ERP technique and perceive the parts of the ERP, and the way it’ll have
compatibility with different programs and gear. Define your mission scope from a place
of information, fully detailing what the venture is going to incorporate.

Recommendations:

ve
●● Understand the trade necessities and plan how they will be satisfied.
●● The ERP will fulfill some of your small business requirements. Put in
combination a plan as to how other trade requirements equivalent to data
management, trade intelligence, social media, etc. will probably be met.
●● Document pieces that aren’t in scope.

4. Project Team

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The core undertaking crew must be composed of full-time workforce, together
with a venture supervisor and others representing the core spaces of the industry. If a
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consulting integrator is used, the core challenge crew needs to have an excellent and
cohesive working courting with the consultants. Also, identify a collection of resources
from the more than a few spaces of the industry to supply subject matter experience.

Recommendations:
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●● Use confirmed implementation methodologies and tools for the project.


●● Empower the implementation staff to make decisions.
●● The core project team should be in the similar location to help in conversation.
●● Create a competency center for publish go-live fortify wishes.
●● Identify subject matter professionals (SMEs) from pertinent spaces around the
m

group.
●● Project workforce to have an excellent working courting with the consultants.

5. Change Management, Communication and Training


)A

The ERP venture won’t only lead to adjustments in systems, but in addition
procedure and organizational adjustments. A Change management group will likely
be essential for the organization to maintain the affect. The dimension of the staff
will vary relying at the size of the venture and quantity of adjustments. Training falls
under change control, and the commonest method is to “train the trainers.” Normally
the software vendors or the consulting integrators will train the running shoes, who are
workers in the group. This way is maximum useful since the organization will finally end
(c

up with the skilled professionals on its workforce.

Recommendations:

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●● Create conversation mechanisms comparable to a site, newsletters, street


presentations, lunch and learns, etc. Notes

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●● Develop excellent verbal exchange between the undertaking crew and the
organization as an entire.
●● Key customers will have to be concerned with the mission and its
development, as this may aid in acceptance of the changes.
●● Create a trade case that displays the changes to processes and system

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capability, and likewise the advantages caused with the adjustments. Share
the trade case with the pertinent folks throughout the organization.
●● Hire a 3rd party to accomplish a company readiness overview.
●● Be prepared to train right through the undertaking and after the put up go-live date.

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6. Customizations/Modifications
Most ERPs are constructed with embedded very best practices. A group will have
to stay a good regulate on the customizations, as they’ll diminish the appliance of the
most productive practices. These adjustments would possibly lead to a building up in
scope and funds as smartly.

Recommendations:

●● ni
Study other ERP implementations within the industry and spot what
customizations have been required.
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●● Perform a gap research and prioritize the gaps (High=Required,
Medium=Workaround Exist, Low=Nice to Have).
●● Set clear expectations at the corporate place relating to customizations.
●● Create a procedure during which a trade case must be created for every
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customization.
●● Be ready to take care of those adjustments because the software dealer
releases new variations of the device.

7. Budget
Organizations must create realistic finances to incorporate all costs for the
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implementation, corresponding to device, hardware, and staff sources. Most


organizations are expecting a timely Return on Investment (ROI) from an ERP mission.
Some corporations reduce the mission price range in a try to strengthen on the ROI.
The area’s most usually lowered are change control, training, and project management.
)A

Recommendations:

●● Create an excellent estimate of your implementation prices and keep tight


control of the costs.
●● Do no longer minimize prices in trade control, coaching and venture
management. Instead, consider rapid implementation methods and tools.
Some of the consulting implementers offer those methods and equipment.
(c

8. Project Closure
Having good mission closure is solely as necessary because the undertaking get

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started up. Personnel need to have clear traces of conversation as to when the new
Notes system is going stay and when the legacy gadget is being decommissioned. This

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additionally applies to the creation of new trade processes.

Recommendations:

●● Communicate clearly when the brand-new machine goes dwell and when the
old gadget is being decommissioned.
●● Communicate when new industry processes will pass into effect and previous

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processes can be disabled.
●● Prepare to transfer system improve purposes from the mission structure to the
on-going system fortify structure.
●● Audit processes and machine transactions to make sure they are working as

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deliberate.

4.2.7: Pitfalls and Management Concerns


Implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP device in any company is
filled with promise and fraught with threat.

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Along with the numerous advantages that ERP techniques carry, the chief amongst
those being fast access to customer and supplier information, there also are pitfalls.
One pitfall that may be so very pricey is a poorly executed ERP implementation, and
this may cripple an organization and purpose a lack of jobs.
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To steer clear of pricey mistakes, an ERP implementation needs to be completely
planned with a great deal of care. Then, as soon as all is in position and the important
trail is identified, rapid implementation is the key to success. Through our revel in we’ve
got recognized the “Top 8 Pitfalls of ERP Implementations and How to Avoid them”.
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If even the sort of pitfalls exists there’s a just right chance that the ERP
implementation will fail. The Top eight Pitfalls of ERP Implementations are:

1. When there is not any government sponsor: ERP crosses purposes inside
of an organization. Therefore, the program needs someone with the authority to
bring quite a lot of functional managers in combination. People must dedicate
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time and assets to the mission, and if they do not suppose that doing so is in
their best interest or essential sufficient to the group, they will to find something
else to do.
2. When the venture is considered as being of interest to just one department:
)A

If the mission is noticed as being vital to only the finance division, or the IS
department, or simply the producing department, it will fail. It applies to all
departments no longer only one and other folks wish to.
3. When there’s no full-time undertaking manager: ERP implementations are
important enough to warrant at a minimum, one full time particular person to
control the undertaking.
(c

4. When, on account of the hardware/tool/communications intensity, the IS


folks make the selections: The problem here is that the IS folks may not have
a just right understanding of useful necessities of the other departments and

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how others will use the ERP machine. Input from all departments is wanted for
the machine to be most effective and to create a way of buy-in. Notes

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5. When there’s a loss of inside sources implemented to the undertaking:
Implementing an ERP techniques take a good quantity of time and effort from
the folks within the corporate. This challenge is figure on most sensible of the
duties that folks these days are responsible for appearing. If the implementation
constantly set aside to do “important” day after day work the timetable will slip

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and the mission risks failure? The query on priorities will have to now not be an
“either/or” query. Work and activity planning must consider the increased time
calls for of the mission for all contributors.
6. When there is not any documentation of the implementation process: Most
ERP implementation will constitute other degrees of business re-engineering. It

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is crucial for firms to report their current processes “as is” and replicate the re-
engineering effort in a documented “to be” process. This method will maximize
the entry from company sources and bring the need to revamp legacy practices
to the vanguard.
7. Lack of training: Companies ceaselessly fail to remember the significance of

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training in enabling the luck of endeavor implementation. Training should be
delivered in phases. At first, corporate team leaders must be trained all over
other stages of the implementation. The training should be delivered by way of
a product and process skilled. It must follow a methodical approach which maps
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the company’s means of doing industry, performed on corporate information.
The second tier of coaching will have to be rolled out and populated to the
remainder of the company personnel before the enterprise application “going
live.”
8. If there’s a huge change of the whole lot: From enjoy, firms embarking on
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large re-engineering of their core processes, subject the company endeavor


implementation to higher chance with better probability of failure. It is our
recommendation that businesses should put into effect much less re-engineering
effort and more procedure enhancement. This will expedite the implementation
and will have much less disruption on an organization’s culture.
We recommend a way the place there’s an upfront research of such industry
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issues as corporate competitiveness, the long-term business targets, a detailing


of the purposeful business processes, a listing of the business problems at an
operational level, and a list of the corporate projects. Fundamentally, what’s created
is a structure of the trade. Senior control, in fact, is the crowd that defines what
)A

the industry goals are. Then it is a matter of getting the useful managers grow to
be concerned so that there generally is a decision of ways the objectives can be
met and to appear within the architecture to make a resolution of what needs to be
addressed.

ERP systems can go back nice rewards, but because of they are so high profile
and reduce across the entire group, they want to be approached carefully to avoid the
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pitfalls.

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Notes

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ERP is Not Easy So Why Do it and who will have to Lead It
Deciding to head with an ERP answer could have two effects: failure or success.
The degrees of failure can range from one thing as small as going over price range
to as a large as pushing a company into litigation, and in more rare circumstances,

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bankruptcy. Why takes the chance? It is for the prospective advantages that may come
from breaking down the walls of silo legacy programs and developing an environment of
real-time verbal exchange of integrated information, resulting in advanced operational
efficiencies that could simplest be completed with ERP. Every challenge needs a
champion and a recent CFO.com article argues that the CFO needs to be the person
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who owns the challenge as they endure the danger of its failure. In doing so, chance
champions lend a hand to precise the importance of the answer all through the
company and ensure everybody understands the changes and how they upload price.
Behind each great ERP implementation is a great CIO and CFO. While the CFO owns
the project, the CIO should be a key ally throughout the project.
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The Paved Road of Past Failures – Five Sources of Failure


ERP adjustments the best way an industry runs, not merely helping a trade run. In
the article, the authors describe an ERP implementation example that failed. The story
highlights that even the most smartly concept out ERP plans will fail if not carried out
right. The question is what is correct? Thanks to the disasters like the example in the
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article, the authors compiled a listing of five commonplace ERP mistakes:

●● Selecting the mistaken ERP solution


●● Choosing program leadership too low in organizational structure
)A

●● Assuming the ERP is an IT project, somewhat than an industry undertaking


●● Ignoring the need for skill experienced in your ERP solution
●● Underestimating ERP challenge timeline

The Right Way to do ERP – Five Critical Success Factors


The authors of the article asked ERP-experienced Chief Information Officers what
(c

they felt have been important success components in ERP initiatives. While there is not
one critical luck factor, the thing items five components CIOs imagine ERP champions
will have to find out about their ERP initiatives.

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●● Understand some great benefits of the ERP resolution


●● Don’t forget about the post-implementation beef up
Notes

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●● Don’t underestimate the importance of grasp data governance
●● Prepare for a preliminary dip in trade performance
●● Don’t put too much into your ERP gadget until you recognize the basics work

What is the Correct Approach to an ERP Project?

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Former CFO and VP of business systems at Coca-Cola and present CEO of Brand
Velocity, Jack Bergstrand, used to be interviewed in a Q & A layout via the authors
of the thing. Mr. Bergstrand believes that pace of implementation is vital. Given his
background with primary implementations and restructurings, his answers to one of the

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following questions could shed light on learn how to means your ERP undertaking.

1. What is the key to doing primary IT restructuring smartly?


2. Why do firms fail to notice the difference between data and data?
3. Why the focus on speed?

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4. What other main IT demanding situations do companies face?
While no longer an exhaustive checklist of the questions responded by Mr.
Bergstrand, the interior knowledge he stocks in the article might be the difference
between good fortune and failure in your own ERP projects.
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ERP initiatives are challenging, however the rewards some distance outweigh
the prices, if ERP is right for a company. Over the years, executives have heard the
massive scale failures and successes. There isn’t any wish to reinvent the wheel – they
can be informed from those who already down the path. The article provides general
information to ERP success. Just consider, ERP solutions trade the industry, no longer
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simply the IT.

4.2.8. ERP Market – Renowned Distributors and the Packages.


Enterprise resource planning (ERP) markets help companies, in addition to
nonprofits and govt companies, increase productivity. ERP packages are data systems
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that bind closely various company functions, together with human sources, finance, and
inventory control, whilst enabling a company to efficiently organize its customers and
suppliers.

Definition
)A

The ERP marketplace is a global change by which software providers and toughen
technicians promote endeavor useful resource management instrument to businesses.
The marketplace is world in nature and contains businesses of all sizes, in step with
ERPWwire.com, an online ERP sources provider.

Significance
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The ERP marketplace performs a key position not simplest in company decision-
making processes however in global transactions. An Organization is also at a
competitive drawback if it cannot in finding ok useful resource planning applications to

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234 IT Applications in Business

spice up competitiveness and strengthen working processes within the brief and lengthy
Notes terms, in line with CIO Magazine, a data technology newsletter.

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Participants
ERP marketplace individuals vary via financial stature, business and running
strategy, notes CIO Magazine. Large organizations typically acquire ERP instrument
with huge applicability, together with company fields corresponding to accounting,
finance, and human assets management, sales and buying control. Smaller purchasers,

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on the other hand, buy limited-scope useful resource making plans software for working
needs.

Business Process Integration

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Every business, without reference to the industry they belong to, require connected
methods with environment friendly information flow from one industry process to every
other. Business Process Integration (BPI) plays an important position in overcoming
integrating demanding situations that allows organizations to attach methods internally
and externally.

●● ni
Business Process Integration (BPI) permits −

●● Automation of commercial processes,


Integration of techniques and services and products,
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●● Safe sharing of knowledge across numerous packages, and
●● Automation of control, operational, and supporting process.
The following representation presentations and summary of various industry
processes working in an undertaking and how they’re built in.
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)A

Evolution of ERP
During early levels of construction, built-in solutions were designed for specific
(c

process areas corresponding to −

●● Material Management − the built-in machine used to be known as Material


Requirement Planning (MRP)

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●● Manufacturing − the built-in system was referred to as Manufacturing


Resource Planning Notes

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However, none of the built-in systems got here with a whole resolution for a
corporation protecting primary business procedure spaces. In early 1990’s, the Gartner
Group first used the acronym ERP. By mid–1990’s, ERP methods addressed all the
core undertaking purposes.

In the early phases, many of the ERP answers were all for automating again

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administrative center functions that had been not directly affecting shoppers or basic
public. Later, entrance office functions comparable to buyer relationship control and e–
business systems have been integrated.

Functions of ERP

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An ERP gadget generally performs the following purposes −

●● Supports the integrated industry process inside the organization.


●● Improves capital planning and helps in executing organizational plans and
techniques.
●●

●●
knowledge.

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Helps speed up the decision-making process over the analysis of correct

Helps lengthen the industry network to wider domain names, increasing the
services and products to succeed in extra customers, providers, and partners.
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●● Identifies operational dangers to give a boost to governance.
●● Provides coverage against organizational data breaches and security threats
to leakage of data.
●● Makes the organization adaptable to the fast changes within the trade
procedure according to the wishes.
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●● Gives long-term benefit through offering manner to extend the client base.

Functional Areas
ERP is an industry control instrument is usually a collection of integrated packages
that a company can use to gather, store, set up, and interpret knowledge from many
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purposeful areas together with −

●● Financial Accounting − Deals with monetary transactions and data.


●● Human Resource − Deals with information related to worker of a company.
●● Customer Relationship Management − Deals with capturing and managing
)A

customer’s courting, facilitating the usage of customer experience to gauge


the data database.
●● Sales and Distribution − Deals with order placement, supply, cargo, and invoicing.
●● Logistics and Warehouse Management − Deals with storage of goods and
shipment.
(c

●● Manufacturing and Material Management − Deals with the production and


manufacturing making plans activities.
●● Supply Change Management − Deals with the motion of products, storing,
managing, and controlling supplies.

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236 IT Applications in Business

●● Business Intelligence − Analyzes knowledge and converts the like information.


Notes

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Advantages of ERP
By integrating the industry processes, the ERP offers the next advantages −

●● Saves time and expenses.


●● Allows sooner decision-making by way of the control, using the knowledge
and reporting tools designed in the techniques.

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●● Single knowledge supply and sharing of knowledge among the entire devices
of an organization.
●● Helps in tracking each transaction that takes place in an organization, from
starting until end.

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●● Supplies real-time data every time required.
●● Provides synchronized knowledge switch in between different practical areas
like gross sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, human useful resource,
logistics, and many others.

Disadvantages of ERP

drawbacks −

●●
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It isn’t always easy to include ERP in a company. ERP suffers from the next

Sometimes business processes critical to a company are to be re-engineered


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to align them with an ERP answer.
●● Cost of complicated integration can be very high.
●● Switching from one ERP strategy to some other will increase the
implementation cost even additional.
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●● End-users are to be skilled for their daily operations.


●● Customization is not preferred.

ERP Vendors
The ERP seller is both the corporate that create the instrument or a representative of
that corporate. It sells the device to the client. Usually, the seller and its representatives
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will spearhead the setup, provide initial coaching and work out any initial insects. The
seller additionally frequently takes care of implementing the customizations that the
corporate designed in tandem with its ERP marketing consultant.

ERP Vendors are numerous and various. Mainly this is because they are
)A

concerned about differing markets. Let’s look deeper at how you’ll be able to
differentiate the many ERP Vendors out there.

Types of ERP Vendors


You can broadly categorize ERP Vendors into 3 sorts:

1. Niche totally based ERP Vendors


(c

2. Mass Market ERP Vendors


3. Add-on sort ERP Vendors

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The first type are those vendors who focal point only on the distinctive market,
related to lumber, injection molding, meals processing, and a slew of alternative Notes

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uniqueness markets.

The 2d varieties of distributors are those that can do fascinated with everybody.
The distributors serve the mass marketplace of businesses well; alternatively,
occasionally don’t meet probably the most elements of industry specific requirements.
The distributors include SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft.

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The ultimate sort are those distributors who perform a little of an ERP’s capability,
however now not all. They may most straightforward do accounting, or just production,
or even just a list keep an eye on resolution. They have pre-defined companions who
together form an entire enterprise resolution.

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Some examples include-

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After-Sale Support
Comparing a seller and a consultant’s post-sale roles is like comparing a mechanic
and a driving teacher. The supplier may proceed to play a role in conserving the nuts
and bolts of the machine running. An ERP consultant, on the other hand, will lend a
hand the company use the device successfully. ERP experts can lend a hand with
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melding an industry’ processes with the best way its ERP instrument operates. They
can also educate staff on methods to strategically use the instrument instead of just
showing them which buttons to press. Sometimes, they also lend a hand to combine the
tool with remaining legacy programs that do not are compatible into its framework.
)A

ERP Packages
Many corporations increase and enforce various ERP applications in keeping with
their finances and necessities to lend a hand them meet their business needs and run
their trade successfully.

Major options and modules of endeavor useful resource making plans tool
(c

ERP software varies extensively between techniques, business focuses, and


introduced options; alternatively, maximum methods will offer several of these modules:

●● Human sources

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238 IT Applications in Business

●● CRM
Notes ●● Finance/Accounting

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●● IT Helpdesk
●● eCommerce
●● Supply Chain Management
●● Order Processing

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●● Inventory and Procurement
In addition to department explicit modules like those listed above, many ERP
platforms target industries like production, field provider, and era. Industry-focused ERP
techniques package deal helpful features together and offer a useful place to begin for
those new to ERP tool.

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Human assets
HR device modules connect your employee knowledge and records with all the
techniques for your ERP. Payroll, time monitoring, individual department scheduling and
timesheets, succession planning, and hiring data all are living in a single place and can

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sync directly with monetary and accounting gear to provide firms a cohesive working
out of how human sources without delay affect the financial wellbeing of the whole
corporate.

CRM
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CRM modules within an ERP instrument streamline sales-critical information
with manufacturing and product groups. This method is a seamless processing of
contracts from the sales team to production to delivery and returns. A CRM in an ERP
homes complete buyer contact information and makes account notes to be had to all
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stakeholders in the purchase and manufacturing procedure.

Finance and accounting


Finance and accounting modules in ERP techniques aggregate financial
information from throughout all the attached modules, which gives an organization a
whole picture of their earnings and spend. These gear help companies roll up benefit
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and loss reports from financial reviews and build forecasts that be mindful knowledge
from the entire company.

IT helpdesk
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IT helpdesk modules stay your company generation working easily. With integrated
IT and ERP systems, your IT staff can box questions and insects from around the
company, prioritize those jobs, and temporarily apply up with stakeholders. These
mechanisms lend a hand IT department track the ROI they bring about to the team,
their monetary get advantages to the corporate, and the impact of technology and
software upgrades.
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eCommerce
Connect your corporate ecommerce web site at once with delivery, product
building, and supply chain modules inside of an ERP. Purchasing an ERP with

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ecommerce integration will lend a hand your crew draw connections between web site
wellbeing and total earnings expansion. It too can assist you to pinpoint bottlenecks Notes

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within the supply chain that slow down production or logistics problems that lengthen
supply.

Supply chain control


Supply chain problems can back up your entire earnings flow. ERP software with
provide chain modules guarantees that different teams have insight into the availability

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chain and can react quickly in step with the severity of the location.

Among other essential infrastructure improvements, an ERP with supply chain tool,
HR instrument, and production or production management tools can significantly lower
reaction times for corporations that wish to build up production at trade vegetation to

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circumvent supply chain problems.

Order processing
While work order instrument brings continuity to the sales and service sectors of
an organization, integrating order processing tool at once with an ERP gives business

Inventory and Procurement


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analysts perception into inefficiencies and improvements across the gross sales cycle.

Like the issues that provide chain control software solves, stock and procurement
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device help companies manage their warehouse and stockroom inventories. These
tools are sure that firms stay the right amount of product in stock to cover seasonal and
anticipated surges in demand. These mechanisms, when attached with an ERP, lend a
hand companies forecast product provide wishes and make sure the precise staff, shelf
area, and logistical coverage.
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Benefits of ERP answers


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Enterprise useful resource making plans software gains its energy through
centralizing important data in a database that each one sectors of the corporate can
use to fortify processes. Your company must see many of these benefits after enforcing
an ERP gadget.

Reduced tool overhead


(c

ERP software lets in groups to consolidate their tools into one unified device.
Instead of paying for separate subscriptions for supply chain management, core HR,
CRM, shipping, and stock device, groups pay for a single platform that handles each of

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240 IT Applications in Business

these duties in a centralized machine. Depending on the corporate size and complexity,
Notes lowering the choice of instrument gadget subscriptions can considerably cut per month

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overhead.

Increased conversation
When all sectors of the company gather in one instrument to plan and track industry
events, the entire trade knowledge can then be made to be had for staff review. Many
trendy ERP techniques make investments closely in analysis gear and visualizations that

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let crew contributors create reports that display development, point out inventory ranges,
and notify colleagues of wins. ERP software then acts as the single source of truth for
stakeholders to check successes and prepare for bumps in the road.

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Silo aid
Business silos—the place groups work independent of each other to everybody’s
detriment—greatly reduce corporate productivity. An ERP helps companies publicize
their targets and groups proportion their plans with one some other. Teams who’ve get
right of entry to the same knowledge can evaluate notes across departments, serving to

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everybody transfer towards the ones large industry targets.

Standardization of manufacturing processes


For large production companies with several facilities, sharing production plans and
very best practices can also be important for product and process standardization. ERP
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techniques allow manufacturing teams to store manuals, blueprints, regulatory data,
and necessary statistics for every process in a single, searchable location. This lets in
other portions of the corporate to replicate processes throughout county and country
traces without sacrificing quality or velocity.
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Inventory relief
Whether it’s the choice of widgets your company makes or the humans that set
up them, keeping extra resources available than you need prices cash. ERP solutions
provide stock tracking and research that permits firms to run leaner. Using technology
like RFID tags, geo-fencing, and biometric knowledge, ERP systems can track
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property through their entire lifecycle from supply to sale. And many ERP systems will
recommend inventory enhancements through the years. With diminished inventories,
corporations can repurpose storage space and lower down on their payroll costs.

Standardization of human sources information


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Many ERP solutions provide Core HR products like payroll, scheduling, time clock,
and benefits management. These modules connect the front of house, warehouse,
and C-suite. With core HR features, an ERP machine can use the time clock device
to calculate payroll and benefits, and managers can get right of entry to employee
information when development schedules. Because workers are a company’s most
expensive and treasured useful resource, it’s necessary to attach the device that
(c

manages them with the remainder of the enterprise’s data.

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Summary
Notes

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●● Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is instrument designed to lend a hand
corporations retailer, manage, and use knowledge relating to their day by day and
common processes.
●● ERP assists in keeping observe of a wealth of data, together with payroll, raw
resources, trade commitments, purchase orders, and capacity for production.
●● ERP device is a part of the IT sector, and because of its usefulness and success,

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it’s now thought to be a multi-billion-dollar business.

Check your understanding


Answer the following:

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1. What is ERP software?
2. Which are the most popular ERP vendors?
3. What kind of companies uses ERP software?
4. ERP vs. CRM software: What’s the difference?
5.

References
1.
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What is manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) software?

Enterprise Resource Planning by Rajesh Ray, McGraw Hill Education;1st edition,


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2017.
2. Enterprise Resource Planning: Concepts and Practice by Garg, Prentice Hall India
Learning Private Limited; 2nd edition, 2003.
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m
)A
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Module-V: Future Trends in Technology


Notes

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Structure:

Unit-5.1 Future Trends in Technology


5.1.1 Cloud Computing

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5.1.2 Cloud Computing and Business Organizations

Unit-5.2 SaaS
5.2.1 Introduction

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5.2.2 Big Data
5.2.3 Use of Artificial Intelligence in Business
5.2.4 Machine Learning
5.2.5 Industrial Internet of Things
5.2.6 Intelligent Interfaces
5.2.7
5.2.8
5.2.9
Augmentation Reality
Quantum computing
Blockchain
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5.2.10 Smart Dust
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)A
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Unit-5.1: Cloud Computing


Notes

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Objectives:
Students after this unit will be able to learn:

●● The fundamental ideas behind Cloud Computing, the evolution of the paradigm, its
applicability; benefits, as well as current and future challenges.

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●● The basic ideas and principles in data center design; cloud management
techniques and cloud software deployment considerations.
●● Different CPU, memory and I/O virtualization techniques that serve in offering
software, computation, and storage services on the cloud; Software Defined

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Networks (SDN) and Software Defined Storage (SDS).
●● Cloud storage technologies and relevant distributed file systems, NoSQL
databases and object storage.
●● The variety of programming models and develop working experience in several of
them. Cloud computing is the delivery of different services through the Internet.

databases, networking, and software.

5.1.1. Introduction
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These resources include tools and applications like data storage, servers,
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Rather than preserving records data on a proprietary arduous pressure or local
storage device, cloud-based storage makes it conceivable to save lots of them to a
remote database. If an electronic device has got access to the internet, it has obtained
entry to the information and the software programs to run it.
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Cloud computing is a well-liked option for folks and businesses for several
reasons including price, financial savings, increased productivity, speed and potency,
performance, and security.

Understanding Cloud Computing


Cloud computing is named as such since the data being accessed is found
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remotely in the cloud or a digital area. Companies that offer cloud products and
services permit users to retailer records data and applications on far flung servers and
then get admission to all the data by means of the Internet. This way the consumer
isn’t required to be in a selected position to achieve access to it, permitting the user to
paintings remotely.
)A

Cloud computing takes all the heavy lifting inquisitive about crunching and
processing knowledge clear of the software you lift around or sit and work at. It also
moves all that work to very large computer cluster in cyberspace. The Internet becomes
the cloud, and voilà—your information, work, and applications are available from any
tool with which you’ll connect with the Internet, anyplace on the earth.
(c

Cloud computing may also be both public and private. Public cloud services and
products provide their services over the Internet for a fee. Private cloud products and
services, on the other hand, simplest provide products and services to a certain set of
people. These services are a device of networks that provide hosting services. There
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is also a hybrid possibility, which combines elements of each, the public and private
Notes services.

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Types of Cloud Services
Regardless of the kind of service, cloud computing services provide users with a
chain of functions including:

●● Email

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●● Storage, backup, and information retrieval
●● Creating and checking out apps
●● Analyzing information
●● Audio and video streaming

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●● Delivering tool on call for
Cloud computing remains to be a quite new provider but is being used by quite a
few other organizations from giant companies to small companies, nonprofits to govt
companies, or even individual customers.

Deployment Models

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There are quite a lot of forms of clouds, every of which isn’t like the opposite.
Public clouds supply their services and products on servers and storage at the Internet.
These are operated by means of third-party firms, who deal with and keep an eye on
U
the entire hardware, utility, and the overall infrastructure. Clients get entry to services
thru accounts that can be accessed via near to someone.

Private clouds are reserved for explicit clientele, generally one business or
organization. The firm’s data carrier heart would possibly host the cloud computing
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service. Many personal cloud computing products and services are provided on a
private community. Hybrid clouds are, because the name implies, a mixture of each
public and private products and services. This type of model allows the person more
flexibility and is helping optimize the person’s infrastructure and safety.

Types of Cloud Computing


m

Cloud computing is not a single piece of generation like a microchip or a mobile


phone. Rather, it’s a machine primarily created from three services and products:
software-as-a-service (SaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), and platform-as-a-
service (PaaS).
)A

1. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) involves the licensure of an application software


to shoppers. Licenses are most often supplied via a pay-as-you-go fashion or
on-demand. This form of system may also be present in Microsoft Office’s 365.1
2. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) comes to a technique for handing over
the whole lot from running systems to servers and garage through IP-based
connectivity as a part of an on-demand service. Clients can steer clear of the
(c

want to purchase utility or servers, and instead procure these assets in an


outsourced, on-demand carrier. Popular examples of the IaaS system come
with IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

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3. Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) is thought of as probably the most complex of


the three layers of cloud-based computing. PaaS shares some similarities Notes

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with SaaS, the principle distinction being that as an alternative of turning in
application online, it is in fact a platform for creating utility this is delivered by
way of the Internet. This model includes platforms like Salesforce.com and
Heroku

Advantages of Cloud Computing

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Cloud-based software provides corporations from all sectors several benefits, at
the side of the power to use software from any tool either by means of a local app or
a browser. As a finish result, consumers can lift their files and settings over to other
gadgets in a seamless means.

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Cloud computing is way over simply having access to data on a few gadgets.
Thanks to cloud computing products and services, shoppers can test their e-mail on
any PC or even retailer knowledge using products and services and products akin to
Dropbox and Google Drive. Cloud computing services and products additionally make
it possible for purchasers to back up their song, information, and pictures, making sure

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the ones information is in an instant to be had throughout the tournament of a hard
drive crash.

It additionally supplies huge businesses massive cost-saving potential. Before the


cloud develops into a viable choice, corporations had been required to buy, compile,
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and take care of expensive knowledge keep watch over technology and infrastructure.
Companies can trade expensive server facilities and IT departments for fast Internet
connections, the place personnel engage with the cloud on-line to complete their tasks.

The cloud building for public could save some cupboard space on their desktops
or laptops. It additionally improves mechanism on account of tool corporations those
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offering their products using the internet than via extra conventional, tangible strategies
involving discs or flash drives. For instance, Adobe consumers can get access
to methods in its Creative Cloud thru an Internet-based subscription. This lets in
customers to procure new variations and fixes to their strategies simply.

Disadvantages of the Cloud


m

With the entire pace, efficiencies, and inventions that come with cloud computing,
there are, naturally, threats.

Security has all the time been a large worry with the cloud especially relating to
delicate medical information and financial information. While regulations force cloud
)A

computing services and products to shore up their safety and compliance measures, it
stays an ongoing issue. Encryption protects necessary data, but if that encryption keys
lost, the information disappears.

Servers maintained by way of cloud computing corporations may fall victim to


herbal failures, inner bugs, and gear outages, too. The geographical reach of cloud
computing cuts each and every technique: A blackout in California might paralyze
(c

customers in New York, and a company in Texas might just lose its knowledge if
something causes its Main-based source to crash.

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As with any technology, there is a learning curve for each human resources and
Notes managers. But with many people having access to and manipulating information using

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free portal, inadvertent mistakes can switch during a whole device.

5.1.2: Cloud Computing and Business Organizations


The strategic importance of cloud computing in business organizations relies on
the which cloud computing platform you use, which cloud computing industry model

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is most fitted for the growth of your enterprise and the way it’ll affect the customers
positively and negatively.

When you think and research on very best cloud computing solutions for your
online business, you should analyze on its disadvantages, a negative effect on

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shoppers, price of your enterprise, in the end, staff and obviously it’s a must to make
changes in what you are promoting objectives.

So, on this ruin, let’s find out about the advantages and strategic importance of
cloud computing in business organizations.

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1. Secure Document Sharing
In traditional strategy, file sharing can eat a whole lot of time. It contains typing,
printing, and courier. After that comes to email. You create the document then connect
to the email and send. And you recognize It takes time in editing and finishing the report
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on each end (purchasers/freelance, vendor/customers) etc.

But now after cloud storage, you can create a file and share the document in actual
time. It will increase the speed of doing business, grows productiveness and scale
back the wastage of time. By the usage of cloud-based applications, storage is the very
efficient approach to increase the benefit and reduce the price.
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Using cloud computing for record sharing, you can percentage information more
securely and privately with any person and organization globally. Those are password
safe. You can use One Time Password, One Time Access. And you can add and delete
get access to the user anytime from any device.

Using this, you’ll see the changes that are done by your team individuals or
m

customers. You may give access to the applying, pictures, videos, music, device,
database and so on, through cloud computing and cloud storage. Now cloud computing
is essential for the trade to percentage records data with any organization, people in
the world, they may be able to rent remote workforce and retailer, access, calculate,
)A

process, proportion a large amount of information anytime on any device any place with
high pace and accuracy.

2. Virtual Private/Public Cloud


In business, if you want 1 server, 2 servers or 12 or 20 servers in your information,
storage, software website hosting, you’ll be able to do it just by joining the products
and services, without buying and set up of the server for your premises. Through
(c

cloud computing, you’ll get the wide variety of features to select in your data center
reminiscent of dedicated resources, quick upgrades, auto scaling storage capability,
high-speed networks and so forth.

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Virtual Private cloud is like an exterior hard disk, pen force. But the variation
is solely that private cloud storage is equipped, and the server is situated at the Notes

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remote place, you never know the place. You can use personal cloud and private
infrastructures which are positioned at the far-flung location. Virtual cloud is remotely
positioned it will probably receive benefits in times of crisis; your information can be
secure and safe.

For example, you might have the hard disk during which you’ve saved all your

rs
information, however for any reason why, you may have misplaced the hard disk then
it’s tough to get again the hard disk or the data. But in digital cloud setup for knowledge
garage helps you to get well knowledge faster. Virtual non-public cloud helps you to
scale back the prematurely local (on premises) data price, upkeep works. For business
this approach, you are building up computing energy that needs in your enterprise as

ve
consistent with the demand and I believe it can be essential for any trade group.

3. Auto Scaling
Auto-scaling in cloud computing approach the system and servers mechanically
configure themselves for the larger demand of customers. For example, if you’re using

ni
a computer with 8 GB Ram then you getting just right pace in any positive application.
But when you open and use 5 to 10 applications like tune, graphics designing software,
internet browser, and social media web sites and doing video editing in the similar time,
it will cut back the processing pace. But in cloud computing, no matter what you’re
the use of and how many people are the use of single software or many, it’ll routinely
U
building up its capability in step with the deployment record, location, and users. This
is very efficient in business it’s since you’re paying as in step with the use, your server/
storage capacities increase when it’s wanted. In a wider level, your ecommerce is
running automatic and without on-premise server, network a without application error
and crash.
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4. Faster Apps Deployment Process


‘Platform’ as service in cloud computing has strategic implication of business. This
way you’ll be able to broaden, look at, run, take a look at, and organize apps without the
setup of deployment apps and upkeep of hardware (server). Everything is pre-built and
designed and equipped to enhance more than a few frameworks and languages akin to
m

PHP, Python, MySQL, Ruby, Drupal, Node.Js, and Java and so on. Using platform as a
service in cloud, allow programmer and developer to collaborate with group contributors
and shoppers in actual time. PaaS is a remotely positioned construction atmosphere
for programmers and developers. The best possible advantages for device/apps
)A

development firms are that it’s easy to take care of and arrange development tasks.

5. Cloud Hosting
All business applications and its users call for faster and protected web studies.
Using cloud web hosting enables companies to retailer limitless knowledge using the
variety of storage options, run packages, host internet sites in order that customers can
also be performed more in less time.
(c

Cloud web hosting is in the development, nevertheless it’s especially more vital for
a web-based retailer, movies and social media web sites, inventor applications, CRM

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packages, and are living streaming & quiz apps etc., during which users be expecting
Notes instant entertainment, steady connectivity to the appliance. But now it’s not always

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possible, as even cloud-hosted software can also be crashed when you’re running
particularly in graphics design software and reside quiz apps. Sometimes there can
be the network drawback. But yes, cloud-hosted apps run faster than the only server
hosted apps or native server website. It’s because cloud internet hosting providers have
more assets, features, safety extra scalable than the non-cloud server or cloud hosting.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, cloud computing is just lately new technological construction that
has the prospective to have a great influencing the global. It has many benefits that it
provides to its customers and businesses. For example, one of the crucial advantages

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that it provides to companies is that it reduces working cost by means of spending
less on upkeep and software upgrades and focal point more at the companies itself.
But there are different challenges the cloud computing should conquer. People are
very skeptical about whether their knowledge is safe and personal. There are not any
requirements or rules worldwide provided information through cloud computing. Europe
has knowledge coverage rules but the US, being one of the technological advance

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country, does now not have any data protection rules. Users also concern about who
can disclose their data and feature possession of their knowledge. But as soon as,
there are standards and regulation worldwide, cloud computing will revolutionize the
long run.
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Check your Understanding
Answer the following Questions:
1) What is cloud computing?
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2) What are the benefits of cloud computing?


3) What is a cloud?
4) What are the different data types used in cloud computing?
5) Which are the different layers that define cloud architecture?
6) Which platforms are used for large scale cloud computing?
m

7) What are the different layers in cloud computing? Explain working of them.
8) What do you mean by software as a service?
9) What is the platform as a service?
)A

10) What is on-demand functionality? How is it provided in cloud computing?

References
1. Moving to the Cloud. Developing Apps in the New World of Cloud Computing by
Dinkar Sitaram, Geetha Manjunath, Elseiver, 2012.
2. CLOUD COMPUTING Principles and Paradigms by Rajkumar Buyya, James
(c

Broberg, Andrzej Goscinski, Wiley Publication, 2010.

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Unit-5.2: SaaS
Notes

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Objectives:
After the Chapter you will be able to understand:

●● Learn about SaaS’ impact on the FinTech world


●● Understand how SaaS is likely to evolve

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●● Learn how the evolution of SaaS is likely to affect investment professionals

5.2.1. Introduction
Software-as–a-Service (SaaS) model lets in offering software application as a

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service to the end customers. It refers to a device that is deployed on a host carrier
and is obtainable by means of Internet. There are several SaaS applications indexed
beneath:

●● Billing and invoicing system

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●● Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications
●● Help desk applications
●● Human Resource (HR) solutions
Some of the SaaS applications are not customizable such as Microsoft Office
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Suite. But SaaS supplies us Application Programming Interface (API), which permits the
developer to develop customized software.

Characteristics
Here are the traits of SaaS service model:
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●● SaaS makes the software accessible over the Internet.


●● The tool packages are maintained via the seller.
●● The license to the software is also subscription based or utilization based. And
it’s billed on the recurring base.
●● SaaS applications are cost-effective since they don’t require any maintenance
m

at end consumer side.


●● They are available on requirement.
●● They can be scaled up or down on demand.
)A

●● They are mechanically upgraded and updated.


●● SaaS gives shared information model. Therefore, multiple users can share
single instance of infrastructure. It isn’t required to exhausting code the
functionality for person users.
●● All customers run the same version of the tool.

Benefits
(c

Using SaaS has proved to be useful in terms of scalability, potency, and function.
Some of the benefits are listed under:

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●● Self-effacing software tools


Notes ●● Efficient use of software licenses

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●● Centralized control and knowledge
●● Platform duties controlled through provider
●● Multitenant solutions

Top Advantages of Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Reduced time to benefit. Software as a service (SaaS) differs from the traditional
model because the software (application) is already installed and configured.

●● Lower costs.
●● Scalability and integration.

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●● New releases (upgrades).
●● Easy to use and perform proof-of-concepts.

Modest software tools


The SaaS application deployment requires a little or no shopper aspect tool set up,
which leads to the next advantages:

●●
●●
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No requirement for advanced tool applications at shopper facet
Little or no chance of configuration at consumer side
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●● Low distribution cost

Efficient use of software licenses


The buyer can have single license for a couple of computer systems running at
other locations which reduces the licensing cost. Also, there is not any requirement for
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license servers since the device runs within the supplier’s infrastructure.

Centralized control and data


The cloud supplier retail outlets information centrally. However, the cloud providers
might retailer data in a decentralized manner for the sake of redundancy and reliability.
m

Platform responsibilities managed using suppliers


All platform duties like backups, software maintenance, security, hardware refresh,
and power check and so forth are performed by way of the cloud provider. The buyer
does now not wish to hassle about them.
)A

Multitenant answers
Multitenant solutions permit a couple of customers to proportion single example of
various sources in digital isolation. Customers can customize their application without
affecting the core capability.
(c

Issues
There are several problems associated with SaaS, a few of them are indexed
underneath:

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●● Browser based risks


●● Network dependence
Notes

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●● Lack of portability between SaaS clouds

Browser based risks


If the buyer visits malicious website and browser turns into virus infected, the
following lead to SaaS software compromise the buyer’s data.

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To keep away from such risks, the buyer can use more than one browser and
dedicate a specific browser to get entry to SaaS programs or can use virtual desktop
whilst accessing the SaaS packages.

Network dependence

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The SaaS application can also be delivered best when network is regularly
available. Also, network will have to be reliable however the community reliability can’t
be assured both by way of cloud supplier and by way of the customer.

Lack of portability between SaaS clouds

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Transferring workloads from one SaaS cloud to another isn’t easy because of work
drift, trade logics, consumer interfaces, improve scripts can also be supplier specific.

Open SaaS and SOA


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Open SaaS uses those SaaS applications, which can be developed the use
of open supply programming language. These SaaS programs can run on any open
supply operating device and database. Open SaaS has several benefits indexed
underneath:
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●● No License Required
●● Low Deployment Cost
●● Less Vendor Lock-in
●● More transportable packages
●● More Robust Solution
m

The following diagram displays the SaaS implementation according to SOA:


)A
(c

Source: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cloud_computing/cloud_computing_software_as_a_service.htm
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5.2.2: Big Data


Notes

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Big data is a time that describes the huge volume of information – each structured
and unstructured – that inundates a business daily. But it’s now not the quantity of data
that’s essential. Its what organizations do with the data those issues. Big data may also
be analyzed for insights that result in higher choices and strategic trade moves.

To truly perceive giant information, it’s useful to have some historical background.
Here is Gartner’s definition, circa 2001 (which continues to be the go-to definition): Big

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data is data that contains higher selection arriving in expanding volumes and with ever-
higher velocity. This is referred to as the three Vs.

Put merely, large information is greater, extra complex information sets, especially
from new data sources. These data sets are so voluminous that conventional

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knowledge processing software simply can’t manage them. But those large volumes of
data can be used to handle business problems you wouldn’t have been able to take on
sooner than.

The three Vs of big data

Volume

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The amount of information matters. With large information, you’ll need to process
top volumes of low-density, unstructured data. This may also be information of unknown
value, corresponding to Twitter data feeds, click streams on a webpage or a cellular
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app, or sensor-enabled equipment. For some organizations, this might be tens of
terabytes of data. For others, it can be loads of petabytes.

Velocity
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Velocity is the quick price at which data is received and (in all probability) acted
on. Normally, the best possible velocity of information streams immediately into memory
as opposed to being written to disk. Some internet-enabled smart products function in
genuine time or near genuine time and will require real-time evaluation and motion.

Variety
m

Variety refers to the many types of data which are available. Traditional information
varieties have been structured and fit neatly in a relational database. With the rise of
huge data, data is available in new unstructured information varieties. Unstructured and
semi structured information varieties, corresponding to text, audio, and video, require
additional preprocessing to derive that means and give a boost to metadata.
)A

The worth—and truth—of big data


Two more Vs have emerged over the past few years: price and veracity.

Data has intrinsic price. But it’s of no need till that worth is found out. Equally
essential: How honest are your knowledge—and what sorts can you depending on it?
(c

Today, massive information has transformed capital. Think of some of the world’s
biggest tech firms, a Big a part of the value they offer comes from their data, which
they’re continuously inspecting to offer extra efficiency and increase new products.

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Recent technological breakthroughs have exponentially decreased the price of wisdom


storage and compute, making it more straightforward and more economical to store extra Notes

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knowledge than ever ahead of. With an upper quantity of big information now cheaper and
additional accessible, you can make extra proper and precise industry decisions.

Finding worth in large wisdom isn’t simplest about inspecting it (which is a whole
different get advantages). It’s an entire discovery process that requires insightful
analysts, business users, and executives, who ask the suitable questions, acknowledge

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patterns, make professional assumptions, and are expecting conduct.

The historical past of big data


Although the concept of huge information itself is quite new, the origins of large data
units go back to the 1960s and ‘70s when the sphere of data was once simply getting

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started with the main data amenities and the improvement of the relational database.

Around 2005, people began to realize simply how so much information, customers
generated using Facebook, YouTube, and other online products and services and
products. Hadoop (an open-source framework created particularly to retailer to analyze
large information tools) was once developed that very same 12 months.

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The construction of open-source frameworks, corresponding to Hadoop (and
additional now not too long ago, Spark) was once the most important for the expansion
of huge wisdom on account of they make giant knowledge easier to paintings with
and more economical to retailer. In the years since then, the volume of enormous
U
knowledge has skyrocketed. Users are nonetheless producing huge amounts of data—
however it’s now not simply humans who’re doing it.

With the coming of the Internet of Things (IoT), further items and devices are
hooked up to the internet, collecting information on buyer utilization patterns and
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product efficiency. The emergence of device learning has produced nevertheless


additional information.

While massive wisdom has come some distance, its usefulness is most simply
beginning. Cloud computing has expanded large data chances even additional. The
cloud provides elastic scalability, where developers can simply spin up advert hoc
clusters to check a subset of information.
m

Benefits of Big Data and Data Analytics:


●● Big data makes it possible for you to gain more complete answers because
you have more information.
)A

●● More complete answers mean more confidence in the data—which means a


completely different approach to tackling problems.

Big data use instances


Big data allow you to cope with a range of business actions, from buyer revel into
analytics.
(c

Product construction
Companies like Netflix and Procter & Gamble use giant information to anticipate
customer demand. They build predictive models for brand spanking new products and
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services via classifying key attributes of previous and present products or products
Notes and services and modeling the connection between those attributes and the industrial

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luck of the offerings. In addition, P&G makes use of data and analytics from focal point
groups, social media, test markets, and early store rollouts to devise, produce, and
release new merchandise.

Predictive maintenance
Factors that can predict mechanical disasters is also deeply buried in structured

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data, such as the year, make, and type of equipment, in addition to in unstructured
information that covers thousands and thousands of log entries, sensor information,
error messages, and engine temperature. By examining these indications of potential
issues ahead of the issues happen, organizations can deploy repairs extra cost

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effectively and maximize portions and equipment uptime.

Customer revel in
The race for customers is on. A clearer view of shopper experience is extra
conceivable now than ever sooner than. Big information allows you to gather data

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from social media, internet visits, call logs, and different sources to give a boost to
the interaction experience and maximize the price delivered. Start handing over
personalized offers, cut back buyer churn, and deal with problems proactively.

Fraud and compliance


U
When it involves security, it’s not just a few hackers—you’re up towards whole
professional teams. Security landscapes and compliance necessities are constantly
evolving. Big data is helping you establish patterns in data that indicate fraud and
aggregate huge volumes of information to make regulatory reporting a lot faster.
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Machine learning
Machine learning is a hot matter now. And information—large information—
is among the explanation why. We now are ready to show machines as a substitute
of program them. The availability of huge information to train device learning models
makes that conceivable.
m

Operational efficiency
Operational efficiency may not always make the news, but it’s an area in which big
data is having the most impact. With big data, you can analyze and assess production,
customer feedback and returns, and other factors to reduce outages and anticipate
)A

future demands. Big data can also be used to improve decision-making in line with
current market demand.

Drive innovation
Big data will let you innovate by means of learning interdependencies amongst
humans, establishments, entities, and process after which determining new strategy to
(c

use those insights. Use information insights to strengthen selections about monetary
and planning concerns. Examine trends and what customers need to deliver new
products and services. Implement dynamic pricing. There are unending possibilities.

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Big information challenges


Notes

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While big information holds a lot of promise, it is not without its challenges.

First, large data is…big. Although new technologies were advanced for
knowledge storage, information volumes are doubling in dimension about each two
years. Organizations still fight to stay pace with their knowledge and to find plans to
successfully store it.

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But it’s now not enough to only store the information. Data will have to be used to
be precious and that will depend on curation. Clean information, or knowledge that’s
relevant to the customer and arranged in some way that permits significant analysis,
requires a lot of paintings. Data scientists spend 50 to 80 percent of their time curating
and making ready information ahead of it will possibly in reality be used.

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Finally, large information era is changing at a rapid pace. A couple of years ago,
Apache Hadoop was once the popular technology used to care for large information.
Then Apache Spark was once offered in 2014. Today, a mixture of the two frameworks
appears to be the best way. Keeping up with big data technology is an ongoing
problem.

How big data works

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Big information gives you new insights that open new opportunities and trade
models. Getting started comes to 3 key actions:
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1. Integrate
Big data brings together information from many disparate resources and programs.
Traditional information integration mechanisms, such as ETL (extract, turn out to be,
and load) most often aren’t up to the duty. It requires new strategies and technologies to
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investigate large data units at terabyte, and even petabyte, scale.

During integration, you need to guide in the information, process it, and ensure its
formatted and available in a sort that your business analysts can get began with.

2. Manage
m

Big data requires storage. Your storage solution can also be within the cloud, on
premises, or each. You can store your information in any form you wish to have and
produce your desired processing necessities and necessary process engines to those
information units on an on-demand foundation. Many folks make a choice of their
storage answer according to where their information is lately living. The cloud is steadily
)A

becoming more popular as it supports your present compute necessities and allows you
to spin up resources as wanted.

3. Analyze
Your investment in big data pays off whilst you analyze and act on your knowledge.
Get new clarity with a visual analysis of your numerous data sets. Explore the
(c

information additional to make new discoveries. Share your findings with others.
Build knowledge fashions with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Put your
knowledge to paintings.

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Big data - best practices


Notes

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To help you on your big data journey, we’ve put in combination some key perfect
practices for you to remember. Here are the guidelines for construction of a successful
big data resource.

Align big data with enterprise objectives


More extensive data units enable you to make new discoveries. To that end,

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you will need to base new investments in skills, organization, or infrastructure with a
robust business-driven context to ensure ongoing venture investments and funding. To
resolve if you are on the right track, ask how big data supports and permits your top
enterprise and IT priorities. Examples include figuring out the best way to filter web logs
to understand ecommerce conduct, deriving sentiment from social media and buyer

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make stronger interactions, and figuring out statistical correlation strategies and their
relevance for customer, product, production, and engineering information.

Ease talents scarcity with requirements and governance


One of the most important hindrances to taking advantage of your funding in big

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data is a skills shortage. You can mitigate this chance via making sure that big data
technologies, concerns, and choices are added in your IT governance program.
Standardizing your manner will help you manage costs and leverage assets.
Organizations imposing big data solutions and techniques should assess their ability
necessities early and often and must proactively determine any attainable talent gaps.
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These may also be addressed by working towards/cross-training current resources,
hiring new resources, and leveraging consulting companies.

Optimize wisdom transfer with a middle of excellence


Use a center of excellence technique to percentage data, regulate oversight, and
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set up undertaking communications. Whether big information is a new or increasing


investment, the soft and tough costs may also be shared around the endeavor.
Leveraging this approach can lend a hand increase large knowledge features and total
data architecture maturity in a more structured and systematic way.

Top Payoff is aligning unstructured with structured data


m

It is surely treasured to research big data on its own. But you’ll convey even greater
trade insights via connecting and integrating low density big data with the structured
data you are already the use of lately.

Whether you’re capturing customer, equipment, product, or environmental large


)A

data, the goal is to add extra relevant information issues to your core master and
analytical summaries, leading to higher conclusions. For instance, there’s a distinction
in distinguishing all buyer sentiment from that of best customers. Therefore, many see
big data as an integral extension of their current business intelligence features, data
warehousing platform, and data architecture.

Keep in thoughts that the big data analytical processes and models can also be
(c

both human- and machine-based. Big data analytical capabilities include statistics,
semantics, spatial analysis, interactive discovery, and visualization. Using analytical
models, you’ll be able to correlate differing types and sources of data to make
associations and meaningful discoveries.
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Plan your discovery lab for functionality


Notes

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Discovering which means in your data is not always simple. Sometimes we don’t
even know what we’re on the lookout for. That’s anticipated. Management and IT needs
to make stronger this “lack of direction” or “lack of clear requirement.”

At the same time, it’s vital for analysts and data scientists to work intently with the
industry to know key business wisdom gaps and necessities. To accommodate the
interactive exploration of data and the experimentation of statistical algorithms, you

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need high-performance paintings spaces. Be certain that sandbox environments must
strengthen their need—and are properly governed.

Align with the cloud running model

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Big data processes and customers require get entry to a large array of sources for
both iterative experimentation and running production jobs. A Big data answer includes
all data nation-states together with transactions, grasps data, reference information,
and summarized data. Analytical sandboxes must be created on demand. Resource
control is important to ensure regulate of the entire information glide together with pre-
and post-processing, integration, in-database summarization, and analytical modeling.

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A well-planned private and public cloud provisioning and safety strategy plays an
integral position in supporting those converting requirements.

5.2.3: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Business


U
Artificial intelligence (AI) is often passing into a regular basis business use. From
workflow management to trend predictions, AI has many various uses in industry. It
additionally supplies new business alternatives.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the


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natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals, which involves consciousness


and emotionality. the excellence between the previous and the latter categories is
usually revealed by the acronym chosen. ‘Strong’ AI is sometimes labelled as artificial
general intelligence (AGI) while attempts to emulate ‘natural’ intelligence are called
artificial biological intelligence (ABI).

Application of artificial intelligence in business


m

You can use AI applied sciences to:

●● Improve buyer services and products - e.g. use virtual assistant methods
to supply real-time reinforce to users (for instance, with billing and different
)A

tasks).
●● Automate workloads - e.g. acquire and analyze information from sensible
sensors or use Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to classify paintings,
mechanically direction carrier requests, and so on.
●● Optimize logistics - e.g. use AI-powered symbol popularity gear to watch and
optimize your infrastructure, plan transport routes, and many others.
(c

●● Increase manufacturing output and efficiency - e.g. automate


manufacturing line by integrating industrial robots into your workflow and
instructing them to perform labor-intensive or mundane duties.

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●● Prevent outages - e.g. use anomaly detection ways to spot patterns which can
Notes be more likely to disrupt your enterprise, equivalent to an IT outage. Specific AI

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software may additionally mean you can hit upon and deter safety intrusions.
●● Predict performance - e.g. use AI programs to determine whilst you might
succeed in efficiency objectives, equivalent to response time to assist desk calls.
●● Predict behavior - e.g. use ML algorithms to analyze patterns of on-line behavior
to, for example, serve tailored product provides, stumble on bank card fraud or

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goal suitable advertisements.
●● Manage and analyze your information - e.g. AI help you interpret and mine your
data more efficiently than ever sooner than and supply significant insight into your
belongings, your logo, workforce, or consumers.

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●● Improve your marketing and promoting - for example, successfully observe
user behavior and automate many routine advertising and marketing tasks.

5.2.4 Machine Learning


Machine learning (ML) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows tool

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packages to turn into more accurate at predicting outcomes without being explicitly
programmed to do so. Machine learning algorithms use historical knowledge as input to
predict new output values.

Recommendation engines are a not unusual use case for machine learning. Other
U
popular uses come with fraud detection, junk mail filtering, malware danger detection,
industry process automation (BPA) and predictive upkeep.

Types of Machine learning


Classical Machine learning is frequently categorized by how a set of rules learns
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to develop into extra correct in its predictions. There are 4 elementary approaches:
supervised learning, unsupervised learning, semi-supervised learning, and
reinforcement learning. The form of algorithm a data scientist chooses to use depends
upon what form of data they wish to expect.

●● Supervised learning - In this sort of machine learning, data scientists provide


m

algorithms with labeled coaching data and define the variables they want
the set of rules to evaluate for correlations. Both entry and the output of the
algorithm are specified.
●● Unsupervised learning - This form of gadget finding out comes to algorithms
)A

that educate on unlabeled data. The algorithm scans thru information sets
looking for any significant connection. Both the information algorithms educate
on and the predictions or recommendations they output are predetermined.
●● Semi-supervised learning - This strategy to machine learning comes to a
mixture of the 2 previous types. Data scientists may feed an algorithm most
commonly categorized training information; however, the model is unfastened
to discover the information by itself and broaden its own understanding of the
(c

data set.
●● Reinforcement learning - Reinforcement learning is in most cases and
used to teach a machine to complete a multi-step process for which there are

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obviously defined laws. Data scientists program a set of rules to finish a role
and give it certain or damaging cues as it really works out how one can whole Notes

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a job. But for probably the most part, the set of rules decides on its own what
steps to take along the way.

How supervised machine learning works?


Supervised machine learning requires the data scientist to coach the algorithm with
each labeled inputs and desired outputs. Supervised finding out algorithms are just right

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for the following duties:

●● Binary Classification-Dividing data into two categories.


●● Multi-class classification- Choosing between more than two forms of answers.

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●● Regression modeling- Predicting steady values.
●● Ensembling- Combining the predictions of multiple machine learning models
to supply an accurate prediction.

How unsupervised machine learning works?


Unsupervised device studying algorithms do not require knowledge to be labeled.

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They sift through unlabeled data to look for patterns that can be utilized to crew
information points into subsets. Most sorts of deep studying, together with neural
networks, are unsupervised algorithms. Unsupervised studying algorithms are excellent
for the next duties:
U
●● Clustering: Splitting the data set into groups according to similarity.
●● Anomaly detection: Identifying peculiar data points in an information set.
●● Association mining. Identifying sets of things in a data set that often happen
in combination.
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●● Dimensionality Reduction: Reducing the selection of variables in an


information set.

How semi-supervised learning works?


Semi-supervised learning works via data scientists feeding a small amount of
classified training information to a set of rules. From this, the set of rules learns the
m

scale of the information set, which it can then practice to new, unlabeled data. The
efficiency of algorithms typically improves once they teach on categorized information
sets. But labeling data may also be time-consuming and costly. Semi-supervised
learning strikes a middle ground between the performance of supervised machine
)A

learning and the efficiency of unsupervised learning. Some areas where semi-
supervised learning is used to come with:

●● Machine translation- Teaching algorithms to translate language in line with


not up to a complete dictionary of words.
●● Fraud detection- Identifying instances of fraud when you most effective have
a couple of sure examples.
(c

●● Labeling data- Algorithms skilled on small data units can learn to observe
information labels to bigger sets mechanically.

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How reinforcement learning out works


Notes

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Reinforcement learning out works via programming and set of rules with a distinct
purpose and a prescribed set of rules for carrying out that function. Data scientists
additionally program the set of rules to hunt positive rewards -- which it receives
when it performs an action that is advisable towards the ultimate purpose -- and avoid
punishments -- which it receives when it plays an action that gets it farther away from its
ultimate goal. Reinforcement learning is ceaselessly utilized in spaces like:

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●● Robotics- Robots can learn how to perform tasks in the bodily global using
this technique.
●● Video gameplay- Reinforcement learning has been used to show bots to play
plenty of video games.

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●● Resource control- Given finite resources and a defined goal, reinforcement
finding out can help enterprises plan how you can allocate resources.

ni
U
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Uses of machine learning


Today, machine learning is utilized in quite a lot of packages. Perhaps probably the
most well-known examples of machine learning out in motion are the recommendation
m

engine that powers Facebook’s News Feed.

Facebook uses machine learning to personalize how each member’s feed is delivered.
If a member regularly stops to read a selected crew’s posts, the recommendation engine
will begin to show more of that staff’s activity previous within the feed.
)A

Behind the scenes, the engine is attempting to support known patterns in the
member’s online conduct. Should the member change patterns and fail to read posts
from that team within the coming weeks, the News Feed will regulate accordingly.

In addition to advice engines, different uses for machine learning include the
following:
(c

Customer resource management -- CRM device can use machine learning


models to analyze e mail and recommended gross sales workforce participants to
answer the most important messages first. More advanced techniques can even
suggest potentially effective responses.
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Business intelligence -- BI and analytics distributors’ use device finding out of


their software to identify potentially important information points, patterns of data issues Notes

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and anomalies.

Human useful resource data systems -- HRIS programs can use machine
learning fashions to filter out via applications and identify the best candidates for an
open position.

Self-driving cars -- Machine learning algorithms may also make it possible for a

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semi-autonomous automotive to recognize in part visible object and alert the driver.

Virtual assistants -- Smart assistants most often mix supervised and


unsupervised machine learning models to interpret natural speech and supply context.

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Advantages and downsides
Machine learning has seen powerful use circumstances ranging from predicting
customer conduct constituting the working system for self-driving vehicles. But simply
because some industries have noticed benefits doesn’t mean machine learning is
without its downsides.

ni
When it involves advantages, machine learning can assist enterprises perceive
their customers at a deeper level. By collecting customer information and correlating
it with behaviors over the years, machine finding out algorithms can be informed
associations and lend a hand groups tailor product construction and advertising
U
initiatives to customer call for.

Some internet corporations use device studying as a primary motive force in their
business models. Uber, for instance, uses algorithms to match drivers with riders.
Google uses machine learning to surface the proper commercials in searches.
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But device learning comes with disadvantages. First and primary, it can be dear.
Machine learning initiatives are generally driven via data scientists, who command high
salaries. These initiatives additionally require software infrastructure that can be high cost.

There is also the problem of machine learning bias. Algorithms that trained on
data sets that exclude sure populations or contain errors may end up in inaccurate
models of the sector that, at best, fail and, at worst, are discriminatory. When an
m

undertaking bases core trade processes on biased models, it can run into regulatory
and reputational hurt.

Choosing the right machine learning model


)A

The means of selecting the proper machine learning model to resolve a problem
will also be time-consuming if not approached strategically.

Step 1: Align the issue with potential data inputs that are supposed to be regarded
as for the solution. This step requires help from data scientists and mavens who’ve a
deep understanding of the issue.
(c

Step 2: Collect information, structure it, and label the data if necessary. This step is
usually led by means of data scientists, with help from data wranglers.

Step 3: Chose which algorithm(s) to use and test to see how neatly they carry out.
This step is usually performed via data scientists.
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Step 4: Continue to fine-tune outputs until they reach a suitable stage of accuracy.
Notes This step is in most cases carried out through data scientists with feedback from

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experts who’ve a deep working out of the issue.

Importance of human-interpretable machine learning


Explaining how a selected ML style works can be difficult when the style is
complicated. There are some vertical industries the place data scientists must make
use of easy machine learning models because it’s important for the business to explain

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how each and every decision was made. This is especially true in industries with heavy
compliance burdens like banking and insurance coverage.

Complex models can accurate predictions but explaining to an amateur how an


output was once decided may also be tricky.

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The future of machine learning
While machine learning algorithms had been round for many years, they have
attained new reputation as artificial intelligence (AI) has grown in prominence. Deep
studying model power as of late’s most complicated AI programs.

ni
Machine learning platforms are amongst endeavor era’s best realms, with most
primary distributors, together with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM and others, racing
to sign consumers up for platform products and services that quilt the spectrum of
machine learning actions, together with data collection, data preparation, information
U
classification, fashion development, coaching and application deployment.

As machine learning continues to increase in significance to business operations


and AI turns into ever more effective in endeavor settings, the machine learning
platform wars will only accentuate.
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m
)A

Source: https://searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com/definition/machine-learning-ML

Continued research into machine learning and AI is more and more fascinated
about creating more basic programs. Today’s AI models require extensive coaching to
be able to produce a set of rules that is highly optimized to perform one job. But some
(c

researchers are exploring ways to make models more versatile and are in the hunt for
ways that permit a machine to use context realized from one job to future, different
duties.

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History of machine learning


Notes

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1642-Blaise Pascal invents a mechanical machine that can add, subtract, multiply
and divide.
1679-Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz devises the system of binary code.
1834 - Charles Babbage conceives the idea for a general all purpose device that
could be programmed with punched cards.

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1842 - Ada Lovelace describes a sequence of operations for solving mathematical
problems using Charles Babbage’s theoretical punch-card machine and becomes
the first programmer.
1847- George Boole creates Boolean logic, a form of algebra in which all values can

ve
be reduced to the binary values of true or false.
1936- English logician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing proposes a universal machine
that could decipher and execute a set of instructions. His published proof is
considered the basis of computer science.
1952 - Arthur Samuel creates a program to help an IBM computer get better at

ni
checkers the more it plays.
1959 MADALINE becomes the first artificial neural network applied to a real-world
problem: removing echoes from phone lines.
1985 - Terry Sejnowski and Charles Rosenberg’s artificial neural network taught
U
itself how to correctly pronounce 20,000 words in one week.
1997-IBM’s Deep Blue beat chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.
1999 A CAD prototype intelligent workstation reviewed 22,000 mammograms and
detected cancer 52% more accurately than radiologists did.
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2006-Computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton invents the term deep learning to describe
neural net research.
2012 An unsupervised neural network created by Google learned to recognize cats
in YouTube videos with 74.8% accuracy.
2014- A chatbot passes the Turing Test by convincing 33% of human judges that it
m

was a Ukrainian teen named Eugene Goostman.


2014 - Google’s AlphaGo defeats the human champion in Go, the most difficult board
game in the world.
2016 LipNet, DeepMind’s artificial-intelligence system, identifies lip-read words in
)A

video with an accuracy of 93.4%.


2019 - Amazon controls 70% of the market share for virtual assistants in the U.S.

5.2.5: industrial Internet of Things

The Industrial Internet of Things and its Role within the Manufacturing Industry
(c

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) opens a variety of alternatives for the
producing industry particularly. Comprehensive networking is now not an imaginative
and prescient of the future and the 5G mobile communications usual will probably

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increase the dynamic from 2020. You can read a summary of IIoT technology and its
Notes utility in production in this chapter.

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Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) refers to the usage of IoT ideas in business
production. In the German-speaking world, the Industrial Internet of Things is
ceaselessly referred to as Industry four.0. Compared to the Internet of Things within
the personal sphere (IoT), the focus within the business sector is on the networking

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of machines (machine-to-machine) and seamless process chains. The key concept
of the IIoT is thus to combine mechanical machine learning and massive data applied
sciences and thus considerably increase the effectiveness of companies. However,
complexity and necessities are much higher in IIoT than in IoT.

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IIoT- Architecture: Edge – Network – Cloud
Essential requirements for IIoT structure are scalability, real-time capacity,
interoperability as well as data coverage and security. Sensors, actuators, and clever
devices that acquire data (edge computing) and ship it to servers (network) play

ni
a central function. At the cloud computing stage, they’re additional processed into
action-relevant “smart information” the use of smart algorithms. These then shape the
foundation for automated processes. Major cloud suppliers like Microsoft, Amazon
Web Services and Google now supply IoT platforms that facilitate the development
and administration of IIoT packages. Such answers are ideal for the entry degree
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particularly.

Manufacturing industry is leading in IIoT applications


As an important facet of virtual transformation, the usage of IoT era is changing
into increasingly more important in the production business. According to the market
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study “The State of Industrial Internet of Things 2019” by means of the generation
workforce PTC, IIoT technology is lately being used primarily in manufacturing plants.
m
)A

Source: https://www.lead-innovation.com/english-blog/industrial-internet-of-things

The marketplace learn about makes it transparent that optimizing operational


efficiency and extending productiveness around the interior price chain are the main
causes for using IIoT applied sciences. The most important findings are as follows:
(c

1. IIoT generation spreading often


The Internet of Things is becoming increasingly more well-liked in industrial
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environments and is increasingly more used for packages in business factories, car
crops, pharmaceutical crops, electronics, and high-tech crops as well as in oil refineries Notes

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and meals and beverage supply chains.

2. IIoT interfaces build up efficiency


Enterprises acquire through individuals at their digitization methods and imposing
IIoT interfaces across the entire organizational hierarchy. The benefits of the era

rs
are then to be had to many staff and have a positive effect on the implementation of
initiatives.

3. Complex answers are required


The solution atmosphere, the applied use circumstances and the technologies

ve
utilized in the entire IIoT stack. Therefore, the success of users is increasing in number
of calls for seamless integrations, different generation portfolios and expertise in the box.

4. Global companies an increasing number of use ready-made IIoT answers


Industrial corporation’s underneath world pressure is turning to extra built-in,

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prefabricated IIoT solutions with greater technological breadth and partner ecosystems
to move speedy. 89 % of respondents expect use cases to be transformed to
production within 12 months of purchasing the IIoT answer. In many circumstances, the
ready-made IIoT solutions result in a shortening of the supply times to a few months. In
U
addition, some corporations have noted payback duration of a couple of weeks.

What probabilities does IIoT create in the manufacturing business?


In the IIoT, the mix of sensors and analytics lets in real-time get entry to knowledge
that used to be up to now unavailable. The findings from this information are fed into the
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processes along the entire supply chain at once. This makes it possible, as an example:

●● Optimization of processes (e.g. thru remote monitoring)


●● Greater flexibility of production processes
●● Increasing stage of automation
●● Increased operational efficiency and decrease failure rates
m

●● Faster detection of productivity weaknesses and problems


●● More accurate predictions of device condition and more efficient repairs
●● Cost financial savings via averting pointless maintenance
)A

●● Better availability and fewer device disasters


●● Improved high quality monitors and aid of the error price
●● Improved transparency through international get admission to machine
information
●● Improved technical customer service
●● Development of trend-setting business spaces and models (e.g. supplementary
(c

products and services like remote troubleshooting or predictive repairs)


One instance of the way IIoT may also be applied is the ski producer Blizzard. The
production of the skis is managed through an interior IIoT production control system,

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which uses production process sensors to analyze real-time running and machine
Notes information (BDE/MDE) and their correlation. The analysis data indicates which

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production parameters wish to be modified if essential to steer clear of downtime,
delays, or defects.

IIoT platforms at the center of IoT solutions


Powerful IoT platforms analyze the accumulated data from the devices, make it
available to the customers and ship directions again to the gadgets. They thus give you

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the basic functions to leverage attainable in areas such as good upkeep and operations
control and to power improvements in the sense of virtual transformation. Many firms
rely on Microsoft Azure, but in addition on solutions from different producers reminiscent
of Amazon, IBM, Oracle, PTC, SAP, and Hitachi.

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ni
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ity

Graph: Components of a IIoT-Platform, Sujata Tilak, CC-BY-SA-4.0

The US manufacturer Woodward, for instance, achieves operational potency


m

increases by setting up an extra comprehensive manufacturing information system


(MIS). The corporate aggregates its product-centric tool (CAD, PLM) and production
systems (MES, MOM, FMS) with its ground techniques and equipment (presses, etc.).

This is made possible via instrument connectivity and an IIoT platform that
)A

connects these device and tool packages thru a strong and interactive view. By merging
the data feeds, the IIoT touch points had been additionally increased as staffs now have
simple access to paintings instructions and operational information. Woodward also
progressed the monitoring of worker training to judge augmented fact programs.

IIoT and 5G
(c

For 5G applications in production, no longer most effective the achievable upper


bandwidths are decisive, but in addition the minimum latency times required for cell
programs with real-time requirements. Industrial applications have the benefit of 5G

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basically through extraordinarily prime reliability, real-time capacity, extra information


throughput, low latency, a lot tighter networking and bigger mobility and IT safety. The Notes

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5G usual would therefore be appropriate for cellular spaces such as cell robots and
tools or autonomous delivery programs. Another box of utility may well be Augmented
Reality, which is able to change into increasingly essential for industry 4.0.

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Conclusion: IIoT within the manufacturing business ni
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IIoT projects offer manufacturers higher insights into their corporate’s processes
and the functioning in their manufacturing lines. As sensors develop into smaller and
cheaper, and the 5G community in particular turns into extra widespread, pastime in the
IIoT is prone to continue to grow. However, the IIoT is recently nonetheless largely in
the trying out and pilot segment. An exception is a couple of huge manufacturers who
have the important sources at their disposal. The complete virtual transformation of a
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standard manufacturing operation into a virtual factory will subsequently most definitely
best be open to large players in the close to future. However, SMEs must now not write
off IoT below any instances. Companies of all sizes can get joy from the Internet of
Things.

5.2.6: Intelligent Interfaces


m
)A

Winston’s definition of Artificial Intelligence:

“A program is clever if it does something that would require intelligence if a human


did it”

Is there a “Turing Test” for interfaces?


(c

Not each “intelligent” program is an “intelligent interface”

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Notes

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Not every “good interface design” is an “intelligent interface”

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ve
Why do we want intelligent interfaces?

●● Interfaces are getting too complicated

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●● Interfaces are too inflexible
●● Interfaces do not change when our needs trade
●● Interfaces don’t work with each other
What makes an interface “intelligent”?
U
●● Interface can adapt to the desires of various users
●● Interface can be told new concepts and methods
●● Interface can wait for the wishes of the user
●● Interface can take initiative and make ideas to the user
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●● Interface can give rationalization of its movements


Architecture of intelligent interfaces

●● Rules
●● “Frame” descriptions
●● Discrimination networks
m

●● Subsumption hierarchies
●● Inference engine
●● Associative memory
)A

●● Matching
●● Autonomous brokers
Some interfaces have “hard-coded intelligence”

Encode domain-specific knowledge

However, now not explicitly represented


(c

Can’t consider just the program

Intelligence resides within the “machine” that consists of both the person and the
computer

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Every program is “multiple-agent” gadgets as results; there are a minimum of two


-- you and the machine Notes

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Issues of parallelism, synchronization, cooperation, initiative

How much intelligence does the machine require at a part of the user?

Is there the sort of thing as an interface that is “too intelligent”?

Is the interface “as clever as it seems”, or can its “fool” the user [for example, in the

rs
way the doctor program does]?

Is there some intelligence in the program that’s not apparent in the interface?

Natural language interfaces

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●● User “converses” with the gadget as though it had been a human

Graphical interfaces
●● Intelligence in choices of what knowledge to show
●● Things which might be an identical should glance equivalent; issues which

●●
●●
●●
can be other should glance different
Virtual truth
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Take advantage of intelligence of human visual processing
Gestural interfaces
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Human-Computer Interaction perspective
●● How can interplay be made clearer and extra environment friendly?
●● How can interfaces be offering better support for his or her customers’ tasks,
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plans and goals?


●● How can data be presented extra successfully?
●● How can the design and implementation of fine interfaces be made more
straightforward?
Serious interface issues are in the long run semantic issues
m

Serious semantic problems are in the end interface issues

These problems cannot be solved thru interface technology alone

●● More bits, pixels, media


)A

●● Faster processors, networks


These issues cannot be solved thru synthetic intelligence techniques on its own

●● “Right” knowledge illustration


●● Big knowledge bases
●● Clever inference techniques
(c

5.2.7: Augmented Reality (AR)


Augmented reality (AR) is among the greatest era traits now, and it’s best going
to get larger as AR ready smartphone and other units transform extra obtainable

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worldwide. AR let us see the real-life environment proper in entrance people—trees


Notes swaying within the park, canines chasing balls, kids enjoying soccer—with a digital

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augmentation overlaid on it. For example, a pterodactyl might be noticed touchdown
in the bushes, the canine could be mingling with their caricature counterparts, and the
youngsters may well be noticed kicking previous an alien spacecraft on their technique
to score an objective.

With advances in AR era, these examples aren’t that other from what may already

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be to be had in your smartphone. AR is, in reality, readily to be had and being utilized
in a myriad of ways together with as Snapchat lenses, in apps that help you find your
automobile in a crowded parking zone, and in number of shopping apps that can help
you check out on clothes without even leaving house.

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Perhaps essentially the most well-known example of AR generation is the cellular
app Pokémon Go, which used to be released in 2016 and temporarily become an
inescapable sensation. In the sport, players locate and seize Pokémon characters that
pop up in the genuine world—for your sidewalk, in a fountain, even on your personal
rest room.

Apart from Games, there are as many uses of for AR in our on a regular basis lives

●●
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as there are Pikachu on the free in Pokémon GO. Here are only some examples:

Enhanced navigation systems use AR to superimpose a path over the live


view of the street.
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●● During soccer video games, broadcasters use AR to draw traces on the box
let’s say and analyze plays.
●● Furniture and housewares giant IKEA provide an AR app (referred to as
IKEA Place) that lets you see how a piece of furniture will look and fit for your
house.
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●● Military fighter pilots see an AR projection of their altitude, velocity, and


different data on their helmet visor, which means they don’t wish to waste
focal point via glancing down to look them.
●● Neurosurgeons sometimes use an AR projection of a 3-D brain to assist them
in surgical procedures.
m

●● At historic websites like Pompeii in Italy, AR can undertake views of historic


civilizations over as of late’s ruins, bringing the before lifestyles.
●● Ground workforce at Singapore’s airport wear AR glasses to look information
about cargo containers, rushing up loading occasions
)A

5.2.8: Quantum Computing


Quantum computers could spur the development of new breakthroughs in science,
medications to save lives, machine learning methods to diagnose illnesses sooner,
materials to make more efficient devices and structures, financial strategies to live well
in retirement, and algorithms to quickly direct resources such as ambulances.
(c

A new kind of computing


We experience the benefits of classical computing every day. However, there are
challenges that today’s systems will never be able to solve. For problems above a

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certain size and complexity, we don’t have enough computational power on Earth to
tackle them. Notes

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To stand a chance at solving some of these problems, we need a new kind
of computing. Universal quantum computers leverage the quantum mechanical
phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially
with number of qubits, or quantum bits.

Learn more about one of the first, most promising application areas of quantum

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computing:

Quantum computing fundamentals


All computing systems rely on a fundamental ability to store and manipulate

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information. Current computers manipulate individual bits, which store information as
binary 0 and 1 states. Quantum computers leverage quantum mechanical phenomena
to manipulate information. To do this, they rely on quantum bits, or qubits.

Here, learn about the quantum properties leveraged by qubits, how they’re used to
compute, and how quantum systems scale.

Enterprise-wide Access, Anytime

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IBM Quantum provides cloud-based software for your team to access our quantum
computers anytime. No matter how big your team is, large or small, IBM Quantum
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Experience platform is ready to support your team as they explore the potential of
quantum.

Inside a quantum computer


There are a few different ways to create a qubit. One method uses
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superconductivity to create and maintain a quantum state. To work with these


superconducting qubits for extended periods of time, they must be kept very cold. Any
heat in the system can introduce error, which is why quantum computers operate at
temperatures close to absolute zero, colder than the vacuum of space.

Look at how a quantum computer’s dilution refrigerator, made from more than
2,000 components, creates such a cold environment for the qubits inside.
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How did we get here?


Today, real quantum processors are used by researchers from all over the world to
test out algorithms for applications in a variety of fields. But it was only a few decades
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ago that quantum computing was a purely theoretical subject.

5.2.9. Blockchain
Blockchain, rarely referred to as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), makes the
historical past of any digital asset unalterable and transparent using decentralization
and cryptographic hashing.
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An easy analogy for working out blockchain era is a Google Doc. When we create
a report and proportion it with a group of people, the record is sent instead of copied
or transferred. This creates a decentralized distribution chain that gives everybody get

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272 IT Applications in Business

admission to the file on the identical time. No one is locked out waiting for changes from
Notes another celebration, while all changes to the document are being recorded in real-time,

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making changes utterly clear.

Of route, blockchain is extra difficult than a Google Doc, but the analogy is apt as it
illustrates three vital concepts of the era:

Blockchain is a particularly promising and progressive era because it helps reduce


risk, stamps out fraud and brings transparency in a scalable approach for myriad uses.

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Blockchain consists of three important concepts: blocks, nodes, and miners.

Blocks
Every chain is composed of more than one blocks, and each block has 3

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elementary components:

●● The information in the block.


●● A 32-bit complete quantity known as a nonce. The nonce is randomly generated
when a block is created, which then generates a block header hash.
●●

●●
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The hash is a 256-bit number wedded to the nonce. It must get started with an
enormous number of zeroes (i.e., be extremely small).
When the primary block of a series is created, a nonce generates the
cryptographic hash. The information within the block is regarded as signed
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and ceaselessly tied to the nonce and hash except it’s mined.

Miners
Miners create new blocks on the chain through a procedure known as mining.

In a blockchain every block has its own distinctive nonce and hash, but in addition
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references the hash of the previous block in the chain, so mining a block isn’t easy,
especially on massive chains.

Miners use special software to unravel the extremely complex math problem of
finding a nonce that generates an accredited hash. Because the nonce is most effective
32 bits and the hash is 256, there are kind of four billion possible nonce-hash mixtures
that must be mined earlier than the correct one is found. When that happens, miners
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are stated to have found the “golden nonce” and their block is added to the chain.

Making a change to any block previous in the chain calls for re-mining now not
simply the block with the change, however all the blocks that come after. Therefore,
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it’s extremely tricky to control blockchain era. Think of it is as “protection in math” since
discovering golden nonces calls for an enormous amount of time and computing power.

When a block is effectively mined, the exchange is accepted by way of all the
nodes at the community and the miner is rewarded financially.

Nodes
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One of very powerful concepts in blockchain era is decentralization. No one


computer or organizations can personal the chain. Instead, this is a dispensed ledger
via the nodes connected to the chain. Nodes will also be any kind of digital software
that maintains copies of the blockchain and helps to keep the community functioning.
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Every node has its personal reproduction of the blockchain, and the community
should algorithmically approve any newly mined block for the chain to be up to date, Notes

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relied on and verified. Since blockchains are clear, each action in the ledger can also
be easily checked and considered. Each participant is given a novel alphanumeric id
number that presentations their transactions.

Combining public information with a gadget of checks-and-balances helps


the blockchain deal with integrity and creates trust among customers. Essentially,

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blockchains will also be regarded as the scalability of accept as true with using
technology.

Beyond Bitcoin: Ethereum Blockchain


Originally created because the ultra-transparent ledger device for Bitcoin to

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perform on, blockchain has long been associated with cryptocurrency, however the
generation’s transparency and safety has seen rising adoption in numerous spaces, a
lot of which can be traced again to the advance of the Ethereum blockchain.

In overdue 2013, Russian-Canadian developer Vitalik Buterin published a white


paper that proposed a platform combining traditional blockchain capability with one key

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distinction: the execution of pc code. Thus, the Ethereum Project used to be born.

Ethereum blockchain we could builders create sophisticated methods that can


keep up a correspondence with one any other at the blockchain.
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Tokens
Ethereum programmers can create tokens to represent any roughly digital asset,
observe its ownership and execute its capability in line with a collection of programming
instructions.
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Tokens can be music records data, contracts, concert tickets or even an affected
person’s scientific information. This has broadened the potential of blockchain to
permeate other sectors like media, executive and identification safety. Thousands of
companies are recently researching and creating products and ecosystems that run
completely at the burgeoning era.

Blockchain is difficult with the current established order of innovation via letting
m

corporations’ experiment with groundbreaking technology like peer-to-peer power


distribution or decentralized bureaucracy for information media. Much like the definition
of blockchain, it makes use of for the ledger devices will be most effective as era
evolves.
)A

History of Blockchain
Although blockchain is a new technology, it already boasts a wealthy and
interesting historical past. The following is a short-lived timeline of some of the
maximum crucial and notable events within the building of blockchain.
(c

2008
●● Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for a person or staff, publishes “Bitcoin: A
Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System.”

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274 IT Applications in Business

2009
Notes

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●● The first a hit Bitcoin (BTC) transaction happens between CS scientist Hal
Finney and the unexplained Satoshi Nakamoto.

2010
●● Florida-based programmer Laszlo Hanycez completes the first ever purchase
using Bitcoin — two Papa John’s pizzas. Hanycez transferred 10,000 BTC’s,

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worth about $60 on the time. Today it is worth $80 million.
●● The market cap of Bitcoin formally exceeds $1 million.

2011
●● 1 BTC = $1USD, giving the cryptocurrency parity with the US dollars.

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●● Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wikileaks and other organizations get started
accepting Bitcoin as donations.

2012
●● Blockchain and cryptocurrency are discussed in fashionable TV presentations

●●

2013
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like The Good Wife, injecting blockchain into popular culture.
Bitcoin Magazine launched by early Bitcoin developer Vitalik Buterin.
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●● BTC marketplace cap surpassed $1 billion.
●● Bitcoin reached $100/BTC for first time.
●● Buterin publishes “Ethereum Project” paper suggesting that blockchain has
other possibilities besides Bitcoin (e.g., smart contracts).
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2014
●● Gaming company Zynga, The D Las Vegas Hotel and Overstock.com all start
accepting Bitcoin as cost.
●● Buterin’s Ethereum Project is crowdfunded by way of an Initial Coin Offering
(ICO) elevating over $18 million in BTC and opening new avenues for
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blockchain.
●● R3, a group of over 200 blockchain firms, is formed to discover new tactics
blockchain will also be applied in generation.
●● PayPal announces Bitcoin integration.
)A

2015
●● Number of traders accepting BTC exceeds 100,000.
●● NASDAQ and San-Francisco blockchain company Chain crew as much as
look at the generation for trading stocks in private corporations.
(c

2016
●● Tech giant IBM declares a blockchain technique for cloud-based industry
solutions.

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●● Government of Japan acknowledges the legitimacy of blockchain and


cryptocurrencies. Notes

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2017
●● Bitcoin reaches $1,000/BTC for first time.
●● Cryptocurrency marketplace cap reaches $150 billion.
●● JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he believes in blockchain as a long run

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technology, giving the ledger system a vote-of-confidence from Wall Street.
●● Bitcoin reaches its all-time top at $19,783.21/BTC.
●● Dubai announces its executive will probably be blockchain-powered through
2020.

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2018
●● Facebook commits to beginning a blockchain group and hints at the potential
for developing its own cryptocurrency.
●● IBM develops a blockchain-based banking platform with large banks like Citi
and Barclays signing on.

5.2.10: Smart Dust


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Smart dust is a few millimeter-sized tool that can operate as a person component
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using a very small energy supply. It consists of multiple small wireless micro-electro-
mechanical techniques (MEMS) of 20 micrometers-1 millimeter in size. MEMS are also
known as motes that are equipped with sensors, cameras, and other conversation
mechanisms. These are in the long run attached to a pc community wirelessly to
procedure the information procured via RFID (radio-frequency id) era. These minuscule
devices are built using standard silicon micro fabrication ways and can stay suspended
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in an atmosphere like mud.

Functions of Smart Dust


Motes accumulate more than a few information that come with mild, vibrations,
temperature, force, acceleration, humidity, sound, and stress. The information is
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transferred from one mote to every other mote until it reaches the transmission node.
The main purposes of motes include:

1. Wirelessly processing the knowledge with a computer machine


2. Storing the knowledge (memory).
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3. Wirelessly communicating the information to the cloud, a base, or different


MEMS

Applications of Smart Dust


Smart dust units work with no human intervention as they’re preprogrammed.
Owing to their small size and weight, they can be easily situated in slim and hard
(c

spaces. They can acquire detailed knowledge in multiple instances, which have proved
highly beneficial in more than a few analysis and industries. A Few examples are as
follows:

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276 IT Applications in Business

●● Agriculture: Constant monitoring of a crop’s nutritional necessities, watering,


Notes fertilization, and pest control. This treasured knowledge can lend a hand to

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increase the volume and high quality of the crop. It too can document soil
prerequisites corresponding to pH, fertility, microbial infestations, i.e., knowledge
vital for the plant’s enlargement.
●● Industries: Continuous screening of very important apparatus, prompting motion
regarding its upkeep. Assessing the exact condition of machines, their weakness,

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and corrosion can save you whole device failure.
●● Security: Wireless monitoring of suspicious people
●● Controlling stock: Tracking merchandise from their manufacturing factories to
retail shelves using transport facility (ship vessels to trucks) would make sure tight

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stock keep watch over.
●● Medical diagnostics: Researchers at UC Berkeley have highlighted how mind
functionalities can be studied with implanted neutral dust.
●● Transport sector: Smart mud transports perishable goods as these materials
require constant tracking. While transporting perishable goods, positive parameters

●●
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reminiscent of temperature, humidity, and aeration must be monitored frequently.
Similarly, smart dust is helping to watch animals’ health and control the necessary
prerequisites comparable to temperature, air, and humidity for secure shipping.
Military packages: It helps in getting access to activities in far off or inaccessible
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areas. It too can determine the presence of poisonous gases or harmful
ingredients and assist take important movements.
●● Travel safety: Smart dust generation can play an important role in making sure
protected touring. Detection of the most important factors equivalent to pavement
repairs, or monitoring moisture situation and temperature of the road throughout
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harsh environmental prerequisites may just help vacationers.


Despite having many unique advantages, people are skeptical regarding the utility
of smart dust due to privacy problems. As already mentioned, smart dust devices are
very small, i.e., invisible to our bare eye and, therefore, are extremely difficult to hit
upon. Since those units are preprogrammed, they begin to report delicate information.
Therefore, if good dust falls into the incorrect palms, severe information infringement
m

issues may happen. Because of their small measurement, it is usually challenging to


locate and retrieve smart mud devices after they are deployed over an area.

Commercialization of Smart Dust Technology


)A

●● Large companies comparable to Cargill, General Electric, Cisco Systems, and


IBM have invested substantially in smart mud research. Many of the packages
of smart dust are nonetheless in the concept that stage. Some different
companies associated with good dust era are discussed below.
●● Beta Batt: This corporate is primarily based in Houston, US, and is concerned
within the building of efficient, long-lasting, and constant energy assets.
(c

Among many in their accomplishments, they’ve evolved and patented a third-


dimensional energy conversion machine named DECTM Cell. This device
has been applied to Mesh Networks, Mechanical Systems, Smart Dust, and
several other different micro/nanoarchitecture.
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IT Applications in Business 277

●● Defendec: This Company provides an efficient, independent, and self-healing


wi-fi sensor network that consumes ultra-low battery power for its operation. Notes

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The major fabricated from Defendec is “Smartdec”, which helps to secure the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union’s exterior
borders. It is helping prevent and keep an eye on illegal trafficking, global
smuggling, and other unlawful activities on the border. Border guards use this
technology.
●● CubeWorks: This Company was based in 2013 and is serious about growing

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the world’s smallest wireless sensors, real-world sensible mud.

Summary
There are a couple of benefits of SaaS.

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Businesses around the globe are moving to the cloud the place they may be able
to simply rent services and experience a worry-free existence.

When it involves SaaS adoption, the important thing advantages are:

●● the absence of IT-related troubles, which means that the person does no

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longer wish to buy, set up and handle any hardware.
●● no massive upfront license fees, particularly further bills for maintenance and
upgrades.
●● Simple customization as SaaS gives a versatile and scalable IT resolution this
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is compatible with a spread of other business gear.

Check your Understanding


Answer the Strategy Quiz
1. Software as a Service (SaaS) can be defined as:
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A. A cheap way to download software online.


B. A software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or
service provider and made available to customers over a network.
C. A delivery service provided by major software vendors.
m

D. A rental service where people can use software for a set amount of time, then
return it.
2. What is multi-tenancy?
A. Sharing software with multiple users
)A

B. A situation where many users are working off the same licensing agreement
C. An architecture in which a single instance of a software application serves
multiple customers
D. Enterprises sharing software with other enterprises in an office building
3. What does SLA stand for?
(c

A. Software licensing arrangement


B. Software Leadership Association

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278 IT Applications in Business

C. Science Leadership Academy


Notes

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D. Service-level agreement
4. What are the cost differences between SaaS and on-premises?
A. SaaS involves an SLA and a pay-as-you-go, per-user or per-month model;
on-premises involves up-front costs for hardware, software, and other
infrastructure.

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B. SaaS involves up-front costs for hardware, software, and other infrastructure;
on-premises involves an SLA and a pay-as-you-go, per-user or per-month
model.
C. SaaS is cheap; on-premises is expensive.

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D. SaaS is expensive; on-premises is cheap.
5. What is the most-used form of cloud computing?
A. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
B. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
C. SaaS

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D. Data as a Service (DaaS)

Improve your understanding by answer the following Questions: -


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1. What is SaaS?
2. What is the difference between SaaS and cloud computing?
3. Who owns my data?
4. What if my SaaS provider goes out of business?
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5. Can I customize SaaS?

References
1. The Art of SaaS by Dr Ahmed Bouzid, David Rennyson. Xlibris, 2015.
2. SAAS Inbound Bible: Grow Your SAAS From 0 to 1 Million ARR (SAAS Growth
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Series) by Madhan Raj, ASIN : B08CV7RXLR, 2020.


3. The Economics of Venture Capital Firm Operations in India by Kshitija Joshi,
Cambridge University Press; First edition, 2020.
)A
(c

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