Academic Excellence

Monday, February 25, 2013

Strategic information systems







Strategic information systems

Introduction:

In the ever evolving global Information technology market place, it is becoming increasingly important that an organization re-evaluates it goals in relation to its contribution to the society and in propagating better environmental practises. Besides considering an organization performance in regards to quality products and how much profits it is making, social responsibility and environmental issues have become core investigative aspects. This is therefore the basis for which this research is conducted.

Analysis:

Social Responsibility including ISO 26000

ISO 26000 is an international standard as approved by the international organization for standardization to provide guidelines for social responsibility (Puneet & Ashish 2012) It is designed to offer guidelines to corporate companies on behaviours that are socially responsible and their possible outcomes. This therefore means that companies cannot use this standard as a basis for their audits or for the purpose of compliance statements (Puneet & Ashish 2012). ISO 2600 is very important in the sense that it encourages organizations to partake in activities that make it socially responsible in the corporate world.

The advantages/disadvantages accruing to a company implementing to use ISO 2600 are as follows:

It is able to get good reputation form the public in the sense that the masses feel that they are working towards the betterment of the community goals and in support of various community initiatives that have been put in place.
Companies/organizations that choose to incorporate this standard into their organizations are able to gain competitive advantage over other companies that do not apply the standard. This is through the integration of the most important social responsibility metrics and integrating them with the business metrics (Pojasek, 2011).
Most of the working community are usually attracted to a company that is able to offer back to the community in various ways. This way, many people may end up being attracted to work for the company. In addition new clients may be attracted to the company in a bid to contribute to the good cause. Non governmental organisations and other users may also want to play a role in supporting the company towards this initiative. Moreover a good relationship with other companies in the same front is established (Puneet & Ashish 2012). For example, if a company chooses to give back to the community by visiting children in the children homes, they may choose to affiliate themselves with a consumer producing company so that they can be able to get consumer products at a better price. Simultaneously the incorporation of this aspect in to the company’s operations may consequently result into increased costs in terms of spending yet the costs are not in any way contributing to generating more revenue for the company (Pojasek, 2011). In other ways also, since the standard is not certified, there has been the rise of many N.G.O’s and consultation groups coming up in the name of providing clear stipulations yet they are just a hoax and their main objective is to fleece the companies.

Relevant case study: coca cola

Coca Cola Company is the largest in the United States in the manufacture and distribution of soft beverage drinks yet their conduct in matters regarding social issues has been awesome.
Among their many responsibilities, it is their duty to be as open and transparent as possible in their daily operations to matters pertaining the environment (Grankvist, 2013). In the year 2009, coca cola was able to replenish the amount of water used to nature.
In the previous years, Coca cola has initiated partnership with other companies like W.W.F with the aim of enhancing efficiency in the environment and for the purpose of enhancing efficiency in the production of drinking water. This has led to improvements in water efficiency of up to 9% in the year 2009 (Grankvist, 2013). Lastly, they have also continuously supported the Britain group in a bid to help making the city green (Grankvist, 2013). Finally, environmental campaigns have also been the core attribute of the company.

Potential issues in the future

It is apparent that social responsibility will be significant in the future because ISO standards will be responsible for regulating performance of companies. Therefore, companies will embrace the idea of considering ethical standards in their operations. In the future, the society will only support socially responsible organizations while the other will be rejected. Additionally, future companies will adopt this incentive to play a role in the establishment of environmental preservation.

Green IT issues and the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres

 

Green information technology is a term translated to mean, incorporation of technological systems in solving environmental issues and in the reduction of the effects related to information technology (Lamb, 2009). Its main concerns are to deal with electronic waste emaciating from the use of computers so as to make viable global penchants in regards to new electronics. In this regard also green it advocates for energy efficiency in terms of reduction in the amounts of electricity used by the computers so as to regulate the emission of green house gases (Baroudi, et al 2009).
The European code of conduct on data transmissions is powered by the goal of improving energy efficiencies through use of voluntary means and other means that are expected to create a stronger legislation in regards to setting up minimum basic standards for compliance (Kim &Lee 2011).This way, data operators will be more informed on the reduction measures regarding energy to save on associated costs while still offering the best service possible.

Advantages and disadvantages:

The main advantages related to the green it and the EU code of conduct for data centres is to ensure that a sustainable environment is fostered through being more conscious on matters regarding environmental wastes and the emission of green house gases(Joshi & Kumar, 2012).
Additionally, more energy like electricity will be saved and its use subsequently regulated. This because companies are being urged to account for their ventures in regards to the society and ecology and the economic effects the equipments have on the people (O’neill, 2010). In this case therefore, in a bid to conform to the above, the companies will have top promote designs that are more ecologically accepted in a bid to minimize on the economic costs.
On the other hand however, if a company choose to implement on the use of both the E.U code of conduct for data centres and on the use of green it, then they should be ready to undergo the related costs associated  (Worthington, 2009). This is because these ventures are very expensive to use and to install. Additionally, the return on investment to using these it trends is very low and is attainable at a very slow pace. Thus a company may have to wait for long before any profits may start to initialize (Murugesan & Gangadharan 2012).

Relevant case study:

It is apparent that Google green, the environment comes first. It is essential that they operate with; less impact on the environment as possible. It is stated that Google less energy to sustain their users on you tube compared to the energy it takes to do a load of laundry.
Their data centres use half the energy used by a typical data centre as their consumption rate is only at 50% compared to the other data centres. In addition, the total electricity it uses is about 0.01% of the world’s total electricity (Google). This has therefore led to the award of external certification by the United States data centre due to the high level of environmental concern exhibited in their processes.
In order to eliminate the effects on the environment, the company has positioned various solar panels at the roofs of their buildings to carry out their operations. This way, an equivalent of about 16,000 metric tones of wastes is eliminated especially in regards to carbon dioxide gases. Alternatively, the energy produced by the 1.7mw of solar panels is equivalent to about 3 million kilo watts per hour of clean energy (Google).

Reflection on issues of social responsible computing

The advancement in technology has enhanced development of ideal incentives that are critical in the reduction of environmental preservation. Environmental preservation is an extremely beneficial aspect because it results in the establishment of global sustainability. The establishment of social responsible computing is one of the attributes of innovation that has ensured that computing services are not detrimental to the environment. It is a fact that computers consumer significant amount of energy and also emit significant amount of energy to the environment. In this regard, the establishment of social computing involves the aspect of devising ideal measures of preserving energy and also reducing emission of substances to atmosphere. Additionally, social responsible computing involves using computers to reduce poverty, ease surfing, enhance empowerment and improve the environment.

Potential issues in the future

The potential issues in the future relating to green I.T and the E.U code of conduct for data centres is well apparent that the level of clean energy will increase thus eliminating the subsequent wastes associated with other forms of energy. The aspects of social responsible computing will be adopted across the globe by the leading technological companies and this will enhance environmental development because the usage of green energy will prevail.

Relevance of the content:

In regards to strategic information systems feel that the unit is important in highlighting the role in planning in regards to information systems in the performance of an organisation in regards to meeting its goals and objectives. The assignment on the other hand seeks to show that despite being a corporate organization of great standing, it is very important to consider how your processes impact on the environment and how you can also give back to the communities that support your business from time to time.

Conclusion:

The above discussed issues prove that a company is voluntary subjected to play a part in social responsibility in order to show a sense of appreciation or to show that they can identify with the challenges that the people in the community in which they operate face. Not only will these improve their social standing in the long run but also increase their returns in the future through the attraction of various parties that matter. Issues of environmental concern through green IT and the E.U code of conduct are demonstrated. The main concerns however is how a company dealing with information systems can make as much profits as it can use minimal costs while still ensuring that its operations are not detrimental to the environment in which it operates in (Lamb, 2009).











Bibliography

 Baroudi, C, Hill, J,  Reinhold, A, Senxian, J 2009, Green IT for Dummies, New York, Wiley       publishers.
Google, n.d, The big picture: Google green.   Retrieved from            www.google.co.ke/green/bigpicture/
 Grankvist, P, 2013, Coca Cola Company: The corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from            http://:www.voices.yahoo.com/the-socially-responsible-marketing-co.United States
Joshi, Y, and Kumar, P, 2012, The Efficient Thermal Management of Data Centers, Seattle,         Springer publishers
Kim, J, H, Lee, M, J, 2011, Green IT technologies and Applications
Lamb, J, P, 2009, The greening of IT: How companies can make a difference for the         environment,   Newyork, Pearson.
Murugesan, S and Gangadharan, G, R 2012,Harnessing Green IT: Principles and Practices,           Seattle,            John Wiley & sons.
O’Neill, M, 2010, Green it for sustainable Business practice: An Iseb Foundation guide, British    comp society series, Chicago, BCS, The chartered institute.
Puneet, S., & Ashish, N. (2012). Social Responsibility and ISO 26000 Standards: A New Beginning. Advances in Management, 5(6), 7-13.
Pojasek, R. B. (2011). ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility. Environmental Quality           Management, 20(3), 85-93. doi:10.1002/tqem.20292


Worthington, T, 2009, Green technology Strategies, Chicago, Tomw communications pty ltd

Appendices

  1. Kim, J, H, Lee, M, J, 2011, Green IT technologies and Applications
This source contains adequate research materials highlighting the aspects of green information technology and its contributions towards the realization of social responsibility. It focuses on the challenges of technical aspects in Green It and these are based on the survey and research conducted by a group of international professionals. This book is divided into three parts that include green communication, green computing and smart and grid applications. This book is beneficial in this report because it provides in green IT and its contribution in enhancing social responsibility.

  1. Worthington, T, 2009, Green technology Strategies, Chicago, Tomw communications pty ltd
In this document, Worthington argues that the internet has become a tool for the establishment of development across the globe. As such, there is dire for the establishment of accessibility, accountability and sustainability. The establishment of these aspects will enhance sustainability and further result in the enhancement of social responsibility. This book is crucial for this research because it highlights some of the benefits of green technology by stating that it is more advantageous to adopt green technology because it preserves the environment.

  1. Pojasek, R. B. (2011). ISO 26000 guidance on social responsibility. Environmental Quality            Management, 20(3), 85-93. doi:10.1002/tqem.20292
The consideration of adopting the practices of social responsibility is extremely crucial because the organizations and corporations must pay back to the community. The aspect of initiating social responsibility in the management of the organizations is crucial because it has the aspect of developing the society. This is the core concept of this book and also the attributes of the research. Furthermore, the establishment of this incentive is in an accordance with regulations of ISO standards that is responsible organizational operations. Therefore, this book is relevant with the righting of this report.

  1. Puneet, S., & Ashish, N. (2012). Social Responsibility and ISO 26000 Standards: A New        Beginning. Advances in Management, 5(6), 7-13.
This book by Puneet and Ashish is beneficial in the establishment of social responsibility because they depict the aspect of social responsibility as the benchmark for gauging the performance of the industries. According to this book, corporations and organization must engage in the attributes of production with the needs and requirements of the society in mind. There are norms, values and practices that the organizations an corporation must uphold because this will help the community in attaining development. In this regard, the management of various organizations must ensure that ideal policies and measures are enacted to enhance development. Most importantly, the book notes that the measures and policies enacted must be in accordance with the ISO 26000 standards. Therefore, this book is very relevant in the research.

  1. Grankvist, P, 2013, Coca Cola Company: The corporate social responsibility. Retrieved from            http://:www.voices.yahoo.com/the-socially-responsible-marketing-co.United States
The development and proceedings of this source are extremely critical for the research about global corporate social responsibility. Coca cola is a global corporation and it is extremely to ascertain if it’s social responsible. Analysis of the evidence derived from this source is extremely beneficial because they depict significant examples highlighting the cases to support that coca cola is socially responsible. With the establishment of these factors, it is important to draw a conclusion that coca cola corporation is social responsible.

  1. Google, n.d, The big picture: Google green.           Retrieved from            www.google.co.ke/green/bigpicture/
The information from this web site has proven to be extremely beneficial thereby leading to the completion of this research. From the website, Google Corporation has highlighted the measures they have used in adopting the technology that is responsible for preservation of energy. This consideration is beneficial because it leads to the preservation of energy and the environment. Ideally, this is one measure of enhancing social responsibility. Therefore, this website is extremely beneficial for the completion of the research.


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