TOPIC 7 USE OF SYSTEMS AND DATA CONTENT : 7.1 THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF DATA 7.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF STANDARDS 7.3 COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE 7.4 TRAINING 7.5 EFFECTS OF INTRODUCING SYSTEMS

Most commercial applications now employ Information Systems. We have computer systems in out homes, schools, colleges, and in any other place where there is need to process data and transmit the information gained between human users. We take it for granted that it is possible to send electronic communications to other side of the world in a matter of minutes, or to process of data quantities of data received from remote sources to obtain results from a centrally located unit. The first computers were used to calculate firing tables for field guns and to crack German codes during the Second World War. Their processing power was tiny by today’s standards, and the machines were very large and consumed enormous volumes of power. The use of smaller, less energy expensive computers in businesses, homes and schools began to be widespread only about 20 years ago. Computer now affect our daily lives in many ways, some more obvious than others. For example, the millions of telephone calls made every day could not be handled without computers, nor could the millions of debit and credit card payments that we make.

The entire economy of a country such as the United Kingdom is governed by the use of computers and, without them, standards of living would fall. It would not be possible for supermarkets to keep their shelves well stocked with fresh food without computers. communication and access to information via the World Wide Web is having a great effect on our lives. It is enabling more and more people to work from home, and still keep in visual contact with other colleagues via cameras mounted on computer monitors. The introduction of computers resulted in the loss of many jobs. At first many of the jobs lost were those of unskilled workers employed on repetitive tasks were replaces by machines. More recently, computerization has replaced jobs across many working areas. Specialist computer programs can replace middle managers who used to make complex decisions for companies using tried and tested procedures.

The growth of computer use has led to an increase in the number of jobs in certain sectors, however. While jobs have been lost in manufacturing, the number of jobs in service industries such as : shops, hotels, leisure and catering has increased. Many people have had to retrain in new areas of work as computerized have replaced traditional ways of working. People have to accept that they may need to learn new skills on a regular basis to keep up with the pace of change in the working environment.