Computers have been used in business activity the past decade, with increasing frequency and reliance day by day. The improvements in technology make IT an unavoidable aspect of daily life as well as business and makes almost any function of an organization more effective and efficient due to the ability to instantaneously transfer information, store, and process large amounts of data. While the primary use of information technology had been the communication aspect, the current use cases involve transaction processing, big data analytics, marketing and various other applications which increase in volume as scope as new technologies continue to be developed. Almost every organization in business is the modern world as a dedicated IT function headed by an executive at board level with some companies with even more focused functional units such as cybersecurity and digital marketing. Relatively new companies not involved in the fields of information technology, or those without the resources to build their own in-house IT function may instead opt to outsource the functionality to organizations such as IT Consulting Melbourne to gain access to industry standard IT practices and talent at a fraction of the cost.

Opportunity for Growth

Investment in information technology offers unprecedented opportunity for growth for businesses through various channels of marketing as well as analysis and information access. The merits of internet marketing and big data analysis for strategic decision making cannot be understated. The internet allows the entire online population of the world to be potential customers of a company, depending on the industry of operation, and allows the collection and analysis of information from billions of users in a fraction of the time.

Innovation

The developments in information technology have led to the inception of companies and entire industries specializing in certain aspects of the digital age. This allows companies to be more innovative and opens creative pathways that allow companies to serve their customers in different ways, using advancements in technology to their benefit.

Public Relations and Customer Satisfaction

The telecommunication avenues opened by information technology allows companies to connect with their customers more closely and interact with them meaningfully. This allows the formation of a brand identity and can lead to brand loyalty in the future. It can also assist customer support and sales functions by allowing the company to monitor the online discourse surrounding their company and product releases and anticipate various issues or obtain more relevant feedback than previously possible.

Risk Management

This is not to say that the proliferation of internet and digital technology has been without risk for both enterprises and users. The online transfer of large amounts of potentially sensitive information makes the communication channels valuable targets for cyber criminals and hackers and places the data and information of the company and its customers at risk. This risk should be managed and minimized through active involvement in the cybersecurity and computer security aspects of information technology, and the use of industry standard security protocols in the daily operations of the business.