Internet of Things and Social Media: Tools of a Successful Information Organization.
Majstorovic, Vlado ; Rakic, Kresimir
Internet of Things and Social Media: Tools of a Successful Information Organization.
1. Introduction
Proper functioning of the organization and achievement of the
desired goals is possible only through the contribution of the
information system that provides the raw material and the information
necessary to establish the goals, tasks, powers and responsibilities of
the management. Information represents essential support in
decision-making and communication [1].
Most of the employees, at their workplace, are exposed to some form
of information technology (IT). IT represents a conglomerate of
microelectronics, computers, telecommunications and software, which
enable input, processing and distribution of information. IT is the
fundamental tool of many organizations' strategies and key factor
that enable their efficient work and their competitiveness in the
market. It helps in gathering data and creating information that is
useful in making business decisions. New IT enables today's
personal computers to use multiple media such as sound, text and video,
as well as access to remote databases, leading to a revolution in the
joint work of people with the aim to create a successful organization.
The most significant changes in work and business that are brought
by the IT are: work in groups, the ability to work outside the office,
the creation of non-hierarchical organizations and the outsourcing of a
part of business to external organizations. IT today becomes a strategic
element in the development of the organization and the society in
general, and they are also transformed into one of basic management
resources. Today, the organization from the point of view of modern
management, becomes so dependent on information processes, flow of
information and the application of modern technologies that it can
rightly be called an "information organization".
The information organization arises from the traditional one by
application of business processes reengineering. This organization
introduces the new principle of the communication range instead of the
classic principle of the control range. This means that unnecessary
management levels are eliminated, i.e. workers who do not work but
coordinate others work, and those who actually produce remain. The
supervision function is partially performed by the IT. The information
flow is circular--information is shared between subordinates and
superiors. Also, they travel faster and easier, without unnecessary
paperwork. Responsibility and initiative are brought down to
"lower" levels.
Information-based organizations need a large number of expert staff
who can work with an information system (transactional system, decision
support system and/or expert system). The individual takes
responsibility for his job and does it the way he knows, without
interruption of his superior. The care for human capital is handled
within the Human Resources Department.
The information organization is trying to respond as quickly as
possible to the needs of its clients. They bind people for a particular
client and always have to be available to them. This is helped by an
information system for providing and exchanging information about the
client and reporting to the supervisors about the performance of the
business. Since information organizations manage knowledge, a new type
of manager--Chief Knowledge Officer is provided to ensure knowledge
development. The increasing reliance on technologies in contemporary
organisations makes it vitally important to increase the capacity to
plan for and manage technological change [2].
Two exciting new directions, that can contribute to more successful
collection and management of data important for the organization, are
the technology of the Internet of Things (IoT) and communication through
social media. In the following chapters, we will discuss the features of
these two innovations in the traditional way of using data in an
organization.
2. Internet of Things in modern organization
The pace of technological progress in today's industrial
society is essentially dictated by microelectronics and computer
technology. Computers are becoming much smaller, inexpensive, last even
longer, and part of everyday items: a table, our clothing, our
environment and even our bodies can become computers and connected to
Internet [3].
Using of sensors to monitor the condition of equipment and the work
environment is not a novelty. However, connecting these sensors with the
Internet and insights into the collected data revolutionizes almost all
imaginable industries, from healthcare and retail to transportation and
manufacturing. This new technology, technology of the IoT, even changes
the way cities work. IoT supplies organizations with systematic insights
to encourage smarter decisions and work processes, and to achieve better
results.
The basic concept of the IoT is that everyday objects can be
equipped with identifying, sensory, network and process capabilities
that will enable them to communicate with each other, as well as to
communicate with other devices and services over the Internet in order
to achieve some useful purpose. IoT represents an evolution of the use
of existing technologies, such as RFID technology, sensor networks,
device communication, etc., in terms of number and type of device, as
well as networking of these devices over the Internet.
The potential benefits of the IoT are almost unlimited and new
applications are being developed every day. There are a number of
different sensors that can be used in IoT applications, such as [4]:
* Sound sensors,
* Machine vision sensors and optical ambient light sensors,
* Light sensors,
* Acceleration and tilt sensors,
* Position and presence sensors,
* Movement, speed and shift sensors,
* Moisture, temperature and humidity sensors,
* Leakage and level sensors,
* Electric and magnetic sensors,
* Other sensors.
According to Cisco forecasts, IoT will make up to 500 billion
devices connected to the Internet by 2030, which will ultimately improve
productivity, create new business models, and generate new revenue
streams [5].
Organizations that are willing to replicate the success of using
the IoT must be aware of the fact that each initiative will consist of
three steps [6]:
* In the first step, the organization should figure out the way to
use IoT data about clients, associates, partners, and others. This step,
commonly, consists of simple analysis and standard projects that are
common within the industry as they bring clear added value.
* In the second step of implementation of the IoT, collected data
begins to produce information that helps organizations launch projects
that will differentiate them from competitors and provide them with
unique features.
* In the final step, the organization has the opportunity to use
its investment in IoT to develop new, exciting projects that change its
business model. At this stage, organizations can really be separated
from the competition.
In a modern company, employees can carry radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags so they can be easily located in a case of
emergency evacuation, and the management can identify potential
bottlenecks in the work process.
For productivity analysis of employees, it is possible to use the
cameras together with the software for tracking and analysing the video.
The system can be linked to whiteboards, and the facility can be
equipped with televisions that will provide work information about work
team productivity to identify potential areas for improving the process.
Public security in the organization's facilities is another
part in which IoT can play an important role. Capabilities of personal
identification, audio and video analytics including face recognition and
license plate readers, associated with cloud-based reporting systems
will help prevent crime.
3. Potential benefit of using social media in organization
communication
While there is still a certain caution on their application, the
new media also affects the traditional media and the behaviour of
information media users within organizational communications. As with
traditional media channels, new media have their own advantages and
disadvantages, and careful consideration is needed to optimally exploit
their capabilities [7].
Using social media, public opinion communicates itself and reaches
a significant targeted audience. In this way, the classical target
audience of the organization is activated, ant it is not satisfied with
just receiving and consuming information, but it also provides its
contribution to data interpretation and commentary. Using social media
also changes internal communication within the organization. By
communicating through social media, employees contribute to the company
public image [8] and create a feeling of belonging to the group. Outside
the organization employees are perceived as real ambassadors of the
company.
The challenge for the organization is to find ways to make their
traditional communication structure more flexible and to enable
successful integration of social media in it.
In order to determine the position of social media in communication
within an organization, it is necessary to emphasize their
particularities. Social networks represent a set of Internet
applications based on the ideological and technological principles of
Web 2.0 and enable the creation and exchange of user-generated content
[9]. Web 2.0 is defined as a business revolution in the computer
industry caused by moving to the Internet as a platform and attempting
to understand the rules for success on this new platform [10]. We can
say that Web 2.0 allows the transition from a reading web towards
writing/reading web, a web filled with user-generated content which
allows the usage of web application. Web 2.0 tools give communication
professionals the opportunity to become more and more innovative and
creative and add increasing value to the business [11].
Social media represents, so called, "me" communication,
challenging communicators to use them to stimulate employee engagement,
provide relevant information, and discover staff attitudes, insights and
problems. Once students' informal tool has become a robust platform
that connects billions of people around the world every day [12]. They
represent new electronic communication channels based on the virtual
environment: blogs, podcasts, wiki encyclopaedias, chat rooms,
discussion forums, RSS feeds, web sites, social networks and other media
that encourage dialogue. It is important for modern organization to find
a way to fully exploit the vast potential of these modern communication
media.
4. Conclusion
The amount of data, collected and shared within the organization,
is getting bigger. In the planning of information infrastructure, it is
necessary to look at it several years in advance, and it is almost
impossible to estimate the future needs for the data space that
organization will need. It is therefore important to find scalable and
flexible storage solutions that can grow along with the deployment level
of IoT. Cloud-based storage, whose size can easily be increased or
reduced, is one of the possible solutions to this problem.
Social media has undergone substantial evolution in the new
millennium. Its technology development will continue and soon it will
include new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual
reality, and augmented reality. By developing social media
opportunities, their potential for contributing to effective
organizational knowledge management is growing. Organizations need to
adapt to the new social media capabilities for an effective approach to
creating, sharing, and analysing knowledge.
DOI: 10.2507/28th.daaam.proceedings.040
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