Business Information Systems etc Research Paper

Business Information Systems etc - Research Paper Example Similarly, on the hardware and software side, firms are increasingly using cloud computing as the valid alternative to process information. The concept of software as a service is not new and increasingly, firms are using these services to take advantage of large data volumes as well as better efficiency and management of the information technology resources. Cloud computing has also allowed the firms to reduce their IT costs by hosting or using third party systems to achieve the same level of productivity and efficiency. The expansion of global e-commerce markets has been assured due to rapid changes in the telecommunication and internet infrastructure. The high speed wireless internet access through mobile phone devices has allowed firms to directly access their customers on their cell phones and deliver personalized advertisement messages to their customers. This paper will therefore attempt to research and analyse the emerging trends in the business information systems and inform ation technology. Information System Trends One of the key trends which have emerged during last few years is the use of peer to peer structure for the management and distribution of information. This new design is based upon the self organization principles and rather than depending upon the central points locations, allow systems to coordinate with each other freely and become more scalable as well as robust. Peer to peer infrastructure is also considered as an innovation in the hardware component of the information systems with better and more robust infrastructure to share and disseminate information at least cost.1 It is also important to note that organizations are increasingly relying on virtualization as one of the key information technology tools which can help them to reduce cost as well as present their message to their targeted audience. It is also important to note that virtualization has also necessitated changes in the software as well as hardware requirements too und er which organizations are shifting towards more handheld devices to use. Virtualization of business systems is also considered as a part of the autonomic computing in which computer systems will regulate and manage themselves on their own based on the computing activity. This trend therefore may be one of the key trends suggesting a gradual shift towards the use of information technology in a relatively new manner. It is also important to note that virtualization takes place both in software as well as in hardware. Hardware virtualization can be done by replicating the whole system through a virtual machine with its own operating system. It is also important to note that businesses can go for complete as well as partial virtualization. Cloud Computing Probably one of the most important emerging trends in the business information systems and information technology in general is the rise of the cloud computing. Cloud computing is used as a service instead of a product and as such req uires an extensive coordination between the service providers and the firms. (Finnie, 2011) Under the cloud computing shared resources, software as well other utilities are provided over a network. Cloud computing is increasingly become more common because it can significantly reduce the overall costs for the firms as well as offer them enough capability to utilize state of the art technology