(C-DAC Tata McGraw-Hill Series)
By Alexis Leon & Mathews Leon, Tata McGraw-Hill, 1999
In recent years, organizations have increasingly recognized information as one of their most powerful business assets. Those who can effectively gather, analyze, interpret, and act on information are the ones who succeed in today’s information‑driven world. As a result, the production and consumption of information continue to grow at an unprecedented pace.
Information can be defined as something that reduces uncertainty. Decision‑making, therefore, becomes the process of progressively resolving uncertainty—and in today’s fiercely competitive business environment, sound decision‑making is essential for survival. Modern market dynamics make it abundantly clear that information is not merely useful; it is vital.
The evolution of information processing technologies reflects this reality. Early client/server systems brought data to the desktop, but much of that data was difficult to interpret and therefore of limited value to end users. This gap led to the emergence of a new generation of technologies designed to enhance information quality, enable collaboration, and empower knowledge workers. These include groupware, workgroup computing, workgroup automation, online transaction processing (OLTP), online analytical processing (OLAP), data warehousing, data mining, and more.
This book explores the need for information, its strategic value, and the technologies that enable organizations to acquire, manage, and use it effectively. It introduces readers to the concepts and tools that are transforming the IT landscape and reshaping the way businesses operate. Topics such as groupware, collaborative computing, information sharing, OLTP, OLAP, data warehousing, and data mining are explained in detail, highlighting how these technologies are revolutionizing work and organizational processes.
To thrive in today’s information age, professionals must understand and master these technologies and apply them in their respective fields. This book serves as a primer, offering a clear and comprehensive introduction to each technology—its purpose, underlying concepts, advantages, limitations, and available options.