Assignment 5(MIS2)

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In the spectrum of organizational change, which is the most radical type of change: automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts? (You are expected to read an article about this question)... at least 3000 words)


There are several phrases regarding organizational change and development that look and sound a lot alike, but have different meanings. As a result of the prominence of the topic, there seems to be increasingly different interpretations of some of these phrases, while others are used interchangeably. Without at least some sense of the differences between these phrases, communications about organizational change and development can be increasingly vague, confusing and frustrating.


"Organizational Change?"
Organizational change is in regard to organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, etc. Examples of organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations (e.g., restructuring to self-managed teams, layoffs, etc.), new technologies, mergers, major collaborations, "rightsizing", new programs such as Total Quality Management, re-engineering, etc. Some experts refer to organizational transformation. Often this term designates a fundamental and radical reorientation in the way the organization operates.

Change should not be done for the sake of change -- it's a strategy to accomplish some overall goal. Example is the Organizational Performance Management. We're used to thinking of ongoing performance management for employees, for example, setting goals, monitoring the employee's achievement of those goals, sharing feedback with the employee, evaluating the employee's performance, rewarding performance or firing the employee. Performance management applies to organizations, too, and includes recurring activities to establish organizational goals, monitor progress toward the goals, and make adjustments to achieve those goals more effectively and efficiently. Those recurring activities are much of what leaders and managers inherently do in their organizations -- some do them far better than others. Usually organizational change is provoked by some major outside driving force, e.g., substantial cuts in funding, address major new markets/clients, need for dramatic increases in productivity/services, etc. Typically, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their life cycle, e.g., going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to more stable and planned development. Transition to a new chief executive can provoke organization-wide change when his or her new and unique personality pervades the entire organization.

Why is Organization-Wide Change Difficult to Accomplish?
Typically there are strong resistances to change. People are afraid of the unknown. Many people think things are already just fine and don't understand the need for change. Many are inherently cynical about change, particularly from reading about the notion of "change" as if it's a mantra. Many doubt there are effective means to accomplish major organizational change. Often there are conflicting goals in the organization, e.g., to increase resources to accomplish the change yet concurrently cut costs to remain viable. Organization-wide change often goes against the very values held dear by members in the organization, that is, the change may go against how members believe things should be done. That's why much of organizational-change literature discusses needed changes in the culture of the organization, including changes in members' values and beliefs and in the way they enact these values and beliefs.

Drivers Of Organizational Change

Organizational change management is becoming increasingly important to the business community. The intensification of competition from manufacturers in emerging economies who can produce superior goods at cheaper prices, the introduction of new technology and changing consumer preferences and tastes can result in companies having to redefine their business goals and objectives. The following factors are some of the primary drivers of organizational change.

Inadequate Financial Performance: Companies that fail to achieve financial benchmarks are forced to evaluate their business objectives and processes. This is one of the most important drivers of organizational change. If a new competitor enters the market with cheaper labor or a superior technology, companies that formally enjoyed prosperity can suddenly find a cannibalization of their market share. A failure to maintain a competitive presence in the market place can stress company resources and force a rethink of the opportunity cost of capital and resource redeployment.

Change In strategic Objectives: If a company shifts its focus form a product centric to a customer centric orientation, new processes are required to facilitate this re-orientation. This can result in redundancy to existing staff or manufacturing processes. Company restructuring from this is a primary driver of organizational change as the old is replaced with the new.

End of the Product Development Life Cycle: A product can reach the end of its product life cycle and companies are forced to cut production and operating costs or exit the market. At this stage some companies sell out or merge with existing competitors. This results in structural changes to a companies business processes to either maintain profitability or refocus on new opportunities.

New technology: New technology can be a significant driver of organizational change. Consider the effect the internet is having on old style media and print companies. As internet access levels increase on a worldwide scale, companies are forced to adapt their existing operations to shifting consumer preferences. Companies that neglect rising trends face a diminishing market share to competitors who better understand and address the demands of their customers.

Mergers and Acquisitions: When companies merge or consolidate operations, significant costs cutting and a re-engineering takes place. Redundancy and restructure to align with management objectives drives organizational change. The integration of two companies creates significant challenges to streamline operations and integrate existing IT operations into a centralized structure. Consider the implications of merging two independent billing systems which use different platforms and infrastructure. The careful dedicated planning required to bring this to fruition is part of the change management process.

As business and markets evolve, so too do business processes. The above represents some of the pertinent drivers of organizational change.

Causes of Organizational Changes

Companies are required to modify productive processes or strategic goals and aims in response to an external influence, change in consumer behavior or a shift in the industry landscape. This necessitates a reorientation of capital, resources, employees and corporate systems. Below are some of the common causes of organizational change:

Exit Strategy at The End of the product Life Cycle: As the market for a companies product reaches maturity, market growth and profits begin to diminish. Despite the fact that cost cutting occurs and marketing budgets are reduced, when the opportunity cost of deploying capital and resources to another more favorable opportunity presents, companies either sell off existing operations or cease production altogether. This can be in response to a new superior product release, a change in consumer purchasing habits or the introduction of a new technology. Irrespective of the cause, capital and labor are redeployed to new more promising business activities. The exit strategy is a common cause of organizational change.

Change in Government: Employees that work for government departments can find existing initiatives get discontinued when a change in government takes place. The subsequent refocus of priorities that takes place as a result of the new governments mandate can create redundancies or a radical change in the way the department conducts its affairs.

Mergers and Acquisitions: When two competitors merge the existing business operations of both companies get centralized and streamlined. This can result in the merging of departments and processes, cost cutting and a redeployment of existing resources. Mergers and acquisitions are one of the most frequent causes of organizational change.

Strategic Refocus: When the company changes its business processes to adopt a new paradigm organizational change ensues. Consider the plight of a company that shifts its focus form a product centric to a customer centric platform. New manufacturing specifications, new marketing and a change in logistical operations create a change reaction for change throughout the organization.

Structural Change: When new administrative processes get introduced, organizational change results. Consider the ramifications of centralizing an archiving process using computer technology. Old redundant processes get replaced by new software and hardware and staff members are required to retrain to operate the new systems.

Process Oriented: When a company redefines its manufacturing operations by changing its manufacturing process to a JIT operation, infrastructure, warehousing and logistical operations are required to be redesigned and deployed. This structural shift in the way a product is created has a domino effect on organizational change.

Terminologies of Radical Type of change

1.Automation is the use of control systems (such as numerical controlprogrammable logic control, and other industrial control systems), in concert with other applications of information technology (such as computer-aided technologies [CAD, CAM, CAx]), to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Processes and systems can also be automated.
Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.
Many roles for humans in industrial processes presently lie beyond the scope of automation. Human-level pattern recognition, language recognition, and language production ability are well beyond the capabilities of modern mechanical and computer systems. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory data, such as scents and sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as strategic planning, currently require human expertise. In many cases, the use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches even where automation of industrial tasks is possible.
Specialized hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events. This leads to precisely controlled actions that permit a tight control of almost any industrial process.
Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response. Service personnel who monitor and control these interfaces are often referred to as stationary engineers.

2.Paradigm shifts
Paradigm shift (or revolutionary science) is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science.The term paradigm shift, as a change in a fundamental model of events, has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well, even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." (The Essential Tension, 1977). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself." (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). Once a paradigm shift is complete, a scientist cannot, for example, posit the possibility that miasma causes disease or that ether carries light. In contrast, a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th-century theory of poetics, for instance.Since the 1960s, the term has been found useful to thinkers in numerous non-scientific contexts. Compare as a structured form of Zeitgeist.

3. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR): The radical redesign of business processes, combining steps to cut waste and eliminating repetitive, paper-intensive tasks to improve cost, quality, and service and to maximize the benefits of information technology
• Involves radical rethinking
• Can change the way an organization conducts its business
• IT allowed Baxter to be a manager of its customer’s supplies
• Strikes fear, its expensive, its very risky and its extremely difficult to carry out and manage
• Develop the business vision and process objective
• Identify the processes to be redesigned (core and highest payback)
• Understand and measure the performance of existing processes
• Identify the opportunities for applying information technology
• Build a prototype of the new process



Refenrences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/org_chng.htm
[u]

Assignment 4(MIS2)

You were invited by the university president to prepare an IS plan for the university, discuss what are the steps in order to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan.


Assuming that i am invited by the university president to prepare a IS plan. So it is very important to be prepared. So it needs to gather informations of what is the content of ISplan.

Information has emerged as an agent of integration and the enabler of new competitiveness for
today’s enterprise in the global marketplace. However, has the paradigm of strategic planning
changed sufficiently to support the new role of information systems and technology? We reviewed
the literature for commonly used or representative information planning methodologies and found
that a new approach is needed. There are six methodologies reviewed in this paper. They all tend to
regard planning as a separate stage which does not connect structurally and directly to the
information systems development. An integration of planning with development and management
through enterprise information resources - which capture and characterize the enterprise - will
shorten the response cycle and even allow for economic evaluation of information system
investment.

[b] The Perspective of Strategic Information Systems Planning[/b]
In order to put the planning for strategic information systems in perspective, the evolution of
information systems according to the three-era model of John Ward, et al.(1990) is pertinent.
According to this model there are three distinct, albeit overlapping, eras of information systems,
dating back to the 60’s. The relationship over time of the three eras of information systems.



Some characteristics of strategic IS planning are:
• Main task: strategic/competitive advantage, linkage to business strategy.
• Key objective: pursuing opportunities, integrating IS and business strategies
• Direction from: executives/senior management and users, coalition of users/management and
information systems.
• Main approach: entrepreneurial (user innovation), multiple (bottom-up development, top down
analysis, etc.) at the same time.
Strategic Information Systems Planning in the present SIS era is not an easy task because
such a process is deeply embedded in business processes. These systems need to cater to the
strategic demands of organizations, i.e., serving the business goals and creating competitive
advantage as well as meeting their data processing and MIS needs. The key point here is that
organizations have to plan for information systems not merely as tools for cutting costs but as means
to adding value. The magnitude of this change in perspective of IS/IT’s role in organizations is
highlighted in a Business Week article, ‘The Technology Payoff’ (Business Week, June 14, 1993).
According to this article, throughout the 1980s US businesses invested a staggering $1 trillion in the
information technology. This huge investment did not result in a commensurate productivity gain -
overall national productivity rose at a 1% annual rate compared with nearly 5% in Japan. Using the
information technology merely to automate routine tasks without altering the business processes is
identified as the cause of the above productivity paradox. As IT is used to support breakthrough
ideas in business processes, essentially supporting direct value adding activities instead of merely
cost saving, it has resulted in major productivity gains. In 1992, productivity rose nearly 3% and
the corporate profits went up sharply. According to an MIT study quoted in the above article, the
return on investment in information systems averaged 54% for manufacturing and 68% for all
businesses surveyed. This impact of information technology on re-defining, re-engineering
businesses is likely to continue and it is expected that information technology will play increasingly
important roles in future. For example, Pant, et al. (1994) point out that the emerging vision of
virtual corporations will become a reality only if it is rooted in new visionary information
technology. It is information technology alone which will carve multiple ‘virtual corporations’
simultaneously out of the same physical resources and adapt them without having to change the
actual organizations. Thus, it is obvious that information technology has indeed come a long way in
the SIS era, offering unprecedented possibilities, which, if not cashed on, would turn into
4
unprecedented risks. As Keen (1993) has morbidly but realistically pointed out that organizations
not planning for strategic information systems may fail to spot the business implications of
competitors’ use of information technology until it is too late for them to react. In situations like
this, when information technology changes the basics of competition in an industry, 50% of the
companies in that industry disappear within ten years.
3. Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies
The task of strategic information systems planning is difficult and often time organizations
do not know how to do it. Strategic information systems planning is a major change for
organizations, from planning for information systems based on users’ demands to those based on
business strategy. Also strategic information systems planning changes the planning characteristics
in major ways. For example, the time horizon for planning changes from 1 year to 3 years or more
and development plans are driven by current and future business needs rather than incremental user
needs. Increase in the time horizon is a factor which results in poor response from the top
management to the strategic information systems planning process as it is difficult to hold their
attention for such a long period. Other questions associated with strategic information systems
planning are related to the scope of the planning study, the focus of the planning exercise - corporate
organization vs. strategic business unit, number of studies and their sequence, choosing a strategic
information systems planning methodology or developing one if none is suitable, targets of planning
process and deliverables. Because of the complexity of the strategic information systems planning
process and uniqueness of each organization, there is no one best way to tackle it. Vitale, et al.
(1986) classify SISP methodologies into two categories: impact and alignment. Impact
methodologies help create and justify new uses of IT, while the methodologies in the “alignment”
category align IS objectives with organizational goals.



Reference:
http://viu.eng.rpi.edu/publications/strpaper.pdf

Assignment 3 (MIS2)

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan? Note: you are required to interview an IS professional/s for your answer ... (at least 3000 words)



The adopted company we have been interviewed is the Rhine Marketing. During the interview our group discover that the RMC-CD branch in Davao City has adopted an in-house programmer. The Rhine System, (name of their IS) was developed by their self-employed personnel. We interviewed Mr. Cris, the MIS head of RMC-CD and fortunately he gives us information about their company and the causes of frustration of the IS professional.
Rhine - A Filipino Success Story

People from all walks of life have associated Rhine Marketing Corporation with sewing machines. Rhine started its operation in Cebu by selling sewing machines on the installment plans. Today, there are more than 64,000 homes in the country with a Rhine sewing machine. Rhine, known for its low cost appliance installment schemes, has been improving the quality of life for thousands of Filipinos by making available all types of appliances, computers and small industrial equipment: sewing machines, TV's, refrigerators, pianos, sing-along systems, stereos, VCD & DVD players and components, electric fans, furniture, spring beds, gas ranges, washing machines, and many more consumer items, on affordable terms.

PROGRESSIVE

Rhine has been actively involved in various socio-economic and civic projects of such institution as the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and the Philippine Business for Social Progress. Personal involvement of the Chairman of the Board Mrs. Isabel Caro Wilson and Mr. Hernando Streegan ensure the company's support and active participation in worthwhile community undertakings.

In 1980 Rhine started granting college scholarships under the Claude M. Wilson Scholarship Program. An average of eight deserving students is selected per year. At present, there are now 80 students who have fully availed of the program.

Internally, Rhine's close to 1,000 employees throughout the country enjoy substantial social benefits: a company retirement plan, group hospitalization, plan emergency loan plan, group life insurance and employees discount/terms on appliance purchases.

For 39 years, the company has served more than 700,000 families by granting them credit through installment sales of more than 1.1 billion pesos. Rhine also gives P30,000.00 death cash benefit to the beneficiary of any Rhine customer who at the time of death due to an accident still has an up to date account of Rhine Marketing Corporation. Consequently, the remaining balance shall be waived and the unit purchased by the deceased customer shall be considered fully paid.

Rhine Marketing Corporation also honors the people who for a number of years have rendered their loyal and faithful service to the company. The company believes that to these individuals, recognition for their hardwork is what they all truly deserve. Every year, service awards are given to its employees who have reached five, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty five years in the company. Awardees are distinctively awarded with plaques and cash incentives for their respective number of years.

STRATEGIES

Inspite of adversities faced by the appliance retailing industry in the form of stiff competition and government regulations. Rhine has devised innovative schemes and incentive programs to boost the company's installment sales and capture a large segment of the market.

These efforts have resulted in high efficiency ratings, and improved net earnings vis-a-vis owner's equity. The company's credit lines, while available, are used minimally, a good standard achievement since Rhine finances its installment sales.

SALES TOOL

Through the years, Rhine has consistently identified itself with low installment plans. White other appliance firms accept installment sales, few concentrate on it as much as Rhine, which gears its entire marketing stategy to the cultivation of long-term customers who are possible sources of repeat sales. Supporting this strategy are carefully calibrated ranges of installment terms among which a customer is sure to find one perfectly suited for his earning power and budget priorities. Other companies treat installments as subsidiary sales mechanisms: for Rhine, it is a major sales tool.

Rhine is a self-financing installment house. Unlike other appliance outlets, Rhine does not channel receivables to independent finance companies whose collectors and agents deal directly with the customer. At Rhine, the company maintains and trains in-house personnel to adequately service a customer's account. This set up is advantageous to the customer as well as to the company since it helps establish rapport and trust which consequently improves collections and after-sales service.

Before i’ve been tackle the different frustration of the said company i will define first what is Frustration???
PROVIDING CUSTOMER SUPPORT
• On-Site Servicing. Rhine professionalism is extended to help you maintain your computer system right in your home of office. This process gets rid of the hassles of bringing your PC's to service centers.


• Repair and Maintenance Center. Apart from the warehouse that promises ready inventory, the RMA team at the Plant Site caters to PC problems that may not be solved at the Service Center level. Thus, this fully guarantees customers a continued servicing of their PCs.


• Nationwide Network of Sales and Service Center. To provide you with utmost service satisfaction, Rhine has extended its reach and set up a total of 19 Branches and Sub-branches nationwide, making it one of the largest distributor of computer products and peripherals.


• Business Areas. Personal Computer manufacturing * Systems Integration (provides local area networking) * PC consultancy and business solutions * Service and Maintenance.

 Frustration

Frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to be. Causes of frustration may be internal or external. In people, internal frustration may arise from challenges in fulfilling personal goals and desires, instinctual drives and needs, or dealing with perceived deficiencies, such as a lack of confidence or fear of social situations. Conflict can also be an internal source of frustration; when one has competing goals that interfere with one another, it can create cognitive dissonance. External causes of frustration involve conditions outside an individual, such as a blocked road or a difficult task. While coping with frustration, some individuals may engage in passive-aggressive behavior, making it difficult to identify the original cause(s) of their frustration, as the responses are indirect. A more direct, and common response, is a propensity towards aggression.

Different frustrations that he encountered in working with the Information System Plan:

1. Cost – see to that the system costing would depend on the quality of a project. Making a system is impossible without financial support. From the hardware to software, all of this has a cost. That's the reason why a company must have good financial capacity to cater expense of systems.

2. Mood- it refers to the behavioral condition of a programmer. Moods might influence the quality and performance of programmers while programming. It is evident from literature that positive and negative moods influence divergent thinking, quantity/quality of ideas and creative problem solving. The programmers' performance and the quality of their work could be affected by their moods when they develop or test an application.

3 Limitation (restriction) – it refers to the time allocated for the system to be finished.

4. System flow or manual procedure- see to it that whatever the customer wants, it is pertinent that he/she must prepare the important things or data needed in a particular project. For an instance, customer wishes for a quality and easy system, it is important to consider the following like manual procedure had been set, there is legal contract between you (programmer) and customer and finalize first the data and reports needed.

A process for developing a strategy and plans for aligning information systems with the
business strategies of an organization.

Characteristics:
-*Timely. The ISP must be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is
useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work
than to perform the work planned.

-*Useable. The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for
each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be
parceled out to project managers and immediately started.
-*Maintainable. The ISP should be maintainable. New business opportunities, new
computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support
quick changes to the estimates, technologies employed, and possibly even
to the fundamental project sequences. Once these changes are
accomplished, the new ISP should be just a few computer program
executions away.
-*Quality. While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first


References:
http://www.rhine.com.ph/about-us/rhine-computer-division.html
Wikipedia.com

Assignment 2(MIS2)

What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan? (at least 2000 words)

Organizations find some strategies that will help building the name of the company and achieve a competitive advantage as technology is concern. The trend of technology nowadays is fast changing. It would be better if organizations will adapt into these changes and eventually embrace the new technology offered for the businesses to progress. Since business and IT works hand on hand, there relationship will provide a great means in achieving the goals set in for the organization. The business will not just bloom by itself but also those people using the technology as a resource. A business plan and IS plan has a relationship specially nowadays information technology involves more than just computer literacy;

What is a Business Plan??
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.

The business goals may be defined for for-profit or for non-profit organizations. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals, such as profit or creation of wealth. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on organizational mission which is the basis for their governmental status or their non-profit, tax-exempt status, respectively—although non-profits may also focus on optimizing revenue. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the effort to balance mission with "margin" (or revenue). Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan.
Business plans are decision-making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal.
For example, a business plan for a non-profit might discuss the fit between the business plan and the organization’s mission. Banks are quite concerned about defaults, so a business plan for a bank loan will build a convincing case for the organization’s ability to repay the loan. Venture capitalists are primarily concerned about initial investment, feasibility, and exit valuation. A business plan for a project requiring equity financing will need to explain why current resources, upcoming growth opportunities, and sustainable competitive advantage will lead to a high exit valuation.
Preparing a business plan draws on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines: finance, human resource management, intellectual property management, supply chain management, operations management, and marketing, among others. It can be helpful to view the business plan as a collection of sub-plans, one for each of the main business disciplines.
"... a good business plan can help to make a good business credible, understandable, and attractive to someone who is unfamiliar with the business. Writing a good business plan can’t guarantee success, but it can go a long way toward reducing the odds of failure."
Presentation formats
The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context. It is not uncommon for businesses, especially start-ups to have three or four formats for the same business plan:
• an "elevator pitch" - a three minute summary of the business plan's executive summary. This is often used as a teaser to awaken the interest of potential funders, customers, or strategic partners.
• an oral presentation - a hopefully entertaining slide show and oral narrative that is meant to trigger discussion and interest potential investors in reading the written presentation. The content of the presentation is usually limited to the executive summary and a few key graphs showing financial trends and key decision making benchmarks. If a new product is being proposed and time permits, a demonstration of the product may also be included.
• a written presentation for external stakeholders - a detailed, well written, and pleasingly formatted plan targeted at external stakeholders.
• an internal operational plan - a detailed plan describing planning details that are needed by management but may not be of interest to external stakeholders. Such plans have a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality than the version targeted at external stakeholders.
Typical structure for a business plan for a start up venture[8]
• cover page and table of contents
• executive summary
• business description
• business environment analysis
• industry background
• competitive analysis
• market analysis
• marketing plan
• operations plan
• management summary
• financial plan
• attachments and milestones
Revisiting the business plan
Cost overruns and revenue shortfalls
Cost and revenue estimates are central to any business plan for deciding the viability of the planned venture. But costs are often underestimated and revenues overestimated resulting in later cost overruns, revenue shortfalls, and possibly non-viability. During the dot-com bubble 1997-2001 this was a problem for many technology start-ups. However, the problem is not limited to technology or the private sector; public works projects also routinely suffer from cost overruns and/or revenue shortfalls. The main causes of cost overruns and revenue shortfalls are optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation.[9][10] Reference class forecasting has been developed to reduce the risks of cost overruns and revenue shortfalls.
Uses of Business Plan
Venture capital
• Business plan contests - provides a way for venture capitals to find promising projects
Public offerings
• In a public offering, potential investors can evaluate perspectives of issuing company
Within corporations
Fundraising
Fundraising is the primary purpose for many business plans, since they are related to the inherent probable success/failure of the company risk.
Total quality management
Total quality management (TQM) is a business management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. TQM has been widely used in manufacturing, education, call centers, government, and service industries, as well as NASA space and science programs.
Management by objective
Management by objectives (MBO) is a process of agreeing upon objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they are in the organization.
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors and EPISTELS (Environment, Political, Informative, Social, Technological, Economic, Legal and Spiritual)
Education
K-12
Business plans are used in some primary and secondary programs to teach economic principles. Wikiversity has a Lunar Boom Town project where students of all ages can collaborate with designing and revising business models and practice evaluating them to learn practical business planning techniques and methodology.

What is an IS plan

 Information Systems (IS) refers to the interaction between processes and technology. This interaction can occur within or across organizational boundaries. An information system is not only the technology an organization uses, but also the way in which the organizations interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the organization’s business processes. Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an information system has an information technology component that interacts with the processes components.

Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies
The task of strategic information systems planning is difficult and often time organizations
do not know how to do it. Strategic information systems planning is a major change for
organizations, from planning for information systems based on users’ demands to those based on
business strategy. Also strategic information systems planning changes the planning characteristics
in major ways. For example, the time horizon for planning changes from 1 year to 3 years or more
and development plans are driven by current and future business needs rather than incremental user
needs. Increase in the time horizon is a factor which results in poor response from the top
management to the strategic information systems planning process as it is difficult to hold their
attention for such a long period. Other questions associated with strategic information systems
planning are related to the scope of the planning study, the focus of the planning exercise - corporate
organization vs. strategic business unit, number of studies and their sequence, choosing a strategic
information systems planning methodology or developing one if none is suitable, targets of planning
process and deliverables. Because of the complexity of the strategic information systems planning
process and uniqueness of each organization, there is no one best way to tackle it. Vitale, et al.
(1986) classify SISP methodologies into two categories: impact and alignment. Impact
methodologies help create and justify new uses of IT, while the methodologies in the “alignment”
category align IS objectives with organizational goals.

Characteristics of a Quality ISP

A quality ISP must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it is useful. These five are presented in the table that follows.

1. Timely - The ISP must be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned.
2. Useable - The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be parceled out to project managers and immediately started.
3. Maintainable - The ISP should be maintainable. New business opportunities, new computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support quick changes to the estimates; technologies employed, and possibly even to the fundamental project sequences. Once these changes are accomplished, the new ISP should be just a few computer program executions away.
4. Quality - While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first try. As the ISP is executed, the metrics employed to derive the individual project estimates become refined as a consequence of new hardware technologies, code generators, techniques, or faster working staff. As these changes occur, their effects should be installable into the data that supports ISP computation. In short, the ISP is a living document. It should be updated with every technology event, and certainly no less often than quarterly.
5. Reproducible - The ISP must be reproducible. That is, when its development activities are performed by any other staff, the ISP produced should essentially be the same. The ISP should not significantly vary by staff assigned.


References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan
http://www.business-plan-success.com/Articles/BusinessPlanDefinition/

Assignment 9(MIS)

dentify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following
questions: (3000 words).

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a
term that encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on
Earth or some region thereof.

The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:

* Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive
human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil,
rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.

* Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut
boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation,
electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.

The role of environment in sustainable development and its relation with
development management

the desired object of national development and environment protection is nothing
but improvement of the homeland in order to prepare appropriate environmental
conditions for the flourishing of the intellectual and material potentials of
the society.

It is obvious that there is a possibility for the appearance of environmental
problems in the course of the developmental process.

Therefore, it has become necessary to employ engineering sciences for
environment protection and to decrease the reverse effects of the civil and
developmental projects on the environment to the minimum possible levels.

When the development plan aims at preparation of an appropriate basis for the
boom of the potential talent and capability of the society, and the increase of
the life quality on a national level, the process of making an environment plan
can be defined as the design of a suitable strategy for promotion of living
standards on a national level, relying on the national intellectual and capital
resources, with little reliance on non-native facilities.
Through this paper the factor “Environment” and its role in Sustainable
Development and its relation with Development Management and Planning has been
studied, with due consideration of the aspects concerned.

• What should be your role within this environment?


-First you need to understand that if you are not
actively helping to conserve the environment in some way then the environment
will continue to degrade. We as human
beings have grown accustomed to using up nonrenewable resources. I feel the
role of humans is to first acknowledge our mistakes and then go about changing
our behavior. This means trying to
recycle, use renewable energy, not littering, using public transportation,
buying products from green companies so that economically it is more profitable
to conserve than waste, calling our congressman, etc. In short we must accept
that we are wrong in thinking that it is someone else's problem. Look
up on the inter net how you can help and do it. Make good habits in
conservation, learn all you can and share with others what you have learned. You and I are the problem and unless we
change, our environment could reach a critical threshold that takes thousands of years to fix.

•How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
==Principles for creating good information representation== -
propose principles for good representation of information applicable to six
categories of communication: speeches, written texts, presentations, Web pages,
movies/videos, and source programs. For each of these categories, many tips
have been proposed for creating good information representation. The meaning of
good information representation can be interpreted in two ways: as attractive
or impressive, and effective in conveying facts and opinions. Although these
two ways cannot be said to be independent of each other, I focus here only the
latter. The need to establish explicit principles for good information
representation is urgent, because information must be transmitted accurately
(without loss of fidelity). Bad information representation is proliferating at
a rapid pace because of the Internet. information representation.

• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
The condition of the environment is a worldwide issue. Air and water pollution do
not recognize borders; poor soil conditions in one nation may reduce another
country’s food supply. At the same time, different regions do face different
problems. One key distinction is between the environmental threats faced by
developed nations, such as the United
States and western European countries, and
developing nations. Most agree that these nations may have dissimilar crises,
but debate remains over whether the solutions to their problems are unique as well.


The environmental problems faced by
developed nations are largely the result of economic strength and higher
standards of living. Because of us human our environment facing a
challenge like a calamity so therefore there are ways in conserving and save the
environment.
The environmental crises faced by developing nations are the result of poverty. For example, Third
World countries often lack the resources and sanitation facilities
to provide the public with clean water. Tropical deforestation, caused by the
slash-and-burn techniques of poor farmers, is another dilemma. However, as Rice University
president Malcolm Gillis has observed, agriculture is not the only
manifestation of the effects of poverty on deforestation. In most, but not all,
poor nations, the role of poverty in deforestation is magnified by the
ever-more-desperate search for fuelwood by impoverished people.” This search
for wood is exacerbated by the key environmental problem in developing
nations—overpopulation. Third World nations may consume vastly less than America and Europe
but their population growth rates are much higher. These nations lack the
natural resources and social services that will be needed in order to provide
their burgeoning populations with adequate food, shelter, and employment in the
coming years. As developing nations move closer to First
World status, the accompanying growth in industry could also
affect the environment, especially through the emission of greenhouse gases.
The global warming agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in December
1997 exempted developing nations such as China,
India, and Mexico from
requirements to reduce their emissions. But according to the United Nations,
countries exempted from the agreement will create 76 percent of total
greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years.
 Clean or replace air filters on your air
conditioning unit at least once a month.

 If you have central air
conditioning, do not close vents in unused rooms.

 Lower the thermostat on
your water heater to 120.

 Wrap your water heater in
an insulated blanket.

 Turn down or shut off your
water heater when you will be away for extended periods.

 Turn off unneeded lights
even when leaving a room for a short time.

 Set your refrigerator
temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5 .

 when using an oven,
minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to
30 every time you open the door.

 Clean the lint filter inyour dryer after every load so that it uses less energy.

 Unplug seldom used
appliances.

==Here’s an idea of what our activities look like on the ground:==

• We educate farmers on sustainable farming methods such as rotating crops for soil fertility and re-cropping rather than clearing forest to make new fields
  
• We promote the use of fuel-efficient stoves that reduce the need for fuel wood by two-thirds and are made from local materials – saving time, money and trees
  
• We organize micro-credit programs that allow villagers – especially women – to obtain capital for small business ventures by pooling their own money seeded by JGI funds. The payback rate is impressive – over 85 percent.
  
• We work with villages to improve health through training and infrastructure development, including spring protection, shallow and bore wells, and ventilated improved pit latrines
  
• We place a special emphasis on girls’ education, providing scholarships that have help girls
  in Tanzania complete secondary school and beyond.
  

Reference:
http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=15544[/f[font=Arial] http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/IPCC.2009.5208725
http://www.enotes.com/conserving-environment-article
http://www.seql.org/100ways.cfm

Assignment 8(MIS)

Assuming that i was able to attend a seminar-workshop on information systems planning with some of the faculty members. So first i should give the definition of Outsourcing based on the internet.

Outsourcing of information systems functions has become a frequently chosen
alternative of providing information systems services. This is true across many
industries and all firm sizes. Practitioners have developed a number of guidelines
relating to outsourcing. While many of these guidelines seem plausible their under­
lying economic reasons are often not identified because they are not based on any
theory. We analyze outsourcing of information systems functions using the trans­
action cost economics framework. The framework allows us to incorporate pro­
duction as well as coordination costs in evaluating the outsourcing option.
IS outsourcing, organization economics, transaction cost, markets, hierarchies,
asset specificity.
Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities, real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, CAD drafting, customer service, market research, manufacturing, designing, web development, print-to-mail, content writing, ghostwriting and engineering. Offshoring is the type of outsourcing in which the buyer organization belongs to another country.

Outsourcing and off shoring are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshoring is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company.

With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the United States and United Kingdom. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new terms such as nearshoring, noshoring, and rightshoring that reflect the changing mix of locations. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian companies in the U.S. and UK. A major job that is being outsourced is accounting. They are able to complete tax returns across seas for people in America.

Multisourcing refers to large outsourcing agreements (predominantly IT).[9] Multisourcing is a framework to enable different parts of the client business to be sourced from different suppliers. This requires a governance model that communicates strategy, clearly defines responsibility and has end-to-end integration.

Strategic outsourcing is the organizing arrangement that emerges when firms rely on intermediate markets to provide specialized capabilities that supplement existing capabilities deployed along a firm’s value chain (see Holcomb & Hitt, 2007). Such an arrangement produces value within firms’ supply chains beyond those benefits achieved through cost economies. Intermediate markets that provide specialized capabilities emerge as different industry conditions intensify the partitioning of production. As a result of greater information standardization and simplified coordination, clear administrative demarcations emerge along a value chain. Partitioning of intermediate markets occurs as the coordination of production across a value chain is simplified and as information becomes standardized, making it easier to transfer activities across boundaries.

The Webster's Universal Dictionary meaning of "Outsourcing" is: "A company or person that provides information; to find a supplier or service, to identify a source". It is very important to be clear about what is meant by outsourcing. Outsourcing essentially refers to how things are done rather than what is done. It describes how for example IT services are obtained; not what the services are.

Very simply outsourcing can be defined as a process in which a company delegates some of its in-house operations/processes to a third party. Thus outsourcing is a contracting transaction through which one company purchases services from another while keeping ownership and ultimate responsibility for the underlying processes. The clients inform their provider what they want and how they want the work performed. So the client can authorize the provider to operate as well as redesign basic processes in order to ensure even greater cost and efficiency benefits.

Although the above definition of outsourcing may seem very similar to contracting, it is to be said that contracting and outsourcing are in no way related. Generally in contracting the ownership or control of the operation or process being contracted is with the parent company, whereas in outsourcing the control of the process is with the third party instead of the parent company. So in other words, outsourcing can be defined as phenomena in which a company delegates a part of its in-house operations to a third party with the third party gaining full control over that operation/process.

One way of looking at it is that outsourcing is just a name for already existing practices. Services such as, bureau services, contract programming and project management have been outsourced for a long time. In its present meaning, however, outsourcing refers to a greater level of handing over ownership and/or managerial control than has before been the case.

Companies turn to resources outside their organizational structure usually to save money and/or make use of the skilled professionals. For instance, a company might outsource its IT management because it is cheaper to contract a third-party to do so than it would be to build its own in-house IT management team. Or a company could outsource all of its data storage needs because it is easier and cheaper than buying and maintaining its own data storage devices. A business might also outsource its human resource tasks to another enterprise instead of having its own dedicated human resources staff.




» Account Payable Outsourcing » Application Development Outsourcing
» Advantages of Outsourcing » Back Office Outsourcing
» Benefits of Outsourcing » Business Outsourcing
» Pro And Cons Of Outsourcing » China Outsourcing
» Customer Service Outsourcing » Data Entry Outsourcing
» Disadvantages of Outsourcing » Effects of Outsourcing
» Global Outsourcing » Graphic Design Outsourcing
» HR Outsourcing Company » HR Outsourcing Services
» Human Resource Outsourcing » Information Technology Outsourcing
» IT Services Outsourcing » IT outsourcing solution
» Offshore Outsourcing » Outsourcing Computer Hardware
» Outsourcing Jobs India » Outsourcing Problem
» Outsourcing Statistics » Offshore Outsourcing Consultant
» Telemarketing Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Strategy
» Outsourcing » Strategic Outsourcing
» Outsourcing Business Services » Outsourcing Research
» Job Outsourcing » Outsourcing Fulfillment
» Oasis Outsourcing » Logistics Outsourcing
» Medical Transcription Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Call Center
» International Outsourcing » Human Resource Outsourcing Services
» Accounting Outsourcing » Legal Outsourcing
» Business Process Outsourcing » IT Outsourcing
» Outsourcing American Jobs » Knowledge Process Outsourcing
» Contact Center Outsourcing » Outsourcing in India
» Definition of Outsourcing » Outsourcing Services
» History of Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Research
» Offshore Outsourcing India » Outsourcing to a foreign country
» BPO Business Process Outsourcing » Finance and accounting outsourcing
» Offshore Business Process Outsourcing » Comprehensive Human Resource Outsourcing
» Outsourcing Software Development » Outsourcing American Jobs To Foreign
CountrY

Benefits of Outsourcing
Outsource and take advantage of the benefits of offshore outsourcing are the following:
1. Take advantage of the cost-advantages!

Outsourcing to countries such as India can give you access to cost-effective services. The same services with the same level of quality are offered in India for a much lower cost! This cost-advantage has increased the number of services that are being offered to India. Services such as call center services, teleradiology, medical billing, etc can help you save up to 60% of your total costs when outsourced! Getting access to high-quality services at a cost-effective price is the biggest benefit that you can get while outsourcing. Outsource and reap the benefits of outsourcing.
2. See an increase in your business

Another benefit of outsourcing is seeing a big increase in your profits, productivity, level of quality, business value, business performance and much more. Outsourcing can help you see an increase in almost every aspect of your business. Outsource and see your organization experience an increase in every aspect with these benefits of outsourcing.
3. Save Big!

One of the benefits of outsourcing is that you can save on every aspect of your business and increase your profits. When you outsource, you can save on time, effort, infrastructure and manpower. Since you don't have to invest in infrastructure, you can also save on making unnecessary fixed investments. Outsourcing removes the burden of changing or maintaining infrastructure. You can also save on capital expenditure. Outsourcing can also help you save on training costs, because you do not have to invest in manpower. These savings will help bring about an increase in your revenue. Your organization can also save on investing in expensive software and technologies.
4. Get access to specialized services

By outsourcing you can get expert and skilled services. This benefit of outsourcing has been the key reason why several outsourcers opt for outsourcing. The function that you outsource may not be your core competency but you can find an outsourcing partner who is specialized in that particular business process. Your outsourcing partner will be able to provide more proficient services. This is yet another benefit of outsourcing, because if you perform all your business processes in-house, you will not be able to provide specialized and skilled services. Outsourcing can give you this advantage.

Outsource2india is an organization that offers a wide range of specialized business process outsourcing solutions to global clients. Outsourcing business processes to us has enabled clients to cross-leverage our skills and expertise across industry verticals and technologies to achieve greater efficiency and quality levels in the outsourced process.

At Outsource2india, we have dedicated teams that offer outsourced services across a range of services which include Call center, Data Entry Servicesand Engineering Services, Healthcare Services, Financial Services, Software Development, Research and Analysis Services, Photo Editing Services, Creative Services and Web-analytics Services.

Outsource specific processes to our expert teams and increase your ROI. Contact O2I here.
5. Concentrate more on your core business

One of the benefits of outsourcing is that your organization will be free to concentrate on your core business. By outsourcing all your non-core functions, your employees can be put to better use and you will be able to see a huge growth in your core business.
6. Make faster deliveries to customers

Another benefit of outsourcing is that you can make quicker deliveries to customers. Your outsourcing partner will be able to provide faster deliverables and you in turn will be able to make quick deliveries to your customer. Faster deliveries can also help you save on time.
7. Improved customer satisfaction

With timely deliveries and high-quality services you can impress your customers. Outsourcing can help you benefit from increased customer satisfaction and your customers will remain loyal to your organization.
8. Benefit from time zone advantages

Outsourcing to countries such as India has a time zone advantage. Your night will be India's day. With this advantage, your outsourcing partner can complete critical work and send it to you the next day. Thus, your work is continued by your outsourcing partner even after your employees go home. This enables the work to be completed much faster and gives your business a competitive advantage. This is one of the benefits of offshore outsourcing.
9. Increased efficiency

Another benefit of outsourcing is increased efficiency. Your non-core business functions will be performed efficiently by your outsourcing partner, while your core functions can be efficiently carried out in-house. Thereby you can achieve overall efficiency and see an increase in your profits.
10. Give your business a competitive edge!

Outsourcing can help your organization gain a competitive edge in the market. You can also get access to specialized services for different business processes and thereby provide your customers with best-of breed services. Such strategic outsourcing can give your business a competitive edge among your peers. The benefits of outsourcing can give your organization a cutting-edge in the worldwide market. Outsource and take advantage of the benefits of outsourcing.
11. Outsourcing countries also benefit from outsourcing

Countries such as U.S, U.K, Norway and Australia amongst others can benefit by outsourcing. The economy of these countries has increased tremendously after outsourcing. In the U.S, after the outsourcing boom, the economy has increased, jobs have increased and the wages of American workers have increased.

Example of Outsourcing job
Call center outsourcing remains a popular and viable way to deliver high quality service while lowering operating costs in the call center. By outsourcing call center functions, companies can improve productivity, extend their service hours and place focus on their core competencies.

Services
For over a decade OUTSOURCE has provided Human Capital Resource Management Services to national corporations, local, state and federal government agencies. We deliver high quality Staff Augmentation, IT Consulting, Payroll Services, and Medical, Technical and Management Training Solutions to a diverse client base. OUTSOURCE professionals provide the missing piece to our client's resource puzzle.


Ingrained in every service we deliver, our first goal is to provide our clients with superior customer service, which starts with our quality processes. Whether we are providing human capital, managing a large consulting project, or delivering training solutions, our processes are tailored from start to finish. We ensure our clients receive the attention, quality, and ROI they deserve.

=Outsourcing Information Technology to Asia=
A combination of high overhead in the United States and strong cultural ties between the domestic and Asian information technology industries have led many companies to outsource labor-intensive software programming to Asia and Eastern Europe.

India has always been a major player in information technology (IT); they even make their own supercomputers for predicting monsoons. It wasn't until the Y2K bug emerged that the need for legions of cheap programmers really arose, however, and American companies began to see the potential for outsourcing overseas. After Y2K the IT service industry exploded, with American companies outsourcing everything from data entry to customer service to India and other Asian countries.

India was a natural choice for outsourcing. Many American technology companies were either created by or employ non-resident Indians (NRIs) or Indian-Americans who still have strong ties to family and friends in India. This cultural bridge combined with the vast pool of cheap, technically skilled, English-speaking engineering talent produced by India's engineering colleges creates the perfect environment for information technology.

Despite its distinct advantages for companies looking to outsource their IT services, India's volatile political climate and rampant corruption present problems. Some of the 185 Fortune 500 companies that outsource software to Asia are choosing places like Vietnam or China with more predictable politics and less corruption. Other companies that outsource their customer service are finding that their customers prefer the Americanized English of the Philippines to the British English that predominates in India, though all of these countries have their drawbacks, from censored Internet lines in China and Vietnam to Muslim militancy in the Philippines.

Despite the hiccups the IT service industry continues to grow as the software industry becomes more competitive and U.S. companies try to reduce overhead. The Asian IT service market is still in its infancy, but by 2008 industry think tank Nasscom-McKinsey predicts a $17 billion IT service industry in India alone.


Reference:
http://www.cyfuture.com/definition-of-outsourcing.htm
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_outsource/articles/benefit_outsourcing.asp

Assignment 7(MIS)

On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month, (July 2000), identify at least 3 areas related to ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life.


1.Telecommunications
-:"Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications
Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga
nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era
Public Service Law. And we need to do it now…."

he National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the government agency created under Executive Order No. 546 promulgated on July 23, 1979, and conferred with regulatory and quasi-judicial functions taken over from the Board of Communications and the Telecommunications Control Bureau which were abolished in the same Order.



his Study has been published for those companies requiring an in-depth report describing the current state of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines.

The country’s telecom industry is rather unusual – for a developing country – for two reasons. First, its regulation is extremely liberal and, second, in some respects there is a surfeit of telecom infrastructure. The regulatory regime is weak to the point of being ineffectual, while the fixed line infrastructure is severely under-utilised and a great deal of investment is going to waste.

The country is renowned for its use of texting (i.e. short messaging services, or SMS), leading the world in the adoption of this particular technology. SMS services have driven the rapid growth of the country’s mobile sector over the past five years.

Other segments of the telecom industry have less dynamism. Use of the Internet, e-commerce and broadband services are still at an early stage. More advanced developments, such as 3G services, are only just being introduced.

The Philippines is one of the less developed telecom markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Having said that, and given the population size, opportunities for first-movers with appropriate products are considerable. If the country continues to develop economically, and political unrest is avoided, the Philippines could prove to be a rewarding country for long term investments.

2.CREATION OF DICT (DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY)
"Pres. Gloria Arroyo on Monday made a final push for the creation of DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) in her last State of the Nation Address (Sona). Let us have a Department of ICT. Philippines is now starting to create wealth with the development of the BPO industry as an engine of growth".

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

3. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector
-“In the past if the electronics sector grew, today we’re creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth,” Macapagal-Arroyo said. “Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall with the state of the world economy but BPO remains resilient.”

- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is ushering the economy into a sustained growth as it is projected to employ close to one million and post 13 billion dollars revenue by next year.In an interview over CNBC’s Closing Bell program hosted by noted business anchor Maria Bartiromo, President Arroyo said that the BPO sector, among other industries, has exhibited a stunning performance and must have been helping enable the country to effectively manage the global financial crisis that has been hounding many countries.There are a number of industries that nobody ever thought before would become drivers of growth, for instance, the business process outsourcing industry.

VISION

To be the department of Excellence for e-Management
MISSION

To propagate and promote e-management for knowledge workers of RIM to enhance internal capacity and of Bhutanese organizations to institutionalize e-governance

BACKGROUND

This department was formally known as the Department for Information Technology (DICT) and focuses mainly on the design and delivery of IT training programs of the Institute. Besides offering a regular 2-Year Diploma course in Information Management Systems the department offers various IT/IS related courses at advanced level for in-service personnel, consultancy services and its expertise as and when required to different agency.

One of the major functions of the department is to plan and build IT capability of the Institute both in terms of human resources and infrastructure development. The department has been ardently involved in promoting and educating the Bhutanese in the field of computing and information technology. The programs of the department intervene at various levels of courses for Diploma Course for System developers and programmers, short tailor- made courses for in-service IT personnel, IT Awareness Workshops for executives as well as for mid-level managers from both Government and Private Sector. The department also facilitates, through certified instructors, the Cisco Networking Academy Program, which offers online curriculum and assessment for those interested in electronic networking. In addition to delivering joint IT courses with client organizations, the department plays crucial role in keeping in-house members informed and aware of new technologies and providing training sessions on their usage.

The DICT aims to equip the Institute with the state-of-the-art technology and be able to design and provide need-based IT training programs for the Bhutanese knowledge worker.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To strengthen the IT infrastructure and systems of RIM and its department
2. To provide IT training for public, private and civil society organizations at advanced level
3. Research and develop case study papers
4. To develop distance/online education capability through the use of reliable information technology and facilities.


Reference:
http://www.rim.edu.bt/Departments/dict.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing