They also want to utilize their information system to collect customer information that could be used to attract and retain customers. The purpose of this chapter is to give you a good sense of how ISs are used in different business functions. This chapter should bring home the point that ISs are important in any business career, regardless of the particular field of expertise you intend to pursue. The terms effectiveness and efficiency are often used interchangeably. This is wrong.
Effectiveness is how well a job is done, whereas efficiency refers to the ratio of output to input.
The greater the ratio, the greater the efficiency. The input of time often has to do with both effectiveness and efficiency. Try to think of some examples of other business areas and how IT has been implemented to increase efficiency and effectiveness in those areas. Think about business areas at Wayland, or at any other business with which you have recently interacted that could use IT to improve a business activity. This often requires the sharing of ISs between business partners, which is the topic of our next chapter.