Introduction to information systems T. Cornford, M. Shaikh is1 060 2013

Activity
Draw up a table showing the advantages and disadvantages for a medium-sized business 
of: 
1. Writing their own software for managing their financial accounts.
2. Purchasing and configuring a package for this task to run on their own computers.
3. Customising a package by adding extensive changes and extensions.
4. Outsourcing the whole information processing task to another company or contractor.
For each option, try to give an illustrative example of a type of information system need 
and/or circumstance that might make each choice appropriate. 
Do some research online to allow you to explain the difference between configuration 
and customisation of a software package.
4.6 Communications technologies and distributed 
systems
Reading activity
Read Chapter 7 Laudon and Laudon (2013) and Chapters 4 and 5 of Curtis and Cobham 
(2008).
Modern information systems rely on the technology of communications 
as much as on the traditional technology of computers and data handling. 
It is common for the information systems of organisations to need 
multiple elements in many geographical locations – distributed systems. 
For example, an oil company with sites on five continents would expect 
to be able to share information and build common systems to help run 
the business. This would all be based on a set of interlocking networks 
in buildings, on oil rigs, in refineries and across oceans. The benefits of 
being able to develop such systems might be more efficient operations, 
more sharing of information and the use of standard procedures. The use 
of a distributed approach extends beyond one organisation, and networks 
become a part of the way organisations do business with each other. For 
example, through a B2B e-commerce application an oil company might 
take orders for chemicals from its main customers or reserve wharf space 
for its tankers in various ports.
The internet – the network of networks that we all have access to and 
through which we can all share information – has provided an even 
stronger impetus for using communications in information systems. (For 
information on the history of the internet try www.internetsociety.org/
internet/what-internet/history-internet/) Today this communications 
medium – ‘the net’ – is seen by many as both the principal new challenge 
and the most exciting opportunity for building and using information 
systems. In the case above, the oil company may well use the internet 
as the basis for their distributed business systems, but they will almost 
certainly be concerned that the internet is too open and vulnerable 

---

IS1060 Introduction to information systems
60
to serve as a basis for their business. One means to provide secure 
communications across the internet is to use the technology of virtual 
private networks (VPN).