Credit Card Numbers For Sale

http://www.slate.com/id/2189902/



I found an interesting article related chapter 16 about “data supermarkets”. According to security experts at an InfoSecurity conference, a wide range of credit card and bank account numbers are for sale on the black market. The costs range wildly depending on the information. Bank accounts with personal data can sell for a few hundred dollars where a simple unvalidated credit card number could go for one dollar each. Some numbers come pre tested with small charges already made to see if the owner would even notice the charge and some come with full identities including passwords social security numbers and addresses. The main lesson from this article is that you need to do more than using computer protection to thwart identity theft. Identities and card numbers are stolen from major companies like TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart or from dishonest clerks leaving you to take charge and be aware of every charge posted to every account.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=104312



I found an article in Computer World on line magazine related to chapter 14 titled The High Cost of IT Complexity. The article stressed that it is important to keep IT costs in check especially when it comes to customization and complexity. Many companies have requests to customize IT software from individual departments but studies show you need to avoid that option where possible to keep IT costs in line. Examples were give where after reviewing 250 companies these that were considered low in complexity with respect to IT spent 15% less that those with complex IT applications and operated with 36% fewer staffers.

Article for Chapter 13

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_34/b3998423.htm


This Article from Business Week covers many aspects of competitive advantage and who to increase or keep one, it relates to chapter 13 in several areas. In the third paragraph in the “Experiment Fearlessly” section the author writes about how the internet is “busting the boundaries of many businesses”. It talks about how eBay is entering the telecommunications industry offering free phone call using VOIP and that Google is challenging Microsoft and other examples of how technology is opening markets to other new players who use technology in a new and different approach to solve old problems.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_Nov_24/ai_n31028556/

This article is about how SAS can really be used to help businesses in this time of economic downturn. SAS has leading edge analysis software that can crunch data that other software can not. If large amounts of data need to be analyzed in near real time SAS can do the job. We use SAS at CommScope as we crunch test data from individual reels of cable as they come off production. This data is very large as many thousands of points are displayed using vector analysis across wide frequency bands from 5 MHz to 3 GHz. The amount of data points in one shift are astounding but SAS is one of the only software applications that can handle it. SAS is one tool that many people do not know about that should be in their arsenal.

Second Life

My foray into Second Life was very interesting and somewhat enjoyable. Once I logged on I realized that it would take some getting used to before I could do simple tasks like walk as if I had a brain and sit down in a chair. Flying was an advantage but I never did get the altitude issue resolved completely. I made at least 20 stops in different locations but found it difficult to find where most of the people were. According to the search there would be thousands of active visitors but I could only find a few. Conversations or research proved not easy for me for several reasons. One was that people were not too friendly and second it was just awkward to walk up to a stranger and start talking. I took a snapshot of Maui. And of New York's Empire State Building.


I flew to the top of the hill to get a shot of the rainbow overlooking the dance hall. I spoke to several people there and they were real nice and polite but not interested in talking with me. There were whales off shore and dolphins that came right out of the water. Next I like Paris and had a few conversations but those were all short as well. There were some people just standing there by themselves all dressed up but did not communicate when engaged. No one was rude or mean just not too interested. I couldn't get the snapshot I wanted from Paris (flying altitude issues again) I decided on a snapshot of the Empire State Building in NY. The people there in Central Park were very nice also with so many greetings I could not properly respond to all of them but I excused myself for being clumsy and several people helped me understand the system a little. No great conversations there either.

Chapter Article 3/24

I had a little difficulty finding a fresh article with application so I settled on a good primmer.

http://www.business-marketing.com/store/abknowledge.html

The article was about Knowledge Management and was written by Sheila Campbell, a business consultant that I found posted on a web site titled business-marketing.com. I found this article interesting as it helped me better understand the concept using clear definitions with short questions and answers. For example, “How do you create a Knowledge Management System?” The answer was “you first need to answer the question, why would you create and knowledge information system?”

It boiled down to, you need to deliver good information and data to your employees to enable them to be effective at their jobs and with the large amounts of data companies typically generate you need a system to make any sense out of it. The best sentence that said it all was, “Information is meaningless unless it can be organized and retrieved in a timely manner and for that you definitely need some sort of system. Then it gave a short case study of a consulting firm that was helped by implementing a knowledge management system to empower its employees that were often on the road. One other part of the problem was that there was turnover and when employees left their knowledge left with them. It was difficult at first to get their employees to pool their knowledge and share their talents but it takes vision and leadership from the top down to develop and implement a working knowledge management system.

Contact Info jelko@commscope.com

jelko@commscope.com

Article for chapert 9

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/RFID/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198700170


I found an interesting article about RFID that relates to chapter 9 on a site provided by Information Week titled Wal-Mart Rethinks RFID. The article was a year old but is still relevant today as it explains why shopping at Wal-Mart has not yet undergone radical changes. Wal-Marts initial push into RFID was to force all suppliers to go RFID but that thinking has since changed. While some products benefit from the technology others do not. One statement where RFID does not work good on obscured cases in a pallet load, where wet, metallic, and glass items were involved, and that’s most of what is sold in a supermarket! The conclusion of the article was that RFID will be a benefit to inventory control for many products it is not a panacea and that each item must be reviewed and logical reasoning must be used before a decision to use RFID would be a prudent one.

Research Assignment with Internet Hot-Spots.

After careful consideration my decision would be to use AT&T / Bellsouth to obtain a consistent reliable internet connection to do business while mobile. Searching webfinder and jiwire for local hotspots revealed that while there are a few free connections available, the majority require activation of a paid service. Most require Boingo or Ipass which run $21.95 and 29.95 per month respectively but are limited in availability. The local library CVCC and the Atlanta Bread Factory in Hickory appear to be the only free options. While T-mobile is an option for $39.95 per month the AT&T option looks more attractive. There are plans from $19.95 to $42.95 per month with the $42.95 plan offering 6mbps down stream and 512 kbps up stream. Based on the limited coverage in the Hickory area for free and the speed and reliability associated with AT&T’s service my decision would be to use AT&T and pay for the service.

http://www.erpwire.com/erp-articles/criteria-for-erp-implementation.htm

I found an interesting article representative of chapter 8 that discusses ERP implementation. The article basically talked about how planning is very important because speed is the key to unlocking the advantages of an ERP implementation. It went on to discuss two underlying principles necessary when implementing an ERP system. The first was restructuring the business to benefit from ERP and the second is the technical side of the ERP system. The conclusion is that planning on both sides of the system are important and that speed is key to any ERP implementation

Sitepal assignment link

Link to Sitepal:

http://www.sitepal.com/sendtofriend?ss=1746694&sl=2023387&acc=15695&from=jelko@commscope.com&to=jelko@commscope.com

I found an interesting article relating to chapter 6 titled, Mobile Commerce: 800 Million Untapped Users by Jennifer D. Meacham.

Here’s the link.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/839-Mobile-Commerce-800-Million-Untapped-Users

She posted some facts about users and numbers of m-purchases and stated that there are over 800 million web capable mobile devices in use and that the market available is yet untapped. She concluded that as these devices are out there it is just a matter of time before they start being used to their full potential. She went on to discuss how band width is a key consideration with mobile devices as the phones capabilities are limited. So graphics and other content must be tailored to fit the medium. The other two big considerations will be billing and security. Either way m-commerce is coming so no time like the present to get on board if you are a retailer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/business/12giants.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ecommerce&st=cse

For chapter 5 I found an article in the New York Times from 10/2008 titled Amid the Gloom, an E-Commerece War.


It talks about how eBay and Amazon, giants in e-commerce, are both susceptible to market slowdowns and follow the economy just like brick and mortar stores. While e-commerce was once considered immune to downturns reality has proved the experts wrong one more time. eBay was forced to layoff 1600 employees in October due to the market downturn.

The article went on to say E-commerce can have its down side also. It seems some at e-bay would like to change radically. Over time people don’t want to waist time waiting on an auction when minimum prices are really set. Perhaps Amazon has the better approach. E-Bay has been quoted as saying it would like to just tear down the whole store and build a new one but they can’t.

In a nutshell with the quickly changing nature or e-commerce no one is safe and you need to be ready for rapid change even if it goes against what made you great in the first place.

http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/18/Web-2-scores-successes-in-the-enterprise_1.html

I found an interesting article related to chapter four posted on Info World’s web site about private companies rolling out social networking projects. Big companies like Best Buy, Serena Software and Oracle have set up networks to encourage collaboration and idea sharing, and networking in general, between its diverse employee base. There is the potential to make a huge impact as companies better understand their employees through networking. Morale and turnover rates have reportedly been improved. Serena used 16 year olds familiar to the Facebook site to teach and encourage the 40 to 50 age group employees. One hour after launching the site they had 270 people using it. The next morning there were over 8000 users. The most interesting part of the article to me was where companies must, “recognize and reward collaboration, which is a challenge since educational systems are set up to reward individualism, said Singh. "Companies need to rethink how they motivate and how they reward. It needs to be based on teams and collaboration”.

Here is an interesting article that relates to chapter 3.

http://technology.inc.com/networking/articles/200809/contacts.html

With chapter 3 focusing on data, databases, data mining, and data storage I thought this article was appropriate although not exactly in the formal spirit of the text. The article focused on personal contact databases and posed some interesting questions and observations. The article focused on the number of personal contacts that one should have, stating that you can only manage about 150 friends or contacts according to Dunbar's law, named after Robin Dunbar who posed the hypothesis, although there were exceptions mentioned. The article then talked about how contacts can be an efficient tool for job hunting and or sales leads if properly maintained. Mention was made as to how expanding personal contacts digitally could give feedback information about who was looking at your profile while at the same time promoting your qualities and talents. The article ended with a story of how one web contact led to a job with the then startup company YouTube where he was worth 6 million plus within six months joining that startup.

The position of our debate team (Tim, Joe, Brandon, Ted) is that IT doesn’t Matter. Nicholas Carr is initially taking a “devil’s advocate” pose but upon closer examination he actually has several valid points which logically support his position. Here are those key points:
IT is expensive:
IT removes competitive advantage:
Carr calls it the “Corrosiveness” of IT. His viewpoint is that the same IT is available to all (keep in mind that it is hardware, software, and network) thus the first to buy the hardware only has an advantage for a little while until the next competitor buys it. Now, everyone is equal. It’s like a phrase from the Incredibles movie…. “Once everyone has the weapons to make them a Super(human), then suddenly, no one is a Super(human)”.
IT is misunderstood:
This is perhaps the biggest argument poised by Carr. He says that too many hear him say “IT doesn’t matter” and in misconception they interpret that to be “IT can be eliminated”. Actually, Carr proposes a reduction in the reliance of IT. A reduction in IT being the top concern and factor of success. Once people understand what Carr is promoting (less dependency on IT) then they will become more acceptable to the concept.
Summary:
IT is a factor of a business, but it shouldn’t be the dominant factor. IT is a means to an end, not the driving force. There is a misconceived mindset that IT will make the difference between success & failure of a business when in fact IT may be as much of a constraint as a contributor. Proper balance of IT’s role is needed for a company’s growth and success.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135131.php

Here is an article concerning the future of digital health records

I found an interesting article about the future of health care records. Here's a linkhttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/135131.php

The article is titled “US Will Have Digital Health Records In 5 Years Says Obama”. The article went on to discuss the plans that president Obama stated in a speech, Thursday January the eighth, where as part of his stimulus plan he wants to “reduce cost and improve the quality of health care” by rolling out a project that will digitize and computerize all health records in America. This project is estimated to cost 75 to 100 billion (yes billion with a B) dollars. The plan is supposed to streamline medical records and make them universal. This will be a major undertaken and according to the article not everyone is in agreement with how this should be done if it can be accomplished at all.

This will take an enormous effort including tremendous IT support especially knowing that only 8 percent of hospitals and 17 percent of doctor’s offices are currently using this kind of medical record system. The article went on to mention that there will need to be an influx of IT personnel to pull of a project of this magnitude.

One other very important point of the article was that there will most likely be fierce competition for the rights to provide the software needed for such an undertaken as the monetary stakes and rewards will be so high. Microsoft and Google currently have or are working on software solutions to nationalize medical records. Stay tuned as this story is just in its infancy.