The risks associated with Information System/Information Technology change

The company that we had visited was Concentrix, a call center that offers solution supports throughout the globe. The MIS supervisor of the said company had entertained us and had catered to answer our simple questions regarding on information system or information technology change.

According to the supervisor, Concentrix, like all other Business Processing Outsourcing Company, is constantly evolving to achieve the most efficient means of service. He said that before coming up to the conclusion of changing there IS/IT, they make sure that it is for the advantage to the company. A feasible study will be conducted to show the effects of the change and how will it affect the production of their company. This feasible study will be under a thorough analysis especially to the risks that will be undergone in the proposed change in the IS/IT.

We asked him what possible problem or things that might happen if the information system will be changed; he said that the most common factors that they do consider are the following: system failure, information system security, cost, design, and loss of data. He added that these common factors are very important to think about before taking an action because even a single problem that will happen to any of the mentioned factors will really make a mark on the company progress.

To fully understand what our interviewee had said regarding to the factors affecting their system, I researched some of the information about the factors he had shared.

According to the analysis of Ben Meadowcroft, the reasons why system failure occurs are the following:

1. Poor development practices.
2. Incorrect assumptions with regard to system requirements
3. Poor user interface.
4. Faulty hardware.
5. Inadequate user training or user error.
6. Poor fit between systems and organization.

As I look over the analysis of Mr. Ben Meadowcroft and comparing it to the answer of our interviewee, it seems that they are very much alike.

I roam around in the Internet to look for additional information about the factors that affects Information Technology change. As I was searching for the word “Information System Security”, I found out these following sites and their definitions about the latter.

Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia) defines Information Security as the means of protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. Furthermore, the terms information security, computer security and information assurance are frequently incorrectly used interchangeably. These fields are interrelated often and share the common goals of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information; however, there are some subtle differences between them.

Moreover, this site http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27002.html which is entitled as “ISO/IEC 27002 Code of Practice” had also their own definition of Information security. According to them, “Information security” is explicitly defined as the “preservation of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information”. For me, it is a brief and concise definition for sensitive and vulnerable issue. You can also visit the link I had provided to see the content of the “ISO/IEC 27002 Code of Practice”.

As I had observed, it is more than a must to focus in the security of information especially for the companies and organizations that possesses many rivalry in their field of business. Any record or a bit of information lick, if placed in the hands of sinister, will surely place your business or organization million miles below the earth.

It was just earlier, we had interviewed a business center that deals with the innovation of information technology/information systems. The business center that I was referring to is Digilution which is located in Jacinto St. (near Ateneo de Davao University), Davao City. The establishment that we had interviewed was a business center. They are offering desktop publishing, digital printing, computer rental and internet access. They also deals in web page design, multimedia presentation, website hosting, web application development and online marketing e-commerce. They are also catering innovation services such us networking, conversion of manual to automated business operation, installation of software and hardware and the like. The structure of their building is made of two floors. The lower portion was used as an internet café and the upper portion are the workplace of their employees. They allowed us to post our findings regarding to the topic that we had discussed during our interview session. The person we are concerned with in our convention in the said business center was the production manager of Digilution.

To begin with, we asked the manager what risks are associated with Information System of Information Management change. He said that changing the information system in a certain establishment was not as easy as a tick of our hand or as fast as a blink of an eye. Many things should be considered, he added. The first thing that should be considered according to him was the compatibility of the old and the new platform that will be going to implement. But, before he deemed with the platform, the major thing that should pass the compatibility issues in innovation are the compatibility of the data processing and data transformation was his point.

He explained that most company do not really risk in Information Technology change because the information is very vulnerable to be innovated. The companies that they are partnering with are 4 to 2 years late in technology because they are not more concern with the latest technology coming up but on how the existing technology could be develop. According to his experiences, the resistances to the latest technology are common episode in their deals and they mostly hear their clients saying, “If it works, then let’s not fix it”.

A photo taken outside the building of Digilutions.

Charmaine, "me", the Production Manager, Kate, Tanya

Based on both companies, it is rest assured that changing the information system or the information technology of a certain establishment or organization should undergo a deep and thorough analysis on how will it be beneficial in the increase of profit growth. In the first company, security and system failure was being focused by our interviewee while compatibility and vulnerability was the center of the discussion in our second interview. They had different considerations in the factors of changing the Information Technology or Information Management but still in the end of the day their main concern are the protection, confidentiality and availability of the information.


References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security
http://www.benmeadowcroft.com/reports/systemfailure/
http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27002.html