Introduction

In the digital age, information systems are the linchpin of nearly every facet of our personal and professional lives. From managing our social interactions to powering businesses, education, and government operations, information systems are the backbone of our modern world. In this blog, we will delve into the world of information systems, examining their fundamental concepts, components, types, and the critical role they play in our daily existence.

What Are Information Systems?

An information system (IS) is a broad term that encompasses the hardware, software, data, people, and processes used to manage and process information within an organization or for personal use. Information systems enable the collection, storage, retrieval, processing, and dissemination of data to support decision-making, communication, and various business processes.

An Information System (IS) is typically considered to be a set of interrelated elements or components that can collect (input), manipulate (processes), and disseminate (output) data and information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet an objective.

In today’s world, information systems are indispensable to businesses, industries, and organizations, to meet the future challenges. Organizations need ISs to meet the information needs of its employees. More and more business organizations are using information systems to improve the way they conduct business, as discussed below:

IS, for many businesses, provide an opportunity to do business in a new way and thus gain huge profits and market shares.
ISs facilitate the acquisition, transformation, and distribution of information.ISs can improve decision making, enhance organizational performance, and help increase profitability.
The use of information systems to add value to the organization can also give an organization a competitive advantage.It provides significant, long-term benefit to a company over its competition. ISs are used for strategic planning in a competitive world.It allows changing the structure,creating of new services, and improving upon the existing services.
Damaged or lost data can cause disruptions in normal business activities leading to financial losses, law suits, etc. ISs help an organization to better manage and secure its critical data.
ISs also improve integration and the work processes.
Managing and controlling operations of an organization located in different countries becomes almost impossible without the support of an efficient IS.

Components of Information Systems

1. Hardware: The physical devices and equipment that make up the information system, including computers, servers, networking equipment, and peripherals.

2. Software: The applications and programs that run on the hardware, such as operating systems, databases, and various software applications.

3. Data: Information and data are the lifeblood of information systems. This includes structured data (like databases) and unstructured data (such as text, images, and multimedia content).

4. People: The individuals who use, manage, and maintain the information system, including end-users, IT professionals, and stakeholders.

5. Procedures: The documented processes and rules that guide the use, management, and operation of the information system.

Types of Information Systems

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS): TPS are intended to capture and report regular daily business transactions that take place within an organization. They are frequently involved in payroll and order processing, among other activities, as applicable in accounting and finance.
Management Information Systems (MIS): MIS gather, manipulate, and aggregate data from TPS to add support for managerial decision making. They do give comprehensive, periodic reports and often focus on the internal running of operations.
Decision Support Systems (DSS): DSS help in complicated, uncommon decision-making. They offer many options in terms of data sources, models and analysis tools.
Executive Information Systems (EIS): They enable top management to use strategic information in tackling long-term commitments.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems: Features of typical ERP systems include integration of different functions and business processes throughout the company, finance, human resources , manufacturing and supply chain management.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems: CRM systems are designed to promote effective management of interactions that an organization has with its existing and potential customers; hence, this ensures customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Business Intelligence (BI) Systems: BI systems apply data analysis tools and techniques in the transformation of qualitative into quantitative data that can be used to make informed decision.

Classification of information systems

Information systems can be classified broadly as operations support system and management support systems.Classification tree of a typical information system is shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1

Operations Support Systems: Operations support systems process data generated by business operations has the following categories:

Transaction processing systems
Process control systems
Office automation systems

The features of Operations support systems are:

Transaction Processing Systems:Process business exchanges, Maintain records about the exchanges, Handle routine and critical tasks and Perform simple calculations.
Process Control Systems: Monitor and control industrial processes.
Office Automation Systems: Automate office procedures and enhance office communications and productivity.
Management Support Systems: Management Support Systems provide information and support needed for effective decision making by managers and has the following categories:

Management Information System
Decision Support Systems
Executive Information System

The features of Management Support Systems are:

Management Information Systems: Process Routine information for routine decisions, Increased Operational efficiency, Use transaction data as main input, Databases integrate MIS in different functional areas.
Decision Support System: Interactive support for non-routine decisions or problems, End-users are more involved in creating a DSS than an MIS.
Executive Information Systems: Provide critical information tailored to the information needs of executives.

Other categories widely used are:

Expert systems: Expert Systems are knowledge-based systems that provides expert advice and act as expert consultants to the users.
End user computing systems: End user computing systems support the direct, hands on use of computers by end users for operational and managerial applications.
Business information systems: Business information systems support the operational and managerial applications of the basic business functions of a firm.
Strategic information systems: Strategic information systems provide a firm which strategic products, services, and capabilities for competitive advantage.

The main disciplines used in IS field are Computer Science, Political Science,Psychology, Operations Research, Linguistics, Sociology and Organization theory.

Challenges and Trends in information system

Cybersecurity: As information systems become more critical, cybersecurity threats are on the rise. Protecting data and systems from cyberattacks is a top priority.
Big Data: The volume of data generated is growing exponentially, and managing, analyzing, and deriving insights from big data is a major challenge.
Cloud Computing: The shift to cloud-based information systems offers scalability, cost savings, and flexibility.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI technologies, like machine learning and natural language processing, are enhancing information systems' capabilities.

Security Issuse In Information System

The advancement of science and technology during the last century makes the basement of new inventions makes the human more inventive and productive and highly secured in Data Communications, Securing Access to resources, to prevent Hacker Attacks.

Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as “intruders”) from accessing any part of your computer system.Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.

We use computers for everything from banking and investing to shopping and communicating with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not consider your communications “top secret,” you probably do not want strangers reading your email, using your computer to attack other systems,sending forged email from your computer, or examining personal information stored on your computer (such as financial statements).

Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not care about your identity. Often, they want to gain control of your computer so they can use it to launch attacks on other computer systems. Having control of your computer gives them the ability to hide their true location as they launch attacks,often against high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems.

Even if you have a computer connected to the Internet only to play the latest games or to send email to friends and family, your computer may be a target. Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on the computer, or cause damage to your computer by reformatting your hard drive or changing your data. Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you click on them.

The methods to ensure Internet security are:

Use of firewall: Network firewalls (whether software or hardware-based) can provide some degree of protection against these attacks.
Don’t open unknown email attachments: Before opening any email attachments, be sure you know the source of the attachment.
Don’t run programs of unknown origin: Never runs a program unless you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust.
Disable hidden filename extensions: Windows operating systems contain an option to “Hide file extensions for known file types”. The option is enabled by default, but disables this option in order to have file extensions displayed by Windows. After disabling this option, there are still some file extensions that, by default, will continue to remain hidden.
Keep all applications, including your operating system, patched: Vendors will usually release patches for their software when vulnerability has been discovered. Most product documentation offers a method to get updates and patches.
Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use: Turn off the computer or disconnect its Ethernet interface when you are not using it. An intruder cannot attack your computer if it is powered off or otherwise completely disconnected from the network.
Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible: Be aware of the risks involved in the use of “mobile code” such as ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript.
Disable scripting features in email programs: Because many email programs use the same code as web browsers to display HTML,vulnerabilities that affect ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript are often applicable to email as well as web pages.
Make regular backups of critical data: Keep a copy of important files on removable media such as ZIP disks or recordable CD-ROM disks (CD-R or CD-RW disks). Use software backup tools if available, and store the backup disks somewhere away from the computer.
Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised:To aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred.

The Role of Information Systems in Our Lives

Communication: Information systems facilitate communication through email, messaging apps, social media, and video conferencing.
Education: Online learning platforms, student information systems, and e-libraries support modern education.
Healthcare: Electronic health records and medical information systems improve patient care and data management.
Business: Enterprise systems, data analytics, and e-commerce platforms are essential for modern businesses.
Government: Information systems aid in government operations, from managing public records to optimizing traffic flow in smart cities.

Conclusion

Information systems are the digital engines that propel our interconnected planet. It would be futile to state that they are limited to supporting day-to-day transactions; rather, they allow even complex decision making in virtually every sector including in our personal and professional lives. Technology will also continue developing, and information systems is going to define our future more importantly than ever, making it both the bearer of opportunities and threats alike. Information systems have altered the lives of a majority of individuals and hence, adaptation to change is a must.

What is information system (IS)? Types and components of information system