Need to analyse How Quirky used IT to develop a competitive advantage (both techniques and applications)
First, Identification and Discussion of Information Technology (IT) techniques and how it gave them competitive advantage. How it works and how the
information technology help business improve the process or something.
Second, applications implementations and how it gave them competitive advantage.
Please answer the questions separately by making the necessary references.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Globalisation and Technology and its Effects to the Success of a Company
Order Instructions:
Dear Admin,
Please read the instructor feedback, the project proposal and the project outline in the email then modify the project
all the files I sent them by email. Please I need a very high quality paper as I got F grade last time.
Thank you,
SAMPLE ANSWER
Introduction
The changes that have been realized in globalization and technology have many effects on the success of every company. This according to sources wholly depends upon the efficiencies in the planning of the process involved in all the activities of the organizations, having a team of motivated employees and efficient management of workers. Therefore, performance management is paramount to ensure that business activities are thriving, and employees are motivated to work towards achieving corporate sustainability. Employees and all stakeholders should work together in an effective and efficient manner to enable the company to meet its goals.
This can be achieved by aligning of performance measurement with human resource practices as well as the company’s strategic goals and objectives. A performance management system needs to be harmonized with organization Human Resource activities such as training, development, and reimbursement system for it to be efficient (Bhave & Brutus, 2011). This paper therefore seeks to underline the various approaches that can be employed by Wal-Mart with the aim of improving its competitive edge and efficiency over its competitors. The paper will also establish the essence of performance management for the company and the approaches that the company can employ in integrating an effective performance management approach into its initiatives.
WalMart Approach in Employing PM into its Operations
WalMart, an American company that is situated in New York, has more than 8000 branches in the US as well as the neighboring countries. It is a retailing international organization that deals with more than hundred million entrepreneurs each week with many employees all over the world. Nevertheless, its competitive policy has not been associated with its performance management systems. This also implies that its competitive plan is not linked with the Human Resource interior functions of the staff incentive compensation policies, training and development. In order to exploit its capability, Wel-Mart should develop its management strategies. It should make use of every chance that comes together with structured and proficient performance management systems.
Sources indicate that organizational strategy should be directly tied to performance management to help in achieving organization goals (Bhave & Brutus, S 2011). Performance measurement is imperative in enhancing the efficiency of strategic planning. Performance management offers vital data and controls for the human resource of Wal-Mart that enables the company to develop and implement strategic plans. Wal-Mart uses performance measurement as an instrument that assists to offer a sense of direction for the organization by directing on the distribution of capital based on the performance of different retail stores in various locations (Wal-Mart Stores, 2014). By properly allocating scarce resources appropriately in various Wal-Mart Stores, the company utilizes the limited resources to provide optimum services to customers and increase enterprise revenue.
The Importance of Performance Management to Wal-Mart
Performance measurement enables an organization to ascertain whether an organization meets the requirements of its customer (Jiang et al., 2012). Performance measurement allows Wal-Mart to assess and understand the customer’s tastes and preferences through evaluation of sales data, customer feedback obtained through customer complaints among other performance appraisal methods geared towards understanding the customer buying behavior. This information plays a significant role in letting the management know if the company is providing products that customers require (Hajmohammad et al., 2013).
Performance measurement also helps a management to identify areas that need improvement in the organization. Measuring performance from all spheres of the organization such as financial performance, employee performance, customer satisfaction and benchmarking against other organizations enables Wal-Mart to identify areas with weakness (Wolf, 2014). And develop plans that help in improving the organization standards.
Performance measurement also plays an important role helping Wal-Mart to converse and evaluate the progress of the company towards accomplishing its strategic objectives. Assessment of administrative performance through balanced scorecard and evaluation of staff by the human resource based on their job performance is necessary for Wal-Mart. In ascertaining that the company is working towards attaining it’s the strategic plan. Having a well prepared performance measurement plan helps in addressing the company and staff performance issues that are essential to develop an efficient and sustainable premeditated plan (Gruman & Saks, 2011).
Linking Performance Management with Human Resource Activities
Employees play an important role in ensuring that an organization achieves its strategic goals. Therefore, a well-motivated staff improves job performance enabling an organization to achieve the company’s goals and objectives resulting to corporate sustainability. Performance management is interconnected with human resource activities in various ways. Performance Management provides critical information for the Human resource to enable the department to plan activities such as the development of training systems, workforce planning, make recruitment and hiring decision as well as developing compensation and motivation schemes (Kehoe & Wright, 2013).
Performance management helps an organization to identify each and every employee strength and weakness. The Human resource department uses such information to develop efficient training programs to help improve employee skills and performance level. Human Resource of multinational companies such as Wal-Mart develops regular training schemes. These plans are tailored towards improving the employee’s knowledge base to help developing their skills and steer the organization towards achieving corporate goals.
Performance management is paramount for feeding the human resource department with important data for developing an efficient allocation plan for the workforce. It is the responsibility of the human resource department of Wal-Mart to allocate duties and responsibilities for all the employees. Data obtained from performance measurements such as performance review enable the human resource to make an important decision to allocate the employees where they are best suited to work.
Performance management provides critical performance appraisal data that enable human resource managers to develop effective compensation and motivation schemes. By and large, the goal of performance management is to achieve a fully engaged, productive and well-motivated workforce. Therefore, Performance management enables Wal-Mart Human Recourse managers to set performance expectation and evaluate the employees based on performance standards, organization goals. Wal-Mart can adopt competency models as a way of evaluating employee performance by articulating employee characteristics, skills, knowledge and other abilities that are imperative in helping the company attain its long-term strategic goals.
Thus, enable the organization to develop an efficient reward system that rewards employee performance rather than the outcome of employee actions. Human resource managers offer reward and recognition for good performance as a way of motivating employees to meet their targets and surpass them. The human resource requires developing fair and equitable reward systems based on the formal record of outstanding performance obtained through effective performance measurement systems.
In other organizations, some unmotivated and lazy employees receive performance quantity with a lot of doubts.. Such employees view performance management as an instrument used to divide and judge their performance negatively. On the contrary, some managers feel that performance management in a way brings division among the employees.
The relationship between performance management and strategic planning
The vision, the mission, and corporate values of Wal-Mart should be aligned with the organization strategic plan. On the same note, the performance management system should be developed and modeled in a way to reflect the corporate values of Wal-Mart. Strategic forecasting is basically a regimented effort geared to fabricate fundamental actions based on sound decisions that assists to provide direction to the organization. Consequently, performance measurement plays the significant role of improving individual performance to facilitate the overall perfection of staff. This propensity harmonizes strategic planning efforts to amplify the overall company efficacy.
Performance Management System in Wal-Mart is linked with strategic plans of the company to check that the organization’s strategic plan is adhered to at all levels of the organization (Wal-Mart Stores, 2014). Wal-Mart evaluates the managerial performance of the company’s branch managers through balanced scorecard and assesses all its employees based on their job performance. So as to ascertain if all the stakeholders of the company at all levels are working towards satisfying the customers in providing high-quality products and services all the time. Therefore, enable Wal-Mart to achieve organization strategic goals and business sustainability.
Performance management plays a central role in transforming policies into realistic plans. At Wal-Mart, directors build up overarching measurement scales to assist in tracking business activities through performance measurements (Hahn & Kuhn, 2012). Such measurement balances transform to the overall goals of the organization. Each department centers on particular performance measurement attribute to assist enhance departmental performance. For example, the marketing team at Wal-Mart is concerned more with sales made, suitable leads and translation rates at the section. The operation staff centers on assessing performance about delivery time, quality fulfillment and number of orders filled. On the other hand, the customer care department, measure performance based on customer satisfaction and feedback. These different performance measurement scales assist the organization in attaining the overall strategic goals by translating strategy into action.
Conclusion
Wel-Mart in its approach to achieving the requirements of performance management needs to blend the proponents of its employee’s goals and the components of performance management. The application of this method requires that the objectives and purposes of this company are designed in a manner that enhances the decision-making process for the development of employee relation.
This can be achieved through the use of the feedbacks gained from the PMS performed during transfers, promotions, pay increments and reductions and even terminations. Out of this, it is essential to determine that the performance management system needs to be harmonized with organization Human Resource activities such as training, development, and reimbursement system for it to be efficient. This apparently means that employees and all stakeholders should work together in an effective and efficient fashion to enable the company to meet its goals.
References
Bhave, DP., & Brutus, S 2011 A macro perspective to micro issues. Industrial and organizational psychology, 4(2): 165-168
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc 2014, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Marketline Company Profile, pp. 1-41, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 Jul. 2015
Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Han, K., Hong, Y., Kim, A., & Winkler, A. L. (2012). Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource management to employee performance. Human Resource Management Review, 22(2), 73-85.
Aswathappa, K. (2013). Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Hajmohammad, S., Vachon, S., Klassen, R. D., & Gavronski, I. (2013). Lean management and supply management: their role in green practices and performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 39, 312-320.
Wolf, J. (2014). The relationship between sustainable supply chain management, stakeholder pressure and corporate sustainability performance.Journal of business ethics, 119(3), 317-328.
Gruman, J. A., & Saks, A. M. (2011). Performance management and employee engagement. Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), 123-136.
Hahn, G. J., & Kuhn, H. (2012). Value-based performance and risk management in supply chains: A robust optimization approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 139(1), 135-144.
Kehoe, R. R., & Wright, P. M. (2013). The impact of high-performance human resource practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of Management, 39(2), 366-391.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
How to lay out your final Project – details.
• List of Contents
• 1.1 Introduction. Sets the scene, what is the subject area you are researching into? (c1/2 page)
Answer: EVOLUTION of Online banking.
• 1.2 Problem Statement. The key area of your research. Why are you looking at it? Is there an issue, problem, etc. (c1/2 page)
Answer: The area of focus is Security and privacy.
• 1.3 Background Survey – your Literature Review. This underpins your Project. What have others’ written about the subject. Do not just add a list. Use
books, academic journals, trade journals, newspapers + summary of Lit. Review. Use Harvard method & be objective. (c3/4 or 1 page)
1.4 Proposed Approach, (Aims and objectives, Rational of the Research Questions,Research Methodology, Thoughts Process.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Assignment 1: Starting a Business Online, Part 1
Due Week 4 and worth 200 points
Imagine that you own a small, local clothing store along the Jersey Shore boardwalk and decide that you want to engage in e-Commerce.
Write a 4-5 page paper on the following:
1. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of taking your small business online by performing a SWOT analysis. Include 2-4 items in each category.
2. Because the Internet connects computers all over the world, any business that engages in e-Commerce instantly becomes an international business. The key issues that any company faces when it conducts international commerce include trust, culture, language, government, and infrastructure. Explain how you would address each of these issues.
3. Businesses that operate on the Web must comply with the same laws and regulations that govern the operations of all businesses, but they face 2 additional complicating factors as they try to comply with the law. First, the Web extends a company’s reach beyond traditional boundaries. Second, the Web increases the speed and efficiency of business communications. Explain how you would overcome these complicating factors that come with e-Commerce in order to comply with the law.
4. Law enforcement agencies have difficulty combating many types of online crime. Describe 2 online crimes prevalent in e-Commerce and what you would do to prevent these crimes.
Your assignment must:
• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
• Identify the basic elements of the technology infrastructure used to conduct electronic business.
• Explain the basic communications and network concepts used in electronic commerce and the basic functioning of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
• Describe the critical legal and ethical issues related to electronic commerce.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in fundamentals of e-business.
• Write clearly and concisely about fundamentals of e-business using proper writing mechanics. SAMPLE ANSWER
Starting a business online
In this current age of technology, the internet has become a fundamental tool in advertising and marketing business. Every business, small or large ones, benefit in the same way from the internet through e-commerce. E-commerce is defined as the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to conduct some business activities (Barnes et al., 2013). The definition of e-commerce may differ according to the nature of the enterprise.
The Internet is an interconnection of computer networks. It is one of the core virtual infrastructures on which the framework of E-commerce is built on. The other infrastructure is the World Wide Web. The World Wide Web; conventionally known as WWW, is a model on which the Internet is built on. The World Wide Web primary function is to provide access to resources over the internet (Cavusgil et al., 2013).
Small business, like a local retail clothing store, are the ideal businesses that need the aid of e-commerce to scale up its business activities. In essence, a local clothing store stands to gain an advantage over its competitors of the same nature when it embraces the idea of e-commerce. Although, e-business models vary according to the nature of the business. The type model of e-commerce that the local online store will use is between the business and consumer.
The local store will have an online retail store. This online retail store will be in the form of a website. The website must be well structured, the search engine that is optimized and appropriately customized to fit the size of the business it holds. For optimum utilization of the resources and usefulness provided by the Internet, the information found on the website should be reliable, relevant and simple. A small online retail store site does not need to have a website that depicts information that is of no essence in the business being conducted at the shop. It should be kept strictly business oriented.
SWOT Analysis.
The main advantages of adopting an e-commerce method of conducting business are quite many. The local store will join the global business markets. The company will expand and enter international markets. The wider the market, the larger the customer base. Other than that, it is easier to handle small businesses in an e-commerce model. The size of the company dictates the number of transactions that the person running the company will have to manage. This little number of operations owing to the size of the enterprise takes fewer resources to handle electronic transactions over the e-commerce platform (Turban et al., 2015).
The local clothing store can easily offer customer service. Seeing that the number of products provided by a small business is small. Then it is easier to attend to the needs of their clients.
The cost of marketing was so high for small business. But, the advent of the internet saw a solution to this problem. It is now easier to market a little business using the internet, thus saving the company a significant amount of money that would have been utilized in the traditional marketing.
Another reward for small businesses adopting the e-commerce model is reduced cost of outsourcing. Smaller business can use technology to their advantage by contracting another company to perform services for them. This will ensure that small businesses keep up with larger companies, but at a cheaper cost than their counterparts (Barnes et al., 2013).
The fact that a local clothing store is categorized as a small business, the influence of shareholders in companies is withdrawn. The owner of the local clothing store, therefore, does not need to worry about the opinions of shareholders when making crucial business decisions because the shareholders are absent.
The e-commerce platform in the form of a website makes it easy for interested parties to view business information. Moreover, a website for a small business is easy to maintain since updates can be done easily as opposed to large websites designed for larger businesses.
Focusing on the website for the local clothing store, it is quite affordable to get a well-designed site. After the site is created, all that is needed is a domain name and a host. A domain name can be obtained while the website can be hosted by one of the many available and reliable web hosting companies that charge web-hosting annually at an affordable price. Therefore, the cost of e-commerce is quite low compared to the significant returns that this platform is going to yield. Therefore, it makes investing in an online clothing store quite affordable for a small business (Huang et al., 2013).
The Internet also provides a way for the company to gauge their productivity. This is possible through the statistics that one can get from having a website. The amount of traffic on the web will show the number of people visiting the site. Thus, you can gauge the size of the market the business is operating in. Also, you can tell the type of customers visiting your site. This information will be useful developing the company to reach a wider customer base and increase its diversity of clients. It also provides a chance for the company owner to learn from the client’s feedback and provide customer care in an excellent manner (Andam et al., 2014).
Everything that is positive must also have a negative side to it. Therefore, there are a few downsides to e-commerce. One of the weaknesses is the reliability of information about the business that is on the website. If that information is not updated on a regular basis then, the site will end up providing outdated information that will be unreliable to the needs of the business.
Technology also has hitches. These hitches include a power blackout that may render communication over the internet to be impossible. Therefore, the website needs to be hosted by a good web hosting company that will provide unrestricted access to the website at any time. If the web hosting company is not a good one, you will find that the website is always crashing. This may lead the website’s position on the search engine ranking to go down due to an unreliable connection.
Owing to the high number of the business on the web, it is quite an uphill task for a small business to reach the right customers or audience. This is attributed to the fact that some websites have better search engine optimization techniques than others. This puts some business at a disadvantage. Thus, there is a need to use search engine essentials to the best of your advantage. This will ensure that the percentage of the audience or traffic you receive on the web relates positively to the business (Longenecker et al., 2013).
The issue of bad publicity weighs significantly on the significance of an e-commerce platform about the sales made by the enterprise. At a particular time, you may find that a customer is not satisfied with the service or products that your company offers. This may drive the customer to air bad comments about your business as a way of expressing their frustration. The bad publicity may influence other customers. This may lead to the enterprise taking an adverse turn for the worst.
As we all know that image is a crucial thing to protect in the business industry. The Image of a business is everything. Therefore, this issue needs to be dealt with as soon as it comes up. An excellent way to do this is to provide excellent customer care and use feedback from the client to improve the quality of the products and services that a business offers.
The internet has a lot of potential regarding business matters. The internet has made the world be a global village. This means that communication has become faster and cheaper. Considering that communication is a vital organ for running a small business that has a high potential for expansion. More communication will enable the company to reach even the furthest customers in the world. This shows that there are opportunities for business exposure and increased sales that need to be utilized by small businesses.
Security issues are very crucial to a business that is still growing. To sustain the gradual growth over an e-commerce platform, a company needs to assure customers of security. Secure financial transactions, in this case, electronic transactions are a god way to win over the customer’s trust. Cyber theft and other criminal activities that happen over the internet lead to significant losses to business owner. Therefore, this threat needs to be dealt with following the laws that govern cyber activities.
In conclusion, the internet is a very useful tool. It can be used for some activities. The activities may be helpful to small businesses that join the e-commerce platform recently. It will be a big boost to the customer base and sales made by the enterprise. It is quite clear that the advantages of starting a small business online outweigh the disadvantages. The high potential for advertising, business exposure, and increased sales is good enough for a small business to grow with time.
References
Andam, Z. R. (2014). e-Commerce and e-Business.
Barnes, S., & Hunt, B. (Eds.). (2013). E-commerce and v-business. Routledge.
Cavusgil, S. T., Knight, G., Riesenberger, J. R., Rammal, H. G., & Rose, E. L. (2014). International business. Pearson Australia.
Huang, Z., & Benyoucef, M. (2013). From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(4), 246-259.
Longenecker, J., Petty, J., Palich, L., & Hoy, F. (2013). Small business management. Cengage Learning.
Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J. K., Liang, T. P., & Turban, D. C. (2015). Electronic commerce: A managerial and social networks perspective. Springer.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Where to get rich information about Data Center Management
Memorandum;Where to get rich information about Data Center Management
Order Instructions:
Could you help me to create a memo about Installing WAN. I will upload the requirement and background of it. Thank you so much.
The Requirements
From: Anita Lotta-Help
Date: Module Four
Re: Where can I learn more about Data Center Management?
I need your help. I have to bone up on the current issues with managing medium to large data centers before my meeting with the CIO in two weeks. I know about several blogs that cover these topics, but the blogs are hit or miss. I’ve read the Wikipedia pages, but what I am in need of are some key industry white papers on these subjects. I don’t need basics, but what are the current trends and issues?
Could you guide me to these things?
First, I have time to read about 4-5 papers around the topic. What are the key papers (using either these or other keywords) that I should read?
Second, I’d like to know where to go to find the richest repositories of media and industry whitepapers (or academic papers if you can find them) about these—and related—subjects? Can you provide me with the best sites (at least 3, along with a short description of each) you know about?
Could you get something to me by the end of the workday in two weeks? I am looking for two pages at the very most—in annotated list form this time. Thanks.
(Annotated list form: Lists the article title, it’s URL, and a summary of what I’ll learn if I read the article, including its strengths and weaknesses). It is okay to use sites that require registration, or are on the DePaul library site (like Gartner). Stay away from books, too old. Also, all articles should be less than two years old. Please draw from more than 2 sources (so if you use Gartner for one, you must find other sources for your remaining articles)
The background
Times-R-Us (TRU) is a growing brick and mortar retailer with just over 200 US stores specializing in seasonal items. TRU stocks its stores from January to mid-February with Valentines gifts; from March to May with Easter and Mother’s Day gifts, from June into the summer with Fathers Day gifts and backyard leisure items; in August with back to school items; in October with Halloween costumes; and from November to December with Christmas gifts. By turning over inventory, its small retail stores are always in busy season—with very brief discount sales following each season. TRU currently does not have a significant online sales presence, although it uses the web for customer support.
TRU’s corporate offices are in Hoffman Estates, IL. It has nine regional offices and distribution centers in: Syracuse NY, Greensboro NC, Pensacola FL, Grove City, OH, Bennett, CO, Denton, TX, Portland OR, San Luis Obispo CA, and Hoffman Estates. The company grossed $475 million in sales last year and netted a $40 million dollar profit. It is growing at a rate of about five percent a year and opening about 10 new stores each year.
Payne Indaneck, the CIO, works from the corporate office. Each regional IT staff is run by a Technical Director. So there are eight IT centers with the Hoffman Estates operation doing corporate support as well as regional operations. Anita Lotta-Help is the Technical Director in Hoffman Estates. You work for Anita.
The IT centers are connected by using AT&T as the service provider (currently leased line T1 from Corporate into the Regionals and SDSL from Regionals into the stores. HQ also has an Internet connection and a separate connection for their web server (also with AT&T, both T1 speeds). AT&T also provides the voice links. The Regionals and stores do not have Internet connectivity except through HQ. TRU also uses RackSpace for offline archival storage. Each of the 200 stores is able to tie into the RackSpace service (through HQ) for reporting. The stores are running a POS (point of sale) system, storing daily sales data at a local server (rather than at each register). Each night the sales data is transferred to the region, which aggregates the data and sends it to HQ. Hoffman Estates is running an open source ERP system called OpenBravo, which may or may not scale as the company grows. Right now OpenBravo is housed primarily rk-v1.0
in Hoffman Estates and inventory data is distributed out to the data centers and retail stores and sales data is uploaded to HQ once per day via the leased lines. TRU makes use of a third party credit card processor and so no customer data is collected or stored on TRU servers (this traffic goes through HQ to an internet based location via VPN-type appliance at each store). We can get customer data from the processor (for recalls and marketing if necessary).
In addition, TRU manages its internal email using an MS-Exchange product hosted in Hoffman Estates, and has rolled out MS-Office w/MS-SharePoint as its officing solution and collaboration support. MS-Exchange and the TRU website are hosted on four load-balanced in-house servers in the corporate data center (so all email traffic traverses the WAN to/from HQ and the internet). OpenBravo runs on two 8 core application servers with mirrored onsite backup. There are fifteen IT staff people in the corporate office (development, OpenBravo maintenance, computer operations, and staff tech support) and an average of five in each regional office (the number due largely to travel demands among regional staff to visit retail stores for repair, maintenance, and upgrade of hardware, and software.) Total staff at Hoffman Estates is about 175 (including IT).
HQ is a 6 story building of which TRU currently occupies the top 4 floors (about 50 people per floor, with total space per floor of about 7500 sqft [100x 75] and a small data center on the first floor). We own the building so there is room to expand if necessary. The current horizontal cabling (10mbps, star wired using hubs) was in place when we bought the building several years ago. The networking equipment in the TCs is 6 years old (end of life). Current backbone cabling is 100 mbps capable and uses L3 switches at the core. Most people work in “open office” cubicles but there are offices or conference rooms in the four corners of the building. All desktops, laptops, and printers are less than 3 years old (and are generally on a 3-5 year replacement cycle). Sixty percent of HQ staff use only laptops. The data center network on the first floor is undergoing an upgrade to a modern configuration (consider the data center core, distribution and access layers to be current).
You have just finished your degree at DePaul University and have been hired onto Lotta-Help’s staff as an executive assistant to analyze, evaluate, and execute plans for developing a cloud- based IT in a way that will support growth of the company toward doubling its current size over the next ten years.
What follows are a series of memos from the Technical Director to you. She likes to receive back two page memos that clearly and concisely lay out issues for her. Anita doesn’t like being told basics she already knows (assume she took IS 324); and doesn’t like to read a lot of extra fluff. But she does want meaty information. She encourages (read that requires) the staff to provide background sources and citations (more than two) so she knows where to turn to dig deeper. Oh, and one of Anita’s mottos is: “I can read Wikipedia myself! Tell me something I
don’t know.” (in other words DON’T use Wikipedia as one of your cited sources) Also, she is looking for YOUR thoughts so lots of quotations won’t cut it (keep it to less than 15% of your memo if possible).
When she issues a research memo, she expects a clean, clear, and complete response within the given time frame (check the schedule), by end of business day (5:00pm) but you should be ready to discuss the material the in our “regular meeting” [in class].
SAMPLE ANSWER
MEMORANDUM
To:
Cc:
Name:
Date:
Subject: Where to get rich information about Data Center Management
Configuring a WAN and managing a Data Center require rich information and good sources that one can obtain information. On the same note, requires step by step guide to help in installation of AT&T, internet connection, server configuration and Point of sale system to ensure that business is running well. I have prepared a list of credible and reliable sources that can provide the required training, insights and valuable tips for Data Center Management, and a well-prepared troubleshooting guide.
This site provides guides and instructions about how to configure a Wide Area Network with multiple wan connections (Spiceworks, 2013). The site also has discussion forums where you can paste your questions and discuss with other technology experts.
This website provides a simplified guide to data center management. The site also features different “how to’s” to help you learn how to do different IT related stuff. This site is ideal to learn concepts relating to data center management. The site also has a lot of discussions relating to data center management and setting up of servers.
Certified Data Center Management CNet Training.com
This company hosts some of the best IT guru’s who are well informed about Data Center Management. The site provides certifications for Data Center Management Professionals (CNet Training, n.d.). They also offer expert advice and live charts once you have registered with them.
Therefore, before upgrading the systems, the technicians can obtain information from the above-discussed sites. The sites contain a lot of information about Data Center Management and how to configure WAN. These sites update its members through email services. It provides current information about Information technology, data security, computer configurations and networking among others.
Energy efficient computing, distributed mobile trusted computing & clouds, crowd sourcing and computing
Order Instructions:
your project should have an abstract, an introduction, a body of paper (literature review , previous work done bi others, technical and economical analysis, application and services, etc….) and your own contribution and engineering/technical opinion with a conclusion and of course a list of your references numbered as they are used in your write up. I use software to check the originality of your work. you will get zero if you just cut and paste form other sources. It is okay to use all types of resources (magazine, journals, internet, books, articles…) with proper citation
Topic: Energy efficient computing, distributed mobile trusted computing & clouds, crowd sourcing and computing
SAMPLE ANSWER
Energy efficient computing
Abstract
Efficient energy computing also known as green computing initiates the maximization and use of computing reserves with the aim of lessening the consumption of energy among other scarce resources. With the proliferation of an increasing powerful mobile devices, applications have been developed that can enable a user to collaborate through a mobile cloud with the aim of providing pervasive services such as; computing, data collection, and processing through efficient energy systems (Cătinean, & Cândea, 2013). Mobile users also have the advantage of taking over the outsourced tasks through the mobile cloud and crowd outsourcing that emerges as a service paradigm. By leveraging the capacity of a mobile device that integrates the intelligence of human beings and machine computation, the mobile crowd gives the ability to revolutionize the approaches involved in the processing and collection of data.
Introduction
The genesis of the mobile devices and mobile computing has turned out to be an irresistible trend in the IT technology sector. With this, it is significant to mention that the mobile devices face some challenges and limitations including; memory, energy, and computation. In order to overcome these constraints, the mobile cloud computing approaches have proved to be the solution in enabling the mobile device users consumes a varied cloud resource through a wireless network (Cătinean, & Cândea, 2013).
This clouding computing method can, therefore, improve the computational ability through an energy efficient mobile device by offloading the computational tasks into the cloud services (Cătinean, & Cândea, 2013). The current and new-fashioned mobile devices have been embedded with versatile sensors that provide a novel paradigm with the capacity to collect a wider array of data about the society, the environment, and other important aspects. The intent of this exposition is to analyze the elements of an energy efficient computing, distributed mobile trusted computing and clouds, crowd sourcing and computing through a review of the literature.
Energy Efficient Computing, Distributed Mobile Trusted Computing & Clouds, Crowd Sourcing and Computing
Through the empowered efforts and capabilities, mobile devices have shifted today from just the ordinary service providers that offer and make communication easier into a new service model that incorporates the elements of mobile cloud computing (Qi, Jianxin, & Yufei, 2014). The emergence of this technology and service model has led to the connection of mobile devices with each other through wireless networks, a factor that has resulted in the formation of a powerful mobile cloud that provides a persuasive approach to data collection, processing and computing through efficient energy consumption. It is important to mention that the evolution of the mobile cloud has given the mobile crowd sourcing a feasible solution for solving problems on a large scale. The literature review segment provides an overview into how these elements function.
Literature Review
The mobile crowd sourcing is a commercial electronic service in which the mobile users within a mobile cloud can sell their services and resources for service consumers (Qi, et. al). Through an outstanding task of the mobile cloud, a cost, and energy efficient pervasive cloud service is possible to attain through the use of massive numbers of mobile users working together in a distributive manner. The central idea behind a mobile crowd sourcing structure includes the involvement of a variety of applications that are differently utilized in a business model.
For instance, the author of this material gives an analogy of an Open Street Map that depicts a crowded map of the world that was developed by worldwide mobile users through the use of their knowledge, some donated sources and a GPS trajectory (Qi, et. al). The development of this application clearly indicates the fact that this mobile crowd sourcing has the capacity to revolutionize the traditional data collection and processing methods. I as much as the computing paradigm seems promising and poses a tremendous advantage, the mobile crowding sourcing is in its infancy stages since it is facing numerous challenges.
This approach is varied from the traditional cloud computing method that only relies on the internet connection since through the crowd sourcing; it is able to access a pervasive cloud service for both the local and online terminals (Qi, et. al). According to the author of this material, the main difference between the two mobile crowd sourcing approaches is the fact that all these models gives an interconnected mobile user the potential to be a service provider through an internet-based mobile crowd sourcing, while the other approach only allows mobile users within a specified vicinity to provide cloud services through a local-based mobile crowd sourcing service. In order to achieve the end-results of these elements, there are essential components of cellular crowd sourcing;
Service Consumers;
The service consumers, in this case, refers to the local and online users who from time to time require cloud services through a mobile crowd sourcing system and who utilize the cloud services by sourcing out tasks to mobile users.
Mobile Users;
Mobile users with the enablement of their mobile devices can perform a mobile cloud by providing cloud services to the online service consumers through a cellular Wi-Fi network or to the local consumers through a process where communication is made to the local servers by using Bluetooth and NFC techniques (Qi, et. al). In the event that a mobile user engages in an outsourced task that incorporates the local computing mobile cloud approach to executing the tasks required.
Centralized Servers;
A centralized server remains a mobile crowd sourcing avenue for the internet-based service consumers in which the crowd sourcing information is stored such as historical service records, users, and profiles that are used for service evaluation and task outsourcing (Qi, et. al). Centralized servers have the ability to provide a trusted service for task publishing in which tasks are allocated, reported, collected, and the feedback processing for the internet-connected mobile users and consumers.
Local Servers;
The local servers have the capacity to provide a local crowd sourcing service that involves an outsourced task broadcasting the result in a task result aggregation for the service ad mobile consumers within particular vicinity (Qi, et. al). The local servers are in many cases equipped with a dedicated mobile gateway that is tasked with the dissemination of functions and information to the neighboring mobile users and, in the long run, collects user results. However, a local server can only be deployed for commercial reasons and remains not trusted by the mobile users.
Previous Work Done By Others
Over a period now, many mobile devices have turned out to be the sensor and information hubs in our day to day activities. Through the integration of mobile computing and crowd sourcing approach, many applications have today emerged that have achieved efficiency in energy, cost-effective data computation, collection, and the processing services (Qi, et. al). The mobile crowd computing model is used to supply data computations and tasks to mobile consumers who can locally execute a task and offload them to a cloud server based on an individual data and computation resource.
The author states that human interventions have also played a significant role in mobile crowd computing since their intelligence has helped in the handling of tasks that are only suitable for human evaluation that the computation of a machine. These functions include image annotation, sentimental analysis, and entity resolution (Qi, et. al). An instance of this is given of Honeybee, which is a local-based mobile crowd computing application that enables users to detect their faces through a photographic task and can be carried out through a mobile device. The mobile users are required to use their devices to run face detection algorithms through photos blended with an individual’s evaluation.
Technical and Economical Analysis
It is significant to mention that the technicality of these IT technologies remains the primary challenge of security as one of the major concerns for the cloud service consumers, while at the back of everything, a mobile crowd sourcing is meant to originate from an assumption and perception that users should honestly provide accurate results. This, therefore, remains a significant challenge to the users since some malicious mobile users have developed mechanisms of misbehaving to undermine the crowd sourcing.
These malicious users have the capacity to fabricate computations or maliciously suspending an ongoing process. It is, however, crucial to realize that there are several approaches that are being tried with the aim of mitigating the impacts of malice in the task reports and to identify the irrational users (Shiraz, & Gani, 2014). Recently, a robust trajectory estimation approach geared towards alleviating the negative influences of malice in a crowd sourced user trajectory to identify fraudulent users. In relation to the economics of these technologies it is important that responsibility is directed towards the environment, a factor that is emerging for corporate IT entities. With the increasing pressure on efficient energy because of its conservative nature, there are emerging technologies geared towards regulating the consumption
Application and Services
The crowd sourcing approach has assisted in big data application. According to my opinion, there are contributions that can be engineered to enhance the mobile trusted computing & clouds, crowd sourcing and computing technologies. This includes an approach that will help this technology by integrating the mobile crowd sourcing with the big data analytics (Shiraz, & Gani, 2014). This application can be beneficial since it would enable Smartphone user’s book their train seats in advance based upon the mobility pattern model and the contributions of a mobile data user.
It is however important to note that jelling the mobile crowd sourcing model and the big data analytic can be challenging since the methods of data collection may prove and turn out to be huge on a mobile device, a factor that constrains the data velocity, and volume. Privacy should also be a measure to include in the development of these systems.
Conclusion
The advent of an increasing powerful mobile devices applications have been developed that can enable a user to collaborate through a mobile cloud with the aim of providing pervasive services such as; computing, data collection, and processing through an energy efficient system (Shiraz, & Gani, 2014). These systems have made it easier for users to use the clouding computing methods to, therefore, improve the computational ability through energy efficient mobile devices. The evolution of these technologies has therefore seen several inventions that have impacted the society today.
References
Cătinean, I., & Cândea, D. (2013). Characteristics of the Cloud Computing Model as a Disruptive Innovation. Review of International Comparative Management / Revista De Management Comparat International, 14(5), 783-803.
Qi, Q., Jianxin, L., & Yufei, C. (2014). Cloud service-aware location update in mobile cloud computing. IET Communications, 8(8), 1417-1424.
The example used in class was a company merger between a large corporate building in Chicago and a large corporate building in San Diego. By describing the path from one user in Chicago, how does a packet make it to San Diego using IPSec?
The Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) provides Layer three security (RFC 2401). It is a collection of algorithms, services, and protocols that are utilized in securing IP data at the network layer. It provides a complete security solution for an IP network. The services and protocols of the IPSec combine to offer different kinds of protection. Given that the IPSec works at the IP layer, it is able to offer these protections for higher-layer TCP/IP applications or protocols with no need for extra security methods (Somesh, 2011). The protection services that the IPSec offers are as follows: it authenticates the integrity of a message so that the message is not altered en route; it encrypts user data to ensure privacy; and it protects against some kinds of security attacks for instance replay attacks. Other kinds of protection services are: the capability of devices to negotiate the security keys and algorithms that are needed to satisfy their security needs; and 2 security modes – transport and tunnel – to satisfy the various network needs (Somesh, 2011). IPSec combines various constituents: internet key exchange (IKE), authentication headers (AH), security associations (SA), and encapsulating security payload (ESP).
2.0 IPSec Standards
Given that IPSec is in fact a set of protocols and techniques, it is not described in just one internet standard. The services, architecture, as well specific protocols that are utilized in IPSec are defined by a set of Request for Comments (RFCs). There are a number of Internet Protocol Security Standards as illustrated in the table below:
RFC Number
Name
Description
1
RFC 2402
IP Authentication Header (AH)
This defines the IPSec AH protocol utilized for ensuring origin verification and integrity of data
2
RFC 2401
Security Architecture for IP
This is the key Internet Protocol Security document. It describes the architecture as well as the operation of the technology. It also illustrates how various parts fit together (Kozierok, 2012).
3
RFC 2403
The use of HMAC-MD5-96 in AH and ESP
Defines a certain encryption algorithm for use by the ESP and AH protocols known as Message Digest 5 or MD5, HMAC variant.
4
RFC 2406
IP ESP
Defines the IPSec Encapsulating Security Payload protocol that provides encryption of data for confidentiality (Somesh, 2011)
5
RFC 2404
The use of HMAC-SHA-1-96 in AH and ESP
Defines a certain encryption algorithm for use by ESP and AH known as Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1), HMAC variant
6
RFC 2409
The IKE
Defines the Internet Key Exchange protocol which is utilized in negotiating security associations and exchanging keys between different devices for secure communications.
7
RFC 2408
Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP)
Describes the techniques used to exchange keys and negotiate security associations
8
RFC 2412
The OAKLEY Key Determination Protocol
Defines a generic protocol for key exchange (Kozierok, 2012)
The IPSec technology is mostly used to implement virtual private networks (VPNs)
3.0 IPSec Architecture
3.1 IPSec Authentication Header (AH)
This offers authentication services for Internet Protocol Security. AH enables the recipient of a message to confirm that the hypothetical originator of the message was in fact the one who sent that message. Moreover, the AH enables the recipient of a message to confirm that intermediate devices have not altered any of the data within the datagram. In addition, it offers protection against reply attacks, a situation in which an authorized user captures a message and then resends it (Somesh, 2011).
3.2 Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE)
ESP encrypts the payload of the Internet Protocol datagram. It encrypts the data and secures it against eavesdropping during transit (Knight, 2010). IKE is a protocol negotiation as well as key exchange protocol, which enables the communicating parties to negotiate the techniques of secure communication. The IPSec offers security in 3 situations: gateway-to-gateway; host-to-gateway; and host-to-host. The IPSec operates in 2 modes: tunnel mode for virtual private network (VPN), and transport mode for end-to-end (Knight, 2010).
4.0 IPSec authentication using IPv4 versus IPv6
4.1 IPv6
In IPv6, the Authentication Header protects nearly all of the IPv6 base header, the authentication header itself, the IP payload, as well as the non-mutable extension headers after the authentication header (Dominik & Yvette, 2011). Protection for the IPv6 header does not include the mutable fields.
4.2 IPv4
In an IPv4 datagram, Knight (2010) stated that the Protocol field shows the identity of the UDP or TCP that is carried in the datagram. This field therefore points to the next header at the front of the IP payload. In IPv4 the Authentication Header protects the IP payload as well as every header field of an IP datagram with the exception of mutable field – those which may be in transit –, and the IP options like the IP Security Option RFC 1108 (Knight, 2010).
5.0 IPSec tunneling
5.1 IPSec Tunnel Mode
IPSec could be configured to operate in either the Transport mode or the Tunnel mode; Tunnel mode is the default mode. When the IPSec is configured to operate in the Tunnel mode, the whole IP packet will be protected by IPSec; the IPSec will wrap the original packet, encrypt that packet, add a new IP header, and then send it to the other side of the Virtual Private Network tunnel (Dominik & Yvette, 2011). It is notable that Tunnel Mode is mainly utilized between gateways – ASA firewalls or Cisco routers. It is also commonly utilized at an end-station to a gateway; the gateway will act as a proxy for the hosts behind it. Tunnel mode is used in encrypting traffic between secure IPSec Gateways, for instance 2 Cisco routers that are connected over the internet through IPSec Virtual Private Network (Dominik & Yvette, 2011).
An IPSec tunnel between an IPSec Gateway and a Cisco VPN Client is an example of tunnel mode. The client will connect to the IPSec Gateway. Traffic from client is encrypted, encapsulated within a new IP packet and is then transmitted to the other end. Once a firewall appliance decrypts it, the original IP packet of the client is sent to the local network. An IPSec header – ESP header or AH header – in the tunnel mode is inserted between the upper layer protocol and the IP header. Between ESP and AH, ESP is most widely utilized in IPSec virtual private network configuration (Somesh, 2011).The figure below shows IPSec Tunnel mode with an ESP header:
The figure below shows IPSec Tunnel mode with an AH header:
When IPSec is in the tunnel mode, the AH could be applied together with the ESP or it could be applied alone. The function of the AH is to protect the whole packet (Hoffman, 2011). It is notable that the AH does not protect each field in the New IP Header since some change while in transit, and the sender is not able to envisage the way they may change. In essence, the AH will protect everything that does not change while in transit (Hoffman, 2011).
5.2 IPSec Network topology: Packet from Chicago to San Diego
Path of the packet from Chicago to San Diego
The IPSec network topology above illustrates how a packet moves from Site A in Chicago to Site B in San Diego. VPN is a secure and inexpensive technique for site-to-site connectivity such as the one illustrated above (Hoffman, 2011). Each site runs VPN servers. With IPSec Virtual Private Networks, offices in the two different locations can be connected together over the internet with the strong encryption as well as security that the IPSec protocol offers. In this topology, IPSec offers secure communication in the path through which the packet moves through from the sender in Chicago to the destination in San Diego.
5.3 Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) over IPSec
L2TP is basically an industry-standard internet tunneling protocol which offers encapsulation for the sending of Point-to-Point (PPP) frames through packet-oriented media. Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol enables IP traffic to be encrypted before being sent via any medium which supports PPP datagram delivery, for instance IP (Hoffman, 2011). The Microsoft implementation of the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol makes use of IPSec encryption in protecting data stream from the Virtual Private Network client to the VPN server.
Tunneling, as Knight (2010) pointed out, is the whole process of encapsulation, routing, as well as decapsulation. The tunneling process encapsulates or wraps the original packet within a new packet, which may have new routing and addressing information that allows it to move through a network. When data confidentiality is combined with tunneling, then the original packet data in addition to the original source and destination, is not made known to those who listen to traffic on the network (Hoffman, 2011). The encapsulation is removed the moment the encapsulated packet gets to its destination, and the original packet header is utilized in routing the packet to its last destination, which in this case is San Diego. It is notable that the tunnel is the logical data path wherein the packets that have been encapsulated travel through. To the original source as well as destination peer, this particular tunnel is transparent and it appears similar to another PPP connection within the network path. The peers are not aware of any routers, proxy servers, switches, or other security gateways between the starting point and the endpoint of the tunnel (Hoffman, 2011). Tunneling can be utilized in providing a Virtual Private Network when it is combined with confidentiality.
In the figure shown above, the packets that have been encapsulated travel through the network within the IPSec encrypted tunnel. The internet is the network. The gateway is an edge gateway which stands between the private network and the outside network. Carmouche (2009) pointed out that the edge gateways could normally be a proxy server, a firewall, a router, or any other security gateway. Moreover, two gateways could be utilized within the private network for the purpose of protecting traffic across untrusted sections of the network. Whenever the IPSec is utilized in tunnel mode, Carmouche (2009) stated that the IPSec itself offers encapsulation only for the IP traffic. IPSec tunnel mode is utilized mainly for interoperability with other gateways, routers, or end systems which do not support Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol over IPSec (Carmouche, 2009).
6.0 References
Carmouche, J. H. (2009). Basic IPSec VPN Topologies and Configurations. Columbus, OH: CRC Press.
Dominik, S., & Yvette E., G. (2011). Securing IP Multimedia Subsystem with the appropriate Security Gateway and IPSec Tunneling. 보안공학연구논문지, (3), 385.
Hoffman, P. (2011). Cryptographic Suites for IPSec. Crescent City, CA: Penguin Publishers.
Knight, P. (2010). Dynamic Routing Inside IPSec VPNs. Nortel Networks.
The subject of the research paper is “• Stuxnet virus “. This is a research paper for a Cyber Security course.
Here is the instructions:
“After you have performed your research, use your sources to analyze the major characteristics of the cyber security incident. Your analysis must include:
• identifying the type of breach
• identifying and explaining how the breach occurred (or suspicions by authorities as to how it may have occurred)
• identifying and discussing known or suspected losses of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for information and/or information systems
• identifying and discussing technological improvements that would help prevent recurrence
Grading Rubric
Organization and presentation of content: 40%
Analysis and critical thinking: 20%
Selection (appropriateness) and citing of sources: 20%
Professionalism (writing style and grammar/spelling/punctuation): 20%”
After you have performed your research, use your sources to analyze the major characteristics of the cyber security incident. Your analysis must include:
• identifying the type of breach
• identifying and explaining how the breach occurred (or suspicions by authorities as to how it may have occurred)
• identifying and discussing known or suspected losses of confidentiality, integrity, and availability for information and/or information systems
• identifying and discussing technological improvements that would help prevent recurrence
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
The key to the research assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the topics, not to re-word the text or reference material. Constant site reference is a no go.Use these sites if possible
Use at least three (3) quality references Note: Wikipedia and other related websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
We can write this or a similar paper for you! Simply fill the order form!
Global Organization Technology for Business Process Order Instructions: How critical is technology to any strategy for business process integration in a global organization?
Global Organization Technology for Business Process
As I had mentioned at the beginning, thus paper is a continue paper, this week the writer will add 3 pages to the previous parts written in the past weeks. the writer will respond to the questions below base on the instructions and then add to the revised paper from 112227 and 112256. In 112256, I have uploaded a paper with comments from the prof, first the writer has to make those revision accordingly and then add this 3 pages to that same paper using the template previously uploaded at the beginning of this paper 2 weeks ago. It is critical that the writer pay attention to details especially APA as the Prof is very serious about it and will take out points just for that.
The are 3 main points to discuss in this next 3 pages and the writer must clearly articulate those points in the paper using APA 6th edition throughout the entire paper.
The journal article “Is Business Process Integration Feasible?” provides a detailed analysis of one organization’s experiences in using IT structures to integrate business processes. Evaluate the strategy adopted by the organization and analyze the problems involved in the implementation and how they were overcome. Consider the relevance of the conclusions that can be drawn from this case study to other organizations, including your own, in the context of developing a strategy for business process integration.
Consider the following questions as you continue to work on your Praxis Paper, due next week:
•How critical is technology to any strategy for business process integration in a global organization?
•What are the problems facing a traditional asset-driven supply chain planning to convert to becoming a customer-driven value chain?
•Is business process integration feasible and, if so, what lessons can be learned from the case study that would be applicable to any organization planning a strategy of business process integration?
Global Organization Technology for Business Process Resources
Articles
•Cagliano, R., Caniato, F., & Spina, S. (2006). The linkage between supply chain integration and manufacturing improvement programmes. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 26 (3/4). Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database.
This article offers empirical evidence to suggest a relationship between supply chain integration dimensions and lean production programs.
•McAdam, R., & McCormack, D. (2001). Integrating business processes for global alignment and supply chain management. Business Process Management Journal, 7(2). Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database.
This article reviews the literature on business process integration and supply chain integration and presents case studies on three well-known companies.
•Themistocleous, M., & Corbitt, G. (2006). Is business process integration feasible? Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 19(4). Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database.
In this article, an ongoing project is used to explain the importance of business processes redesign in the development of a globally integrated IT infrastructure.
Web Site
•Zhu, J., Tian, Z., Li, T., Sun, W., Ye, S., Ding, W., et al. (2004). Model-driven business process integration and management: A case study with the Bank SinoPac regional service platform. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 48(5/6), 649-669. Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database.
This article demonstrates how each key business process integration and solution development phase was carried out and guided by business process modeling by the IBM China Research Laboratory.
Global Organization Technology for Business Process Sample Answer
How critical is technology to any strategy for business process integration in a global organization?
In the management of a global organization, technology plays a major role in several aspects of the day to day operations. In the paragraphs below the different ways in which technology is critical will be illustrated. By virtue of being global, such an organization will definitely operate on a much wider scale and scope with respect to its internal and external business environment. Internally technology plays a role in human resource management, internal communication, production and also financial management. In the external business environment technology plays an important role in distribution, marketing, communication and also transaction support among others (McAdam and McCormack, 2001).
An organization operating globally has a much larger quantity of employees and this means that the different staffing processes have to be done across two or more countries. With technology, it is possible to maintain uniform communications through different web-based applications. The hiring of staff internationally is also eased with technology and this facilitates the vetting of and interviewing of prospective candidates on internet communication platforms such as Skype. With different types of proprietary technology it is also possible to monitor in real-time the progress of workers in different branches that the organization may have (Zhu et al, 2004).
Production is another process that heavily relies on and benefits from technology for global organizations. Whether it is the manufacture of a commodity or the delivery of a service, information can trickle down from the headquarters to the regional branches of an organization and this helps in ensuring a high standard of quality being delivered to the market. Manufacturing technology for instance makes it possible for the Coca-Cola company to produce the exact same quality of soft-drinks regardless of the country the bottling plant is located in.
In the service industry, there is the example of international Hotel Chains like Mariott; customer specifications made in a previous property can be honored in a different branch across the borders due to the use of a centralized database. The airline industry is another appropriate example of how technology facilitates the processes of international organizations. Customers can make bookings remotely have their payments done online and they are always assured that the flight will go as planned. The synchrony allows for the smooth operations of international airports which would be otherwise chaotic in the absence of centralized reservation systems.
What are the problems facing a traditional asset-driven supply chain planning to convert to becoming a customer-driven value chain?
The main problems facing a traditional asset-driven supply chain is the wide scope of changes that need to be made both in-house as well as externally. Internally, this implies the purchase of and installation of a proprietary system that will be used to manage the inventory. The current model is likely to be relevant to the current form of management. This is also simpler for the employees who rely on it to guide them in their day to day operations. The increased costs will, therefore, be further inflated by the potential cost of training the employees and time lost during training sessions.
Another challenge is the fact that the customer-driven value chain is more time conscious and is likely to involve the services of a third party in the investigation of a customer’s value system. Furthermore, the fact that it applies subjectively means that more resources will be used in adjusting to the needs of individual customers. Production will no-longer be a uniform process.
Given that asset driven supply chains are straightforward and based solely on transactions, there is also the challenge of potential instability for the organization since operations will be pegged on a potentially wide range of customer value systems. The new approach to processes is therefore seen as hit and miss unlike the current system which has been proven to deliver results (Caligano et al, 2006).
Is business process integration feasible and, if so, what lessons can be learned from the case study that would be applicable to any organization planning a strategy of business process integration
Based on the experiences of this organization it is evident that business process integration is indeed feasible. However it is important to note that this can only apply to a similar organization operating in the same industry, economy and also competitive environment (Themistocleous and Corbitt, 2006). This is to say that it is not necessarily feasible for all organizations. Organizations that deal in the provision of necessities such as food items on a large scale may for instance not find this to be feasible.
In the case of Romano’s Car Rentals, business process integration could be really beneficial especially in light of the fact that the product here is essentially a service. Individuals who rent the vehicles have different parameters that they use to gauge the quality of the service they receive. Catering to these needs diligently as opposed to offering what is available is a sure way of increasing the firm’s turnover and profits due to more sales and also less wastage of resources. Any organization that plans to do business process integration should therefore consider the industry it is operating in, the type of customer and also their quantity.
Global Organization Technology for Business Process References
Cagliano, R., Caniato, F., & Spina, S. (2006). The linkage between supply chain integration and manufacturing improvement programmes. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 26 (3/4). Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database. Doi: doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01443571111111937
McAdam, R., & McCormack, D. (2001). Integrating business processes for global alignment and supply chain management. Business Process Management Journal, 7(2). Retrieved from ABI/INFORM Global database DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14637150110389696
Themistocleous, M., & Corbitt, G. (2006). Is business process integration feasible? Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 19(4). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17410390610678340 Zhu, J., Tian, Z., Li, T., Sun, W., Ye, S., Ding, W., et al. (2004). Model-driven business process integration and management: A case study with the Bank SinoPac regional service platform. IBM Journal of Research and Development, 48(5/6), 649-669. DOI 10.1109/ITMC.2012.6306413
