History of communication technology
The report has focused on communicating with IT. Basically, communication is the process of sending and receiving information from one person to another. It is one of the important aspects in an organization as it ensures smooth running of daily activities (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). Communicating with IT can be referred to as a process of sharing information by using information technologies. Recently, most organizations worldwide have adopted information technologies into their operations. Following these developments, personnel from different departments within an organization have been able to communicate easily. Besides, management of companies especially those that operate globally has also been made possible. Thus, the need of effective communication has influenced tremendous growth in information technologies. For instance, the following are some of the recent information technologies; IoT and artificial intelligence (Arsénio et al., 2014, p. 3). The main purpose of this report is to explain explicitly how communication has been enhanced through IT. Besides, the report has also discussed some of the IT communication tools and emerging trends in IT.
Initially, communication was very difficult especially over a long distance. Long are the days when smoke was used for communication. In early 1800, the need for developing better communication ways became evident as people focused on inventing new ways (Lambert, 2018). Letters were used for communication. It should be noted that letters are still being used up-to-date especially by businesses and institutions. However, there are some changes. For instance, delivering letters could take more than one month as messengers travelled on foot in the past. Currently, letters are delivered faster as modern means of transport such as cars and helicopters are used. Apart from letters, printing press was also developed. Initially, educating people was difficult as books were unavailable. However, printing press led to cheap pamphlets enabling people to learn new ideas (Lambert, 2018). Moreover, telephone was also invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
Besides, radio and television were also developed. This enhanced real-time access to information. In 1970’s, there was a significant growth in communication technology as there was development of electronic mail that made it possible for people to send messages across computers (Lambert, 2018). Initially, only messages were send through electronic mail. Currently, attachments such as images and documents can now be transferred. Email is still used widely. However, its usage has been reducing gradually with emergent of social media platforms. Furthermore, communication technology received another major boost in 1973 as cell phone was developed by Martin Cooper. The main advantage of the cell phone was its portability nature though it was large. Afterwards, a smaller mobile phone was developed. Besides, more features were added such as playing games. Therefore, it can be concluded that technologies that facilitated communication between smaller distances were developed first. Afterwards, more features were added as well as new technologies invented to facilitate long distance communication (Lambert, 2018). Currently, the world is perceived as a small village as different countries can communicate through information technologies. This has enhanced globalization, thus; enabling businesses to start operating worldwide.
Communication tools
Currently, there are several IT communication tools such as social media platforms. Social media is used widely. The following are some of the examples of social media platforms; Facebook and twitter (Hollebeek, Glynn and Brodie, 2014, p. 150). These platforms enable users to share information. Most organizations and institutions use social media for advertisement and marketing due to large number of internet users. However, social media are not used for internal communications as employees can spent most of the time chatting and hence lowering productivity. Some of the tools that are used for internal communication include social intranet. Intranet can be accessed only within an organization (Hamadani, Patrick and Dotsika, 2014, p. 29). There are some benefits associated with intranet. For instance, easy manageability, therefore; skilled personnel is not required. Intranet is very important as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy can be implemented effectively (Bruder, 2014, p. 15).
Apart from BYOD policy, security is also enhanced as critical resources cannot be accessed by unauthorized staff. Other than social intranet, private messaging is equally important. Private messaging enhances team work. (Hooff et al., 2015, p. 145) Team work is an important aspect within an organization and determines its level of success. Effective teamwork increases productivity. This tool is convenient for busy managers. Moreover, there is also tracking software that is mainly used for support (Muthuswamy et al., 2014, p.1194). The queries asked by customers are directed to relevant personnel, and afterwards, resolved as fast as possible. These tools also help management to make informed decisions as customer feedback are collected and analyzed. This improves customer relationship. Furthermore, there are also internal blogs. Like intranet, internal blogs can only be accessed by relevant staff within an organization, thus; protecting information against unauthorized access. Besides, the public is also limited from accessing the data (Pedersen et al., 2014, p. 165).
Information Technology (IT) is dynamic, thus keeps on changing from time to time. There are different factors that influence advancement of information technologies such as changes in business activities (Hashem et al., 2015, p. 99). For instance, most businesses are online-based. Apart from changes of business activities, there is also a need of improving existing technologies. As discussed early, IT plays vital roles in communication. Communication is not only limited to people, but also devices such as personal computers. Therefore, there should be better ways of storing and retrieving data to enhance communication between devices (Hashem et al., 2015, p. 99). This has been enhanced through recent technologies in information technology such as cloud computing, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
Information technology trends
Initially, many organizations and companies faced challenges and problems to store data. Apart from storing data, retrieving of data was also a big issue. However, cloud computing has provided a solution to these problems. It is referred to as a process of storing data in remote servers (Botta et al., 2016, p. 687). Most organizations have incorporated cloud computing into their operations due to several factors such as easy retrieval of data. Besides, cloud computing is less costly as it does not involve hardware maintenance costs (Manvi and Shyam, 2014, p. 426). Cloud computing services are offered by vendors such as IBM cloud and Microsoft Azure. These vendors provide a range of services such as data storage and back-up.
- Centralization has made it possible for easy management of data. Besides, cases of data duplication is rare, thus; enhancing consistency.
- Enhanced security. The use of security mechanisms such as encryption reduces system vulnerability, thus; customer’s data is protected against attacks.
- Automated updates. Therefore, the customer saves time for system maintenance (Ali, Khan and Vasilakos, 2015, p. 357).
- Data Inaccessibility. Data may become unavailable due to technical problems. Apart from technical problems, poor internet connection can also result in data inaccessibility. Furthermore, customers can also be restricted from accessing their data due to failure of paying subscription fee.
- Security and privacy issues. There are several risks associated with cloud computing despite integrating better security mechanisms such as firewall and Virtual private Networks (VPNs). For instance, critical data is accessed by service providers. Also, data is susceptible to attacks as hackers try to exploit cloud computing (Wei et al., 2014, p. 371).
Internet of Things (IoT) is concerned with devices that are connected to the internet and can communicate without human intervention (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 22). Apart from communicating, these device can collect and exchange data. IoT has grown greatly over the recent years. There are several IoT devices such as smartphone app that can be used to switch on a light bulb. The concept of IoT emerged in 1980s. Significant growth in IoT has been influenced by IPv6 and RFID tags adoption. RFID tags are used to monitor and locate equipment and, thus; formed the basis of IoT applications (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 22).
- Consumer applications such as connected health.
- Smart home, for example, lighting and security systems. The use of IoT devices for lighting has enhanced energy saving. On the other hand, IoT can also restrict unauthorized individuals from accessing certain rooms, therefore; enhancing security (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 22)
- IoT devices are used for data collection. Besides, it’s also used in data analysis. These devices are used to keep track of the blood pressure, and afterwards; sends some notifications to the relevant medical practitioners. Moreover, these devices are also be used to store patient’s data from various sections such as maternity and surgery.
- IoT devices are used in smart packing and vehicle control. Besides, these devices have also ensured that cargo have reached to their destination by keeping track of their location as they are transported from one place to the other, and afterwards; sending notifications in case of theft. Furthermore, they also reduce road accidents (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 22).
- IoT devices enhances the rate at which products are manufactured. Besides, they also provide real-time optimization, thus; enabling manufacturers to produce quality products. Moreover, they are also used in asset management through statistical evaluation (Al-Fuqaha et al., 2015, p. 2348).
- IoT has been applied extensively in agriculture to collect data not limited to temperature and soil content. This data can help a farmer to make better decisions among several alternatives available, thus; improving productivity.
- Environmental monitoring. IoT devices help environmental organizations to keep track of environmental concerns such as water quality. Other than water quality, wildlife movements can also be monitored (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 22.
- Data availability, thus; enhancing the process of making decisions.
- IoT devices monitors stock, therefore; products expiry date can be determined, and afterwards, removed from the stock.
- Less time is required to monitor items.
- The money that could have been paid to people for carrying out certain tasks can be saved (Zanella, et al., 2014, p. 24).
- There is incompatibility issues due to lack of tagging standards.
- Duplication of information, for example, two different people in a company may receive a notification that a particular product is over, therefore; ending up buying a similar product from the manufacturer.
- Security problems. Sensitive data can be misused in case of hacking (Stankovic, 2014).
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined as any device that can make an informed decision which may solve a particular problem on a given environment. Like the Internet of Things, this field has also grown tremendously (Russell and Norvig, 2016). For instance, it was estimated that more than 60% of the businesses integrated AI technologies in 2018. The number is expected to increase rapidly. Besides, it is also very important in communication. Communication has been perceived as one of the important aspects that enhances productivity. Therefore, AI can be used to facilitate effective communication not only between a business and its customers, but also among its employees (Russell and Norvig, 2016). For example, AI can be used to determine the best presentation that is suitable for a given audience, thus; enhancing attention and understanding. Therefore, AI should be improved regularly as it has impacted positively on communication.
- Saves time as relevant information required for meetings are organized by AI-powered assistant (Ghahramani, 2015, p. 1).
- AI is used in language translation, thus; enhancing mutual understanding among people.
- Through AI, information is accessed easily.
- Enhanced decision making processes as several alternatives are analyzed and optimal solution to a given problem can be selected by using techniques such as greedy technique (Charniak et al., 2014).
- AI has been integrated into messenger tools to enhance automated responses and hence customer engagement is improved as a result.
- AI has reduced disasters as hostile areas can be analyzed and afterwards, people can be notified to avoid visiting such places. Besides, survivors are able to send messages to others so that they can be rescued by emergency crews. The information is sent on real-time basis, hence people can be rescued easily (Ghahramani, 2015, p. 1).
- High cost. Initial costs for purchasing complex AI machines is too high, therefore; unaffordable by small organizations. Besides, a lot of money is also used for maintenance. Also, these machines uses sophisticated software that needs to be updated on a regular basis. Moreover, a lot of money and time is used to recover data in case of a failure (Russell and Norvig, 2016).
- Most organizations have adopted digital assistant. Therefore, this has increased unemployment rates. High rate of employment may in turn lead to laziness as most of the work are carried out by machines.
- Security issues. Developing a well secured AI system is very difficult. Thus, prone to risks especially autonomous weapons. This has posed a great danger to humankind and there is a fear that AI may take over the world (Russell and Norvig, 2016).
- Enhanced product launch. Initially, businesses faced challenges to inform customers about new services and products. However, IT communication tools are now used for marketing. For example, social media sites such as Facebook and twitter. Businesses have Facebook groups and websites that can be used to display new products that are offered by the company. Apart from websites, emails are also used widely (Hollebeek, Glynn and Brodie, 2014, p. 150).
- Product survey. Initially, conducting survey was very difficult. Techniques that were used include providing questionnaires to consumers through magazines. A survey is very important as it determines customers’ views and suggestions regarding products that are offered by a company. The company can make necessary changes basing on customers’ responses, thus; improving quality of the products and satisfying needs of its customers (Charniak et al., 2014).
- Improved management-customer interactions. Digital assistants has made it possible to provide automatic responses to customers. Also, the gap between management and customers has been reduced by social media sites such as Facebook, thus; enhancing mutual understanding.
- Improved messaging services. Messaging services have been improved, therefore; people are able to communicate with their friends. Some chat applications does not involve any costs for sending messages such as ebuddy. Therefore, emergency messages can be sent conveniently (Botta et al., 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the report has focused on communicating with IT. To solve communication problems, organizations have adopted information technologies. Some of the benefits associated with information technologies in communication include; improved messaging services and customer interactions. Communicating with IT is not only limited to human beings, but also devices and machines. Thus, cloud computing is an important aspect for easy storage and data retrieval. Besides, Artificial Intelligence and IoT are equally important as devices can communicate without human intervention. Hence, countries and organizations should adopt these technologies. However, security should be put into considerations to ensure that sensitive information is not accessed. This can be achieved by using technologies such as intranet for internal concerns rather than social media platforms. Also, security mechanisms such as VPN and encryption should be implemented to ensure smooth flow of data, thus; enhancing integrity.
Cloud computing
The future direction of Information Technology is AI and IoT. AI and IoT technologies are important in communication. They have a wide range of benefits not limited to automation. Hence, management should not take information technologies for granted. These technologies should be adopted and implemented effectively. However, there are risks and threats associated with these technologies. Therefore, organizations should conduct preliminary research on a given technology before it is deployed. Security personnel should ensure that the technology is secured and free from attacks. Besides, the technology should be implemented in a small section of an organization to check on its functionality before it is implemented on other sections. This reduces implementation risk.
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