Artificial Intelligence

The following is a link to an article that defines and illustrates the use of Artificial Intelligence:

http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/

Artificial Intelligence is defined as the area of computer science focusing on creating machines that can engage on behaviors that humans consider intelligent. The ability to create intelligent machines has intrigued humans since ancient times, and today with the advent of the computer and there has been 50 years of research into AI programming techniques. The military is already using AI which may impact our lives in the near future.

Decision Support Systems

The following is a link to an article on decision support systems (DSS) and how it helps business achieve objectives:

http://www.informationbuilders.com/decision-support-systems-dss.html

Decision Support Systems are a specific class of computerized information system that supports business and organizational decision-making activities. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

The following are examples of useful information that a decision support application might gather and present:

• Accessing all current information assets, including legacy and relational data sources, data warehouses and data marts
• Comparative sales figures between one week and the next
• Projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions
• The consequences of different decision alternatives

Buisness Strategies for Competitive Advantage

The following link is to an article that is relevant for firm's business strategies to achieve competitive advantage:

http://www.csustan.edu/manage/harris/MBA4.html

The article points out the following sources for competitive advantage:

1. Highest Quality Product
2. Superior Customer Service
3. Achieving Lower Costs than Rivals
4. More Convenient Geographic Location
5. Better Performing Product
6. Better Value Product (Quality, Service, Price

One way that companies can achieve a competitive advantage is through the business strategy of Cost Leadership. In order to achieve a cost leadership strategy, firms must do the following:

1. Sustained capital investment and access to capital
2. Process engineering skills
3. Have intense supervision of labor
4. Products designed for ease of manufacture
5. Low-cost distribution system
6. Tight cost control
7. Frequent, detailed cost reports
8. Avoid marginal customers
9. Tight control on cost

Another generic business strategy that firms can use to achieve a competitive advantage is Differentiation. In order to achieve differentiation, firms must do the following:

1. Structured organizational responsibilities
2. Strong marketing abilities
3. Product engineering
4. Creative flair
5. Strong capability in basic research
6. Corporate reputation for quality or technology

Five Levels of Decision Making

The following is a link to an article by J.T Taylor, Five Levels of Decision Making, that is relevant to decision making in business:

http://www.teambuildingusa.com/article-making-effective-decisions.asp

The author presents five levels of involvement that leaders use when deciding who should be part of the decision making process

Level 1: Leader makes the decision alone
Most often used in emergency situations where immediate action is critical. Input from others is not helpful when immediate action is necessary.

Level 2: Leader makes the decision with input from stakeholders
The leaders seek input at this level to enhance their depth of understanding around the issue. Stakeholders hold valuable information and their input is wise to use at this point.

Level 3: Consensus Building-Leader gets final say
The leader solicits input from a variety of sources, builds consensus around a specific direction allowing the group to make a recommendation which the leader approves.

Level 4: Delegate the decision to someone else
In this level, the authority and responsibility are clearly shifted away from the leader (to a direct report). The leader and the direct report must live with consequences-whether they be good or bad. The leader will review the decision , but it doesn't change and uses it as an opportunity for development.

Level 5: True consensus
The leader fully delegates the decision to a group (usually a committee). The leader may be a part of the committee, but is treated just the same as anyone else. The group then processes all of the decision involved and then compromises positions until everyone agrees.

Data Visualization, Geographical Information Systems, and Virtual Reality

Data visualization refers to technologies that support visualizing and interpretation of data. This may include GIS (geographical information systems), GUI (graphical user interface), digital images, dimensional presentations, virtual reality, videos, and animation. These visual tools can identify trends in corporate and market data that can provide a company with a competitive advantage. By using these visual analysis technologies, management, engineers, and other professionals are able to see problems that went undetected by prior methods.

Data visualization is becoming more and more popular for decision support. Visualization software packages offer users self-guided exploration and visual analysis of large amounts of data.

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based systems for capturing, storing, modeling, retrieving, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying geographically referenced data with digitized maps. More information is available on GIS at the following web site: www.gpsy.com/maps.
The areas of target marketing are growing rapidly and organizations can easily segment a population using GIS. Many companies have already benefited by the intelligent organization of data within a GIS framework to support decision making and design of alternative strategies.
GIS software used to be very expensive, but since the '90s, the cost has decreased dramatically. GIS data are available from multiple sources such as government sources.

Virtual Reality (VR) is interactive, computer-generated, three-dimensional graphics delivered to the user through a head-mounted display. With VR, a person 'believes' that what they are doing is real, even though it is artificial. Because more than one person can interact in the same artificial environment, VR is a powerful medium for communication. VR can help financial decision makers better understand data by using visual, spatial, and aural immersion virtual systems. In the future, VR use is expected to be extensive in e-commerce marketing. VR is just beginning to enter into the business world, but expected to increase significantly in the near future to become commonplace

Pragmatic Approaches to Knowledge Management

The following is a link to an article that I found very relevant on the topic of knowledge management. The article is called Pragmatic Approaches to Knowledge Management,
by Ron Friedmann.



http://www.llrx.com/features/pragmatickm.htm



The article points out the fact that Knowledge Management (KM) is one of the bigger frustration of companies, particularly law firms. While KM can be frustrating, it is vital to increasing profitability for a company. Profits increase by improving realization, utilization, and client retention while reducing malpractice risks. The following figure outlines the different types of knowledge management

Approaches to Knowledge Management

There are three primary approaches to knowledge management:

1. The Process Approach attempts to codify organizational knowledge through formalized controls, processes, and technologies. The organizations which adopt this approach are able to implement explicit policies governing how knowledge is to be stored, collected, and disseminated throughout the organization. This approach also uses information technologies to enhance the quality and speed of knowledge creation and distribution in the organizations. Intranets, data warehousing, knowledge repositories, decision support tools, and groupware are examples of technologies seen in the process approach.

2. The Practice Approach to knowledge management assumes that a great deal of organizational knowledge is tacit in nature and that formal controls, processes, and technologies are not suitable for transmitting this type of understanding. Communities of Practice (COP) are groups of individual with a common professional interest who work together informally. These communities allow individuals to collaborate directly, sharing experiences and teaching each other. These collaborative computing methods help people to communicate. This approach is most often adapted by companies that provide customers highly customized solutions to unique problems. However, the environment and nature of the problems that occur with this approach are extremely dynamic.

3. Best Practices are activities and methods that the most effective organizations use to operate and manage various functions. In the past, knowledge repositories would just list best practices and would make them available within the firm. However, knowledge is now used throughout a firm more efficiently and has a wide-ranging impact because knowledge repositories are now electronic and Web-accessible.

4. Hybrid: In the real world, knowledge management initiatives can involve both process and practice approaches.

Facilitating IOS and Global Systems: From Demand-Driven Networks to RFID

Historically, the supply chain has been driven by producers and manufacturers "driving products to the market". The dominant action was then to forecast demand, make-to-stock, and push products down stream to end users. This resulted in businesses having no real view into the true market demand for a product. Items could then go from a situation of under stock to overstock resulting in the bullwhip effect (erratic changes in orders).



Demand-driven supply networks (DDSNs) are driven from the front by consumer demand. DDSN does not completely remove the ability of a company to push the product to the market. Instead, DDSN says that companies in a supply chain will work more closely to shape market demand and promote the sharing and collaboration of information. If companies do this, they will have a greater and more timely view of demand. The main purpose of this collaboration is to better position all players within the supply chain to more closely follow market demand, allowing them to produce in tandem what the market wants.



The following are some of the benefits of DDSN:

• Provides customer-centric approach (opposed to a factory-centric approach)


• Lower supply chain costs


• Reduced days of inventory


• Improved cash-to-cash performance


• More accurate and detailed demand forecasting


• Probabilistic optimization is used to better deal with uncertainties


• All participants in the supply chain are able to take part in shaping demand, minimizing the bullwhip effect.


• DDSN capabilities provide for agility, adaptability and alignment

Real-time, Demand-driven Manufacturing (DDM) provides customers with exactly what they want when and where they want it. This is possible because of the effective communication between the supply chain and the factory floor. Partnerships are developed which must be focused on reducing costs.

A new solution to supply chain problems is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). RFID tags eliminate the need to count inventories and the visibility of inventories is provided to all business partners. RFID tags are only about the size of a pinhead but they contain an antenna and a chip that contains an electronic product code (EPC). Recent technological innovations have provided the price of the tags to plummet and their performance to improve, enabling them to be more widely used. While RFID tags have many benefits, the cost of an RFID system may be too high for smaller companies.

Support for Business-to-Business (B2B) supply chains can be provided by electronic exchanges which can be either private (one buyer and many sellers, or one seller and many buyers) or public (many sellers and buyers). Both exchanges are done by IOS. B2B exchanges are used mainly to facilitate trading among companies. In contrast, a hub is used to facilitate communication and coordination among business partners frequently along the supply chain. Hubs are structured in such a way that each partner can access a Web site (portal) which is used to exchange information. B2B hubs are popular in global trading. Because the B2B landscape is huge, the use of Directory Services is needed to help buyers and sellers manage the task of potential partners. These B2B information portals are having difficulties generating revenue, so they are starting to charge a fee for additional services. An example of one of these B2B portals is MyBoeingFleet.com (you should check it out).

Information Management: The Value of an Enterprise Data Model

The following link is to the article by Mehdi Hatami, Information Management: The Value of an Enterprise Data Model, that outlines the steps a company should take to develop an enterprise data model.

http://esj.com/Business_Intelligence/article.aspx?EditorialsID=8877

Managing and delivering information is very challenging. This challenge is intensified by the presence of complex combinations of applications. Hatami points out the fact that heterogeneous rather than homogeneous technology environments are now the norm.

Data has become crucial to maintain efficiency and cost reduction. Data is increasingly used for strategic and tactical decision making which can be transformed into greater returns and mature business capabilities. For these reasons, it is very important that data be carefully managed. To do this, a company must fully understand what data is.

This article presents steps that a company can take to manage its data in the most efficient way.

Business Value of Enterprise Systems

The goals of supply chain management (SCM) are to reduce risks and uncertainty along the supply chain, which will decrease inventory levels and cycle time while improving business processes and customer service. These benefits provided by SCM will lead to increased profitability and competitiveness. In order to maximize the efficiency of SCM, there must be a large IT integration effort to manage SCM operations.

Twentieth-century technology was functionally oriented. However, a big draw-back of functional systems is that different departments may not be able to communicate with each other in the same language. Furthermore, crucial sales, production, and inventory data often have to be entered manually into computer systems every time an outside person needs information related to a specific department.

There are 2 types of systems integration:
1. Internal Integration-integration within a company between or among applications, and/or between applications and databases.

2. External Integration-integration of applications and/or databases among business partners. External Integration is especially needed for business-to-business (B2B) and for partner relationship management (PRM) systems.

Mobile Banking Set to Boom

The following is a link to an interesting article by Natasha Lomas from Business Week showing the predicted impact and growth of mobile banking over the next few years.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2008/gb20080618_147746.htm

The number of global mobile banking transactions is predicted to increase from 2.7 billion in 2007 to 37 billion by 2011, according to Juniper Research. The analyst forecasts 41.5 billion mobile financial service transactions will be made by the end of 2011. These services will be driven by rapid consumer adoption mainly by mobile users in developing countries who do not have access to any other form of banking and 13-18 year old individuals in developing countries who are too young to access financial service any other way. China and the Far East are predicted to be the biggest converts to mobile finance.

Mobile Applications in Financial Services

Recently, mobile financial applications have come to include banking, wireless payments/micro payments, wireless wallets, bill payment services, brokerage services and money transfers. These new technologies have opened the potential to turn the mobile device into a business tool, possibly replacing our traditional intermediaries such as banks and credit cards.

Mobile banking is generally defined as carrying out banking transactions and other related activities via mobile (AKA handheld) device. Services typically offered include bill payments, money transfers, balance inquiries, interest/exchange rates, sale/purchase of stock, and much more. As the wireless technology and transmission speeds continue to improve, the rate of mobile financial service is also likely to increase.

Mobile phones are transformed into secure, self-contained purchasing tools capable of instantly authorizing payments via the cellular network with wireless payment systems. Micro payments are electronic payments for small-purchase amounts and the demand for an easy to use system is high. Micro payment technology has a wide range of applications from making payments at parking garages, to buying groceries.

An e-wallet is a piece of software that stores an online shopper's credit card information so that the shopper does not have to reenter that information for every online purchase. Recently, companies such as SNAZ offered mobile-wallet (m-wallet) technologies that enabled cardholders to make purchases with a single click from their mobile devices.

Many companies are now offering customers the option of paying their bills directly from a cell phone. Bill payments are made using a mobile device with SMS (short messaging service) which is the same technology that supports text messaging.

These are just a few of the examples of how technology is changing the way in which we do business.

Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business?

The following is an article from Business Week that I found interesting and related to our topic of Electronic-Business. The article, Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business, by Karen Klein, suggest ways that small businesses can get the most out of social networking sites. The following is the link where you can find the article to read more.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2008/sb2008086_346094.htm

Klein recommends that small companies take advantage of this new, rapidly growing phenomenon called social networking. The social networking sites should be considered complementary to a company's online presence and never a replacement, and can also be used to gain attention. Companies should take some time to find a networking niche by looking over the most used sites and see what might work for that business. When used selectively, social networking sites can be a powerful tool for identifying new business partners and employees. Facebook is recommended for gaining exposure to larger audiences. "Putting a human face on your business, allows people to get an impression of what a relationship with you would be like, "says Rick Julian, CEO of a start up brand communications agency.

Network Discovery Steps Up a Gear

The following is a link to an article, Network Discovery Steps Up a Gear by Bryan Betts, that I found to be relevant to topics we are discussing in class about Networking Discovery:



http://www.techworld.com/networking/features/index.cfm?featureid=3427



The article points out that most existing network discovery tools are active which means they are installed at one point on the network and send out packets. This presents a problem because the major operating systems now ship with personal firewalls and cannot be detected. In addition, the discovery is not real-time or complete.

There is another issue with network discover; locating the connections into and out of the network.

There is a new system called IPsonar that has the ability to discover more of a network than an active scanner because it mines information in your routers and scans the address blocks you tell it to. IPsonar discovers 20% more of the clients network than they even knew existed. The focus of this network is discovering and understanding the flows on the network (how the devices connect to one another.

From Casinos to Counterterrorism

The following is a link an article I found interesting about data mining. The name of the article is From Casinos to Counterterrorism by Ellen Nakashima.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/21/AR2007102101522_pf.html

This article describes how casinos are using data mining technology to try and catch cheaters. By collecting information about individual gamblers, specialist analyze the data and look for commonalities among those they have caught cheating. They are also able to find links between employees helping cheaters.

Casinos such as Harrah's are also using data mining to better target their marketing efforts to customers. By encouraging customers to sign up for rewards cards, the casinos are able to track gambling habits of their customers and give them a better tailored gambling experience.

This article also points out a new trend in this industry. Casinos are embedding chips with radio frequency identification (RFID) to track how much money is being wagered on each particular number. This technology is relatively new but is predicted to be used by all casinos soon. RFID enabled chips will be able to detect counterfeiters, to keep track of chip flow at tables and to know how much a player has bet.

These are just two of the examples of how companies are using IT to accomplish business objectives.

How TrueCredit Utilizes SOA to Build Fast, Reliable Applications

The following are the answers to the Mini-Case 2-2 about TrueCredit's implementation of SOA:

First of all, a definition of SOA is necessary to understand this case:

• SOA-Stands for Service-Oriented Architecture and is an architechtural concept that defines the use of services to support a variety of business needs. The idea is to reuse and reconnect existing IT assets rather than the more time consuming and costly development of making a new system.

1. This company used SOA mainly because of the time savings SOA provides to assemble new applications. Management needed new applications in less than 90 days and typical software development used to take 180 days. TrueCredit also wanted to take advantage of the other benefits SOA provides such as leveraging existing IT investments, reduced integration cost, lower IT maintenance cost, and improved business/IT alignment.
2. Implementing SOA allowed the company the ability to reuse applications, rather than filling out new ones which has furthered its competitive advantage. TrueCredit was a pioneer in applying SOA so the company was able to experience a degree of first mover advantage. The company was able to quickly and easily collect and analyze data from multiple sources, enabling TrueCredit to serve up to 50,000 users simultaneously.
3. The specific services that can be identified in this business would include offering consumers credit reporting, credit scoring, and related financial services on its own as well as partners' sites.
4. It is vital that this company be able to simultaneously server 50,000 users because of the nature of the Internet itself. During peak usage hours, TrueCredit needs to make sure that the site can accomodate the maximum amount of users so that potential customers are not lost because they were frustrated with the site working improperly or operating very slowly.
5. SOA can best be classified as an Intereorganizational System (IOSs) which connect two or more organizations. The fact that customers can access partners' Web sites is a prime example of the interrelatedness that SOA provides. Another classification of SOA would include Transaction Processing System (TPS) because of the repetitive nature of the company's process.

IT Support of Corporate Mission and Goals

While Information Technology (IT) and Systems are the core competency of some organizations, the main objective of most companies does not revolve around IT; however, all companies rely on IT in some way to do business. A company's foundation for its business strategy can be found in its mission statement and corporate goals. While you may not find the use of IT explicitly stated in this document, IT must be used to successfully achieve goals and fulfill the mission of the company.

Our assignment was to choose two companies with which we are relatively familiar with and find the accompanying mission statement and goals for each organization. Explain how these goals are related to operational, managerial, and strategic activities on a one-to-one basis and how IT supports each of these activities.

The first company I chose was General Motors. It's mission statement is as follows:

"GM is a multinational corporation engaged in socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is dedicated to provide products and services of such quality that our customers will receive superior value while our employees and business partners will share in our success and our stockholders will receive a sustained return on their investment"

General Motor's Goals:

"To be the world leader in transportation products and related services"

This mission and goal stated support operational activities by committing to engage in socially responsible operations, worldwide. IT can support these operational activities through the use of a Management Information System (MIS) which provides the necessary information for planning, organizing, and controlling operations in functional areas. Another system that would support this function is mobile computing which supports employees who work outside of the physical boundaries of the organization. These are just two examples of IT systems that could potentially help this company achieve its goals and mission.

The use of IT could help this company achieve its managerial activities as well through the use of MIS. This system assists in preparing reports and making decisions. GM's mission is to prepare high quality products so customers receive superior value, and this can be achieved only with the help of IT. Treating employees as 'business partners' is a wise managerial decision and can be supported with the help of such systems as TPS.

Strategic activities are the basis for offering a sustained return on investment to the stockholders of the company. GM also states that its business partners (employees) and stockholders will share in the success. Success will only be achieved by remaining competitive and an initiator of change, rather than a follower. This can be done by using such IT systems as CAD/CAM (computer aided design/manufacturing), Expert Systems (ES) and business intelligence systems. The use of these systems can help this company achieve and maintain the competitive advantage that it needs to offer its stockholders a positive return.


The other company I chose is Colgate-Palmolive Company. Its mission is its fundamental values which are:

Caring, Global Teamwork, and Continuous Improvement. These 3 things are the foundation for its business strategy.

Colgate's Goals:

1. Drive growth worldwide
2. Build market leadership
3. Grow profitability

This company is very committed to teamwork and this is a fundamental part of the operational activities. Communication and collaboration systems enable employees and customers to interact and work together more efficiently. MIS can also help this company to deal with the day-to-day, operational activities more effectively.

Colgate strives to grow profitability through continuous improvement. This can only be accomplished by effective management. The use of IT can help managerial activities through the use of MIS, Business Intelligence, Decision Support Systems, and Expert Systems.

This company strategically differentiates itself from competition through worldwide growth and caring about all stakeholders of the company, including the communities in which it operates. IT systems which would help this function would include (but are not limited to) a Group Support System (GSS). GSS supports the working processes of groups of people, including those in different locations. CAD/CAM can also help this company to achieve a competitive edge.

The IT systems that I have mentioned are just a few of the many different systems out there that can assist a company in achieving its mission and goals through its functional activities. In order to be competitive in today's ever changing environment, a company must continually check to make sure the IT systems in use are appropriate for its main objective, whatever that may be.

Tech Firms Pitch Tools for Sifting Legal Records

The following is a link to the Wall Street Journal article, Tech Firms Pitch Tools for Sifting Legal Records by Justin Scheck. I found this article interesting and relevant to the issue of Information Technology and its impact.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936262421062033.html

This article introduces a fairly new technology called e-discovery. This technology has accelerated in use since 2006. Initially, this technology is very expensive (in excess of $1 million) but companies can recoup this investment very quickly because of its advantages and cost savings. E-discovery is a type of document management system that sorts through legal documents and discards irrelevant information and makes the relevant documents accessible to lawyers who then analyze the documents.

The old process was very time consuming and expensive for law firms to pay lawyers to go through each and every document. The cost savings are huge for law firms. Some firms are concerned that they may have to pay extra to fix mistakes, but the overall consensus is positive.

Why Information Technology is Best--Or is it Best?

Why Information Technology is Important:

• In a world that is becoming increasingly digitized, it is important to consider the reasons why Information Systems have become so important to our society. It is also important to take into consideration some of the side-effects of a digital economy.


• Information Technology (IT) supports many business objectives including improved productivity. IT virtually eliminates human error and improves accuracy. Physical restrictions are also reduced with IT. Common barriers of communication, such as the distance between parties, are reduced because of IT's capabilities to communicate across vast distances. This allows companies to better communicate with one another and support globalization.


• Another business objective supported by IT is cost reduction. Although there is a great initial investment that must be made with IT, the long term savings are significant. However, companies must be informed in making a decision to invest in IT. Disastrous results may occur if a company fails to thoroughly consider its needs, the wrong technology may be purchased and productivity will be negatively affected.


• IT also enables compatibility among different companies increasing the global infrastructure and increasing the effectiveness of companies. We are now seeing the emergence of digital organizations as a result of IT. As a result of these digital organizations, electronic marketplaces are arising which further increase the level of competition and efficiency which is better for everyone concerned, especially the customer.


• Business processes are also streamlined with IT making it a 'greener' solution for doing business. The amount of trees that have been saved because of the reduction in the need for paper is enormous. Also, the ability to access and store data results in further space efficiency.


• Organizational management is able to make better, more informed decisions with the adoption of IT. There is also an opportunity to use new business models that have never been tried with IT.


• Companies are better able to respond to customers thus increasing customer satisfactions and responsiveness with IT.


• IT has not only helped businesses improve along with the economy, but individuals have also experienced an improved quality of life. Medical research in IT has resulted in innumerable lives being saved. The digitization of music, books, pictures, and movies allows for fast and inexpensive distribution. Also, the quality of movies has improved significantly with the adoption IT special effects. There is an 'information overload' in which intelligent search engine tools help users find what they need because of more relevant searches. More opportunities are available for entrepreneurs are present now than ever before because of IT.

Some Drawbacks to Information Technology:

• Although the long-run benefits of investing in IT are great, this incredibly large expense is much to great to bear for many small companies. Therefore, many completely competent and would be successful companies are excluded from entering the market.

• It is also very time consuming to develop and implement IT. IT then requires extensive training which is many times difficult for individuals to learn after they have been doing something so long without IT.

• Although IT is considered to be a green alternative to paper, IT still has a negative impact on the environment. Even though 'green computers' are now being produced, millions of tons of toxic waste are the result of our old, outdated electronics and must be delt with.

• Companies are experiencing more and more ethical issues as a result of IT. An example would be employee fraud. People are constantly coming up with new ways to 'get around the system'. This leads us to another issue that arises from IT and that is risk and security. Some fear that 'cyberwars' will be the fall of our society.

• IT experiences a high rate of obsolescence because of rapid innovation.

• Although customer responsiveness has increased as a result of IT, many customers (particularly the elderly customers) prefer the old ways of doing business. Face-to-face, personal exchange of goods is no more.

• Another drawback to IT is the fact that jobs are being outsourced to reduce cost. Not only are jobs being outsourced, but they are also being eliminated and IT is taking the place of many jobs. While IT does increase productivity, many people have had to suffer because their skills are no longer needed.