Technology and Businesses

In this day and age, People are very reliant on technology in their lifestyles.
Mp3s, phones, laptops and computers, PDAs etc. without ICT we would no have any of these gadgets that add ease to our lifestyle.

BANKS

• The use of computer technology in banks now means a smaller amount of employees are needed. Machinery is now able to do the same jobs as employees, but more efficiently and accurately
• Nowadays money can be distributed using computing, when before they would have to have sorted peoples’ wages into envelopes.
• There are less tills and therefore less staff in banks, due to the use of online banking.
• Less mistakes are made nowadays as people can type and delete, if they make any mistakes. Previously people would have had to write in sort hand or use type writers to do work. Once you make a mistake on a type writer you cannot fix this.
  Recording can also now be used, rather than people now having to rely on their memory. Word processing means that many typists and shorthand secretaries have lost their jobs.
  

STORES

• People can do their calculations online, so it is even possible to run shops single-handedly.
  

CALL CENTRES

• Call centres are usually located in other countries nowadays, such as India, here there may be a lower wage to pay (saving businesses money). The people here can speak good English, their technology is good enough for the job and they may have high unemployment rates. This relocation has meant tha t many people in the UK no longer have jobs and there a larger amount of available jobs in these overseas call centres.
• However some customers do complain that they cannot understand exactly what is being said to them and also the overseas call centres have different cultural thoughts and are attempting to explain English culture to an English person, not necessarily always correct.
  

PROCESSING DATA

• Data processing jobs are also located overseas at times because they run on different times to us. So basically these employees can receive files from the UK during the time when it is night and it is day overseas, they can complete the work and by UK daytime the work has been sent back to the UK.
• Speed of communication has been improved immensely due to computers, so this can work. We can use satellites, communication links and more to send to anywhere around the world very quickly.

Below are a few articles which show the impact of ICT in society. The first article is about the many career-related opportunities that have become available due to ICT, a positive factor in society. Therefore this is a positive article. The second article is a negative article, showing a way in which ICT has not been beneficial for our society. It talks of how ICT has in fact 'stripped'people of their career opportunities: