Impact of Information Technology in Business Communication
*IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS COMMUNI*CATION We are in the midst of a third major revolution in human civilization. First there was the Agricultural Revolution, then the Industrial Revolution, and now we are in the Information Revolution. Information and communication technology and a world wide system of information exchange has been building growth for over a hundred years and physical technology and industry is not slowing down in growth - rather it is accelerating. Information technology (IT) is playing a crucial role in contemporary society. It has transformed the whole world into a global village with a global economy, which is increasingly dependant on the creative management and distribution of information. Globalization of world economies has greatly enhanced the values of information to business organizations and has offered new business opportunities. Today, IT provides the communication and analytical power that organizations need for conducting trade and managing business at global level with much ease. To coordinate their worldwide network of suppliers, distributors and consumers, organizations have developed global information systems that can track orders, deliveries, and payments round the clock. This has been possible because of the development of IT in its present form. In the broadest sense, information technology refers to both the hardware and software that are used to store, retrieve, and manipulate information. At the lowest level you have the servers each with an operating system. Installed on these servers are things like database and web serving software. The servers are connected to each other and to users via a network infrastructure. And the users accessing these servers have their own hardware, operating systems, and software tools. Also known as information and communication technology (ICT), IT is defined as the technology required for information processing. In particular, the use of computer and