Global ICT Services

1. Introduction

A service is something that you can buy which does not exist as an object. For example haircuts and operations are services. Paying an accountant or solicitor to give you advice or a secratary to type a document for you would also be services. Usually when you buy a service you are paying someone to do something for you. This contrasts with buying a good such as a book where you are paying someone to give you something.

Many services can now be delivered using information systems. These services are mostly concerned with manipulating information. They take some information from you, process it in some way and then return the outputs of this processing to you. Because information can be sent around the world very quickly using methods such as fax, telephone and email these services can be provided from anywhere in the world. It does not matter if the person purchasing the service is in a totally different country to the company or person supplying the service.

A service which processes information using an information system and can be provided from anywhere in the world is known as a Global ICT Service.

2. Examples

Global ICT services take some information from you, process it in some way and then return the outputs of this processing to you. Some example global ICT services are :

Examples of Global ICT Services
Secretarial Services	A secretary anywhere in the world can receive rough notes or sound recordings of information by email or FAX and turn this into a professionally presented document which can be returned by email.
Bulk Data Entry	Large volumes of data can be entered into computer databases in foreign countries and then sent to the UK. Workers in some countries will do this in return for lower wages than workers in the UK.
Web Design	A plan describing the structure of a web site together with information to be contained on the web site can be collected in one country and emailed to a web designer in another country who can produce the web site.

Services like this which process information can be carried out anywhere in the world because the information can be transferred from the person purchasing the service to the person supplying the service very quickly using electronic methods such as email and FAX.

3. Properties

Global ICT services usually have these four properties :

1.	The supplier of the service can be located anywhere in the world, regardless of the location of the service purchaser.
2.	The information that the service must process is sent to the service supplier using an elctronic method such as email or FAX.
3.	The service supplier processes the information is some way to produce new information.
4.	The information produced when the service is carried out is returned to the service purchaser using an electronic method.

The next pages contain three detailed examples of how global services can be purchased and provided.

4. Secretarial Services

A secretary creates professionally presented documents using a word processor. The information that must be included in the documents is usually provided by someone else. It may be given to the secretary as rough notes or by dictation. Traditionally a secretary would work in the same building as the person or team of people that he or she produced documents for.

If a company makes use of the Internet it is now possible for a secretary to work in a completely different location to the people she works for. The information that must be included in a document could be typed as rough notes or recorded as a sound file on a computer. This could then be emailed to a secretary anywhere in the world. Alternatively, rough handwritten notes could be FAXed to the secretary. The secretary can then prepare a document using the information and email this back to the person who wanted the document.

Because the secretary can be be in a completely different location from the people that she works for a company can purchase secretarial services from secretaries anywhere in the world. This will probably mean that the services can be obtained more cheaply as a company will have more potential secretaries to choose from and people in some areas are prepared to work for lower wages than people in other areas. Additionally a secretary will be able to work for several different people in different locations and will be able to choose where he or she lives without worrying about his or her work.

5. Bulk Data Entry

Some companies which deal with the public receive tens of thousands of completed data collection forms every day. For example a large insurance company could receive fifty thousand applications to start new insurance policies on a typical day. The information written on these applications must be entered into a computerised database so that it can be processed and stored.

The information that must be entered is usually handwritten. It could be inputted automatically using OCR software but this is not very accurate. Therefore workers are employed to read the information on the forms and type it into a computer. These workers are known as data entry clerks.

If there is a lot of information to be entered many data entry clerks must be employed. This can be very expensive for a company, as employees in the UK expect to receive a relatively high rate of pay. However in some other countries people are prepared to work for much lower wages. Therefore a company could save a lot of money if the data could be entered abroad. By making use of the Internet this can be achieved. The process works like this :

The data collection forms are scanned automatically using a scanner and pictures of the pages are stored electronically in the UK.
The pictures of the pages are sent by email to workers abroad.
The foreign workers read the information from the pages and type it into a database.
The information added to the database is sent back to the UK by email.

Because all of the information is transferred electronically the data entry process is not slowed down significantly. The work can be completed at a much lower cost because the workers are prepared to accept lower wages.

6. Web Design

Most companies and many individuals want to create web sites containing information about themseleves, the work they do, or the products that they sell. It is possible to create a simple website yourself using web design software but for larger sites it is usual to employ a professional web design company to build and maintain the site.

Web design services can be provided by companies as a global service. A customer who wants a web site building can plan the structure of the web site and collect information and photographs to be included on the site. This can then be emailed to a web design company anywhere in the world.

The designers will create the site using HTML code and will write any neccessary programs in a language such as Java. They will then upload the site onto the World Wide Web for the company that ordered the site. Any changes that are required to the web site can be agreed between the company and the designers by email.

Because the location of the web designers is unimportant a company wanting a web site can choose from many more web designers than if it could only choose from web designers in the local area. For web designers the main advantage is that they can sell their services to companies anywhere in the world.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004