INF20806
Lecture 1
Why information systems / ICT?
- Technology enables new behaviour from consumers
o Looking at things from the consumer or user perspective helps to
understand how consumers think
o Think about how feasible it is that they change behaviour in a way
that either increases value for them or save money for you (as a
business)
- Supply chain coordination + information: more efficient
o Technology helps to improve supply chain coordination
o Information that has to be exchanged between parties is more easily
available and shared
o The use of e.g. scanners and chips enables logistic processes to be
more efficient`
o Even shipments around the world become worthwhile this way
o It improves tracking and tracing within the supply chain
- Business models change
o New technologies gives opportunities for improving efficiency or for
saving money within organisations
o Many of these start with a smart idea and some entrepreneur-
minded students
o So who will ‘invent’ those opportunities?
People who actually understand something about consumers
and business processes
What about privacy / legal / ethical issues?
- Is it okay to harm ‘regular business’ by introducing smart alternatives that
bypass current laws?
- Is it okay to use technology to identify people and act accordingly? Does
that not invade privacy rights?
- Is it okay to enable data collection through toys? How is that data stored
and who has access to it?
- Is it okay that even good-willing applications make mistakes so that
customers privacy is violated?
- Is it okay to have watch customers by 475 cameras while they are
shopping?
Security threats (all the time – and smarter)
- Issues with infiltration and fake news
- Rogue (Malafide = slechte bedoelingen) websites aren’t what they seem
- Scams (e.g. through texts on your phone)
- Security of apps (e.g. Zoom)
- Serious trouble through e.g. ransomware (versleutelt bestanden van een
gebruiker en blokkeert de toegang)
- The (vague) horizon of what AI is / should be capable of
Technical challenges: things that go wrong
, - Established institutions (like Belastingdienst) have information systems
that are not flexible: therefore they fail to timely / adequately adapt, e.g. to
implement policies
- Sharing data can lead to errors, e.g. identity exchange
- No longer supported platforms (windows XP) are still used by e.g.
municipalities (gemeentes) – inflexible, dangerous
- Brexit has lead to legislation change, but the systems at customs can’t
implement these: queues, problems
- Many long lifetime systems rely on e.g. Cobol, an old programming
language, but people who know it are retiring but can’t be missed
Lecture 2
A simple business model is a set of descriptions of
1. Products and services that you will provide
2. A description of the business process(es) required to make and deliver
those
3. A description of your customers and what value your products/services
have to them (value proposition)
4. Resources that you will need to be involved (e.g. suppliers)
5. How this will generate revenue + profitability (financial viability)
Porter’s competitive forces model
Porter’s value chain
model
,Porter’s strategies for competitive advantage
E-Commerce: the process of buying, selling, transferring or exchanging
products, services or information via computer networks, including the internet.
- In ‘pure E-C’ both product and delivery is digital
E-Business: similar, but broader: the entire business happens online, including
servicing customers, supply chain management, electronic order processing,
customer relationship management etc, no paper flow anymore
Types of E-Commerce:
- B2C
- B2B
- C2C
- Business to employee (B2E)
o Benefits
- E-government
, o Government to citizen (G2C): deliver information and public services
o Government to business (G2B): similar to B2B, but different context
Examples of business models
- Subscription model: pay a fee, regularly receive or ‘lease’ product
- Freemium model: free for normal use, but pay for premium functions
- Exclusive membership model: make it members-only or status-
sensitive
- Brokerage model (aka reverse tendering, name-your-price):
offering and buying parties negotiate about price
- Bait model: buy something cheap but spend money on extras
- Direct sales model: eliminate ‘middle man’; skip a link in the supply
chain (e.g. buy fresh products from farmer)
- Dropshipping: promote products in an online storefront; any order is
forwarded to outsourced 3rd party fulfilment. Customer experience may
suffer from this
- Find best price: collect offerings for the same product; sort them (e.g.
vliegtickets.nl)
- Feedback loop model: user interaction data is gold. Offer services at a
discount/free, then refine your AI with the feedback (Spotify’s discover
weekly)
- Change focus when an opportunity arises: be open to feedback and
don’t hesitate to refine your idea if that seems fruitful.
o Slack started as a gaming company but turned into a
communication platform when they realized that their internal tools
were more valuable than their game.
Barcodes, scanners, RFID
- Barcodes
o Traditional barcodes for article identification
o Longer barcode captures more information
o Needs active scanning from very close
- Two dimensional matrix codes
o QR-code – can capture even more information
- RFID
o Chips that pass by antennas
o Can be active or passive
o There is no person needed to scan a code
o More expensive and less environmentally friendly if you don’t get rid
of it in a proper way
The rise of AI
- Natural language processing (NLP) LLMs (like ChatGPT); generate text
- Generative models / creativity; realistic images, music, text, video
- Computer vision: object detection, image recognition
- AI in healthcare: medical image analysis, disease detection
- Robotics, automation, autonomous vehicles: perceive context, make real-
time decisions, navigate
Lecture 1
Why information systems / ICT?
- Technology enables new behaviour from consumers
o Looking at things from the consumer or user perspective helps to
understand how consumers think
o Think about how feasible it is that they change behaviour in a way
that either increases value for them or save money for you (as a
business)
- Supply chain coordination + information: more efficient
o Technology helps to improve supply chain coordination
o Information that has to be exchanged between parties is more easily
available and shared
o The use of e.g. scanners and chips enables logistic processes to be
more efficient`
o Even shipments around the world become worthwhile this way
o It improves tracking and tracing within the supply chain
- Business models change
o New technologies gives opportunities for improving efficiency or for
saving money within organisations
o Many of these start with a smart idea and some entrepreneur-
minded students
o So who will ‘invent’ those opportunities?
People who actually understand something about consumers
and business processes
What about privacy / legal / ethical issues?
- Is it okay to harm ‘regular business’ by introducing smart alternatives that
bypass current laws?
- Is it okay to use technology to identify people and act accordingly? Does
that not invade privacy rights?
- Is it okay to enable data collection through toys? How is that data stored
and who has access to it?
- Is it okay that even good-willing applications make mistakes so that
customers privacy is violated?
- Is it okay to have watch customers by 475 cameras while they are
shopping?
Security threats (all the time – and smarter)
- Issues with infiltration and fake news
- Rogue (Malafide = slechte bedoelingen) websites aren’t what they seem
- Scams (e.g. through texts on your phone)
- Security of apps (e.g. Zoom)
- Serious trouble through e.g. ransomware (versleutelt bestanden van een
gebruiker en blokkeert de toegang)
- The (vague) horizon of what AI is / should be capable of
Technical challenges: things that go wrong
, - Established institutions (like Belastingdienst) have information systems
that are not flexible: therefore they fail to timely / adequately adapt, e.g. to
implement policies
- Sharing data can lead to errors, e.g. identity exchange
- No longer supported platforms (windows XP) are still used by e.g.
municipalities (gemeentes) – inflexible, dangerous
- Brexit has lead to legislation change, but the systems at customs can’t
implement these: queues, problems
- Many long lifetime systems rely on e.g. Cobol, an old programming
language, but people who know it are retiring but can’t be missed
Lecture 2
A simple business model is a set of descriptions of
1. Products and services that you will provide
2. A description of the business process(es) required to make and deliver
those
3. A description of your customers and what value your products/services
have to them (value proposition)
4. Resources that you will need to be involved (e.g. suppliers)
5. How this will generate revenue + profitability (financial viability)
Porter’s competitive forces model
Porter’s value chain
model
,Porter’s strategies for competitive advantage
E-Commerce: the process of buying, selling, transferring or exchanging
products, services or information via computer networks, including the internet.
- In ‘pure E-C’ both product and delivery is digital
E-Business: similar, but broader: the entire business happens online, including
servicing customers, supply chain management, electronic order processing,
customer relationship management etc, no paper flow anymore
Types of E-Commerce:
- B2C
- B2B
- C2C
- Business to employee (B2E)
o Benefits
- E-government
, o Government to citizen (G2C): deliver information and public services
o Government to business (G2B): similar to B2B, but different context
Examples of business models
- Subscription model: pay a fee, regularly receive or ‘lease’ product
- Freemium model: free for normal use, but pay for premium functions
- Exclusive membership model: make it members-only or status-
sensitive
- Brokerage model (aka reverse tendering, name-your-price):
offering and buying parties negotiate about price
- Bait model: buy something cheap but spend money on extras
- Direct sales model: eliminate ‘middle man’; skip a link in the supply
chain (e.g. buy fresh products from farmer)
- Dropshipping: promote products in an online storefront; any order is
forwarded to outsourced 3rd party fulfilment. Customer experience may
suffer from this
- Find best price: collect offerings for the same product; sort them (e.g.
vliegtickets.nl)
- Feedback loop model: user interaction data is gold. Offer services at a
discount/free, then refine your AI with the feedback (Spotify’s discover
weekly)
- Change focus when an opportunity arises: be open to feedback and
don’t hesitate to refine your idea if that seems fruitful.
o Slack started as a gaming company but turned into a
communication platform when they realized that their internal tools
were more valuable than their game.
Barcodes, scanners, RFID
- Barcodes
o Traditional barcodes for article identification
o Longer barcode captures more information
o Needs active scanning from very close
- Two dimensional matrix codes
o QR-code – can capture even more information
- RFID
o Chips that pass by antennas
o Can be active or passive
o There is no person needed to scan a code
o More expensive and less environmentally friendly if you don’t get rid
of it in a proper way
The rise of AI
- Natural language processing (NLP) LLMs (like ChatGPT); generate text
- Generative models / creativity; realistic images, music, text, video
- Computer vision: object detection, image recognition
- AI in healthcare: medical image analysis, disease detection
- Robotics, automation, autonomous vehicles: perceive context, make real-
time decisions, navigate
