Week 7 - Networks & Wireless

1. Explain the business benefits of using wireless technology.

Undeterred connectivity, anytime, anywhere, has fueled a major market and technology disruption, which has permeated almost every consumer market worldwide. The domino effect of the success of wireless technology has resulted in a unique opportunity for innovation and creativity in technology, marketing, and business strategy


There are many advantages that a business can benefit from using wireless technology, such as below:

• It's much easier to access. You can use it any where without having to rewire or change any settings. It also means in running a business, it provides the utmost mobility for your business so that it can be operated and coordinated from anywhere, any time. 
• It's much tidier. It dramatically reduces the space all the different cables required with wired technology. It also makes the work place or shop front more presentable.
• One of the main advantages of a wireless network is that you can add another computer (up to the maximum number on a hub or router) more easily than on a wired network. This reduces the cost of upgrading or adding to your computers if you use an external company to setup or maintain it. 

2. Describe the business benefits associated with VoIP


VOIP (Voice over IP) enables phone calls, faxes, digital voice mail, e-mail and Web conferences over networks.


It helps businesses to save money in three ways:

• VOIP runs over the existing computer network.
• Calls over the internet do not attract telecommunications charges.
• Customers can port their numbers between cariers. 

3. Compare LANs and WANs

Local area networks (LANs) 

Connect cers that reside in a single geographic location on the premises of the company that operates the LAN.

Wide area networks (WANs)

Connect computers at different geographic sites.

4. Describe RFID and how it can be used to help make a supply chain more effective.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

RFID technology use active or passive tags in the form of chips or smart labels that can store unique identifiers and relay this information to electronic readers. When a RFID tag, which is smaller than a grain, is placed on an item, it automatically radios its location to RFID readers on shop shelves, checkout counter, loading-bay doors and shopping carts. With RFID tags, inventory is taken automatically and continuously. RFID tags can cut costs by requiring fewer workers for scanning items; they also can provide more current and more accurate information to the entire supply chain. 

The advent of RFID has allowed everyone from shipping companies to hospitals to reduce costs and overheads by making more transparent inefficient business processes. 

RFID Wal Mart Standards - RFID Supply Chain Lab

5. What is one new emerging technologythat could change a specific industry?

With RFID becoming bother smarter and smaller, the possibilities for its uses are endless. One of the benefit of this new emerging technology is to identify human remains.

Hurricane Katrina in the US left behind many unclaimed casualties, despite the tireless searches by countless people. Thanks to the VeriChip, RFID tags are now being used to locate bodies in an effort to reunite loved ones. This helps to identify cadavers during transport and coroners are now able to collect body parts for burial in their rightful places.

Textbook: Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand ed, chapter 7

Week 6 - Enterprise Architectures

Weekly Questions

What is information architecture and what is information infrastructure and how do they differ and how do they relate to each other?

Information architecture identifies where and how important information, such as customer records, is maintained and secured.

Information infrastructure includes the hardware, software, and telecommunication equipment that, when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organisation 's goals.

Companies need to have both information architecture and infrastructure coordinate well with each other in order to achieve or maintain the performance of the companies. They need information architecture to maintain data while infrastructure to provide the hardware and software to support the plans.

E                              Enterprise Architecture

Describe how an organisation can implement a solid information architecture 

An organisation can have a backup and recovery strategy in place.

A backup is an exact copy of a system's information.

Recovery is the ability to get a system up and running in the event of a system crash or failure including restoring the information backup.

An example of this: 

A chain of more than 4000 franchise locations, 7-Eleven Taiwan uploads backup and recovery information from its central location to all its chain locations daily. The company implemented a new technology solution that could quickly and reliably download and upload backup and recovery information. In addition, when a connection fails during the download or upload, the technology automatically resumes the download without having to start over, saving valuable time.

List and describe the five requirement characteristics of infrastructure architecture. 

1. flexibility
2. scalability
3. reliability
4. availability
5. performance

Flexibility

•Able to meet changing business demands

•This might involve multinational challenges

Scalability

•Systems ability to meet growth requirements

•Involves Capacity planning

Reliability

•High Accuracy

•Low Accuracy puts the organisation at risk

Availability

•High availability 99.999% uptime

•Ensures business continuity

Performance

•How quickly a system performs a certain task

•Growing pressure on systems to be faster

Describe the business value in deploying a service oriented architecture 
What is an event? 
What is a service?

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) helps today's businesses innovate by ensuring that IT systems can adapt quickly, easily and economically to support rapidly changing business needs. It helps businesses increase the flexibility of their processes, strengthen their underlying IT architecture, and reuse their existing IT investments by creating connections among disparate applications and information sources.

Event - is an electronic message indicating that something has happened, it detect threats and opportunities and alerts those who can act on the information.

Service - contains a set of related commands that can be re-used, it is more like a software product than they are a coding project.

What emerging technologies can companies can use to increase performance and utilise their infrastructure more effectively?

Grid computing technology.

Grid computing enables the virtualisation of distributed computing and data resources such as processing, network bandwidth, and storage capacity to create a single system image, granting users and applications seamless access to vast IT capabilities. Virtualising these resources yields a scalable, flexible pool of processing and data storage that enterprise can sue to improve efficiency. Moreover, it will help create a sustainable competitive advantage by way of streamlining product development and allowing focus to be placed on the core business. Over time, grid environments will enable the creation of virtual organisations and advanced web services as partnerships and collaborations become more critical in strengthening each link in the value chain.


Textbook: Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand ed, chapter 5

Week 5 - Ethics and Security

Explain the ethical issues surrounding information technology.
Ethics surrounding the information technology concerns the ethical and moral issues arising from the development and use of information technologies as well as the creation, duplication, distribution and processing of information itself. Issues might include.

• Individuals copy, use and distribute software.
• Employees search organisational databases for sensitive corporate and personal information.
• Organisations collect, buy and use information without checking the validity or accuracy of the information.
• Individuals create and spread viruses that cause trouble for those using and maintaining IT systems.
• Individuals hack into computer systems to steal proprietary information.
• Employees destroy or steal proprietary information.
• Employees destroy or steal proprietary organisation information such as schematics, sketches, customer lists and reports.

Other issues also including the ethical issues surrounding copyright infringement and intellectual property rights are consuming the eBusiness world. The 5 main technology security issues include:

• Intellectual property - The collection of rights that protect creative and intellectual effort.
• Copyright - The exclusive right to do, or omit to do, certain acts with intangible property such as a song, video game and some types of proprietary documents.
• Fair use doctrine - The unauthorized use, duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted software.
• Counterfeit software - Software that is manufactured to look like the real thing and sold as such.

X-Men: Science Can Build Them, But Is It Ethical?

Describe a situation involving technology that is ethical but illegal.
In 2008, the Australian Privacy Commissioner found that a betting agency obtained access to consumers' credit information files held by a credit reporting agency breached the Privacy Act 1988.
Under the Privacy Act, credit providers can obtain access to credit information in the possession or control of a credit reporting agency. The commissioner found that the betting agency was not a credit provider, even though the agency provided betting services to its customers on credit.

Describe and explain one of the computer use policies that a company might employee
Email is one that people use every day and should be watched closely by the company with its computer policies. Organisations should have a policy that:

• Clearly sets out how employees may use email and the internet for private and non-employment purposes.
• States what activities are permitted and those which are not permitted.
• Details the type of information that will be recorded and the members of the organisation that will have access to that information.
• Provides for the monitoring and auditing process that will consider the information.

What are the 5 main technology security risks? Outline one way to reduce each risk.

•Human Error

•Not Malicious

•By Humans

•Natural Disasters

•Floods

•Earthquakes

•Terrorist Attack

•Technical Failures

•Software Bugs

•Hardware Crashes

•Deliberate Acts

•Sabotage

•White Collar Crime

•Management Failure

•Lack of Procedure

•Documentation

•Training

What is a disaster recovery plan, what strategies might a firm employee?
A disaster recovery plan is a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as fire or flood.
The strategies include: 

• ◦Communications plan
• ◦Alternative Sites – hot or warm site
• ◦Business Continuity
•  Location of Backup data

Textbook: Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand ed, chapter 4

Week 4 Questions - eBusiness

Chapter 3 Questions

  1.      Why has the web grown so dramatically?

The web started to be used more by businesses since 1990s. It only took 10 years for it to become a common place for people in most countries in the world. Today, business could not be able to survive without a web address. There are two major reasons for the web to grow so quickly in the past decade.
Firstly, with the improved telecommunication infrastructure, the access to internet has become relatively easy. Particularly in recent years, with the popularity of wireless as well as the internet application built in the smartphones, iPhone for instance.
Secondly, along with globalization, the web has contributed to the success of many cooperations and entities around the world.  Many international entities have enjoyed the benefit of the web and become dominant in their area of business. Companies like eBay, Amazon, and Dell relied purely on the web users to purchase their products online.

  2.      What is Web 2.0, how does it differ from 1.0?
Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the internet. It is not an update of technical specifications, but more focused on changes of how software developers and end-users use the web as a platform.
Web 2.0 propels companies in all industries to adopt a new way to do business. Those businesses that has acted on the web 2.0 opportunity got the advantage early in their markets. Facebook and Twitter are the best examples of it.
Comparing web 2.0 to 1.0, web 2.0 provides more interacting surface for users while there was not much room allowing interaction in web 1.0 which it mainly provided users the functions of publishing and page views.

3.      How could a web 2.0 technology be used in business?

Web 2.0 technology has brought the business competition to a new level. For those businesses that master this technology at their advantage, the could easily grab more market shares in their industry. The key element is interaction.

The way how potential customers can write an email and inquire about products or services they are interested in is getting out-of-date now. There are many new efficient ways of utilizing the web. 

A very good example is with telecom company, Optus. They operate a very competitive strategy by providing online customer service officers on their website. These customer service officers take the active step by asking if you need any help with their products even you are just happened to be browsing the site. It opens a conversation window and you do not have to answer them if you don't want to but it gives instance answers to potential customers just as if you were in their stores. In fact, it might be better than stores as customers seem to have to wait for service a lot of times.

This online personal shopping experience is efficient and smart. It will be the new best way for web 2.0 businesses marketing.

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

eBusiness is the conducting of business of the internet including buying selling, servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. 
eCommerce is purely the acts of buying and selling of good and services over the internet. 


The main difference between eBuiness and eCommerce is that the eBusiness  also refers to online exchange of information. It allows suppliers for a manufacturer to monitor the production schedules or the customers to review banking, credit card and mortgage accounts in a financial institution.

5. What is pure and partial eCommerce

Pure eCommerce refers to businesses trade purely online, and there are no physical shops existed. Examples are: iTune, Dell, Amazon and eBay.

Partial eCommerce are those Businesses that have physical shops for customers to walk in and purchase good or services in store as well as on their websites. This practice has been adopted by most successful businesses to cater the demands of the public. Businesses lead this by examples are Coles, Woolworth, Telstra, Topshop...etc.

6.  List and describe the various eBusiness models?

Business-to-business (B2B)

Applies to businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet.

Business-to-Consumer (B2C)

Applies to any business that sells its products or services to consumers over the internet.

Consumer-to-business (C2B)

Applies to any consumer that sells a product or services to a business over the internet.

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C)

Applies to sites primarily offering goods and services to assist consumers interacting with each other over the internet.

7. List and describe the major B2B models?

ference between eBu B2B (Business-to-business) applies to businesses buying from and selling to each other over the internet. Electronic marketplaces represent a new wave in B2B eBusiness models.

They are interactive business communities providing a central market where many buyers and sellers can bid against each other. They provide structures for conducting commercial exchange, consolidating supply chains and creating new sales channels. Transactions are usually conducted via intranet. (Often using a virtual private network or VPN)

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

Opportunities:

a. Sales not restricted to facts like geography or population, even religions or cultures as goods and services can be sold over the world via internet.
b. Fixed and variable costs for labor and renting a physical shop drop dramatically with doing business online.
Challenges: 
c. Business online today face huge competition around the world as there are many more people doing it, customers have more options to compare and choose the products with indicated prices.
d. Laws and regulations in different countries can be tricky for online eBusiness owners. It is often complicated and difficult to understand them in order to trade in the countries that eBusiness owners not familiar with.

Textbook: Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand ed, chapter 3

Week 3 - Strategic Decsion Making

Chapter Two Questions

1. Define TPS & DSS, provide some exapmples of these systems in business 


Transactional Processing System (TPS) 
It is the basic business system that serves the operational level (analysts) in an organisation. Examples include payroll system or order entry system.


Decision Support Systems (DDS)
They provide information to support managers and business professionals during the decision-making process. Examples include dashboard.

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

• Sensitivity analysis, which is the study of the impact that changes in one (or more) parts of the model have on other parts of the model. Users change the value of one variable repeatedly and observe the resulting changes in other variables.

• What-if analysis, which checks the impact of a change in an assumption on the proposed solution. For example, what will happen to the supply chain if a cyclone off Brisbane reduces holding inventory from 30% to 10%? Users repeat this analysis until they understand all the effects of various situations.

• Goal-seeking analysis, which finds the inputs necessary to achieve a goal such as a desired level of output. Instead of observing how changes in a variable affect other variables as in what-if analysis, goal-seeking analysis sets a target value is achieved. Questions like: How many customers are required to purchase a new product to increase gross profits to $5 million?

3. Describe a business processes and their importance to an organisation, outline and example of how they are used

A Business Process is a standardised set of activities that accomplish a specific task, such as processing a customer's order. It transforms a set of inputs into a set of outputs (goods or services) for another person or process by using people and tools. To stay competitive, organisations must optimise and automate their business processes. 
For example, making checkout procedure quick and easy is a great way of supermarkets to increase profits. 

4. Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering.
Business Process Improvement (BPI)is a paramount in order to stay competitive. It is a continuous model which attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvement accordingly.



Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises. It relies on a different school of thought than BPI. In the extreme, BPR assumes that the current process is irrelevant, does not work, or is broken and must be overhauled from scratch.

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

Business Process Modelling (or mapping) is the activity of creating a detailed flowchart or process map of a work process, showing its inputs, tasks and activities in a structured sequence. It's important because it makes the processes visible while most technology are invisible and therefore, organisations are able to improve them by observation.
Business Process Model is a graphic description of a process, showing the sequence of process tasks, which is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected viewpoint. It is important because a picture is worth a thousand words. A BPM provides a visual understanding of it's product and service. It helps to communicate with the viewer. 


Textbook: Baltzan, Phillips, Lynch & Blakey, Business Driven Information Systems, 1st Australian/New Zealand ed, chapter 2