What’s Information Technology
Information technology is the employment and application of the computer system to process, manage and distribute information. Usage of IT in this context involves both hardware and software components.
Some major benefits of Information Technology in various areas are listed below:
Speed and Accuracy in information Processing
With the use of IT more work can be achieved by individuals, businesses, services and government organisations. Function enhancement programs such as word processors, database programs and spreadsheets will get work done in less time with increased accuracy and efficiency.
Global Social Interaction
IT has made global social and cultural interaction very simple. This is evident with the emergence and success of social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreso VoIP Telecoms, the use of information technology has eliminated language barriers with technologies such as language translators.
Entertainment
The introduction and usage of hi-tech applications and gadgets such as iTunes, iPod and iPone has been revolutionary. Downloading, buying, playing and organising, music, videos, movies and TV shows has been made super easy and accessible. The gallant advancement of information technology through history puts the planet in your palm with technologies such as iPad and Amazon Kindle.
Communication
The aftereffect of information technology on universal communication is phenomenal. Telecommunication moved beyond the use of basic technologies. With the advancement of the Internet and technologies such as VoIP (Voice over IP), organizations, businesses and individuals can communicate any moment from different parts of the planet through video and voice calls, web conferencing, seminars and virtual meetings.
Economic Advancement
An important step to global economic advancement is the removal of distance and time barriers caused by the applying of information technology to purchasing and selling of goods and services (e-commerce). E-commerce gave room for tiny, small and big business players to emerge. Interconnection of businesses is manufactured painless. Thousands of local, national and international businesses and enterprises will have what is known as ‘web presence’ and are now able to reach wider audience.
Education
Education moved far beyond the use of bricks and mortal classrooms or traditional blackboards. The planet is currently in the era of e-learning, using technologies such as VLEs (Virtual Learning Environments). Students might have access to all teaching materials and resources online; take part in virtual classrooms realtime or asynchronously.
Health
The use of IT has generated an overall improvement in quality, safety and efficiency in the medical care delivery system. The medical care sector is positively impacted by the use of electronic health records, virtual healthcare team technologies, telemedicine, e-health grids and various specialist medical care information systems.
Information technology had brought phenomenal changes to all part of life. The positive impact has been global and the change keeps growing exponentially. However, the disadvantages can not be ignored. An important menace caused by IT is security and drastic reduction in privacy.