What happens if any one Element of the information processing cycle breaks down?

The information processing cycle is a business term. The four steps to the information processing cycle are input, process, output and distribution. If any one of these processes broke down, then the cycle would not work.

• The importance of them all
  

Imagine these four terms in a circle. If one part of it is removed, then the circle is broken and so it hits a dead end. It is not possible to skip one of these stages out, because each is equally as important to getting to the end product; which is money from sales.

• What would happen?
  

If the input part of the cycle goes down, then there will be no fresh ideas for the business. It could run on those that it already has, but over time these will be outdated and new ones will be needed to replace them. This can also be interpreted as input in terms of workload. If the people don't put enough input in, then the company grinds to a halt.

If the processing part breaks down, then no ideas generated at the input stage would be produced, and the company would have no product to sell, leading to their decline. Processing needs to be done to create the products. If the output part were to break down, no ideas or stock would be prepared for distribution and so again, the system would be flawed.

Output is essential for getting the products ready for delivery. If the distribution part of the cycle breaks down, then nothing would ever get delivered to where it needs to go, and so retailers would never receive their product, for example. Again, this would lead to the company losing money because its goods cannot be delivered to where they are purchased by consumers because the distribution element of the circle is down.

So as you can see, it is impossible for the information processing cycle to break down and still work, because every element is just as important as the rest.