Summary
Since the beginning of the 90's, technological development has not stopped astonishing the world, there is not a week that an electronic device or computer program does not appear that impacts on our daily lives.
We are living in a time of whirlwind of new developments in hardware, software, communications; There are computers that are increasingly powerful and suitable for the great diversity of forms of use that a client requires, mobile electronic devices that are the size of the palm of the hand containing a large amount of information and that can access any database via the Internet. data in the world, systems that can be operated from anywhere, to the point where human beings already feel more confident to continue exploring space and within their next goals, visit the planet Mars, a dream that hopes to conclude around of the year 2010.
In terms of information systems, it is not the exception, based on this technological growth, great developments have been generated in various world-class organizations that have strongly supported decision-making and therefore brought their strategies to the point of being the best in the world.
Content
There have been many definitions and concepts of a decision support system over the years, but we could understand it as "It is a system that complements the intellectual resources of individuals with the capabilities of computers to increase the quality of decisions." (Turban, 2002)
The Administrative Support Systems (MSS), have their formal appearance in the decade of the 70's, when the computing "boom" began to occur in large companies in developed countries and there is a need to classify the different systems that they support decision-making based on their type, whether structured, semi-structured or complex. It is then when they classify different tools or types of systems that support the decision, among which the following stand out:
- Decision Support Systems (DSS) Group Support System (GSS) Executive Information Systems (EIS) Expert Systems (ES)
With time and technological advances, new development techniques appear that allow the construction of more advanced systems, such as Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Management, among others.
With the appearance of personal computers along with commercial tools of spreadsheets and databases, all types of organizations have greater access to the development and implementation of these systems, a great variety of tools appear that can support the decisions of their executives, allowing them to increase the capacities of their companies, reduce costs, increase productivity, save time and therefore achieve position within their market, to the extent that many companies formed just 5 years ago are now large global consortiums and positioned among the best in its category.
In Mexico we are not removed from this situation, although there are very few companies that have taken advantage of the implementation of information technologies to develop the systems that support decisions at all levels, from large companies formed for several decades and that have maintained their level. and position within its national and international market such as those that have been formed in less than a decade and are already considered highly competitive.
So, if information technologies are more accessible every day, a question arises, why in Mexico, organizations of all kinds have not had the expected growth and therefore be more competitive within their market?
Reflecting a bit, let us consider that there are several factors, among which, firstly, one of the most important characteristics of these companies, regardless of their size, is the risk that their executives have taken of applying information technologies with the confidence of implementing systems that support decisions.
We have by human nature a resistance to change, many executives think that having a computer is synonymous with efficiency and also high costs, that by acquiring a computer by itself it will solve many problems that affect the organization and therefore make the decisions that it will solve Many of their problems, it is almost certain that the influence of science fiction television programs and the cinema have a lot to do with this idea that executives have, since they think that with a single press of a key, problems can be fixed; but they do not take into account that the computer is itself a tool, it is necessary to pour part of their experience and need for information into the systems so that they can make the decisions that help the growth of their organization.
One way to lessen this resistance to change is through, and most importantly, convincing senior executives and subsequently applying training and developing their staff, managing risks and opportunities, using and sharing information, and finally participating and recognizing achievements. of staff. (Caldera, 2001)
On the other hand, another factor that is also important is the culture of computer-based information analysis, which is actually recent in our country, if we think about it, the culture began to develop after the mid-70's, when in some universities the professional careers supported their subjects in the use of computational tools, such as simulators, word processors, some databases, graph generators, etc. in careers related to information technology and engineering in general.
Professionals who were pursuing administrative careers began to support their subjects in computers from the early 90's and by the second half of the 90's we could say that all professional careers in almost all universities were already used.
With the above we can deduce that, many of the executives and administrators who make many of their decisions supported by systems, are people who studied with the support of computational tools that allowed them to grow professionally with these tools, and that allows them to have confidence to develop, acquire and implement within their organizations systems that support decisions, others, although they did not have that opportunity, have known how to take the risk and become involved in the technological reality in which we live.
It is logical to think that after 10 years, the great executives and senior administrators who will have on their shoulders the weight of the growth of the organizations are already taking strategic positions, and this is very convenient for the country, although it would be of greater impact than all organizations, large and small, made the effort to further develop their staff and not wait for the future to catch up with them.
conclusion
It is a great mistake of executives and senior managers of organizations to think that the systems that support decisions are large applications that are used in special and sophisticated computer equipment, and therefore, require large financial resources, although in principle they do. You have to make investments but not of the magnitude in which most think, the rapid return on investment depends on the support you have in its implementation, you have to break the paradigms that exist around this situation, it is necessary that senior executives take the risk, have the availability and the conviction to implement these systems, seek advice from professional IT staff and who are familiar with the business line, who have well defined the types of problems they want to solve,since this is where the success of the development of a good system that supports the different decisions that will make your organization grow and therefore help the country's development begins.
Bibliography
Turban Efraim & Aronson, Jay E. (2002), Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Management Support Systems (Chapter 1), Page 13, 6th Ed., Printice Hall
Caldera Borja, Bethzy. (2001). Decision Support Systems and resistance to change. Netmedia.
