Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Istanbul University, İstanbul, 2023
Each of the past three centuries is known
for a distinguishing technology. The 19th century was the era of steam
engines, which led to the mechanization of factories and the
urbanization of the population. In the 20th century, Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), which resulted from the development of
integrated circuits and processing chips, was the most transformative
technology. The invention of personal computers as well as the Internet,
as the biggest network interconnecting users across the world, changed
all aspects of life. Users are now able to communicate with each other
and receive education without having to make a trip . Companies do
business with their partners and communicate with their customers
through electronic platforms. The advancement of computing devices
relying upon digital technologies, along with the development of modern
organizations, has made fast data collection possible. The 21st century
is known as the information age, when huge amounts of information are
produced within a second through advanced digital devices such as
sensors and surveillance cameras. The information age has created its
own challenges and opportunities for society. Therefore, the mainstream
research in the area of information systems is on reducing the
challenges of adopting it in organizations for better decision making
and designing improved processes. On the plus side, many online
businesses came into existence, which changed the norm of
brick-and-mortar businesses. Well-known companies such as Amazon and
eBay that dominate the global business were born in the information age.
However, on the negative side, companies should be able to process the
data produced by various electronic devices. Organizations deal with
huge amounts of raw data, including structured or unstructured data,
that is collected on different subjects. If organizations are not able
to process the collected data efficiently and effectively, they can end
up drowning in masses of data, which can lead to losses to competitors.
In addition, evidence-based decision making is a necessity today given
the magnitude and complexity of information produced, as well as the
fast pace of technological change. According to the digital Darwinism
theory, those companies that cannot adjust to the technological changes
in the market are doomed to extinction. Therefore, it is of great
importance to collect and analyze data and then use the obtained results
from data analysis for organizational strategy setting. Over the past
decade, there have been several examples of companies that went bankrupt
due to failure to set their strategies based on evidence or to adjust
to technological changes.
In order to automate and
integrate various departments in an organization, Management Information
Systems (MIS) is used. MIS encompasses a broad area, from running
organizations and setting strategy, to process automation and
improvement and many other tasks. It aims at facilitating the internal
and external processes of organizations to offer better products and
services to end users. Along with the evolution of computer technology,
MIS has also experienced several eras. It started with the development
of mainframes, which worked on a time-sharing basis. With the
advancement of hardware technology in microchips and the development of
minicomputers, more organizations could afford computing devices for
their needs. In the the 1980s, the introduction of personal computers
created a breakthrough in computing. That is when personal computers
made their way into business with the development sheets such as
VisiCalc for Apple and, later on, Microsoft Excel. The abundance of
personal computers as well as the need to interact across organizations
led to the intranet, which enabled distributed computing in
organizations. This is also referred to as the third era of MIS, which
is known as the client/server computing era. The next leap was the
enterprise-wide use of high-processing power computers with high-speed
network computers for decision-making at operational, managerial, viii
and executive levels. The most recent progress was the transition of
computing systems from onsite to cloud computing. With cloud computing
and Internet access, users can access hardware, software, and operating
platforms irrespective of their location. Therefore, MIS has come a long
way and has experienced various improvements since the introduction of
mainframes. All these improvements in MIS are meant to facilitate
departmental processes and their data to meet organizational vision and
missions.
As such, timely and accurate processing of
data plays a significant role in the success of organizations. That is
where business analytics comes into play. Business analytics refers to a
set of tools, techniques, and methods that convert data into insight
for better decision-making. Business analytics takes advantage of the
sophisticated mathematical and statistical methods that are implemented
as machine learning algorithms in high-level programming languages. Its
main function is to solve business problems using insight obtained from
the collected data. Analytics started in the 1930s and 40s, during World
War II, when companies were required to produce effective outputs with
limited resources. Due to the complexity and multifaceted nature of the
data produced today, analytics is gaining popularity quite rapidly. Its
main objective is to facilitate decision-making by reporting current
trends, predicting the future given the current and historical data, and
optimizing business processes. Thus, descriptive, predictive, and
prescriptive analytics categories were introduced in business
literature. Descriptive analytics answers the question, “what has
happened?” However, predictive analytics is related to the question,
“What will happen?” and prescriptive analytics answers the question,
“What should we do if in case of various scenarios?” Most organizations
start with descriptive analytics, then move into predictive analytics,
and end with prescriptive analytics. As analytics moves from descriptive
to predictive to prescriptive, the sophistication of tools and
techniques increases. This sophistication can create challenges with
respect to the implementation of analytical methods and most
importantly, the reliability of the obtained results. Therefore, the
current trend of research in MIS and Business Analytics is moving toward
developing faster, more accurate, and more adaptable algorithms for
solving complicated business problems.
This book
provides a wealth of knowledge on the use of analytical as well as ICT
solutions to address real-world problems. The practical problems that
are addressed range from process mining, use of ICT in smart cities,
cryptocurrency, text mining, machine learning, and digital payment, to
optimization with Julia. In addition, the theoretical evolution of
research in MIS and Business Analytics is described. On the theoretical
side, the foundation of MIS in top business journals is also outlined.