competitive advantages of IT

In the next post for this blogs which is not a blog (because of several require.. reasons). I must discuss the competitive advantages of IT, Information Technology.

The way I see it is, that information technology improves the efficiency and effectiveness of information distribution, gathering and analysis using technology, specifically; computers and software.

Wiki however describes information technology as:
Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."^[1] IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology

It appears to deal with the databases we Business Administration students learned about in Database for Management. The main point of Information technology then is simply to make it that much easier to process large amounts of information. From a business point of view it may have several applications. In production it could automate several tasks and processes making it that much less time consuming. When researching a potential market it could organize and store. In terms of management it can easily provide information from you the manager to whoever you are managing and vice-versa.

Information technology like much technology is also under development and is still in its early stages. It will most likely be redefined in the years to come as more technology is invented or current technology is improved.

In the banking and finance industry, information technology makes it that much easier to keep track of all the accounts that a banker or finance worker must manage. It also makes it easier to edit the information that will constantly be in flux, as the money handled by the bankers and finance people will always be reduced, increased, etc. Money is always in motion.

As for competitive advantages, it is like a machine. With information technology a business or company's processes are that much more efficient. If the business or company in question was a machine, an engine perhaps, then information technology is the oil that makes it function that more smoothly. Depending on the type of business, information technology may play a different role or use. For example, a restaurant may use information technology to keep track of it's inventory making it that much more efficient at restocking or clearing out it's inventory as necessary. The advantage there is that your restaurant may become better known for it's quality of goods giving you an edge over your competitors.

Personally, I think the advantages are short lived at best. In this day and age where such information is readily available more and more due to globalization and the internet. Your competitors assuming they are not extremely ignorant will also acquire and upgrade their information technology until they gain the upper hand. Which in turn, will cause you to upgrade to maintain your lead. So, I believe realistically any advantage that you acquire is only temporary unless you can acquire information technology that is unavailable to your competitors which does not happen too often. So I think, more often than not rather than a competitive advantage, it is a requirement to keep up with the competition.

In Banking and Finance, Information Technology is paramount to your competition. If you could establish reputation of great efficiency especially with dealing with your customers, the better your bank or finance industry will flourish. With up to date and updated information technology, tellers and finance workers can more efficiently (i.e. quickly) recover and update information essential to their job. They can also relay information to each other and other co-workers that much more quickly and efficiently. Information Technology will also provide better security to their databases, which may prove to be a competitive advantage. A Bank or Finance firm known for it's security could easily secure the very rich and upper class market.

You could say that with information technology you will be most ready to adapt to changes in the business world. You would be able to process information that much quicker and be ready to adapt and gain an advantage over your slower competitors.

That said information technology is not a competitive advantage in itself but rather a tool to gain an advantage. Like any tool it all in how you use it. The more creative and effective you are at using information technology, the more advantages you can gain and maximize. Like I have said earlier information technology like most if not all technology is like a ticking clock, constantly moving forward and forward. We would be fools to not be on top of it and make the most of it.

To end I share this quote from the fictional Dawn of War Universe: "Knowledge is Power, Guard it well" - Blood Ravens Proverb

1st post

My welcoming blog post doesn't count, this is the 1st blog required of me in my datamin class and it has to be about me so here it goes;

I'm Paolo Augusto Martinez Barcelon, Paolo because that was the christian name given to me at birth, named after Peter and Paul as far as I know. Augusto because that is the first name of my late gradfather Augusto "Barcy" Barcelon with who I also share my nickname, more on that later. Martinez is my mother's maiden name, her former surname before she got married. And lastly Barcelon, my dad's surname since the father's surname is the only one carried over.

My nickname is currently Barcy, Ive had several nicknames but Barcy seems to have stuck. Ive also been called Pao, Pablo, Barce (Bar-ss) among other names. My grandfather was called Barcy, he was pretty famous from what I've heard, I didn't know him very well. He was called one of the magnificent 7 businessmen which sadly I heard t his funeral, I regret only getting to know him and only learning more about him at his funeral.

I'm 22 years old which is older than most students at DLSU-C, because I had a longer gradeschool and highschool than the local students. Not that I'm foreign, but in some ways, I may as well be. I studied in Southridge till grade 7 which was the last before highschool, I'm still awaiting the yearbook. For high school I moved to Brent Mamplasan, which for me is the best school Ive ever been in, I dont say studied because I'm not really known for being "studious". However when I moved to Brent I was deemed to be too young to go to high school at the time and ended up in grade 8 which is another year of middle school as they called it. After graduating I also took a year off of school and took up a course in cooking and an etiquette school at John Robert Powers.

When I finally entered DLSU-C, I had no idea what I wanted to take up (I still don't). I chose Business Management, Engineering , and Communication. Business because from what Ive heard from my father, who has an engineering masters degree, the business tools he learned were more useful than the engineering ones. I choose engineering because that is what my father took up and communication because I imagined that I would be very good at english related subjects because I took up IB high level Literature while in Brent and did well.

lastly, here's our teacher who required this typing; http://monlearning.blogspot.com/
and my current place of suffer.. err studying ; http://www.canlubang.dlsu.edu.ph/