1.1) 1. Operational Excellence
Businesses continuously seek to improve the efficiency of their operations in order to achieve higher profitability. Information systems and technologies are some of the most important tools available to managers for achieving higher levels of efficiency and productivity in business operations, especially when coupled with changes in business practices and management behavior.
EX: UPS (United Parcel Service)
MOTOROLA (achieve Six Sigma)
Wal-Mart
2. New Products, Services, and Business Models.
Information systems and technologies are a major enabling tool for firms to create new products and services, as well as entirely new business models.
A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth. As successful as Apple Inc, NetFlix, and Wal-Mart were in their traditional brick-and-mortar existence, they have all introduced new products, services, and business models that have made them both competitive and profitable.
EX: Apple INC. (Especially iPad)
NetFlix
Wal-Mart
3. Customer and Supplier Intimacy
When a business really knows its customers, and serves them well, the way they want to be served, the customers generally respond by returning and purchasing more. This raises revenues and profits. Likewise with suppliers:
the more a business engages its suppliers, the better the suppliers can provide vital inputs. Wal-Mart is an excellent example of how the use of information systems and technologies are extensively used to better serve their suppliers and retail customers.
EX: Wal-Mart (RealLink System)
Hotel Ritz-Carlton (CLASS System)
CLASS: Customer Loyalty Anticipation Satisfaction System.
4.Improved Decision Making
Information systems and technologies have made it possible for managers to use real-time data from the marketplace when making decisions.
EX: DSS (Decision Support System)
For: Structured, Unstructured or/and Semi-Structured Problems
5. Competitive Advantage
Doing things better than your competitors, charging less for superior products, and responding to customers and suppliers in real time all add up to higher sales and higher profits that your competitors cannot match.
EX: Wal-Mart (Created Largest Retail Chain)
UPS (Created Largest Network)
6. Survival
Firms also invest in information systems and technologies because they are necessities of doing business. Information system is not a luxury. In most businesses, information systems and technology is the core to survival. Citibank was the first banking firm to introduce ATMs.
EX: Citi Bank (First Banking firm Introduce ATMs)

2)DSS are interactive computer-based systems and subsystems intended to help decision-makers.
Characteristitic:
a.Facilitation. DSS facilitate and support specific decision-making activities and/or decision processes.
b.Interaction. DSS are computer-based systems designed for interactive use by decision makers or staff users who control the sequence of interaction and the operations performed.
c.Ancillary. DSS can support decision makers at any level in an organization. They are NOT intended to replace decision makers.
d.Repeated Use. DSS are intended for repeated use. A specific DSS may be used routinely or used as needed for ad hoc decision support tasks.
e.Task-oriented. DSS provide specific capabilities that support one or more tasks related to decision-making, including: intelligence and data analysis; identification and design of alternatives; choice among alternatives; and decision implementation.
f.Identifiable. DSS may be independent systems that collect or replicate data from other information systems OR subsystems of a larger, more integrated information system.
g.Decision Impact. DSS are intended to improve the accuracy, timeliness, quality and overall effectiveness of a specific decision or a set of related decisions.

3)five primary the chain model are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service.

4)a.Identify and describe clearly the facts. Find out who did what to whom, and where, when, and how. In many instances, you will be surprised at the errors in the initially reported facts, and often you will find that simply getting the facts straight helps define the solution. It also helps to get the opposing parties involved in an ethical dilemma to agree on the facts. b.define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved. Ethical, social, and political issues always reference higher values. The parties to a dispute all claim to be pursuing higher values (e.g., freedom, privacy, protection of property, and the free enterprise system). Typically, an ethical issue involves a dilemma: two diametrically opposed courses of action that support worthwhile values. For example, the chapter-ending case study illustrates two competing values: the need to improve health care record keeping and the need to protect individual privacy.
c.Identify the stakeholders. Every ethical, social, and political issue has stakeholders: players in the game who have an interest in the outcome, who have invested in the situation, and usually who have vocal opinions. Find out the identity of these groups and what they want. This will be useful later when designing a solution.
d.identify the options that you can reasonably take. You may find that none of the options satisfy all the interests involved, but that some options do a better job than others. Sometimes arriving at a good or ethical solution may not always be a balancing of consequences to stakeholders.
e.identify the potential consequences of your options.

5)Storage Area Network is a high-speed network of storage devices that also connects those storage devices with servers.

6)Database management system (DBMS) is system software for creating and managing databases. The DBMS provides users and programmers with a systematic way to create, retrieve, update and manage data.
how it solve the problem of traditional file environment :
1. Control redundancy
2. Eliminates inconsistency
3. Uncouples program data
4. Enables organization to central manage data & data security.

7)Network convergence is the efficient coexistence of telephone, video and data communication within a single network. The use of multiple communication modes in a single network offers convenience and flexibility not possible with separate infrastructures. Network convergence is also called media convergence.

8)Customer relationship management (CRM) systems integrate and automate customer-facing processes in sales, marketing, and custiomer service, providing an enterprise- wide view of customers. Companies can use this customer knowledge when they interact with customers to provide them with better service or to sell new products and services. These systems also identify profitable or nonprofitable customers or opportunities to reduce the churn rate.
The major customer relationship management software packages provide capabilities for both operational CRM and analytical CRM. They often include modules for managing relationships with selling partners (partner relationship management) and for employee relationship management.

2.a)Information System Organization is Successful organizations large and small leverage available technologies to manage business activities and assist in making decisions. They use information systems to collect data and process it according to the needs of the analyst, manager or business owner. Businesses operate more efficiently by using varied information systems to interact with customers and partners, curtail costs and generate revenues.

b)Sarbanes Oaxley Act is legislation passed by the U.S. Congress to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices in the enterprise, as well as improve the accuracy of corporate disclosures. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administers the act, which sets deadlines for compliance and publishes rules on requirements.

c)Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High-level KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the enterprise, while low-level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing or a call center.

d)Business Continuity Planning is document that contains the critical information a business needs to stay running in spite of adverse events. A business continuity plan is also called an emergency plan.