Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
1.5.2.1 New Services Produced by IT
Nowadays, there are many scenarios where services are born with no physical
transactions involved. For example, education, medical services, community
services, and financial services produce intangible software instead of hardware.
In the field of education, the prevalence of Internet usage has transformed the
academic environment. Medical services are characterized not only by tangible
operations, such as long-distance or remote surgery using robotic arms, but also
intangible operations such as shared use of patients' treatment histories. In commu-
nity services, regional SNSs are focused on the enhancement of human
relationships in a certain geographical area. Financial systems, such as local
currency systems can be built as a part of this IT infrastructure. Moreover, their
collaboration with incumbent banking systems can also be enhanced through ITeS.
These are the areas of new services that will emerge and evolve. The upgrade of
devices will also continue, making it possible for ITeS to expand the scale and
scope of various services.
1.5.2.2
“Intelligence” Crosses Borders
ITeS crosses boundaries. Hidehiko Sanada, Professor Emeritus of Osaka Univer-
sity, once explained the nature of corporate activities by focusing on four flows in
the business. They are “Knowledge flow,” “Commercial activity flow,” “Physical
Distribution flow,” and “Financial flow.” According to him, “those flows summa-
rize the process of business. It is the process of knowing what a corporation can do
(seeds), understanding how to respond to the market wants (needs), physically
producing and delivering and gaining the money.” The application of IT began
from “Commercial activity flow,” such as CIM and POS, and then followed by
“Physical distribution,” which enabled Takkyubin services. Electronic payment
transactions are undergoing. The rest is “Knowledge flow,” which involves
activities such as R&D and marketing (Sanada
2001
). He delivered his lecture at
about the same period when Reponen et al. were conducting research on Global
Customer Service.
About a decade later, marketing with accumulated consumer logs has become
one of the most popular services in cyberspace. Tele-collaboration between
researchers in R&D is another. Integrating different datasets and profiles of SNS
users to come up with a more detailed customer database has also become wide-
spread business practice. Such activities are often conducted across geographical
borders.
To reflect the current environment, “Knowledge flow” may also be referred to as
“Intelligence flow.” The Oxford Dictionary defines “knowledge” as “facts, infor-
mation, and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or
practical understanding of a subject,” whereas “intelligence” is defined as “the
