A study conducted at Brazil on Consumer Behaviour and Pirated Products: Why people buy this kind of stuff? revealed four notable reasons why people settle for pirated products. Main reason is the price of an item, second is the easy access of these products, the speed with which products reach the market even before the originals (in the case of music and movies). In economics, we have learned that price is independent variable and quantity demanded is the dependent (assuming other things equal), thus, the lower the price of the product, the higher the demand.  Also, our decision to purchase a product is influenced by our purchasing power. Since the cost of pirated products are lower than the original ones, normally they prefer those counterfeit or pirated products. With the availability of pirated software programs in the web, free to download and easy to install, who can resist the temptation? With the coming of new downloadable games, music and videos (downloadable via Youtube downloader or MP3 Skull and many more) which can be availed by just a click, who would not want these stuff instantly?

Typical example is the rampant selling of pirated movies. Ordinarily, people who cannot afford to go to the cinema to watch a movie will just settle on the pirated ones. The cost of watching a movie is equivalent to three or two pirated movies. With pirated DVDs, you do not just see the latest movie but you can also watch one or two more at your own convenience in any time you want.  Likewise in the software industry, people can easily download software programs and install them in their own PCs without spending  a single centavo.  It is wrong to patronize pirated products but it is a way of saving and maximizing financial resources for people with limited income. Why buy an original if you can buy a pirated and you will get equal satisfaction that you need?

If people in developed countries resorts to piracy even if they can afford it, we cannot blame people from developing countries like ours if they buy pirated software, since they could not afford authentic software given their economic status. People who can afford don’t even patronize original software, how much more those that has no capacity to avail such products? How can they afford original software if they cannot even afford to buy a computer? If they earn below what they are spending for everyday living, I think there is no choice but to buy pirated things in order to satisfy their wants and needs. To cope with the demands of the society, people resort to ways and means that may be unethical but practical. The issue now is not ethical rather survival.

Can we blame the producers of these pirated products? Who are to blame? The consumers or the producers? “If nobody sells pirated software, nobody will buy as well”. But why do people sell or offer pirated software? Is it because it is easy to copy software than to create an original? It is easy to market pirated software because they are affordable? Is it because so many people cannot find a job, and job opportunities are very few in the Philippines that they settle in stealing, copying and selling pirated products?  Is it because this country has very lenient laws? Is it because we have government officials that are also cheating on us and piracy as a form of stealing is acceptable for them? Is it because everyone is doing so, that it becomes acceptable in the society?

How do companies combat this dilemma? As noted above, generally, people cannot afford original software because it is very expensive. Thus, they may find another strategy to lower the costs of their products without compromising quality so that people can afford them. Software companies must also guard their data so that others could not copy them. How can they do these? They can develop a clear software policy of the company. Management can coordinate with their IT Department with regards to review and audit of installed software within the company . Here’s a link that suggests four ways to prevent and protect companies from software piracy – www.techrepublic.com/article/.

Currently we have RA 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines which provides power and functions to the IPO (Intellectual Property Office) of the Philippines. It covers the regulations pertaining to copyright and industrial property. We also have RA 9239 or the Optical Media Act, a law regulating optical media, details the purpose of the Optical Media Board and specifies the penalties to those who disobey the law. These laws are just there waiting to be implemented and operative. However the government cannot do it alone, it needs that cooperation of companies particularly software companies. Public awareness regarding our laws on software piracy must be clearly disseminated among members of the society. The society as the end users of these products must understand how this unethical practice affects our everyday lives.

Every organization has diverse people, different race, culture, ages, gender, religion, color, attitude, skills, expertise, and level of knowledge (innate or acquired). These factors make the organization exciting and challenging both for employees and top level management. For banking institutions like my employer for example, Knowledge Management (KM) is very essential in such a way that in the absence of one employee, there must be someone to take over in order not to hamper banking operations. There are instances where the Manager is expert in marketing, has charisma when it comes to clients but he or she is not well versed when it comes to operations and handling employees. The leadership skills may be possessed by the Service or Operations Head. This is where Knowledge Management should come in. The manager can share some of his expertise in marketing while the Operations Head can teach him how to handle operational procedures and the employees.  This way, knowledge is not monopolized and power is not abused.

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge. It refers to a multi-disciplined approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management). Thus, diversity of people in the organization is an opportunity for everyone to learn and grow. It is a self satisfaction sometimes if we see our colleagues deliver the same quality of performance as we do because this is the way organizations should be.

Last Saturday after our IT class, we were in the jeepney when I overheard two persons talking about their jobs. The other one said he is free now because he can leave his office without worrying about responsibilities left because he is now teaching one of his trusted staff to do his job in his absence. Somehow, I can relate to this man because I myself started to teach some of my duties to my co-employee so that I may not be interrupted during personal necessities or when I am on leave at least I will have minimal calls or no calls at all from the office. It is a great feeling sometimes that you are the only one who knows how to fix a printer, how deal with an irate customer, how to answer phone call inquiries because it boasts your ego. You feel like you are the most important person in the office. You think the company cannot exist without you. On the contrary, very often people like this feel worn-out at the end of the day. They will always carry the burden and worse, when things go wrong, they will carry all the blame.

For me, the biggest barrier in implementing Knowledge Management is PEOPLE themselves. Their lack of motivation may hinder KM sharing since employees do not receive or do not understand the surplus that comes along with cooperating on knowledge management. All they see is that they have to give information to others – which, from the individual point of view, does not make sense at all, because keeping information secret and unshared can help to secure a job. Some people has the tendency to keep what they know because also of fear of losing their value. They may think that when everyone knows what they know, they are not already needed in the organization.

According to the article of COMMUNITY OF KNOWLEDGE (http://www.community-of-knowledge.de/beitrag/barriers-for-an-efficient-management-of-knowledge/), organizational culture can impede KM implementation. For example, hierarchically-structured organizations appear to be the standard in southern Africa where staff is deeply influenced by line managers’ behaviour. Thus, if high ranking members of the organization are unreliable or don’t follow up on activities or do not care, middle and low ranking staff will not either.

Cooperation among employees can also slow down KM applications. No matter how willing an employee to share knowledge, if the other is resistant and unwilling to learn, it will delay the process. This is the so-called delaying tactics. The culture of ‘unreliability’ (not practicing what the management preach) within an organization also makes it difficult to cooperate and succeed. Non-cooperative attitudes of line management and colleagues lead to stagnation, resignation and avoidance of the active search for information.

The priority of focusing on-time problems makes it difficult to focus on strategic activities like knowledge management. Personnel often do not seem to have the time for knowledge management procedures during day-to-day work.

As well as each organization, also each individual – no matter whether operative or strategic staff – has different interests and hidden agendas which could be in opposition to a transparent knowledge management system. People are afraid to lose their job; people are afraid of giving ‘secret’ information; people do not trust each other. Personnel or co-workers easily suspect a hidden agenda on the part of the knowledge manager – even if this does not exist. This suspicion could lead to reservation and non-cooperation.

The knowledge manager him- or herself may even have a hidden agenda – like carrier planning – that could hinder the proper enhancement in knowledge sharing. He or she might prefer to have a visible output of his / her activities, instead of ‘only’ influencing the organization’s knowledge sharing culture, which cannot be captured in statistics.

Knowledge Management gives us a lot of option, creates better opportunities by sharing new ideas and skills, and facilitates teamwork. KM can even lessen our operational costs because it can foster multi-tasking. The synergy of our knowledge within the organization is an edge to deliver quality products and services, not just to satisfy our clients but to delight them. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. It is always better to share our core competencies because the success of individual will likely result to the success of an organization. Thus knowledge is absolutely a power but when we share it to others we empower them, help them achieve their optimum skills, discover their hidden talents and learn from them as well. Since knowledge will just remain knowledge unless translated into something useful. It will make us a more valuable creature, empowering ourselves, empowering others, empowering our organizations, our society and our nation. Nobody can take that away from us, but we could always share it to others, after all when we die we wanted to leave a legacy. Right?

Are you using Business Intelligence in your company? My answer to this question was, “Maybe, I am not sure.” Honestly speaking, I am not really sure. I cannot confirm because in the first place, I am not familiar with Business Intelligence.

According to Reynold’s Business intelligence (BI) includes a wide range of applications, practices, and technologies for the extraction, translation, integration, analysis, and presentation of data to support improved decision making. The data used in BI is often pulled from multiple databases and may be internally or externally generated.

Another definition from wikepedia states that Business intelligence (BI) is a set of theories, methodologies, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information for business purposes. BI can handle enormous amounts of unstructured data to help identify, develop and otherwise create new opportunities. BI, in simple words, makes interpreting voluminous data friendly. Making use of new opportunities and implementing an effective strategy can provide a competitive market advantage and long-term stability. Furthermore, BI technologies provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of business intelligence technologies are reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, process mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, predictive analytics and prescriptive analytics.

Therefore, without me knowing, base on these definitions, we have been using Business Intelligence all the while that is why we have reports on sales, benchmarking, forecasting and many more. Now, I can say that YES, we are using Business Intelligence in our company. How about those companies who are using BI for quite a long time but they do not know that it is BI? Or those companies who doesn’t use at all BI? The question, on how to encourage organizations to use BI can be answered only if organizations fully understand what Business Intelligence is, how it works, when it should be implemented, and who are the people that should be involved?

According to the Change Management Continuum Model, for changes to occur, it must suffice the three phases; Inform, Educate and Commit. Nothing beats clear and effective communication. People within the organization must be well-informed that there is this so called Business Intelligence and of course must understand the processes involved. Then, when there is a positive perception, they will slowly adopt the change and eventually institunalize it since it is already part of their daily routine and finally they will be able to commit themselves and embrace Business Intelligence.

According to Kimball et al., these are the three critical areas needed to assess within the organization before getting ready to do a BI project:

The level of commitment and sponsorship of the project from senior management
The level of business need for creating a BI implementation
The amount and quality of business data available.

So, any organizations aiming to use or fully maximize Business Intelligence, must thoroughly study these crucial areas in order not to waste its resources.

Encouragement to work together using BI will be easy with better understanding from the top management to the rank and file employees. Organizations need not to resort to punitive program so that everyone may act and comply, since often than not, this only creates compliance out of fear to be punished or sanctioned. Worse, it may lower employee morale in the long run. It is always better to give people right and just compensation and better benefits and rewards systems because it motivates them to strive for excellence.

Shopping, according to Wikipedia is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. In some contexts it may be considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one.

Before, when we hear the word shopping, we associate it with SM City, Robinsons Mall, Mall of Asia and other shopping destinations. Before, shopping for us meant waiting for 9:00AM or 10:00AM so that we could visit our favorite stores and we rush at 7PM or 10PM to catch up for the closing time of these stores. Now, shopping can be done even if you are still lying on your bed, eating your breakfast while browsing the web, stuck in the middle of a very long and heavy traffic or even while attending your classes (pretending to be listening to your professor when in fact you are fantasizing on how you’ll look in that very alluring trendy dress that you’ll about to purchase on the web). The convenience and ease that we enjoy nowadays is the product of e-commerce. We save time and cost since we do not have to spend a lot of time travelling from one shopping hub to the other at the same time we will be spared from buying unnecessary things because we only search and buy the item that we need. Some products are unique that we can only find it through on-line shopping. Surfing diverse sites gives us a freedom and comfortable feeling rather than strolling around the malls being guarded and tailed by sales ladies as if in one wink we will be lifting their displayed products, which personally I find annoying. In an on-line shopping at least we will avoid comments from stores owners such as “you should have not fitted my displays when you are not going to buy it. It is bad luck”.

Bottom line here is that with online shopping, people can shop 24/7 a day at the comfort of their homes.

On the other hand according to this link http://listdose.com/top-10-drawbacks-of-online-shopping/, there are top ten drawbacks of On-line Shopping.  For me, it may be more convenient to go online shopping but we may compromise quality as well as our health and security. There hundreds of deceitful products and services on the net and if we are not wary in purchasing these offers we may end up losing our money in just a click. I have also noticed that we spend too much time surfing the net the we even skip our meals, we give up our time to sleep and most of all quality time for our family.

Hmmmm? Without second thoughts, I will probably buy books, travel tickets and bags on-line. Lots of books that we want to buy are always not available in local bookstores so why not buy online. Bags and dresses can be purchased online without so much risks of not exactly fitting you. Anyways if the dress doesn’t fit me I can sell it again to friends or neighbors rather than being so disappointed cause I haven’t found the style I want after spending the whole weekend visiting every store in the mall. Often than not, it is more advantage to me to book online for travel especially if I want to catch the promo rates of airlines. Sometimes ticketing agents do not offer the same promos while if you just go on-line you can still avail the promos.
I would probably not think of buying medicines, appliances and jewelries on-line. For me it is too risky to buy these items from strangers over the net. I prefer to go to their respective stores and have them tests since appliances require warranties. I can’t imagine myself buying a television or refrigerator from the net. Our health is very crucial that I cannot rely on online medicines offered by different sites, it is always better to go to the experts. Jewelries are too expensive, even in the local market I rarely buy them. I may purchase shoes, home furniture and fragrances from the net but it may take a long time before I decide to go for it. Unique shoes can be found on-line so I may be willing to have it. I really love home furniture especially those with rare styles but for quality and durability reasons, I may be hesitant to gamble on it. There are a lot of fragrances offered in the web which are affordable, the problem is I cannot have a “rub or spray on the wrist test” so how do I know if it smells good?

Personally, I haven’t tried online shopping but I recently, I have ordered from my friend a pair of sandals from her friend who is into on-line marketing. It is on a COD (Cash on Delivery) scheme so I have to wait for the delivery before I pay it. My fear is that it looks so nice on the picture but I am not sure if it will fit me the way I expected it to be. If it won’t then I have to find another buyer for that stuff. So let’s just wait and see.

OUTSOURCING IT SECURITY

Information Technology is a vital part of an organization that all companies use Information Technology to thrive in the modern way of making business. We may wonder how these companies create, acquire or implement Information Systems and Tools in their respective offices.  Creating an IT department and hiring permanent IT Specialists and Programmers or OUTSOURCING may be the answer to this question. According to Oxford Dictionary, Outsourcing means obtaining of goods and services from an outside or foreign supplier in place of an internal sources. However, deciding whether to utilize in-house resources or invest in outsourcing is not an overnight task. Every company undergoes the complexity of MAKE-OR-BUY DECISION. Everyone involve in decision making must carefully study, analyze and deliberate underlying issues on outsourcing a particular products or services. The company must compare pros and cons of in-house production versus outsourcing.

Information Technology is a critical component of companies but it can be difficult and costly to build and maintain in-house capability knowing that investment on IT entails the biggest part of company’s capital and expenses. Outsourcing IT has long been practiced by companies of any size but the liberty to outsource IT security poses several skepticisms amidst several benefits. A publication by Philip Lop of Inside Business (www.insidebusiness360.com) states that Outsourcing IT security means hiring a third-party provider to manage all aspects of data security. These providers are generally called managed security service providers (or MSSPs). It also enumerates several advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing IT Security.

One and the most considered advantage is cost reduction where companies can avail of a complete package of products and services at a much lower rate. Another is Benefit from market expertise, where outsourced specialists may identify areas for improvement that were overlooked by in-house resource. Better support is another one because MSSPs normally have excellent relationships with vendors, as they buy from them more far more frequently than individual businesses. As such, they tend to have more extensive support arrangements, from which businesses can benefit. Companies also benefit from hardware and software upgrades because MSSPs generally work with high specification hardware and software. MSSPs will use the same hardware and software across all clients to achieve consistency and true economies of scale. Businesses can benefit enormously from this, as providers are far more likely to upgrade more frequently than individual businesses would themselves.

However, outsourcing IT security Increases Risks since Introduction of a third party to company data is an inherently risky approach. Businesses will need to satisfy themselves that the outsourcing provider is compliant with regulations and standards and that a valuable company asset (data) is safe and secure. Whereas businesses can take accountability for the training and development of their own people, they must rely on outsourcers only to use adequately skilled and trustworthy employees. 

Introduction of new roles and responsibilities also poses a problem because outsourced operations do not simply manage themselves. The new relationship will require dedicated resource from within the business to manage and maintain the contract and operating procedures. This could be complex and time-consuming, according to the size and nature of the business. Service level agreements (SLA) will need to be set up, managed and reviewed.

 Another one is Loss of control and flexibility. Once an agreement is in place with an outsourced provider, it is more complicated (and potentially costly) for a business to make changes to this. This is not such an issue for larger, established businesses but small businesses that are rapidly changing or growing may find this limiting. It is difficult to customize what it is that MSSPs do as they will want to maintain consistency to maximize their economies of scale.

 Lastly, they don’t understand the company’s business. Contrary to our belief that IT specialists are the best IT people, they may not necessarily always make the right decisions for the company. They don’t understand the business as we expect them to be. This can bring significant challenges and it takes time and co-operation to get the MSSP to the place where the management is comfortable with what they are doing. High turnover and changing roles and responsibilities within the outsourced provider can make it difficult to maintain continuity of assignment.

Accompanying the identification of these pros and cons is the familiarization of company with Service Level Agreements or contracts entered when outsourcing. Management must fully understand the written agreement before deciding to outsource IT Security. Stipulations such as a definition of services, performance measurement, problem management, customer duties, warranties, disaster recovery, liabilities, and termination of agreement must be clearly defined. Penalties for disclosure of information must be clearly stated and rigidly enforced when violated as such the service provider should pay the company for the equivalent amount of loss it incurred due to stealing or leakage of confidential information resulting to customer dissatisfaction and loss of credibility of the company.

So before deciding whether to outsource or not, the management must think a thousand times. Does the company have sufficient number of employees with right amount of skills and experience to deliver the product or service at the same time conforming to the quality standards within the time frame required? Can they afford to spend all their resources? If yes, then drop the idea of outsourcing.

Is it willing to devote management time, money and other resources in acquiring other people outside the organization to perform the IT task? Are the potential service providers knocking on the company’s door a friend or an enemy? Are they reliable? How many companies has it made successful? Do they maintain integrity? Do they adhere to government Laws and Regulations? Are they going to add knowledge and expertise to company or steal what the company has? Will the company pay millions and earn billions in return? Are they what the company really need?

Thus, outsourcing IT security does not only affect security but also legal, political, financial and social aspects of the company.

In this borderless society, we cannot do away with Information Technology. It is like love, even if you avoid it, you try to stop it, it will always come to you, you will always feel it, and you will always live with it. Whether you like it or not you have to embrace it, use it and even take advantage of it.

I once decided to take IT in college but I backed out because my heart was not on it. I thought it was all about symbols to make a program or system. To be confined in one room and think, see or work about computers gave me a thought of a boring life. For a person like me with an outgoing personality, nature lover and freedom seeker, I cannot stand the thought of being with computers all day long. I don’t hate it but I have just little interest on it only to realize that I have been living and existing with Information Technology since the day that I was born. I realized that it is not all about computers rather, it is another tool for me to widen my knowledge. It is all about broadening my network, seeing new opportunities, discovering the other side of the world and witnessing the real situation of mankind.

As a management student, I need Information Technology. As an employee, I need Information Technology. As an aspiring entrepreneur, I need Information Technology. As a social being,I need Information Technology. I cannot always call our IT personnel to check why my computer is not working, why I cannot access my folders, why I cannot print my documents. I cannot rely on my co-employees to fix my formulas on excel. I cannot let them open my email every day.  I just cannot let anyone access my personal accounts on internet. I can advertise and generate clients on-line because of IT. I can communicate with long lost friends and families because of IT.  I can even reach other places by simply surfing the net. So, how can I get away from it when everything and anything around me involves Information Technology? In today’s business setting, where multi-tasking and flexibility is a must and competition is stiff, I have to learn IT. IT is a NEED, it is a MUST, it is URGENCY, it is TODAY, and it is TOMORROW.

I once asked myself these questions and I want to ask the same questions to you, “Is IT really your ally? Can you survive without it? Will IT help you become a better citizen of this world? Or by finding IT, will you lose your true self?