Your resources plan should give careful consideration to how you move large amounts of information around within the operating systems. This is where the value of your information technology staff (IT) comes into play. Large blocks of information are necessary to maintain and sustain the vital operations of your business. This information is considered the lifeblood of all your actions, but it must be managed. Without information management, you could not run a business. In resources planning for information management, you must consider:
_ Existing computer networks
_ The next upgrade of your software
_ The next upgrade of your hardware
_ Interoperability of software systems
Information management seems to be a major source of frustration for all sizes of business, but small businesses have a distinct advantage over their larger kin. A small company can totally replace its computers or upgrade its software faster than a large company and at a proportioned cost. Software standardization is another frustrating factor in information management. For example, the American sends an e-mail attachment prepared in Microsoft Word over Lotus Notes. The receiver isn’t allowed to use Microsoft Word. These two people are in the same company, working on the same project, but in different countries.
In other side, big companies are definitely at a disadvantage when it comes to changing and upgrading information systems. The costs are prohibitive. Yet the danger of not switching or upgrading is evident to anyone trying to dial in to a computer from an outdated facility. For example, if you were unable to dial in to the client’s global network from five different locations, you were effectively shut down and shut out except for face-to-face contact and the use of the telephone.