Role of Technology Management Practices

Innovation contributes greatly to the success of a business. In modern digital age, innovation means doing something differently. It means incorporating current trends of technology to enable the company to become more efficient. Positive change can be brought about by use of the appropriate technology. Through the use of technology, more value is created in the business. Information technology is currently one the most recent innovative strategies. It has had a dramatic effect on business management and the way of doing things. A multinational company like the Fly Emirates maintain its mainframe system and database using information technology. The effectiveness and the use of technology in management can be assessed by looking at how the company conducts its business with the expectations of growing and creating a competitive edge in the industry. The analysis can be done by looking at the company’s operations. Through the use of technology, the management arm of the business can conduct its functions using the wide range of hardware and software solutions. These functions include communication, planning, monitoring, and control. Effective use of technology enables the firm to gain the relative competitive advantage over its competitors.

Definition of Terms

Technology is defined as a collection of skill methods and processes used in the production of goods and services (Baltzan, 2012).

Management is the discipline that coordinates the efforts of people and workers to achieve set organizational goals (Baltzan, 2012).

Information technology (IT) is the discipline that applies telecommunications equipment and computers to manipulate, store, transmit, and retrieve data. It mostly falls in many organizations under the genre of information communication technology (Baltzan, 2012).

MIS is an abbreviation for management information systems.

Business intelligence (BI) is a set of technical knowledge that seeks to help executive managers in the running of business.

GIS is geographic information system.

Literature Review

Technology has been known to have various positive impacts on the running of any business (Escobar-Rodriguez & Monge-Lozano, 2012). It also refers to a collection of tools that make it simpler to create, manage, and exchange information. In the older and earlier times, human beings used tools that were not modern. Most of the processes in business were done manually. However, man has used and discovered new technology throughout the evolution process. Such approach has led to the simplification of tasks (Escobar-Rodriguez & Monge-Lozano, 2012). Thus, technology has remained a dynamic item. Every day new advancements are invented and more technological discoveries are made. Technology helps a human being to adapt to the ever-changing environment. The development of high technology including the computers and mobile phones have made communication and execution of business transactions easier.

Business intelligence is very important in any organization in the period of dynamic technology. It helps the management gather information both internally and externally. It also helps the management make more decisions that have clarity. By using business intelligence, managers are able to analyze data from various reports obtained from various departments. This saves not only time but also enhances smooth decision-making mechanisms. For a business to succeed, competitive advantage can be gained by the use of business intelligence. The success of any business is heavily based on key decisions being made by the management. Therefore, it is important that the business enhances the management arm to achieve greater growth and success.

Technology has had its fair share of demerits including encouraging pollution of the environment. However, the merits of the business have outweighed its demerits. In a business set up, technology has been known to improve it greatly. The improvement in communication has been experienced. As a result of new technology, office workers and the management have improved to a great extent. This has been due to having better ways of communication, and people are not limited to the traditional ways of interacting. Using electronic mail via internet enables workers to communicate with each other effectively and without any interruptions. Files such as video clips can be attached making the message to be more emphasized where needed. Video conferencing has also made meetings to take the place of individuals who may not necessarily be in the same geographical area. Clients have also had better services available including online customer care and around the clock support.

The human resources department has also significantly been boosted by technology. Screening and recruitment of workers are now done electronically. The business also uses internet to advertise posts and receive some posts from prospective employees. Certificates and workers’ profiles can be reviewed online making the business be a better place. In the past, the letters were written manually, and this had a negative effect since it delayed and even made the system very inefficient. An appraisal is also done electronically. Workers can be assessed by the use of technology.

How It Works

Efficiency has been enhanced in an organization by the use of technology. Office technology enables the filing system to be more efficient by keeping soft copies as opposed to hard copies of documents. This saves space and makes retrieving of such files easier. Information technology makes the company records to be available at the click of a button.

Telecommunications technology is very useful in the reduction of disadvantages that are brought about by geographical isolation. Through the use of technology, a business can reach its clients who are far from the center of production. The internet cafés gives market-based points of access. Consumers can order for and pay goods and services electronically, and this eliminates inefficiency.

In the financial management of a business, its arm has been enhanced. The company can manage its resources better, and this included the access of capital. Under a new technological dispensation, a firm can access financing through issuing shares and debentures. The workers are also paid via the creation of a digital automated payroll. This eliminates the need to manually filling in the pay forms of individual workers. A payroll is a digital list of employees that takes into account their total salaries and any tax remittance to the government.

A Brief Description of the Fly Emirates Company

The Fly Emirates is a multinational airline company that operates all around the globe. It, however, has its origin and the headquarter based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates Group is a parent company that owns the Fly Emirates airline as a subsidiary company. An operation of about 3300 flights makes the company the largest airline in the Middle East. Further, it tops as the largest cargo carrier based on the number of kilometers it flies. Statistically, the airline is rated to be the biggest airline in the world based in terms of a number of passengers who use it. It is also the largest airline in the world in terms of the passenger flow (Karp, 2013). This makes the Fly Emirates a considerably successful company when it comes to the services rendered to its customers. The revenue collected by the company makes it the biggest airline company in the Middle East.

The company was founded in the early 1980s and received the backing of Dubai’s Royal Family. Pakistan airlines provide two airlines on wet lease to the company. It had a startup capital of about $10 million (Karp, 2013). Pakistan airlines provided cabin crew training to its members. Fly Emirates has established itself in using the Boeings and the Airbuses. Also, it has been successful growing its revenue every financial year and increasing its asset base. While most airline companies were facing mega losses, this company has progressed while expanding its base globally.

The Fly Emirates were chosen as a suitable study case due to the steady growth and the incorporation of technology in its management (Karp, 2013). The company has used the latest technology not only in the management but also in its operation. It uses jets that are less likely to affect the environment negatively and the latest technology in fueling them. It is a multinational company, hence making it easier to study its use of technology in its management arm (Karp, 2013).

Discussion

Information technology is a subset of greater sphere of technology (Westerman, George, Didier & Andrew, 2014). The company has made various strides in the field of technology and has successfully integrated it in the following ways to help the management:

Expert System

This is computer application in solving problems requiring comprehensive human expertise (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). It emulates a normal human approach in ability and cognitively comes up with the best decisions. The system makes and draws conclusions and decisions from the knowledge represented in the database.

Applications of this system in the business are important since they are faster and cheaper than human power (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). Adopting an expert system allows the marketing department to narrow its interests to specific objectives of the department and those of the organization. This could improve customer relations and increase the number of sales, hence creating a competitive edge for the firm in industry. The Fly Emirates has effectively applied this system to its decision making though the expert system that the company has created a competitive advantage over its rivals by ensuring that customer needs are met effectively (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). The organization has around the clock customer support. One can also book tickets and flights online. This makes the company and the management more efficient compared to its rivals.

Decision Support System

This is a computer-based technology that supports the company’s decision-making. This system is used for recurring problems (Kotelnikov 2007). It is important for the management department since it allows managers and employees plan and solve problems as they occur. The organization should set up such a system to enable it identify and make quick decisions in order to avoid making losses or being left behind by competitors (Kotelnikov, 2007).  The system allows the management to plan effectively and has plans that outdo the competition in the market. In modern uncertain world, this system is very crucial since it helps managers develop the best decisions that suit the market. It can either be fully computerized or integrate human reasoning in it. It supports the organizational processes. It is made effective by collecting all the information about the company and feeding it to a computer. It helps decision makers within the company to collect required information from raw data (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). It makes use of all the data that the company has in stored archives in order to come up with relevant reference points. Such points make the system arrive at the best decisions (Kotelnikov, 2007). It is also suitable due to its wide range of data and accuracy. Being very efficient, the Fly Emirates has made the use of this system to help focus on the relevant data and decisions (Kotelnikov, 2007). Since the company has gone global, it may be difficult to manually compile all the relevant information at the headquarters. However, the company makes use of this system in order to offer the best decisions for its various market segments that are distributed all over the world.

Executive Information System

In a company that has destinations across all the world and employees from the whole globe, the use of this system is very effective (Kotelnikov, 2007) because a manager can easily keep track of what is going on around the globe. Since the manager may not have the time to read reports filed at all destinations, he/she uses the executive information system. It is a specialized information system that is used to make top-level decisions in management. It improves significantly the strategic decisions made by the manager and the management at large. A senior manager is responsible for various roles that include defining the organization’s vision and mission (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). The system is made to enhance the above and simplifies the work of the managers. This system is also important for senior managers in the marketing department. This enables them to make strategic decisions in the department. Moreover, the system enables managers to use the information available in MIS and allow them to communicate with external sources. The system enables senior managers to access information faster and specify accurate information that enables them to find solutions to departmental and organizational problems. An executive information system is unique decision-making system (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). It combines all critical information from all the areas of the organization. In an airline business, the airplane has various parts that have to be inspected and ascertained before takeoff. This system is very important since it helps the inspectors make sure that no critical parts are skipped and any upcoming issues are dealt with appropriately (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). The Fly Emirates uses this system to inspect the flights and also to fix the scheduled flights. The management of the company makes sure that the safety measures for passengers are maintained as well. The making of strategic goals is enhanced since the management arm has access to critical information. It features graphical displays with an easy usage of interface.

Management Information System

Management information system is a computerized database of financial information (Dunning, 2013). It is programmed in such a way that it provides regular reports at every level of management within company. The system can also draw special reports at the discretion of the management. The main purpose of this system is the ability of managers to get feedbacks on the organization’s performance. The top level management can monitor the whole organization from the headquarters (Dunning, 2013). The system is important for a marketing department in its efforts to gain the competitive edge in industry. It allows decision makers and personnel in the department to make structured, recurring, and routine decisions that include incentives to salespersons and market promotions. MIS will ensure that operations are efficient in the department and are performed according to the organizational objectives. This system is available in TPD and converts it into a meaningful form that the marketing managers could use in order to create a competitive edge (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). The Fly Emirates has been able to use the system to manage its multinational base from its headquarters in Dubai. This system is very useful in the management of the multinational issues and can also be used  in accessing the track records of all employees and departments (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014).

Transactional Processing System

This is a system that gathers information about the transactions and makes it easier to process them. It is useful in many companies that transactions being carried out in a batch. The batch does not require the user to be present (Dunning, 2013). It ensures that there is no delay in the processing of transactions. This delay is experienced in businesses that do not use the system since the transactions have to be organized and systematically executed. The companies that are involved in shipping find this technology favorable because the information from the warehouses will be easily retrieved by the management. The business transactions with clients are also made easier since they are arranged and executed with minimum costs. The goods that have similar destinations are shipped together (Westerman, Bonnet, & McAfee, 2014). The management of a company can also use the system to enhance the processing of transactions that has not necessarily be done with shipping. The Fly Emirates receives volumes of transactions from both individuals and corporations. The company makes use of this system to enhance its sales department. Since the booking of flights can now be done online, the system is very useful. This type of system is also utilized in a marketing department to ensure that records are kept and updated regularly in order to ensure that decisions are made using up-to-date information. Transaction processing system ensures automation of data which is easier than using manual methods, thus saving cost and time. Installation of this system makes sure that accuracy is maintained from the initial stages of data processing.

Geographic Information Systems

This is a technology system designed to store and analyze current geographical data. It has an abbreviation of GIS (Sako, 2012). In any multinational business, the use of this technology gives the company a competitive cutting edge because the management can use the system to gather data from the global outlets and make better decisions. The system can record the times and the coordinates of a particular area. It can also create valuable correlations about the data collected, and the useful data can be obtained through this relationship. The system is very useful in the airline business since the flights involve moving to different areas around the globe (Dunning, 2013). This is a system that visualizes information, analyzes it, and displays data in a form of digitized maps. This system is important to marketing managers, especially when segmenting the market (Sako, 2012). The managers require knowledge about the geographic distribution of people, their needs and wants. The various countries have specific needs in terms of flight schedules. The management of the Fly Emirates airline uses this technology to customize the flight schedules. The system is also used to make flight tickets competitive compared to the rivals (Sako, 2012).

Customer Decision Support System

This is a system that allows the management of a business to make valuable decisions about their customers. The latter includes the pricing of goods and services and customer preferences. Having many satisfied customers is the key to success in various industries. Therefore, any business strives for satisfying the needs of all customers and helping them make their decisions. The customer decision support system is important to the managers in order to ensure retention of existing customers and attraction of the new ones (Sako, 2012). The department could be in a position of providing a platform where customers can interact directly with organizational personnel and making it possible to select products and services (Sako, 2012). The system includes company website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials, and social media. This system gives an opportunity  for staff to access detailed information on customer personal information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns. This gives an organization a competitive advantage over its rival companies. The Fly Emirates has effectively used this system, especially in the websites. It has a live chat, and this enables the management record the feedbacks from customers. The customers can also make propositions about the way the company can improve its services. This helps the management in the decision making of strategic planning and forging ahead. This strategy has helped the Fly Emirates to continually improve its systems by ensuring that the company knows the tastes and presence of its customers (Sako, 2012).

Conclusion

The Emirates has effectively employed technology in its operation. This has ensured that the company meets the customer needs while making sure that the management arm of the business is effective. The efficient integration of technology can enable the company to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. However, technology has some disadvantages. This can be a basis for future research by focusing on the negative effects of technology in terms of the management of a given firm. The researcher can focus on a given issue, e.g. the negative effects of technology on the morale of employees. It is clear that technology may have a negative effect on the making of employees be robots and lacking the human aspects. Technically, everything in an organization can be done by use of technology. This includes human aspects such as thinking as well. Employees may feel threatened by this to a great extent. Therefore, there is a need for research in order to override the negative aspects of technology with this perspective in mind.