Mobile Entertainment: Fun On The Move

Imagine what that long subway ride or bus commute would be like if you didn't have your Blackberry or your iPod to keep you entertained. Today's consumers depend on a variety of mobile devices to keep us connected, informed, and even entertained. The mobile consumer services and entertainment industry has witnessed remarkable advances over recent years. Cell phones now have the ability to connect to the Internet, play MP3 files, and enable users to play games. Digital media players can combine touch technology, Wi-Fi capabilities, and m-commerce functions all in a small device that easily fits in your pants pocket.

When Apple launched its famous iPod product line, it revolutionized the way people listen to music. Soon thereafter, Microsoft broke into the portable media player market with its Wi-Fi enabled Zune. Although the iPod continues to be a leader and set the standard in this product category, Microsoft's Zune offers some unique features. Earlier this month, Apple released its latest generation of improved iPods. Amidst the buzz from the new iPod launch, Microsoft released free Zune 3.0 hardware and software updates for its portable media player.

According to the Zune website and corporate press releases, the new Zune software features several notable advances in mobile entertainment and m-commerce. Most importantly, the Zune Marketplace is now available on the go. Users can shop for music right on their handheld device thanks to enhanced Wi-Fi access to the Zune Marketplace. Users can also tag and purchase songs they hear on the Zune’s FM radio tuner. If the Zune is near a wireless signal, users can instantly download the songs.

To help users take full advantage of the wireless functionality, Zune is "working with high-speed Internet access provider Wayport Inc. to deliver Zune users free, wireless access to the Zune Marketplace from more than 9,800 participating McDonald’s®restaurants across the U.S." Dan Lowden, vice president of business development and marketing for Wayport, made the following comment about working with Zune: "Our ability to enable and manage applications and devices over converged networks creates exciting new opportunities for our clients to attract new customers whose digital lifestyle extends beyond their home and office."

Other new features of the Zune 3.0 software include audiobooks, games, and a clock. Users can purchase audiobooks through Audible.com and through OverDrive-powered Web sites, an infrastructure provider for major booksellers and library systems, and then listen to them on their Zunes. Users can also now enjoy Zune's first step towards another major media segment — games. Zune 3.0 devices come preloaded with two free games, including: Hexic, a popular puzzle game, and Texas Hold ‘em style poker.

SaaS Fuels E-Commerce

"By 2013, 90 percent of e-commerce sites will use at least one product from software as a service, or SaaS vendors...[a]nd 40 percent of e-commerce sites will use a complete SaaS solution," according to a Gartner report released earlier this year.

Businesses no longer operate just in the physical environment. As people increasingly look to online sources for information, companies are moving into the virtual marketplace thanks to the Internet. When firms conduct business electronically, they are engaging in what is known as "e-business." E-business is a broad term that refers to the buying and selling of goods and services, servicing customers, collaborating with business partners, conducting e-learning, and processing electronic transactions via a computer network.

SaaS, which enables businesses to access applications over a network instead of purchasing expensive packaged enterprise applications, is becoming a great way for smaller firms to get involved in e-business. SaaS is also a great option for larger companies wanting to experiment in new markets. According to Richard Adhikari's article "SaaS E-Commerce Services on the Rise," the convenience and low cost of SaaS will "lure new entrants, small businesses, and departments of large corporations to e-commerce delivered as a service." Although big players in the e-business game will most likely strive to protect their unique position by custom building their e-commerce sites, SaaS provides a viable approach for others to join the e-business playing field.

Board Portals: No Assembly Required

Say "Goodbye" to traditional board meetings and say "Hello" to board portals. Over the last few years, so-called "board portals" have been taking over the board process, moving briefing books online. Similar to other information portals (like Yahoo!), board portals put vital board meeting information in one central location, thus allowing busy executives and board members to quickly and easily access the information they need to make decisions. Before board portals, executives had to lug their laptops and stacks of printed hard copy materials to board meetings. According to James Long, vice chairman of Wackenhut Services, board portals prevent directors at board meetings from being weighed down by an abundance of paper materials. By putting these board materials in a portal, businesses can benefit in a multitude of ways. Board portals can:

• improve communication among board members
• reduce travel requirements
• eliminate mailing and delivery hassles
• reduce paper waste and the cost of office supplies
• safeguard the privacy of board materials
• save time and effort

The BusinessWeek article "Board Portals: No Assembly Required" discusses the increasing adoption of board portals and evaluates a few of today's most popular portal packages available for companies. Ranging in price from an average of $25,000-$40,000, portal packages provide all the aforementioned advantages, as well as 24/7 support and on-site training.

If your firm is interested in adopting this new service, here is a list of the portal providers described in the BusinessWeek article:

• Directors Desk by Nasdaq
• BoardBooks by Diligent
• BoardLink by Thomson
• BoardVantage
• Leaders4 Board Information Management by 80-20

As a business professional, wouldn't you love to have critical information at your fingertips without having to shuffle through tons of papers?

Or do you think there are drawbacks to moving the board process to a more virtual, paperless environment?

Asia's Data Explosion

With growing populations and booming economies, Asian businesses are preparing for a data explosion. Earlier this year, a study by data storage giant EMC revealed some alarming data growth rates. In the region, digital data is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 57 percent between 2006 and 2010. By 2010, the data volume for Asian businesses is projected to reach 1.8 zettabytes or 1,800 billion gigabytes. This creates a serious concern for the region's businesses because the estimated data volume will exceed the total available storage space by nearly 50 percent.

From Singapore to Vietnam, large organizations are increasing efforts to improve storage management. Companies are establishing their backup data centers in different countries to alleviate some of the enterprise risk. While large corporations are taking extra measures to secure and support their valuable and rapidly growing data, small businesses and consumers have yet to experience the "storage crunch" and are not safeguarding their data from the impending explosion.

Click here for the full article about Asia's data debacle.

How TrueCredit Utilizes SOA To Build Fast, Reliable Applications

TrueCredit, a national U.S. credit bureau, can only maintain its competitive advantage by quickly developing new applications to meet increasing performance requirements. Software development used to take 180 days or more per application. TrueCredit needed new applications in 90 days or less. In order to tackle this challenge, TrueCredit made some IT changes and adopted service-oriented architecture.

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural concept that defines the use of services to support a variety of business needs. In SOA, existing IT assets (called services) are reused and reconnected rather than the more time consuming and costly reinvention of new systems (Turban, Leidner, McLean, and Wetherbe 2008).

(1) What were the major reasons that the company had to use SOA? Operating in a rapidly changing business environment, TrueCredit was struggling to keep up with increasing demands and processing needs. TrueCredit needed to develop new applications quickly (less than 90 days) to retain its competitive advantage. These new applications also had to be able to support 50,000 simultaneous users and cut response time to less than a second. SOA helped speed up software development so that TrueCredit could meet market needs.

(2) In what ways did they gain competitive advantage by using SOA? The major advantage to SOA is that it has the ability to quickly and easily collect and analyze data from multiple sources. By using SOA, TrueCredit was able to combine and reuse existing "services" to create new applications without having to start from scratch. Therefore, TrueCredit increased its flexibility and responsiveness to the business environment and its changing needs. Being an early adopter of SOA, TrueCredit gained first mover advantages.

(3) What specific "services" can you identify in a business like this? TrueCredit's services include: credit reporting, credit scoring, and related financial services on both its own and its partners' web sites.

(4) Why is it so important to serve 50,000 simultaneous users? As traffic on TrueCredit's sites and applications increase, the software must be able to handle user demands. In addition to providing services and information for TrueCredit customers, TrueCredit's applications also serve as the engine for its partners' products; therefore, increased processing capabilities are necessary for TrueCredit to effectively conduct business. Improving TrueCredit's processing abilities and response time ensures that all users have access to the information they need, when they need it. If TrueCredit were unable to provide quick and reliable information, it may lose credibility and some of its clients.

(5) Classify this application using the material in Section 2.2. TrueCredit's application can be classified as an interorganizational informational system (IOS) because it connects two or more organizations. TrueCredit's application shares and disseminates information via its own site and its partners' sites. The application can also be classified as an integrated support system because it incorporates two or more support systems. As an integrated support system, TrueCredit's application can provide extended functionalities and more useful information.

Chocolate Companies Love IT

Information technology is a powerful company asset. When optimally implemented, IT can help companies fulfill their goals and live up to their mission statements. For a class assignment, I was asked to select two familiar companies and see how those companies can utilize IT to help reach corporate objectives. Being a self-proclaimed chocolate connoisseur, I chose to investigate two well-known candy companies, Hershey's and Cadbury. We all know about their delicious chocolates and candies, but you may be unfamiliar with Hershey's and Cadbury's business practices. So, here's a little more information about two of my favorite brands.

HERSHEY'S
Mission Statement: Bringing sweet moments of Hershey happiness to the world every day. To our shareholders, this means:

• Consumers – Delivering quality consumer-driven confectionery experiences for all occasions
• Employees – Winning with an aligned and empowered organization … while having fun
• Business Partners – Building collaborative relationships for profitable growth with our customers, suppliers and partners
• Shareholders – Creating sustainable value
• Communities – Honoring our heritage through continued commitment to making a positive difference

Corporate Philosophy: In seeking to balance our desire for profitable growth with the obligations which we have to various other constituencies, we shall strive to:

1. Protect and enhance the corporation's high level of ethics and conduct
2. Maintain a strong "people" orientation and demonstrate care for every employee
3. Attract and hold customers and consumers with products and services of consistently superior quality and value
4. Sustain a strong results orientation coupled with a prudent approach to business

CADBURY
Mission Statement: As Cadbury plc, our purpose is to work together to create confectionery brands people love. Our governing objective remains to deliver superior shareowner returns through achieving our vision of being the biggest and best confectionery group in the world.

Our Strategy: We believe that the business still has significant untapped potential – both in terms of top line growth and returns. By exploiting the strength of our leadership positions to continue to grow our market share and significantly increase our margins and returns, we aim to achieve our vision of becoming the biggest and best confectionery company in the world.

Our Vision into Action (VIA) plan for 2008 to 2011 aligns the energies and efforts of our teams around the world behind a number of priorities which will make the most impact on our revenue and margin performance.

In order to generate superior returns for our shareowners, our VIA will deliver six financial targets. These are set out in our financial performance scorecard below:

• Organic revenue growth of 4% - 6% every year
• Total confectionery share gain
• Mid-teens trading margins by 2011
• Strong dividend growth
• An efficient balance sheet
• Growth in Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)

To achieve these financial goals, we have a growth and efficiency strategy which aligns behind our focus on fewer, faster, bigger and better. This focus is being applied to all aspects of our business.

HOW IT SUPPORTS BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
Virtually every function of business can benefit from IT. Operational, managerial, and strategic activities all impact a firm's performance and play a role in reaching goals. Information systems support all of these business activities, thus enabling companies to achieve objectives.

Operational Activities: Operational activities deal with the day-to-day operations of an organization, which makes them short-term by nature. Such activities can include processing orders and recording employee labor hours. Transaction processing systems (TPSs), management information systems (MISs), and mobile systems typically support operational activities. A company's mission statement and goals shape its behavior in the business environment. Business operations must carried out so that the firm's mission is upheld and corporate goals are achieved.

Managerial Activities: Managerial or tactical activities are concerned the middle-management activities of short-term planning, organizing, and control. Several types of information systems are available which help managers perform their duties and make sound business decisions. In order to reach company goals, managers must use all of the information available to them to make good decisions. MISs and business intelligence (BI) can provide managers with relevant data.

Strategic Activities: Strategic activities or decisions have the power to significantly change the manner in which business is conducted. These activities help to formulate both short- and long-term plans. IT impacts strategic response activities by supporting or providing the response to a competitor's action or changes in the business environment. IT can also help a company become an initiator of change.

Additionally, the missions and goals of both companies can be better achieved by utilizing several specific types of information technology. With a customer-centric attitude, Hershey's and Cadbury can strengthen their relationship with customers and improve satisfaction through business intelligence and automated decision support (ADS) systems. A strong IT infrastructure which allows for quick and easy communication among all employees and business partners is necessary. Communication and collaboration systems allow employees, partners, and customers to interact and work together more efficiently. Management information systems (MISs) and knowledge management (KM) systems aid managers with making business decisions. Transaction processing systems (TPSs) and inventory management systems can generate usable data and boost efficiency. At the manufacturing level, IT systems can support quality standards and streamline production.

Goodbye, Mr. Meter Reader

Remember that little box attached to the side of your house? You know, the one that keeps track of your electricity usage and requires a professional meter reader to come by and check the numbers, often leaving muddy tire tracks on your driveway?

With the onslaught of innovative technologies, it may finally be time to say goodbye to your local meter reader. San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is looking to switch out nearly 10 million old disc-and-dial meters with sleek, micro-chipped wireless "smart meters." A recent BusinessWeek article "Electricity Meters Spark a Debate" outlines some of the key advantages for the switch and why some critics oppose this new technology. Check out the full article to learn how smart meters can save electricity and streamline the business practices of the electricity industry. Then come back and tell me what you think about this costly but advantageous technology.