Information Technology (IT) could be defined as the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data. On the other hand, an Information System (IS) utilizes Information Technology to process the data generating information and knowledge through complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to perform their everyday activities.
Any specific information system aims to support operations, management and
decision making. In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology
(ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes.
How much does anyone care about the differences between Information Systems and Information Technology? The view that projects go off the rails because they focus on Technologies rather than Systems. If we could persuade people to focus on Iinformation Systems (IS) rather than Information
Technology (IT), then projects would better deliver their true value.
Given the constant and rapid changes in IT/IS including Mobile and Cloud technologies, Deltamis provides advice to your organization on what are the current best practices on IT and/or IS, including applications to manage and implement organizational change.
What is a System?
The word system has a long history which can be traced back to Plato (Philebus), Aristotle (Politics) and Euclid (Elements). It had meant "total", "crowd" or "union" in even more ancient times, as it derives from the verb sunìstemi, uniting, putting together. Evidently, there are many types of systems that can be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively.
A modern and simple definition may be devised as: A system is a set of interrelated components working together that subject to some kind of process yields an expected result.
Information Technology
Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. The term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with information technology, such as computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment, e-commerce and computer services.
Information System
Information Systems is a large umbrella referring to systems designed to create, store, manipulate, or disseminate information. The term Information systems has been around a lot longer than the computer, or the term information technology.
Example of an information system is a pencil and a piece of paper. The two objects themselves are just tools, but together they create a system for writing (information). These days the two are sometimes thought to be synonymous, but that, in most cases is a misconception. Information technology falls under the information systems umbrella, but has nothing to do with systems per say. IT deals with the technology involved in the systems themselves, e.g. an information system like wiki.answers.com contains many information technologies.
The most common of the information systems is a Management Information System (MIS) which gives the business managers the information that they need to make decisions. Organizational change management demands decisions from managers who want to pursue organizational performance improvement. Management information systems are more robust than other information systems because they are used to analyze and facilitate strategic and operational activities efficiently and effectively. A MIS represents the best tool on how individuals, groups, and organizations evaluate, design, implement, manage, and utilize systems to generate information to improve efficiency and effectiveness of decision making, including systems like Decision Support Systems, Expert Systems, and Executive Information Systems.
Servers, server operating systems, web-server software (IIS, Apache, et al), and
code written for the web-server software (PHP, C#, VB, PERL, Ruby, et al). Even
your computer and browser make up part of this information system. Like the
pencil and paper example, each one of the mentioned parts of this information
system in itself is an information technology. That being said, most people in
the profession no longer make a distinction. Moreover, companies call their
IS/IT department a wide range of titles based more on culture and tradition than anything else.