Blog for 12/15

I read online "Toshiba Information Systems (JAPAN) Corporation adaopts Catapult C Synthesis for Next Generation ASIC Design": http://au.biz.yahoo.com/071204/43/1ino1.html.

Mainly this is about Toshiba Information Systems Corp developing their communications and multimedia systems for commercial and consumer applications. They are one of the most innovative systems houses in Japan, and the company's adoption of Catapult represents a major accomplishment for Mentor Graphics. You may ask what is Mentor Graphics: basically it is the world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting servies ans award winning support for the world's most sucessful electronics and semiconductor companies. Information systems and computers are very important and they are moving at a fast pace therefore every company must keep up with technology and try to step ahead of others to become the most sucessful.

12/07 continued

I was reading Ioulia Alieva's blog and I read about the Google article about their thought of entering the cell phone business. "It’s not a sure thing that they will be able to dominate and actually is surprising that they plan to enter the cell phone business without a knowledgeable partner." I agree that Google may not be able to dominate but I don't find it surprising because in every type of business, it is best to expand once stable in order to make more profit. It is necessary to take risk in business in order to make money especially with technology because everyday technology is growing rapidly and business that deals with it must move with the pace.

12/08 Assignments (News Blog/Individual Blog)

This week we once again talked about the system development life cycle. I understand that they are steps and features that we have to be aware of for minimizing the chance of failure for a business model design. On yahoo I found an article: http://au.biz.yahoo.com/071206/43/1irhn.html

Basically this is about high system availability systems and their future evolvement. “The convergence of IT and communications infrastructure is placing complex high availability, system clustering, and manageability requirements on system development. These requirements create tremendous problems with respect to scalability, development cost, time-to-market, and resources allocated to core competencies.” In the world today, everything is being computerized and technology is the key to success. The more technology, the easier work is for us.

On Wednesday we worked on the negotiation assignment. It was a lot easier to come up with a solution when we were coming up with a decision in our own group. When we got to class, the negotiation became confusing although in the end, we did pretty well and got the outcome we wanted (with +90).

How did your group make the decisions?
At first we looked at it individually and came up with all the possible combinations. I think we came up with 12 combinations, for example a few:
1) A1, B1, C1
2) A1, B1, C2
3) A1, B1, C3
4) A1, B2, C1
5) A1, B2, C2
6) Etc.
After we came up with all the numbers, we put them together and checked which combination gave us the best outcome in total.

What problems did you encounter in the process?
A lot of the combinations in which gave somebody high numbers would give somebody a 0 in the group since all our numbers were different. So that is why we came up with the decision to pick the highest outcome combined. Even so, one of our members (Keith) had to sacrifice a little. He only had 20 points while the rest of us had 90, 60, 85, and 45. However since it was for the benefit of the team, the negotiation was easier to be reached.

Did your group make decisions in a different way than the whole class did?
Well I’m not sure how other groups negotiated however I think that they probably did something similar to what we did.

What kind of information system do you need to design to support such a process of negotiation?
I think it’s easiest to just plug the numbers in a spreadsheet and show the results of each possibility in order to come up with a solution to the negotiation. Many programs we have like excel can sort the numbers. And to further the software configuration, we can have a program in which the computer can come up with all the possibilities (Statistics) and rate it on a percentage of risk.

News Blog for 12/1

I think I have heard about the Brigadoon Bed & Breakfast hotel when I went to Connecticut. On Monday when the first group talked about the fire that caused financial damages, I was thinking that they can add one of those new candles that use battery called Flameless Wax Candle. They sell it at Brookstone, sharper image, and many other electronic stores. These candles are probably more convenient then buying new candles everytime. I understand that Brigadoon is trying to bring a more old style home feeling however I’m sure many customers will like the idea of Flameless Wax Candles because they don’t have to worry about fires and replace the candles etc.

Once again we learned CRM is useful as a strategy to improve the financial status of this company. I think CRM is one of the most commons strategies to improve commerce. It’s very important to know what customers want and need. Just as I read in a recent article about Verizon Wireless opening its network to “any” device per: http://www.engadget.com/ 2007/11/27/verizon-wireless-opens-network-to-any-apps-any-device-in-2008/

This article basically states “Any device (including applications) tested and certified in VZW's new $20 Million test lab is fair game for use on their wireless network. In other words, Verizon becomes the data pipe, and nothing more for these new "bring-your-own" customers. It's too early to say if this is a watershed moment or not.” This is going to be effective early 2008. I think they are changing due to customer needs. It hasn’t been using Android software platforms which it will accept. Also there is a lot of competition out there such as the iPhone. I think the next step for Verizon should be using SIM cards like Tmobile and other providers.

News Blog for 11/24

The class presentation on Monday was about Time Warner Cable and it’s problems. The presentation explained about fiber optics and how Time Warner and other companies are using it. I currently use Time Warner cable service but am still contemplating about the “bundle package” which offers telephone, internet, and cable service for $99. However I read and article about Time Warner losing customers in several local areas.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2007/11/19/story2.html?ana=from_rss

Basically the article stated that Time Warner Cable lost 66,000 cable subscribers in its Dallas-area and Los Angeles markets in the third quarter. The company is aggressively trying to correct local problems. They hired about 300 new reps to help with customer service. I use Time Warner Cable but I feel that there aren’t that many problems with the internet; maybe the problems are only in local areas. However Time Warner does have a lot of competition for example Verizon, AT&T, and Echostar. I feel that Time Warner will have to come up with a resourceful strategy in order to beat the competition because they aren’t only competing in one area of business but several.

Individual Assignment for 11/17

Many businesses can use information aggregation especially e-businesses. I think that people selling antiques can use this way of business to promote their items. It’s sort of similar to social networking. It is difficult to determine the price of an antique because people have different opinions on how much they are worth. There is no set value for an antique; it’s basically what many people think and then that price will become the norm and sometimes the prices keep going up just like real estate.

How much do you think this antique is worth? You don't know if it's a real antique or fake antique. And even if you do know it's real and bought it, how do you know it's real worth until a customer decides to pay you a high amount for it. It can be worth $1000 but some people who don't know how to appreciate it won't even pay $50 for it. But using this business strategy similiar to that of eBay, the more bids the more people will think it's worth a good price.

Another business that can use information aggregation business is online diaries and blogs like xanga, myspace, facebook, etc. The more people join, the more popular the site will become and then even more people decide to join. I remember in highschool and beginning of college everyone used xanga. But then as time went by, my space came into the picture and now everyone I know has facebook. Items become more popular when people start using it and talking about it. Basically the most important hardware in this type of business is a computer with internet connection. More in depth, a database can be setup to improve networking. Like always there are problems in every type of businesses. The most common problem would be legal issues such as privacy issues with personal information being disclosed. Another problem with online businesses are the property rights.

News Blog for 11/17

This week the presentation on United Health Group was interesting to me because I work for Health First. Some of the problems stated are familiar to me. I think KeySurvey is a pretty good way to collect the information needed. This not only works for healthcare businesses but any other business out there. The groups mentioned about HIPAA and I just recently found out about that at work. When my supervisor called me into the room the other week, I thought I was in trouble but he just wanted to let me know about HIPAA and that I had to store the documents in locked cabinets before I leave work. And today I came across an article on the web about this interesting new software at http://blogstoday.com/technologlice/?loc+interstitialskip.

It’s a pen-sized scanner that scans in color and is quick. The name is Planon DocuPen RC800 pen scanner. I find this to be a very useful and portable piece of technology. I can bring it anywhere and scan notes, books, or interesting articles in the paper that I want to read later and not have to carry the paper or the heavy books. It’s very convenient. However there is one flaw that I though of. Since it is so portable, people can bring it to work and scan confidential documents. It is great that technology is growing so quick and being more efficient and portable but that also causes crimes to be done easier. Especially privacy matters just like those mentioned in class about HIPAA for the United Health Group and the presentation on McGraw-Hill about the Internet piracy.