Technology System Paper

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Currently, McDonalds is looking at wireless technology to make fast-food live up to its name. No need to wait in long line-ups for your BigMac and fries, just by the swipe of wand and payment is made. For three months, the hamburger chain has been testing a new wireless payment technology in nine restaurants in Chicago and four in California. Working with Exxon Mobil, McDonald's is enabling its customers to use their Mobile Speed pass transponders to swipe pass special cash registers to pay for their meals. According to Frohman, (1998), to make a competitive edge in business, an organization must continue to evolve with technological advancement. From its conception, McDonalds has been determined to be quick. Now the fast food giant is attempting to be super quick. McDonald's market studies show impatient customers will pay for the right not to wait. Standing in line and having to wait is a huge negative for Americans, especially hungry ones. So McDonalds introduced ultra-quick service in some regions, where all that is necessary to place an order is to press a few buttons on a cell-phone, park in a special spot under the golden arches, and all you have to do is grab your bag and go. No ordering, no waiting, no pulling out the wallet, no messing with change. All this, thanks to technology and McQuick. The time line for implementing the McQuick system is about six months.

Effects of technology evolution on Information technology management and knowledge workers

Technology has changed business in many ways, but its effect on communication is arguably the most significant. Indeed, according to Walden University College of Management and Technology as cited by Javitch, (20008), communication through email, text messaging, instant messaging and even budding tools like social networking have been "among the most profound effects of technology on every area of business." However, while technology did make business communications faster and easier, it has also made, at times, communication liberating. Whether you need to speak with an employee who is traveling in another state or country or you need to communicate with your supplier half way around the world, technology allows you to do so instantaneously (Costin, 1998). In fact, thanks to email and text messages, you can now send messages to people in other time zones before you forget without worrying that you will wake them up. In fact, according to Walden University, the Internet has allowed business people to communicate easily regardless of time zone and language issues. Technology has redefined the way human knowledge conduct everyday business. This constant change in technology has resulted to frequent training of McDonald employees so that everyone operates on the same page.

Conclusion

Technology advancement and changes has redefined how organization operate their business in 21st century (Francis & Bessant, 2005). . The implementation timeline of these changes differ based on the nature of technological change. McDonald restaurant has done quite great over the years to maintain the status of the fastest growing fast food chain in the world. The ability to incorporate core competence into the core technology has resulted to massive growth. Javitch, D.G (2008) stated that the timeline for implementing a technology change is partly determined by the type of experts hired to initiate this transition or on the competence of human knowledge.

References

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