Sunday, March 20, 2011

The ever changing evolution

The ever changing evolution: Technology is allowing companies evolve and become innovated to test new ideas at speeds never heard of a few years ago. Innovation is the lifeblood of that growth, showing humans a new path towards perhaps a better life and life style. Man was asked if given seven things he could not live without and he came up with twenty. All answers included an innovation of technology that was created in the last decade. He forgot about food and clothing.
The changing time along with the innovation of technology man has been able to move forward at a pace never seen before. With this fast paced culture we have, introduced a line of products to many Nations that have been left far behind others.
With the changing tides of technology prices of advanced appliances for example have become less expensive.
The ability of computers can record the sale of an item at a department store, and within seconds reported to the Distribution Center to place that item on the next delivery. If I may Use Wal-Mart as an example; the UPC bar code is used in tracking sales from all of its stores. Limiting the Management of said store of some of that persons duties. This manager will find that PR and employee attention can be concentrated upon.            
Management, Or the leadership teams of all types of business will have to keep abreast of upcoming innovations, in order to survive in this poor economy where everyone is out to fight for the next bit of profit.
Look out side, the world changed overnight; we have replaced the family car with the space shuttle. If managers of companies don’t keep up they’ll be still riding horses to work.
The changes in technology will give new offerings to the marketing efforts and a better shot at success.

Friday, March 11, 2011

You might see numerous amounts of tech-guys writing about their favorite Operating environment, such as Linux, Microsoft, Unix, Novell, and so on. Here on this blog, I'll write about anything that I'm working on or experimenting with. The reader is always welcome to comment, advise, and instruct on this blog. I just ask that it is kept professional and curious enough that it will help the tech-impaired to improve their abilities in the Information world of the web.  I encourage the technically smart to share their experiences so others can learn from them.
I don't plan on leading anyone to one brand of any kind. I do not encourage anyone to follow my lead to buying something you don't want or need. My blog's are to encourage readers to understand the topics and or issues of the day. To provide help and understanding to some that have none. Good luck and try! What will it hurt, remember we are all students, we learn as we go! Ken     

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Competitive and marketability in the I T field, Outsourcing?

Competitive and marketability in the I T field 
 The current competitive demand for IT services is brought on by rapid technological advances. Largely the profitability and success of companies depend on the offering of technical experts, in various areas of innovation and technologies. Larger companies have the advantage offering a broad spectrum of services. There are some companies that feel healthier by keeping most if not all their I T resources in-house providing to their own broadened security needs. Having the home advantage has recently become a growing concern for the economic success for their business. However labor costs have climbed to the roof leaving companies and board members in a quandary. The end result companies still want to offer a broaden mix of services to their clients. The solution it seems most companies is to look at outsourcing the I T needs.  Companies large to small can collaborate by teaming up with outsourcing ala carte I T Specialties Firms. Combining similar goals and strategies, the smaller companies can compete effectively by specializing in market trends and needs, For example the smaller I T servicing firms can often be designed to handle one or more of the larger companies outsourcing needs. Here are a few examples; R&D (research and development), web sourcing and developments, firm ware and Security. I’ve only touched on a few possibilities that could lead a person or a small IT firm into the arena of information technologies and its competitive market.
            Board members will take note that outsourcing technology services is a small step to a healthy recovery in poor economic situations that large companies face today. Especially in the down turn of economical events as the Nation has faced in recent events.
Why should IT be outsourced? Utilizing a comparative attempt to walk through a broadened research that will result in the possible steps that a company may take to heal the ongoing problems we face economically, by comparison with in-house or outsourcing its I T services. Researching and the comparison processes will take this researcher to web sources globally and will attempt to explain how a large company and a small IT firm can thrive and benefit from collaborative projects. Evaluating resource that may pertain to being helpful Information may be used are; Answers.com, About.com, DirectPointe.com, Accenture.com, to name a few. Evaluation may be achieved in a comparison with the general need of IT outsource. 
            A working solution, through cutting labor costs and unnecessary expenditures with the in-house IT departments can and will save several dollars in labor cost with a comparatively small investment in an outsource I T firm. Problems facing companies range from many factors, however this focus will be on specializing small I T firms, and its resourceful nature.
(Brewer, 2010)
Additions:
            America along with Europe faces new employment practices. The ongoing economy has put a demand on companies forcing the need to down size   Outsourcing has become a growing complaint, among many of the laid off unemployed that are being strangled by America’s incapacity to employ. Although the change in employment practices that has hit globally new has and will open opportunities for outsourcing ala cart companies. Them that are laid off will find opportunities in the private sector of specialties to where they can provide the ongoing service needs that larger company still need. We find the still ongoing problems that America has very little servicing companies that can operate. So America seeks outsourcing solutions across the sea.          

Outsourcing Its really a good thing, or is it?

The World Wide Web is a universal standard for the exchange of data, so information in different locations and formats can be routinely shared, processed, integrated, and reused by distinct organizations and individuals. The ultimate goal of the semantic web is to allow a user to gather and use information as it were a virtual database. On that note Companies are finding resources to help with their company needs, such as writing services, bookkeeping, collections, phone solicitations, and phone in help services for customer service. 

Call a manufacture to get help on a software or hardware based computer device. You might find your talking to the Philippines, India, and now Russia. By financially impoverished countries providing services at lower than 1/5th the US labor costs. Such as these, Industrialized advanced Nations businesses can save the labor bucks and sell their products at a lower price to the consuming public, keeping bigger profits in the directors pockets. However by eliminating customer service done in-house or kept  within the shorelines has left an unwilling desire for some to re-purchase a product from that and those companies that practice offshore resourcing.       

Implementation of services and applications are rapidly growing, and new applications and services are greatly improving the efficiencies of computer technology. To services areas such as Research and Development, Security systems, Graphic and Web development, along with many others. Companies must either have services in-house or look outside for help in the week areas for ongoing development.
Most companies will not have the unlimited resources and funds for all their needs, so the company will eventually look for capabilities outside the firm. Many of these capabilities are preformed by new firms created after laid-off worker sought for employment within America's shores. The drawback for hiring an American Resource, is still more expensive than hiring one at 1/5th the going current job rate.      

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I believe that anyone can see the benefits that outsourcing can bring companies such as relief from the finical burden  of having full time labor for just a few projects.

The argument is if outsourcing is so well received within the business world, why then has it been not so well received within the ranks of the everyday skilled laborer or office personal who  lost his or her job?     

You decide! What are your thoughts? As always please keep it clean and professional when responding.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Electronic mail

Electronic mail
Electronic mail, most commonly called email or e-mail. This is a method of exchanging digital messages across the World wide Internet or other computer networks such as military as well as home or office.
Great invention and conceptions of the mind and the need to communicate quickly between two fixed points in and office or in great distance, however man wouldn’t be satisfied with just two computers communicating with one or the other, man has to be inventive. Communication between two, three and up to thousands of computers at one time are at the very hand of the sender. The technology behind emails alone has grown leaps and bounds, over just a short life-span. I would like to say emails have been around a long time. Put in to perspective, emailing started only a few years ago. Addresses had to be given to each computer as a reference point. You need both contact points of reference to receive and send emails.
Learn to Communicate:
To communicate properly one needs to learn how to speak to his audience properly. The sender is liable for the content form that represented in the email.  Dawn McKay explains in an article seven things to watch out for while using the emails for a source of communication. One, mind your manners; refer to persons using the Mr., Ms, and Mrs. Two, watch your tone. When speaking to another, jokes and such will not be taken well by the recipient; jokes are best left for the face to face interaction. Three, Get to the point of your email as quickly as possible, but don't leave out important details that will help your recipient understand. Four, be professional. Five, use correct spelling and proper grammar. Six always ask before sending attachments. Seven, never fill in the (TO) section until finished, keeping the sender from sending the mailer to the wrong person or perhaps inappropriate mailings to a recipient. (Dawn Rosenberg McKay, 2010) (Brewer, K,2010)

Misconceptions of expense for a LAN Network

The misconception that only large corporations can afford computer networks, this may be far from the truth. With a trip to the local computer store and a little help from the clerk will produce a shopping list of all the needs along with instruction on a self install if one is so inclined. In fact however by installing a network will also save money and enhance productivity for your company large or small. This is made possible through a few networking principles. By allowing computers that you may already have sharing common resources such as printers, modems, centralized server and CD-ROM drives. (Shultz, 1997) (Brewer, 2010)
For example, let’s use an office of five each with workstations, computers if you will. If each had printers with a cost of 300 dollars each, the cost would be 1500 dollars. Now think about having one multipurpose printer that cost 1000 dollars that would connect to all the workstations in the office. That’s a savings of 500 dollars. This is only one of many examples of how a network can save companies money.  
 There are basically two role mediums at play in network architectures, for example in a Local Area Network (LAN) for home or office setting client/server and peer-to-peer. In the client-server network, a central server would handle all the security and file transactions from one location. The peer-to-peer networks are a little different, less expensive and most commonly found in smaller office or possibly home settings. With this type, each machine shares its own resources and handles its own security. Each workstation/computer has a Network card attached to it by a plug with a common hard wire (Twisted wire CAT 5, or Fiber optics), wireless language card (Wi-Fi) or a combination of the two allowing communication ability with all the computers in the home or office. This is commonly set up through an office or home router on a group setting address. This is accomplished by a topology that the user may want to set up for their LAN. Network topologies are categorized into the following basic types: bus, ring, star, tree, mesh. Used however maybe not so much in home settings, more complex networks can be built out of two or more of the above basic topologies; this may be considered a hybrid. This is achieved in this example. Three computers routed on a wired Ethernet Bus with Cable and one or more devices/clients maybe on a wireless system. In a home setting this is common, with the new toys that are on the market today. Wireless TV’s, DVD/Blue ray, internet player devices (Games Box, ect.) used for entertainment and TV viewing. All these have an option for hard CAT 5 wire or built in WI-FI language cards.  Asking why would I not just go all wireless or all wired and routs them through a router? Computers hold and send data to one another in a network that that should be secure so use wire and a firewall on the router settings. The information on gaming and entertainment consoles need not be protected.  The household may not want wires spread all through the home and could be cost prohibitive. ( Bradley Mitchell, 2011)
With the client/server network being the more expensive of the two to implement because such networks require a central server. Although you may use many types of computers as your server, you'll get the best results by utilizing a dedicated, high-end machine that was designed for a system. This will allow the company to spend more on the server than on the workstations, with the end results again saving the company on expenses. With that statement there could be slight disadvantages to client/server networks, that which may be the cost of the server software.  A typical software package may only authorize connecting five other workstation/computers to your server, and then it requires a payment for a client license fee for each additional workstation that is connected in the network. (Brewer, 2010) With the role of this LAN medium and a server being the expensive part to set up, why would anyone choose this option? The possible answer is that this type of network structure offers a wide range of powerful administrative tools; such are particularly useful in an environment where security may be an issue. In a client/server environment, the server is dedicated to file server controls that level of access that client/workstations have when sharing resources. This will allow the network to be controlled with the needed security levels wanted implemented by the means of a central location through which a utility server and proper software are needed.
Servers vs. Clients
A blurred line between the client and a server explained; a server is a computer programmed to provide certain dedicated services to other computers in a work group (Clients) with its main function to provide programs and resources for the network users. However in the real world of today that context is almost untrue. With open source resources and multiple browsers types, like Google. Along with other open resources such as Wikipedia and Yahoo blur this line with who is in charge of the servers, in essence the user can edit the open resource. It all may very well fall to entities like Adobe and Oracle to figure out the language and uses in which the information seeker is trying to perform thus making a blurred line between the two. (Kruger, 2008)
A computer network is an interconnected collection of autonomous computers (not controlled by one another). Each computer interconnected by physically connecting through a network card, wired or wireless allowing signals to flow in both directions, and capable of exchanging messages and resources. With protocols that make the hardware and programs to specify and exchange within the services that the network provides. The software is designed to overcome hardware deficiencies by step instruction within the computer workings its self (See: 7 step OSI reference Model).