MIS - Getting Wired

When first asked to create a blog – I panicked. By no means do I pretend to be technically inclined by any means, in fact, I have always been very open to being technically challenged. Coming up with a blog in less than a week with all kinds of specifications was pretty scary and guess what – it wasn’t that bad. In fact, I really enjoyed learning and applying my knowledge.

In addition to actually setting the blog up and surviving that, I really liked having to post information related to what we were learning. Doing research on the web and learning about all of the applications available was fun. I’ve had to get a small notebook just to start saving all of my login id’s and passwords for numerous sites and I plan to get access to a few more sites, once I’m done for the summer.

The MIS textbook and the applied learning activities did a really good job of demonstrating just how important technology is to our lives and the benefits it has. It really helped me to understand just how effective technology and automation is to business and the cost benefits it has.

In a nutshell, MIS wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be and I feel that I've graduated from techically challenged to a rookie – I’m getting wired.

Facebook News

Facebook, the creation of Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg in April of 2004, now has over 6 million members at hundreds of colleges. Between 10,000 and 20,000 new members sign up daily. For those of you who have yet to experience Facebook, it is a social networking site. I never heard of it until three months ago when my friend
from Toronto encouraged me to log on – she joked by saying she
now has 50 friends. Considering she’s a Maritimer in the big
city – I’m happy she’s getting the chance to network.

In recent news, Facebook has launched a new platform to give advertisers a deeper level of free access to its 24 million users by providing them the ability to write applications that can be shared from person to person.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the "Social Graph" of the site's users who influence their friends and contacts. Calling the Facebook Platform an operating system to gain access to the Facebook members, he invited developers to create applications to run across the site. The hope is the advertiser applications will generate more traffic, adding ad inventory for Facebook’s paid advertising through the pages generated by the applications, which will cost nothing to the companies adding them to the site.

As part of its launch, Facebook laid claim to 65 partner companies who had already developed over 85 applications to run on the platform. They run the range from major businesses like Microsoft, Amazon and Red Bull, to online game companies like social gaming site Bunchball and entertainment fantasy gaming site FantasyMoguls.com. Interestingly, the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s Obama for America have joined in – now that’s a really innovative way to get elected!

Needless to say, I haven’t had time to join Facebook but now that our MBA course is almost done for the summer, I think I’ll catch up on the great tools we’ve learned about.

See ya on Facebook!

Keep your Laptop Safe

In earlier posts titled “Computer 101” I discussed how to keep your computer safe and well maintained. That won’t make any difference if you don’t keep your hardware safe from theft. That’s right, people like to steal PC’s (especially laptops) and steal the information you have on them. Use these tips, gadgets, and utilities, to increase the safety of your hardware:

• Stay in touch – Try to keep your hand, finger, or arm on your computer when you glance away from your laptop.
  
• Keep a low profile – Carry your laptop in an inconspicuous bag or backpack that doesn’t look like it actually carries a computer.
  
• Lock and load – If you don’t get a lock with the purchase of your notebook, purchase one with a locking port that connects to cable locks made by Kensington and other companies.
  
• Be a screamer – I know it sounds funny but there are actually security systems that by motion sensor, trigger terrible shrieks when the laptop is moved. These devices are more than likely quite effective but also embarrassing.
  
• Cover it up – Ensure that your laptop is covered if left in the car and also keep it locked.
  
• Record Serial Number – Ensure that you keep record of the computer’s serial number and make an identifying scratch mark to help identify the system.

There is nothing worse than losing a valuable item; however, losing a laptop is a double whammy – it’s not only valuable but carries a lot of personal information. Invest in keeping your hardware safe!

Computer 101

Your computer is probably the single most important piece of equipment in your business. When it's not working properly, your entire business slows employee productivity dips, customers aren't served properly. If you're ignoring your computer's maintenance and upkeep, you could find yourself in trouble someday.

The good news is, maintaining your computer's health doesn't have to involve much time or many resources. Here are seven things to consider that will help you take better care of your computer:

• Think before you install - Installing software on your computer will take up space on your hard drive, which will eventually slow your computer down. These random programs could also be an open door for viruses and cause other programs to crash. So install as few programs as possible on your computer.


• Install the right software - Ensuring your computer is protected from digital vandals is critical if you want to keep information safe. It's therefore important that you install both an antivirus program and a firewall software program. These two critical pieces of software, which you should update on a regular basis, will serve as a wall of protection for your computer.


• Update your operating system - Microsoft Windows is the software you're most likely using to power your computer programs and control how your computer operates. It's critical that you update Microsoft Windows on a regular basis by going to the "Windows Update" website www.windowsupdate.com automatically update your operating system.


• Dump what you don't need - Every few months you should regularly inventory your computer to find and delete the programs you don't really need. These unused or unnecessary programs take up valuable hard drive space, and if you're not using them, you should remove them from your computer via the “Add/Remove” programs option in your control panel.


• Defragment your hard drive - Your hard drive is one of the hardest-working parts of your computer—you're using it all the time, every day (whether you realize it or not) to access the programs you use and store the files you create. That's why it's critical to defrag your hard drive on a regular basis to keep things running as quickly as possible. Do it monthly if you're a “light” computer user and weekly if you're a power user.


• Keep things clean - To help ensure your computer runs smoothly, don’t cover the air vents—you need to keep the internal components as cool as possible. You should also vacuum your computer every few months to clean out the dust that accumulates.


• Security is important - When things do go wrong, you want to be prepared. Therefore, it’s important to always backup your important data. You can back it up online, to an external hard drive or to a central server, or you can place the data on CD-ROMs or DVDs.

Whatever method you choose, make sure to back it up on a regular basis so that if your computer crashes, you can easily recover your important data.

Going to the Whiteboard

Do you know Andy – the Whiteboard guy? I’ve tried not to post a lot about UPS but I can’t help but talk about our newest marketing campaign. The series of UPS “Whiteboard” TV commercials will be off the air for a few months, but if you missed any of the spots that made up the critically acclaimed campaign, the good news is that all 14 remain available at the Whiteboard website, ups.com/whiteboard. As well as being plain good fun, the spots showcase in just a few pen strokes how UPS can solve complex business problems.

There’s more to the UPS Whiteboard site than TV spots. Featuring web shows and demonstrations that are designed to help decision makers quickly identify simple solutions to complex problems, the site is simple to navigate, so users can quickly find what they need and contact UPS to initiate service.

Whether you’re contemplating going global, modernizing your shipping or even taking your business to the next level with a small business loan, the Whiteboard site will have Andy, the Whiteboard guy, show you how simple it can be? He’ll even deliver (in his unique style) a personalized e-mail message to anyone you choose. Like a note to the boss thanking him for that pay raise or promotion, for example.

Corporate Wikipedia

If you’ve got a question, Wikipedia probably has an answer. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia assembled by users around the world. This innovative method of centralizing information and eliminating the need for the space of reference books is mainstream. Wikipedia has fostered new corporate internal Wikipedia websites that draws on the input of employee’s companywide.

Although centralizing employee reference material is efficient, some employees don't like being edited by colleagues, especially those further down the org chart. I would imagine employees would get pretty frustrated that somebody else edited their work. The sites that make it easy for people to add and edit information have revolutionized encyclopedia creation, evidenced by the growth of Wikipedia. A range of enterprise wiki software from Atlassian, Socialtext, CustomerVision, MindTouch, Traction, and others gives companies much-needed security and access control features.

Companies use Wikis for wide-ranging activities such as tracking industry news, setting meeting agendas, posting corporate policies, and even creating strategy documents. Because there are several freely available open-source software packages like MediaWiki and TWiki, it's easy for employees to start one without even alerting the IT department.

Even employees convinced of the usefulness of Wikis aren't necessarily comfortable with them, especially when their work may be seen and tinkered with by colleagues from across the company. Some companies let employees take a more passive role, for instance with Wikis that track industry news or update employees on quickly changing rules and regulations.

In my opinion, Wikipedia for the office makes sense and with a few controls in place, employees have a way to feel in the know (which is always an employee relations issue) and they feel empowered to ensure that information is updated as methods and processes change. In addition, Wikipedia centralizes knowledge at a low cost which I’m going to assume reduces training time, as well. Despite its funny name, Wikipedia is great!

Create a Blog to Boost Your Business

If you are reading this article - congratulations, you've entered the world of blogging. Five weeks ago, I was one of those people who didn't really know what a blog was, nor cared to find out, let alone see the relevance it has to business. I'm just a rookie but starting to get the hang of it. Being as I'm a private person and a very busy one too, I'm not sure I will benefit from blogging on a personal level. However, I see a huge opportunity for companies small and large benefiting from blogging.

Business blogging has the opportunity to become a powerful tool by allowing businesses to communicate with consumers, share their valuable feedback about performance and find out how to meeting their customer's needs. The great thing about it all, the costs are minimal. Here are some additional advantages to business blogging:

• Word of mouth expands to hundreds and thousands of people


• Information can be posted real-time which increases the speed of communication


• Brand awareness and loyalty increases through relationship building online


• Feedback is open and honest


• Customer communities are built which further expands a businesses reach

Start reading blogs that teach you how to blog. As you might imagine, there are several blogs dedicated to teaching people the dos and don'ts of blogging. Here are a few I would recommend:

• ProBlogger is one of the best resources out there on how to become a great blogger.


• The Blog Herald offers news about blogging. It often links to information or to-dos that any blogger should know.


• BlogWrite for CEO's is designed for management but it still contains a lot of good, basic information for someone just starting out.

Business blogging is an innovative way to meet your business objectives in a cost-effective way. There are some great sites that will provide you with the who, what, when, where and why of business blogging.

The Virtual Room

Can you imagine creating your own 3D Character representing yourself so that you can communicate with your peers to discuss and solve day-to-day issues facing your organization?
More and more companies’ and their employees are meeting via high-level computerized conferences, collaborating on such projects as product strategy and information-technology planning. These meetings are beginning to occur via the new virtual world, with three-dimensional graphic characters, or avatars, standing
in for actual employees, making notes, holding conversations, and solving problems. It's certainly a chance to re-invent yourself!

Companies across the globe have been rushing to establish marketing in virtual worlds such as Second Life, largely to get their brands and products in front of the hard-core techies who spend hours immersed in online role playing. But lately, executives from a range companies, including Intel and HP are making a deeper push into virtual worlds, using them for a host of other tasks, such as training, private collaboration, and outreach to analysts and customers.

The software uses light, music, and color cues to highlight documents under discussion. Missed a meeting? No problem. Attendees can save work, including notes and a chat transcript, for later use.

How much the technology will transform users' business is an open question, and in some cases security remains an issue. Company property in Second Life is now largely open to the public.

The virtual meeting room sounds like a lot of fun but I’d probably be distracted with all the bells and whistles that go along with the convenience. I’d be interested in knowing how our bosses picture themselves in the virtual world!

Why the size of your business doesn’t matter on the Internet

As online retailing flourishes, companies' large and small are finding that the Internet can be a great way to build strong relationships with customers.

UPS is often a big part of making those ties even stronger. With Yahoo! Merchant Solutions, a UPS Ready e-commerce package, UPS helps companies of all sizes by providing shipping and web tools that streamline traditional shipping processes, leaving business owners free to give customers the attention they deserve.

Companies can benefit in different ways, depending on their size. The result, however, is the same: more time to spend on customers and consequently, more customers.

Larger companies have found that online tools like company blogs and virtual communities can help them become more accessible to customers and more responsive to customer needs.

Smaller companies have found that the Internet provides a terrific way for them to expand their reach, finding new customers far from home. These days, a first or second generation e-commerce site will most likely appear homemade and send the wrong impression. However, a well designed, efficient website, even the smallest startup can compete head-to-head with industry giants without losing that small-company touch.

Managing Communication at Work

Ladies and Gents,

After attending our first session of Managing Information Systems, I have realized something - I am "Clueless about Technology". In fact, out of all the inquiries Philipe made as to what tools we used, I think I raised my hand to two: Online Banking and MSN. I have a computer at home that I don't get much time to use (unless I'm doing homework of course) and a computer at work that I get way to much face time with. Working at UPS has helped me understand a lot about the importance of technology, the importance of integration, and the impact technology has on employees, customers, productivity, and management.

The only reason I know a little bit about MSN is because UPS allows us to use MSN to improve internal communication. From a management perspective, I find the tool useful but it can be a pain in the neck as well. For those of you who may not be familiar with MSN Web Messenger, it's a feature that allows users to communicate real-time (virtual conversation) with individuals and/or groups. You simply type in your message and send, then within seconds or minutes (depending on how slow of a typer the recipient is) they can respond. Users can customize their site, add pictures, add web cams, add emoticons to their communication, and also monitor whom in your contact list is available to communicate or not. That's the basics but there are lots of other features.

I first started using MSN to communicate to my manager when she was elsewhere in meetings, as I knew that she would see the MSN pop-up. I then started asking my peers quick questions via MSN and got quick answers. I find MSN is informal and a quick way to communicate with people. Since I supervise employees, my peers find it useful to MSN me if they see something going on that I need to investigate, like a hot dispute between employees. MSN saves time and I get real-time answers! The only draw-back is that even when you put your status as busy or away, you get the odd pain in the neck who is trying to get your attention through MSN. I feel compelled to answer!

Although I'm using MSN at work, I still have opportunities to improve my usage of it. For instance, MSN is a great tool for meetings, and for communicating confidential details within departments (so there's no ears glued to your conversation), and for directing work flow and even directing teams. I met a student in the 2005 MBA stream who primarily uses MSN to direct her team and manage her own work flow. She works from home often, she manages numerous MSN conversations at one time, manages her team and their work flow through MSN, and facilitates most of her meetings through MSN. I'm certainly not at that point yet.

By the way, if you plan on trying MSN, you may want to familiarize yourself with some of the lingo - there's some weird stuff.