Introduction

This is a blog that had been created in order to fulfill the project requirement of the Subject Management Information System which is creating a blog and uploaded all the case study that our group, Tech-away, had done in the early of the semester.

We have included the case study from Chapter 3 to Chapter 12 which had included the answer.

Chapter 12: iPhone Become iTrack

Chapter 12: Ethical and Social Issues in Information System

Question 1:    

Why do cell phone manufacturers (Apple, Google, and BlackBerry) want to track where their go?

            The main purpose for the cell phone manufacturers to track down where they go is because the data that they had collect is for advertising and marketing purpose. Mobile technologies based on the smartphone make it there’s a possibility to locate user’s throughout the day, to report thereabouts is information to corporate data base, retain and analyze the information. When the information has been analyzed, the cell phone manufacturers sell the information they acquired to advertisers and others. There’s few number of firm have adopted this kind of business models based on the ability of smartphone to report on your whereabouts, it doesn’t matter whether you choose to so or not. Other than that, law enforcement agencies certainly have an interest in knowing the whereabouts of criminals and suspects, also the course divorce lawyers usually want a obtain the information where the spouse locate over a long period of time. The location data from cell phone users has extraordinary commercial values, this is because the advertising company can send you advertisement, coupon and other related things based on where the users located. The market for location-based services in 2011 is expected to be $2.9 billion, and will rise to $8.3 billion in 2014 according to Gartner. This is why cell phone manufacturers want to track where their go.

Question 2: 
Do you think cell phone customers should be able to turn tracking off? Should customers be informed when they are being tracked? Why or why not?

In my opinion, I think that there should be a feature to turn the tracking system off in order to protect users’ privacy. This system should make it more flexible to its consumers. In this modernized society, most people especially teenagers would like to have their own privacy and would like to find some space to express their emotions. In fact, other than teenager’s, most of the VVIP personnel would not like to be tracked as well. This is because their daily routine and schedule would not like to be exposed to anyone including the cell phone manufacturers as most of these people will have their own private invitation or private ceremony to attend. It will expose any security weakness to the users and it might lead to criminal case for those VVIP.

The notification feature should implement to notify the users when they are being tracked by the devices as well. For instance, if a user is being tracked by someone, he or she will be in danger if he or she is being tracked by a robber or kidnapper without being notified will actually ease these people to commit crime.

Question 3:

Do you think cell phone tracking is a violation of a person’s privacy?

Indeed, cell phone tracking system is an invasion of privacy. It is an inevitable fact that there’s no one would like to be tracked by someone else, regardless who they are. People tend to seek a private space for themselves whenever they are having their personal problems and it is surely that they do not want their secret share with others. The users will have the feeling of unsafe and uncomfortable if such system had been installed into a cell phone. Furthermore, it will violate one’s privacy if his or her whereabouts are being exposed or being known by someone else. Cell phone tracking system will eventually exposed the secret or privacy of those VVIP personnel. They would not like to be followed by others as their secret or privacy may be brought into media. This is actually a harassment and disturbance to their daily life. This case will become worst if it leads to crime. In conclusion, privacy should be the major concern to the implementation of this system; same thing should go to personal safety.

Chapter 11: DST Systems Scores with Scrum and Application Lifecycle Management

Chapter 11: DST Systems Scores with Scrum and Application Lifecycle Management

1.      What were some of the problems with DST Systems’ old software development environment?

      

     The problems include the managers unable to decide the way of resources allocation, and also the project managers or employees were working on certain projects and status of specific assets. The group development had used various tools processes and source code control systems without any unified repository for code or a standardized developer tool set. Besides, I think DST must be modified or innovated by new method in order to improve the efficient and function of the old DST system.

2.      How did Scrum development help solve some of those problems?

    Scrum relies on self-organizing, cross-functional teams supported by a ScrumMaster and a product owner. The Scrum exist software development tools and experienced strong results. Scrum development help in solving some of these problems by accelerating its software development cycle from 24 months to 6 months and developer productivity increased by 20%. What the scrum development pretty much acted like, was the coach for the team. This is how the Scrum development helped solve some of these problems.

3.      What other adjustments did DST make to be able to use Scrum more effectively in its software projects? What management, organization and technology issues had to be addressed?

     Other adjustments DST was able to make and use Scrum more effectively in its software projects. It is setting up a project evaluation team to identify the right development environment. DST wanted the ability to use the new software without significant training and software, they could quickly adopt without jeopardizing AWD’s development cycle. After considering, DST settled on CollabNet’s offerings. CollabNet specializes in software designed to work well with agile software development methods such as Scrum. Its core product is Team Forge, it used to centralize management of users, projects, processes and assets. DST adopted Collabnet's subversion product to help with the management control of changes to project documents, programs, and other information stored as computer files. DST’s adoption of CollabNet’s products was fast, just requiring 10 weeks. Besides, the adjustment allowed DST to complete all of their work within the ALM platform.

For the part of management, organization and technology issues had to be addressed, Jerry Tubbs, the systems development manager at DST systems, says DST was successful in attempts to revamp the software group because some factors.

1.  Looked for simplicity rather than complicated

2.  Much cheaper than some of the alternatives

3. Involved developers in the decision making process to ensure that change to be greeted enthusiastically

4. Allow for the developers to adopt ALM software on their own.

The company was successful because they selected the right development framework as well as the          right software to make that change a reality and skillfully managed the change process.

Chapter 10: Albassami's Job Is Not Feasible Without IT

Albassami's Job Is Not Feasible Without IT

      1.    What systems are described here? What valuable information do they provide?

Robust computerized system and Information system.  Both systems have replication between the servers at headquarters and the client’s branches. Interaction between both parties allows the data aggregate to create the most update database version. The most recent version of the client list, new shipping contracts and truck’s availability will be shared during the transmission message. Thus, the customer is allowed to deal with any branches at any time. Furthermore, the recipient branch will create a receipt entry on the system upon arrival of the truck and then a Short Messaging Service communication (SMS)  is create and sent to the customer, who will then go to the destination branch to receive the car.

      

     

  

       2.    What value did the IT/IS investment added to Albassami?

Information Technology/Information System investment help Albassami to conduct all the business processes. The shipping information system will trigger the transmitting of the information from all the branches to the HQ and then the information will be shared and sent back to all branches. Management team will then extracted the knowledge from the central database and enabled them to make sound investment and operational decisions. Therefore, the business is able to be maintained its success and leadership in the Kingdom.

           3.   How did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and information               requirements of Albassami?

Shipping Information System which includes information about the output of the vehicle’s                 tracking information that allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behavior.  Moreover, the system also provides standard reports  to top management and head sectors about all the productivity branches, more accuracy to identify the need for different regions and thus proper budget allocation. On the other hand, linking the data of vehicle maintenance centers with the transportation services helps to improve company performance and customer service. Lastly, the Shipping Information System used at Albassami also maintains all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also send an SMS to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. In a short word, Shipping Information System is essence to all the company, the cooperation and interaction between employees is needed whenever conduct this system.

Chapter 9: Social Commerce Creates New Customer Relationships

QUESTION 1

Assess the people, organization, and technology issues for using social media to engage with customers.

Firstly, people normally use social media to engage with their friends, to keep in touch with friends and to let them know what they are doing. Next, for the organization social media have become powerful tools for engaging customers. In addition, some companies have opportunity to shape the perception of their brands and to solidify relationships with their customers.  Moreover, assess of technology media social has help to track their location to loyal followers and fans.  Besides that, appointment based businesses can easily tweet or post cancellations and unexpected openings. Larger companies run sweepstake and promotions.

QUESTION 2

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for advertising, brand building, market research, and customer service?

Advantage	Disadvantage
1.      Bring people together. ·         Facilitate to open communication and enhancing information discovery and delivery. ·         Everyone can find new people, meet their friends and communicate to their love ones all over the world. ·         Examples Levi’s was the first national brands to use Facebook and Twitter to allow consumers to socialize and share their purchases with friends.	1.      Understanding on how it works ·         You need to understand how social media works, when and how to use it and which channels to focus on depending on your end goal of using social media in order to get its full effects.
2.      Breadth of knowledge ·         People can experience the broadness of knowledge and connectedness through social media use. ·         It is easier for them to know or find out different information or something about almost anything in the world through a connected media. ·         For examples, Best Buy used    “ Twelp Force” to answer questions and respond to complaints. ·         Moreover, they generate feedback on social network and related sites, the company uses text mining to gather these data and convert them to useful information.	2.       Commits illegal crime ·         Social media may open possibility for hackers to commit illegal crime such as fraud, spam and virus attacks. People falling prey to online scan may also increase, resulting in data or identity theft.
3.      Technology Literacy ·         Help to develop some sorts of simple skills. ·         Mostly, relies on advanced information and communication technologies that work to build and support technological literacy for people. ·         For example, many Facebook ads feature the ability to “Like” a brand, send a virtual gift, answer a poll question, or instantly stream information to your news feed.	3.       Viral social disadvantage ·         This may damage one’s reputation. The wrong online brand strategy could put you on this.
4.      Opportunity to widen business ·         It could always be a fun and creative method of doing your business because it not just allows employees to discuss and share ideas, ask questions, post news and share links but it minimize the use of advertising to businesses and improves business reputation. ·         It also creates a more competent and reliable business. ·         For examples, Starbucks run contests on twitter regularly and uses the service to spread free product samples.	4.       Negative effects on worker productivity ·         Results in lost productivity and employees may use social media to attack the company’s reputation. ·         Instead of working in their time of work, they can waste such valuable time using social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. ·         This may result in negative comments from employees about the company or potential legal consequences if employees use these sites to view objectionable, illicit or offensive material.
5.      Attracts attention ·        Aside from building loyalty and long-term relations to your audience, social media can attract attention to your site, product or services. ·        For example, Rosetta Stone has used Facebook’s targeting capabilities to determine which types of people respond to various ads it has created. ·        Rosetta Stone designed a series of advertisements for its language- learning products with Webtrends, Inc., and launched the ads on Facebook.	5.      Distraction ·         Most people who suffer from this are students. ·          Instead of doing their homework they tend to fail their academic endeavors because of using social media in the wrong way.

QUESTION 3

Should all companies use Facebook and Twitter for customer service and advertising? Why or why not? What kinds of companies best suited to use these platforms?

No, because there are companies which cannot carries out an online business. Hence, some companies only who expert and suitable for the online business. Here is the  list of companies that suitable for the media social business.

            Firstly, Martell Home Builders is an Atlantic Canadian custom homebuilder. In the past, Martell relied heavily on realtors to keep their business moving forward. However, once they embraced social media, they were able to create a direct-to-consumer model where they were no longer reliant on an middleman to bring them business.

            Secondly, Zappos is an online retailer that sells shoes, clothing and accessories. They’re known for the enormous emphasis they put on creating real relationships with their fans and customers.

            Thirdly, Giantnerd is a company that sells outdoor equipment for outdoor activities like hiking, biking and snowboarding. This company represents one of the best examples of social media integration seen online today. Their emphasis is on giving their customers the most value possible while becoming friends with them in the process.

            Next, Ford has brought the social experience to the forefront of their marketing efforts. Each time they add a new blog post, they pull in the image, headline of the post and the comments from readers onto the front page of their website. Those new to the site or those browsing for a new car get to experience the company and its culture from a social viewpoint right from the start.

            Convince & Convert is a social media strategy firm with clients across North America. Its founder, Jay Baer, is a social media expert and co-author of the new book titled The Now Revolution.

            Moreover, Cree is a business-to-business company that sells energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, industrial LED lighting. When you think of social media marketing, you wouldn’t think that an industrial lighting company that sells LEDs to grocery stores would be shining; however, Cree is extremely social-savvy.

            Emmy’s Closet is an online store that sells accessories for children. They’re a great example of infusing social media with ecommerce. Emmy’s Closet is an extension of the popular arts and crafts ecommerce site, Etsy.com. On the site they use an application created by Etsy that allows you to browse and purchase directly through Facebook

            Besides that, San Chez Bistro is a tapas bistro and restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Just like Martell Home Builders, they’ve taken social media and infused it with the needs and preferences of their local audience. San Chez encourages their patrons to use Twitter to reserve a seat at their restaurant. They call it “Tweet-Ahead Seating” and it’s a great use of social media local marketing. Once you tweet your interest in a reservation, the online hostess tweets you back with a message similar to this: “Great, you’re on the list. See you in a little while.”

            Lastly, Cranium, a game by Hasbro, takes board games to the next level by including fun activities like drawing, singing, acting and trivia questions.To make their experience more social, Cranium does a great job of using content from the game to engage with their fans. They often post factoids that can be found in their game, such as the one about Einstein’s theory below. They know their audience well and therefore know that these fun factoids will attract them.

Chapter 8: Customer Relationship Management Heads to the Cloud

          

            1)      What types of companies are most likely to adopt cloud-based CRM software services?

                   Why? What companies might not be well-suited for this type of software? 

Types of companies that may want to adopt cloud may be any company wanting to consolidate multiple services or applications into one, mainly to reduce electricity, personal or operating costs. Companies that need a Service level agreement or sense of data security would not want to invest into a cloud system. Companies who struggling with a lot of data to be store also prefer to use this. Cutting cost companies are also recommended to use this system.

Cloud-based CRM would help these companies to achieve operational excellent and customer intimacy and released from fixed and operational cost. Not only that, it also allow them to subscribe and cancel without losing large up-front software license and hardware investment.

Some companies are not suit with this software services. Those companies made large investment on solutions that already work, concern about security issues and control of their data are the examples not encourage to use such software. Companies which might independent on their provider also not prefer to do so.  

            2)      What are the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud-based enterprise applications

                        Advantages:

      1.  Easy Implementation Cloud hosting allows businesses to retain the same applications and business processes without having to deal with the backend technicalities. Readily manageable by the Internet, a cloud infrastructure can be accessed by enterprises easily and quickly. Another advantage is a lesser cost for in-house IT infrastructure maintenance. While some providers may say cloud hosting allows companies to save money by taking away the need for an IT support and management team, the opposite is true. We at Stratosphere Networks believe redundancy is key. While a backup can be an extra cost, it can be worth it in the event of a technical failure within the cloud.

      

       2.      Accessibility Access your data anywhere, anytime. An internet cloud infrastructure maximizes enterprise productivity and efficiency by ensuring your application is accessible from any place anytime, allowing collaboration and sharing among users in multiple locations.

     

       3.      No Hardware Required A physical storage center is no longer needed as it is hosted in the cloud. Again, a backup could be worth looking into in the event of a disaster that could leave your company's productivity stagnant.

       4.      Cost Per Head Overhead technology costs are kept at a minimum with cloud hosting services, enabling businesses to use the extra time and resources for improving the company infrastructure.

        5.      Troubleshooting, installation and configuring Cloud hosting provides easy, optimal utilization and management. In addition to 24x7x365 monitoring, Stratosphere Networks will install, troubleshoot and configure your cloud software and handle any customization and upgrades your enterprise may need.

       

        6.      Flexibility for Growth Easily scalable so companies can add or subtract resources based on their own needs. As companies grow, the need to expand their cloud infrastructure will also grow.

       7.      Efficient Recovery Cloud computing delivers faster and more accurate retrieval of applications and data. With less downtime, it is the most efficient recovery plan.

   

  

                 

c                      Disadvantages

    

      1.      You are no longer in control When moving services to the cloud, you are handing over your data and information. For companies who have an in-house IT staff, they are unable to handle issues on their own by logging onto a server. Instead they have to open a ticket like any end user. This may be hard for clients to understand, especially an IT staff that is used to handling tickets and internal technical issues internally. Stratosphere Networks guarantees our 24/7 live help desk will rectify any problems immediately - we are just one phone call away.

       2.      You may not get all the features Not all cloud services are the same. Your cloud provider may not provide every feature or customization you want as some tend to offer limited versions and enable the most popular features. Before installation, make sure you know what your cloud service provider offers before signing up.

        3.      Just because clouds require no hardwire, doesn't mean you should do away with your servers Yes, you may have fewer servers to handle which means less for your IT staff to handle, but in no way does that mean you can let go of all your servers and your staff. While it may seem costly to have datacenters and a cloud infrastructure, redundancy is key for backup and recovery. 

         4.      No redundancy A cloud server is essentially not redundant nor is it backed up. As technology may fail here and there, avoid getting burned by purchasing a redundancy plan. Although it is an extra cost, in most cases it is well worth it. 

         5.      Bandwidth issues For ideal performance, clients have to plan accordingly and do not pack large amounts of servers and storage devices into a small set of data centers. 

                    3)      What people, organization, technology issues should be addressed in deciding whether to use a                      conventional CRM system versus a cloud-based version?

      Difficult to understand for ill-trained users, attempting to contain a large and complex group of data.  Poor usability and low usage rates lead many companies to indicate that it was difficult to justify investment in the software without the potential for more tangible gains. Large investment to build and maintain a customer database which requires computer hardware, database software, analytical programme, communication links and skill personnel. There was a risk assessment to the users because the using of this cloud-based software server is not the owner of infrastructure privacy. Dependability should be consider during the decision due to the issues of storing data, difficult to export data, and dependent of provider.

Chapter 7: Information security threats and policies in Europe

     

     

           1. What is a botnet?

A bot is an autonomously operating software agent which may be controlled by a remote operator to perform malicious tasks typically installed onto a victim’s computer without the owner’s consent or knowledge. Malware that exploits the vulnerabilities of the web servers, operating systems, or applications is installed and created to take control of the infected computers           

      2.   Describe some of the main points of the Digital Agenda for Europe?

Digital Agenda Europe used to define the key role that information and communication technologies will play in 2020. It is to open the digital market in European. Hence, broadband speeds of 30Mbps will be available to all European citizens by 2020, and implementation of measures to protect privacy and the establishment of a well-functioning network of CERT to prevent cybercrime and respond effectively to cyber attacks.

                         3.   Explain how the cyber attack can be carried out.

 There are 3 basic parts to a cyber-attack. First of all, Access, a method to get inside or gain access to a network or system. Secondly, Vulnerability, some part of the system that the attacker can take advantage of or manipulate. Last but not least, Payload, the purpose of the attack, namely, what exactly is the target and how significant will the damage be

4           4.    Describe some of the weakness exploited by malware.

There are some weakness exploited by malware, one of it is the security defects in software. Malware exploits defects in the sign of the operating system, in applications or in browser pluggin such as Java and Adobe Flash Player. Most systems contain bugs, or loopholes which may exploited by malware.Not only that, insecure design or user error also one of the weakness exploited by malware. Originally, PC had to be booted from floopy disks. Until recently, it was common for a computer to boot from an external boot device by default. This meant that computer would, by default, boot from a floopy disk, USB flash drive, or CD and malicious boot code could be used to install malware or boot into a modified operating system. Autorun or autoplay features may allow code to be automatically executed from external disk drive without permissions.Besides, over-privilleged users and over-privilleged code cause malware allowed to modify internal structures of the system and subvert the system.