CHAPTER 3
TECHNOLOGY HELPS STARBUCKS FIND NEW WAYS TO COMPETE
1. Analyze Starbucks using the competitive forces and value chain models?
The following case study given the competitive force that had in the passage were Starbucks offers unique experiences, high-end specialty coffees and beverages, friendly knowledgeable servers and customers friendly shop. The traditional competitive of the Starbucks were McDonald and Dunkin’s Donut. In the economic downturn, many coffee drinks went in search of cheaper alternatives from McDonald’s and Dunkin’s Donuts for their coffee fixes.
After that, Starbucks realize the third customers are active user of the smartphones. The company set out to implement several features and improvement that would appeal to this segment of its customer base. First, Starbucks implement a technology that allows customer to pay using a smartphone application. The application integrated with the Starbucks card system, which allow regular customer to pay with pre-paid and rechargeable card at any Starbucks branch. The customer report that paying using application is available, for all major smartphone operating system, is must faster that traditional form of payment. Beside that, Starbucks set out to streamline the business processed used in each of its scores so that baristas no need to bend down to scoop coffee, cutting down on idle time while waiting for coffee to drain and finding ways to reduce the amount of each employee spends moving a drink.
Make this fast food more lower prices, it is also allowing the company to improve its customer engagement. By 2011 Starbucks has returned to profitability. Beside that Starbucks launched the Starbucks Digital Network” when majorities of their customer also use mobile devise to connect to the in store Wi-Fi networks Starbucks customers using the site will receive free wall street journal access select free iTunes downloads and wide variety of other content. This arrangement will allow users to check in and receive awards points using Starbucks site. For the suppliers the Starbucks Digital Network site was developed in partnership with Yahoo and function as a content portal.
As we know, the Starbucks has applied a few value chains in their business. The primary activities that they use were related to the production and distribution of the firm’s product and services. Firstly, Starbucks implemented a technology that allows customers to pay by using a smartphone application. Next, Starbucks had decision to made concerted effort to become more efficient, to reduce waste and use time save to provide better customer services.
The Support activities are needed to make the delivery primary activities possible and consist of organization infrastructure an do others. That will be shown when the Starbucks were implemented a technology. The Starbucks implement a technology that allows customers to pay with pre-paid and rechargeable card at any Starbucks branch. This application allowed the regular customer displayed the bar code in the smartphone then the cashier will only scan bar cod and the resulting sale is charged into the customer’s Starbucks account.
Beside that Starbucks increases the effort to be more efficient by set out the streamline the business process used in each of its stores so that baristas do not need to bend down the scoop coffee, cutting down idle time while waiting for coffee to drain, and finding ways to reduce the amount of time each employee making a drinks.
Starbucks making the benchmark that at 2011, Starbucks had returned to profitability and continuing growth, with plans to open 500 new stores, in large part because of the success of each these change Starbucks offering price reduce specials, cost, reduction from procedures changes made it possible for.
2. What is Starbucks business strategy? Assess the role played by technology in this business strategy.
Starbucks business was to continue serving high end specialty coffee and improve the customer services so that consumer did not feel like they were visiting a local fast food chains. Besides that Starbucks also using a several different strategies simultaneously. First, the company has revamped it in store technology and sought to integrate its business process with wireless technology and the mobile digital form. Starbucks pursued more aggressive product differentiation strategy intended to emphasize the high quality of its beverages and efficient and helpful customer services. It also focuses on becoming ‘lean’ like many of its competitors eliminating inefficiency wherever possible.
The company implements several features and improvement. The Starbucks implement the technology that allows customers to pay using a smartphone application. The application was integrated with the Starbucks Card System, which allow regular customer to pay with pre-pay and rechargeable card at any Starbucks branch. This application, the customer only shown the cashier the bar code at the screen of smartphone and the cashier will scan and get the resulting sale in the customer’s Starbucks Account.
Beside that, majority of the customer also use mobile device to connect to the in store Wi-Fi network. Starbucks launched what is calling the “Starbucks Digital Network” a portal design specifically for mobile devices as opposed to tradition web browsers. The site is optimize for all major smartphone operating system (ions, Android, and Blackberry) and responds to the multi-touch capability of devices like an iPods.
The Starbuck Digital Network site was developed in partnership with Yahoo as content portal. Starbucks customers using the site will receive free wall street journal access, select free iTunes downloads. Starbucks has opted to offer the site free of advertising, hoping and striking deals with contain provider will make profitable venture. They also made a concerted effort to become more efficient. They set out the streamline the business process that used in each of store, so that cutting down on idle time while waiting for coffee. Starbucks also can attract more customers with that budgeting save time.
3. How much has technology helped Starbucks complete? Explain your answer.
Technology helped Starbucks complete by integrated Starbucks Card System, which allows regular customer to pay with a pre-paid and rechargeable card at any Starbucks branch. When customer make a purchase using the application, a cashier scans a bar code displayed on the phone and the resulting sale is charged to the customers Starbucks Card account.
Beside that, Starbucks launched what it all the “Starbucks Digital Network”, a portal designed specifically for mobile devices as opposed to traditional web browsers. Starbucks also has opted to offer the site free of advertising, hoping that striking deals with content provider will make it a profitable venture. Starbucks district manager use the in store wireless network to run store operations and to connect to the company’s private corporate network and system.
AUTOMAKERS BECOME SOFTWARE COMPANIES
1. How is software adding value to automakers product?
Software adding value to automakers product by not invest so heavily in new vehicle Production. For example, Ford Motor Company takes two and one-half years to plant, design and build a new car. Design and production including metal stamping equipment and assembly line setup, must be finalized long before the car rolls off the line. But the automakers can create a new software interface for car within months and update it again and again over the life of the car without much lead time. This enables Ford and other automaker to significantly improve the passenger experiences and add new features to cars years after they are built.
Beside that, Ford make MyFord Touch Software is an in dash touch screen that available for select vehicles with control for navigation, music, phone integration and temperature. Ford also has upgrade this interface and the sync software behind the interface, adding tablet and smartphone integration and better voice response. Next, in 2010, Ford added support for the online music streaming service Pandora. This update enables drivers to connect their tablets and smartphones to the sync system to access music and other apps using voice commands.
2. How are the automakers benefiting from software- enhanced ears? How are customers benefiting?
Ford is perhaps the automakers doing the most to innorate with software and application. Ford has upgraded the interface and the sync software behind the interface, adding tablet and smartphone integration and better voice response.
Technology of software might help car to avoid traffic jams, to reserve parking spaces in advance, and possibly to even drive themselves. To manage vehicles, by software car need to be connected to rome kind of central system, which would coordinate with public transit or other transportation, cars need to be equipped with software that can monitor and enhance vehicle function at the most basic level. Thought their system would be to minimize highway congestion, industry standard which does not exist or of yet. Ford has doubled its investment in vehicle-to-vehicles communication technology.
The customer benefits to thought the Ford is grappling with the best way to roll out software upgrade to its customer. The upgrade also contains code that will upgrade system speed and improve the interface based-on common criticism from Ford owner which is the technology in their cars remaining constant throughout the life of the cars, newer cars are poised to change all of that.
3. What value chain activities are involved in enhancing cars with software?
Ford has hired “human-machine interface engineers, “whose job is to analyze how their customer interact with the software in their cars. These engineers use customer feedback to make changes to the software. Customers complained that too much information was available on each screen of the interface, so Ford moved the most commonly used features to more prominent positions on screen and increased their font size, relegating the rest to submenus. Ford has also asked dealers to dedicate more time and personnel to hands on technology training to help customers master its interface.
GM, Daimler and other companies are all developing new features for their cars that operate online in the cloud. Users will be able to remotely track their cars and diagnose problems with the car, like low tire pressure or the need for an oil change. Corporations will be able to track employee use of company cars by interpreting car sensors and engine readouts. Manufactures will be able to aggregate and analyze the data from customers’ cars to identify quality problems and, if necessary, quickly issue recalls. GM will allow its app function, which raises a familiar set of privacy concerns. Automakers are hoping that younger customers who have grown up using Facebook are less likely to care about privacy, and features that collect highly targeted information about a car’s locations and driving habits.
BMW is also investing a whopping $100 million in mobile apps, hoping to market them to other customer as “ premium services”. Some analysts are skeptical of the decision to invest that much money, but BMW believes that mobile apps will become an increasingly attractive selling point for customers of its BMW I electric and hybrid cars.
4. How much of a competitive advantages is software proving for automakers? Explain your answer?
The automobile industry have Ford, BMW and other automobile companies are enhancing their vehicles with onboard software that improves the customer experience and the auto industry is working on technology that will allow cars to be managed via the cloud.
GM, Daimler and other companies are all developing new features for their car that operate online in the cloud. Manufacture will be able to aggregate and analyze the data from customers cars to identify quality problem. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. has championed the use of software to alleviate urban congestion by inresting in technology that responds to the problem created by traffic in the biggest cities. BMW is also continuing to develop ways for vehicles to communicate with one the road to avoid collisions.
CHAPTER 4
SHOULD YOU USE YOUR iPHONE FOR WORK?
1. What
are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing employee to use their personal
smartphone for work?
ADVANTAGES
|
DISADVANTAGES
|
Company can enjoy all of the same benefits of a
mobile workforce without spending their own money on there device
|
Using personal device for business passes
difficult problems for companies, including security, inventory management,
support, integrating mobile device into pre-existing it function and system
and measuring return on investment
|
It is easier for companies to keep track of each
mobile device and roll out software upgrades or fixes
|
Firm need on efficient inventory management system that keep track of which devices
employees are using, where the device is located, whether it is being used
and what software it is equipped with. For unprepared company, keeping track
of who get access to what data could be nightmare
|
The company controlled and protected from
outsiders by using a proprietary software and networking platform
|
The variety of phones and operating system
available is difficult to provide adequate technical support for employee
|
2. What people,
organization, technology factors should be addressed when deciding whether to
allow employee to use their personal smartphone for work.
This company
must allow their workers to use smartphone as a medium interaction because as
an employee the technology was very important things that they need to do their
work. Nowadays, it is the trend of people to have a smartphone for each person.
When employee are not able to access critical data or encounter other problems
with their mobile device, they will need assistance from the information system
department. With this smartphone also, the specs and operating system, making a
technology support so much easier by using smartphone, it easy to handle the
complexity of each technology support.
The next
factors, the organization of the firm must update their technology to make the
employee easy making their work, so the firm software development teams can get
benefit from having the specifically focused on ensuring that new application,
it will be easily usable and useful smartphones. With this application, the
core IT functions can integrate the mobility function. Existing of IT platform,
it makes the mobility expert can help company leverage mobility more
effectively.
Besides that,
they must aware that technology they used, because there are significant
concern with the securing company information accessed with the mobile devise.
It will be a nightmare, if that devise is stolen or companies companies and
need ways to ensure that sensitive of confidential information isn’t freely
available everyone. The bad things about the technology is when the device was
stolen, it cannot be used.
3. Allowing
employee to use their own smartphone for work will save the company money. Do
you agree? Why or why not?
Agree, because
when employee uses a smartphone, company can save the money. The employee can use freely wireless connection so it can save the budget the company by use
their own wireless line of the own employee. Next, company no need to buy or
provide a laptop for the employee because their have a good smartphone to accesses
the data during work hour at the work place. Other then that,
employee can using a application that provide in the smartphone to communicate
with the client or customer without using a phone that provide by the company,
so it can reduce the bill of every month. For example weChat, and the other
application to make easier deal with the client or customer. Nest is, can reduce the cost of paper that use to print a document, when employee can send the document by using a smartphone with the application such as email and ect.
CHAPTER 5
LEGO: COMBINING BUSINESS INTELLINGENCE WITH A FLEXIBLE INFORMATION SYSTEM
1. Explain the role of the database in SAP’s three-tier-system.
SAP’s business suite is based on a flexible three tier client-server architecture that can easily be adapted to the new Service-Oriented Architecture ( SOA ) available in the latest versions of the software. In the first-tier ,it is a client interface which is a browser-type graphical user interface ( GUI ) running on either a laptop, desktop, or mobile device. This software submit’s users’ requests to the application server. The second tier in the system is receive and process clients’ requests. These application servers send the processed requests to the database system. Next, the third tier which consists of one or more relational databases. SAP’s business suite support database from different vendors, including those offered by Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL, and others.
2. Explain why distributed architectures are flexible.
The history of current LEGO® Architecture series can be traced back to the beginning of the 1960s when the LEGO brick’s popularity was still steadily increasing. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the then owner of the company, began looking for ways to further expand the LEGO system, and asked his designers to come up with a set of new components that would add a new dimension to LEGO building. Their answer was as simple as it was revolutionary: five elements that matched the existing bricks, but were only one third the height. These new building ‘plates’ made it possible to construct more detailed models than before.This greater LEGO flexibility seemed to match the spirit of the age; where modernist architects were redefining how houses looked, and people were taking an active interest in the design of their dream home. It was from these trends that the LEGO ‘Scale Model’ line was born in early 1962. The name itself was a direct link to the way architects and engineers worked, and it was hoped that they and others would build their projects ‘to scale’ in LEGO elements. As with LEGO Architecture today, the original sets were designed to be different from the normal brightly colored LEGO boxes, and also included An Architectural Book for inspiration. Though the five elements remain an integral part of the LEGO building system today, the ‘Scale Model’ line was phased out in 1965–it would be over 40 years before its principles would be revived in the LEGO Architecture series we know today.
3. Identify some of the business intelligence features included in SAP’s business software suite.
SAP’s software products include a variety of applications designed to efficiently support all of a company’s essential functions and operations. LEGO chose to implement SAP’s Supply Chain Management ( SCM ) , Product Life-cycle Management ( PLM ) , and Enterprise Resources Planning ( ERP ) modules.
There are some of the business intelligence features included in SAP’s software product. Firstly, SCM module includes essential features such as supply chain monitoring and analysis as well as forecasting, planning, and inventory optimization. Next, the PLM module enables manager to optimize development processes and systems. Lastly, The ERP modules includes among other applications which is the Human Capital Management ( HCM ) application for personnel administration and development.
SAP’s ERP-HCM module includes advances features such as “ Talent Manager “ as well those for handling employee administration, reporting, and travel and time management. These features allow LEGO’s. HR personnel to select the best candidates, schedule their training, and create a stimulus pelan to retain them. In addition, using this feature will help LEGO’s manager to track employee’s leadership potential, develop their careers, and forecast the recruiting of new employees with certain skills. SAP’s business software suite includes support database from different vendors, including those offered by Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL, and others.
4. What are the main advantages and disadvantages of having multiple databases in a distributed architecture? Explain.
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
|
Managers can easily use the SAP query tool to obtain reports from the database, because it does not require any technical skills.
|
A distributed DBMS that hides the distributed nature from the user and provides an acceptable level of performance, reliability, availability is inherently more complex then a centralized DBMS. The fact that data can be replicated also adds an extra level of complexity to the distributed DBMS. If the software does not handle data replication adequately, there wi1l be degradation in availability, reliability and performance compared with the centralized system, and the advantages we cites above will become disadvantages.
|
The distributed architecture enables authorized personnel to have direct access to the database system from the company’s various locations, including those in Europe, North Amerika, and Asia.
|
In a centralized system, access to the data can be easily controlled. However, in a distributed DBMS not only does access to replicated data have to be controlled in multiple locations but also the network itself has to be made secure. In the past, networks were regarded as an insecure communication medium. Although this is still partially true, significant developments have been made to make networks more secure.
|
The relational database contain the table that store data on LEGO’s products, daily operations, the supply chain, and thousands of employees.
|
Besides the normal difficulties of designing a centralized database, the design of a distributed database has to take account of fragmentation of data, allocation of fragmentation to specific sites, and data replication.
|
Include advanced features such as “Talent Manager” as well those for handling employee administration, reporting and travel and time management. Using this advanced features, together with tools from other software vendors, LEGO’s managers are able to track employees’ leadership potential, develop their careers, and forecast the recruiting of new employees with certain skills.
|
Increased complexity means that we can expect the procurement and maintenance costs for a DDBMS to be higher than those for a centralized DBMS. Furthermore, a distributed DBMS requires additional hardware to establish a network between sites. There are ongoing communication costs incurred with the use of this network. There are also additional labour costs to manage and maintain the local DBMSs and the underlying network.
|
CHAPTER 6
THE BATTLE
OVER NET NEUTRALITY
1. What
is network neutrality ? why has the internet operated under net neutrality up
to this point in time
Network neutrality is the idea that internet service
providers must allows customers equal access to content and applications
regardless of the source or nature of the presently the internet is indeed
neutral , all Internet traffic is
treated equally on a first –come , first serve basic by Internet backbone
owners .The Internet is neutral because it was built on phone lines, which are
subject to ‘common carriage ‘laws. These laws requires phone companies to treat
all calls and customers equally . They cannot offer extra benefits to customers willing to pay higher premiums for faster or
clearer calls, a model knows as tiered service.
2. Who’s
the favor of the network neutrality? Who’s opposed? why?
Those in favor of network neutrality include
organizations like move on.Org, the Christian Coalition , the American Library
Association , every major consumer group , many bloggers and small businesses,
and some large Internet companies like Google and Amazon. Some members of the
U.S Congress also support network neutrality . Unit cerf , a co. inventor of
the internet Protocol also favors network neutrality saying that variable
access to content would detract from the Internet’s continued ability to thrive
. This group argues that the risk of the censorship increased when network
operators can selectively block or slow access to certain content . Others are
concerned about the effect of slower transmission notes on their business models if users can’t download or access
content in a speedy fashion.
Those who oppose network neutrality include
telecommunications and able companies who want to be able to charge differentiated
prices based on the amount of bandwidth consumed by content being delivered
over the internet. Some company report that 5 percent of their customers use
about half the capacity on local lines without paying an more than low usage
customers. They state that material pricing is “the fairest way “ to finance
necessary investment and its network infrastructure. Internet service providers
point to the upsurge in piracy of the copyright materials over the internet as
a reason to oppose network neutrality. Comcast reported that illegal file
sharing of copyrighted material was consuming 50m percent of its network
transmission rates were slower for this type of content, users would be less
likely to download or access it.
3. What
would be the impact on individual users, businesses, and government if Internet
providers switched to a tiered service model?
Proponents of net
neutrality argue that a neutral Internet encourages everyone to innovate
without permission from the phone and cable companies or other authorities. A
more level playing field spawns countless new businesses. Allowing unrestricted
information flow becomes essential to free markets and democracy as commerce
and society increasingly move online. Heavy users of network bandwidth would
pay higher prices without necessarily experiencing better service. Even those
who use less bandwidth could run into the same situation.
Network owners
believe regulation like the bills proposed by net neutrality advocates will
impede U.S. competitiveness by stifling innovation and hurt customers who will
benefit from ‘discriminatory’ network practices. U.S. Internet service already
lags behind other nations in overall speed, cost, and quality of service,
adding credibility to the providers’ arguments. Obviously, by increasing the
cost of heavy users of network bandwidth, telecommunication and cable companies
and Internet service providers stand to increase their profit margins.
4. Are
you in favour of legislation enforcing network neutrality? Why or why not?
Student answers will vary. Some
components and principles to consider in answering
this question include:
• Price
differentials: How much more would heavy bandwidth users pay than those who
consume less bandwidth?
• Speed: How much
faster would network transmissions be with a tiered service model?
• Stifle innovation:
Would a tiered service model stifle innovation by charging more for
heavy bandwidth use or would it free up bandwidth thus
allowing more innovation?
• Censorship: Would
telecommunication and cable companies and Internet service
providers increase censorship of content transmitted over
networks?
• Discrimination by
carriers: Would the end of network neutrality be the beginning of more discrimination?
CHAPTER 7
INFORMATION SECURITY
THREATS AND POLICIES IN EUROPE
1. What
is a botnet ?
A
botnet is a network of autonomous malicious software agents that are under the
control of a bot commander. The network is created by installing malware that
exploits the vulnerabilities of Web servers, operating systems, or applications
to take control of the infected computers. Once a computer is infected it
becomes part of a network of thousands of “zombies,” machines that are
commanded to carry out the attack.
2. Describe
some of the main points of the Digital Agenda for Europe?
The
European Commission has recently launched the Digital Agenda for Europe. The
goal of this initiative is to define the key role that information and
communication technologies will play in 2020. The initiative calls for a
single, open European digital market. Another goal is that broadband speeds of
30Mbps be available to all European citizens by 2020. In terms of security, the
initiative is considering the implementation of measures to protect privacy and
the establishment of a well-functioning network of CERT to prevent cybercrime
and respond effectively to cyber attacks.
3. Explain
how a cyber attacks can be carried out.
In
2007, Estonia suffered a massive cyber attacks that affected the government,
the banking system, media, and other services. The attacks was performed using
a variety of techniques, ranging from simple individual ping commands and
message flooding to more sophisticated distributed denial of services ( DDoS )
attacks. Hackers coordinated the attacks by using a large number of compromised
servers organized in a botnet distributed around the world.
The
cyber attacks on Estonia started in late April 2007 and lasted for almost 3
weeks. During this period, vital parts of the Estonia Internet network had to
be closed from access from outside the country, causing millions of dollars in
economic losses. At around the same time, Arsys an important Spanish domain registration company, was also targeted by international hackers. Arsys
reported that hackers had stolen codes that were then used to insert links to
external servers containing malicious codes in the Web pages of some of its
clients.
4. Describe
some of the weaknesses exploited by malware.
A
sophisticated malware threat targeting industrial system was detected in
Germany, Norway, China, Iran, India, Indonesia, and other countries. The
malware, known as Stuxnet, infected Windows PCs running the Supervisory Control
and Data Acquisition ( SCADA ) control system from the German company Siemens.
Stuxnet was propagated via USB devices. Experts estimate that up to 1,000 machines were infected on a daily basis at the peak of the infection. The
malware, hidden in shortcuts to executable programs ( files with extension. Ink
), was executed automatically when the content of an infected USB drive was
displayed. Employing this same technique, the worm was capable of installing other malware. Initially, security experts disclosed that Stuxnet was designed
to steal industrial secrets from SIMATIC WinCC, a visualization and control
software system from Siemens.
However,
data gathered later by other experts indicates that the worm was actually
looking for some specific Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) devices used in
a specific industrial plant, a fact that points to the possibility that the
malware was part of a well-planned act of sabotage. Even though none of the
sites infected with Stuxnet suffered physical damage, the significance that
such a sophisticated threat represents to the industrial resources in Europe
and other of the world cannot be underestimated.
CHAPTER 8
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT HEADS TO THE CLOUD
1. What
types of companies are most likely to adopt cloud-based CRM software services?
Why? What companies might not be well-suited for this type of software?
The traditional enterprise
software vendors like Oracle are using their well established position to grad a share of the cloud-based application market; newcomers like Right Now,
Compiere, and Sugar CRM have found success using some different tactics. Because
most companies that are interested in cloud
computing are small or midsize and
lack the know-how or financial resources to successfully build and maintain
ERP and CRM applications in-house. However, the large companies have made the
switch to cloud. Company officials were hoping to eliminate maintenance and
administrative costs, but not at the expense of a storage system that meets their requirements,
were never out of service, and worked perfectly.
Types of
companies which are most likely to adopt cloud-based ERP and CRM software
services will be companies that want to cut IT staff cost. With CRM and ERP, a
business can be up and running with the software quickly which less need for in-house
IT staff or high levels of technical skills, and things like security and upgrades
are looked after by the vendor. This is because the difference between cloud and
on-premise is that cloud-computing makes your software an operational expense rather
than a capital spend. There’s usually little or no financial outlay in terms of hardware
and IT infrastructure, and you pay a monthly fee to use the product, which is based
on the number of users you have. Some businesses prefer a capital spend and to ‘own’
the software.
Others
prefer an operational cost, as with the cloud. For cloud-based applications, you also
need a reliable internet connection, and in some sectors there can be issues with the
geography in which the data is actually held. Many mainstream business software
vendors are working to transfer their traditional on-premise applications in to the
cloud. From a technical point of view, it is not as straightforward as it may
first appear.
Once it has achieved, the results are arguably superior to applications that have been
developed as purely cloud-based applications.
Next,
companies which might not be well-suited for this type of software are those companies
from small to middle-sized companies. These companies have senior finance
professionals and they concern about security and the lack of information and understanding
about cloud technology which are the main reasons for organizations are staying
away from cloud ERP. For the vast majority of businesses, modern commercial
cloud applications provide exceptionally high levels of security, including data protection and back-up, and are usually more secure than the majority of on-premise
applications.
2. What
are the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud-based enterprise
applications?
While
traditional enterprise software vendors like Oracle are using their
well-established position to penetrate the cloud-based application market,
newcomers like RightNow and SugarCRM have found success, even among larger
companies. The cloud-based advantages
as it attempted to merge information from different sources, and many smaller
companies have taken advantage of a new type of cloud computing. For example, cloud-based applications
can merge customer data 25 disparate sources and applications into a single
system. Disadvantage is that company officials were hoping to eliminate maintenance and administrative costs, but not at the expense of a storage
system that met their requirements, was never out of service, and worked perfectly and they will cost a
lot of money from enterprise.
3. What
people, organization, and technology issues should be addressed in deciding
whether to use a conventional CRM system versus a cloud-based version?
Nikon found that
not only Right Now had the capability to implement that system, but also it had
an array of other useful services. When Nikon discovered that it could combine
outbound e-mail, contact management, and customer records into a single system
in Right Now’s cloud, it made the move, expecting to receive a solid return on
the investment. However, more customers found the information they needed on
the Web, call response times dropped by 50 percent, and incoming e-mail dropped
by 70 percent. While Nikon still hosts its SAP ERP system internally due to its
complexity, Nikon switched its entire CRM system to Right Now. Companies that
manage their CRM apps with a cloud infrastructure have no guarantees that their
data will be available at all times, or even that the provider will still exist
in the future.
CHAPTER
9
E-
COMMERCE: DIGITAL MARKETS, DIGITAL GOODS
1. Assess
the people, organization, and technology issues for using social media to
engage with customers.
We can
assess the people, organization and technology issues using social media such
as Facebook and twitter to engage with customer.
Ø Powerful
tolls for engaging customer and asses the people, organization, and technology
issues
Ø Companies
are rolling out ads that capitalize on the social media features of Facebook to
achieve greater
visibility
Ø Twitter
has developed many new offerings to interested advertisers, like Promoted
Tweets and Promoted
Trends
Ø Facebook
targeting capabilities to determine which type of people respond to the various
ads it has
created.
Ø Many
companies are running online ads that focus less on pitching their product than
on promoting their
Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.
Ø The ads
feature menu tabs and allows users to click within the ad to see a brands
Twitter messages or
Facebook wall posts in real time, or to watch a brands video
content from YouTube-all within the Web
page where the ad appears
Ø Even if
the Facebook or Twitter postings in ads show brands apologizing about missteps
or customers
complaints, advertisers may still benefit.
research and customer service?
Advantages:
· Building Brand Awareness
One of the most obvious
reasons for using Social Media Marketing is to build brand awareness and it
certainly does if used correctly
· Reach a large Audience
Using social media to market
our business online will without a doubt help us reach a larger audience. In
a
way, the more people we reach the better brand awareness we have but with
social media, there is
lot of noise. We need
to make sure we use a tool like Hoot suite so we can eliminate all of the noise
and
focus on reaching the people who want to engage with us.
· Greate for SEO
Social Media or even more
specific, Google + is greate for
boosting our SEO. Google is picking up on
how much activity each business is
doing on social media and will rank our business accordingly. The
more active
and fresh content we are posting on our business will rank on Google and it
really is, as
simple as that.
· Cost Effective
Social Media Marketing
doesn’t cost you a penny, unless you want it to. You can market on Twitter,
Facebook, Google+, Pinterest and any other social network for free. If we want
to run competitions for
use a few select third party tools, we may end up have
to pay small fee but on the whole, social media
marketing is very cost
effective.
Disadvantages:
· Understanding on how it work
We need to understand how
social media works, when and how to use it and which channels to focus on
depending on our end goal of using social media in order to get its full
effects
· Commits illegal crime
Social media may open
possibility for hackers to commit illegal crime such as fraud, spam and virus
attacks. People falling prey to online scam may also increase, resulting in
data or identity theft
· Viral social disadvantages
This may damage one’s
reputation. The wrong online brand strategy could put us on this
· Negative effects on workers
productivity
Results in lost productivity
and employees may use social media to attact the companys reputation.
Instead
of working in their time of work, they can waste such valuable time using
social media channels
such as Twitter and Facebook. This may results in
negative comments from employees use these sites to
view objectionable, illicit
or offensive material.
· Distraction
Most people who suffer from
this are students. Instead, of doing their homeworks they tend to fail their
academis endeavours because of using social media in the wrong way
· Serious detriminal outcomes
on individuals health
When social media is used in
a wrong way, it may have a negative effect on both mental physics health of
individual
3. Should
all companies use Facebook and Twitter for customer service and advertising ?
Why or why not?
What kinds of companies are best suited to use these platform?
Nowadays,
people are not call up a company and complain or tell their feedback. Now, they
are more likely to head to tell the world how a product is. That’s why social
media platform like Facebook, Twitter is important for customer service.Example
of company which use Twitter for customer service:
frustration. JetBlue ensures they are
responsive to their customers because they understand its important
for
continued customers loyalty. They engage with happy customers , but they also
responds to and help
frustrated customers as quickly as possible.
- JetBlue is to be extremely
responsive to customers mentioning their brand
Whether they send public a reply or a private DM to answer a
question, they are quickly to interact. As
seen in the picture above, they
reached out to their frustrated customer within the hour. Social media is a
channel where customers get quick responses. Social media platform help
companies to response
quickly to customer. Many companies dedicate full- time
employees to the task of responding to
customers on social media. Social media
help to satisfy customer needs. Moreover, social media help
find all this
things.
Ø Social
listening ( listening for conversations about your company, competitors or
other topics of interest)
Ø Social
conversation ( finding and responding to conversations online – engaging with
others in social media)
Ø Social marketing ( launching and running campaigns
and promotions in social media )
Ø Social
analytics ( measuring and analyzing results of social media efforts across
various platforms )
Ø Social
influencer ( identifying and engaging with influencers that are relevant to
your company or industry )
Social media platform is a
cheaper than traditional marketing and advertising methods. Promote a
product
using social networking sites by determining where their customers and
potential customers are,
and getting their product visible on those sites.
Facebook
page
Companies product can have
its own page, where people can like it, comment on it, leave reviews and
even
link to your website so they can buy it. Companies can offer incentives such as
coupons and
discounts. Invite people to share company page with their friends
so company community can grow.
Twitter
account
Companies can set up an
account on Twitter foe their product and promote it by attracting followers.
Companies have to come up with brief messages that describe and promote their
product. Follow
people, brands and companies that might be interested in their
product. The more people a company
follow, the more followers that company have
a chance of attracting. In our opinion all companies are
best suited to use
social media platform. At the same time, the company should figure out what
they
want to accomplish via Social Media. Moreover, what are their human
resources, and how many
people can work on their social media efforts. Finally, how long is their project going to
be.
CHAPTER 10
ALBASSAMI ‘S JOB IS NOT
FEASIBLE WITHOUT IT
1. What
systems are described here ? what valueable information do they provide?
Systems are
described is the shipping information system. The valueable information they
provide is Albassami maintains all the sender information such as the sent car,
the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS
to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also records the
client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle
maintenance centers with the transportation service helps to enhance company
performance and achieve better customer service. The system also enables
standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the
productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for
different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addtion, the system
allowed a better audit on all drivers behavior by using the output of the
vehicles tracking information. Proper performance monitoring resulted in
adequate employees appraisals and consequently loyal staff.
2. What
values did the IT/ IS investments add to Albassami?
Albassami, the
company used the system that based on clustered Dell servers running Windows
2003 and connected to over 270 Windows XP clients. The database management
system, used as the backbone of the system, is Sybase Adaptive server, whereas
clients use SQL Anywhere. There is replication between the server at
headquarters and the clients’ branches. Throughout the replication, branches’
data is sent to the server and aggregated to create the most updated database
version, and then sent back to the branches. This means every branch has the
most recent version of the client list, trucks’ availability, and new shipping
contracts so that any customer is able to deal with any branch at any time.
3. How
did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and
information requirements of Albassami?
Implementing the
shipping information system address the business needs and information
requirements of Albassami is the recipient branch will create a receipt entry
on the system upon arrival of the truck and then and Short Messaging Service
communication (SMS) is created and sent to the customer, who will then go to
the destination branch to receive the car. In addition, Albassami maintains all
the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and
receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS to the client acknowledging the
arrival of the car. The system also records the client’s data, and holds
maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle maintenance centers with
the transportation service helps to enhance company performance and achieve
better customer service. The system also enables standard reports to be
provided to top management and head sectors about the productivity of each
branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for different regions and
thus proper budget allocation. In addtion, the system allowed a better audit on
all drivers behavior by using the output of the vehicles tracking information.
Proper performance monitoring resulted in adequate employees appraisals and
consequently loyal staff.
CHAPTER 11
DST SYSTEM SCORES WITH SCRUM AND
APPLICATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT
1. What
were some of the problems with DST Systems’ old software development
environment?
DST Systems is a
software development company whose flagship product, Automated Work
Distributor, increases back-office efficiency and helps offices become
paperless.DST was founded in 1969 and its headquarters are in Kansas City,
Missouri. The company has approximately ten thousand employees,1200 of whom are
software developers. DST faced many of the challenges common in today’s
changing global markets. For this cases, we found two problems faces by DST
Systems’ old software development environment. Firstly, DST struggling with
unresponsive two-year waterfall cycles, their teams were directed to cut costs
and improve delivery of its software products. But internal and external teams
were using multiple and disconnected processes and tools for project,
requirements and test management. Then, in the waterfall model of software
development, progression flows sequentially from one step to the next like a
waterfall, with each step unable to start until the previous step has been
completed. Secondly, The business, IT management and development teams were
unable to effectively trace functional specifications and product tests to
original requirements. The situation was made more difficult by the need to
adhere to strict requirements in their regulated industry.
2. How
did Scrum development help solve some of those problems?
In order to solve the problems,
the development group started exploring Scrum, a framework for agile software
development in which projects progress via a series of iterations called
sprints. Sprint is a timeboxed iterations no more than a month long. Team
members commit to delivering some number of features that were listed on a
project’s product backlog at the start of sprints. The features include coded,
tested, and integrated into the evolving product or system. At the end of
sprints, a sprint review allows the team to demonstrate the new functionality
to the product owner and other interested stakeholders who provide feedback that
could influence the next sprint. Next, Scrum also help manage their distributed
teams by providing a centralized cloud-based service around which its business
stakeholders and development teams could collaborate, regardless of geographic
location. CollabNet’s ability to implement hybrid development processes for
different projects enabled DST’s diverse development teams to adopt the
platform at the pace required by the market cycles of the individual project
teams and their customers. For those teams implementing Scrum, they held
regular stand up meetings to discuss progress and manage their development in
regular iterations. DST combined these management methods with a modern agile
and continuous integration process that their developers felt was easy to
integrate, adopt and rollout by leveraging the TeamForge ALM platform. In a
short time, DST was able to realize a 75% reduction of development cycles and a
20% productivity improvement of its valuable development resources. Ultimately,
by using a centralized development platform and Scrum methods, DST is now able
to combine software-code contributions from internal and external development
teams, regardless of location, with a development process that is extremely
responsive to the changing needs of its market and its customers. Scrum also
relies on self-organizing, cross-functional teams supported by a ScrumMaster
and a product owner.
3. What
other adjustments did DST make to use Scrum more effectively in its software
projects? What people, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed?
There are other
point of adjustments did DST make to use Scrum more effectively in its software
project. Firstly, the company accelerated its software development cycle from
24 to 6 months and developer productivity increased 20 percent.DST merge with
ALM product that would unify its software development environment.DST set up a
project evaluation team to identify the
right development environment for them. This factor includes
cost-effectiveness, ease of adoption and feature effectiveness. Next, CollabNet
specializes in software designed to work well with agile software development
methods such as Scrum. DST adopted CollabNet’s Subversion product to help with
the management and control of changes to project documents, programs and other
information stored as a computer files DST’s adoption of CollabNet’s products
was fast, requiring only 10 weeks, and DST developer’s now do all of their work
within this ALM platforms. The CollabNet TeamForge platform provides an
integrated set of development, collaboration and project management tools with
a secure, centralized on-demand delivery model integrated to enable true
collaborative development in a global business environment. Essentially,
application development in
the enterprise is becoming Agile, Distributed and “Multi-Source.” As a result,
enterprises are searching for an open (any process, technology, APIs) ALM
platform that scales from the workgroup to the enterprise to collaboratively
link globally distributed teams—project managers, business analysts,
developers, testers and deployment engineers. Increasingly, companies are
looking for this platform to be centrally available in a secure public or
private cloud, thereby enabling large scale cost reductions and development
efficiencies. By leveraging shared software lifecycle assets, team members can
collaborate within and across groups and projects– regardless of their
location. At CollabNet, we call this “Agile ALM in the Cloud”.
CHAPTER 12
IFE ON THE GRID : IPHONE BECOME ITRACK
1. Why
do cell phone manufacturers (Apple, Google and BlackBerry) want to track where
their customers go?
A
new technology based on smartphones can identify where you are located within a
few yards. Mobiles technologies based on the smartphone make it possible to
locate people thoughtout the day, to report this information to corporate data
bases, retain and analyze the information and then sell it to advertiser and
others. The company discovered that both Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android
phones were collection personal, private location data, for a variety of
reasons. The manufactures of cell phone like Apple, Google and BlackBerry want
to track where their customers go because the location data has extraordinary
commercial value because advertising companies can send to the customer
advertisements, coupons, and flash bargains, based on where the customer located.
Next, the smartphone apps that provide location-based services are also sources
of personal, private, and location information based on the smartphone GPS
capability. Foursquare, a 2009 start-up is a popular mobile social application
that allows users to check in to a restaurant or other location, and the apps
automatically lets friends on Facebook and other programs learn where you are.
Foursquare has a widely accepted loyalty program.
2. Do
you think cell phone customer should be able to tracking off? Should customers
be informed when they are being tracked? Why or why not?
No,
because when the customer tracking off the cell phone the owner of company
cannot detect the customer where they are and cannot help when they in trouble
situation. The customer need to be
informed when they are being tracked because the company of cell phone will
trace the customer and will find the data on the apps of cell phone. However,
most cell phone users are unaware that their location and travels are readily
available to law enforcement agencies thought a simple e-mail request, and
without judicial review, and at the expense of the carries. The number of such
requests is not know or published.
3. Do
you think cell phone tracking is a violation of a person’s privacy?
No,
because the privacy experts asked if consumers knew they were sharing their
location information and what kind of informed consent was obtain. However,
android phones transmit consumer’s location data continuously. Apple’s files on
the iPhone device can be stored for many months. Both Apple and Google say they
do not share the information with the third parties , deny the information can
identify individuals (as opposed to cell phones) and claim the information is
being used only to identify the location of cell phones for Wi-Fi connected
phones, and to improve the customer experience of location-based services.
