ISOM - How IT/IS can give benefits and disadvantages

1) Education

In education field, the benefits it can provide is that

• Ease of Information Sharing

In information sharing, the administrator can upload all the information and announcement onto a general based website for the whole University personnel and student. This allows an easier reach out to all the people of the university and no singular message to be sent to each people.

• One platform to get education information

The students of the college can gather their lecture slides, tutorials from a web based platform like learnfinity. This allows the student to obtain the information anytime they wanted to as long as they have internet access. This also indirectly reduces the burden of the lecturer to provide them with copies.

• Helps prepare student for modern world

In the working environment nowadays everything is based on IT. When a student is given a foundation on using IT and IS during their education level, they are able to utilize their skills later on when they're working, this grants them the skill to survive and provide better competency.


Disadvantage on Education

• Lack of interaction

In the real world, people will have difficulty in interaction with people of other race. Due to the difference in mother tongue speaking and the lack of social interaction studying in a IT condition.

• Poor time management

If you are not the right candidate for online education. The flexibility of planning your own schedule in online education could be the disadvantages for you if you are a type of person that can't manage your time probably between your work, family and study. If you are this kind of person, a pre-plan schedule may fit you well, letting yourself to study at your own pace with your own schedule may causes you fail to complete your degree program.

• Single media type teaching

As most of online learning materials are in text format, if you are not comfortable with this format and prefer to listen to the lecture instead of reading it. Then, it will become the disadvantage for you and you need to reconsider your decision before you choose online education to be your degree pursuing channel.


2) Growth of Organization

Advantage

• Time & Cost

By using IS, it can help the company saving time in every activity as well as well decrease its cost of employing more people to work while using IS can reduce the man power needed. By using IS the company will be more organized and can generate more profit in a short time.

• Integration with other company

IS can help companies integrate with each other, improve the smooth transition of process that can help in better production of process and better understanding of each other companies which indirectly improve mutual relationships with each other can lead to better agreements and deals.

• Decision making

With IS, the decision making process of a company is made more efficient and accurate. With less human error and mistakes, the company suffer less loss which will help the company to grow rapidly serving the market's needs.


Disadvantage

• Too dependent on IS

When IS itself is giving too much benefit to one company, it comes with a risk that the company will be too attached with it. When the system fails, the company is crippled and continuation of the business is halted.

• High maintenance

A company who is using IS and is still growing uses a lot of money to maintain and run it compared hiring manpower. If the revenue generated is insufficient to cover the expenditures, then the company will result in heavy losses.

• Hacking risk

A company is dependent and uses a lot of IS in its daily operations is putting itself in risk that it is opening many doors of vulnerabilities to malicious attacks. If the security system is not well developed, then vital information of the company will leak and stolen.


3) Interpersonal skills

Advantage

• Huge network

A person can make many friends due to the availability of many social networks and blogs and virtual hang out ares. Giving opportunities for people to know more people.

• Huge exposure

A person will receive huge amount of exposure to huge amount knowledge because many people share their ideas and knowledge. With IS helping them to make decision on the way, it can improve the way of life of people and make them to be a good citizen.

Disadvantage

• Health risk

It will lead to health issues when one person is indulged too much into IS which spends a lot of time in it, neglecting his/her own health.

• Dependent on IS

When one is indulged with too much of IS, it is hard for them to kick the bad habit of using it all the time. It will be like drugs, when it is absent from the life of that person, it will cause addiction.

ISOM - Disaster Recovery Plan

Most businesses depend heavily on technology and automated systems, and their disruption for even a few days could cause severe financial loss and threaten survival.
The continued operations of an organization depend on management’s awareness of potential disasters, their ability to develop a plan to minimize disruptions of critical functions and the capability to recovery operations expediently and successfully.
A disaster recovery plan is a comprehensive statement of consistent actions to be taken before, during and after a disaster. The plan should be documented and tested to ensure the continuity of operations and availability of critical resources in the event of a disaster.
The primary objective of disaster recovery planning is to protect the organization in the event that all or part of its operations and/or computer services are rendered unusable. Preparedness is the key. The planning process should minimize the disruption of operations and ensure some level of organizational stability and an orderly recovery after a disaster.


Other objectives of disaster recovery planning include:
• Providing a sense of security
• Minimizing risk of delays
• Guaranteeing the reliability of standby systems
• Providing a standard for testing the plan.
• Minimizing decision-making during a disaster


The planning committee should prepare a risk analysis and business impact analysis that includes a range of possible disasters, including natural, technical and human threats.
Each functional area of the organization should be analyzed to determine the potential consequence and impact associated with several disaster scenarios. The risk assessment process should also evaluate the safety of critical documents and vital records.
Traditionally, fire has posed the greatest threat to an organization. Intentional human destruction, however, should also be considered. The plan should provide for the “worst case” situation: destruction of the main building.
It is important to assess the impacts and consequences resulting from loss of information and services. The planning committee should also analyze the costs related to minimizing the potential exposures.


Processing and operations should be analyzed to determine the maximum amount of time that the department and organization can operate without each critical system.
Critical needs are defined as the necessary procedures and equipment required to continue operations should a department, computer center, main facility or a combination of these be destroyed or become inaccessible.
A method of determining the critical needs of a department is to document all the functions performed by each department. Once the primary functions have been identified, the operations and processes should be ranked in order of priority: Essential, important and non-essential.

The Steps are as below

1. Obtain Top Management Commitment
2. Establish a planning committee
3. Perform a risk assessment
4. Establish priorities for processing and operations
5. Determine Recovery Strategies
6. Perform Data Collection
7. Organize and document a written plan
8. Develop testing criteria and procedures
9. Test the Plan
10. Approve the plan

Citation-
http://www.drj.com/new2dr/w2_002.htm

Risk, Consequences and Recommend Security Measures

Risk
1) Hackers hack the online website
2) The server containing the website fails
3) Building having problems and leakage happens
4) Programming error

Consequences
1) When hackers hack into the website, it tampers the data, steals important data or even makes the website unable to function properly.
2) This will cause the website unable to function. Customers are unable to visit the website and make purchases
3) This will cause the hardware in the IT department fails to function as water will spoil the hardware which will lead to website failure or disable some of its functions.
4) Programming error that caused by the website developer which will make some of the website function unable to fully function which will stop the visitors from utilizing the website to its maximum.

Recommended Security Measures
1) To impose firewall, username and password in order to access the website confidential data. Those firewall must be updated regularly and passwords must be changed occasionally. (Code of conduct, what firewall)
2) An additional server which will serve as backup for the website when the website fails. The server can be not very high end as it will be supporting the website at a functional level until the main server is restored. (mirror server, hot site, cold site)
3) Regular maintenance and protection placed on the server so that it will be protected from natural disasters, as well as backup being placed somewhere else and activated when the main server fails to function.
4) Have a few dedicated programmers to do the job in developing the website. Constant update and checking on possible error and debugging them. Increase more validation in the programming lines so that possible errors can be filtered out.

What Do You Want?

What I wanted in my life is to be able to control money and not them controlling me. Else say is having money working for me and not me working for money. This inspired through reading a book. With it, I am able to have more income than expenses. With able to control my cashflow, I am able to avoid myself being overwhelmed with debts of credit cards and liabilities.

With this knowledge, I can hold off myself doing something that I cannot afford. If i couldn't control my flow of money, then things will be out of hand. With every extra cash, will be spent and will not have extra money. The want for extra money will be much more and the circle of expenses will be continued over and over. Money should be invested in income generation assets like business, shares or properties where risk is involved. People tend to play it safe, but with deep insight, we can control these risk and make them become an upper hand in life.

I would also want to be one of the best gamer in any of the games played. This is to increase my prowess in my field of interest. I can increase my motivation in life when I can master this. Not only motivation but also can generate extra income if participate in any competition where they offer sums of cash to the victor. Its like killing 2 birds with 1 stone, enjoying my interest and making money at the same time.

ISOM - A Rural Tale

Problems analyzed

In this case study, the problem faced by the foreign aid workers is that they are facing villagers from a developing country which means the countrymen is not educated well enough to understand what good technology will bring to them. Changes made by the foreign aid workers might not bring out good response but them but instead a negative response due to their conservative mind that do not accept changes in their life.

Furthermore, communication will be a problem as based on the case study, there is no people from the home country to help the foreign aid workers to communicate with them. With language and style as a barrier, they might face difficulties to deliver the good message to them.

After identifying the problem faced by the villagers, the foregin aid workers should do some survey or questionaire on what they wanted for improvement and is the pipe the best suited solution for them and will they accept it for it will not distrupt their daily routines.

Due to the insufficient knowledge in rural villagers, videos on the advantage of the pipe may bring should be demonstrated to the villagers so that they can learn to adapt and accept because it can help to improve their quality of live.

After the implementation of the system, there is nobody to educate them how to operate the pipes. Due to their lack of knowledge and exposure in technology, it will hinder them from utilizing it to its full potential.

Recommendations

The recommendations that I will provide is to response to the problems that lead to the failure of the implementation imposed. The first recommendation that I will provide will be having a representative that has good rapport with the villagers assisting the foregin aid workers so that they will have good flow of communications and understand each other better. Rural villagers might not seen foreign people in their land before and will feel hostile to their presence.

Foreign aid workers should hand out some questionaires to really identify the problem faced by the villagers and not by assumptions made.

Foreign aid workers should also educate them on what advantage the pipes will bring into their lives. They also can tell the villagers that it will ease their lives and to increase productivity of the village.

After implementation, the workers should educate the villagers on how to use the the pipes. People do not know how to use something that’s really new in their presence until taught.

ISOM - WalMart Inventory

An inventory control system is a process for managing and locating objects or materials(wikipedia, 2011). With all the Just-In-Time talk and knowledge regarding better management and understanding of inventory. With its up-to-date inventory management system, walmart is able to develop an integrated system which EDI placed orders directly when stocks reached a certain level. In order to manage this, Wal-Mart utilize Oracle database where it meets Wal-Mart's needs and develop new technology which is being compatible with the radio frequency identification RFID to increase inventory efficiency(wal-mart database, 2011)

Wal-Mart was able to reduce unproductive inventory by allowing stores to manage their own stocks, reducing pack sizes across many product categories, and timely price markdowns

The order management and store replenishment of goods were entirely executed with the help of computers through the Point-of-Sales (POS) system

It also reduces turn around time in processing orders.

http://www.inventorymanagementreview.org/2006/04/walmart_increas.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventory_control_system
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/9517882/Wal-Mart-Database

ISOM - Websites Review

Websites	Pros	Cons
Groupsmore.com	· Friendly interface (able to navigate easily) · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing · Have their own blog for easy updating their news to users · Google map available for easy of the merchant place	· No videos to show users more about the place or product advertising
Jackcow.com	· Friendly interface (able to navigate easily) · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing	· Does not have google map for user to find merchant location · No videos to show
Milkadeal.com	· Terms and conditions are placed clearly · Google map is available	· Not so user friendly · Unable to navigate and find more deals
Superdeals.my	· Google map is available · Easy navigation · Integrated with facebook and twitter for easy sharing	· Not much deals displayed · No videos for more explanation

Ranking

1.Groupsmore.com

2.Jackcow.com

3.Superdeals.my

4.Milkadeal.com

Summary

These websites provide benefits for user to find rock bottom deals available in their city to purchase. It gives business a chance to advertise their products to attract customers as well as gain popularity. I would perfer groupsmore.com compared to others because it provides a user friendly interface. New users are able to navigate around their website easily because labels are displayed properly and easy to understand. With facebook as the current dominating social network, groupsmore.com has integrated with them for easy sharing and gathering crowds as well as spreading the website as well as advertised merchants. This is a good strategy to attract youngsters as they are willing to spend their money for stuff that has interest as well as good deals to them. When the company is able to control the youngster market they are able to gain profit easily. When browsing through groupsmore.com there is no difficulty in it because it is user friendly and we are able to connect to facebook for sharing of the items that interest them. I would recommend videos to be uploaded regarding the products being advertised to enable customers view more and know more about the product upclose and in a “live” perspective.

ISOM - 1st report on individual assignment

Part 1:

The organization I will be talking will be Speedy Videos. Currently established in Malaysia. Speedy will be the largest home-entertainment provider in Malaysia defeating all their competitors with 60 stores nationwide. It initially started as a brick and mortar company when the internet was not widely used by people of the country. Then they developed a website of their own for their customers to view their products as well as purchasing them online. With the website, they are able to obtain a different set of customers which means expanding their customer scope.

The area in the organization that I will be focusing will be the IT department.

The system which I will be focusing in the organization will be the company website. Through observation and comparison with other websites which is has similar customer to reach out to, I found that Speedy Video's website has a lot to improve in order to attract more customers and make it more interesting and informative.

Part 2:

The possible task that will be carried out in completing this assignment will be improving the website as well as figuring the appropriate contents which are suitable for the home country of it. The time taken will be 10 weeks.

I will conduct the research through observation, email interview, internet as well as any source that is available for my reach.

ISOM - Old Economy Digital Economy

The widespread applications of ICT by firms and their employees across many sectors of the economy, creating new ways of working and of shopping, will speed up transactions of all kinds and eliminate pockets of inefficiency throughout the economic system is the advantage of the digital economy. While the old economy requires the handling of cash physically which might cause mistakes paying or giving the change back to the buyer which causes lost to the company.

http://www.businesstoday.com.mt/2001/0131/focus.html

One of the benefits of the digital economy is that consumers are often able to obtain products at lower prices than their hard copy counterparts. For example, an electronic version of a new novel may be 25-50% less expensive than purchasing a hard copy version. In like manner, music lovers may purchase the latest releases from their favorite artists for less than the cost of purchasing a CD in a local physical music store, or even buying the hard copy CD online and having it delivered by post. Some sites participating in this digital economy setting even allow consumers to purchase individual tracks by their favorite artists. While the old economy requires the buyer to present himself infront of the store in order to purchase the product needed, which is causing trouble for people who has a tight schedule limiting them to go shopping. It also requires the buyer to pay more due to the amount of parties the product has went through.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-digital-economy.htm

The organization I would like to discuss on will be Apple Store. The organization is using the internet to conduct virtual business with netizens while having a physical store for customers that would like to view the product on hand. Through apple store, buying of products and getting support from the staff is available such as services to Apple products. Thus giving business opportunities back to Apple itself without leaking their business to other hands, increasing sales and hasten business process and getting the deal done quickly. The challenge for digital economy is securing the transactions being made. This arise due to the skills of hackers that can easily get account information and exploit them. Some people worries that this will harm their security and will result in lost if something bad happens.

http://store.apple.com/us