When is it too much?

Nowadays having a machine to do our daily routines is a norm, for example, having a washing machine to do the washing, rinsing and drying for us. When did the simple hand scrubbing, rinsing and twisting of the cloth to get the excess water out before hanging them become a hard chore that we have to have a machine to do it for us? Can we ask ourselves now, are we making our lives easier or are we relying too much on technology? One day, robots will be normal to have as a domestic help, or can become companions or entertainers just like the ‘Robodogs’ that they have now. Maybe to some extent, it is alright to have a robot or a machine to help with something that a human cannot do. This can be from operating hazardous work like defusing bombs or mines, to doing something simple but repetitive and boring. At the going rate of the development of technology, it is not surprising that this is to be expected.

Bringing back a few centuries ago, surgeons’ sterilized knives over a candle light and committing their focus on doing the surgery correctly. But now, there exists a machine to help assist surgeons to perform precision procedures and to be honest it is quite disturbing and comforting at the same time. Or on how a mathematician relies on calculators, better yet, a scientific calculator now to help solve complicated equations. But how do they do it back then when the only device they could use as an aid was a simple abacus. However, it is not a question when it comes to communication and technology. Everyone knows that the mobile phone is part of the modern life necessity now. It not only allows people to call each other but it can help navigate us to a destination that we may not be familiar with through the technology of the GPRS system. Apart from that, you can find almost anything on a mobile phone now provided it has the connection and fancy tech applications to surf the internet.

It is hard to divide the attention on whether technology helps to make human lives a lot easier or are we relying too much on it?

Wi-Fi Wireless Networking

A talk was held last week on the 23^rd April 2008, a successful entrepreneur, Paul Callaghan, who presented how his firm, Leighton Group earned him million pounds by delivering marketing services to various companies through the Internet. He points out that the evolution of his business has gone from offering domain names to other companies using a dial-up connection, to marketing promotion via e-mail on a broadband Internet today. The future that he anticipates will be on the Wi-Fi wireless Internet networking that will soon cover everywhere due to advances in technology. Business people can conduct and monitor their businesses online anytime and customers can enjoy online services that are easily available. High availability computing would require a security infrastructure for electronic commerce and electronic businesses. Large public network that is open to everyone and can easily get accessed are more vulnerable because they are so huge that when abuses do occur, they can have an enormous widespread impact. However, it is difficult to determine the optimal level of security required to protect users without slowing down too much the business operation as well as not costing fortune to achieve. Imagine if you are required to remember 10 passwords in order to complete one transaction, won’t you get frustrated and just give up instantly? Or if you are being asked for very personal identification such as fingerprints just for shopping online, then another concern on privacy will encounter; furthermore hackers, virus and errors are also warnings in the network system. I am afraid that the speed of Internet evolution and the increasing popularity of wireless connection would go beyond the development of effective security protection to deal with the problems raised. Businesses that have already committed to the virtual businesses models and online customers would be suffering and eventually be the sacrifices for this digital era at the beginning of the 21^st century.

 

Electronic government in the UK

Government.direct was the initial name (now called Directgov) given by the UK government in 1999 to its strategy for the electronic delivery of central government services. The government issued a consultation document, called a Green Paper, with its proposals. As in many other countries, UK people are actively interacting with government daily for various purposes such as applying for driving licence, paying taxes, receiving benefits and pension. Directgov envisages a time when all the activities will be done through television sets or the Internet or from libraries and shopping centres. Not only could parents in the urban areas compare performance of local schools and citizens use one electronic form to tell several departments about a change of employment status; it also lightens the burden of government on small businessperson and help jobseekers to sift through job vacancies. Services will be more accessible, more convenient, and easier to use. However, this idea has been criticised by many as anxieties rose when poor people and elderly people tend to be who receive money payments from the UK government and they also tend to be the people who do not have access to the Internet or don’t know how to use it. Poor people are very often unqualified for applying a bank account. Therefore, people who desperately need government financial support can be easily frightened into believing that some traditional methods have been replaced by something completely new to them. Are there other ways?

Directgov’s Website: http://direct.gov.uk/en/index.htm

Information at a touch

Microsoft has just developed a new product called Microsoft surface where everything will be easily transferred from a device (mobile, digital camera, smart cards) to the computer. This product comes with a touch surface table to which is also a computer itself. All we have to do is place a compatible device on the table and it will automatically detect the information or files from the device. These information or files can be managed so fast and quickly with a ‘drag and drop’ system. Information from the internet can also be transferred to the phone with the same system used to transfer information from the phone to the computer. The wireless age has developed so quickly that information has become so easy to manage and are now accessible almost anywhere. Technology is like a wave in the ocean, when one renders another big one comes. A few years back, a mobile phone with Infrared transferring system was the fastest transferring system available. But now it has become non-existent and is taken over by the development of the Bluetooth and wireless technology. How fast is technology growing?

Information systems for getting competitive advantages?

Flextronics illustrates the interdependence of business environments, organizational culture, management strategy, and the development of information systems. New information systems have changed the way Flextronics runs its business and makes management decision. Information systems can be used to support strategy at industry, firm and business level. At the industry level, information systems can promote competitive advantage by facilitating cooperation with other firms in the industry, creating consortiums or communities for sharing information, exchanging transactions, or coordinating activities. IS can be used at the firm level to achieve new efficiencies or to enhance services by tying together the operations of different business units so that they can function as a whole or promoting the knowledge sharing across business units. While at the business level, it can help firms to become the low-cost producers, differentiate products and services. In addition, it can also engage customers and suppliers using efficient customer response and supply chain management applications.  

A business information system doesn’t necessarily last long enough to ensure long term profitability as other competitors can retaliate and copy strategic systems. Globalization, advances in technology has made these changes even more rapid and unpredictable. As information systems are closely intertwined with the organization’s structure, culture and processes, implementing new strategic systems often requires extensive organizational change and a transition from one socio-technical level to another. In addition, all companies can use the technology; the internet can make competitive advantage disappear. Therefore, competitive advantage isn’t always sustainable.

Is IT = Reach + Richness a good sign to businesses?

I read a chapter of a booked called ‘Business Information: A systems Approach’ by Mike Harry. He had a study box on the wisdom that the digital revolution changes every industry and company in this contemporary world which I would like to share. A concern raised on the two concepts of the economics of information versus the economics of things. For example, books are expensive that the economics of things suggests a bookshop should stock less, but the economics of information thinks the opposite, the more to display, the more to sell. In the digital world, a compromise between the two is resolved by displaying information of books on-line and storing the books in warehouse. Therefore, not only the information handler, e.g. Amazon earns profits, the warehouse and distributor benefit too. Then here comes the argument that involves reach (what you can get when you advertise to millions of audience) and richness (when a salesman sits down for an hour with a client). In old style business, the two conflicts and the more, for example, a clothing retailer lies to one end which is bespoke tailor, the less it would have on the other end such as catalogue retailer in the spectrum. Marks & Spencer are somewhere in between. However, in the digital revolution, this trade-off is shifting or even vanished. In the Automotive Network Exchange (ANX), an extranet was set up by the big three Detroit car makers involving thousands of suppliers worldwide and when buyers post their requirement, suppliers instantly respond. The Detroit’s big three form a quasi-monopoly of US car manufacturer. If they agree on a standard, it becomes universal. In terms of corporate structure, traditionally, activities were dependent upon richness-on communication, control; trust etc- belonged to the company. In contrast, those depending on reach were assigned to the market. The boundary of the corporation was a point of the trade-off between richness and reach. In a networked world, the company hierarchy gives way to a structural soup, in which ad hoc teams form and dissolve, on the other hand, companies form shifting alliances. If it is true, Silicon Valley then becomes the model for the future structure in which no-one in the community can distinguish between competitors and allies, and where workers mean everything and corporate boundaries nothing. It is a provoking baloney to most industries.

Computer based personnel systems

There has been an increased emphasis on the need for computer based personnel systems which enables human resource management to manage in a more efficient and effective way which will benefit the organization. Before this system became available, employees who are responsible for the development of a corporate data processing strategy tends to ignore the value that such a system could yield.

 

The Computer based personnel Information System (CPIS) started developing after the post-war period where most organizations started to expand and employed more people. Pay and conditions started to improve and this has changed the work environment dramatically. Therefore, CPIS is now emphasized on helping the now increased productivity from the work force. More information about the organization’s most important resources is needed to help determine the most suitable manpower and human resource policy to be implemented effectively. With the growing rate of development of computer technology, there has been a shift from the more traditional approach of job application to online applications both on main-frame and on distributed or local computers. However, with the increased availability of computer-based systems for personnel, a computer hardware that has become almost available to anyone can be useless unless appropriate application software is available. Therefore, in order to achieve successful CPIS, there has to be a great understanding of the personnel function by the management services or information technology function to yield a more promising system for the future world of work. A question then lingers; will this replace a job of an employee? We think not because a computer or a system can only be operated and controlled by a human providing they are given training to use the system and he or she can choose to either exploit it or ignore it.

Big Bang! Or Bursting Bubbles?

Electronic commerce, usually called e-commerce or EC, seemed to come from nowhere at the end of 1990s, and then to become something that has dominated the media and business education ever since. On 12th November 1999 the Financial Times (FT) brought out its latest edition with a content contained nearly 100 references to digital networks, Internet trading and other topics directly liked to EC such as banking, printing, farm produce, school supplies, chemicals, industrial equipment. Since then, the digital revolution was booming. However, in a recent

Harris Interactive Survey on 2,420 adults commissioned by Tealeaf Technology which sells software that lets companies to monitor their on-line businesses, revealed that 87% of e-business men have some sort of technical problems, such as difficulties logging in, receive error messages and get kicked off the page etc. On the other hand, 42% of e-shoppers would give up when they encounter a problem. 53% would try to complete the transaction by contacting the customer service. But most of the responding (68%) felt the service agent was not knowledgeable about the company’s website and the problems usually remained unsolved. Therefore, companies spend a great deal of money to attract customers but do not provide adequate customers service to help online customers by reluctant to give training or tools to the service agents. Geoff Galat, tealeaf’s vice president of marketing, says ‘’effectively, you’re spending money to send your customers to the competition and that’s a really scary thing from a business perspective.’’

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21678273/#storyContinued

What are the challenges of the existing Information Systems (IS)?

Although information technology is advancing at a speedy pace, there are five key challenges confronting managers.

The strategic business challenge: it is a long and difficult journey to create a digital firm and obtaining benefits for most corporations. Many of them are not realizing significant business value from their systems although a lot of investments have been put on it. The companies haven’t got adequate ability to catch up the speed that computer hardware and software growing. In order to receive maximum benefits from information technology, realize genuine productivity, and take advantage of digital firm capabilities, many companies actually need to be redesigned. Organizational behaviour, business models, organization structure are the fundamental changes they have to make.

The globalization challenge: the rapid growth in international trade call for information systems which can support both producing and selling goods in many different countries. It won’t be successful for a company to focus only one region’s problems as there are differences such as cultural, languages and political. Company must develop global hardware, software and communications standards; create cross-cultural accounting and reporting structures in order to build integrated, multinational, information systems.

The information architecture and infrastructure challenges: many firms are loaded with expensive and clumsy information technology platforms that do not have the capability for innovation and change. These complex systems are constraining the developing business strategy and execution. Building a new information architecture and information technology infrastructure and redesigning the organization is required for firms to meet technology challenges.

The investment challenge: there is a main problem raised by the development of powerful, inexpensive computes involves not technology but management and organizations. The companies have to use information technology to design, produce, deliver, and maintain new products as well as to make money doing it. Companies have to determine the business value of information systems in order to make investment into corporation value.

The responsibility and control challenge: although information systems have provided enormous benefits and efficiencies, they have also created new problems and challenges. For examples, as information systems automate activities which were performed by people, they reduce job opportunities; privacy of people may be at higher risk as the information systems collect personal details in organizations.

Information systems are so essential to business, government and daily life that organizations must ensure that they are accurate, reliable and secure. In other words, the systems must function as they intended and so that human can control the process.

IT devalues

When people say that Technology doesn’t appreciate human feelings and interaction, how much do you believe in that? Let me elaborate on a story about a guidance counselor in one school back home. Now, a guidance counselor is always one of the other people who you rely upon if you have problems whether it relates to school or your personal life. On one fine day, a student was having problems and went to see the guidance counselor. But to his dismay, the guidance counselor disregarded the boy and said…

 

“Not now but just text me your problems to my mobile and I will reply to you as soon as I get my hands free”

 

I would agree if many of you say that IT does devalue human interaction. But to what extent does it become unacceptable though? In this case, the boy needed help from the counselor but she abused the use of a mobile phone to deal with it. How acceptable is this or are we over thinking that technology destroys human interaction?

 

Does sending an e-card to your loved ones instead of a proper card reduce the value of the thought of sending it? Or does communicating with a group member through email or online messenger loses the value of face to face interaction? Does online community such as MySpace and Facebook reduces the genuinity of getting to know someone because anyone can write bogus information about themselves to make them look impressive to others. Tell me to what extent does IT devalue? And to what extent does it not?