How the three major functional areas of organizations are impacted by technology.
Finance, marketing, and operations are the three major functional areas of organizations (Stevenson, 2018). There is a synergy between these areas in which they are constantly collaborating to deliver positive outcomes for the business. As technology is a critical facet in life and business, the role technology plays in the three major functional areas is deeply entrenched in nearly all critical functions. Technology has increased the availability of and access to data related to business operations. These processes and data availability allow for stricter financial control systems, ability to reach a wider audience of consumers through the internet, and provide better management via increased communication methods.
Finance and accounting departments extensively use computers, excel, HR systems, and payment processing systems to conduct their routine tasks. Technology has enabled some of these things to happen with a few clicks on a laptop and tasks can be completed in minutes that used to take hours.
Marketing enables data collection of consumers and this allows demographic targeting of consumers to optimize the marketing and sales funnel. Using the internet, businesses can reach consumers all over the world through social media or e-mail.
Business operations can be based on real-time updates on the business environment. Communication devices and monitoring of company metrics can allow for real-time
How are the key aspects of operations management decision-making aided by technology?
At the crux of it, the processes introduced and improved by technology impact how decision makers receive information (Stevenson, 2018). Information is received faster and is more accurate with the use of technological assets.
Businesses can use ERPs to help optimize resource allocation across the entire organization. These systems allow for tighter control and efficient planning on inventory, staff scheduling, supplier relations, and more. As these systems have migrated to the cloud, basic training can assist most employees to get up to speed with these tools.
Relevant Example
I currently work at Microsoft within the FSI industry (Financial Services and Insurance). In my role, I assist enterprise banks and insurance companies migrate their on-premise technology resources to the cloud or optimize their cloud workloads to streamline their business. It has become critical for nearly all competitive businesses to move their technology assets to the cloud to reduce future costs of maintaining on-premise expenditures. By 2020, the market for cloud computing is expected to be $411 billion ("Global Cloud Migration Market Growth…", 2019). This shows how important this area has become – business functional areas can use these technologies to enable disaster recovery, scalability, or faster implementation and can be more competitive.
Resources
“Global Cloud Migration Market Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2019-2024: Increasing Benefits of Cloud to Organizations & Increasing Use of BYOD - ResearchAndMarkets.com.” Global Cloud Migration Market Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 2019-2024:
Increasing Benefits of Cloud to Organizations & Increasing Use of BYOD - ResearchAndMarkets.com | Business Wire, 27 Mar. 2019, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190327005366/en/Global-Cloud-Migration-Market-Growth-Trends-Forecasts.
Stevenson, W. J. (2018). Operations Management. (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.