So to succeed in business today, including any e-business initiatives, companies
need information systems that can support the diverse information and decision making
needs of their managers and business professionals. In this section, we will
explore in more detail how this is accomplished by several types of management
information, decision support, and executive information systems. We will concentrate
our attention on how the Internet, intranets, and other Web-enabled information
technologies have significantly strengthened the role information systems
play in supporting the decision-making activities of every manager and knowledge
worker in business. Artificial intelligence is making its way back to the mainstream of corporate technology.
Designed to leverage the capabilities of humans rather than replace them, today’s
AI technology enables an extraordinary array of applications that forge new connections
among people, computers, knowledge, and the physical world. AI-enabled applications
are at work in information distribution and retrieval, database mining, product
design, manufacturing, inspection, training, user support, surgical planning, resource
scheduling, and complex resource management.
Indeed, for anyone who schedules, plans, allocates resources, designs new products,
uses the Internet, develops software, is responsible for product quality, is an investment
professional, heads up IT, uses IT, or operates in any of a score of other capacities and
arenas, new AI technologies already may be in place and providing competitive
advantage [56]. |