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40 TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS RESEARCH

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After completing Chapter 3 you should be able to:
1. Explain the advantages of technology for business communication.
2. Be conversant with some of the uses of PC software.
3. Have an idea of what Information Systems can do for business.
4. Know about Internet, Intranet, browsers, and web sites.
5. Understand the usefulness and hazards of e-mail in business
communication.
6. Have some knowledge of data warehousing and data mining.
7. Recognize the potential misuse of technology and know how to guard
against it.

The centrality of technology in all aspects of business cannot be overstated.
Technology, as used in this chapter, refers to all hardware, software, and other
communication aids that achieve the desired business results. For instance, if we
have to send out a professional business letter, word processing software would
be the technology employed for the purpose; if we want to advertise our prod-
ucts, web technology would be an effective means; and if we need to find pub-
lished material on any topic of interest, recourse to the Internet would ferret out
the desired data.
Comparison of the following headline items in 1998 and 2001 mirrors the
advances in technology and pinpoints the repercussions in their wake.

Headlines published in 1998

An electronics firm will save big money by replacing six people with one
and lose all this paperwork (referring to a mound of papers depicted on
the side) using Enterprise Resource Planning software.
Fortune, February 2, 1998, p. 149

Business Secrets of the Billion-Dollar Website—Yes, the Web is already big
in business. This website may be the future of retailing.
Fortune, February 2, 1998, p. 142

The arrival of e-business is rewriting the very fundamentals of business:
redefining relationships with customers and suppliers, creating new busi-
ness models, even redrawing the boundaries between industries.
Business Week, March 23, 1998, p. 80