The IS and the other Company Systems
Information Systems in Companies: Types, Functions and Examples
The functions of an Information System for Companies
What are the information systems of a company?
Information Systems and their importance for the Company
The digital transformation has brought with it a great series of challenges for companies. And the current situation has accelerated digitization, since many businesses, both large and small, had to make drastic changes in their organizations to continue functioning optimally.
Some of those changes included everything from adapting systems to work remotely, to making strategic decisions in record time to know what the right next steps would be.
The business world has a new perspective and is oriented towards technological evolution.
For this reason, it is important that, as a company expecting to continue growing, you know what tools and solutions are on the market to help you.
Among the great innovations that exist, there are technologies that can support you in taking advantage of the data generated by your business and in the automation of complex tasks, in order to increase the productivity of all your areas and workers, as well as seek better opportunities for sales.
We refer, then, to information systems.
An information system is a set of data linked to each other to obtain business objectives. It helps in the management and administration of the data and information that make up a company and gives it a correct and optimal use for the improvement of processes and internal operations.
It is important to note that an information system is managed as software that a company must install and implement internally.
In it, all processes and operations will be added so that collaborators and decision makers have a comprehensive overview of what is happening in real time, and can thus improve their strategies, productivity and sales.
Information software does not have a single objective in common, as there are different types of solutions that you can adapt to the current needs of your business and the goals you want to reach.
They have the great advantage of being flexible and personalized so that they respond to your way of working, in a more strategic and effective way.
As is known, computer technology has arrived to facilitate data management in companies. But this is not the only quality that an information system has.
Therefore, let's delve into its most important functions:
- Manage and administer data and information that make up a company.
- Automate internal processes without the need for intermediaries to execute certain operations.
- Unify your company's information through standardized stores to facilitate the use and understanding of the data generated.
- Provide updated information in real time available to all collaborators or to those in charge of decision making. This allows speeding up and improving processes and activities quickly.
- Favor a better use of the time that your employees have for certain activities.
Types of Information Systems:
- Transaction processing systems.
- Management information systems.
- Business process control systems.
- Marketing information systems.
- Business collaboration systems.
- Decision support system.
- Executive information systems.
General or specialized purpose systems: convert raw data into useful information for decision making.
An Information System (IS) is a set of interrelated components that work together to collect, process, store and disseminate information to support decision making. In addition, they support the coordination, control, analysis and visualization of an organization.
Most of the modern companies depend, to a great extent, on the systems for the management of their operations and the decision making; from email, to database and website administration.
Information begins as a stream of raw data, representing events that occur in organizations or in the physical environment before it has been organized into a form that people can understand and use.
They are the raw material for processing and refer to facts, events and transactions. Therefore, the purpose of IS is to convert raw resources into useful information that can be used to make decisions in an organization.
Although Information Systems may differ in the way they are used within an organization, they all have the following components:
- Hardware: systems use local hardware such as a computer or Cloud services for their execution.
- Software: these are the programs used for administration, processing and analysis.
- Databases: systems work with resources organized in tables and files.
- Network: Different resources must be connected to each other, especially if many different people in an organization use the same system.
- Procedures: describe how specific data and resources are processed and analyzed to obtain the answers for which the system is designed (“business logic”).
Types of information systems
A database management system (DBMS) is a combination of software that enables data management and analysis. There are some general types of information systems.
An electronic spreadsheet is a tool for basic analysis, it is based on formulas that define relationships between resources. It can be used to calculate averages for a set of values or to plot the trend of a value over time.
Decision support systems (DSS) are computer software applications used by middle and upper management to gather information from a wide range of sources and processes to support problem solving and decision making.
A DSS is mainly used for semi-structured and unstructured decision problems.
Executive Systems (EIS) is a reporting tool that provides quick access to summary reports and processes, coming from all levels and departments of the company such as accounting, human resources and operations.
There are more specialized systems, designed specifically to manage marketing aspects, accounting systems, and human resource management systems to name a few.
Los Sistemas de Información (SI) y las Tecnologías de Información (TI) han cambiado la forma en que operan las organizaciones actuales.
A través de su uso se logran importantes mejoras, pues automatizan los procesos operativos, suministran una plataforma de información necesaria para la toma de decisiones y, lo más importante, su implantación logra ventajas competitivas o reducir la ventaja de los rivales.
Information Technologies have been conceptualized as the integration and convergence of computing, telecommunications and the technique for data processing, where its main components are: the human factor, information content, equipment, infrastructure, software and information exchange mechanisms, policy elements and regulations, as well as financial resources.
Information as a resource of organizations.
For some years now, organizations have recognized the importance of managing the main resources such as labor and raw materials.
The information has been placed in a good place as one of the main resources that companies currently have. Decision makers have begun to understand that information is not just a by-product of running a business, but that it also fuels businesses and can be one of many critical factors in determining success. or their failure.