Information Systems

Karabati application is an online marketplace for the construction industry where users (people that need a task completed) post it online for tradespeople and suppliers (of related material) to bid. All three parties interact and complete payment transactions on the platform. The current risk is in payments since users can bypass the system and make payments offline which compromises the business case. This department has significant problems and vulnerability for potential system failure.  Some data is transmitted using data files.  Some is transmitted via hard copy and must be reentered.  The current situation is that tradespeople and suppliers also use their own systems, so integration and settlement is an issue. This calls for manual re-inputting of the information.  The accidental entry of incorrect data is one of the identified causes of IT system failure (Alexander et al., 2013).   To remedy this vulnerability the company must purchase an acc...

Evaluating the business IS requirements involves gathering information from multiple departments to ensure the project captures all the company’s needs. Knowing who will use the solution is important as it helps the collection of targeted input for systems design (Wacksman and Stutzman, 2014) . After operational needs are assessed and concept definitions are completed, the team analyzed the requirements which could cover user needs, quality aspects, process and user behavior, etc. (see figure 1 below). These are then translated into system requirements using the various methodologies covered above (agile, waterfall, spiral, combination, etc.) and cost related to using one over the other. Figure 1 : Sample overview of requirements collection and change processes diagram (source: MITRE website available on www.mitre.org ) Users provide functional and non-functional requirements all of which are used to build the project. Functional one’s support building user requirements a...

Being a data-driven organization, Karabati relies on information integrity and security.  Assessing privacy risks as well as threats to the security of data should be followed with suitable measures to protect user data (Anandarajan and Simmers, 2002) .  It’s important to note that measures for safeguarding data apply to both physical and electronic versions of information (Bott, 2014).           Privacy risks would come from illegal and unauthorized access to their management information system (MIS), which could compromise the confidentiality, integrity plus availability of data.  Physical security like guards, security cameras and access badges help ensure there is no illegal access to component services.  Illegal access to the system itself is addressed by network intrusion detection systems, malware detection and correction software and firewall log monitoring.  To stop unauthorized use by organization workers...

Systems exist because the environment surrounding organizations is significantly versatile and has a wide range of factors with the potential to affect operations. Business dynamics systems thinking, and modeling involves the development, justification, and utilization of frameworks that can help understand organizational environment for better decision-making. Modeling allows the development of actionable ideologies that illustrate potential operations and dependencies within an organization. Models give space for informed experimentation within the parameters associated with organizational management. The financial infrastructure of a business is critical to its survival, which implies that the financial layout of the organization should be carefully considered (MacGregor, 2013) . Given that systems thinking, and modeling allows one to focus on aspects of an organization, focusing on the financial security of an organization becomes of much significance in management. Models wo...

Technology is advancing quite rapidly, and every company needs to identify an optimal solution depending on its needs and budget. As technology improves and people innovate in different aspects of the technology, so are hackers developing means to hack the technology. Therefore, management of any size of an organization must have this in mind and be keen enough to institute measures that offer industry-grade security, policies, and procedures that ensure staff is also aware and proactive in ensuring that corporate systems and data are protected and it's unlikely for criminals to interfere with them at any time (Zhang et al., 2014). In terms of systems selection, the business processes that will be automated must be compatible, to the extent possible to the existing structures in the firm and fit the requirements of the organization. Failure to have the technological responding to the requirements and specifications of the organization, the technology will not be used and thus wil...

The review covers a paper by Mckinsey titled, Mobile financial services in Africa: Winning the battle for the customer, by Mutsa Chironga, Hilary de Grandis and Yasir Zouaoui dated 7 th July 2017 (7 pages) available here . The paper focuses on Africa as a global leader in mobile money and how this success can be accelerated by the participation of banks. While most of the information covered is accurate, a few departure points have been identified that would perhaps capture the cross-cutting challenges at the micro level that have inhibited this growth which is not necessarily due to the absence of participation by banks. The title also assumes that the battle is only about the customer as the end-user, but really, the last mile service providers (those who interact with customers using cash to make payments) are also an integral part of mobile money success. There’s been an argument that the slow response by banks could be the reason for this success by non-bank institutions but no...

Information Systems cut across all dimensions of our lives today (Boddy et al., 2009) . Plenty of research has been carried out and presented in this course on how Information Systems affect the way plan and execute strategy and business operations e.g. in Financial Services, I have found that it is a very important skillset to have. Information Systems is used every day, from the use of social media for marketing e.g. Facebook to undertaking research on any topic. Information systems are now pretty much mandatory in the business world and will help everyone be more successful and efficient in running their affairs. Information systems, for example, has helped me access and contribute knowledge at a global level using the internet. This would have been impossible without this technology. Information technologies have helped humanity re-discover itself and reinterpret its vision of itself which has unleashed an entire generation of society that can communicate and collaborate at a spe...

Kenya has been experiencing a construction boom for the last 15 years. The government has also been investing heavily in infrastructure to improve transport, housing, and technology. Investment by individuals in residential housing has also increased dramatically.   The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reports that real estate and construction sectors have been the key drivers of Kenya’s’ economic growth for the last ten years contributing 7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which indicates that Kenya has a well-developed construction industry. With an increase in population, this trend will only continue and especially for low-cost housing. Numerous challenges exist in the construction sector with the capital being the most significant. To overcome this, Kenyans build privately in a gradual fashion. This approach presents a challenge for homeowners and contractors who cannot plan and price accurately due to the start-stop nature of private home construc...

For established banks that want to expand into the mass market, digital financial services are an obvious choice. What the digital financial services (DFS) strategy and implementation should look like is less given. There are many options in terms of business models, technology and approaches, and it is easy to get lost in a rapidly evolving market environment. Digital financial services have fundamentally changed the financial sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. The number and variety of financial service providers have increased as a new market for affordable and accessible services and products have emerged. Long gone are the days when banks were exclusive buildings on the Main Streets of larger cities only, catering mainly to corporate and wealthy clients. Low-income people, small-scale entrepreneurs and rural populations that were previously considered too risky and too expensive to the bank are now the growth market. This blog focuses on a commercial bank in Africa,  prov...