Chief Information Officer (CIO) - Answers The individual in charge of the information systems
function.
Digitization - Answers The process by which content and processes become expressed and performed
in digital form.
End Users - Answers Those individuals who have direct contact with software applications as they use
them to carry out specific tasks.
Information System - Answers Formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect,
process, store, and distribute information.
Information Technology (IT) - Answers Hardware, software, and telecommunication equipment.
IT Professionals - Answers Those employees of the firm who have significant technical training and
are primarily responsible for managing the firm's technology assets.
Manager - Answers A knowledge worker of modern business and not-for-profit organizations who is
in charge of a team, functional area, an entire organization, or a business unit.
Polymediation - Answers The process of convergence of multiple digital devices into one.
Effectiveness - Answers The ability to achieve stated goals or objectives. Typically, a more effective
firm is one that makes better decisions and is able to carry them out successfully.
Efficiency - Answers The ability to limit waste and maximize the ratio of the output produced to the
inputs consumed. In other words, a firm is more efficient when it produces more with the same
amount of resources, produces the same with fewer resources, or produces more with fewer
resources.
External Environment - Answers The world outside the firm that creates influences, such as
regulation, the competitive landscape, and general business and social trends.
Firm Culture - Answers The collection of beliefs, expectations, and values shared by the members of
an organization.
Firm Strategy - Answers The manner in which the organization intends to achieve its objectives.
IT Infrastructure - Answers The set of shared IT resources and services of the firm, forming a firm's
technological backbone, that constrains and enables opportunities for future information systems
implementations.
Organizational Structure - Answers The organizational design, reporting, and relationships within the
information system.
Process - Answers The series of steps necessary to complete an organizational activity.
Systemic Effects - Answers The notion that different components of a system are interdependent and
that change in one component affects all other components of the system.
Business Integration - Answers The unification or creation of tight linkages among the diverse but
connected business activities carried out by individuals, groups, and departments within an
organization.
Business Intelligence (BI) - Answers The ability to gather and make sense of information about your
business. Encompasses the set of techniques, processes, and technologies designed to enable
managers to gain superior insight into and understanding of their business and thus make better
decisions.
Business Intelligence Infrastructure - Answers The set of applications and technologies designed
create, manage, and analyze large repositories of data in an effort to extract value from them.
Business Process - Answers The series of steps that a firm performs in order to complete an economic
activity.
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) - Answers A managerial approach calling for a process view of
organizational activities. The BPR methodology calls for internal business integration and seeks
dramatic performance improvements through rationalization of activities and the elimination of
duplication efforts across separate functions and units.
Cloud Computing - Answers The use of the Internet as gateway for pooling IT resources.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Answers A strategic orientation that calls for iterative
processes designed to turn customer data into customer relationships through active use of, and by
learning from, the information collected.
Database - Answers A self-describing collection of related records.
Database Management System (DBMS) - Answers A software program (or collection of programs)
that enables and controls access to a database.