Among most popular healthcare organizations in healthcare industry Johnsons & Johnsons Company is famous among people worldwide for its quality products for babies. In J & J Company, IT is used for management of customers’ and products’ information, to get better communication ways to communicate with clients and customers and to use advanced vision sensor system for manufacturing quality products. The management of important information about customers such as their personal and payment information is necessary in appropriate way by healthcare organizations. It is a sensitive information and hackers always try to hack this type of information to fulfill their different purposes. That is why, security and privacy of data is important and here IT tools and techniques can provide help. These tools and techniques are inexpensive and easy to use.

Here we will emphasize on detail discussion about impact of IT on business of Johnsons & Johnsons Company.

Yes, Johnsons & Johnsons business needs Information Technology and there are various reasons for its usage (Asian Healthcare Management System, 2017). First of all, Information Technology applications are required to manage hefty records of information about customers who are consuming products of J & J and employees work in this organization, into secure database in an organized form. Another need of IT applications in Johnsons & Johnsons is to get good ways of communication and information sharing at remote locations with customers, suppliers and healthcare organizations where products of J & J are used. In this way, these essential activities can be performed easily and in quick way by Information Technology tools and techniques. That is why IT is required in Johnsons & Johnsons Company (SearchHealthIT, 2017).

There are various facts about Information Technology that makes it important for healthcare organizations such as management of information and to enhance level of performance of healthcare organizations. Besides this, from following points we can understand the important of IT in Johnsons & Johnsons business:

1. In J & J, IT plays a critical role in enabling teams that are remote locations and drive products and process innovation and organizational collaboration (Ahrq.gov, 2017).
2. IT helps J & J Company in business relationship management, customer relationship management and technology engineering that are required to run business processes smoothly and to get new information and innovative ideas for manufacturing products. (Ortiz and Clancy, 2017).

The appropriate implementation of Information Technology into business of Johnsons & Johnsons, have some essential requirements that are required to fulfill for its better functionality. The essential requirements of IT includes cost, planning, designing, software and hardware components and training and installation (B, 2017).

Cost

IT applications are inexpensive as compare to conventional technologies. But the license fees and subscription fees can be higher and it depends on service providers. J & J Company to take license to run IT applications in legal way, so they have to spent money for this. Besides this, maintenance and security expenses will also be included as cost of IT. Therefore, healthcare organizations should have enough funds to execute IT applications (Healthit.ahrq.gov, 2017).

Planning

Before start execution of any new technology, it is necessary to make a plan about essential requirements, components and cost of IT applications. With a proper plan, it can be easily estimated that IT execution is feasible in a healthcare organization or not. Besides this, it is a good way for cost and time estimation of whole IT project implementation.

Designing

The designing process is related to design an IT application according to infrastructure of Johnsons and Johnsons where this application will be executed. This designing process includes identify of possible communication channels in organization, appropriate communication modes external and internal and how wired or wireless applications should be established. A design should easier to understand and use by everyone in organization (Krueger, 2017).

Installation and Training

The installation or configuration of IT applications should be done in appropriate way to run these applications with security and without error. The installation can be done through an IT expert so that no issue can occur in functionality of IT applications. Training is required for employees in J & J, those have less knowledge about IT applications. Without proper knowledge or training to execute IT applications, it is difficult to get required outcomes. The technical department of company should provide this training to employees (Cognex.com, 2017).

IT applications can be used for different purposes in an organization according to requirements both at external and internal levels. At internal level, IT is used in J & J for managing large amount of information in a secure way into database and to enhance easiness to access this information. Another use of IT in company is to use good communication channels for information sharing by using emails, text messages, online calls etc. At external level, IT is used by vendors and customers of J & J to know about its new products (Chcf.org, 2017).

Following are some essential benefits of IT in Johnsons & Johnsons business:

1. Due to implementation of IT applications or software solutions, regular activities of organization can be done in appropriate ways and in less time.
2. IT has provided an organized way to maintain confidential information in secure and reliable way (Unc.edu, 2017).
3. The advancement of IT applications, company has commenced online business to facilitate customers for purchasing products online for their babies. Online payment transaction is also possible by using IT techniques. (Seriousgamesforhealth.com, 2017).
4. IT applications are reliable, flexible and easier to use by employees of company according to their working requirements (Aims Education, 2017).

Besides above discussed benefits of IT, there are also some risk factors of IT that can be encountered by J & J organization. The main risk is related to security and privacy of information that is stored into information system’s database. Through hacking attack, hackers can easily hack database to obtain important information of patients and employees of healthcare. Malware attack is also a big risk factor for healthcare organization while implementing IT applications. Malware is injected into database by hackers to damage whole information. Spying and network intrusion are also vulnerable risk factors of IT and these attacks are implemented on network channels through which data is transferred. The reason for all these risk factors is lack in use of secure and advanced IT tools and techniques to secure data permanently.

To control above discussed risk factors and another issues of IT, J & J should use advanced monitoring and scanning tools to detect hacking attack. Anti-virus, spyware, firewall are essential software solutions that can be used to detect virus into IT systems and applications and it can also be removed. At users’ end these solutions can be used easily. At developers’ end, there is requirement to use cryptography techniques and strong programming algorithms for better security of IT solutions and applications. Network monitoring tools and SSL network layer can be used to monitor and maintain network security at high level. 

Conclusion

After this discussion we can say that business of Johnsons & Johnsons company has both positive and negative impacts of IT. But negative impacts can be controlled by implementing above discussed solutions. So while using IT applications, it is necessary to be aware about security updates of these applications and must use available security tools and techniques for long term security. 

References

Asian Healthcare Management System. (2017). Role of Information Technology in Medical Science. [online] Available at:

https://www.asianhhm.com/articles/role-information-technology-medical-sciences [Accessed 29 May 2017].

SearchHealthIT. (2017). What is Health IT (health information technology)? – Definition from WhatIs.com. [online] Available at: https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/Health-IT-information-technology [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Ahrq.gov. (2017). Health Information Technology Integration | Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. [online] Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/improve/health-it/index.html [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Ortiz, E. and Clancy, C. (2017). Use of Information Technology to Improve the Quality of Health Care in the United States.

B, G. (2017). Information technology and today’s health care management. – PubMed – NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10122865 [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Healthit.ahrq.gov. (2017). Health IT Costs and Benefits Database | AHRQ National Resource Center; Health Information Technology: Best Practices Transforming Quality, Safety, and Efficiency. [online] Available at: https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/health-it-costs-and-benefits-database [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Cognex.com. (2017). Johnson & Johnson reducing waste, improving efficiency using Cognex vision systems | Customer Success Story | Cognex. [online] Available at:

https://www.cognex.com/customer-stories/vision-systems-reducing-waste-improving-efficiency/?id=8982&langtype=1033 [Accessed 29 May. 2017].

Seriousgamesforhealth.com. (2017). The Main Benefits of Using ICT in the Health Care Field | Serious Games For Health. [online] Available at:

https://www.seriousgamesforhealth.com/en/the-main-benefits-of-using-ict-in-the-health-care-field/#undefined [Accessed 29 May 2017].

CCHIT. (2017). Benefits of Healthcare Information Technology | CCHIT. [online] Available at:

https://www.cchit.org/benefits-of-healthcare-information-technology/ [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Krueger, A. (2017). 6 Ways Technology Is Improving Healthcare. [online] Business Insider. Available at:

https://www.businessinsider.com/6-ways-technology-is-improving-healthcare-2010-12?IR=T [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Chcf.org. (2017). Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Health Care Information Technology: Six Case Studies. [online] Available at:

https://www.chcf.org/publications/2004/09/measuring-the-costs-and-benefits-of-health-care-information-technology-six-case-studies [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Unc.edu. (2017). Benefits of Computer Use in Health Care Systems. [online] Available at:

https://www.unc.edu/~kmonsalv/comp101/project1/ [Accessed 29 May 2017].