Impact of Developments in Computing on an Organisation

Current developments in computing.

There have been a lot of improvements in computing that could possibly help businesses, here are a few of the notable ones:

1. 5G: 5G is the successor to 4G and is promising speeds of up to 7.5 Gbps according to Samsung's latest tests. This will allow people to surf the internet faster than some broadband providers allow in homes, thus increasing the capacity for mobile computing and streaming across platforms.

2. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Virtual reality was considered a joke back in the 1990 and the early 2000's, what with Nintendo's joke of a "VR" console in the Virtual Boy that caused more headaches than great gaming experiences but now the VR business is booming with HTC and PlayStation getting in on the action, creating their own unique VR headsets. Not only has Virtual Reality taken off but so has Augmented Reality with stuff such as Pokemon GO. VR and AR have helped mobile computing and are poised to help businesses in the future since it may reach such a high point that employees could work from home using a virtual desk instead of having to travel to work. AR could also help with GPS and map data, allowing users to visualise those things and making the process of travelling much smoother.

3. Cyber Physical Systems (CPS): CPS are smart systems that have both hardware and software deeply embedded in and are interacting with physical components within the real world. This is a great opportunity for medical, aviation, construction or security businesses since they could massively increase their efficiency using this new technology once it is at an affordable price.

4. Capability-based security: The greatest problem of any company is security. Capability-based security will provide a finer grain protection against hackers.

As well as these 4 developing topics in computing, there has been a shift in the focus of development. Desktop computing is taking a backseat to Mobile computing currently. With 5G on the rise and the hardware of Mobile computing devices progressing faster than desktop computing. For example the Nintendo Switch is a portable console that is able to play full fledged console games such as Skyrim while on the move, showing just how far mobile computing has come in the last few years.

How some developments can improve a business.

Specific developments, such as Data Science, can push a business slightly above its competitors. For example, Data Science is an upcoming development in computing that allows a user to "mine" for data that could allow them to predict trends, connections, patterns and more which would allow businesses to better control the market they are selling to, therefore overall making them more money as a result. Data Science is just one of multiple new developments coming through that could change how businesses compete.

Also to mention is hardware, hardware is constantly developing over time and businesses tend to find it hard to adapt and accept the new and better hardware. Even the US Department of Defense use outdated technology like floppy disks instead of CD-Rom's. This is a trend that can be found in most businesses that rely or use computing in some way, hardware is slow and outdated and affects the efficiency of  employees since the software that is needed to run on them may not run as smoothly as possible. In order for a business to become more efficient and run better, more sophisticated software they should invest in better hardware for there employees to use.

How technology developments have created new opportunities, or may do so in the future.

Different markets have seen big changes since the fast development of computing. 

Technological improvements have made winners and losers in terms of market shares.

Some markets such as the self service or kiosk market have flourished in the wake of new technology since they have only got better and more available with the new innovations in computing. Most of the development has affected non-traditional businesses whereas traditional businesses have struggled. Advancements in technology has boomed in the recent years (as shown below).

Another market that has seen a rise in need is cyber security since advancements in technology has seen more and more businesses use computers and therefore be more susceptible to cyber attacks, this has called for more and more cyber security companies to rise up and quickly become a large, profitable market.
 
This boom has not only seen a positive effect in the market trends of once obscure industries (such as Apple or Cyber Security), but has also seen the rise of new markets such as smart phones which is now a huge market but didn't have a place before 2007-2008.

How computing developments have caused growth, and decline, in the market.

Computers and computing developments have caused an increase in some areas of the market and decline in others. An example of a business that has flourished is online shopping and marketing, specifically Amazon. Amazon has used new innovative technology to gain an edge over competition and they continue to adapt to the climate of the market with releases such as the Amazon Echo to directly compete with one of the biggest technological giants Google.
Speaking of Google, the biggest search engine and a company worth over £50 billion was founded in 1996. In only 20 years it has become one of the biggest companies, a household name and an innovator that pushes new technology to the forefront of the media. For example the self driving cars that were thought to be a far distant dream has become a reality. 
In other areas of the market however, improvements in computing technology has seen a decline in areas such as traditional retail. With companies such as Amazon making it easy for a consumer to find and buy items from home means that slowly traditional retail is becoming obsolete. With the exception of food items, most items that can be bought in a regular retail store (clothes, games, computer parts, etc) can be bought easier and usually cheaper on online sites such as Amazon or eBay. 
This doesn't only effect the retail industry but also industries such as music, which has seen a decline in CD and record sales but an increase in subscriptions and online downloads from music sites.
 As shown by the graph, retail stores have been in a decline since 1961, likely due to the increase in online stores. 

 

How IT development can help with cost reductions, improved customer service etc.

IT can be useful to companies in many different ways, whether it be allowing them to reach a larger audience when marketing or interacting with computers. Cost reductions can be made in a variety of different ways using new technology such as a fast food restaurant investing in self service kiosks that will cut costs since not as many employees will have to be employed and therefore will be removed from the payroll. It could also allow business to analyse what customers want a lot easier than using regular methods such as questionnaires and focus groups. Instead analysing data allows businesses to acquire information about their customers without having to reach out to them, which can lead to a wider range of results. 

However cost saving is just one way in which developments in IT can help businesses. For example business can use new developments in IT and social media to improve their customer service. Many notable companies such as Starbucks and Wendy's use Twitter and Facebook to promote and respond to customers about their experiences.

 

The platform that social media gives to companies applies to all businesses, small to large, retail to service providers. And with computers being so easy and affordable almost every business can setup a social media with little to no experience / budget.

Emerging technologies.

The "internet of things" is the interconnection of everyday items (such as microwaves and kettles) via the internet which enables them to send and receive data. Basically it is the process of integrating computers more into everyday life. 

Ubiquitous Computing is a concept in software engineering where computers are made to appear anytime and everywhere. It may seem like a futuristic ideal from a 90's sci-fi movie but it is currently being looked at as a project for the near future. It has lots of potential, namely allowing more people to access computing than ever before which will allow people to communicate with each other easier than before. It could help a variety of places from military to smart homes, it could even create entire new markets and ideas. This connects to the internet of things since it could allow computers to connect to everyday items / objects.

Automation is also a technology in development and also in use in many different ways, such as producing items in an assembly line to domestic automation like roombas. Automation is a varied subject spread out among a list of different sectors, such as:

• Hydraulic Automation
• Pneumatic Automation
• Electrical Automation
• Computing Automation

Even though machine automation such as hydraulic and electrical have been accepted and used since 1947 by Ford, computer automation has not been as widely used since a few years ago with new innovations such as the roomba and smart lighting. Automation has bought light to new creations such as self watering plant life and self driving cars that are but years away, even though they were thought to be improbable just a few years prior.

Automated teller machines (ATM) were one of the first examples of a automated computer system that takes information the user inputs and performs a process based on that information. It is very similar to online transactions.

Automation is a key part to the Internet of things becoming a reality since integration would also imply automation of computer and machinery.

The increasing integration of computer systems into our everyday life is another main part of the internet of things. Integration is already a huge part of our lives, with Google and Amazon releasing home controller AI (Alexa) that is connected to almost every piece of equipment that is computerized. They can play music from a computer / MP3 player remotely, control smart lighting, control security cameras and other security measures. However, the internet of things refers to a wider integration, where almost everything is connected to one another via computing. 

Virtual Reality development.

Virtual Reality (or VR) is a technology that, at least in concept, has been around for about 30 years. In 1985 a primitive form of VR was developed by a company named Reflection Technology. They then sold this technology to Nintendo who used it to make the wildly unsuccessful and criticised "Virtual Boy". The Virtual Boy was not a good start for VR, it caused headaches, was expensive and had no real quality in terms of games and how the system performed overall. After the failure of the Virtual Boy, VR was presumed dead until it was recently revived in many forms. The Oculus Rift was the first mainstream VR device that was critically and commercially successful, it was crowdfunded with an original goal of $250,000 and ended up reaching $2,437,429 with 9522 people backing the project. It was purchased for $2 billion by Facebook in March of 2014, establishing the idea and the technology as mainstream. In 2016 it was eventually realised and has seen many games being made for it and a number of sales. The main feature holding the product back is the price for entry, not only is a good computer necessary but an added $549 is needed to buy the actual Oculus Rift. This is a running theme with early VR equipment.

On the surface, VR seems to be a tool to be used for purely recreational and leisure purposes such as videos and games, however a few people have begun to explore the idea of VR helping in the business world. Instead of people having to commute to work or call in sick for the day since they are feeling unwell, they could use a mixture of VR and realistic cameras to recreate the office they work in and allow them to work with co-workers online instead of in person.

The uses and functions of big data systems.

Big data is a term used to describe data sets that are so large or complex that traditional data processing application software is not equipped to deal with them. The volume of data is obviously quite large since this is the main challenge affecting big data, in that traditional data processing applications cannot handle the volume of data. 

Volume - Data is collected from a huge variety of sources, resulting in a large amount of data being stored which would have been a problem in the past. New technologies have erased this problem.

Velocity - Data streams in extremely quickly and needs to be dealt with in a timely manner. 

Variety - Data comes in all different types of formats; PNG, JPEG, DOC, PDF, EXE etc. 

Above is what is known as "The 3V's of big data".

Storage of big data can seem a challenging task, since the hardware it requires is very expensive and may be difficult for some organisations to set up. Cloud computing is a somewhat simple solution to this conundrum since it allows for offsite, large storage of data for a relatively small monthly fee that ranges depending on supplier and amount of storage needed. Cloud computing does come with risks such as a higher threat to security and risk of not being always able to access your data, but it does solve the problem of companies not being able to afford offsite large data warehouses.

Big data on its own doesn't appear to be helpful to organisations, other than storage space. It is mainly useful when it comes to "big data analytics" this involves taking data from any source and analyzing it to find answers to questions that could range from "How do I reduce costs?" to "What was the cause of my latest business failure?". 

The analysis of big data is a form of advanced analytics, which involves statistical algorithms, what-if analysis and complex applications. In turn, this means that big data analysis needs to be powered by high performance, expensive and dedicated computer systems.

One of the biggest challenges that businesses face when deciding to analyse big data is the ever changing data. For example more and more large binary objects are appearing within large data sets that are primed to be analysed, however these large binary objects require a different approach to be able to identify and analyse the data it holds. 


Although some companies such as IBM have run majorly expensive projects with big data (such as a supercomputer with 15 terabytes of RAM) big data isn't always expensive, using cloud computing as earlier discussed could reduce the costs and some big data could be run off of more common IT equipment.

Overall big data can help organisations answer a variety of questions that businesses may have about a variety of topics.

Uses and functions of data warehouses.

Data warehouses are systems used for reporting and data analysis. Data warehouses are central repositories of data from one or more sources. They can store current and historical data in a single place as well as different data types.

Data that is stored in data warehouses is first transferred from the operational systems of a business (aka marketing / sales) into the data warehouse.

Queries can be used as a sort of filter for data warehouses. They allow the user to define what conditions data has to have to be retrieved from the data warehouse. When using queries you can retrieve data based on last name, age, city, whether the data is less than, equal to or greater than and in priority / order.

An Ad-Hoc query is a query that cannot be determined prior to the moment the query is issued. It is created to get information when need arises. 

Data warehouses allow for integrate data from multiple sources into a single database and data model. It also allows companies to maintain a data history, even if the main system doesn't such as sales.

Data warehouses consistently present the organisations information and they also restructure the data so it can be made sense of.

Uses and functions of data mining.

Data mining is the extraction of hidden predictive information from large databases. It is used in a variety of ways from a single person using it on a games files to find out hidden information to a large organisation who use it to focus on the most important data to them within a data warehouse. Data mining can be used to predict future trends and behaviors of a market which in turn allow businesses to make pro-active, knowledge based decisions. 

Data mining techniques can be implemented rapidly on existing software and hardware platforms.

Since most companies already collect and refine massive quantities of data it means that data mining is easy to implement into their systems. 

This process of data mining is accomplished by building models. Models use a mathematical algorithm to determine the data it is mining. 

Automatic discovery of patterns and predictions of outcomes make data mining a very useful tool for businesses to use in a variety of ways. 

Above shows how the data mining process works.

Threats and security risks to a computer system.

There are many risks to a computer system, from botnets to phishing.
Some aspects of computing are more susceptible to threats, for example cloud computing is at a higher risk of a security breach than basic computing hardware because cloud computing is all online and only requires a few passwords to access the data, which things like phishing or key loggers could be used to extract the passwords.

Being reliant on computers for every aspect of everyday life is a danger since they are not always reliable and you run the risk of a hardware or software problem that could ruin an entire system, for example most hospital systems run off of computer software so if that were to fail it would put a lot of people at risk. 

Cyber attacks, such as DDOS (denial of service attack) and botnets can render computers useless and other forms of cyber attacks such as viruses and back doors can steal sensitive information from computer systems such as credit card or medical documents.
Some more details on cyber attacks:

• Malware: short for "malicious software" is a broad term for a variety of intrusive or dangerous software, some malware can even be hidden in sophisticated programs such as the Sony Rootkit, a Trojan horse like virus that was embedded into CD's sold by Sony that is intrusive by nature . The best way of protecting yourself against malware is to have an antivirus and firewall on your computing device since these detect and quarantine malware while also helping the computing device recover from attacks.
• Denial of Service Attacks: a denial of service attack is the process of making ones computer / network unavailable by temporarily disrupting the service. This is usually done by flooding the network with packets of useless data that overload the system causing it to slow down or crash. A number of programs can be used to defend against ddos attacks, some of which detect the attacks and others which re-direct useless / unwelcome traffic.
• Phishing: Phishing involves an attempt to steal sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, bank details and sometimes medical information by pretending to be a organisation such as a bank, building society or insurance company. Phishing attacks usually target employees of large companies so in order to prevent this training should be put in place so employees don't fool for the tricks used in Phishing.

Defence systems must be put in place since their is a lot of incentive for criminals and hackers to steal sensitive data from large companies, especially if these companies have competition since criminals could then sell that data to the companies competition which will give them an advantage. Data can be used in other profitable ways such as fraud and blackmail. It's not only data that hackers and criminals can use to earn money but also taking down a website could earn them money, for example a company / individual may pay a hacker to send a DDoS attack to a specific company. 

Mission Critical Systems.

Mission critical system refers to a system that is essential to the survival of a business. This means that when a critical system fails the business operations are majorly impacted or completely stopped because of the failure. 

Critical systems can be separated into 4 different categories:

• Mission Critical
• Business Critical
• Safety Critical
• Security Critical

For example, a safety critical system would be the backup / control system of a chemical manufacturing plant.

As IT systems progress in complexity and efficiency so do all of the critical systems stated above, for example a flight control panel used to be nothing more than a very basic radar system and a radio that allowed the person up in the control tower to communicate with the pilot / crew of an aeroplane. This meant that control crew and pilots relied less on info given to them during the flight and used more traditional, possibly flawed but somewhat reliable technology. 

Nowadays pilots and control teams alike tend to rely on newer technology such as satellite images and GPS allowing control teams to know where planes are without having to contact the pilot. While this is much more efficient and easy to use for both teams involved, as shown in December of 2014, it can lead to disaster when the fairly new technology malfunctions. Dozens of flights were cancelled and delayed due to a controller software / data malfunction that stopped the control tower staff from accessing the data they needed to see individual flight plans. This led to chaos and since a security risk had happened, flights had to be cancelled and delayed. 

This is a clear example of how newer technology can negatively impact businesses, if only for a short time. 

Another way newer technologies have become more complex is within the military. Targeting systems and better mapping / GPS has allowed militarised aircraft and vehicles to efficiently move across previously unknown terrain where before a local person would be needed to help unfamiliar soldiers learn the layout of the land. Targeting systems make combat much more predictable, training easier and even open up job opportunities in different fields such as engineering. However while it has major advantages a lot of vehicles have become reliant on it due to it being more efficient, therefore making their greatest weakness an EMP (Electromagnetic pulse) which can render aircraft and land vehicles weaponless or even completely useless.