The modern digitalized society offers multiple opportunities to improve existing practices and achieve better outcomes by implementing innovative solutions. For this reason, today, there are significant shifts in all spheres of human activity aimed at integrating technologies. The sphere of management is not an exclusion and the methods used there are also reconsidered in terms of new digital technologies. Management Information Systems (MIS) also experiences substantial changes under the impact of recent advances in science and technology.
There are various definitions of the term. The generalized one states that MIS is the field of knowledge presupposing the investigation of people, technology, organizations, and their interactions (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). The main goal of this science is the alignment of the cooperation between individuals and computers, and the realization of maximum benefit from investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). Today, MIS focuses on people and the improvement of their functioning via the use of different technologies.
Speaking about MIS, it is essential to outline the five eras or five phases of computing technology’s development. These include mainframe and minicomputer computing, personal computers, client/server networks, enterprise computing, and, finally, cloud computing (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). The advances in the evolution of devices and the achievement of a new stage of development critically impacts MIS and creates the basis for the emergence of multiple changes towards the achievement of better outcomes and maximization of output along with the reduction of input, resources, and effort (Laudon & Laudon, 2017).
Today, MIS benefits from the existence of cloud services; however, one should remember that MIS managed to make substantial progress and evolve from the punch card system. It presupposed using a piece of paper to contain digital data by adding holes in special positions (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). This sort of information could be used by specific devices to process information and provide it to people (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). The emergence of this system contributed to the correct understanding of the importance of this technology and its ability to promote the further evolution of MIS. The emergence of computers in the 1940s and 1950s introduced a new era in the development of the framework as new devices, such as hard disk drives, to store and process data were created (Laudon & Laudon, 2017). The emergence of MIS in computers opened the door to multiple benefits and increased the speed of technology rise. At the end of the 20th century, MIS transformed into one of the digitalized areas of knowledge that provide multiple benefits to managers and specialists.
Today, MIS remains a critically important field for different spheres of human activity. The high level of demand for this method preconditioned the emergence of multiple career opportunities for software engineers, system analysts, and Networks administrators. Today their effective functioning is viewed as one of the major determinants of success of any organization or company as they can create the environment promoting the improved cooperation between specialists, reduce management costs, and improve outcomes.
Under these conditions, MIS is a potent tool that can be used in various organizations today. Being focused on people and their cooperation with technologies, it helps companies to acquire a competitive advantage by maximizing results and reducing effort and costs needed to attain success. For this reason, people working in a given field, such as software engineers, have outstanding career opportunities and become important actors preconditioning the success of different projects.
Reference
Laudon, K., & Laudon, J. (2017). Management Information Systems: Managing the digital firm (16th ed.). Pearson.