XYZ Company has decided to upgrade its information management systems to increase security and improve decision-making capabilities based on quantitative data gathered within these systems.
As one of the information technology managers, you have been asked to conduct research on the following in terms of this upgrade for the organization:
• Identify how the company can use the internet, intranet, and extranet.
• Examine how the company's business intelligence systems can be used more effectively to analyze key performance indicators and overall performance, including:
Sample Answer
Leveraging the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet
1. The Internet
The internet serves as the company's primary public face and a vital tool for external operations. For XYZ Company, using the internet effectively means optimizing customer-facing interactions and gathering external data.
Purpose: The internet is used for e-commerce, digital marketing, customer service through online portals, and gathering market intelligence on competitors and industry trends.
Security: To protect against external threats, the company must invest in robust firewalls, Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS), and secure Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for remote access. All public-facing web applications must undergo regular security audits to prevent vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
. Overall Performance Analysis
Beyond individual department KPIs, BI systems can provide a comprehensive view of overall company performance.
Balanced Scorecard: BI can create a digital balanced scorecard that aggregates key metrics from finance, operations, customer satisfaction, and employee performance. This gives senior leadership a high-level, real-time snapshot of the company's health.
Predictive Analytics: An advanced BI system can go beyond historical data and use predictive models to forecast future trends. For example, it can predict future sales based on seasonal trends and marketing plans, or forecast potential supply chain disruptions based on historical data. This allows management to make proactive, not just reactive, decisions.
Data-Driven Culture: The most effective use of BI is to foster a company-wide, data-driven culture. By making data dashboards accessible and easy to understand for all departments, BI can empower employees at every level to make informed decisions that align with the company's strategic goals. This shifts the organization away from gut-instinct decisions to ones based on clear, quantitative evidence.