Getting ahead with Information Technology.

On the sixth day, God created man... and nothing has ever been the same.

Evolution has zipped the human race, the business entity and everything surrounding us to a smaller, yet more intricate, borderless world dominated by constant transformation. To a world where success is temporary, measured by quarterly financial reports and where competition is intense and boundless.

Our data mining class with Mr. Ramon Duremdes Jr. would not be as promising nor would have much significance without the essentials of gaining competitive advantage with Information Technology.
Just the same, should it interest you to read more and/or further, my colleagues, Austin Alip, Miguel Ambrosio, Paolo Barcelon, Deedin Benig, Camille Caleon, Jeffrey Custodio, AV de Jesus, Sesi de la Cruz, Razilee Dizon, Aira Dy, Kesper Gatinao, Gwen Guerrero, Jamie Hao, Ikah Hemedez, Rafael Jouwena, Martin Lomeda, Reuben Mesa, Rinalyn Moreno, Julie Nolasco, Luis Tanjuatco, Charles Tugade, Joseph Woltz, have also put their thoughts and blogged regarding this topic.

It was Charles Darwin who said, it is not the strongest of the species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. True enough, all those who fail to tag along run the risk of being left behind, battered by change in the process.

But the ability to respond to change is not enough these days. As Haag, Cummings and Phillips stated in Management Information Systems for the Information Age, it is the information age, a time when knowledge is power. And this has made and can make all the difference.

As human beings, it may perhaps be in our nature to overrate change. Almost certainly, the term disruptive innovations may alarm many of us at first glance. As Clayton Christensen mentioned on Interview on Disruption with CIO's Edward Prewitt, one of the scariest things is it's not yet clear that knowing disruption is happening to you may not make a big difference.

As pessimistic as it may seem to sound, disruptive innovations are nonetheless but products or services that craft wholly untapped, untouched markets. Christian Christensen also mentioned that one must look at disruptive technology as a growth and not as a threat.
Beyond doubt, under whichever circumstances, this is something easier said than done.

In response to the so-called disruptive innovations, the way companies function these days have drastically shifted, specifically in relation to their competitive advantages.

According to Thomas H. Davenport's Competing on Analytics, organizations these days must compete on analytics not because they can but because they should. At a time when firms in many industries offer similar products and use comparable technologies, business processes are among the last remaining points of differentiation.

The following equation may perhaps put all this into simpler, more visual terms:
Information Technology
+ __________ =
Competitive Advantage;
in which we define our variables as:

• Information Technology: any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information processing needs of an organization.

• Competitive Advantage: a product or service in way that customers value more than waht the competition is able to do.

• __________: may consist of either, any or all of the following:

- Supply Chain Management system: IT system that facilitates supply chain management activities by automating the tracking of inventory and information amid business processes and between companies.

With a proficient Supply Chain Management system, an organization is able to get most out of its fulfillment by guaranteeing the timely arrival of necessary amount of parts for production or products for sale; logistics, by minimizing costs of transporting materials and safe and dependable delivery; production, by making sure production lines function efficiently; revenue and profit, by ensuring no sales are lost because shelves are empty and costs and price, by sustaining costs and product/service prices at adequate levels.

- Customer Relation Management system: utilizes information about customers in order to have insights into their needs, wants and behaviors in order to provide them a better service.
A well-designed Customer Relation Management system will be able to treat customers better, comprehend their needs, wants and behaviors, adapt to product offerings in response, conduct more effective marketing campaigns, make sure that the sales process is efficiently managed and offer superior after-sale service and support.

- Business Intelligence system: IT applications and tools that support knowledge about a company's customers, competitors, business partners, competitive environment and own internal operations that gives the ability to make effective, important and often strategic business decisions.
A competent Business Intelligence system is able to enhance the timeliness and quality of input to the decision process by providing the company with actionable information and knowledge at the right time, in the right location and in the right form.

- Integrated Collaboration Environments: environment in which teams whose memers are located in aried geographic locations do their work.
A well established Integrated Collaboration Environment can have huge payoffs through the automation of workflows, allowing geographically-challenged team memers to work collaboratively, document management, among others.

As competition toughens in almost just about every industry, companies must build up innovative products, services and business processes in order to stay on course and prosper and that Information Technology is a compelling gizmo to do such.

Having in mind that technology is not a universal remedy, a company must first find certain focus in the context within its goals and strategies. in order to effectively determine where and how to use technology to support major business initiatives.

An article compiled by Ryan Mulcahy of CIO, entitled ABC: An Introduction to Business Intelligence, speaks of companies using Business Intelligence tools, business decisions should be based with facts and hard numbers than only on gut feelings, opinions, conjectures and anecdotes.

In order for a company to truly nurture, organizations require an appropriate focus, a suitable culture, the right people and an apt technology.

The benefits that well-implemented decisions and/or business strategies can go beyond limits.
The effectiveness of such implementations depend on unyielding collaboration amid the business unit and the Information Technology division. Organizations are able to reduce their costs by optimizing resources and enhancing business processes, respond timely and accordingly to their customers’ and their needs by several means. And with all of these under control, an organization is able to focus and innovate on new business ventures.

Within the banking and finance industry, gaining competitive advantage with the use of Information Technology is vital. Being heavy users of Information Technology, companies are aiming to sustain with its clients' expectations by constantly enhancing and integrating innovation to its provided services.

Values being provided to the industry members and its clients are convenience, efficiency, effectiveness, reliability, just to name a few. With Information Technology, alongside the components that may be complemented with it in order to gain competitive advantage significantly diminishes banking hazards, inaccuracies and blunders, in addition to enhancing and augmenting banking experience to endow with superior customer relations.

As Dan Tapscott mentioned in Business Intelligence: Actionable Rights for Business Decision Makers, it makes sense that organizations that choose simple, relevant and agile business intelligence solutions are more likely to sustain competitive advantage in a constantly changing world.

Indeed, the forces of globalization -instant communications, free trade, outsourcing and off-shoring- place premium on the ability to analyze information and make rapid and informed deicions. Simple and relevant business intelligence tools can empower employees to make effective decisions more quickly. By integrating real-time decision-making with mission critical business processes, companies can ensure that they are serious contenders within the innovation-driven world of the 21st century.

All of which are simplified in entire agreement with what Jack Welch once said, an organization's ability to learn and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.