Manage Decisions

Computer networks are becoming a very important tool in successfully linking people together for a variety of reasons. The internet has revolutionized communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. There are a multitude of advantages associated with computer networks. Some areas which are successfully using this system are industry associations, corporations, professional societies, government, and education.

Computer networks have opened the flood gates of information and enables instant access to information – “anywhere, anytime and any format”. The immense wealth of information floating in the cyber world is accessible though these well connected global networks. Networks have ushered in a digital society which now affects everyday life, groups, personal identity, culture, safety, and virtually all aspects of existence. The digital society has become so pervasive that recognizing the impacts of such technologies on us as individuals as well as the societal repercussions is gaining importance. Networks now contribute to the globalization of production and capital markets by reducing the cost of information and communication. These technologies have made it easier for multinationals and other companies to spread production facilities all over the world, to co-ordinate international marketing campaigns, and to ease collaboration in projects taking place on different continents.

Computer networks support human communication via electronic mail (e-mail), “chat rooms,” newsgroups, and audio and video transmission and allow people to work collaboratively at many different locations. It supports access to digital information by many applications, including the World Wide Web. The Internet has proved to be a spawning ground for a large and growing number of “e-businesses” that carry out most of their sales and services over the Internet. Wireless services enable applications not previously possible in any economical fashion. For example, global positioning systems (GPS) combined with wireless Internet access would help mobile users to locate alternate routes, generate precise accident reports and initiate recovery services, and improve traffic management and congestion control. In addition to wireless laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDAs), wearable devices with voice input and special display glasses are under development. Higher backbone and network access speeds enabled through fiber optic networks will simultaneously carry multiple signals—data, voice, and video.

The Internet is offering the possibility of creating an environment or virtual reality in which individuals might work, socially interact with others, and perhaps even live out their lives. People can now go online and search for information on subjects as diverse as politics, gardening, health, technology and online shopping. The information superhighway can be tapped to send across breaking news as it happens during catastrophic disasters. Internet can be a medium to mobilize people and engage in social interactions. Online gaming is a part of the rapidly growing virtual economies some of which exceed the GNP of countries in Africa and Asia. The use of Wikipedia and social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn has created online communities where constant exchange of information takes place. Internet dating sites and pornography appeal to particular niche groups. Advertising is a huge revenue source for many companies. E-commerce now includes retail shopping, banking, stocks, auctions, real estate transactions, airline booking, and movie rentals – nearly anything you can imagine in the real world. Enterprise applications deployed over networks bring in efficiencies and cost savings.

Computer networks have created vast resources for people to enhance their learning skills. People can now browse through catalogs, periodicals, websites, blogs and databases and increase their knowledge. The Internet has become an invaluable and discipline-transforming environment for scientists and scholars. Scientific databases and electronic publishing help the scientific community to exchange ideas and resources. Free speech has been made possible by networks where an individual can freely express his ideas and thoughts without fear of prosecution. Online political campaigns are now an integral part of any elections. Candidates can now galvanize volunteer campaign workers and raise significant sums from many small donations.

While the benefits outweigh any negative implications, people are still worried about privacy, trust, security, and now, reliability. There are also concerns about access, reputation, participation, sustainability, responsibility, authenticity, authorship, ownership, surveillance and control, cultural health (digital literacy) and distinctiveness. Issues about data ownership, systems vulnerability, information manipulation, false propaganda/rumors, plagiarism and malware need to be tackled. Computer networks are revolutionizing information and entertainment delivery, transforming social life and behavior, even political institutions and the role of citizens within them. Some of the social/political changes will be liberating, some will have little social effect, but others may be harmful or even socially and politically explosive. We should all be vigilant about the benefits and consequences of rapidly proliferating computer networks.

IT is permeating the entire business function. It is inextricably linking customers, suppliers, business partners and government into a seamless continuum of business activity. There are no insulating layers, where a functional failure in one aspect of the business can be an isolated incident. Business processes are not only interrelated, but also they are becoming interdependent. With cut-throat competition among businesses, the rate at which strategies are reformulated in response to changing business factors is also speeding up. In uncertain economic times, it’s critical to spend your budget wisely. However, plummeting IT budgets translate into having fewer resources to work with for data management. Every dime spent on an IT initiative must deliver results and enable productivity, agility and competitive advantage. The figure listed below shows the alignment of IT with business goals at various levels and how they provide business value to a firm.

Selection of any IT investment (both hardware and software) is a strategic decision which has to align with business-level metrics. IT delivers efficiency and effectiveness to an organization. These investments must be business-driven and not IT-driven. Since IT investments include hardware and software costs, are expensive to implement, different metrics are used to measure their contribution towards business objectives of an organization. TCO will enable managers to assess the true total costs of building, owning, and operating their data center physical facilities. This includes estimates of key cost components including site infrastructure capital costs, computer equipment costs, energy bills, and other operating expenses.

By helping the enterprise understand how IT adds value to the achievement of competitive advantage opportunities, IT can quickly be seen as a business builder and not a cost center because it becomes an enterprise growth lever. Competitive advantage can be attained

· By embracing new IT businesses can discover dramatic outcomes: more closed deals, happier customers, and a new confidence.

· Accelerate business, achieve cost savings, productivity gains and total ROI by adopting new technologies

· Leverage IT investments to pump up smaller sales forces, improve training, reach busy executives and become larger than life.

· Stretch organizational resources, eliminate logistical barriers, and transform their online initiatives into strategic lines of business.

With IT assuming the role of a service provider, there are many criteria that need to be used before jumping on any IT investments. Buyers must consider the track record of the products, the delivery methodology of the vendor, the unique requirements of their IT organization, and the likelihood of widespread adoption by users. This will avoid investment in tools with limited capabilities, maturity, or flexibility – and ultimately help ensure the success of IT investments. Some of the criteria to be considered include:

Service design

Organizations should provide service design which must provide the ability to re-use service components, making it easier and faster to create “bundled” services. Identify who will utilize the system and determine their needs. A decision also needs to be made about the ‘build vs. buy’ option after performing cost- benefit analysis.

Organizational Modeling

The new IT investments should take into account the organizational structure, processes and capabilities and evaluate readiness before undertaking IT initiatives.

Management Issues

Get buy-in from key members of your organization. Engage employees by getting their active participation in the decision making process, otherwise they will not feel that they “own” the system and may sabotage the new system either by ignoring it, being afraid of it, or misusing its capabilities. Management needs to properly plan any IT implementation without having to rush in and later face negative consequences. Selection of a wrong software package can turn out to be costly and adversely affect business processes. A thorough analysis of critical success factors, major problems, opportunities for improvement, key requirements, scope and schedule must be done prior to selecting any hardware or software.

Organizational challenges

An organization implementing new IT initiatives will go through system driven changes.These challenges include eliminated processes, re-engineered processes and workflows and changes to employee roles and responsibilities. These challenges can be addressed by conducting readiness assessments, training programs, communications planning and execution.

Request fulfillment

IT must provide the ability to integrate with a broad range of third party tools – including automation tools such as software distribution or access management – to automate the fulfillment of requests without IT staff involvement.

Adoptability

The IT initiatives should get widespread adoption by users across the organization.

Companies must ensure that a much higher standard for usability is met, with little or no training required for the end user. Have “out-of-the-box” functionality capable of covering a wide range of the preceding requirements with minimal customization.

Service Flexibility

Ensure that the vendor products are sufficiently flexible to support non-IT services as well as traditional IT services. This is required for full adoption and supports a wide and diverse contributor base with tools and processes appropriate to skill level and commitment. KPI’s — such as inventory accuracy, cost reductions and month-end closing processes should be used to measure service flexibility.

Scalability

Any solution chosen should be scalable for future growth and technology changes. The hardware and software must be able to handle the demands placed by growing user base. Users should take into consideration the system’s ability to add more random access memory (RAM), more visual display terminals (VDTs), more printers and more hard disk storage when selecting a system.

Risks

Select products with a proven track record of success and multiple relevant customer references.

Consider the vendor’s viability as well as their ability to meet your future needs.

Companies should also assess the vendor’s capability to provide expertise and guidance for getting started. The experience of the vendor’s professional services staff and the deployment methodology for the product is a key factor for success. Vendors with a prov­en implementation methodology for the product are likely to ensure faster de­ployment time and a more successful long-term program.

Vendor Fit

Tactical criteria should include items like sup­ported platforms and compatibility with other existing application infrastructure. Buyers should understand the vendor’s target market, their typical customer profile, other similar custom­ers in your vertical industry and company revenue, and other factors. Buyers should select vendors that will be a responsive and committed long-term partner for their business success. Pay close attention to data conversion issues.

Demand Management

New initiatives should help IT forecast future demand, provide the business with informed consumption choices, and minimize over-usage. Other considerations include the ability of the system to be upgraded, the language used, the availability of software for the system, maintenance and the time required to run the system.

Service Agreements

Business-relevant agreements must focus on trade-offs between pricing and optional service tiers.

Any solution should business with greater visibility into these options and more control over the price/value mix.

Financial Management

Buyers should look for solu­tions that provide visibility to who (whether individual, department, or geographic group) is using what services at what cost. These tools also provide IT budgeting capabilities, comparison of budgets versus actual spend, and invoicing for service agreements. Additionally, the solution must support a variety of cost recovery methods from simple allocation to more sophisticated charge-backs.

Total Cost of Ownership

Given the scale and complexity of enterprise wide systems, the total cost to deploy, manage, and update the system over time should be a primary consideration. This evaluation of ongoing costs should include the staff and skill level required for maintaining and modifying the Service Catalog. Any evaluation of cost also needs to investigate the relative value and return on investment over time. As noted above, pre-packaged content can accelerate deployment and ensure business value more quickly with fewer resources.

Reporting

IT solutions have more than just canned reports with static operational information about services – they provide Web-based tools for designing new reports, along with data warehousing and analytical tools for in-depth analysis of service demand, financials, and performance data .

I ran across this interesting article about the role of Google Apps in the enterprise arena.

Check out the link below – Is Google Apps Good Enough for the Enterprise?

A side shoot on techies worth following on Twitter – The 10 best techies Twitter

An interesting article about the grand implementation of an ERP system in the hope of bringing operational efficiencies and effectiveness to the organization. Companies want to use IT as a tool to deliver value to customers. Instead of lending to sustainability, a mismanaged implementation, a consequence of ineffective business decision making, can lead to disaster. A failed ERP project at Shane is an eye-opener for all of us about the perils of bad business decisions.

See the article link below:
Shane Company: Lessons Learned From an ERP Failure

For a list of IT investment failures, plesae check the this ZDNet blog.