Chapter 15

Impact of IT on Enterprises, Users and the Environment Questions for Review

1. What does Kurzweils Law of Accelerating Returns predict about IT? This law suggests that the time interval between significant events grows shorter as time passes because technological change is exponential rather than linear. Kurzweil predicted the following: We will not experience 100 years of (linear) progress during the 21st century. Rather, because of exponential technological change, during this century there will be roughly 20,000 years of progress based on todays rate. The equivalent of 4,000 years of technological advancement will occur during the first two decades, from 2000 to 2020. We will have a workable artificially intelligent (AI) brain that can recognize patterns much the way human brains do by 2020. 2. What are the AI capabilities of Polaris? Polaris had outperformed several of the worlds top Texas Hold em poker players at a human versus machine competition in Las Vegas by the use of artificial intelligence. A more intelligent version of Polaris had the ability to learnthat is, to adapt to an opponents strategy in midgameand beat the experts. 3. What is telemedicine? Identify one factor that is promoting telemedicine and one factor that may be limiting its growth. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication networks to provide medical information and services, such as consulting and remote curative medical procedures or examinations. As often happens, the technology in the telemedicine industry is becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the prices for computers, software, and transmission equipment are falling, thus promoting its growth. Issues related to information security may constrain its growth. Those issues include the cost of encryption, secure transmission, and secure storage as well as the liability risks if personally identifiable medical information gets released or compromised. The technology is also perceived to be extremely expensive, and the lack of payer reimbursement is one of the major barriers to broader adoption of telemedicine. 4. How can wireless sensors improve urban planning efforts? After extensive research in some major US cities, it was determined that people cruising while looking for parking spots is a major contribution to traffic jams in cities. Some of these cities have instituted sensors and wireless networks to notify drivers of empty parking spots. This effort helps decrease the time required to locate an empty parking spot, thus reducing 1

traffic jams. 5. What is business process outsourcing (BPO)? BPO is the process of hiring another company to handle business activities. It is distinct from IT outsourcing, which focuses on hiring a third-party company or service provider to do ITrelated activities, such as application management and application development, data center operations, or testing and quality assurance. 6. What is driving the business trend toward SOA? Building and maintaining enterprise systems using SOA promises speed of innovation, flexibility and reuse of existing assets. An SOA is an infrastructure in which software applications are broken into modular components called services. Services are stored in an easily accessible repository and can be accessed by either users or other services. 7. What are two new IT services delivery methods? Storage as a Service: Storage capacity is offered on a per-usage basis similar to SaaS. Communications as a Service (CaaS): These are multiyear communication servicers that are comprised of vendor-owned, managed, and co-located communication applications with connectivity and IT services. 8. What is Enterprise 2.0? Does it centralize or decentralize control? Explain. Enterprise 2.0, or E 2.0, is the deployment of blogs, wikis, RSS, and social networking within the enterprise. Control becomes decentralized with enterprise 2.0 due to the way in which information is easily manipulated by several users of the system and not controlled by one person or entity. 9. What are three functions of iPhone 3G that provide business value? Explain what those business values are. Can access higher speed data networks from the wireless carriers.

It supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, delivering push e-mail, calendar, and contacts. It has a virtual private network (VPN) client with authentication for improved business grade security 10. Distinguish between presence and location. Give an example of each. Presence depicts the availability of a users contact online within a social networking site. Location on the other hand shows the user the geographical location of their contact. 11. Where and why do free speech and privacy rights collide? Free speech and privacy rights collide in a world populated by anonymous critics and cyberbullies. The nature of the Internet allows people to post malicious material about other people or companies and usually, the affected people or companies cannot easily identify the 2

culprits. Furthermore, companies face legal actions if they are found to be negligent for not restricting harmful content. 12. What is green computing? Green computing is the study and practice of eco-friendly computing resources. 13. List three ways in which computing can help protect the environment or conserve resources. Virtualization- A trend in enterprise data centers in which servers are consolidated (integrated) so that they can be shared. Identify and turn off unused computers, which is typically 810 percent of computers Enable power management features, if available. Replace old servers with new energy-efficient servers.

14. What is a green supply chain? Give one example. A green supply chain includes procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, service, and recycling in an environmentally friendly manner. An example includes the building of a 147,000-square-foot warehouse in Tampa Bay, Florida, according to the environmentally sustainable building standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. 15. Is green computing or are green supply chains simply a fad or feel-good initiatives that will fade away? Explain your answer. Far from a fad or feel-good initiative, green computing is quickly emerging as a strategic business imperative. An electronics manufacturers relationship with its suppliers is a major issue for executives, customers, and shareholders. Companies are including green criteria in their requests for proposals (RFPs) and creating clear metrics for measuring them as part of supplier performance management. 16. What is the role of virtualization in green data centers? Virtualization is a trend in enterprise data centers in which servers are consolidated (integrated) so that they can be shared. Most stand-alone servers (in a physical environment) are highly underutilized. Virtualization technology optimizes the capacity and processing power of servers so that fewer servers are needed to provide the necessary processing power. The result is savings in energy, space, and recycling. 17. How does RoHS in the European Union help protect the environment? The RoHS Directive stands for the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. New electrical and electronic equipment put on the market would not contain any of six banned substanceslead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)in quantities exceeding maximum concentration values. 18. What is EPEAT? What are the three certification ratings? 3

The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a searchable database of computer hardware that meets a strict set of environmental criteria. Among other criteria, products registered with EPEAT comply with the U.S. governments Energy Star 4.0 rating, have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury; and are easier to upgrade and recycle. 19. How does telecommuting or virtual work conserve the environment? Telecommuting or virtual work also offers many green benefits, including reducing rush-hour traffic, improving air quality, improving highway safety, and even improving healthcare. 20. What is information overload? Different forms of technology have the capability to introduce ever-growing amounts of data into our lives which can exceed our capacity to keep up with the data. This phenomenon is known as information overload. 21. What are four causes of information overload, and what can be done to reduce this problem? At the onset of the Information Age, intelligence professionals acquired never-before-seen data collection tools, including high-resolution satellite imagery and versatile sensors capable of penetrating natural and manmade barriers. Secondly, IT enabled the intelligence community to establish high-speed communication links to transfer the data, build vast databases to store the data, and use powerful supercomputers with intelligent software to process the data. To be effective at solving the problem of information overload, information systems must differentiate between the data that can be safely summarized and the data that should be viewed in its original form 22. Why are laws generally ineffective in fighting spam? Why does spamming persist despite technology defenses? Spam can originate in any country, making the anti-spam legislation of any given country largely ineffective in keeping spam out. It still persists because it is not just a big nuisance; it is big, profitable business as well. Also spammers have responded to attempts to eradicate them with creative new schemes to defeat the anti-spam solutions. 23. What is information quality? Name one law that requires companies to ensure their information quality. Information quality is a measure of the utility, objectivity, and integrity of gathered information. Information quality is mandated by several forms of legislations. The Data Quality Act of 2001 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 impose strict information quality requirements on government agencies and companies. 24. How might the Internet lead to isolation? If people are encouraged to work and shop from their living rooms, then some unfortunate psychological effects, such as depression and loneliness, could develop. 25. How can too much information or connectivity impact a persons health? Why?

An increase in workload or responsibilities can trigger job stress. Other potential health and safety hazards are repetitive stress injuries such as backaches and muscle tension in the wrists and fingers. 26. What is ergonomics? Ergonomics is the science of adapting machines and work environments to people and provides guidance for designers of computers.

Questions for Discussion

1. IT can lead to the creation of new jobs as it eliminates existing ones. List five jobs that did not exist ten or more years ago. List five jobs that have been practically eliminated within the past ten years. Created: Jobs associated with social networking sites, bloggers, and anything related to newer technologies such as RFID and wireless. Eliminated: Some clerical jobs replaced with automatic data collection systems and ERP systems Customer service jobs replaced with intelligent telephone answering systems Telemarketing jobs have been replaced by smart calling systems that place calls and transfer to a live person when they reach a person. Programming jobs that contain the use of outdated programming languages Business analytics 27. Which ITs make it possible to copy and distribute copyrighted material. What impact would large-scale copyright infringement have on authors and producers of intellectual property or creative works? Copyright infringement is one the biggest problems in the technology industry at present. The latest software and tools have made it possible to copy and transfer music and copyrighted material at no cost. Some of these technologies exist online including Limewire and Napster that enable sharing of movies and music. This creates adverse effects on creative authors and producers alike causing them to lose large amounts of money from people gaining access to these materials that would have otherwise been sold for money. This kind of practices discourages creative works. 28. When you are hooked to your iPod or iPhone, are you plugged in or unplugged? Do personal digital devices contribute to social isolation? Users of iPods or iPhones now have the ability to log ion to secure and unsecured wireless networks and they can go online just like sitting behind a computer. Users usually use their mobile devices to visit social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to keep in touch with their contacts. This phenomenon can lead to social isolation because in the same way as 5

a user can stay at home and still connect to other people via the internet, iPhones and iPods can also isolate a user from society. 29. When was the last time you sat down with your family and friends for a meal without the TV being on, or cell phones or your BlackBerry going off? How often do any of these situations occur? These days, people can hardly do anything without having connectivity to some form of media device. TVs, computers, cell phones, PDAs etc. We have become so dependent on a lot of these gadgets such that every aspect of our lives depend on it. The situation as described in the question hardly happens in this day and age. 30. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, government agencies and individuals turned to information technology to improve security. Can current security measures provide adequate security and also protect privacy? Explain. This has been a topic of great debate for several years now. It depends on individual perception of how he/she rate the security. Information technology has improved security and authority are able to do more in less time and efficiently. But the same IT has helped the terrorists and hacker community as well. There is no one size fits all solution to these problems. 31. Consider a typical day in your life, and list all of the instances when your activities get recorded (e.g., cell phone records, e-mail logs).What information is being collected about you that infringes on your privacy? All information that we deal with these days is usually recorded one way or the other. This is because most of out activities are done electronically from emails to phone conversations to text messages to blogs etc. Other activities may include applying for loans online which may include personal information like social security numbers, paying of bills etc. Most of these activities we perform with new technologies can infringe on privacy like phone calls, text messages and personal identity information. 32. If you were an employee in a company that offered telecommuting options, would you prefer to work from home or from the office, or some combination of both? Explain your answer. Given the choice, one would prefer to work from both the office and from home. One may like the flexibility of working during peak hours and at the same time work with a team. Being a team player and participating in live interaction from time to time is essential in performing and coordinating. 33. Clerks at 7-Eleven stores enter data regarding customers gender, approximate age, and so on into a computer system. However, names are not keyed in. These data are then aggregated and analyzed to improve corporate decision making. Customers are not informed about this, nor are they asked for permission. What problems do you see with this practice? If the information is used solely to improve the quality of service provided to the customers and is not shared with other stores or business partners, I would say that the clerks actions are ethical and do not invade the privacy of the customers. In other words, this information benefits the customers and their community because it allows 7-Eleven to provide better customer satisfaction and improved quality of service.

34. Certain groups of people claim that globalization has predominantly positive effects, while others assert the opposite. Which of these two arguments do you find more compelling? Why? Ones perception of IT will influence his/her response to this question. For example, home buyer's financing systems have a positive effect for those who get the loan approved, but a negative effect for those who are denied the loan by the same system. It is also said that IT has raised many new privacy issues. The evolution of the Information Age continues in the 21st century. The use of the Internet, electronic commerce, and the Web has opened up a new horizon. The widespread accessibility and lack of government regulation has made it difficult to control privacy within in these realms. 35. Discuss whether information overload is a problem in your work or education. Based on your experience, what personal and organizational solutions can you recommend to this problem? Information availability is an advantage in the current work and education environments. Ease of information flow through Internet and connectivity can be overwhelming at times but overall makes everyone more efficient. A recommended solution is to dealing with information overload is to improve upon your abilities to skim articles, etc to find the key points. It is impossible to fully read everything available today, so using skimming skills to quickly search through text is imperative. 36. What are the risks associated with offshoring (offshore outsourcing)? What are the risks of business process outsourcing (BPO)? Some of the risks associated with off-shoring include cost-reduction expectations, loss of business knowledge by handing over key parts of your business, vendor failure to deliver after signing of agreement, differences in culture that may create problems (especially with customers and knowledge transfer problems). Risks associated with business process outsourcing are usually the same as off-shoring except in this case, the risks are more related to business processes like cultural differences and compliance issues associated with obeying government regulations.