Module 4

In today's world, electronic data is growing and compounding at ever increasing rates. The majority of us deal with electronic data on a daily basis, whether it be through songs, pictures, documents on one's own computer, to banking account information, electronic transactions, websites, e-mail, Facebook, and of course all the data that is produced at businesses on a daily basis. The challenge is how to protect that data from potential loss.

Most computer users are familiar with the problem of lost data. Fortunately, most incidents are relatively inconsequential, representing only a few minutes of lost work or the deletion of unnecessary files. However, sometimes the nature of the lost data is critical, and the cost of the data lost is substantial. As reliance on information and data as economic drivers for businesses continues to increase, owners and managers are subject to new risks. One study reports that a company that experiences a computer outage lasting for more than 10 days will never fully recover financially, and that 50% of companies suffering such a predicament will be out of business within 5 years.

The cause for data loss varies, but can be broken down into six distinct categories, according to a study done at Pepperdine University. The most significant cause for data loss is hardware failure, which accounts for approximately 40% of all data loss incidents. Typically, as you might expect, most of these losses are a result of hard drive failure, which causes the data to be unreadable. In second place is human error, which accounts for 29% of all data losses. After human error, the remaining four reasons drop off considerably; 13% are caused by software corruption, 9% by theft, 6% by viruses, and 3% from hardware destruction.

I, myself, being in the IT industry and the primary person responsible for data protection for the Credit Union I work for, I understand the the challenges and immense responsibility placed upon me for protecting our data from a variety of scenarios that may arise. Fortunately for me, I have had many hours of training in this area, and I am lucky enough to have a good friend Micah Marsden who is a graduate of Weber State University with a BA in telecommunications administration, and who I was fortunate enough to interview for this project. He is now a Sustaining Engineer at Quantum Corporation, and helps IT managers like myself deal with backup issues and design on a daily basis. He stated that data protection is a key issue of concern and cost for businesses. Not only does it consume a large amount of resources and time for companies, the potential devastating impact from poor design or implementation is all too widespread. He pointed out a problem far to many companies neglect to take seriously, which is that they simply set up their backup plan, implement it, and forget about it. Protecting data is an ongoing job, and requires daily monitoring and intervention. First off, he said one the simplest things any backup administrator can do is to observe the backup logs on a daily basis. Jobs that are supposed to run daily can run into problems, or simply not run at all. Another aspect that is neglected far too often is disaster recovery drills. He encourages IT staff to perform mock disaster recovery drills on at least an annual basis, and preferably more often than that. Practice makes perfect, and in a stressful situation where data is required to be recovered quickly, there is no substitute for actually performing the job at hand. He further states, the technologies out there are numerous, and can be tailored to fit budgets, recovery time and expertise. They can range from a simple home backup plan of taking personal computer data and backing up to a second hard drive, to backing up to the cloud, to complicated and expensive disk and tape based solutions.

Micah's favorite technology used today is what is referred to as data deduplication. This technology allows companies to backup to a local disk by either gigabyte cat5 or fiber channel, and uses what is referred to as block-level deduplication. Block-level data deduplication operates on the sub-file level. As its name implies, the file is typically broken down into segments that are examined for redundancy when compared to previously stored information. This allows backups to be much more efficient when it comes to retention and cost. I, myself, have been so impressed with this technology that I have implemented it in my own environment and have been very happy with the results. I am now able to keep approximately four months worth of backups on a single unit and without having to use an exorbitant amount of disk space to accomplish it. Not only does this save storage, I am also able to duplicate the data to tape for off-site storage.

Module 3

When I first read the question asking what offshoring was, I really had no idea. Was it maybe something to do with oil, I asked myself? After reading the assigned chapters, the answer became quite clear. As stated before, outsourcing is the contracting out of services or goods, that a lot of times is not central to the business, or that the business simply does not have the expertise in. An example is outsourcing payroll due to budgetary or expertise restraints. Offshoring is quite different, offshoring is when the entire operation of a company is physically moved to a new location to produce a product in the very same way. Obviously, the reason for moving is for cheaper cost to produce the product. This comes through cheaper labor, lower taxes, government subsidization, and lower health care cost. In Friedman's example, China has been the beneficiary of such practices. He states that China will soon be setting the global floor for lower wages and workplace conditions; this is as known as “the China price”. Products being produced at rock bottom prices in China have proven to be damaging to the US economy and it's job market. On the flip side, the benefit to consumers in the US has been significant. I, being a consumer, enjoy the reduced pricing of these goods, but they come at a cost, and that cost may ultimately be continued reduction of jobs in this country.

Supply-chaining is a method of collaboration among retailers, suppliers, and customers to keep a competitive edge. In Freidman's example, he uses the largest, most well known, retailer to deliver his point, that being Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not create a single product, but simply acts as a supply chain to deliver products at the most competitive price possible. The key is “global optimization”, which means Wal-Mart focuses on all aspects of delivering the product to market. For example, If I'm the product manager, you want to do business with the most reliable trucking company. If I'm the transportation manager, I'm looking for the lowest cost of transporting goods. Those two trucking companies might not necessarily be the same. One key aspect of Wal-Mart's success is its ability to coordinate distribution supply with hard to predict demand. Wal-Mart wants their customers to find what they need when they want it, but at the same time they don't want any particular product stacking up at one location, while having too few of the same product at another location. These same aspects could certainly be applied to other large retailers in the industry. Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy are all likely to have been built on the same type of business model, and is probably a big reason they are so successful today.

How has Google affected business? Friedman describes it as “informing”. Informing is uploading, outsourcing, insourcing, supply-chaining, and offshoring all rolled into one. It can also be described as simply searching for knowledge. Google has essentially change the way consumers search for products. Seldom do we reach for the yellow pages to find the a local repair shop, or locate a restaurant in an unfamiliar area. What do we do? We get on the computer, or a mobile device, and simply Google it. Not only can consumers search for a particular business on demand, they can also research product. When you wanted to find in-depth information about a particular product before Google, there were essentially three methods; one being word of mouth, second was what the sales associate told you about the product (an we can certainly rely on them), and third was maybe a magazine like Consumer Reports. Now what do you do if you want specific information about a product, or you want to find what the best brand is? Well, you simply Google it, look at specifications, and see what others have had to say about the product. When buying a brand new car, it's not difficult to go out and find what a car dealership paid for the vehicle, and this becomes a huge bargaining chip. It was interesting to note that Friedman stated “Google hopes that in time, with a Palm Pilot or a cell phone, everyone everywhere will be able to carry around access to all the world's knowledge in their pockets”. Well, today as we read this assignment, we are at that point. Android devices and iPhones have changed the way we live, and information is portable like never before. I often chuckle anytime I see an expensive set of encyclopedias sitting on a bookshelf or laying around. I think to myself, why do you need that, the world now has Google and the Internet, where anything you could possibly want to know is instantly at your fingertips, and is current.

Module 2

Friedman gives a very good example of work flow software on a larger scale than what I am going to discuss in my essay, but it serves as a different perspective in the varieties of circumstances that could pertain to this subject. I work at a local credit union, and was fortunate enough to actually be part of the designing phase team. As you might expect, the credit union's primary business goal is to make loans. Up until a few years ago, our core software lacked some critical functions that we felt were needed, not only for our membership, but for the employees as well. The piece of software I am referring to is built on Java, and has four major steps involved; I'll simply refer to it as our loan module.
Step one of our loan module begins when a member either fills out a loan application online, or applies in person at one of our branches. Once the application is entered online and submitted, it then becomes an XML file, which serves as a stream line to the core software. Once the application is received, step two occurs, which is pulling a credit report on the applicant. When a report has successfully been pulled, different scoring models then load up and take into account several different factors. One major one you may be familiar with is the FICO score, which is better known as your credit score. Once these complicated calculations take place, it then proceeds onto step three, which is the review stage. This stage involves another set of complicated calculations which is called a scoring model. This model either approves or denies the loan based off of a variety of data. Should an application be automatically denied (which a large percentage are, unless very strict guidelines are met), and it exceeds the loan officer's lending limit, the application will be placed in a queue for a manager review and decision. At any point during this process, should an application need to be put on hold, or information needs to be gathered at a later date, the application can be placed in a pending status, and any loan officer an any one of our branches may take ownership of the application and finish it up for the member. The final step in this process involves distribution of the loan. Should the application be approved, checks are disbursed, and the loan created. Conversely, should the loan be denied, the proper paperwork is created and distributed to the member. This, of course, is a broad view of the process, but one that I hope serves as a good example of how real world work flow software operates.

Open source software is the result of combined effort on the part of millions of computer programmers, end users, and vendors who all collaborate in an effort to build free software. These open source communities believe software should be free, and used to enhance the lives of users around the world. One of my favorite quotes I have ever read happened to be in this chapter on open source software. In this chapter, Mr. Cohen has just learned about a new piece of software called “Apache”, and he discusses it with his development director who reveals to him it is open source and is free. In his astonishment, he asks the question “well, who supports it if something goes wrong?” And he responds, “I don’t know it just works!” I could not have said it better myself; it just works. Open source software is important because it gives millions of users the ability to freely use and enhance it. Open source software source code is freely distributed, and can be built upon by all those that choose to. It also enables a wider perspective of enhancement, unlike proprietary software, which is developed by a narrow group of developers. It also serves as a start-up, as companies can then develop bells and whistles for open source software that can then be sold for company profit.
Outsourcing is the contracting out of services or goods, generally at a price. In Friedman's example, the Y2K phenomenon required skilled workers to fix the internal clocks that could only read six digits instead of the required eight. The job at hand was so large, the only reasonable answer was to hire India's skilled workforce to fix the problem. This also held benefit, since the cost of outsourcing to India was much cheaper and faster than anything the Americans could accomplish. Outsourcing is important because it allows a business to focus on what it does best, and generally comes with higher quality, and a cost benefit.

My favorite part of this reading assignment was the focus on open source software. As you might have guessed from some of my previous comments, I'm a huge fan. Any time I have the option to use either a proprietary product, such as Microsoft, or open source, the winner is almost always open source. I use it on almost a daily basis. In fact, the very word processor I use to do the majority of my school work on is open source, that being open-office. There is a variety of wonderful open source software available to the public, and I'd encourage all to get familiar with it, and enjoy what software communities have to offer.

Module 1

Globalization is defined by Friedman as three great eras, with the first beginning in the year 1492. Friedman calls this first era Globalization 1.0. The important event that began this era was the sailing of Columbus and his discovery of the New World. This event opened trade between the Old World and the New World, which shrank the world from size large to size medium. This era was defined by countries and their muscles. The focus was on how much horsepower, wind power, and steam power the countries could produce. Countries asked themselves how they fit in and how to collaborate with other countries. This was prevalent until the year 1800.

The second era, Globalization 2.0, began in 1800. This era was marked by three great events: World Wars I and II, and the Great Depression. This era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small. Driving this era was the introduction of multinational companies. These multinational companies went global for labor and their markets. Global integration was powered by the steam engine, railroad, and later on by diminished communication cost thanks to new technologies such as telegraph, telephones, satellite, and the birth of the World Wide Web. This era marked the true beginning of what we now see today as a global economy. Questions asked in this era were, where does my company fit in this global economy, and how to take advantage of its opportunities. This era lasted until the year 2000.

The third era, Globalization 3.0, began in 2000. This era shrank the world from a size small to a size tiny. This era is driven by a new found force; the power for individuals and small groups to collaborate and compete globally. This phenomenon, which empowers and enjoins individuals and groups globally, is defined by Friedman as the flat-world platform. This convergence of the personal computer and fiber optic communication enabled individuals to become their own author. It enabled endless access to digital content around the world at next to no cost.

In this new era in globalization, companies are ever more outsourcing their needs and resources to more economical and philosophical business needs. With the onset of this new era's developing technologies, it allows for your accountant to be on a sunny California beach while he prepares your taxes, or he might even want to outsource the preparation of them to a company in India. It allows companies to decrease cost by implementing call centers where it is most feasible and cost effective.

Friedman finds that the fall of the Berlin Wall tipped the balance of power across the world toward those in favor of a democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance. It took movement away from those who are in favor of an authoritarian rule and centrally planned economies. This brought forth more economies who would be governed from the ground up, by people's interests, demands and aspirations.

The internet, otherwise known as the World Wide Web, was originally designed for scientists to share their research more easily. It was not very useful to the average person upon its invention. The World Wide Web simply consisted of computers, cables, protocols, an imaginary rooms of space containing information. It contained documents, videos, sounds and information, but unless you knew how to specifically access that information through URLs, it had little use. A tiny start-up company in Mountain View, California created a new piece of software that was easy to install and use called Netscape. After its invention, the world would not be the same. The Netscape browser brought the internet alive, and made the internet accessible to everyone. Suddenly, all of those documents, videos, and sound files had a place, and an easy way to access them.

Since the beginning of the third era, as Friedman puts it, things have taken off rather rapidly. In the prior eras, it took years and years for countries and companies to learn how to adapt and evolve. With the speed that information moves in today, it takes a lot more effort to stay on the cutting edge of these technologies. This has brought forth good and bad. It's great to be able to access information whenever one wants or needs it, but it has also brought forth companies moving jobs from the USA to countries with lower wages to save cost. This can be frustrating on two levels; one, the absence of jobs in this country, and second, having to deal with those people over the phone for technical issues.