Accounting Information Systems: The Processes and Controls, 2nd Edition

EXAMPLES OF IT ENABLEMENT (STUDY OBJECTIVE 6)

As described earlier, computers and IT can be used to enable business processes, and applying IT to business processes offers companies the opportunity to do business process reengineering. The manner in which companies complete their processes can be changed to take advantage of the efficiency, effectiveness, or cost savings inherent in IT systems. The examples that follow are systems applied by companies today that use IT-enabled business processes.

E-BUSINESS

E-business is the use of electronic means to enhance business processes. E-business encompasses all forms of online electronic trading—consumer-based e-commerce and business-to-business transactions, as well as the use of IT for process integration inside organizations. E-business is therefore a very broad concept that includes not only electronic trading with customers, but also servicing customers and vendors, swapping information with customers and vendors, and electronic recording and control of internal processes. IT systems, Internet and websites, as well as wireless networks, are the common means of enabling e-business to occur. E-commerce is the type of e-business that we are familiar with as consumers. Buying a book at Amazon.com and clothes at LandsEnd.com are examples of engaging in e-commerce. E-business has so many other forms that it is difficult to explain its entire breadth. Chapter 14 describes e-business in more detail.

ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE

Electronic ...