Information technology has transcended state boundaries and has substantially altered economies, societies, politics and the business environment. It has gone beyond national boundaries and in this respect it has made the world to become a global village. Information technology has both advantages as well as disadvantages in the society and the world as a whole. Three dimensions of information technology that paves way for understanding its specific character in a transnational environment include the characteristic dimension, policy area and issue area dimension as well as the effects dimension. (Lianey, 2003)
The effects dimension looks at the consequences or the impact that information technology has on an individual, the state and the transnational organization The aim of effect dimension is to asses the extent of the impact whether extremely important to an individual, the state and the transnational organization or it has detrimental effects. The characteristics dimension looks at the prominent characteristics that are related to information technology. The interaction of effects dimension and the characteristics dimension gives rise to a demand for public policy and regulation as well as issue areas which is referred to as the policy dimension and issue area.
Transnational information technology operations have several advantages as well as disadvantages. The first advantage is the heightened decision interdependencies in the organizations due to independent information technology operation in international business branches. This enables organizations and their subsidiaries to perform their business activities with minimum difficulties in the transfer of information from one point to the other.
For example, an organization in one continent can be able at a glance to establish the happenings in its subsidiary in another continent.
According to Lianey 2003, transnational information technology operations are therefore vital to business men and women who anticipate carrying out their business activities across the globe. The second advantage that transnational information technology operations have is the reduction in criminal activities globally through the interconnection of various security agencies. For example Interpol international is able to establish the whereabouts of criminals around the world because of the connection that is made possible through transnational information technology operations.
The third advantage of transnational information technology is the expansion of education opportunities. As opposed to the past years where accessibility of education programmes was considered an up hill task by many, in the current times access to education has been made possible through transnational information technology operations.For example a student in America can be able to take his/her education online and still take his/her exams online something that has enabled many people gain a wide knowledge on various matters in life. (Saudit, 2006)
However there are several disadvantages that arise with transnational information technology operations. The first disadvantage is the increased terrorism activities in the world due to the fact that terrorists can communicate freely from one operation point to the other within a very short time. Some of the terrorist activities that have so far taken place in the world and which have been made possible by the trasnational information technology operations is the bombing of the world trade centre in America and the United States embassy in Kenya and Tanzania. The second disadvantage is the increased cases of drug trafficking as well as human being trafficking.
The traffickers who have international connections are able to communicate with one another and carry out their activities with minimum difficulties. Thus a drug trafficker in one continent can alert the recipient of the drugs in another continent and be able to trick security agencies thus necessitating the transfer of the drugs from one place to the other through trasnational information technology operations. There are many factors that make transnational information technology successful or unsuccessful.
The first is language. Language is the instrument of communication and it is one of the greatest barriers of communication. Various countries around the globe have got different languages they use for communication and these differences results into difficulties in relaying information from one person to the other. For example, an English speaking person finds it difficult to speak and read French language, a German speaking person will find it difficult to write and talk in French or English language.
This hampers communication which is the main objective of transnational information technology operations. To eliminate this problem it has become very necessary to come up with tools and equipments that can be used to translate one language to the other. The second factor that makes transnational information technology successful or unsuccessful is cultural diversity. This entails the beliefs that different people hold about different issues in life. Some ethnic groups may not see the necessity of information technology because they associate it with many evil activities.
For example many communities have associated internet communication with activities such as pornography thus discarding the importance of information technology. Thus cultural diversity has been a great drawback to the advancement of trasnational information technology operations. Technological infrastructure is another important factor that necessitates the advancement of trasnational information technology operations.
The western and the developed nations are more advanced in terms of technological infrastructure than the third world countries. Some forms of communication used in developed nations are not found in developing nations which brings in a great communication discrepancy in transnational information technology operations. Control issues and local customs are other factors that make transnational information technology successful or unsuccessful. Different countries have got different control systems when it comes to information technology and until the different issues are harmonized customs issues and control issues can hamper the advancement of trasnational information technology operations.
References
Lianey, H. (2003). Impact of transnational information technology, New York: New York Press, pp 34-78.
Saudit, G. (2006). Advantages and disadvantages of trasnational information technology operations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 67-90.