Bourgeois. Information Systems For Business And Beyond

Information Systems for Business and Beyond David T. Bourgeois, Ph.D. Information Systems for Business and Beyond © 2014 David T. Bourgeois, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license made possible by funding from The Saylor Foundation's Open Textbook Challenge in order to be incorporated into Saylor.org's collection of open courses available at http://www.saylor.org. Full license terms may be viewed at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus206 Attributed to: David T. Bourgeois, Ph.D. saylor.org Contents Introduction 1 Part 1: What Is an Information System? Chapter 1: What Is an Information System? 5 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 2: Hardware 14 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 3: Software 26 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 4: Data and Databases 39 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 5: Networking and Communication 52 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 6: Information Systems Security 64 David T. Bourgeois Part 2: Information Systems for Strategic Advantage Chapter 7: Does IT Matter? 76 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 8: Business Processes 85 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 9: The People in Information Systems 94 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 10: Information Systems Development 104 David T. Bourgeois Part 3: Information Systems Beyond the Organization Chapter 11: Globalization and the Digital Divide 120 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 12: The Ethical and Legal Implications of Information Systems 129 David T. Bourgeois Chapter 13: Future Trends in Information Systems David T. Bourgeois 144 Answers to Study Questions Bibliography 150 162 Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/courses/bus206 Attributed to: David T. Bourgeois, Ph.D. iv saylor.org Introduction Welcome to Information Systems for Business and Beyond. In this book, you will be introduced to the concept of information systems, their use in business, and the larger impact they are having on our world. Audience This book is written as an introductory text, meant for those with little or no experience with computers or information systems. While sometimes the descriptions can get a little bit technical, every effort has been made to convey the information essential to understanding a topic while not getting bogged down in detailed terminology or esoteric discussions. Chapter Outline The text is organized around thirteen chapters divided into three major parts, as follows: • Part 1: What Is an Information System? Chapter 1: What Is an Information System? – This chapter provides an overview of information systems, including the history of how we got where we are today. Chapter 2: Hardware – We discuss information systems hardware