There is a revolution currently taking place in the information and communications landscape of the nation. In spite of this revolution the country is still lagging behind in the scheme of things.It is common knowledge that the developed countries have taken technology to unprecedented levels that Africa in general and Nigeria in particular is still just scratching the surface to attain. The importance of communications technology to a nation’s growth and advancement cannot be overemphasized. It’s the bedrock of any meaningful economic growth. It plays a very important role in the any nation’s ability to access, adapt, produce and apply information to developing human lives and capacities.

A nation’s wealth and economic power can be measured through the yardstick of its digital technological advancement. Any nation as at today that wants to be relevant in the scheme of things must embrace information communication technology ICT because it has become of utmost significance to mankind and the single most important channel through which a nation can impact positively on its citizens. ICT is now deployed by countries to drive economic growth. The boom recorded by developed countries in their economies has made the countries a first line of choice to earnest seekers of knowledge from the developing countries as a result of the power of their technology.

It is a great privilege for me to write you at this moment of great business revolution of this age.
I shall be writing on “The Information Age in which we live and the changing the face of Business” under the following subheading:

1. Management Information systems and the MIS challenge.
2. Factors shaping business today
3. The role of IT in the information Age.
4. Information as a New Business Resources
5. Our Role as a knowledge worker.

We are in the information Age A time when….

· Knowledge is power
· Knowledge workers outnumber all other workers by a 4 to 1 margin.

A knowledge worker works with and produces information as a product. As a knowledge worker, how do you work with and produce information?

Management Information Systems (MIS).. .deals with planning for, development, management, and use of information technology tools to help people perform all task related to information processing and management.

Three important organizational resources:

1. Information
2. Information technology
3. People (the most important)

What do business do?

They service their customers.
Never forget the customer is number one.
Customer moment of value is providing service ….
1. When the customer wants it (time)
Continental ….he world on time
2. Where the customer wants it (location)
3. How the customer wants it (form)
4. Guaranteed to customer (perfect delivery)

The role of information technology

Information Technology (IT) is a set of tools that can help provide the right people with the right information at the right time.

REMEMBER: what you don’t know may put you out of business.

Factors shaping Business Today

· Globalization
· Competition
· Information as a key resource
· The virtual workplace and telecommuting
· Electronic worker computing

Globalization

· Few businesses today are wholly domestic
· There are 260 million consumers in the US
· There are 5billion consumers world-wide.

A TRANSNATIONAL FIRM is a firm that produces and sells products and services in countries all over the world.

Competition

· It’s everywhere
· Globalization has increase competiton.
· IT helps small firms compete against larger ones.
· Competition is good for consumers.

INFORMATION AS A KEY RESOURCE

· We are in the information age
· Knowledge is power
· You must know your customers.
· We operate in a wants-driven economy.