From a business perspective, an information system provides a solution to a problem or challenge facing a firm and provides real economic value to the business. The decision to build or maintain an information system assumes that the returns on this investment will be superior to other investments in buildings, machines, or other assets. These superior returns will be expressed as:
- Increased productivity
- Increased Revenues
- Superior long-term strategic Positioning
As already mentioned information systems collects data from environment and produces information. This information is useful for managers to perform managerial tasks such as planning, coordinating, controlling and decision making. On the other hand information produced by these systems will be helpful to different business processes such as supply- chain management, customer relationship management, and knowledge management. Combination of these two perspectives ultimately helps in increasing firm‘s profitability and achieving strategic position. There are three ways an information system can add value to a business:
- Help managers make better decisions
- Help make business processes more efficient
- Increase profitability
Figure: The Business Information Value Chain