Information Technology Assignment: Discussion On IS/IT Enabled Innovation

Question

Task: For this assignment you will have to prepare a paper that critically discusses how organisations apply the strategic use of IS/IT to achieve IS/IT-enabled innovation. Some aspects and issues you may discuss in your paper could include (but are not limited to):

• Discuss at least 4 examples of the use of IS/IT for innovation. (Information systems/ Information technology)
• Highlight some success factors or some lessons learned (i.e., what went wrong?) for your examples.
• Discuss the impacts of internal factors (e.g., organizational, individual, and management factors) and external factors (e.g., market, industry, social, economic, technological and political/policy factors) on the success (or the failure) of IS/IT enabled innovation.
• Suggest recommendations and guidelines for helping organizations succeed in their efforts to embark on using IS/IT for innovation with good explanation and discussion.

You should apply relevant knowledge discussed in your unit. You should prepare for this assignment by reviewing the literature (i.e. by using ProQuest 5000 and Science Direct databases at http://www.scu.edu.au/library/index.php/) and searching the World Wide Web (i.e. via Google). You should show evidence that you have read at least 10 references, which must be published after January 2013, in the literature (including references from academic and professional publications) to prepare this assignment. A variety of references are expected including books, refereed journals, case studies, newspapers, magazines and electronic references.

Answer

Introduction
The present study examined in the information technology assignment sheds light on the invention of the Information Technology and System (IS/IT) that has been one of the significant breakthrough in the field of technology. From the beginning of its invention, it proved to be an inevitable part for all of the fields starting from education, business, and entertainment to farming, security, automotive and so on. With time, the technologies started to emerge as a bigger and trustworthy form of application. This growth in the field of Information technology is a result of the innovations that are brought into reality by the researchers and the business owners as a form of investor into the projects (Nordhaus 2015). These innovative ideas and new inventions made it easier to evolve from using a gigantic computer that was able to make a few mathematical calculations to the compact and slim smartphones that are way more able than just making calls or making a few calculations. Similarly, the process of innovation has been also implemented in different sectors using information technology. This report on information technology assignment will discuss some of the examples where Information technology has been used in order to bring innovation in different sectors. The primary objective outlined in the information technology assignment is to briefly discuss such examples and bringing the factors that were responsible for their success or failure into light along with the impacts of the internal as well as external factors on the success or the failure of the projects. Finally, the report on information technology assignment will come to an end with a brief conclusion accompanied with some recommendations from the author’s end.

IT-enabled Innovation Projects
The projects that the present information technology assignment will revolve around are four projects that show innovation that is enabled by the use of information technology. The selection of the projects is done from the list of the best inventions during 4 consecutive years starting from 2016 to 2019. The projects that are selected are mentioned below:

• Hello Sense Alarm Clock – 2016
• Tesla Model 3 Electric Car – 2017
• Aira (sight assistance for the blind) – 2018
• OrCam MyMe – 2019
• Hello Sense – Hello Sense was an example of innovation in its true form. The manufacturer of this device that is the Hello Inc. devised it as a wearable technology for the user at bedtime, which was later changed to form a bedside device with a “Sleep pill” sensor. The product named as ‘Sense’ was thought of as a revolutionary product as it would help its users to get proper sleep. Hello Inc. aimed for this particular area of expertise due to the importance of a proper sleep for a healthy life (Shelgikar, Anderson & Stephens 2016). This device not only monitors the environment of the bedroom but also notifies the user about how convenient the environment of the room is that favours a good sleep. It also improvises plans and makes advises its users a better plan that would make the users able to get much deep and proper sleep (Green 2017). Sense also worked as an alarm clock, but certainly not as an ordinary one. It was devised in such a manner that would make the clock play 30 minutes before the time requested by the user. Other than that, this smart device had some other functionalities as well. Such as it not only monitors and makes the user that how well the sleep was but also suggest other ways that could make the sleep better. It also had a series of sounds that could make the user fell asleep. Devised on 24^th February, 2015, due to unavailability of the buyers the product along with the company got shut down on 12^th June, 2017 (Liu, Ploderer & Hoang 2015).

Figure 1: Hello Sense
(Source: Shelgikar, Anderson & Stephens 2016)

• Tesla Model 3 – Elon Musk and innovation has a never-ending relationship and that got exhibited in the year 2017, on the month of June with the electric car from Tesla named Tesla Model 3. With the introduction of Model 3, the traditional problem for the electric cars, that is the incompatibility between the price and the variety came to an end. Unlike the other manufacturers, Tesla came up with a minimum price of $35,000 that varied along the 4 varieties and the final one that is the model with long-range AWD performance had a market price of around $57,000 in 2017 (Mahoney & Mahoney 2019). The primary point of innovation mentioned in the information technology assignment that was brought in the industry is the possibility of having a range of electric cars of D class at a rate that is comparatively lesser than the usual price of other available brands. Though the features and the specifications of the car along with the design is a point of innovations as well, the innovation that was brought into reality in the industry is to lower the expense and keep the same performance (Parkhurst et al. 2019). In the first phase of the release although there were statements found that indicated that there must be an inconvenience in the production and Tesla was not able to meet the market requirement, soon Tesla made it clear that they managed to cope up with the initial pressure and till date the market exists for the market.

Figure 2: Tesla Model 3
(Source: Mahoney & Mahoney 2019)

• Aira – The readings used to prepare this information technology assignment illustrates that regular navigating and getting into places is one of the biggest challenges that blind people have to face on a daily basis. Aira tried to become an assisting partner for them in such instances. Like an on-demand service, Aira is also an on-demand service that can be availed with the help of a smartphone or the special glasses sponsored by Aira (Nguyen et al. 2018). In the year 2018, mixing artificial intelligence and augmented reality, Aira has facilitated such visually challenged people to have an assistance where they are unaware of the surroundings. Aira created an interface, where Aira agents can watch the exact environment of the user. All the user has to do is to have a smartphone or the Aira glasses and call for the agent (Nguyen et al. 2019). When the agent picks up the call, he or she immediately come across the exact surroundings of the user. With the help of Google Maps, the agent is able to get all the necessary details of the location and the agent navigates the user as the user has requested. The visually challenged ones can avail the services as a package at a rate fixed by the company itself. There are three packages available of 750 minutes (3 months), 3,000 minutes (6 months) and 10,000 minutes (12 months) at a rate of $300, $1,000 and $2,500 respectively (Lee et al. 2019).

Figure 3: Aira
(Source: Mahoney & Mahoney 2019)

• OrCam MyMe – Profession and digital world reduced human interaction in person to a significant level. Digital world itself came up with a remedy named OrCam MyMe. With a precise and fast face recognition technology this wearable device recognises every face in front of the user and sends the identity of the person as a notification to the smartphone or smart watches (Bambauer 2016). It optimizes the daily activities of the users and set goals in order to create a better social life for its users. The automatic syncing of the device takes place through the name tag or business card feature that stores the information of the user so that the user can recall any face whenever they meet in person (Dridiger 2016). This 2019 innovation does not let its users to forget any face they came across. It can be worn by fixing the device with its clip to the dress by facing the camera in open so that it ca scan the face that the user is coming across. This device also monitors the time that is spent on the screen and cuts it out, if needed, by distracting the user for the time that is not necessary for the user to be in front of the screen. Thus MyMe makes an effort to make the social life better for its users (Bong et al. 2017).

Figure 4: OrCam MyMe
(Source: Dridiger 2016)

Success or Failure
This section of the information technology assignment will analyse whether the projects that are selected for review received success or failure. In the modern world, insomnia has been a significant issue that is under research to find remedies for it. In the middle of that, James Proud with his Hello Sense came out with this innovative idea of sleep tracking and improvising surroundings so that its user can get a better sleep. However, after a period of operation of 5 years the product failed along with the shutting down of the company itself. Although, there was a funding of $40 million dollars, the company failed to find the right customers. While declaring the shutting down of the company, Proud made a statement where he said that his team could not find homes for the devices. Hence, it can be termed that Hello failed to target their audience as well as they failed to make a plan for their future market. Therefore, even after having funds, the product along with the company came to an end (Liu, Ploderer & Hoang 2015).

Secondly, it is also illustrated in the information technology assignment that Tesla Model 3, the four-wheeler gift from Elon Musk and his team of Tesla proved to be a great success in the automobile industry. There were other big brands that released electric cars already and most importantly, successfully (Higgins 2016). Tesla made its way by providing a range of vehicles at a rate that was much less than the other brands. Tesla aimed to omit the traditional problem of electric vehicles – introducing a range of vehicles and at a lesser rate (Gilson & Abbott 2017). What made Tesla Model 3 successful is that they targeted their audience, made a plan for the future as well as they also concentrated on the performance of the vehicles (Huang 2019).

Thirdly, the on-demand assistance for the visually challenged people that is Aira has been a great success. The project deserves success as what Aira aimed at was precise and the service that they availed is surely an innovative one (Anderson & Anderson 2019). The services helped them who was actually in a need of it. Additionally, the service being manual through the agents, is precise and trustworthy for the user. The findings obtained in this information technology assignment signify that the success is achieved due to the blend in technology and human intervention (Feiz et al. 2019). The users can put their trust over a human rather than a voice from a microchip controlled device, especially when the users are visually challenged.

Lastly, OrCam MyMe is a recent launch that is too early to be judged as a success or failure. The innovation in this device can be termed as an advanced form of social media. As it is still not that much popularized, the rate of efficiency of the devices can be hardly done.

What are the lessons learned from the above products provided in the information technology assignment?
In the above section of information technology assignment it is seen that due to various reasons, some of the projects succeeded while some failed as well. After investigating the reasons, a set of lessons can be assumed. The primary lessons that one can learn from the cases mentioned in the context of information technology assignment are :

• Before starting any project, it is necessary to research over the market and investigate about the necessity of such products and services.
• Targeting audience for the services is another mandatory part of the schedule of the project.
• After the release of the products and the services, support from the manufacturer is highly solicited by the customers. Once, they cannot find proper assistance for their issues, it is likely to happen that the customer base may get affected resulting into the reputation of the concern receiving its impacts.

Internal and External Factors on Success or Failure of the project examined in the segments of information technology assignment
Impacts of Internal Factors

1. Organizational factors: The organizational factors constitute the culture of the organization, norms and regulations, ideas of social concern and the beliefs that the organization follows. These characteristics are the sole features of the organization itself. However, these affect the success or the failure of any particular project. It is found that more open the culture of the organization is, more efficiency can be achieved and hence the end products that will be manufactured will prove to be of higher accuracy and performance (Camilleri 2016).
2. Individual factors: By individual factors, the factors for each of the employees who are associated with the work are meant. It is evident from different scenarios considered to prepare this information technology assignment that employee’s satisfaction has a great impact over the success or failure of a particular project. If the employee is not satisfied with what he/she is provided with then it is general that the work that will be yielded will not meet the requirements for sure. The work will not be done with any interest.
3. Management factors: Management of any organization plays the most important role in the way to success or failure of any project. Entire functioning of the project is monitored by the management team of the organization and hence management will be responsible for the result that the project will yield. Hence, proper management is necessary to direct any project towards success.

Impacts of External factors in the case scenario of information technology assignment

1. Market: The most important and most significant factor that affects majorly the success or the failure of the project is the market in which the product or the service is decided to be sold. The market should have the necessity of the product or the services that aims to get released or there has to be a novel side of the product or the services that would compel the buyers to go for the product.
2. Technology: Another important parameter on which the success of the projects depend is the technology that is being used in the project. Either the technology that is used should be compatible with the existing framework or the technology should have a future use as well. Once, the technology is found out-dated, the product will definitely lose its value in the market (Bertels, Koen & Elsum 2015).
3. Social: Out of all other factors, social impact is significant. The impact of the product on the society plays the most significant role in its future course of play. It is necessary to analyse whether the product is compatible with the needs and the culture of the society or not. Failing in which definitely makes the future course of the product difficult.

Importance of the device
Hence, after the detailed discussion of the internal and external factors provided in this segment of information technology assignment, it can be stated that the internal factors can be managed by the organisation itself and can create guidelines and regulations that would benefit the concern by reducing the change in the internal factors. While the external factors that brings impact over the success or the failure of a project are wild and dynamic in nature. The fluctuations in the external factors are highly dependent to each other and are quite difficult to predict and identify the trend. Therefore, it can be certainly said that the external factors have more impact than the internal factors on the success or failure of a certain project. The Aira had gained great importance for the visually challenged people and one of the most innovative applications for the consumers. Aira can be used from a microchip controlled device where the users can easily use the device if they are visually challenged more easily. However Hello had failed to target their main audiences and not able to plan to sustain their production future market. However Tesla Model 3 had gained success because they had targeted their main audiences and plan for future sustainability of their product.

Recommendation
Information system and information technology, both are playing the most important role in the task of innovation in various sectors. In the previous section of the information technology assignment, it is shown that how even having funds can shut down a company along with its services and products. Hence in this section of the report on information technology assignment, few recommendations are made that may prove to be useful for the companies in the future course of time with the concept of IT-enabled innovation. They are:

1. Proper funding of the phases that are engaged with researching the market is necessary.
2. Attention to the fanciness and not on the performance needs to be strictly avoided.
3. Technical support after the release of the services is mandatory to make the customers believe the manufacturers and a relationship of trust could be built between the customer and the companies.
4. Regular updating the services with respect to the feedbacks from the customer is important.

Conclusion
This report on information technology assignment described Information technology enabled innovation projects with examples from the recent times. Four such examples are described along with their final result in the industry. Discussions are made where the reason for the success or the failure of the projects are investigated that is followed with a precise explanation of the impacts of the internal and external factors on the success or the failure of the projects. It is found in this information technology assignment that the successful one is the projects that had a better leadership and strategies for particular phases of the projects. The primary reason behind the failure were found to be lack of research over the market, targeting right audience for the product, lack of post release support to the customers and likewise. Later section of the report briefed about the internal and external factors and the impacts that they have on the success or the failure of the project. A final segment of recommendation has also been included in the information technology assignment where suggestions are provided on how to have a better implementation of the IT enabled innovation in various sectors and industries.

References
Anderson, C.L. and Anderson, K.M., 2019. Information technology assignment Wearable Technology: Meeting the Needs of Individuals with Disabilities and Its Applications to Education. In Perspectives on Wearable Enhanced Learning (WELL) (pp. 59-77). Springer, Cham.

Bambauer, J.R., 2016. Glass Half Empty. UCLA L. Rev. Discourse, 64, p.434.

Bertels, H.M., Koen, P.A. and Elsum, I., 2015. Business models outside the core: Lessons learned from success and failure. Research-Technology Management, 58(2), pp.20-29.

Bong, K., Choi, S., Kim, C., Han, D. and Yoo, H.J., 2017. A low-power convolutional neural network face recognition processor and a CIS integrated with always-on face detector. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 53(1), pp.115-123.

Camilleri, E., 2016. Project success: critical factors and behaviours. Information technology assignment Routledge.

Alt, F., 2013. A design space for pervasive advertising on public displays. Lulu. com.

Feiz, S., Billah, S.M., Ashok, V., Shilkrot, R. and Ramakrishnan, I.V., 2019, April. Towards Enabling Blind People to Independently Write on Printed Forms. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (p. 300). ACM.

Gilson, S.C. and Abbott, S., 2017. Tesla Motors (A): Financing Growth. Harvard Business School case study (218-033).

Green, P., 2017. Sleep is the new status symbol. The New York Times, p.ST1.

Higgins, T., 2016. Information technology assignment Tesla Generates a Profit. The Wall Street Journal.

Huang, Y., 2019, February. A Potential Company or Not: the Analysis of Tesla. Information technology assignment In 2019 4th International Conference on Financial Innovation and Economic Development (ICFIED 2019). Atlantis Press.

Lee, S., Matsugaki, A., Kasuga, T. and Nakano, T., 2019. Development of bifunctional oriented bioactive glass/poly (lactic acid) composite scaffolds to control osteoblast alignment and proliferation. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 107(5), pp.1031-1041.

Liang, Z., Liu, W., Ploderer, B., Bailey, J., Kulik, L. and Li, Y., 2015, November. Designing intelligent sleep analysis systems for automated contextual exploration on personal sleep-tracking data. In JSAI International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (pp. 367-379). Springer, Cham.

Liu, W., Ploderer, B. and Hoang, T., 2015, December. In bed with technology: challenges and opportunities for sleep tracking. Information technology assignment In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Australian Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction (pp. 142-151). ACM.

Mahoney, D. and Mahoney, M., 2019. EDR Collection from a Tesla Model 3. Accident Reconstruction Journal, 29(2).

Nguyen, B.J., Chen, W.S., Chen, A.J., Utt, A., Hill, E., Apgar, R. and Chao, D.L., 2019. Large-scale assessment of needs in low vision individuals using the Aira assistive technology. Clinical Ophthalmology (Auckland, NZ), 13, p.1853.

Nguyen, B.J., Kim, Y., Park, K., Chen, A.J., Chen, S., Van Fossan, D. and Chao, D.L., 2018. Improvement in Patient-Reported Quality of Life Outcomes in Severely Visually Impaired Individuals Using the Aira Assistive Technology System. Information technology assignment Translational vision science & technology, 7(5), pp.30-30.

Nordhaus, W.D., 2015. Are we approaching an economic singularity? Information technology and the future of economic growth (No. w21547). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Parkhurst, E.L., Conner, L.B., Ferraro, J.C., Navarro, M.E. and Mouloua, M., 2019, November. Heuristic Evaluation of A Tesla Model 3 Interface. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 1515-1519). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.

Shelgikar, A.V., Anderson, P.F. and Stephens, M.R., 2016. Sleep tracking, wearable technology, and opportunities for research and clinical care. Information technology assignment Chest, 150(3), pp.732-743.