Corporate it and the Value

Corporate it and the Value Chain An organization Value Chain Corporate information technology (it) is a term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, etc.) within an corporation. It includes both telephony and computer technology, and it is the technology that is driving what has often been called the information revolution. The contribution of the it sector is credited with holding down inflation and improving overall productivity.

The Internet is the latest kinds of communication channels used by it hardware that has enabled new industries and created significant new value (Weill, 1992). The Internet has also helped spawn a substantial migration of value away from old economy businesses and into new economy businesses. The concept of a value chain was first developed to identify the sources of cost and value along a manufacturing continuum. The value chain started with raw materials and ended with the end user, or consumer.

The value chain is a useful tool to understand business processes, and to clearly identify the activities that must be performed to convert inputs into outputs that customers will value. Although there seems to be widespread agreement within the electronic business community that the traditional manufacturing value chain has been de-constructed, a new model has not yet emerged to take its place. Discussions According to Porter (1985) a value chain, both material and information flow.

The primary, value-adding activities include those involved in the production, marketing delivery, and servicing of the product. Support activities include those providing purchased inputs, technology, human resources, or overall infrastructure functions to support the primary activities. Information technology is a major factor that exerts a powerful force on business value chain. The growing and ubiquitous use of information technology across the value chain enables collaborative and cooperative opportunities between people in time and space.

The collaborative links between value chain and people have enabled the concept of partnerships, allowing people to work together for achieving a common goal. When time is a major competitive factor, it becomes a major force to leverage the potential of the value chain. The ubiquitous use of the it has spawned business transformation of the value chain that provides an organization the capability to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the value chain activities.

It helps not only in efficient processing of information but also aids in handling large volume of transactions seamlessly, tracking customers' preferences in products and services, accepting payments, and updating customer accounts correctly. In understanding the role of corporate it in the value-chain becomes a priority for the management to increase the business productivity. By coordinating these activities effectively, an organization can reduce transaction costs, gather better information for control purposes, and substitute less costly operations in one activity for more costly ones elsewhere.

Coordinating linked activities is also an important way to reduce the combined time required to perform them. So coordination between the value chain activities is increasingly important to competitive advantage. Corporate it can change the dynamics of competition by increasing the flow of information between customers, suppliers, and manufacturers. For example, a customer order that is entered through the use of standard specific form need not be entered again by the manufacturer in a computer.

Specifically the use of information technology can be used to streamline communications, enforce business rules, manage knowledge, etc. It can either make existing processes more efficient or enable processes that hitherto were impossible if attempted manually or with archaic technology. The scope of enablement includes internal functional areas as well as the external value chain comprised of vendors and customers.

In general, Functions it can help in Permitting communication between value chain activities that could not take place otherwise Making communication situations between value chain activities more effective Eliminating unnecessary person-to-person communication by making information available through the web or other computerized means Making communication systematic between the value chain to minimize wasted effort and confusion. For example, it can help in outbound logistics through point-of-sale: (POS) that allows a system that uses barcodes to generate customer bills. Many supermarkets now give their repeat customers an ID card.

Using ID cards in conjunction with POS systems provides an extra benefit, namely a history of every item the repeat customer purchased. It can help in direct marketing that helps in the process of selling through communications addressed to specific customers who are likely to be interested in the product. Similarly, it can help in sales force automation that helps in data handling and data retrieval tasks related to sales business. Beyond, it can help in increasing the customer interactions such as service calls, website activity etc.

Conclusions With growing capabilities, along with reduced cost, of information systems, it has become the cornerstone for increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the value chain. It not only supports a business strategy but also reshapes business strategy to leverage the potential of it. This dynamic link requires continual review and readjustment for understanding the critical role of the it in the value chain. By using corporate it, several firms.