The definition of software piracy is the unauthorized copying or redistribution of copyrighted software. According to a study by the Business Software Alliance in 2008, software piracy rates rose to 41 percent with losses estimated at $50.2 billion.

Whether you purchase software from a retail store or download installation files from an Internet site, a user license, not the CD or possession of installation files, is what gives you the right to install and use the software. The license you acquired defines specific conditions regarding authorized use of the software such as how many computers you may install the software on, or whether you can relocate the software to another computer. Any actions you take outside the limits of the license constitute software piracy.

Software piracy can have many forms, one of the most common is counterfeiting, or a licensed user making replicate copies of the software to sell or give away, with or without providing codes to unlicensed users as a work-around to anti-piracy features. Other methods include violating a license by installing software on multiple computers, software overuse on a network and students who purchase education versions of software for family members or friends.

Buying or using pirated software has many risks which includes facing legal charges. Pirated software does not guarantee that the program will function as it should, and there is no technical support. You are also not entitled for upgrades, updates or security patches. You also run the risk of damaging your reputation, as criminal prosecution becomes public record.

I think the major reason that people commit software piracy is the cost.  If the price is higher than what the person is willing to pay, that person might pirate the software. A common justification for this behaviour is that people believe that one piece of software won’t be noticeable for a big organization so since the victim can’t feel the loss stealing won’t be wrong. Another is that an average individual thinks that why buy if you can have it for free. You don’t need to spend from your pocket if your just copy or download online. Another reason is that people think that the software is overpriced against its value.

Citizens of some countries may feel that it’s permissible to steal software because it’s a product of a large, wealthy nation that’s already a dominant power in the world. Others may steal software with a sense of nationalistic pride.  If their culture views the United States in a negative light, stealing from the country may seem like a good thing.

For me I think if you want something you have to pay for it. If you value a thing you need to give it time, effort, energy and money. I think it is okay to engage in software piracy as long as it is being used in the benefit of the public and it does not harm anyone. A lot of people do it so I think it won’t hurt to join them. I also believe that the best things in life are for free.

 Software companies must lower the prices of their products. People will be motivated to buy copyrights if the price is affordable and reasonable. Another is to strengthen their organizations security to protect their products from being stolen and copies. They must also pressure the Government to strictly impose penalties as consequence of piracy. If there are people who are caught and punished I think pirates will think twice before doing the act.

Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach selecting, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise’s information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers

The National Health Insurance Program was established to provide health insurance coverage and ensure affordable, acceptable, available and accessible health care services for all citizens of the Philippines. It shall serve as the means for the healthy to help pay for the care of the sick and for those who can afford medical care to subsidize those who cannot. It shall initially consist of Programs I and II or Medicare and be expanded progressively to constitute one universal health insurance program for the entire population. The program shall include a sustainable system of funds constitution, collection, management and disbursement for financing the availment of a basic minimum package and other supplementary packages of health insurance benefits by a progressively expanding proportion of the population. The program shall be limited to paying for the utilization of health services by covered beneficiaries. It shall be prohibited from providing health care directly, from buying and dispensing drugs and pharmaceuticals, from employing physicians and other professionals for the purpose of directly rendering care, and from owning or investing in health care facilities.

It is very important for PHILHEALTH to use Knowledge Management. KM is needed to foster innovation by fostering the free flow of ideas. KM improves customer service by smoothing response time and improving decision making. It streamlines operations and reduces costs by eliminating redundant and unnecessary processes. Before, when you have a transaction you have to wait for long hours. Now, because of Knowledge Management service has been faster than before. This has created a culture where everyone continuously assesses themselves, their units, and their organization, looking for ways to improve. The data offer managers a wealth of information for improved decision making. It is the passing of knowledge from one to another that strengthens organizations operations.
Actively managing knowledge can help companies increase their chances of success by facilitating decision-making, building learning environments by making learning routine, and stimulating cultural change and innovation.

A simple example why knowledge is power is seen in the fact that we pay our electricians, physicians, mechanics and dentists. It is also important in winning arguments. The person with less knowledge is usually the one who cannot defend his ideas and opinions. Knowledge is used in almost everything that we do. The one with knowledge always has the upper arm especially in times of war in sports. It just follows that knowledge sharing is empowerment. If you have knowledge of things you are confident in the things that you do. it is like giving you power to act knowing that you are doing things right.

The term business intelligence or BI speaks for the tools and systems which plays a key role in the strategic planning process of an organization. These systems grant a company to garner, store, access and analyze corporate data to aid in the decision-making. Commonly these systems will show business intelligence in the areas of customer profiling, customer support, market research and segmentation, product profitability, statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few.

The goal of BI is to help decision-makers make more informed and better decisions to guide the business. Business intelligence accomplish this by making it simpler to aggregate, see, and slice-and-dice the data. In turn, this makes it easier to identify trends and issues, uncover new insights, and fine-tune operations to meet business goals.

Most organizations gather a large amount of data from their business operations. To keep track information, a business would need to use a wide range of software programs, such as Excel, Access and different database applications for various departments throughout their organization. Using multiple software programs makes it difficult to retrieve information in a timely manner and to perform analysis of the data.
Before implementing BI it is important to consider different factors before proceeding. According to Kimball et al., these are the three critical areas that you need to assess within your organization before getting ready to do a BI project. First is the the level of commitment and sponsorship of the project from senior management. Second is the level of business need for creating a BI implementation. And the third is the amount and quality of business data available.

BI solutions can solve this problem by providing a framework and tools to measure and manage business goals and conduct “what-if” scenarios to evaluate different courses of action. Business intelligence solutions give businesses a way to streamline and unify the data collection, analysis and reporting process. BI solutions are built on a unified database, so everyone involved in the process gets a single, real-time view of the data. Many BI solutions feature self-service dashboards and reporting tools that make it easier and less time consuming to contribute to and manage the process.

In my opinion it is important to have an employee incentive programs to increase overall employee performance. This program is used to reduce turnover, boost morale and loyalty, improve employee wellness, increase retention, and drive daily employee performance. It is more appropriate to have an incentive program than a punitive system. I believe that people responds more to incentives rather than being punished. Pay raise is I think very effective in motivating people. After all it is compensation that drives people to work.

Online shopping or e-shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly purchase goods or services from a seller over the internet using a browser. Mobile commerce describes purchasing from an online retailer’s mobile optimized online site or app. An online shop evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a shopping center. The process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) online shopping. In the case where a business buys from another business, the process is called business-to-business (B2B) online shopping.

But consumers won’t simply buy anything from anybody online. Products with a big price tag and things that are perishable are among the most difficult types of items to sell online. Not to mention products that people want to touch, smell or try on before they pull out their credit card.

The only resource that can rival money today is time. Saving time is often considered more than finding the lowest price as a reason for shopping online. People that are shopping online are knowingly trading immediate gratification for time savings and the other benefits of online shopping. Another reason is that online sellers offer better prices. In fact, many shoppers use a mixed shopping style where they visit a physical store to determine exactly what they want and then search online for better pricing. This is true in categories, such as clothing, where the buyer wants to touch, feel and try on the product. They visit a physical store, find the exact product they want and head to the web to find the best price. Cheap deals and better prices is what you get from online stores because products come to you direct from the manufacturer or seller without middlemen involved. Today’s consumer needs to be able to order whenever it is most convenient for them. Online sellers pro provide 24 hour ordering capability so that consumers can access them at their own time. You can do your shopping in minutes even if you are busy apart from saving time and avoiding crowds. Shopping convenience makes online selling more popular. The choices you can get for products are amazing. One can get several brands and products from different sellers at one place. You can get in on the latest international trends without spending money on airfare. When you shop online, you can shop from retailers in other parts of the country or even the world without being limited by geographic area. These stores offer a far greater selection of colours and sizes than you will find locally. Online shopping also gives you a variety of choices that’s not limited to what’s in the store racks and stock rooms.

Shopping online is just easier. Customers choose it because it’s stress-free, it’s rational and you can get the best deal without spending a whole afternoon looking for a pair of pants.
There’s no harm in trying new things, especially if it it’s going to make our lives easier. The internet made shopping more convenient and accessible to everyone. It’s up to you whether you want to stick to shopping at the malls, or experience shopping online without breaking a sweat.

Before you spend another dime doing your online shopping, take a moment to review and assess the risk and danger associated with it. When choosing for items or products, people tend to take recommendations from other people. That’s why most sellers are offering online reviews of their products with corresponding ratings. These sellers tend to make fake online reviews to fool the public into buying their products. There are also presences of additional fees like shipping cost is hidden until the check out process. There is also the risk of buying counterfeit goods since you are not able to see and touch the goods that are being sold. Another reason to not to buy online is the fear that the item never arrives. Scams causes people to shy away from online shopping. Identity theft refer to all types of crime in which someone wrongfully obtains and uses another person’s personal data in some way that involves fraud or deception, typically for economic gain.

Items to buy without hesitation
Plane Tickets
Not only can you save a boatload of cash booking online, but the convenience of going to just a few sites saves all sorts of time as well. If you combine that with shopping for cheap last minute deals, someone can save thousands on a vacation.

Computer application and software.
New computer application and software’s are not yet available locally. And it is more convenient to buy online because there are only few software sellers with stores.

Video Games
Video games are easily and cheaply shipped, and there’s never any confusion about what you’re buying. There are always people who have received brand new games who are trying to sell them, often leading to substantial discounts for the consumer.

Items I will think about before buying

Electronic Gadgets
With the presence of scammers and imitation I will take time to research if the specific seller is trustworthy. I will think check the customer’s ratings and ask for others recommended website.

Food
We need to take into consideration where it comes from, how long it will take for the order to arrive and is it safe to eat.

Anything heavy
Even though its an amazing deal, the shipping cost may be too big to handle. Sometimes big discounted items have low prices but have outrageous shipping fees.

Products I would never consider buying over the Internet.

Clothes
Shopping online for clothing can be a bad idea. You don’t get to see the actual colors, you don’t get to feel the material, you cannot try the outfit and you cannot bargain.

Footwear
Footwear is something that can make or break your look. You need to have good judgment of the correct size. You also need to check the comfort level which is also essential.

Medicines
Buying medicines online is going to be a risk to your health. there are chances that the medicines are tampered , contaminated or even fake. There are also instances where sellers does not have a license. You never know what you may be consuming and from where they are coming from.

In today’s world, data becomes knowledge and knowledge is power.

Outsourcing is often described as the authorization of non-core operations, from internal production to an external entity specializing in the management of that operation. The Outsourcing is often made to lowering company costs and making more efficient use of worldwide labor, capital, technology and resources.

In my own opinion it is best to outsource IT Security.The analysis that must be made before doing so is one involving not only security but budget, politics and personnel. Before making the decision to outsource IT security, the company should examine the corporate structure and competencies to ensure that outsourcing is a good decision. This is needed to protect the accountability of the organization, which cannot be outsourced.

The functions of the security administrator should not be combined with the functions of others like systems analyst, programmer, data entry technician, computer operator, tape librarian or systems programmer.

IT information administration is best performed by someone or an entity that is removed from the corporate culture and routine mindset of daily operations. By outsourcing to a single highly qualified individual a company may gain not only an increase in security and efficiency, but also a valuable outside view of their operations and procedures. One of the good things about having an outsider’s view of the company’s IT security is that they will notice areas where the management is falling short.

Outsourcing IT to an external IT Service Provider can introduce additional threats to the Information Security of an Organization. The most common fear of outsourcing IT security administration seems to trust the security of one’s information to an outsider.

Management should actively support security within the Organization through clear command , demonstrated commitment, explicit assignment, and acknowledgement of Information Security responsibilities.

A Risk Assessment should be carried out to determine Information Security implications and control requirements. Controls should be agreed and defined in an agreement with the Service Provider. The provider should guarantee that adequate Information Security, as defined by the Risk Assessment, will be maintained, and the Provider should also indicate how Information Security will be adapted to identify and deal with changes to risk.

The key to have a successful outsourcing of IT security will be the organizations’ preparedness in carrying out the risk assessment and in knowing the reliability of the outsourcing party.

We are currently living in the “information age,” which means information technology has become a part of our everyday lives. Information technology is used in all areas of organizations and managers are investing heavily in new technology that offers the ability to work more effectively and efficiently.

You can see the difference as time moves how Information Technology is changing the way things are being done. Before, people used to submit handwritten type of work to submit reports on schools then it later was changed through the introduction of a type writer and then now it is easier with the use of computers. Before when we communicate with friends and relatives we tend to send letters or telegrams, now we can just send through e-mails, telephone, and blogs. You can see how the time needed to receive the message was shortened.

Developments in information technology have helped businesses and government agencies to improve their service to their clients. Advances in database technology have enabled organizations collect and monitor information that they can use to combat fraud and to maintain confidentiality.

In my line of work information technology is very existent. I do encoding and updating of member data records which becomes easy because of the advancement in technology. I am able to produce the needed documents and address inquiries of clients with ease and with the minimum time possible. I can access the desired data in just a few clicks. The invention of the internet is one of the greatest contributions of information technology. You can access information so fast and with ease.

The Internet has enabled and accelerated forms of interactions through instant messaging , Internet forums, and social networking. Although there are positive effects, there also are negative results. Addiction to the internet is bad especially to students because they tend to spend more time surfing the net than on their studies.

The application of information technology in our daily life certainly changed the way we live our lives.Information technology has been permanently expanding and becoming very important issue. It it is used in almost every sphere or profession, making the processes much more easier.