Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Week 5 - Ethics and Security

1. Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.


- Privacy Issues: Consists of the interest of the business for keeping valuable information away from the public. This relates to confidentiality. This is kept in mind when a company has valuable infromation which is wanted to be kept private. The risk of being released in the public could result to the company 'sinking'.

- Data Accuracy: It is important that data is keep up to date and is as accurate as possible. Constant checks must be made to ensure that no 'suspicious' activity has occured. Data must also be limited to who can access it to decrease amounts of malicious activity.

- Property Issues: Issues with who owns information in companies is a problem. It is shown that most companies are montioring employees' emails as they are misusing them with the information which is being issued out to peole outside of the company.


2. Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal

Employees search organisational database for sensitive and personal information. This is an example of bank employees who have access to customers' bank details and use it against their will to trace their bank details, which could lead to fraudulent activity such as taking money out of their accounts.


3. Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employee

Internet use policy- Consists of generalpriciples which guide the correct use of the internet in the workplace. The policy:
- Describes available internet services.
- Defines the purpose and restriction of internet access.
- Describes user responsibilities.
- Shows the consiquential result for violations.


4. What are the 5 main technology security risks


1)Human Error
2)Natural Disasters
3)Technical Failures
4)Deliberate Acts
5)Management Failure


5. Outline one way to reduce each risk

1) Human error: Strong passwords which consists of some letters and numbers make it harder to guess the password and prevent people guessing passwords.
2) Natural disaster: Retaining offsite backups which are kept outside of the premises and are kept in the exact same order as on premises.
3)Techinical Failures: Network rights and permissions correctly assigned reduce the risk of employees accessing parts of the system which could result to failures.
4)Deliberate Acts- Passwords: Changing passwords on a regular basis with a secure password reset,will decrease the prevention of external parties hacking into systems.
5) Management Failure: Training employees on the job helps employees to develop the correct skills needed to perform their tasts with minimal risks involved.



The link above describes how security online has changed in today's world.


6. What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employee?

The process of regaining information and data after a disaster has taken place. It is a form of Off Site Backups- This involves saving information and data outside of the workplace, so there will be a copy available if something goes wrong in the workplace.

The link above desribes ways which disaster recovery plans could be implemented

Monday, August 16, 2010

Week 4 Blog- E Commerce

1. What is an IP Address? What is its main function?

The unique codes which all computers with access to the internet have that identify each of them on the World Wide Web. Its main function is to identify where the internet connection is coming from.

Below: Image of  an IP address for wirless access point





2. What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?

Web 2.0: Is a two way interaction on the internet allowing users to create, update and give feedback on a webpage. It differs from Web 1.0 as 1.0 only enables to give information, while not allowing the end user to add any information. Therefore 2.0 is two way communications while 1.0 is only one way.

Below: Image of 2.0 programs




Below: Image that shows how web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 differ and the year created


3. What is Web 3.0?

Consists of making databases online. It enables you to search using all sort of media and will evolution towards 3D. Through tagging, more returns in search engines would be given.

The link below explains web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0





4. What is eBusiness, how does it differ from eCommerce?

eBusiness is the actual running of the whole business online. It consists of marketing, legal and accounting side of running a business online. Whereas eCommerce is the buying and selling of goods online.

The link below explains the diference between ecommerce and ebusiness





5. What is pure and partial eCommerce

Pure: Purchasing digital software or data online such as Itunes.
Partial: having various goods for sales which will be delivered to you such as fruit and vegetables.


6. List and describe the various eBusiness models?

1) Indirect PC Value Chain: Consists of purchasing product from supplier, then to the PC maker, followed by the Distributors who send them to Retailers who resell the products to the Final Customer. This is the old fashioned way of purchasing products from the warehouse to the end user. It is still commonly used today as people still prefer to directly deal with the retail stores to gain the best advice.

2) Direct PC Value Chain: Consists of the Supplier, then to Dell and the Final customer.
This is a more informal way of purchase and is becoming more common as customers find it cheaper to purchase from the company it is less expensive for purchase.


7. List and describe the major B2B models?

1) Sell side B2B- Has many buyers and only one seller that they all purchase their goods from.

Below: Image of Sell Side B2B website


2) Buy side B2B- Has many sellers and only one buyer.

Below: Image of Buy side B2B for IBM



3) Electronic Exchange- Has many sellers, buyers, and services which are all connected at an exchange point to deliver transactions to each other.

Below: Image of an online electronic exchange between suppliers and customer



4) Collaborative Commerce- Has different industries, buyers, sellers and governments who exchange transactions through a hub manager.

Below: Image of collaborative commerce in a workplace



8. Outline 2 opportunities and 2 challenges faced by companies doing business online?

Challenges:
1) Website not functional- There may be an issue with the website such as not capable to be opened using different types of browsers. It may also have a problem with navigating as it may have broken links
2) Checkout requesting too much information- May end up having consumers cancelling purchase due to the online forms asking for too much information which may make the user feel uncomfortable in filling out.
Opportunities:
1) Cheaper to sell online-Won't need to consider to pay for expenses such as rent therefore more profits would be generated as the consumers tend to pay for the postal.
2) Ability to create an Extranet- This allows businesses to engage in work online at anytime of the day bycreating a blog page to add and received information.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Week Three- Strategic Decision Making

1. Define TPS and DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages


Transactional Processing Systems (TPS) includes all the information contained within a single business process. Its main purpose is to support the performance of daily operational tasks. An organisation can use this system to record daily operational data  such as credit decisions and cash deposits. It helps in supporting daily operational tasks at the time that they take place. This would help in keeping up to date with all records in order to look back and make decisions on what should stay the same or what should be changed in the operational sides of the business.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) allows managers to go through the decision making process with ease as they would have captured all the necessary information to come to a good decision. An organisation can use this system to decide on good outcomes to ideas which they would like to see take place the company. This allows them the managers to determines whether the new decisions should take place or whether operations should remain as they are. Competitive advantage- This allows organisations to create new innovative ideas which competitors haven't decided on and come to the conclusion whether it will help the company or not.



2. Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems


1) Sensitivity Analysis: The study of the outcome that one or more changes in the model have on the other parts of the model. It deteremines what would happen if a change in the organisation takes place.

Below: An image of a sensitivity analysis using Schematic software


2) What If: Checks the outcome of a change, before the idea takes place. It determines the end result when asking the question "What if" something in the organisation was to be changed.

Below: An image of What If analysis using Excel

3)Goal Seeking Analysis: Searches for the inputs necessary to achieve a goal. It ask the question "Tell me what will happen" if a certain activity in the organisation was to see changes.

Below: An image of Goal Seek using Excel



3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation.

A business process is standard activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer order or enrolling students. Their importance to an organisation is that they help to create small changes and improvements in the way operational tasks are currently completed.



4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.

BPI- Models based on improving current processes. It looks at ways to improve operational tasks into more effective an efficient ways. An example includes digitalising forms, which are easier to back up instead of  storing pages of papers away. BPI aims to make small improvements along the way, while measuring current processes.

Below is a link to an example of a BPI
http://www.competitivexpert.com/processmethodo.php

BP re-engineering: Usually sets out new standards for the industry while improving the experience for the company. This looks at ways to keep the business working well for its customers and it employees . It assumes that the current ways of carrying out tasks is not working well and therefore needs to be re-built from scratch.

Below is a link to an BP re-engineering example (on the left hand side of the page,click on the model to zoom in)
http://www.sofgen.com/services_implementation_business_process.aspx


5. Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models

Business Process Modelling- Activity of creating flow charts that show the inputs, outputs and processes of each step involved with a chosen work process. Its importance is to show:
-Detailed processes involved within each step.
-Focuses on the process model interface.
-Focuses on describing the process model with accuracy.

  Below: An image of a Business process model for a car rental company


Business Process Model- A graphical description of a process showing the stages of the process task showing graphic and text descriptions.  Its importance is to:
-Display process detail gradually and in controlled manner
-Encourages accuracy in describing the model using graphics.

Below: An image of a Business Process Model for a technology college

Monday, August 2, 2010

Week Two Questions

1. Explain information technology’s role in business and describe how you measure success?

Information Technology's role in business helps to transform the company from its old ways of operating, into a more user friendly workplace. IT helps to reduce costs in a business as it costs more to keep record of hard copy information. For example, for an Accounting firm to keep hard copies of client's records will take  up lots of space over time. With the help of excel spreadsheets, accountants could now save a copy of the files on a CD which saves space and paper.
Success is measured through observing the business' efficiency and effectiveness.
Efficiency- Measures the actual IT system. For example: How much files can the system hold? Or How fast is our network working?
Effectiveness- Measures how effective the IT system is. For example: How often are we repairing errors? Or What is the percentage of IT errors which are repaired correctly the first time?

2. List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model?
1. Buyer Power- Is high when buyers have many sellers to choose from and is low when their choices are few. Therefore the buyers ability directly impacts the price they are willing to pay for an item.

2. Supplier Power- Is high when a supplier has dominant power over an industry. If the power is high, the supplier can: Increase price and limit quality or service. This is because there is small amount of competitors on the market offering similar products.

3. Threat of substitute products or services: Is high when there are many competitors and low when there is a minimal amount. Ideally, companies like to be in a market where there are minimal substitutes on offer by competitors.
4. Threat of new Entrants: Is high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and is low when there are entry barriers. For e.g. If a new bank has entered the market, they must compete with the current banks on the market and offer the same (or better) IT services and options in order to survive.

5. Rivalry amongst existing competitors: Is high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competition is more satisfied. For example, as grocery stores have strong competition with each other, they create loyalty programs for repetitive customers offering discounts to use in the store.


The link below explains the five forces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JjNUxxsDP0

3. Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?
A value chain is used to determine the success or failure of a previously chosen strategy. To evaluate the effectiveness of its business processes, an organisation can use Michael Porter's value chain approach. The value chain approach views an organisation as a series of processes which add value to the product and/or services offered to customers.


4. Compare Porter’s three generic strategies?
An organisation can follow one of Porter's three generic strategies when entering a new market.
1) Broad cost leadership
2)Broad differentiation
3) Focus strategy
Broad strategies reach a broad market segment, while focused strategies target a niche market. A focused strategy focuses on either cost cost leadership or differentiation.

Below the link explains the three generic strategies


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndARJzmKras