Название: Essentials of MIS, Global Edition, 15th Edition
Автор: Kenneth C. Laudon, Jane P. Laudon, Carol Guercio Traver
Издательство: Pearson Education
Год: 2024
Страниц: 536
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 15.1 MB

Essentials of Management Information Systems (MIS) provides you with an in-depth look at how businesses today use IT and systems to achieve their goals. Current, real-world cases illustrate companies identifying and solving key business challenges using IS and technologies. The text's hands-on approach is designed to help you develop digital business skills and prepare you for a successful career in the MIS industry. The 15th Edition features several new cases across the book and integrates new examples of today's companies using IT applications. New and expanded topics include blockchain and sustainability, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on business uses of IS, and IS goals for Environmental, Social and Governance leadership (ESG).

Businesses require a wide variety of computing equipment, software, and communications capabilities simply to operate and solve basic business problems. Do your employees travel or do some work from home? You will want to equip them with laptop computers, tablets, or smartphones. If you are employed by a medium or large business, you will also need larger server computers, perhaps an entire data center or server farm with hundreds or even thousands of servers. A data center is a facility that houses computer systems and associated components such as telecommunications, storage, security systems, and backup power supplies. You will also need plenty of software. Each computer will require an operating system and a wide range of application software capable of dealing with spreadsheets, documents, and data files. Unless you are a single-person business, you will most likely want to have a network to link all the people in your business and perhaps your customers and suppliers. In fact, you will probably want several networks: a local area network connecting employees in your office and another providing remote access capabilities so that employees can share email and computer files while they are out of the office. You will also want all your employees to have access to landline phone systems, mobile phone networks, and the Internet. Finally, to make all this equipment and software work harmoniously, you will need the services of trained people to help you run and manage this technology.

Computer hardware consists of technology for computer processing, data storage, input, and output. This component includes large mainframes, servers, desktop and laptop computers, and mobile devices for accessing corporate data and the Internet. It also includes equipment for gathering and inputting data, physical media for storing the data, and devices for delivering the processed information as output.

Computer software includes both system software and application software. System software manages the resources and activities of the computer. Application software directs the computer to complete a specific task, such as processing an order or generating a mailing list, for an end user. Today, most system and application software is no longer custom programmed but rather is purchased from outside vendors. We describe these types of software in detail in Section 5-3.

In addition to physical media for storing the firm’s data, businesses need specialized software to organize the data and make them available to business users. Data management software organizes, manages, and processes business data concerned with inventory, customers, and vendors. Chapter 6 describes data management software in detail.

Telecommunications and networking technology provides data, voice, and video connectivity to employees, customers, and suppliers. It includes technology for running a company’s internal networks, telecommunications/telephone services, and technology for running websites and linking to other computer systems through the Internet. Chapter 7 provides an in-depth description of these technologies.