THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN INFLUENCING DIGITALIZATION OF CONTEMPORARY BUSINESSES. A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Abstract The present research has presented opportunities for incorporating information technology for digitally transforming the contemporary businesses since the changes accompanying applications of information technology are prevailing in all facets of modern-day businesses. The comprehensive conceptual review of literature regarding significance of information technology in management has revealed that present-day businesses have been concentrating on incorporating contemporary information technologies, for instance analytics, mobile, social, cloud computing and big data, in order to transmute and accelerate their business processes. The capability for digitally re-imagining the strategic management of contemporary business processes is primarily determined by means of an evident digital strategy which is supported by the managers and the leaders who advocate an organizational culture competent enough to change the present culture. There is tremendous potential for information technology within the context of strategic management in contemporary businesses because recent studies have identified that risk taking is now being regarded as a cultural norm and an effective approach for gaining greater competitive advantage. The organizations where information technology components, such as social and mobile technologies, cloud computing and big data are integral parts of strategic management processes are generating greater revenues, making more profits and accomplishing superior market valuations as compared to companies deprived of this strong vision. Nevertheless, some critical challenges are also associated with incorporating several facets of this emerging information technology in contemporary businesses which include data security concerns, lack of control and interoperability issues with existing information technology systems. The managerial implications and directions for future research have been discussed as well