Blog #5

          Information Technology has made several things in the workplace easier, more convenient for both consumers and employers. As Jonathan said in his blog, employees are being replaced by automated services resulting in less cost overall for employers.

          The older approaches which consisted of manually processing requests or transactions from customers at the time expense of the employee. Now, this is being replaced by automated systems that can process these requests on-demand to allow for faster, smoother transactions. Also, on the customer service end, businesses' customer service availability was dependent on the amount of representatives that were available to respond to customers' request. This meant that businesses' customer service could only be open during the main business hours (i.e. 9 A.M.-5 P.M.), unless the employers wanted to pay more to have night shift representatives. Now, requests may be processed on a company's website and could be responded to during the next business day. Thus, customer support is more convenient and allows every request to be answered.
          Another big change is that more work can be done in various places; such as on job-sites or at home. That said, more work can be done and job-site visits can be more productive. Overall speeding up procedures and lowering costs.
          I work in retail, and IT has made a vast improvement in day-to-day work, especially involving relationships with customers. Web links that give our customers an opportunity to give feedback on the overall service they received is a great example. We can take their feedback and apply it to future situations.


Source:

http://www.rogerclarke.com/SOS/ITImpacts.html#Wk

           

Blog #4

The implications of IT in the workplace and the economy are obvious. Everyone knows it is a necessary evil.  Although it does make the need of human labor decrease, it is still necessary to improve an organization's or team's operations. A quick example would be the way we are able to communicate and share our information and ideas of information technology without needing to be in the same place as one another at the same time, which works in everyone's favor. A larger example that caught my attention was the affect IT has on the Healthcare Industry. The Massachusetts Institution of Technology posted an article focusing on using electronic records in patient procedures.
It is historically proven that the US has a very poor track record dealing in the health care industry. Compared to the rest of the nation, the United States has "above average rates of medical errors and of infant mortality and below average life expectancies". At the very same time, we still have a large population of uninsured individuals and many people are trying to move toward electronic health records. These systems include reminders for specific patients and also guidance when treating patients. It can help with less costly online interactions between patients and clinics instead of the more costly face-to-face version. Also, physicians can communicate with order providers through an electronic system to make sure patients follow through with needed procedures like lab tests for example.

 

Information Technology in the workplace of healthcare professionals, specifically the Electronic Health Records, can be a great improvement. Adam Seth Litwin of MIT mentioned in his article that information technology could reduce medical errors, help improve the treatment of diseases (i.e. beta blockers), and early detection of diseases such as Type 2 diabetes. Also, the implementation of IT in healthcare helps physicians learn the best practices for medical conditions and also reach out to patients that would need these treatments. IT may hinder jobs but can be a great help in most industries, as was described for the industry of healthcare.

Sources: 

Letwin, Adam S., Information Technology and the Employment Relationship:An Examination of the Adoption and Use of Electronic Health Records, September 2008. Web 23 September, 2013.
http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/45152/315870120.pdf?...1

 2nd Annual HIMSS Mobile Technology Study sponsored by Qualcomm Life Dec 2012.
http://softwareconsortium.com/healthcare-distruption.html

Blog # 3

 

                The use of technology in the work place has revolutionized how we perform our jobs on a daily basis. Email, automation, video conferencing, etc. have all played an integral role in how work is accomplished in today’s society. Although these advances have made our jobs easier and often more enjoyable is it taking jobs away?  

                When you step back and take a glance it’s easy to realize that this is clearly the case. Unemployment levels have risen steadily for years opposed to the steady growth of employment in the 80’s and 90’s. Human jobs once occupied in fields like manufacturing and customer services are being replaced with robots and automated services. This trend doesn’t just apply to labor intensive jobs either. Technology advances have plagued the professional job market as well. Many of the tasks performed by top level executives have become increasingly automated leaving them at risk to the technology take over as well.

                With companies continuing to look for ways to cut costs and stay cutting edge the trend to look towards machines instead of people to complete the tasks is sure to continue. I have had firsthand experience with this having worked in the manufacturing field the last seven years. Our team once composed of forty employees has been trimmed down to fifteen after the implementation of three new robotic machines. How have advances in information technology changed your work environment? What kind of long term effects do you think this will have on the American Economy?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=WMF-Z74C1QE

Citation: McKendrick, J. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/does-information-technology-destroy-or-create-jobs-debate-heats-up/19683

               

Blog #2

IT Impact on Economy

     We have all read or heard in the recent years about the economic and unemployment woes. Information technology has helped with these issues; creating jobs and helping the economy grow wealthy.  According to a working study paper, many economic analyst claim that investments made towards IT helped accelerate productivity growth in the 1990s.  IT equipment, over the decade, has been invested into businesses making them more efficient than ever before.  As a result, businesses prosper so shouldn't employees as well?

     One of the key catalysts in making the economy wealthy is productivity, according to economist Erik Brynjolfsson.  Productivity growth is what defines a nation's wealth.   Productivity growth is simply taking the best inputs a business has to maximize the most output it can possibly have.  Information Technology has aided Productivity growth.  It has become an essential part for many organizations.  Although it is important it's not the sole purpose contributing to productivity growth.  Information Technology and the way organizations put IT to work is very important as well.  The people who create the information technology are innovators who design such software and/or hardware.  As well, businesses who use IT to aid in their productivity have to know how to successfully implement the heavily invested IT into their organizational activities.  IT and innovation go hand in hand to determine whether a business is successful or not.  New, fast, more capable IT equipment is invested into businesses making them more efficient than ever before.   Information technology has essentially changed the world and with it progressively changing businesses.  As a result, it has surely stimulated the economy.   Although not all employees benefit from this advancing technology era there's still vast opportunities in the IT industry.

Works Cited:

Brynjolfsson, Erik. "The Economic Impact of Information Technology." Cra.org. Computing Community Consortium, 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 31 Aug. 2013. <http://www.cra.org/ccc/component/content/article/312-the-economic-impact-of-information-technology>.

Bartel, Ann P., Casey Ichniowski, and Kathryn L. Shaw. "HOW DOES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REALLY AFFECT PRODUCTIVITY?" Nber.org. National Bureau of Economic Research, Nov. 2005. Web. 1 Sept. 2013. <http://www.nber.org/papers/w11773.pdf?new_window=1>.

Blog #1

A Positive Outlook on IT's Effect on Employment

               In America today we constantly hear technology's impact on employment as being negative.  People claim that technology is, "taking away our jobs" or "technology is taking the 'loyalty to employees' out of companies".  These comments are true in many cases.  However, some would say that technology is creating more jobs than it is taking away. They would also state that most companies are remaining loyal to their employees- at least the employees that still have a significance in the organization.

               According to a blog posted by The Washington Post, many of the latest innovations in technology will have a monetary value of more than $1 trillion by the year 2025.  These innovations include but are not limited to cloud computing, mobile internet, knowledge work systems, and many more branches in the field.  By analyzing this research, it reveals an estimated amount of $83.3 billion worth of technology being created each year for the next 12 years.  While the technology is being created companies must have a large amount of computer programmers, technicians, systems analysts, and other IT related specialist.  Therefore, technology is creating plenty of jobs each year.  The issue is that there is not enough people with the qualifications to work in the technology field which is where the majority of jobs are being created.  Most organizations in this country and all over the world are realizing that the future of business is technology.  The best advice is to become educated on different technologies and as many types as possible.  By getting an education in this field employees will have a job, significance in the company, and the company will remain loyal because the employee is needed.  Do the positive effects of technology out weigh the negative effects that it has on employment?

   

         

Works Cited

Erwin, Neal. These 12 technologies will drive our economic future. Wonkblog-The Washington Post. 24 May, 2013. Web 31 August, 2013. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/24/these-12-technologies-will-drive-our-economic-future/