Chapter 12 Case Study - Life on the Grid : iPhone Becomes iTrack

Question 1 : Why do cell phone manufacturers (Apple, Google, and Blackberry) want to track where their customers go?

Cell phone manufacturers want to track where their customers go because they want to allowed people to enable their mobile to give out details of their locations to trusted contacts. Google point out that users had to specifically choose to make their data available. Then, the Apple said users can check for themselves what location data the phone is retaining. The guardian has confirmed that 3G- enabled device including the iPad also retain the data and copy it to the owner’s computer.

If someone were to steal an iPhone and "jailbreak" it, giving them direct access to the files it contains, they could extract the location database directly. Alternatively, anyone with direct access to a user's computer could run the application and see a visualization of their movements. Encrypting data on the computer is one way to protect against it, though that still leaves the file on the phone. created a simple downloadable application to let Apple users check for themselves what location data the phone is retaining. The Guardian has confirmed that 3G-enabled devices including the iPad also retain the data and copy it to the owner's computer. 

Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the data: near the end of the 15,200-word terms and conditions for its iTunes program, used to synchronise with iPhones, iPods and iPads, is an 86-word paragraph about "location-based services". It says that Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.Question 2 : Do you think cell phone customers should be able to turn tracking off? Should customers be informed when they are being tracked? Why or why not?

Turning the GPS off will turn off the tracking system, otherwise you've got no expectation of privacy, a federal magistrate said recently in a ruling. The ACLU calls the decision an "opinion straight from the Twilight Zone," as well as a violation of the Fourth Amendment's protections against illegal search-and-seizure. Data protection law only applies to information that qualifies as 'personal data'. The information these systems gather is unlikely to qualify as personal data when read on its own but could identify individuals when combined with information from other sources. However, if that company is able to combine that information with other information about that individual, via, for example, CCTV, Bluetooth locally-targeted advertising systems; Wi-Fi networks and Facebook location-login systems, this could constitute personal data. The company would then need to notify customers about the way in which and the purposes for which their personal data is being processed. Under current data protection rules processors of personal data must generally obtain "freely given, specific and informed" consent in order to do so.

Question 3 : Do you think cell phone tracking is a violation of a person’s privacy?

Yes, this is because data protection law only applies to information that qualifies as 'personal data'. The information these systems gather is unlikely to qualify as personal data when read on its own but could identify individuals when combined with information from other sources, according to Kathryn Wynn, an expert in data privacy at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.

If the company is just tracking customers' movements on a single visit such as to a shopping centre and is not able to collect shopping habit information about individuals on a long term basis, it would appear that the information collected is more like geolocation data rather than technology. Under current data protection rules processors of personal data must generally obtain "freely given, specific and informed" consent in order to do so. 

Chapter 11 Case Study - DST Systems Scores with Scrum & Application Lifecycle Management

Question 1 : What were some of the problems with DST Systems’ old software development environment?

Some of the problems with DST Systems’ old software development environment were its processes often manual and time-consuming. The managers were unable to easily determine how resources were being allocated, which also the employees were working on certain projects and status of specific assets. Another problem was that the DST struggled to update its most important product, AWD in a timely fashion. Its development schedule was to release a new version once every two years. However, the competitors were releasing the versions faster.

Besides, the development group had used a mixture of tools processes and source code control systems without any unified repository for code or a standardized developer tool set. Different groups within the organization used very different tools for software development. Due to organization without used any unified repository, it was difficult to control. Hence, in our opinion, we think that DST must use new method and better than the old traditional.

Question 2 : How did Scrum development help solve some of those problems?

Scrum relies on self-organizing, cross-functional teams supported by a ScrumMaster and a product owner. The Scrum is exists software development tools and experienced strong results. Scrum development helped solve some of these problems by accelerating its software development cycle from 24 months to 6 months and developer productivity increased 20%. What the scrum development pretty much acted like was the coach for the team. This is how the Scrum development helped solve some of these problems.

Question 3 : What other adjustments did DST make to use Scrum more effectively in its software projects? What people, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed?

The other adjustments DST was able to make to use Scrum more effectively in its software projects were by setting up a project evaluation team to identify the right development environment. Another key adjustment was DST's adoption of CollabNet's products. This adjustment allowed DST to complete all of their work within the ALM platform. The management issue being addressed was production being slowed down. The organization issue was the lack of organization so processes were breaking down. Finally, the technology issue being addressed was the problem occurring with the software so production was taking a major hit.

For the part of management, organization and technology issues had to be addressed, Jerry Tubbs, the systems development manager at DST systems, says DST was successful in attempts to revamp the software group because some factors.

1.  Looked for simplicity rather than complicated

2.  Much cheaper than some of the alternatives

3. Involved developers in the decision making process to ensure that change to be greeted enthusiastically

4. Allow for the developers to adopt ALM software on their own.

The company was successful because they selected the right development framework as well as the right software to make that change a reality and skillfully managed the change process.

Chapter 10 Case Study - Albassami’s Job Is Not Feasible Without IT

Question 1 : What systems are described here? What valuable information do they provide?

The system described here is the shipping information system. The system provide  a lot of important information like all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS to the clients acknowledging the arrival of the car. Besides, the system also records the client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle maintenance centers with the transportation service helps to enhance company performance and achieve better customer service. The system also enables standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for different regions 

and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system allowed a better audit on all drivers’ behavior by using the output of the vehicles’ tracking information.   

Question 2 : What values did the IT/ IS investments add to Albassami?

In Albassami, the company used the system that based on clustered Dell servers running Windows 2003 and connected to over 270 Windows XP clients. The database management system, used as the backbone of the system, is Sybase Adaptive server, whereas clients use SQL Anywhere. There is replication between the server at headquarters and the clients’ branches. Throughout the replication, branches’ data is sent to the server and aggregated to create the most updated database version, and then sent back to the branches. This means every branch has the most recent version of the client list, trucks’ availability, and new shipping contracts so that any customer is able to deal with any branch at any time.

Question 3 : How did implementing the Shipping Information System address the business needs and information requirements of Albassami?

Implementing the shipping information system address the business needs and information requirements of Albassami is the recipient branch will create a receipt entry on the system upon arrival of the truck and then and Short Messaging Service communication (SMS) is created and sent to the customer, who will then go to the destination branch to receive the car. 

In addition, Albassami maintains all the sender information such as the sent car, the truck number, the sender and receiving branches, and it also sends an SMS to the client acknowledging the arrival of the car. The system also records the client’s data, and holds maintenance information. Linking the data of vehicle maintenance centers with the transportation service helps to enhance company performance and achieve better customer service. 

The system also enables standard reports to be provided to top management and head sectors about the productivity of each branch, resulting in accurate identification of needs for different regions and thus proper budget allocation. In addition, the system allowed a better audit on all drivers behavior by using the output of the vehicles tracking information. Proper performance monitoring resulted in adequate employee’s appraisals and consequently loyal staff.

Chapter 9 Case Study - Social Commerce Creates New Customer Relationships

Question 1 : Assess the people, organization, and technology issues for using social media to engage with customers.

As the social media such as Facebook, Twitter has become powerful tools for companies of all shapes and size to engage with customers. They can inform the customers about their latest update in order to keep good relationship between them.

As example, location-based businesses can tell their current location to the customers via Twitter or Facebook and also appointment-based businesses can easily tweet or post cancellation and unexpected opening. Larger companies run sweepstakes, promotion and advertisements that capitalize on the social media features in order to achieve greater visibility.

Instead, they have an opportunity to shape the perception of their brands and to solidify relationships with their customers. One of the popular brands products; Levi’s has used Facebook and Twitter to allow consumers to socialize and share their purchases to friends.

The all-purpose retailer Best Buy use social media to answer user question and respond to complaints. Best Buy’s social media followers who generate feedback on social networks and related sites, and these data gathered are converted into useful information. The company uses that information to gauge the success of promotions and the impact of advertising campaigns. Rosetta Stone has used Facebook’s targeting capabilities to determine which types of people responds to the various ads it has created. 

Question 2 : What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for advertising, brand building, market research, and customer service?

There are a lot of advantages that will benefits all that are using social media for advertising, brand building, market research, and customer service for their companies. As using the social media such an efficient way to engage with the customers, the advantages of it hugely affected the productivity and performance of a particular company.

On top of that, the social media features of Facebook ads, the ability “Like” a brand, send a virtual gift, answer a poll question, or instantly stream information to your news feed and this will leads to achieve greater visibility. In addition, Facebook allow advertisers to use features “Like” posts by customer’s purchases and share with their friends. This will benefit the advertiser to improve their firm to gain more buyer or customers of their products. Moreover, by serving Facebook ads only to the group of people to whom they were most attractive, Rosetta Stone experienced a tripling in advertisement performance.

Twitter has developed many offerings to interested advertisers, like Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends. These features give advertisers the ability to have their tweets displayed more prominently when Twitter users search for certain keywords. The use of Twitter as intermediaries is to interest customers. A person that is in charge to handle company’s account Twitter is responsible for responding to queries and engaging in conversations about the brand or their product. So then, the good relationship between the company and customers can be build and this will leads to a better performance and reputation of the company.

Nevertheless, there are several disadvantages of using the social media. As the sharing information among the consumers or customers is unlimited, there are a few bad impacts that will affect them. Information with no limit will lead to cause of infringement of private information among individuals. So then, the problem of securing one’s information cannot be preventing. This will cause the danger of one’s personal information and security of themselves.

As like what Starbucks learned, the social media can be unpredictable and not always beneficial. The campaign that had been runs by Starbucks is backfired. At the urging of anti-Starbucks protesters, users flooded Starbuck’s Twitter feed with pictures of employees and protesters holding signs criticizing Starbuck’s labor practices. Because of this problem, Starbucks faced a big problem that must be solving in order to bring back their good names.

Question 3 : Should all companies use Facebook and Twitter for customer service and advertising? Why or why not? What kinds of companies are best suited to use these platforms?

In this globalization era, sharing information is spread all over the world with no limit. This phenomenon is spreading and all people are trying to be in the same level among others to achieve successful. So the use of social media likes Facebook and Twitter for customer service and advertising are very important for any kinds of company. All companies should use social media as a tool to improve their company's performance and productivity instead of to make possible of company’s performance and smoothing the works of promoting progress. Therefore, the company is a step forward to be the best organization to promote and make their product as one of the mostly chose by consumers in other words, as a ‘product champion’.

There are a few kinds of companies are best suited to use these platforms such as the company are selling mass product. As example, company of shoes is very important to use social media to improve their communication between the customers. Social media likes Facebook and Twitter are usable for the company to deliver their product information to customer faster. Feedback or respond from customers is one of the methods for the company to gather data about their product’s response and if there is any possible solutions are needed based on what the customer complaints. Thus, this problem could be overcome and the performance of the company can be improved. Besides that, social media is use to link the customer and the company to know what best practice are important for the firm to increase the connectivity.

Chapter 8 Case Study - Customer Relationship Management Heads to the Cloud

Question 1 : What type of companies are most likely to adopt cloud-based CRM software services? Why? What companies might not be well suited for this type of software?

The types of companies that adopt cloud-base CRM software service is small businesses that find the on demand model especially appealing because there are no large up-front hardware and software investments or lengthy implementation on corporate computer system. Saleforce’s e-mail and Web-to-lead capabilities helped company quadruple new sales leads.

A task feature automatically generate specific task based on the type of lead and the stage in the sales process. The system automates customer service functions including order confirmation, follow up customer satisfaction surveys and shipping notification. Cloud base software service also appeals to large companies. The system with automated reports and dashboards monitoring key performance indicators, sales calls, and sales volume. 

CRM software service also help to create more successful marketing campaign. Not all companies experience gains of that magnitude and cloud computing does have drawback. Companies that manage their CRM apps with a cloud infrastructure have no guarantees that their data will be available at all time, or even that the provider will still exist in the future.

Question 2 : What are the advantages and disadvantages of using cloud-based enterprise applications?

Advantages	Disadvantages
Cost Efficiency This is the biggest advantage of cloud computing, achieved by the elimination of the investment in stand-alone software or servers. By leveraging cloud’s capabilities, companies can save on licensing fees and at the same time eliminate overhead charges such as the cost of data storage, software updates, management.	Security and privacy in the Cloud Security is the biggest concern when it comes to cloud computing. By leveraging a remote cloud based infrastructure, a company essentially gives away private data and information, things that might be sensitive and confidential. It is then up to the cloud service provider to manage, protect and retain them, thus the provider’s reliability is very critical.
Backup and Recovery The process of backing up and recovering data is simplified since those now reside on the cloud and not on a physical device. The various cloud providers offer reliable and flexible backup/recovery solutions. In some cases, the cloud itself is used solely as a backup repository of the data located in local computers.	Limited control and flexibility Since the applications and services run on remote, third party virtual environments, companies and users have limited control over the function and execution of the hardware and software. Moreover, since remote software is being used, it usually lacks the features of an application running locally.
Increased Storage Capacity The cloud can accommodate and store much more data compared to a personal computer and in a way offers almost unlimited storage capacity. It eliminates worries about running out of storage space and at the same time It spares businesses the need to upgrade their computer hardware, further reducing the overall IT cost	Increased Vulnerability Related to the security and privacy mentioned before, note that cloud based solutions are exposed on the public internet and are thus a more vulnerable target for malicious users and hackers. Nothing on the Internet is completely secure and even the biggest players suffer from serious attacks and security breaches. Due to the interdependency of the system, If there is a compromise one one of the machines that data is stored, there might be a leakage of personal information to the world.
	Dependency and vendor lock-in One of the major disadvantages of cloud computing is the implicit dependency on the provider. This is what the industry calls “vendor lock-in” since it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to migrate from a provider once you have rolled with him. If a user wishes to switch to some other provider, then it can be really painful and cumbersome to transfer huge data from the old provider to the new one. This is another reason why you should carefully and thoroughly contemplate all options when picking a vendor.

Question 3 : What people, organization and technology issues should be addressed in deciding whether to use a conventional CRM system versus a cloud-based version?

People will provide firm wide information to support decision making. They also will enable rapid responses to customer requests for information or products. Besides, removing hardware and its complications are companies not suited for ERP and CRM. People also can made large investments on traditional and customized solutions that already work. 

In an organization, the Human-Resource Optimization will act as while traditional ERP and CRM solutions demand for technical staff, cloud-based solutions allows to optimize HR to focus on operation. In technology for security: using the web as infrastructure, cloud-based ERP and CRM solutions have difficulties in offering security-comfort to companies that own sensible data. Besides, Seeks to cut cost Companies That Use Cloud Based ERP and CRM Services: it enables them to achieve operational excellence and customer intimacy.  It releases them from infrastructural maintenance and its respective fixed (servers, storage, networking components) and operational costs 

Chapter 3 - Class presentation

Our class presentation :)

MIS presentation.pptx.pdf by Leowanie Leow

Chapter 7 Case Study : Information Security Threats & Policies in Europe

Question 1: What is a botnet?

A botnet is network of autonomous malicious software agents that are under control of a bot commander.

Question 2: Digital Agenda of Europe main points?

a. To define the key role that information and communication technologies in year 2020.

b. To initiate calls for a single open European digital market.

c. To have broadband speeds of 30Mbps be available to all European citizens by 2020.

d. To implement measures to protect privacy and establishment of well function network of Computer Emergency Response Teams(CERT) to prevent cybercrime and respond effectively to cyber attacks.

Question 3: How a cyber attack can be carried out?

From a simple individual ping commands and message flooding to more sophisticated distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Hacking is coordinated by using a large number of compromised servers organized in a botnet distributed around the world. 

Using botnet :

Network is created by installing malware that exploits the vulnerabilities of Web servers, operating systems, or applications to take control of the infected computers. Once computer is infected, it becomes part of network of thousands of zombies machines that are commanded to carry out the attack. 

Conflicker worm :

Downloaded and install other malware from controlled web sites, thus infected computers would be under full control of the hackers.

Stuxnet :

Propagated via USB devices with hidden shortcuts to execute programs with extensions of .Ink automatically when content of an infected USB drive was displayed. Worm is also capable of installing other malware.

Question 4: Describe some of the weaknesses exploited by malware.

There are a few of weaknesses exploited by malware. Firstly, once installed on a computer , Conflicker is able to download and install other malware from controlled Web sites, thus infected computers could be under full control of the hackers.

Secondly, the malware known as Stuxnet, infected Windows PCs running the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisitions (SCADA) control system from the German company Siemens. Stuxnet was propagated via USB devices. The malware, hidden in shortcuts to executable programs was executed automatically when the content of an infected USB drive was displayed.

 Thirdly, the worm was capable installing other malware. Initially, security experts disclosed that Stuxnet was designed to steal industrial secrets from SIMATIC WinCC, a visualization and control software system from Siemens.

Chapter 6 Case Study : Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business?

Question 1: Should manager monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage? Why or why not?

Yes, manager should monitor employee e-mail and Internet usage because managers worry about the loss of time when employees are more focusing on personal rather than company business.

       When employees spend a lot their time checking e-mail and the internet it will automatically give effect to the company revenue due to the less of employee productivity. Besides that, some employees may even be billing time they spend pursuing personal interests online to clients, thus overcharging them. Means that, employee did not pay attention to what customer need from the company.

     Then, if personal traffic on company is too high, it can also clog the company’s network so that legitimate business work cannot be performed. Normally employee will use the network provided by the company to complete their job but when they use it for other things that is not necessary   like watch and download video files it cause the network to slow down. Next, when employees use e-mail or the Web (including social networks) at employer facilities or with employer equipment, anything they do, including anything illegal, carries the company’s name. For example, when the employee had done anything illegal like criminal by using the social networks at the work place they will automatically affect the company’s name.

       Moreover, they use company’s equipment and properties to do it. It will gave negative look to the customer toward the company’s name. Companies also fear leakage of confidential information and trade secrets through e-mail or social networks. Normally employee will accidentally sent confidentially or potentially embarrassing company e-mail to outsiders. This will cause the bad look toward the company by the others especially the customers and automatically give benefit to the competitors.

Question 2: Describe an effective e-mail and Web use policy for a company.

Policy: US companies have the legal right to monitor employees Internet and e-mail activity while they are at work.

• This policy is an effective policy because some managers are worries the loss of time and employee productivity when employees are focusing on personal rather than company business while using the Internet. This problem will lead into lost revenue.
• When employees use e-mail or the Web at employer facilities or with employer equipment, anything they do, including anything illegal carries the company’s name. Thus, when managers are monitoring the employee’s activity anything that may be suspicious can be prevent.
• Companies also fear leakage of confidential information and trade secrets through e-mail or social networks. Among managers who fired employees for Internet misuse, the majority did so because the employees’ e-mail contained sensitive, confidential, or embarrassing information.
• The function for this policy also, is to remember that they are personally responsible for what they publish, and to refrain from discussing controversial topics that are not related.

Question 3: Should managers inform employees that their Web behavior is being monitored? Or should managers’ monitors secretly? Why or why not?

Yes, managers should inform employees that their Web behavior is being monitored. This is because as like what IBM did. IBM now has “social computing guidelines” that cover employees’ activities on sites. The guidelines urge employees not to conceal their identities, to remember that they are personally responsible for what they publish, and to refrain from discussing controversial topics that are not related to their IBM role.

This shows also that every employee should be informed about their Web behavior monitored by the employer on the grounds of safety and care of the company's confidential information. Thus, each use of the internet conducted shall be based on things which were good to the common good and the good reputation of the company.

In addition, as a company dependent on widespread information sharing, innovation, and independence could very well find that monitoring creates more problems than it solves. Extensive information resource sharing without limitations can cause much information leading cause of the spread of rumors and false sources that may lead to the sharing of information on the dangers and bad of a company. So, this should be handling by every employee in order to overcome the problem from occur.

Manager monitored their employees’ Web behavior because Manager doesn’t want their employees sending confidential files or other confidential information to people via e-mail that aren't suppose to know the information. Manager need to be concerned about their employees talking about work related information that isn't supposed to leave the office. Next, Manager doesn’t want their employee looking at any inappropriate pictures while at work. Manager also don't want their company to get into trouble for employee's sneaking around to look at pornographic images or anything else sexual. Manager also doesn’t want them to cheat the time clock. Manager doesn’t want their employee to waste company’s money by paying the employee if she or he is just surfing around on the Internet that isn't work related. Manager don't want them being distracted by talking to buddies through instant messages while working. Employees would be able to accomplish more work if they didn't chat with buddies while working. It will save manager even more money if they don't let their employees talk to buddies through Instant messages while working.

Chapter 5 Case Study : Lego

Lego: Combining Business Intelligence with a Flexible Information System

Question 1: Explain the role of the database in SAP’s three-tier-system.

SAP’s business suite is based on a flexible three-tier client-server architecture that can easily be adapted to the new Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) available in the latest versions of the software. In the first tier, a client interface-a browser-type graphical user interface (GUI) running on either a laptop, desktop, or mobile device-submits users’ requests to the application serves. The applications servers send the processed requests to the database system-receive and process clients’ requests to the database system-the third tier-which consists of one or more relational databases. SAP’s business suite supports database from different vendors, including those offered by Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL, and others. The relational database contain the tables that store data on LEGO’s products, daily operations, the supply chain, and thousands of employees. Managers can easily use the SAP query tool to obtain reports from the databases, because it does not require any technical skill. Additionally, the distributed architecture enables authorized personnel to have direct access to the database system from the company’s various locations, including those in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Question 2: Explain why distributed architectures are flexible.

Distribute architectures are flexible because they adapting company operations to these  changes required a flexible and robust IT infrastructure with business intelligence capabilities that could help management perform better forecasting and planning. As part of the solution, LEGO chose to move to SAP business suite software. SAP AG, a German company that specializes in enterprise software solutions, is one of the leading software companies in the world. SAP’s software products include a variety of applications designed to efficiently support all of a company’s essential functions and operations. LEGO chose to implement SAP’s Supply Chain Management (SCM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) modules.

Question 3: Identify some of the business intelligence features included in SAP’s business software suite.

SAP’s Supply Chain Management(SCM) included features such as supply chain   monitoring and analysis as well as forecasting, planning and inventory optimization. In SAP’s Product Life-cycle Management(PLM) module enables managers to optimize development processes and systems. SAP’s Enterprise Resources Planning(ERP) modules includes among another applications, the Human Capital Management(HCM) application for personnel administration and development.

SAP’s business suite is based on a flexible three tier client-server architecture than can be easily adopted to the new Service-Oriented Architecture(SOA) available in the latest version of the software. The first tier, a client interface which a browser type running on either a laptop, desktop or mobile device. The second tier is application servers that receive and process client’s requests. In the third tier, it is consists of one or more relational database.

SAP’s business suite supports database from different vendors, including those offered by Oracle, Microsoft, MySQL and others.

Question 4: What are the main advantages and disadvantages of having multiple database in a distributed architecture? Explain.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Mutiple database contains the tables that store data on products, daily operation, supply chain and thousand of employees.	The additional overhead of these transactions can be a performance penalty when the total amount of data in the network is small. Users also see slower performance when accessing user data that is not local.
Managers can easily use the SAP query tool to obtain reports from the database because it does not require any technical skill.	Increased the use of database space. E very table must exist in every database. When the number of tables is very large, the amount of space used this way can be significant. Administrators must use database storage parameters to size tables and reduce database space consumption.
Distributed architecture enables authorized personnel to have direct access to database system fronm the company’s various locations including in Europe, North America and Asia	Administrators must keep the schemas of all databases synchronized and ensure that the network is configured to take optimal advantage of the distributed-database environment in terms of availability and performance. Although database backups are more flexible in a distributed-database environment, multiple databases add complexity to the backup process.

Chapter 3 Case Study : Automakers Become Software Companies

Question 1: How is software adding value to automakers’ products?

Software is adding value to automakers’ products by adding more value and freshness to their products without having to invest so heavily in new vehicle production. Besides that, with the inclusion of software in their cars, automakers are entering uncharted territory so they must now devote resources to updating and testing their software, as well as establishing ways to provide the updated software to their customers. Automobile software also has many of the technologies included in automobile software packages raise the same privacy concerns surrounding location tracking that have often plagued smart phone manufacturers and app developers. The existing of software also allow automakers’ automaker to aggregate and analyze the data from customers’ cars to identify quality problems and, if necessary quickly recalls. Just as with apps, the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of automakers.

Question 2: How are the automakers benefitting from software enhanced cars? How are the customers benefiting?

Software helps to alleviate urban congestion by investing in technology that responds to the problems created by traffic.the eventual system would require that cars feed increasing amounts of information to systems whose purpose would be to minimize highway congestion. Besides, automakers are entering uncharted territory with the inclusion of software in their car. This is establishing ways to provide the update software to their customer. Then, many of the technologies included in automobile software packages raises the same privacy concerns surrounding location tracking that have often plagued smartphone. This is the best way to roll out software upgrades to its customer. USB stick contains a software upgrade that will improve navigation controls, music and phone features, as well as the ability to control car temperature. The upgrade also contains code that will upgrade system speed and improve the interface based on common criticism. The customers must get into the habit of checking the Ford Web for software upgrade. 

Question 3: How much of a competitive advantage is software providing for automakers? Explain your answer. 

Software provides the automakers a competitive advantage of allowing cars to be managed via the cloud.

Software used by My Ford Touch has an in-dash touch screen available for controls with navigation, music, phone integration and temperature. It also has the Sync software which enables tablet and smart phones to access music and other apps using by only voice commands. This is a competitive advantage compared to other normal cars in the market, this feature of software makes it easier for customer to use the car for own interest.

Other than that, Ford has also come out with a software to solve urban congestion by helping cars to avoid traffic jams, to reserve parking space in advance, for future planning Ford is developing ways for vehicles to communicate with one another on the road to avoid collisions.

Software that operate online in the cloud for cars which enables users to be able to remotely track their cars or even diagnose problems with the car like problems of low tire pressure or need for an oil change. These software development are providing a new platform for automakers to enhance many car drivers’ life by just a touch of a finger through a touch panel.

Chapter 4 Case Study : iPhone

Question 1: What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work?

Advantages:

1. Managing and maintaining a large number of devices within an organization
2. It is easier to keep track of each mobile device and to roll out software upgrade or fixed, because all the employees using the same device.
3. A firm’s software development teams can benefit from having one person specially focused on new application that usable and useful.
4. A number of software product have emerged to help companies manage diverse mobile platforms.
5. Mobility experts can help a company leverage mobility more effectively.
6. Improve the productivity of the company
7. It can save company’s money

Disadvantages:

1. The mobile digital landscape is much more complicated because the operating system do not have well developed tools for security
2. Adequate technical support for every employee could be difficult
3. If a device is stolen or compromised, companies need ways to ensure confidential information is not freely available
4. Mobility puts assets and data at greater risk if they were located within company walls.
5. When employees make change to their phone, the companies will need to quickly regain the data and flexibly to ensure employee still remain productive.

Question 2: Factors that influence the usage of smartphone? 

People factor :

Individual employees are able to improve and gain more knowledge or skills by using smartphones to access to Internet to find information that they are not sure of. Hence, the productivity of individual employees increase.

Employees have their own choice of using which smartphone to own desire, the price, design, brand, quality and function of a smartphone varies accordingly to own employee choice. Some employee may prefer iOS, Android or Windows operating system to use in their smartphone because they may be more comfortable using the operating system that they are familiar with.

Organization :

Companies need an effective way to keep track of all the smartphone device used by employees so that company can configure their connections for Internet so employees are able to connect to the network. 

Company also need an inventory management to keep track of which device of smartphone that employees uses so that company are able to locate how the smartphone is being used and what kind of software that is used by the phone.

Technology :

The changes improvement in technology in our world today, companies may face problems when there is need to provide technical support for their employees if their smartphone is not working the way it is suppose to.

Company should consider developing software that secures all employees smartphone so that the information in smartphone is protected at anywhere and everywhere.

Question 3: Allowing employees to use their own smartphone for work will save  the company money. Do you agree ?  Why or why not ?

Yes, we agree on the statement thai said allowed employees to use their own smartphone for work will save company money.

The main reason why we agree because it is saves your company money on hardware such as computer and laptop.

The second for company to open up their smartphones is to capitalize on employees’ enthusiasm for  the technology. That enthusiasm translates into commitment that will help make an organization’s mobility strategy a success. Therefore it can save cost to hire expertise an technology.

The third reason is to control cost. Having employees to take over the expense of their smartphone, both the initial cost of the devices and their ongoing voice/data  contracts , benefits both sides of the equation . By being more efficient and effective at work , an employee can leverage an expense that he or she would be making anyway .The employee saves significant cost of an ongoing budget commitment to an ever-expanding circles of corporate-liable smartphones.