Combating piracy!

Everyone of us maybe in someway have a part in the proliferation of piracy in our country. We may say that it just a copy for me to use, or I will not get caught anyway, or it’s cheaper than buying a licensed one. This is usually the line of reasoning of most of us. The question is, how about on the side of the content creator or developer of the software. How much time did they work on it and how much money did they invested on it. This concerns are oftentimes neglected by end-users in countries where piracy is a norm. One can say that this countries have little idea of intellectual property rights and computer ethics. Or they may have the laws for protecting intellectual property rights/copyrights but implementation of it is sort of half baked.

With all the technological advances that we have, companies still don’t have a full proof solution for piracy. Whenever there are new software in the market, even with sophisticated methods they still got hacked and  cracked by unethical individuals. I would like to believe that the answer is not in creating a software hacked/cracked proof, but educating everyone, users and would be users. Educating and conditioning them  of  computer ethics and ethics perse. This is a long process but it is viable in the sense that it could create ethical users in the future.  Another thing for companies, to eliminate piracy one can make it as a freeware. There are lots of freeware creator that gain profit from this. We know that they gain from the ads that are attached to the software. Although its kind if annoying having ads on the side of the application, I don’t mind it because its free and I can use it anytime I want. I don’t have to bother with the expiry of trial period or the like. Often freeware have premiums, which can be upgraded for additional features,so if you are willing pay for it for that extra feature you have the option. On the part of the content creator or companies, one should also be ethical, in the sense that, they should not always be concerned with profits. After all, applications/software were essentially created to help people do their work easily and not drain them of their hard earned money.

 

Knowledge Management: Key to Organizations’ Empowerment

Like water, this rising tide of data can be viewed as an abundant, vital and necessary resource. With enough preparation, we should be able to tap into that reservoir — and ride the wave — by utilizing new ways to channel raw data into meaningful information. That information, in turn, can then become the knowledge that leads to wisdom. Les Alberthal

     Knowledge Management (KM) is organized/managed data, information, and knowledge of every entity in an organization. Once knowledge is organized and shared, it can result to better judgement of organizations. My organization will definitely benefit from it. We have a large amount of data to maintain from records of real property taxes of every residents to business taxes of every business establishments in Iloilo City. KM provides not just instant reports but sound decisions that may be advantageous to the organization. Moreover, an employee will not have to ask co-employees about certain information every time there are confusions or problems encountered. The value of KM relates directly with the effectiveness of with which the managed knowledge enables the members of the organization to deal with current situations and effectively predict and create future plans/programs for the organization. Without access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed based on what the individual or group brings to the situation with them. Conversely, with access to managed knowledge, every situation is addressed with the sum total of everything anyone in the organization has ever learned about a situation of a similar nature.

     There are technological, organizational and human barriers in implementing a knowledge management system (KMS) within an organization. On the side of technology, acceptance of end users is one. Yes, it requires computer literate employees, but also it is important that the software being used is simple and straight forward to avoid confusion and minimize errors in collecting relevant data, information, and knowledge. Insufficient trainings  and support from programmers concerned is also a problem for KMS. The trainings should be arranged in such a way that the participants receive support while they handle the system. This will enable them to master all upcoming tasks in the future without any further assistance. Lack of this would be detrimental in accomplishing the goals and objectives of KMS.

      On the organizational side, commitment and support of the chief executive should be inherent and visible. He should be the prime mover of KM in the organization. Being committed and visible can actually provide motivation and encouragement to employees. The absence of such could affect the willingness and commitment of employees to participate in the process which could in turn affect the effectiveness and reliability of the program. In addition, the availability of funds of an organization also poses a threat to the implementation of KM. Every project, requires certain amount to implement it, it is the role of the chief executive or in-charge to allocate budget, if available funds is limited, implementation of this is affected it may either be delayed or forever in paper only.

     Moreover, the very core ingredient in KM is the human aspect. They play a central role in the identification, acquisition, creation, storage, distribution, and evaluation of knowledge within the organization. If employees are not knowledgeable of what is KM its purpose and process, knowledge sharing is jeopardized. Employees can be reluctant to share there tacit knowledge, which is I should say their lifelong experiences and lessons in their work.  If they share all of this, they fear that they will not be needed anymore. This is a dilemma for them especially if they are in a very competitive workplace. As we all know, the knowledge of an employee is the most important factor, it is the knowledge that is in their heads that KM wanted to gather and document. If he exits from the organization he will bring along the “know-how & know-why” with him. All tacit knowledge he have will be inaccessible and is a great loss to the organization. Furthermore, employees may not be ready to perform additional work if the assurance of cooperative behavior among their coworkers is missing. It is a challenge to KM to create an environment wherein coworkers do not only have in mind the individual use, but beyond that they have a certain measure of will and commitment for the organization, so that knowledge exchange is set and maintained.

     KMS that focus on only one of the main KM aspect, the codification approach, cannot overcome the barriers to successful KM. It is important to follow a holistic approach that sufficiently considers social as well as technical aspects. The barriers presented here, have their origins in the technological, organizational and human aspect, they present the different fields to consider in the creation of KM in the organization. Some of them can be overcome by minor adjustments but others require major organizational or cultural changes. Being responsive to this barriers leads the way to the development of a successful and relevant Knowledge Management System.

“Knowledge is power and knowledge sharing is empowerment”

Knowledge is indeed power, however if one has no access to knowledge you’re nothing. In the business world, having knowledge about your company is an advantage but acquiring knowledge about your competitors is another thing. Having perfect information/knowledge about your competitor gives you a competitive advantage. Knowing their secrets, their methods, and especially their weaknesses, is POWER to defeat them, to crash them and be the leader of them all. Keeping such knowledge in the closet through time rapidly losses it value. If you do not make your knowledge productive then someone else with that same knowledge will. On the other hand, knowledge sharing encourages  collaboration with other people. Its not just about sharing ideas, its about improving the way things are done by sharing little things. What we learn from experiences can be shared to others. Like for example, the Memorandum of Understanding between United Arab Emirates and Morocco wherein they signed agreement to share best practices in the field of human resources. The agreement is a great step forward for both countries to learn, grow and flourish in the human resources sector. This kind of knowledge sharing is mutually beneficial and shows how much they can learn and improve by working together, rather than viewing everyone else as the competition. In addition, sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes. You are empowered if from the shared knowledge you are able to think, behave, take action and control what you do and can decide on your own using the shared knowledge you’ve learned, thus producing a synergistic effect.

Business Intelligence tools: a boom or a bust?

Business Intelligence (B.I.) tools are created to help in not just recording and presenting data but strategic decision making of an organization. Every organization aims to always have an edge with its competitors and one way to do it is by using a business intelligence tool that is appropriate and responsive to organizational needs. It’s a matter of choosing the right one. Encouraging employees to use such tools entails a firm commitment coupled with an extensive training and re-education. In other words, organizations should conduct orientation, seminars & trainings before anything else. Everyone concerned should at least have a basic idea of its purpose and use in relation to their work. For me, this is very critical because if they understand the purpose, its use and the need, the problem with resistance or unfavorable reaction would be minimized much more eliminated. Moreover, this would also indicate the readiness and willingness of the employees in applying the business intelligence tools that were introduced to them.

A punitive program for me is not appropriate, this would only discourage the employees to even try to use the tool. There would be many excuses from them to avoid using the program/software introduced to them. Even worst if they will just keep quiet and later you will find out the data they encoded are erroneous and therefore data cannot be used for its purpose. A reward system is ideal. However, rewards for employees oftentimes means monetary in nature. So, if you plan to have it in monetary terms corresponding budgetary adjustment should be made, and this means additional expenses. But, if you’re looking at a rewards program that has something to do with lesser working hours or additional leave credits, for me it’s doable and requires no budgetary adjustments. It could basically encourage employees to use the business intelligence tools being introduced to them. Commanding them to use such tools does little but letting them understand is another way to encourage them.  But then again it always boils down to the top and middle management decisions, if they truly internalized  the power of business intelligence tools and is committed in making it a success story, the organization has a better future.

“Instruction does much, but encouragement everything.”

                                                      Johann  Wolfgang von Goethe

 

 

Online Shopping!

      Nowadays, as online shopping grows popular more and more people are turning to online shopping for all their needs. Clothes, shoes, products, even basic necessities like food and groceries, can be bought via the internet. It is popular because there is no waiting in lines or in traffic, you can shop from the convenience of your home. Also, you can easily compare prices from different online shops and aside from that you can get items/products from smaller start-up businesses that may actually have better goods and services and lower prices. But the one I like is that you can shop any time you want. From experience I turn on to online shopping if I could not find an item I am looking for in shopping malls. Like shirts, make-up, gadgets and especially books. 

     On the other hand, one thing I don’t like is, if I order an item it usually takes some time to arrive, so, if it is of great need, I suggest you go to the malls. Hate also to think that it will not be delivered on time or due to some reasons your item does not reach your doorstep. And to add to that, seeing the item in person is different from seeing its picture online, there are oftentimes some differences in it. But the very basic and important thing on being an online shopper is a credit/debit card. Online shops especially overseas strictly require certain kind credit cards, if your card is not accepted it will be so irritating to know much more of not having one. Shipping fee also adds to the burden of online shoppers who are charge with quite an amount, although if you order in local online shops its usually cheaper but overseas its adds to the things to be considered for shoppers online.

     Three things I would not hesitate to buy online are clothes, make-up, and books. Why these? It’s because they are not that expensive, shipping is minimum, and if it failed to reach my doorstep or something along way something happened to it, the guilt is not that big, in other words loss is minimal.

     The three things that I would have doubts buying online are watches, gadgets (cell phone/mp3 player etc.), and computers. For one, the amount involved is rather huge and shipping fee is higher. Although many online shops have return policies, if the product is defective it would be a total waste of time and such an inconvenience to return and again wait for another “century” to be replaced. Excitement totally dips to a point that you’re not anymore interested about it.

     Now for the three things that I would never consider buying online are jewelries, appliances and furnitures. Many people are pickier than others and seeing the furniture/appliance online may seem like a good idea to them at first, but then they receive it and it’s a big disaster. It could be a problem of quality, size, color or model. If it’s an online store that doesn’t have a local store in your area, returning say a sofa would be a big hassle. Another factor to think about returning it is you will have to pay the charge for shipping it back, repackaging, and stocking in most cases, unless it’s a manufacturing problem. I rather go to the store and personally pick the one that suits my fancy. With jewelries, its some kind of risky, I don’t want to give people who handle the shipping or the like, an opportunity to do something bad. It’s a hot item for everyone.

     Shopping is what almost every girl or woman loves to do. Some say it simply makes us happy, while some claim shopping to be a therapeutic activity. Now, since we are living in a modern generation, we rely so much on technology and gadgets that even the simplest things, like shopping, can be done with the assistance of an internet and computer.  This could be a good or bad idea, depending on how you value such advancement in technology. There is no harm in trying new things, especially if it’s going to make our lives convenient. The internet made shopping easier and accessible to everyone. The decision is in our hands whether we want to shop conventionally or online without hassle. There are risk involve either way. We just have to put in mind that we should be always vigilant and careful of the things we buy on store or online.

 

Outsourcing I.T. Security

Outsourcing is very popular today! It has been generating news and controversies at the same time.  Honestly, I have little idea, I only know that they are call center agents and nothing more, and I never really dwelt on thinking what it really means. Years before, I only know that a call center agent accepts calls from customers/clients in behalf of a company that cannot anymore handle queries or complaints regarding a product or service and that’s it. Now It really expanded from handling complaints to doing complicated functions for an organization. Why so popular today, of course, the benefits to businesses seeking to outsource their IT services operation can be numerous. Outsourcing helps to reduce IT service costs of firms. By cutting cost you can improve the organizations efficiency/effectiveness in delivering products and services, thus they can give utmost attention on their core competencies. The time wasted dealing with service issues and the like can now be invested into concentrating on value added activities.

While enjoying the benefits of outsourcing, it is not far that they can have set backs or problems. For one, organizations may lose control over customer service issues. No matter what you opt to outsource, you are some in way giving up control over that function. Moreover, it involves telling another organization what information you use and how you use such information. Thus, increasing vulnerability of sensitive and strategic informations. Another is, contracting certain functions to  a third party may make it difficult to cancel if they fall short of what they are expected halfway through a contract. It could really affect the organizations operations whereby unsatisfied customers can put you in a shaky position in the market. Most importantly, outsourcing introduce new security threats to sensitive data from a scamp employee of the provider or the provider themselves. The more access to data is given to a third party, the greater the probability of a security breach that might expose sensitive client and organizations data to hackers or criminals or competitors.

Much more with outsourcing IT security, it’s like giving them the key to your house, permitting them to use your phone, computers, kitchen and enter your bedroom without you knowing it and stealing things. As what I’ve read, one example of security area that is outsource is intrusion detection (ID) like the firewall and virtual private network (VPN). But before deciding on outsourcing IT security, you should  first compare variable in-house cost with fixed outsourcing costs. comparing them could help in the decisions. Deciding to outsource you should conduct a risk assessment and evaluate multiple vendor quotes for security, reliability and problem resolution. In choosing a good vendor, choose the vendor that requires top-secret clearance. And do background checks, research the company and other companies experience, so that you have an idea of what companies are the best in their field. Deciding to outsource, from risk assessment one should have a risk management plan. Here, you identify the risks involve in outsourcing your IT security. And then develop an analysis of risks. Lastly, you make or create  a mitigation plan or a solution of  risks using the resources that are available. Furthermore, one should continually and periodically conduct security audits, wherein you measure how well it conforms to a set of established criteria. And to further protect one’s organization, there is what you call cyberinsurance wherein it covers areas not normally spelled out in traditional insurance policies and can even cover insider attacks in security. Having this safety nets could save you from further threats.

With all these, I could say that, there are a lot of things to consider in outsourcing IT security. But the question here is, are you willing to take all the risks attached to it. How much would you risk? Would it be worth it? If yes, then you should be ready of the consequences that could happen, may it be positive or negative, successful or not!

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Muhammad Ali

I.T. and ME

         

          Information Technology changed how I do things everyday.  For the past decades change happened very slowly, delivering letters took days even months and not all people have cellphones and computers/laptops . During my student years, researching means going to libraries and reading magazines, books, esp. encyclopedias. Reporting means having to write on manila papers or acetate to be projected to a white wall. Term papers means tediously typing it on a typewriter and using correction fluid to make changes or worst retyping the whole page so that its neat, clean and readable. Reflecting on this, it made me realized that what i am doing during those years would be such an ordeal for students of today. Can you imagine looking for books in shelves the whole day, borrowing it (of course with your library card and ID) and taking it home to read, which you couldn’t finish. So with doing term papers, typing on a bond paper  that even how careful you are you still have a hard time finishing it without a blot of correction fluid.

          Now, with the advent of information technology, information can be gathered from cellphones, computers, and tablet with internet connection that is available to everybody and not to a few (which was the case during my student years). Everything happens in just a click of a button. Researching means having an internet connection and a computer/laptop/tablet. You don’t need to go to the library and wrestle with the books. Every information you want to know you can just type it on a search engine and hit enter then everything you want to know is right in front of you. Writing letters was replaced by sending emails which could be read in a matter of seconds. News can be read minutes after it happens you don’t have to wait the next day for the newspaper. Even in your cellphones you can access everything on it and communicating seems to be effortless nowadays. IT has changed our  lives, our way of living, it made things more easier and faster but this always comes with  a great responsibility to use it in any means that doesn’t infringe on anybody’s peace.

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers. – Sydney Harris

Learning for me!

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study. Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. ~Henry L. Doherty