The Impact of Technology on Business Management
Recently, great attention has been paid to the issues of innovation and management, as companies seek to increase their efficiency and output with a minimal investment of resources. Management is actively developing, and in order to ensure competitiveness, enterprises must adopt new ideas and technologies. This is the only way not to give in to competitors in a tough fight. Digitalization and digital transformation lie at the core of the business, transforming management into a complex set of decision-making processes based on computer analysis and metadata. Comprehensive information technologies, electronic databases, and decision support systems are among the technological tools that help to make the management of an enterprise more effective. This paper hypothesizes that technology has significantly facilitated the process of decision-making and has become an integral part of managers’ working life.
Comprehensive information technologies and systems make management flexible and effective and stimulate its development. Managers, with the help of experts and consultants, using mathematical methods and appropriate software applications, thoroughly investigate situations, develop business solutions, conduct a risk assessment, and consider the probability of successful implementation of the constructed models. Such technologies as computer modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) have become an essential part of managers’ work. Computer modeling allows obtaining quantitative and qualitative results based on the created model (Bratko et al., 2021). These models help managers to make strategic management decisions, for example, to simulate the behavior of economic entities in a crisis, to assess the consequences of the implementation of various scenarios, or to predict the further course of events. Artificial intelligence is used in unstructured environments to solve non-standard tasks, for example, to reduce the degree of uncertainty when making strategic decisions, to analyze various types of data, or gain access to implicit knowledge (Raisch & Krakowski, 2021). Thus, comprehensive information technologies significantly reduce managers’ workload by facilitating the process of decision-making.
The invention and spread of electronic databases have had a significant impact on the decision-making process as an essential element of management activity. Unlike paper data banks, electronic databases can be analyzed in minutes or even seconds. The introduction of corporate databases allows managers to create and actively use corporate knowledge systems (Montaudon-Tomas et al., 2021). This deindividualizes the set of knowledge so that all employees have access to data and experience useful for solving different tasks. Nowadays, cloud databases have received great prominence as they do not only allow to store information but exchange data as well. Electronic databases can be used, for example, to analyze sets of goods, their characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses or to manage employees by looking at their personal characteristics (Montaudon-Tomas et al., 2021). Having access to such data, the manager will find it easier to approach a subordinate, even if he is a new person in the organization. Thus, databases allow managers to enhance the effectiveness of their work by compiling data into accurate sets that are easy to analyze and manage.
The ability to work with big data sets is considered one of the key skills of a modern manager of any level. The idea of working with Big Data, along with knowledge of the basics of cybersecurity and programming, is a digital competence, without which it is impossible to manage business processes these days (Dhupia et al., 2020). Among technologies that help managers to process big sets of information, the most frequently used are decision support systems (DSS), behavioral analytics systems and automated analytics systems (Phillips-Wren et al., 2021). Automated analytics systems, such as ERP, CRM, BPM, and ECM, serve for data analysis (Wingard, 2019). Decision support systems (DSS) serve to carry out a huge amount of calculations and are used, for example, in financial units or in logistics departments, to give a generalized assessment of each supplier (Phillips-Wren et al., 2021). Behavioral analytics systems are used to monitor the effectiveness of employees, for example their emotional state, or the level of motivation and involvement. Thus, the systems that work with big data allow managers to significantly reduce the time they spend on calculations as well as to get the full picture of the finance or logistics system of an enterprise.
Digital transformation includes digital tools used in all spheres of business activities and is capable of radically changing business processes and ways companies interact with customers.
Digital transformation not only changes the way firms build relationships with customers, but the way they create products; it affects every aspect of management, including project management (Verina & Titko, 2019). Tools such as Slack and Chanty are used to create a virtual space where the main interaction between managers and team members takes place (López et al., 2021). These tools create virtual environment to exchange ideas and data and can serve, for example, to organize conferences between colleagues from different places (Staňková, 2019). In a remote work environment, it is more difficult for a manager to control team members. Solutions for remote project management, such as Asana, Atlassian or Basecamp, help to establish effective work (Kraus, 2022). Other tools of digital transformation include CRM systems that can be used, for example, to automate and accelerate the sales process, increase conversion, and allow managers to analyze the company’s strategy (Kraus, 2022). Thus, digital transformation significantly facilitates communication and gives managers more chances to make decisions effectively.
The use of comprehensive information technologies, electronic databases, and decision support systems not only allows managers to quickly receive information and make decisions, but also causes many fundamental organizational changes. Digital transformation processes that embrace the use of new technologies lead to the structural changes in companies, significantly facilitating managers’ work and enhancing its effectiveness. Nowadays, the use of technologies is the core competence of successful management and must be implemented at all levels.
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