Worker commits suicide over lost iPhone prototype

If you've read today's news headlines you likely have seen the article about the factory worker in China who committed suicide because he lost an iPhone prototype in his possession. He had sixteen 4th generation iPhone prototypes in his possession before he discovered one was missing. I thought this article illustrated the high level of pressure and competitiveness, and sensitivity of secrets as companies develop products to achieve or maintain a competitive advantage. As we discussed in the IT Doesn't Matter debate, Apple is a prime example of a company that has developed and used new technologies to gain a competitive advantage. In fact, the company has been, for the most part, immune from the current recession because they continue to develop and release new technology that consumers crave. Employees who work with Apple's new products are under great pressure to maintain a high level of secrecy, especially with the media and competitors constantly trying to gain information about the latest and greatest technology. Obviously IT does matter. Unfortunately, in this situation it mattered a little too much.

IBM Unveils Data-Masking Technology

IBM has released a "proof-of-concept" technology called Magen (Masking Gateway for Enterprises), designed to mask and protect sensitive data. It is useful in industries such as healthcare where files and sensitive data are stored electronically. When the files or records are requested in the system, the software treats the information as a picture and uses optical character recognition to identify information the administrator has identified as confidential. That information is then masked so it will not appear on the user's screen. Unlike earlier types of similar software, this software does not copy, change, or process the data in any way. It is designed to work with existing applications so clients do not have to make any changes to their current applications.

Earth-bound

"Take your eyes off of your Blackberry tonight and take a look at what's going on in outer-space right now." A fitting quote from a Fox News anchor speaking to a reporter as they discuss footage of the space shuttle Endeavor about to dock on the international space station. To elaborate her point, she went on to say how technology and social networking has made us "Earth-bound" in the context that we aren't taking time to appreciate the current space mission, the amazing maneuvers being performed in space right now and the high definition photos being transmitted back to Earth. She's right. As we have spoken about so many times in class and in these blogs, technology has changed our culture. We have the ability to be connected to the entire world 24/7, to the point it consumes many of us and we don't pay attention to other qualities and phenomena of life around us.

If you don't want to be Earth-bound, www.nasa.gov has a live broadcast of the current space mission. It may look rather dull at first glance but there is also a schedule of the mission posted on the website so you can see when to tune in for more interesting coverage.

Top 2 Current Issues in IT

The top two current issues in IT are SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SPAM. SEO is the process of increasing the number of visitors to a site by ranking high in the list of search results when a keyword is typed into a search engine. SEO helps to ensure a site is accessible by a search engine by using keyword analysis, phrase analysis, web code, traffic analysis, product understanding, internet marketing, content development, and other human factors such as ad placement
The number two current issue, SPAM, includes ad-ware, junk mail, pop-up traffic, etc. Thirty percent of all internet traffic is said to be SPAM related. Although companies have used a variety of techniques to fight spam, there is little than can be done to prevent it because the internet is a public domain. Some online services have policies to prevent spammers from spamming their customers and this seems to be working.

Cerner Corporation Healthcare IT

I did some required research this evening on Cerner Corporation, a global leader in healthcare information technology, and thought I would share some of their “Solutions and Services” because it relates to our classroom topics.
Cerner provides a wide range of end-user computer solutions, from RFID to advanced authentication solutions. Their goal with their technology is to maximize their clients’ daily operational efficiencies through connectivity and tracking, mobility, PPID, data capture, and security. They stress the importance of a strong infrastructure within a healthcare environment and help their clients to achieve an effective balance between minimizing their IT investment and maximizing the usefulness of the required hardware.
They also specialize in Managed Services such as operations, applications, disaster recovery and remote hosting. This allows their clients to free up their own IT departments to concentrate on their core business.
Finally, they partner with leading technology suppliers to stay abreast of the latest technological developments and research their functionality to determine usability with their own applications.

TAG event #2

My second TAG event was a presentation by Marty Gupta, Managing Director of the CAP Consulting group. CAP stands for Critical Assumption Planning. The company's main mission is to help businesses achieve sustained growth through both good and bad economic times. One of the ways they do this is by teaching businesses to rethink their approach to their business strategy. Instead of the traditional Analyze, Plan, Execute approach, they teach businesses to Imagine, De-risk, and Adapt. Two examples Mr. Gupta used to illustrate the differences were GM and Apple. In 2004 and 2005, GM couldn't produce enough SUV's and most of their productivity was focused on their SUV lines. They were changing many of their assembly plants to accommodate SUV production. When Hurricane Katrina hit and oil prices skyrocketed, sales of SUVs took a nosedive and now GM is in bankruptcy. Apple, on the other hand, has continued to reinvent itself and continues to adapt and develop new products to sustain growth.
CAP is a five step process: Explore/Define the Concept, Identify Assumptions, Determine Critical Assumptions, Develop an Action Plan, and Review Results & Refine Opportunity. The process is designed to optimize the trade-off between risk and investment. It is also touted as being able to link different groups within an organization and take knowledge sharing to a new level.
More information on CAP can be found at the CAP Consulting website: http://www.capconsultants.com/

How Can Internal Controls Benefit Your IT Company

The first TAG event I attended was regarding internal controls in an IT company. As our guest speakers from PKM told us, SOX 404 requires public companies to implement a system of internal controls to help ensure financial statements are accurately and fairly presented. The first speaker at the event, from Accretive Solutions, spoke about internal controls as they relate to IT, SOX 404, and how to get the most out of your compliance investment.
The second speaker, from KPMG, spoke about a SOX survey they conducted on electronics and software companies. Some of their key findings were that the average number of controls needing to be tested has actually dropped in the past few years as a result of more efficient financial and IT processes. Over half of the companies surveyed had upgraded their ERP system in the past four years. In addition, there is a new ERP system out called GRC (Governance, Risk, Compliance), which is designed to integrate systems and compliance. This system can monitor processes to ensure controls are followed and compliance requirements are met, resulting in less required testing by auditors because it takes the human error and manual nature out of processes. There is no proven value yet with GRC because it is so new and expensive. In the current economic climate, companies aren't "pulling the trigger" just yet to implement this system.
Finally, a speaker from Lexis Nexis spoke about the benefits of controls and how they are not as much of a hindrance as perceived. Controls can make ERP systems much more effective by reducing duplication, eliminating manual processes, and defining, improving and standardizing processes.

Business Intelligence - IBM commercial

If you haven't seen the new IBM commercials regarding a "Smarter Planet," they relate to business intelligence... here is a good one about medical data like we've been talking about in class...

"By 2010, 30% of the data stored on the world's computers will be medical images. The trouble is, all of that information is trapped. X-rays aren't talking to medical records - aren't talking to patient histories - aren't talking to insurance forms. We are trying to connect all our data; make it smart. We would see the patterns in your medical history, in the histories of entire populations. We could predict dangerous drug combinations... We could tailor cures to your genetic code... put the focus back where it belongs, on the patient. That's what I'm working on. I'm an IBMer. Let's build a smarter planet."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEh6LStxY-I

Increasing Efficiency With IT

I had a chance this week to relate classroom instruction to a real life scenario. I was conducting a Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance audit at a local bank. The BSA requires financial institutions to assist the U.S. government in preventing money laundering. One of the many ways it does this is it requires banks to assign a risk grade (1, 2 or 3) to all of their deposit accounts, where three (3) is considered high risk. All accounts with a risk grade of 3 are required to be monitored to detect suspicious activity. The procedure this bank used to monitor these accounts was to review, on a quarterly basis, all high risk accounts by printing out a 2-month history of information to include average balances, number of times the account was overdrawn, deposit amounts, etc., as well as a two year comparison of these criteria. Keep in mind, the information must be printed and endorsed by the reviewer to provide evidence the accounts are properly reviewed. When I asked to see the two most recent quarterly reviews, the BSA Officer presented me with four folders that were each 4+ inches thick with paperwork. He explained that in the most recent review it took three bank personnel five hours (15 man hours) to complete the review. As an additional note, this is a very new bank that is quickly growing in size and number of accounts so the time and effort to complete the process is only going to increase. My first reaction was, there has to be a better way to do this!
The BSA officer and I discussed how they can purchase software, or customize their existing data processing software, to let the system do the review automatically. Parameters can be set within the software to monitor activity; if a transaction or dollar amount falls outside of the set parameters, it will show up on an exceptions report which the BSA Officer can review on a periodic basis to satisfy compliance requirements. This will make the process considerably more efficient.
This is a basic example relating IT to business processes but it was still interesting to discuss a manual process with a client and how the process can be improved using IT.

Six Sigma

Having just completed the Six Sigma (SS) research and case study, it is easy to see how the SS methodology dissects various processes and creates efficiencies to save organizations millions of dollars. As an executive, I would want to implement SS in every part of my business to add every last penny I could to the bottom line. As an employee, I might not be as receptive to a SS project person picking apart every process. I'd be worried about my performance, as optimal as it may be, being scrutinized as well as whether my co-workers or myself will be out of a job once the SS project is complete. I can see where SS implementation has the risk of hurting employee morale if the employees don't understand the "method behind the madness." Not to mention, change naturally does not come easily when you have employees who have been performing the same process for a long period of time. My understanding of the case is that the company is implementing an initiative to teach the employees SS principles to give them an understanding of the methodology to encourage their ideas and support of the process. This will be the key to the success of the SS initiative at MLF but I'm sure not all companies invest the time and energy to train their lower level employees on SS. Hence, as great as SS sounds, it definitely comes with its share of risks and challenges when implemented.

Iran Protests

I am a follower of world events and I think it's amazing how the world is able to stay abreast of the ongoing protests in Iran through various forms of technology. While the Iranian government has tried to censor communications by kicking out the media or jamming their broadcast signals, protesters have resorted to using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to communicate and get their message to the outside world. Pictures, videos and blogs through these mediums have been continuous since the protests began several days ago and have been the only way for the world to get the true story about what is really going on in the streets of Tehran. Twitter, the newest option of the three, has been by far the most dominant. YouTube has been shutdown in Iran but about 10% of videos posted from there are getting through.
Who would have thought internet video and social networking sites would ever play such an important role in a world events? Thankfully, the message IS getting out and hopefully the result will be a better government in Iran and a better quality of life for its citizens.

A Stinging Office Memo Boomerangs

"We are getting less than 40 hours of work from a large number of our KC-based EMPLOYEES. The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 A.M.; likewise at 5 P.M. As managers-you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing; or YOU do not CARE."
"I will hold you accountable. You have allowed this to get to this state. You have two weeks. Tick, tock." Neal L. Patterson, CEO Cerner Corporation

That is the opening of a Case Study I have opted to present in my Strategic Communications class. The focus is on using technology for strategically and effectively communicate. I'm looking forward to presenting, basically, the do's and don'ts of email communication and teleconferencing. The above example was a memo from a CEO to the 400 managers of his company. It quickly leaked to Yahoo! and before you could ask, "What was this guy thinking?" the memo was all over the internet and all over the world. When Wall Street got word of it the stock price of the company dropped $14. Now it is in MBA texbooks across the globe as an example of what NOT to do in an email.

Technology can be a two-edged sword; it can improve productivity or it can be destructive. Like all aspects of business, it must be managed.

Here We Go...

First time blogger here... If I could only find a way to synchronize this blog with my brain housing throughout the day as I think about and use technology, I'm sure it would make for a much more interesting read.

As a kid, my goal in life, other than to play college football, was to be a computer programmer. I took programming classes throughout junior high and high school and must say they were my favorite classes. In the Marine Corps I started out as a Signals Intelligence Communicator (Cryptologic Technician, for you Navy types) and my training mainly focused on computer hardware and networking. At age 19, I was a shift supervisor in a communications facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sending and receiving intelligence messages all over the world. It was an interesting job, to say the least. However, our equipment was from the stone age and I never got to apply much of the high-speed training I had received in school. Fast forward to 2001 when I was a freshman at UMass Dartmouth... It took me one semester to realize computer programming was not for me. I consider myself to be computer savvy, but programmers are on an entirely different level! Let's just say I knew it was not something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I switched my major to Accounting and never looked back.

Needless to say, IT interests me and I think I will gain a lot from this class. I am already enjoying the approach to IT from a managerial perspective and learning more about how IT influences business.

Until next time...