Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
ICT is the integration of information processing, computing and communication technologies. Information and communication technology can be defined as technology that enables the acquisition, processing, transformation and distribution of information (Argandona, 2003). Information and communications technology (ICT) refers to all the technology used to handle telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building management systems, audio visual processing and transmission systems, and network-based control and monitoring functions (Jetter et al., 2009). Although ICT is often considered an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but its scope is much broader. ICT has recently been used to describe the convergence of several technologies and the use of common transmission lines carrying very diverse data and communication types and formats. ICT tools can be used to find, explore, analyze, exchange and present information responsibly and without discrimination. ICT can be employed to give users quick access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and culture.
Information and Communication Technology or ICTs allow users to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technologies. Although there is no single, universal definition of ICT, the term is generally accepted to mean all devices, networking components, applications and systems that combined allow people and organizations (i.e., businesses, non-profit agencies, governments and criminal enterprises) to interact in the digital world. Information and communication technology (ICT) has become vital for the survival and success of business companies. Developments in ICT have dramatically accelerated innovations and have changed entire industries. The most popular example is the Internet, which has revolutionized business practices and the entire modern world. Hence, companies are constantly pressured to keep up with the latest developments in the field of ICT (Jetter et al., 2009).
Information and communication technologies that are used in the retail industry include data mining (Bagga and Singh, 2012), the Internet, e-commerce (Notomi et al., 2015), electronic payment (Sumanjeet, 2009), smartphones, mobile apps (Kang et al., 2015), electronic point of sale (EPOS) (Lynch, 1990), radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags (Jones et al., 2005), self-service checkouts (Lee and Yang, 2013), social media (Drury, 2008), the Internet of Things (IoT) (Gubbi et al., 2013) and augmented reality (Martínez et al., 2014).
Components of an ICT System
ICT is sometimes used synonymously with IT (Information technology); however, ICT is generally used to represent a broader, more comprehensive list of all components related to computer and digital technologies than IT. The six most common components that make up an ICT system are as follows:
I. Data: Data is any set of characters that is gathered for some purpose, usually analysis. It can be any character, including text and numbers, pictures, sound, or video.
II. Hardware: Physical components in a computer or peripherals. This is the physical technology that works with information. Hardware can be as small as a smartphone that fits in a pocket or as large as a supercomputer that fills a building. Hardware also includes the peripheral devices that work with computers, such as keyboards, external disk drives, and routers. With the rise of the Internet of things, in which anything from home appliances to cars to clothes will be able to receive and transmit data, sensors that interact with computers are permeating the human environment.
III. Software: The hardware needs to know what to do, and that is the role of software. Software can be divided into two types: system software and application software. The primary piece of system software is the operating system, such as Windows or iOS, which manages the hardware‟s operation. Application software is designed for specific tasks, such as handling a spreadsheet, creating a document, or designing a Web page.
IV. Information: Information is a set of data which is processed in a meaningful way according to the given requirement. Information is processed, structured, or presented in a given context to make it meaningful and useful. Information assigns meaning and improves the reliability of the data. It helps to ensure undesirability and reduces uncertainty. So, when the data is transformed into information, it never has any useless data.
V. Procedures: Actions conducted in a series of a certain order to ensure the system will run smoothly. Procedures are a series of actions and step undertaken to ensure that the computer system executes task as is expected of it.
VI. People: Data entry were made by people in computer systems by various means, e.g. keyboard or voice recognition etc. People are needed to run the system so that the knowledge in the huge databases and data warehouses can be turned into learning that can interpret what has happened in the past and guide future action.
For citing this article’ use:
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Khan, S. A. (2020). Role of Information and Communication Technologies ICTs on consumer purchase for processed food in India.
