Other Areas

ICT is used in many areas of business to try and improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Examples of ICT use within a business are:

• Electronic communications between departments and people outside of the business, for example through the use of e-mail and the Intranet/Internet. This provides a quick and cheap method of communication.
• Facilities to share common data, such as, stores records, employee records, financial data and orders. This allows different departments within the business to view information held on a central computer and thus help with their planning for the future.
• Security systems must be put in place, for example, virus protection, backup against loss, confidentiality/password protection. These are important as they will prevent information being lost due to viruses, or stolen by hackers.
• On-line support for customers, such as, on-line sales, order progress checks, new product details, and customer query response. This will make it easier for customers to buy from the business which may lead to an increase in sales.