The Influence of Modern Information Technologies on Service Distribution, with Specific Focus on Trends and Enhancements to Service Logistics

摘要

While globalization is sweeping across nations, the Information Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming an increasingly important aspect of everyday reality. Some of the traditionally independent processes are nowadays strongly influenced by each other, and because of such inter-dependence, they create a chain effect which can be easily spotted while analyzing value chains of distribution. Innovations in ICT technologies are resulting in ever-rising levels of integration between segregated parts of the globe. Such innovation is crucial in enhancing productivity of logistics functions such as transportation, storing, replenishment, and other supporting activities that assure delivery of products. As services in particular are hardly detachable from its source, and while logistics as a science usually analyses the different links of the delivery chain, service logistics needs to be tailored to either shorten the chain, or standardize services to an extend which allows for better capacity control, whilst having quality management in mind at all times. Globalization and ICT are defying together the barriers of distance and time. In modern environment, where globalization is overcoming physical distance, implication of ICT for the purposes of widening information channels, multiplies its role by a factor. This paper primarily focuses on uses of ICT technology at service logistics, with the special focus of services delivery in e-learning industry. At the beginning of the paper background data necessary for understanding the topic is presented, and further on some practical examples are used to show how ICT, logistics of services, and distance learning are influenced by each other.