TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 1

Technology in Business

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Professor

Date
TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 2

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3

1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................4

1.1 Description of the Companies...........................................................................................4

1.1.1 Truist Finance Corporation........................................................................................4

1.1.2 Bank of America......................................................................................................5

2.0 Description of information systems being used by the companies...................................5

3.0 Analysis of Truist Financial Corporation Information Systems................................6

4.0 Conclusion........................................................................................................................7

Appendix I: Impact Assessment Report...............................................................................10

TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 3

Executive Summary

Information System (IS) is an integrated set of computers and software used in gathering,

storing, and processing data to serve users with useful and digital information. Companies

technically rely on the information system to support their daily operations, such as interaction

with clients, suppliers, and achieve competitive advantage. The two North America Companies

selected in this study are Truist Financial Corporation and the Bank of America (BofA), both

operating in the banking industry. The information systems mainly used by the selected banks

are Management Information System, Accounting System, Transaction Processing System,

Decision Support System, Human Resource System, and Decision Support System. Using the

information system rewards the banks with accuracy, timely processing and storage of useful

information, and smooth monitoring of people and operations, thus providing a competitive

advantage. However, the system can be manipulated by unauthorized persons, thereby resulting

in losses, and leaking of information, thus a great disadvantage of using the information system.
TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 4

1.0 Introduction

The North American public companies of choice are Truist Financial Corporation and the

Bank of America (BofA). Companies operate in the finance and banking industry and are

significant market rivals due to the high competition level. Due to the high level of competition,

companies are forced to embrace technology and integrate information systems in their

operations. Innovation and creativity have enabled these companies to utilize information

systems in ways that improve their competitive advantage. This paper aims at examining the

types and nature of information systems utilized by these selected companies and the benefits

and disadvantages they have encountered in the process.

1.1 Description of the Companies

1.1.1 Truist Finance Corporation

Truist Financial Corporation was established in 1872 following the merger between

BB&T and Sun Trust companies. Truist Financial Corp (Forbes, 2020). is a financial company

specializing in the provision of banking services to individual clients, businesses, and

municipalities. It serves approximately 10 million consumer households in financial services

across the globe. The company operates in multiple segments, namely consumer banking and

wealth, corporate and commercial banking, and Insurance Holdings. The company provides

multiple loans and lease financing to individuals and corporates. This includes insurance

premium financing, real estate financing, third-party investors’ loan servicing, individual client

loans, credit lending, automobile, and asset financing. The Bank also provides other services

such as bank depositing, life insurance, property, and casualty insurance (Forbes, 2020).
TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 5

1.1.2 Bank of America

The Bank of America is a national association which operates as a bank providing all

banking services to individuals, business, and federal government ministries. It was established

in 1904 to provide loans to American immigrants before its growth to the banking industry's

present-day giant. The Bank provides saving and current account services, financial investment

services, online banking, mortgage, and non-mortgage loan facilities (Carter, 2011).

Furthermore, Bank of America issues credit cards and provide business loans. The bank operates

on an international scale, with approximately 66 million clients across the globe. The bank

operates about 4300 branches, 17000 ATMs, and online banking software, which attracts about

39 million active users who access bank services using a mobile app. (Carter, 2011)

2.0 Description of information systems being used by the companies.

Information System (IS) is an integrated set of computers and software used in gathering,

storing, and processing data to serve users with useful and digital information. Companies

technically rely on the information system to support their daily operations, such as interaction

with clients, suppliers, and achieve competitive advantage. Both Truist Financial Corporation

and the Bank of America (BofA) have integrated several information system techniques in their

systems to enhance their smooth operations and emerge the best in the competitive environment.

Truist Financial Corporation has employed several information systems, which include

accounting information system, human resource system, Management information system, and

Online Analytical Processing System. On the other hand, the Bank of America (BofA) utilized

many information systems to build its business infrastructure and improve its operations. Some

of the information systems employed by BofA include Accounting System, Decision Support

System, Transaction Processing System, and Human Resource System.

TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 6

Analysis

3.0 Analysis of Truist Financial Corporation Information Systems

Truist Financial Corporation has heavily invested in an accounting information system to

enhance the sweet management of financial transactions. The system provides a spending way of

financial monitoring, thus improves bank security. Also, it manages both revenue and liabilities

while processing all the invoices on a timely basis. This saves time and is, therefore, convenient

for financial calculations and theft prevention (Hla & Teru 2015). The main disadvantage of the

system is that it can be manipulated, especially if accessed by an unauthorized person resulting in

the unauthorized transfer of money, thus resulting in a significant loss to the bank. However,

chances for these occurrences are so minimal. The bank has also invested heavily in,

Management Information System, which has enabled seamless monitoring of the bank's

performance. Besides, the HR System helps in the selection and recruiting of highly qualified

and talented employees. It is further integrated with the payroll system, which makes managing

employee deductions and rewards easier. The bank also has an Online Analytical Processing

System, which acts as their competitive advantage. It analyzes their online services and gets in

touch with clients who need help. This system analyzes multi-dimensional data to generate

information that can be viewed and interpreted in various ways.

The bank uses a Transaction processing system, which helps record daily business

transactions such as the total sales made, the total loan issues per day, and the total clients served

per day. In this category, BofA uses the Point of Sales, Payroll system, and Stock Control

system. The stock control system helps in recording data regarding the inventory and managing

the stock levels (Hla & Teru, 2015). This provides the bank manager with real-time information

as to their stock levels. The POS system helps the bank in recording the number of sales made
TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 7

and the sales revenue. The system stores all the transaction data in a transferable format, which

can easily be exported to the bank accounting system for tallying. A decision support system

helps the bank management to generate solutions to some of the unique problems that change

frequently. The system uses data from the information management system and transaction

processing to generate useful information.

Management information systems are also applied to help the BofA management monitor

the current performance. The system analyzes input using routine algorithms. This involves

performing aggregates, comparisons, and summaries of results to generate reports that are used

by the managers to monitor, control, and predict the future performance of the bank (Alzoubi,

2011). Lastly, BofA has consistently integrated an accounting system into their business

portfolio to keep track of all financial transactions, including sales and purchases, invoice

generation, and tallying of the company liabilities. The system has helped the bank enhance the

security of their finances due to a two-way authentication and data encryption nature of the

system. The listed types of an information systems are significant as they help the companies

minimize the operational cost and achieving a competitive advantage. The systems are also

accurate and process information within the shortest time hence saves on time and eliminates

human errors.

4.0 Conclusion

To conclude, the importance of the information systems to an organization cannot be

overlooked. This Paper analyzed the information system used in two companies of choice, which

include are Truist Financial Corporation and the Bank of America (BofA). Both companies

operate in the Bank industry. The companies provide multiple services such as loans and lease

financing to individuals and corporates. This includes insurance premium financing, real estate
TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 8

financing, third-party investors’ loan servicing, individual client loans, credit lending,

automobile, and asset financing. Besides, the Banks also provides other services such as bank

depositing, life insurance, property, and casualty insurance. The research established that some

of the information systems mainly used by the selected banks are Management Information

System, Accounting System, Transaction Processing System, Decision Support System, Human

Resource System, and Decision Support System. Using Information System saves time and helps

in the generation of accurate data. It also ensures the security of bank sensitive information and

documents, thus rewarding the banks with a competitive advantage.

TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 9

References

Alzoubi, A. (2011). The effectiveness of the accounting information system under the enterprise

resources planning (ERP). Research Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2(11), 10-19.

Carter, S. J., Garcia, R., Joa, D., Joffe, D., Mertz, J., Obradovic, Z., & Schumacher, H.

(2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,181,858. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Forbes. 2020. Truist Financial (TFC). [online] Available at:

https://www.forbes.com/companies/truist-financial/?sh=74e2290f71ac

Hla, D., & Teru, S. P. (2015). Efficiency of accounting information system and performance

measures. International Journal of Multidisciplinary and Current Research, 3, 976-984.

TECHNOLOGY IN BUSINESS 10

Appendix I: Impact Assessment Report