Shared Practice—Data Resources and Processes That Matter to Your Organization

Discussion.When you are collaborating with others to make decisions in your professional life, the more you understand the thought processes and paradigms that lie behind your organization’s business and IT decisions, the better equipped you will be to propose ways to enhance its information infrastructure to better support its business goals in the future. This week’s Discussion will focus on the various types of data resources, processes, and storage systems currently utilized in business IT.

You will begin with your own Internet and/or Walden Library search for 1 or 2 current and credible articles on the various types of data resources, processes, and/or storage systems used in information systems in businesses big and small in various industries. If you are not sure where to start, you may want to ask your peers in this course or your colleagues at your current organization for additional guidance and tips. Because these technologies change and evolve so rapidly, you may also want to explore credible blogs where individuals in IT and business are talking about these same subjects and issues.

Some examples include:

• HBR Blog Network, Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/)
• CIO Journal, Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/public/page/cio-journal.html)
• CloudTweaks (http://www.cloudtweaks.com/)

There are many popular, relevant periodicals to search from as well. Some examples include:

• Information Week
• Wired
• Business 2.0
• Business Week
• Fast Company
• Wall Street Journal
• CIO.com

By Day 3

Post your research findings:

• Identify and briefly describe 3–4 various types of data resources, data processing, and/or storage systems used in today’s business environments that you think are most relevant and important. Explain your rationale.
• Describe 2–3 examples of how each of these tools, processes, or systems is used or could be used within your organization.

Identify 2–3 short-term and 2–3 long-term issues that could potentially arise from your examples (e.g., dealing with legacy systems; breach of data; compatibility, privacy, security, or ethical issues, etc.). Then, offer at least one recommendation that might enable your organization to formulate a response to at least one of the issues.

Read a selection of the posts submitted by your colleagues.