INSS 300 WB1 5/8/2011 / 1
Assignment 3
PART I:
I read an article about the IT system at the National Australian Bank, titled “Computer System That Failed in Pr. George's Has Faltered at Schools Across U.S.” http://www.washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090402302 _pf.html
a. This IT system managed customer accounts. Customers entered their accounts online, at the bank and at the ATM machine to see their account balanced, transfer, withdraw or deposit funds. There has to have been a database containing each account’s information.
b. Glitches in the systems made it so the customers couldn’t get into their online accounts and some ATMs were allowing customers to withdraw more money than they had in their account. This database malfunction caused a lot of problems for the bank and its customers. It is very important for the IT specialist to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the system and monitor its issues, making adjustments as necessary. The people responsible for NAB’s IT system failed to do so. There were some technical and economical issued that followed from this short coming of technical support.
c. I used Google.com and News to search for [ IT system AND failed ]
d. I searched for credible news sites that were more recent. When evaluating the site I made sure that there was an author, that the date of the article was recent and that the information was presented in a non-biased, appropriate and professional way. The source I used was Ieee Spectrum inside Technology and the author of my article’s name is Robert Charette and the article was published on Fri, April 15, 2011. Although this news site has a blog, the content of the article was very professional.
PART 2:
1. I found an article on successful use of information technology in the Health Care market. The site I used was http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2011/05/04/in-the-age-of-health-reform-healthcare-it-to-the-rescue/ and the author of the article was Lisa Suennen. The information on this page was very recent because the article was published 5/4/11.
a. The technology is an end user program that allows customers to sign up online for health insurance. Now Insurance companies will have to change their approach from business-business to a business - customer approach.
b. This IT innovation is saving insurance companies a lot of time and money and also allowing the general public to shop around for insurance more easily. The changing face of business is more interactive and fast paced. Opening up companies to the idea of using B2C E-Commerce as part of their business structure. Economic advantages for both parties have been found by this innovation in Information technology.
PART 3
1. I believe that the IT industries learn from their mistakes most of the time. It seems as though technology gets better with time. Systems get, evaluated, tweaked or replaced as needed. I think that a lot of companies could improve on their training or introduction to new technologies. For example, at my work we recently converted to a different online information system called USAStaffing. This human resource technology is very complex and required a lot of end user training.