Introduction
In the recent past, almost every organization has been going global; marketing its products to the external markets and this has led to the embracing of management information systems within their organization. This is a system that links people with information through technology. These people comprise the stakeholders of that particular company. It is through management information systems that marketers can sell and market their products through e-commerce (McNurlin, Sprague and Bui, 2008).
E-commerce
By definition, E-commerce is the activity and transaction of buying and selling of goods, products and services through electronic means, over the internet. Everything from marketing, advertising, bargaining and payment for the product or service happens online, after which the product is sent to the customer (Hunbuy, 2009).
Ecommerce has been gaining popularity in the past few years and this is evident by the increasing number of transactions on online markets such as E-bay.
Online transactions have been on the rise every day because it is a new form of marketing products that can reach most customers at the same time, and can reach customers from all over the world through one common means. Customers turn to the internet for everything and this has facilitated the success and more so the necessity of e-commerce. Therefore, with these current trends, it is necessary for all enterprises to apply the clicks-and-bricks form of marketing, whereby they have physical and online market stores. This will ensure that all markets are sufficiently served. This has been evident and well witnessed to be a successful form of marketing through the success of E-bay (Laudon and Traver, 2006).
Knowledge management is relevant to Management Information Systems because data, whether primary or secondary, is critically scrutinized before the organization finally settles on the one that has more weight and importance in relation to the other. This is the data that will be saved and fed into the system for future use and reference. Knowledge management point includes:
Fuzzy Logic
This is a theory and a component of knowledge management that involves reasoning out on the basis of truth, and it has been used in various fields especially control theories and artificial intelligence. It however has one weakness; it is one-sided and may tend to be biased.
Tacit knowledge
This is another form of knowledge that has been applied in Information System Management and this is the knowledge that people know what they are capable of and what they can and cannot do. An example is a talent. Everyone knows their talent and every time one sees something concerning their talents, it triggers the inward desire for participation.
Data mining
This is knowledge that involves collecting important and relevant data from a large source of information. It comes with experience, skill and practice and an example is collecting data from the internet. The internet has loads of information and getting the required data will involve knowledge and skill.
Artificial intelligence
Otherwise known as AI, artificial intelligence is the knowledge of machines especially computers, and relies wholly on technology rather than reasoning. Data is fed into a computer as software and it assists in computing problems. Examples involve calculators, computers etc.
Expert systems
This is software in information management systems that applies knowledge acquired from human expertise to solve our problems. It was discovered by researcher Edward Feigenbaum and involves problem-solving and can provide solutions upon inquiry.
Secondly, Knowledge Management works towards the organization’s objectives, and this is only possible through the being of Management Information System, because this is the backbone for Knowledge management (Oz, 2008). Collaborative technology is yet another strategy for knowledge management and this is where different technologies are brought together in Management Information systems. A good example of collaborative technology is groupware, for Example, the Group work Support System. Competence Management is another strategy, which is the analysis and planning of information about its relevance and application. The most important information is given priority, and this is what management Information Systems emphasizes. This is especially evident in the Information resource desk when a client needs information about something. Social software is another strategy used in Knowledge management whereby organizations create blogs and social network sites where stakeholders can chat and keep posted on what the organization is up to. Some companies hire social chat services such as Bold Chat which is an application of artificial intelligence in information management systems.
The information management system, therefore, seeks to scrutinize all these strategies applied in knowledge management, brings them together and it’s used as the standard unit of defining what information is important, and which should be given more preference compared to the other (Laudon and Laudon, 2009).
References
Hunbuy, Dun. (2009). eBusiness Defined. New Jersey, Prentice Hall. Print.
Laudon, K.; Traver, C. (2006). E-Commerce: Business, Technology, Society. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Print.
Laudon, K. and Laudon, J. (2009). Management Information Systems. New jersey; Prentice Hall. Print.
McNurlin, B., Sprague, R. and Bui, T. (2008). Information System Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Print.
Oz, E. (2008). Management Information Systems. Boston: Course Technology Printers. Print.