The importance and future of MIS

Gina DiNardo

MIS is not solely technology; it encompasses information systems that support not only business processes and operations, but also decision-making and competitive strategies within a business. As others have mentioned, and what I completely agree with is that technology is clearly the driver and heart of a business but MIS incorporates this technology with certain business strategies and tactics to improves and support operations. What could be cost efficient and effective from a business stand point might be to outsource tech applications, or rent rather than purchase and install an expensive ERP system; none of which can be understood or appreciated without a background in the exciting field of MIS. MIS takes technology to a higher level, making it work for the business it happens to be associated with. Without adopting the improvements that have been made in technology throughout the years, such as streamlining business operations with databases, ERP systems, CRM software etc, businesses would not be able to function as well as they do today.

MIS is my secondary major, but even so, I have found that a background in MIS can be pertinent to any career choice you might make. Students, especially with a background in MIS can be a very valuable asset to a division of a company where not many others will value the importance of how technology practically runs the business. Without an MIS background you can’t really appreciate the integration of information and technology which works to ultimately enhance the business practices you work with day in and day out. When I was interviewing for my position with KPMG, the partner I interviewed with seemed intrigued by my choice of double majoring in MIS. We must have spent a good 20 minutes discussing classes I had taken, what I could bring to the firm with what I have learned, and how I could potentially apply this knowledge to my position within the company. While this may not have necessarily won me the job, it was certainly a great way to differentiate myself from other candidates. Put very simply, one of my tasks at KPMG will be analyzing business reports in order to properly valuate other companies. As Scott and Greg mentioned, XBRL, which is an emerging XML-based standard to define and exchange business and financial performance information, is currently being used by KPMG. XBRL can be viewed as a system of bar codes for financial statements. It allows companies to use nationally and internationally common “tags” to identify individual reporting concepts that exist in a corporate report. It allows context to be communicated along with content. XBRL facilitates the communication of entire reports, avoiding "template reporting," which can be misleading and inaccurate, and allows the standardization of common business reporting concepts while providing flexibility to extend the vocabulary to meet individual circumstances. Receiving financial reports in real time will allow me to efficiently analyze and make the most accurate valuations possible; a very significant task to my position within the firm.

So while I was writing this paper, I was talking to my roommate who was looking up the time difference between the east coast and Mexico. After a quite successful Google search of what she was looking for she said, Laurlen15: what did people do before the internet and google? Laurlen15: thats how i find out everything i need to know. People these days are currently relying increasingly more on the internet and its extensive capabilities, stemming far beyond, but certainly starting with simple Google searches. When I told her about the blog I was writing for class she naively replied, Laurlen15: apparently blogs are the future, Laurlen15: my boss at work is obsessed. Blogs certainly are a wave of the future, as is Web 2.0 as a whole. I believe that the future of Web 2.0 will stem from the creativity of the users who create it, and also those that contribute to it. People just need to figure out how to get involved and how to successfully use Web 2.0 to their advantage. I read an article stating that Web 2.0's principal appeal is empowerment. More capable computers, high-speed Internet connections, and user-friendly Web 2.0 services give individuals the ability to perform sophisticated tasks without having to seek permission from overtaxed information technology departments. Web 2.0 is also being integrated into corporations. Companies are starting to learn from MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking services. The reason for this is because businesses are, in a sense, social networks formed to make or sell something. LinkedIn is an online service for people to post career profiles and search for prospective employees, and is becoming a major corporate recruiting source.

Overall, MIS is information, it is technology, and most importantly it is the combination of the two in order to support the ever important process of decision making. The future of MIS is people, and how they interact with and contribute to the Web, technology, and its extensive capabilities.

Just a Small Piece in the MIS Puzzle.

Greg Drocz

There I sat in the cramped, cluttered office, impatiently fanning through the neatly typed blue brochure that had been handed to me. In gold lettering, “Villanova School of Commerce & Finance: Academic Programs” was scrawled across the front. Startling me and forgetting I was only 3 feet from him, the booming voice of my academic advisor said, “So what do you want to minor in?” With a shrug I answered, “MIS I guess”, not really knowing what I had chosen. “Oh, computers,” he replied “that’ll go well with the accounting degree.” And with that brief encounter with my advisor 3 years ago I had chosen my minor - even though I would not take a minor course until the fall of my senior year. For the next two years family members and friends would ask how school was going and what I was majoring in. “Accounting major/MIS minor” was my standard reply. I could tell by their faces the abbreviation of MIS threw them for a loop. “Management Information Systems” I’d then say. Still blank faces. “Computers”, yup, now they understood. Now that I am about to complete my minor, my answer of “computers” shows just how misunderstood I was about the field. Management Information Systems isn’t just computers. Its technology, its information and it’s the use of these two combined to make intelligent decisions.

Upon graduating, I will be working for Ernst & Young in their real estate auditing practice. As an auditor I can see numerous places where MIS will weave its way into my daily work however one area sticks out the most. A proposal has been made by members of the Big 4, Grant Thornton and BDO Seidman to have companies move towards the use of XBRL to report financial information – a form of reporting previously mention by Scott in a previous post. What does this mean for me as an accountant and an auditor? The access to real time financial data and user customized statements in place of standardized accounting statements. Being real time, XBRL may bring with it the ability to weed out misstatements by management. If information will be presented real time to the auditor, management of the companies being audited have harder time “cooking the books”. This in turn will also provide greater assurance to those who use the valuable information attested to by the auditor – the investors. In addition to XBRL, I see biometrics as something that I will encounter in my work experience. During the assessment of a company’s internal controls we may deem a company to have poor internal controls as to many employees have the ability to access and change information. We may then recommend biometrics, such as a fingerprint scan, in order to allow only those with proper clearance to access the information.

Work is not the only place where I see myself integrated into the world of MIS. The emergence of Web 2.0 will integrate everyone, or rather everyone willing to participate, into the world of MIS. As we saw in the video on YouTube, Web 2.0 is and will be what the users make of it. It truly has endless possibilities. Blogs, Wiki’s, MySpace, Facebook, and RSS feeds are just the beginning. The key thing with all of these is information and the use of this information is just starting to be tapped. Like Danielle, I envision a time where I receive, via other mediums such as cell phone or visual advertisement, personalized offers for goods and services based on the information that I have contributed to this vast Web 2.0. In fact, we’re already starting to see that. Log into Facebook and there is a company trying to sell movie posters in an advertisement on the side bar. What movies posters? It displays the actual posters of movies that I have listed in my “Favorite Movie” category. Empty your favorite movies and generic posters will be advertised to you. This is just a small example of how Web 2.0 will be such a valuable tool and those who contribute will get the most out of it.

Now that I am about to complete my minor I again realize how my answer of “computers” to friends and family was so far off base. MIS is more then that. It about information, using technology to access that information and using that information to make decisions – and we are just a piece in this puzzle.

"The real time reporting utopia?" http://www.it-analysis.com/business/content.php?cid=8977

MIS Post-Graduation

Joe Piscetta

I picked up my second major of MIS because I thought I needed something to differentiate me from every other Finance major in the business school. I knew that I liked computers and that I was pretty good with them; well, at least better with them than some of my friends. What I didn’t know was what MIS even was. Looking back now, I am very glad that I decided to take on the double major. I probably got the job that I got because of my MIS major. This summer after graduation, I will begin working for BearingPoint in their Enterprise Resource Planning division as a consultant. There will be a lot of traveling involved and I really am not sure what I got myself into. I could be doing anything from looking at trends in the technology market to doing due diligence for the company. With due diligence I would be helping the firm and its investors learn the profitability and marketability of its products and services. It is important to know how big the margins will be for the new product/service as well as how big the target market is before you invest all your money in it. Another key factor in determining the product/service’s value is whether or not it is unique; how easily can the product/service differentiate itself from a similar product/service of a competitor’s.

I actually will be in the Oracle practice of BearingPoint so I am sure I will get very familiar with PeopleSoft and ERP systems in general. ERP systems attempt to integrate all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. I know that ERP has now shown itself to be a worthwhile investment for many companies and that these organizations are also looking to extract even more value from their existing ERP systems. Shifts in corporate structure and new compliance requirements are driving the need for improved access to information and cost savings. In order to realize greater return on investment from ERP systems, the actual ERP applications have to be specifically tailored to more effectively support adaptive business processes and help drive growth. What I will be attempting to do is strategically align the firm’s technology assets with their business processes. The outcome of this is that it will reduce their total cost of ownership and improve responsiveness, quality and return on investment. As Joe stated in his blog, “SOA is not just a phase; it is a movement and a base on which to build information structures for business and the internet.” I learned that BearingPoint and my position utilize their experience with service-oriented architecture and also business process management to help accelerate the creation of agile, flexible systems to better address today’s marketplace and operational demands.

I will be attempting to sell to people and companies that whether you are upgrading your current ERP system or implementing a new one, it can help you unite people, process and strategy easily. It also will help you create flexible technology solutions as well as deploy timely and much more accurate information across the entire enterprise. A successful ERP solution helps a company gain several key factors in their industry. By achieving process innovations that facilitate greater integration and help your company focus organizational attention on prioritized demands your company will receive greater operational efficiency. An effective ERP system will also display a faster time to benefit for the company. By having an industry-tailored application from BearingPoint, it speeds their time of delivery and it reduces project risk to help the company get their process and system up and running faster. With agile IT architecture, applications can respond faster and more effectively to changes in business process coming within the organization or from the marketplace; this gives the company improved business responsiveness. ERP solutions can also help reduce IT expenditures. Effective reuse of IT assets helps realize sustainable cost reductions from your IT function and makes resources available to deploy toward growth initiatives. We learned in class that ERP applications can also extract information from your pre-existing data warehouses; this in turn, has led to DBMS technology becoming more of a commodity recently. All in all, I believe that the industry I will be working in is going to continue to grow, and as long as I can show companies the benefits of ERP solutions I will be able to maintain a job for several years.

A Little History and My Interest in MIS

Kevin Fisher

The field of Management Information Systems has really come into the spotlight of late with all the business that is being done over the internet. Since the inception of the internet large companies and small companies have been able to come together in one online marketplace. This marketplace is available to any person with a computer around the entire world. Consumers can go online to purchase anything from clothing to software in just a few clicks of the mouse. MIS comes into play with all this in the way in which companies take care of business over the internet. In order to perform ecommerce, companies must have the ability both financially and technologically to take care of orders and manage all the other aspects of selling items online. Also, companies can take advantage of many other things that the internet makes possible such as advertising to a large, international audience and observing the processes of other companies.

The internet is not the only thing that the MIS concentrates on. It also looks at ways in which companies can improve their internal business processes by integrating departments with the use of networks, databases and software. This integration can be very expensive to implement but by doing so companies can improve their entire business and cut unnecessary costs. With the integration of departments and the cutting of costs along with the audience that the internet reaches, firms that keep track of the advances in the MIS field can greatly improve their profits.

All though the internet reaches a huge amount of people there are still people that do not have access to the internet and the speeds at which the people are accessing the internet changes greatly from place to place. This difference in connection speed and availability is known as the last mile broadband and is a major topic in the MIS field. As technology is growing and chips and computer power are getting smaller and faster respectfully, the difference in the way in which people are accessing the internet is becoming faster. It used to be that dial up using modems was the fastest way in which to access the internet. As more and more people started to access the internet the technology began to evolve and cable modems and DSL were discovered. These two technologies made it possible for people to access the internet at a way faster speed. Up until today cable has been the fastest way to surf the internet but as of recently the implementation of fiber optic has created a huge buzz in industry and the speeds of access are going to rise significantly once again.

With so much business being done over the internet companies must always monitor their processes to look out for problems and be able to fix those problems at a moments notice. Companies are not the only ones who need all time access to the internet and it is for this reason that technologies such as networking and wireless have become a major issue in the field of MIS. As technology has evolved so has home networking devices and software. Homes are becoming able to take advantage of this technology and are building home networks that have enough power to do what some small businesses are able to do. Wireless is probably one the biggest things that is affecting people. People want to be connected at all times and with WiFi and WiMax technologies they can achieve this. People can leave their homes without having to leave the internet and with computers getting more powerful and smaller by the day they can bring the internet with them. It is just a matter of time before a computer will not even be needed and the internet will be able to be accessed from phones and PDA’s.

These are the reasons that MIS is a very important field and one of the reasons that I choose MIS as a major here at Villanova. While some areas are learned in college and no further stuff is needed to learn in order to continue in that field that is not the case at all in MIS. If one wants to be successful in the field of MIS they must continue to learn even after leaving college because technology will continue to evolve and people must keep up on these emerging technologies.

Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and Change.Infinite

Steven Ishak

“According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, the top ten jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004” (scottmcleod.org). This quote is extremely exciting, yet frightening for any college student graduating within the next few years. We’ve now come to a point in time where many of the things we learn about technology one year will quickly become outdated two to three years down the line. This statement means that we, as technologically savvy people, must be constantly aware of the advances taking place and be able to understand how to implement them into advancing our businesses’ strategies as oppose to how to actually use and operate them.

In a quest for understanding the rapid advances of technology we must first understand the most important underlying theme that is driving all of these advances: mass customization. In an effort to better understand the peer-to-peer traffic on the internet, we are now developing what we know as Web 2.0. “Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second-generation of Web-based services…that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users” (Wikipedia.com). Examples of Web 2.0 sites include facebook.com, youtube.com, and myspace.com. All of these sites are user content driven sites and allows for communication and personalization that has never been seen before. In addition to these networking sites, companies are now revolutionizing their own websites in order to better serve their customers. For example, being a huge basketball fan, I am constantly visiting one of my favorite sites, www.nba.com. Recently I just noticed they have now come up a new feature called an “NBA Widget.” This allows you to implant information about your favorite player, team, or scores to your own personal networking website or search engine such as Google.com so you are constantly informed about the latest news even though you are not on the nba.com site.

As stated earlier, technology is changing at an incredibly fast pace. Nearly 4 weeks ago, I heard of the term Web 2.0 for the first time in my life. While researching information on Web 2.0 to write this blog I couldn’t help but notice coming across another buzz word: Web 3.0. When I first noticed this term my thought was “what the hell is going on? Here I am trying to learn about what I had thought was some new fancy buzz word and by the time I truly understand it, it would have become outdated. What I really should be doing is learning more about Web 3.0 and speculate what Web 4.0 might be like.” So I did just that.

Since Web 3.0 is an extremely new buzz word the information about it is rather limited. One definition for Web 3.0 is “the realization of composite applications that provide easy, transparent and organized access to ‘the world’s information’. Another definition proposed by Nova Spivack [founder of Radar Networks], proposes that a more objective way to define Web 3.0 is as the third decade of the Web, to take place from the year 2010 to 2020. Spivack suggests that Web 2.0 has largely been focused on front-end user-interface improvements such as AJAX, while Web 3.0 will shift the focus back to the backend -- the underlying technologies of the Web, enabled by Semantic Web technologies” (wikipedia.com). Also Web 3.0 is believed to also become the evolution of a 3-Dimensional internet. This is a feature that can be of great interest to companies in regards to mass customization. Web 3.0 is seen as an “era when machines will start to do seemingly intelligent things”(nytimes.com). For example, if a user is doing a search on Web 3.0 to find a good hotel “concepts like room temperature, bed comfort and hotel price, and can distinguish between concepts like ‘great,’ ‘almost great’ and ‘mostly O.K.’ to provide useful direct answers. Whereas today’s travel recommendation sites force people to weed through long lists of comments and observations left by others, the Web 3.0 system would weigh and rank all of the comments and find, by cognitive deduction, just the right hotel for a particular user.”(nytimes.com)

If the Web 3.0 system is ever completely created the only step I could see being done after that, aka “Web 4.0,” is complete artificial intelligence where machines could one day search, find, and order our specific wants and desires for us with minimal input into the devices. Although it seems a little far fetched right now, I do believe that is the direction where we are heading and it may be attainable in the near future.

Now what does all this have to do with me? Being a senior, MIS major and hoping to find a job in basically any IT department of any company, this evolution of the internet has a huge effect on any future jobs I may have and I need to be aware of the constant changes of the internet. More importantly, I hope to one day have a business of my own, and nowadays it is very difficult to own a successful company without also owning a successful website. So truly understanding the constant changing forces of what drives a successful website is extremely important in making that success possible.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin

http://www.scottmcleod.org/didyouknow.wmv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3.0#Web_3.0_technologies

Markoff, John, “Entrepreneurs See a Web Guided by Common Sense” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/12/business/12web.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=254d697964cedc62&ex=1320987600

MIS in the Changing World

Adam Weir

The world of technology is forever expanding and changing. As this world continues to grow we need to grow with it. Important information that was relevant five years can be completely useless today. That is why people, especially people in the business world, must continue to be educated and adapt to the changing world. Large companies know this and that is why they take their information system technology so serious. They know that if they fall behind the curve, their competition will take control of their industry.

At the bridge connecting the business world to technology is field of management information systems or MIS. MIS integrates the three essential basic parts of business, technology, and management. Businesses know how important this information is and that is why they spend so much time and money for it. The United States alone spends over $1 trillion on information technology every year. They do this because the information gathered is so very valuable. There is a direct correlation between the amount spent on technology and the productivity gained. The more money spent the higher the return on investment.

Businesses use MIS in all areas of their company to make jobs much more effective. From the marketing, finance, accounting, and management departments, information technology is essential in today’s world. The marketing department has had a huge overhaul due to the advances in technology. Through the internet they have found a limitless supply of market data. The problem is how to gather, filter, and sort this information. Besides basic forms of information gathering through surveys and questionnaires, marketing teams now use more efficient ways to gather data. By using sophisticated CRM software they gather information as people log in and browse websites. They can tell what products are most popular and what types of people buy certain products. Many sites, like Amazon, encourage users to create personal profiles so the site can be customized to what the user likes. Personalization is a huge marketing strategy on the internet. It makes the user feel welcome when the site changes and shows only sections that he or she enjoys. Technology has advanced recently that websites recognize IP addresses and will customize even if users never gave any personal information. Marketing teams are in a new age of information gathering. They can now gain a great understanding of what people want in an enormously broad scale.

The marketing team gains information from not only the internet, but from bar code data on an item that is scanned and sold at retail stores. Through this store scanning process, companies can easily see what products are selling and which are not. They will then know which items to continue manufacturing, and which ones need to be taken off the market. This information, while useful, does not tell the companies who the people are that are buying their product. However, many stores today, such as grocery stores, require the use of their store cards when purchasing items. Although this is usually not required, many customers use them to gain the perks of having the card. By having this card, customers will be able to purchase items at lower costs and gain other rewards. This also helps out companies with their marketing program. Customer’s personal information is programmed onto these cards and every time they swipe it, the company knows what they purchased. This data is then used to see what types of people are buying certain products. The marketing knowledge gained is easy, fast, and cheaper then the old marketing methods.

The use of information technology in marketing is only one of many ways that businesses have changed. MIS technologies have also advanced the areas of accounting and finance. Through new software programs, the bookkeeping of financial information has never been simpler. With the help of enterprise resource planning (ERP), and other advances in database programs, the problems of the accounting world have depleted rapidly. Computer security, validation, and risk modeling have helped reduced the problems in both the accounting and financial departments. Software programs can now update in real time financial information and perform forecasting. Lastly, MIS technologies have helped with the advances in the management department. Business plans and templates are made with ease through various business software programs. Large organizational problems in a company are a thing of the past. Human resource departments can easily form databases for every employee, including salary, benefits, and other personal information. The information can be accessed quickly and efficiently with minimal interferences. The internet has also helped with the recruitment department for every company. Through their website and several job search websites, companies can simply and inexpensively advertise job offerings to millions of potential employees. MIS programs have changed the face of the entire business world.

Everyday new technologies are created and reshaped to make the technology environment easier for both employees and the customer. There is no way of telling how drastic the use of MIS technologies will change in the future. Employees in the business world are not the only ones who will see the change. Customers will see the economic world of tomorrow advance into a new age of customization and personalization. Users will go to websites and will only see information and products that they enjoy. People will walk into stores and be directed to exactly the things they need to buy. The flow of information today moves at a blinding pace, and it will only go faster. Information technology is forever changing and only time will tell if people will continue to advance and change with it.

The SOA Factor

Joe Piskai (http://www.joepiskai.com)

Let’s take another angle and talk about Services-Oriented Architecture. I want to take a quick look at the relationship of several related “buzz” words that we have seen already. Let’s define some acronyms so we are on the same page:

SOA = Services-Oriented Architecture
ASP = Application Service Provider
SaaS = Software as a Service
EIA = Enterprise Information Architecture

One of these is a buzzword from several years ago that was less preferred after the dot com burst during which the name had become synonymous with failure – the ASP. There are several reasons why this happened, mostly linked to a lack of knowledge and maturity in these hosted application business models. There is, however, a return of ASPs to the market today. The survivors have solid business models that focus on customer integration, ROI, rapid deployment, interoperability, and agile technologies. Some are horizontally integrated; others vertical. What they all have in common are the necessary enablers of SOA, and a better, more complete business model. And now, this evolved ASP is what the market has begun to call Software as a Service. WebEx is a great example here. As a provider of corporate web-conferencing services, they have not only continued to refine their core competency, but are now exploring ways to integrate with and leverage organizations’ information systems (CRM, ERP, etc.), pulling data and calling web services into these collaborative meetings. This small difference in terminology is significant and descriptive of the change. Before, these organizations were serving information. Now, they are serving customers (via integration & technology)!

So, ASP + SOA = SaaS (an “enlightened” ASP model)

Enterprise Information Architecture is what many define as an organizations’ information roadmap, defining data flows and business processes. SOA invades the scene again. Corporations are now moving toward “upgrading” their business information systems to an agile environment. The pressure is not only internal. As competitors, vendors, customers, and business partners make this similar move, there is a business necessity to integrate – and in many cases provide application interoperability – outside of the firewall. SAP even markets their own brand of “buzz”– called Enterprise Services-Oriented Architecture… it almost sounds proprietary! It does highlight an interesting question, however…

What is the difference between SOA for business and SOA for the internet society? I remember hearing some other blogger put it like this: it’s like (corporate) suits and (internet) hippies. On one hand, you have people trying to make money. Where is the ROI? How will this help us grow, realize profits, reduce costs? This is how a salesforce.com sales representative will give you SOA. But what about SOA for the internet? For the masses of people, many of whom don’t care about making a cent? This is Web 2.0 (a great part of it, at least). The digital ethnography students at KSU who made the Web 2.0… The Machine is Us/ing Us video we watched in class is a perfect example. They are interested in social/cultural anthropology as affected by technology trends. They want to publish themselves, subscribe to another’s channel or feed, collaborate to solve problems together. We talked about this… for the first time in history, consumers are becoming producers as well. We are entertaining ourselves. Is SOA a part of this? Definitely. This social movement parallels that of technology and businesses.

Try to imagine the following:

Suit: “I want our CRM system to access a framework of services (from our internal systems, business partners, and the web) and deliver to our salespeople this composite dashboard. I want to be able to change those services on the fly. I also want the sales people to talk to pre-sales and consulting. There is some kind of disconnect going on there. Actually, make all their legacy systems talk to each other. And have everyone and every system use the same employee list as defined by HR, and customer data as defined by CRM. Make sure Sony gets hooked up to our product list; they want real-time access to our inventory numbers so their new system can automatically order more widgets from us. What about MDM? ...”

Hippie: “I want to share my ideas with the world. Not only do I want people to read my blog, but I want to collaborate with other great minds so we can solve these social problems that keep me up at night. I think it is entertaining to read about certain things, so I subscribe to a number of feeds. Wikipedia is my home. I want to have an equal stake in what is classified as true and accurate information. I want to read the news, but I want to post my reaction, and read others’ reactions as well. It makes my life better to know that the world hears me… and I hear the world. I am a programmer, so I want other programmers to leave the doors to their applications open...”

Moral of the story? SOA is not just a phase; it is a movement and a base on which to build information structures for business and the internet. To me, it’s a “make or break” factor. And when "break" means joining the ranks of the crashed-and-burned... the corporate world will respond.

My Interests in MIS

Ryan Cunningham

So far this semester, we've talked about a number of emerging MIS topics. Something that is currently taking off right now and adding immediate business value is web analytics and customer relationship management. Web analytics can help automate the crm process in the e-business setting to make the purchasing process much more customer-oriented. A perfect example of this is Amazon.com's advanced referral system. When viewing an item, I can see what percentage of customer's who viewed that item purchased it. That is impressive, but it has been in use at Amazon for years now. What is still relatively new, is the effective use of user-created content in its referral system. Look at this picture:


I can see what other items customers bought, tag the product with a category or description, and view other user tags. I can click on those tags and view other items tagged with that same description. What's more? You can tag it right there on the spot without changing websites (Amazon would hate to send a potential buyer elsewhere), and you can search for other tag descriptions that you may be interested in. Amazon is also implementing its Beta version of Item Discussion. This will be the next generation of user reviews, where members will be able to discuss anything and everything about an item.

All of this user-generated content is allowing customers to refer items to other customers. One last way that Amazon is facilitating this is the Listmania function. When viewing a product, you can scroll down to see what user-created lists contain that product in them. These lists can be one user's "Top 50 of 2006" or something as random as "Not Your Average Movies About Dating or Violence." The point is that users are talking to each other through Amazon, and while they are interacting they are spending more and more time on Amazon, making them more and more likely to purchase something--something they may not have even thought of when initially visiting the site. That is what I see the convergence of web analytics and crm moving towards: User-created content creating a second layer of involvement that also creates business. Amazon remains supreme in this field which helps it stay on top of the internet retail business today.

Behind the Scenes and Into the Future

Just recently I transferred practices from within my firm. I was originally hired to work in the core assurance division but now I will be an audit staff member of systems and process assurance (SPA). What’s the difference? The difference is MIS. Since I will be graduating with a degree in both accounting and MIS, I wanted to find a way to incorporate both sets of skills while remaining in an audit position. Because IT is being considered in every profession and is impacting our daily lives more and more, it was not difficult for me to do this. As today’s businesses are growing they are becoming more and more complex and in turn placing an increasing reliance on information technology and the controls that are put in place. What is most important is the ability to accept that the information being produced within IT environments by systems and processes is accurate.

This is where I am come in. Not only do companies want to be receiving reliable information but there have also been regulations that have been added as requirements concerning the effectiveness of internal controls. One of these requirements by the SEC is to provide a SAS 70 report as part of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. In order for companies’ management to be able to make proper decisions and appropriate financial reporting, it is crucial for people of my position to ensure that information is being produced not only accurately but timely as well. Another way in which SPA assists companies is by providing a review of the structure of the companies’ controls and offer ways to improve quality of design and efficiency as well as identifying weaknesses. We also review database security controls, infrastructure security and computer security reviews.

A very important challenge for today’s businesses is being able to manage their risk because we are operating in a world filled with risk. Although zero risk is impossible, it is the job of our risk management teams to evaluate IT risk by assessing IT operations and controls, and then comparing it to the company’s objectives and strategies to see if they are coinciding. Being able to implement risk management within the daily controls and operations of the company delivers the most benefit.

Based on the above description of the types of services SPA provides to our clients, it is apparent how important MIS has become in our business world at every level not just the complex. For example, when the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis was facing an expansion of office space, the firm’s IT needs were crucial to its plans. In the past it has been thought that technology was flexible and accommodating, however in today’s IT driven world, these demands are more complex. As quoted by a chairman of the firm’s tech committee, “Technology was an extremely significant part of our decision to move.” This shows how even something as seemingly basic as making sure there is enough room to install cable has attracted a lot more focus from CIO’s and other IT professionals within businesses.

The future of MIS and information technology as a whole seems to be forever expanding our capabilities of transferring and communicating information effectively and efficiently, even outside of the business world. Take a look at youtube.com, guba.com break.com, midis.biz, even facebook and myspace, the list goes on and on. The future of MIS will allow access to the management of the firm’s information systems via web browser and will enable employees to manage their information systems wherever they are at any time. This enables employees to work in a uniform and flexible environment as well as having more adaptable applications.

What I see to be the most important concept concerning the future of information technology is working your way from the bottom up. Companies are going to find that it is much more costly to try to upgrade a data center than it will be to build a new data center, not to mention more efficient. Trying to integrate a company’s older or currently existing applications is going to be a financial burden for them. Starting over with a fresh face will soon be the way to go. CRM systems that companies have implemented in the past several years will soon become outdated when they realize that with newer systems employees will be able to employ services to their customers, view customer profiles and locations as well as current pricing and inventory locations without even needing strong IT knowledge.

In trying to gain an understanding of what Danielle will be doing for her family’s company when she graduates, I find it interesting how our positions will coincide and compliment each other. It seems as though she will be responsible for replacing/updating the business’ information systems so that they properly carry out the strategies and objectives of the company. My job on the other hand, will be to evaluate her choice of those systems/applications. I will be assessing their effectiveness, security controls put in place around these systems as well as the segregation of duties implemented concerning their operation. I see my position as having more of a behind the scenes perspective. With the help of walkthroughs and understanding the business processes, together Danielle and I will be able to decide upon and implement the best IT environment for her company.

Me, MIS, and the Future

Scott Anglehart

In the future, as the amount of data continues to grow within business databases and throughout the internet, the user’s ability to sift through and manage millions of static resources will become harder and harder to do. In order to minimize the time wasted looking for useful information; more concern will be placed upon developing technological improvements that challenge the interactivity and correlation of data. These improvements will go beyond simple operational achievements like improving processing power and instead strive to create, manage, converge, and distribute data in a more efficient and informative manner. Progress like this will enable businesses to exploit new data collection and mining opportunities while continueing to enhance already existing information resources. As these technological advances continue, companies will demand information of higher relevancy and accuracy, delivered at an increasingly efficient rate.

New data collection and mining opportunities will become available to businesses as technology trends continue to integrate themselves into the daily lives of people. These new data sources will enable companies to better understand their audience and potential customers. Blogs, which appear to be full of unquantifiable data, will be examined through filters designed to build relationships and associations through word searches. By getting closer to its audience, a business will be able to uncover rich and previously overlooked data. Likewise, the integration of GPS tracking with purchasing power in handheld devices like phones will become a huge data mining opportunity for businesses to take advantage of. As a person’s traveling and buying patterns are revealed, businesses will be able to personalize advertising and make suggestions to its consumers based on real time CRM software. From the data observed, RSS feeds will relay personalized information to the end user. Data is the byproduct of a society increasingly integrated and influenced by technology. Monitoring and finding new ways to capture information from it is essential as the demands and expectations of the user become greater.

Already established data sources will get revamped to serve their purpose better. Business intelligence is being revolutionized in accounting and financial reporting practices where accurate, reliable, and transparent information is essential to its users. Currently most internal and external financial reports are generated and produced as static reports which cannot not be manipulated or adjusted according to an individual’s needs. XBRL, which takes its cues from XML, is a computer language that will provide the user with a more interactive and efficient means of financial statement research within each document (Updates). XBRL does this by assigning context to concrete values within the financial statements. Once marked the computer can read the language and create relations amongst the values (Updates). By establishing these relationships its users are able to produce informative queries about the accounts within the statements. In addition to the financial statements’ increased usefulness and efficiency, XBRL will reduce errors that might usually be overlooked (XBRL). External users like investors and auditors will benefit along with internal users like management accountants who base much of their strategic decisions on the integrity of their internal reports (Updates).

I believe that in the future, MIS professionals will be more and more responsible for not only consolidating, improving, and discovering data, old and new, but also for building relationships between the data. This interactivity will further streamline and enrich the information provided to its users. This will ultimately reduce the cost and time previously used to generate information manually.

Like many other people, my MIS major is secondary to another major. My primary major is accounting. I decided to double major in accounting and MIS because I thought that the MIS field complimented almost all other fields of study within business. It seemed as though technology was integrated into all other business disciplines in someway or another. As it turns out, my assumption was correct.

Unfortunately, I have not yet had the opportunity to explore where I fit into the MIS field first hand yet. Last summer I interned as a financial statements auditor. During this period, I was exposed to other assurance lines, including the company’s Information Technology Security & Risk Management service line. Since my internship I have taken more interest in the possibility of exploring the information assurance field. Whatever I end up pursuing, I am confident that my MIS education will bring value to my work in the future.

"Updates on XBRL and SOX" Devonish-Mills, Linda. Strategic Finance, Feb 2007. Vol 88. Business Source Premier.

"XBRL Continues Its March to the Forefront of Reporting" Barron, Jacob. Business Credit, Feb 2007. Vol 109. Business Source Premier.

Myself and the Future of MIS

Michael Nespola

The rate at which the world is changing is astounding. Technology is no different. The advancements made in the last few decades have changed business forever. Communication is at the heart of it all. This includes internal communication, communication with suppliers in certain industries and most importantly, communication with customers. Customer service and customer relationship management keep businesses running. Without the customers, there is nothing. Companies are learning to give customers what they want. This is evident through increased customization and personalization. I can log on to Amazon and view my recent purchases and then see what Amazon recommends based on those purchases. Similarly, when I log on to Netflix, I can rate movies and in turn receive suggestions about which movies I may enjoy. Each of these examples makes the customer feel that they matter and that they have some control.

In the future, there will no longer be a need to sift through large amounts of information. If a customer wants a specific set of data, such as new stories, they will be able to select exactly what they want and what they do no want. Pages like Google, MSN, and Yahoo allow users to receive feeds from countless sites. With Google, I can find everything from weather to news, from movie times to sports headlines and from jokes of the day to maps. These RSS feeds allow for a better overall experience. I see feeds being sent to cell phones and PDAs in the future. As more mobile devices transition to operating systems like Windows Mobile 6, it becomes even more of a reality. Companies can now and will continue to be able to remain constantly connected to both employees and customers.

When technologies such as WiMAX become fully integrated across the country, business will once again change. When this occurs, everyone will be able to experience broadband internet all around major cities. Companies will be able to better receive real-time data from employees in the field. Meeting with customers will become easier. With these advancements in the applications of technology, there will also be advancements in security. Information is the cause and solution to many problems. There will always be those people who try to corrupt data or steal sensitive information. People want to be assured that their information is safe. Authentication will become more important. Some computers already have devices to read thumbprints. Other forms of biometrics will also become more widely accepted.

I have always found technology to be fascinating. I knew early on in high school that I wanted to go into business and I wanted to work with technology. I never had to worry about what I wanted to do with my life. It started with simple things like networking and troubleshooting. I worked closely with friends years ago and we did work on the side for family, friends, and anyone else that had relatively simple IT problems that we could fix.

My views changed once I began taking MIS courses. I soon realized that things like networking, troubleshooting, and basic support were not at the true heart of the business and technology. These things could be outsourced. Companies no longer needed to have someone present to fix things. Instead, they can be out of state or even out of the country. Now, the application of technology and the strategies used in business are important.

Upon graduation, most of my immediate work will be commercial consulting. My work will range from simple things as networking, as I mentioned above, to the structure and strategy of a business. I will have customers in education, medicine, law enforcement, and various other industries. This work is a mix of both above and below the line thinking. Once I get a security clearance, I will be moving into information assurance. This is the area which I have been most interested in for the past year or two. As defined by the NSA (National Security Agency), information assurance is “the set of measures intended to protect and defend information and information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. This includes providing for restoration of information systems by incorporating protection, detection, and reaction capabilities.” Information insurance involves risk assessment and is more focused on strategy rather than operations. This type of thinking is "above the line" and that is the heart of MIS.

Current MIS, Future MIS, and Me

Danielle Thacker

Personally, I have a primary major of marketing and my secondary major is management information systems. I would like to take this time to relate my MIS experiences thus far and those that will occur in the future to steps in performing a basic sales call. First exists the sales lead. I was in this position sophomore year as MIS was a field I was somewhat interested in and I knew had many potential benefits to myself and my future career in working for my family business. Next, I took some MIS classes to qualify this field of study by taking a few classes, making sure it would be beneficial to my family’s company as well as my liking as a possible career. The MIS seminar represents the initial sales call and fact-finding session, as I truly become familiar with “above the line thinking,” business intelligence, and the resources I can use in the future to keep on the cutting edge of technology. Finally, I have chosen to accept the proposal as I will be in the buying center of a new information system at our family business post-graduation. The following are my thoughts on the field of MIS, how to use MIS to create a more efficient business, and where I feel technology is going and how it will affect my future.

Management information systems is “a computer system designed to help managers plan and direct business and organizational operations” (dictionary.com). This broad definition serves as a mere foundation to the actual academic discipline and business field that combines the powers of business, technology, and management. At the end of my college career, I have found myself on the brink of many new generations in technology. From Internet 2.0 to the introduction of Windows Vista to Web 2.0, the technological world is anything but stagnant. By my standards, a successful business is one that embraces technological change so long as it continues to better the business. There are two ways to use MIS to better the business, internal and external.

To internally better a business through MIS is to make operations more efficient through computer systems that enable better information and better flow of information. For example, Toyota recently overtook Ford as the number two auto manufacturer. Philip Evans, senior vice president at the Boston Consulting Group says Toyota “has a very clear understanding of the role technology plays in supporting the business” (Driving). One of the most notable examples of technology in Toyota’s business is their just in time inventory. “Here, seats arrive from a nearby Johnson Controls plant every four hours, in exactly the right sequence and format to match the car on the assembly line—be it beige leather bucket seats, or a fabric three-seater bench” (Driving). Toyota’s supply chain management system is one component of a very successful internal management information system that is able to significantly keep costs down. Another example from Toyota’s manufacturing plant is their use of Activplant Performance Management System, which monitors all the machines and robots of a manufacturing plant. If a machine goes down, it is able to track the exact time it happen, the conditions of the plant, speed of operation, etc… in order to more rapidly pinpoint the exact problem with the machine which enables a better fix time. Internal MIS systems are critical to the success of a company as they can be used as a cost reducing mechanism and they and they will ultimately provide a better product and service to external users.

Along with providing internal benefits, MIS can also provide benefits to enhance the external user experience. One of the hottest areas within MIS is customer relationship management. The ability of CRM software to completely track consumer purchases and to make suggestions for accessory items is and will be another critical success factor many businesses. Apple’s iTunes has effectively achieved this with their iTunes store. As I open up my iTunes store, I see a section entitled “Just for You” which is a section powered by CRM software. It tracked the Kenny Chesney song I purchased, and based on this purchase it has suggested a song by a similar artist, Dierks Bentley, in my “Just for You” section. This is a perfect example of how businesses will push information in a manner that is customized to the consumer. CRM systems can also be used by sales forces to organize and communicate their customer relationships to others within the company. These systems prevent duplicate sales calls, phone calls, and re-iteration of information to the customer which not only will reduce costs, but enhance the customer experience.

Management Information Systems has created definite place among current business culture, but where will MIS be in the future? MIS will definitely have a place in the future. Ubiquitous wireless access on laptops and PDA’s will first enable to push of information to consumers. In the foreseeable future, I envision country concert ticket sale alerts being pushed to my phone because of my purchase of a Kenny Chesney song on iTunes. This pushing of information applicable to myself is the first step in a new method of generating additional revenue. From this, consumers will move into a state of only accepting information they deem as pertinent. For example, you will see a changeover from the general Google search, to the setting up of RSS feeds. People will no longer search CNN.com for the news they want, but they will set up an RSS feed to alert them of new headlines in their desired section. Consumers will eventually become obsessed with personalized web-pages and will no longer have the patience to sift through a general website. They will want their own page on Amazon.com, for example, that makes automatic book suggestions—easy to access with one click. Also, buyer’s remorse affects many who make purchases. As a result products online that display customer feedback in the form of a rating as well as a blog will be popular. Many possible consumers will want to see the thoughts of those who have purchased this product in the past. The upcoming generations like to gather all the information and become well-informed before making a purchase. Therefore, these blogs and feedback ratings conform with their values of learning before purchasing. From this increasing amount of blogs and RSS feeds on websites, a brand new business will emerge as companies may opt to outsource blog/feed management within their websites. Google has already capitalized on the search functions powered within many websites, so as blog/feed popularity increases, there will be a definite demand for these outsourced functions. All of these features are now in limited use, but will become very common within the very near future.

As a green twenty-one year old coming out of Villanova University, how will I plan to use this information? Well, I have committed to working for my family business that has legacy information systems that need to be replaced in order to better our internal and external operations. I will first work to replace these information systems and bring our manufacturing plant and distribution chain into communication. However in doing this, I will keep in mind the fact-finding that I have done while attending this MIS seminar. I generate ideas by watching the Google videos on technology, reading cio.com for the latest in business technology, and communicating with the Villanova network. I will use these information sources, now and in the future, to generate goals for my own information system. For now, I will achieve better internal information systems by benchmarking against some of the most lean manufacturers, such as Toyota. Simultaneously, I will work to achieve an information system that enhances the experience to external users. I would like to create a website centered around personalization featuring push information, blogs, and feeds. In addition, CRM systems that boost sales force communication and organization will be goals as well as more effective customer order procedures. This will create customer value in our company as our external user’s experience becomes more streamlined. Overall, this MIS seminar will provide me the information about the capabilities of technology and from this I will be the one to transform my family business from its current state to a company that can take full advantage of the convergence of business, technology, and management.

"What's Driving Toyota?" Mel Duvall. Baseline: The Bottom Line in I.T. 6 Sept 2006. Vol 1 No 63. Lexis Nexis Academic Database.