The second and final installment of our master’s degree is about to start in the next few days.

After three months of vacation, I get to see my classmates once again and enjoy our weekend classes together ^_^
We’ll have to take leave to finish the PE and enrollment. Time is flying by so fast.
It is finally the first “BER” month for the year and once again Christmas and New Year are just around the corner.
My other excitement is to watch Rurouni Kenshin – Legend Ends ^_^ lol just gotta insert the topic somehow hehe
Peace and Love ^_^

Pull! Pull! Pull that Master’s Degree!

The two tri-semesters have passed so quickly.

Looking back, we have met a total of four professors already and we had lots of fun and learning.

Knowing that I will once again spend academic hours with my classmates gives me great inspiration for going to school and accomplishing my requirements and pass the exams.

Yes, it’s very costly but for the fight of getting a masters degree, these are necessary and worth investing on.

I’m excited for the last tri-sem for the school year! Excited to reunite with my batchmates! Excited to meet the new/same professors! Excited to experience Saturday class at last!

Time surely flies so swiftly that before we know it, we’ll be facing compre 1 and 2. The experience we have while working to receive our masters degree will never come again. The times we were together with our classmates will never return again.

Let’s continue on giving our energy and time for the last tri semester for the school year and look forward to the next challenges next year.

No matter what, our strength will always come from one another. Just as a strong big rope has many twines interlaced, lets continue to hold on until the very end. Pull! Pull!

As always, peace and love everyone ^_^

Everyday, one needs to make decisions. Among them is the budgeting of one’s expenses. Expenses will include of course the non-recurring ones such as one time acquisitions of properties and items.

It is always in the buyer’s interest to buy something that gives the maximum benefits but at the least cost. By now, many people are beginning to understand that in order to get something, there is a price to be paid. Seldom can you hear now any request to get something for free (well, at least it’s not bluntly said from the beginning but it is a silent request nonetheless).

One of the things that people believes gives them a maximum benefit will be pirated movies and programs. Movies costs more than P100.00 pesos now and the most expensive (like in 3D of 4D theatres) may reach even P300.00 or P500.00 or even more and you spend this to watch a movie only once! Think of what you can buy or have eaten with the money spent on the single ticket? This is a decision-making process that every movie goer ponders upon.

Why do people buy pirated software and movies? Because they are made available readily at a very very low price compared to that of the original. I mean why spend P10,000.00 in a license if you can get the same content at P100.00? You can buy a new desktop computer with P10,000.00 already.

Just like how all men justify that they cheated on their partner because the other woman made herself available for the picking, so is the justification of many buyers of pirated items. It’s available and costs very less than the original so why buy the original? Think of what you can buy for the price you pay for the original software or movie? (This question keeps on repeating itself eh?).

Usually, pirated software are purchased mostly for personal purposes (like for projects, reports and documentation). People purchase them because they can’t afford the original. Many companies now, especially the small and medium enterprises uses free wares in their business to avoid problems with authorities rather than install pirated MS Office in their employees’ computer units (some just install the pirated MS Office in one or two units).

Another reason why people buy pirated is because of lack of confidence on the product itself. For example, a new movie came out and it looks so nice and you want to watch it. You’re curious on the quality so you read the reviews but there is always a chance that might get disappointed after all the flashy trailers and good sounding reviews. Lo and behold, you happen to pass by a vendor selling a pirated copy of the movie. You buy it and watch it and then realized you were better off not wasting hundreds of pesos on the ticket because the movie itself turned out to be an actual disappointment to your initial expectations.

Software programs can have glitches. If you buy an original and discovered the glitches, you of course complain to the supplier but they can’t change the software you purchased and instead offers you another one to buy (less glitches but most likely also have one). So what will you do now? Uninstall the former program and buy a new one and install it? And how much did you spend by now? P20,000.00 or more?

I bought my laptop honestly because it came with a free printer. And I was content to own a laptop running on original Windows 8 which later was upgraded to Windows 8.1. I bought it thinking that it came with an original MS Office and it was only later that I found out that the MS Office must be bought separately and installed.

I know that ultimately I can’t live with only trial versions so I had to make sure I got a full version and not just the starter versions.

Personally, I would much prefer to be in a position to be able to buy ALL originals in the market. Being a professional, it is important for people to recognize your skill and capabilities and in return be willing to pay for it. If they don’t acknowledge my capabilities then I would feel bad and my profession will not be as valued. This is also what musicians, inventors and actors feel when people don’t buy the genuine ones. It robs them of their income from all the copyrights and patents. If you were in their shoes, you would feel bad too.

But the world is cruel and no one will give you an award for patronizing genuine items. You won’t be a hero but will be viewed by “practical” people as foolish and be mocked. Now what should we do now?

The only way to remove piracy is to make its items completely unavailable. This means that the very source of its operations must be destroyed otherwise it will never go away and “practical” people will continue to purchase them. More punitive punishments are also a good help to beware those involved in the operation but will not necessarily remove it.

To help in encouraging patronizing genuine products, maybe companies (especially software companies such as Microsoft and others) can provide their products in a version higher than a trial version but lower than the original at a minimal cost. Trial versions expire and this creates hassle for users. More perks for buyers of the full version as well as increased number of computer units that the license can be installed can also be great incentives. This way, buyers are not so burdened by the cost since it can be divided.

Also, students should be given automatic discounts upon purchase. This can be done with coordination with the school and other academic institutions.

MS Office products and other genuine program suppliers must coordinate with the computer unit sellers and encourage them to promote their products through package discounts and perks.

No one in general wants to steal or be stolen from. But with the increasing prices of goods without the readily increasing wages and salaries, people resort to other “practical” means to provide for their loved ones.

Actually, if RICH people just use their money to donate original MS Office and other genuine programs to so-called developing countries (like the Philippines) instead of using it to buy a million-dollar chocolate dessert or gold tissues (as in made of gold with carats and not just golden in color) then the countries they help can even help in curbing the piracy business. That’s another way of showing social responsibility, wow ^_^

As an auditor who is subject for rotation every three years in different government agencies, it is important to be able to receive all the audit reports and working papers from the previous audit team who handled the now audited agency of my assigned team. This gives our team a good viewpoint of the audit findings that needs to be addressed. The previous audit team should also be easily reached to discuss some clarifications on the audited agency’s operations. This is one of the knowledge management aspects currently in place in our organization.

In my opinion, any organization (including mine) can and will benefit from Knowledge Management. It is impossible not to benefit.

I guess the negative effect for knowledge management can be that with all things written, secrets and mysteries of the operations will be known that may create criticisms, bias or prejudice. It is thus important to know what information needs to become explicit and those that should remain tacit in the time being.

Knowledge Management benefits the organization by fostering innovation, leveraging the expertise of people across the organization, and capturing the expertise of key individuals before they retire.

People will not stay in the organization forever (nor will they live forever) but the knowledge that they obtained in dealing with the operations from the time they entered until they exit are priceless information that may or may not have been communicated. The employee may not have been given proper venue to communicate his insights and the organization may have missed an important untold suggestion that could have geared the organization to better grounds.

Such knowledge if made available to the organization can be tapped and can be improved by the existing organization members. A single knowledge can evolve.  The history of the organization is in a way, successfully transferred to the next generation.

Knowledge Management is faced with challenges. People personally think and feel that hoarding knowledge is a kind of power and gives them feeling of security in their job and importance to the organization as time goes by. The lack of interest or encouragement for team work can cause an individual to focus on personal achievement and development, losing the opportunity to even maximize a greater benefit from team effort. There is lack of trust due to weak or poorly established relationship among organization members, within and throughout various offices and locations. People feel and act like they are too busy to share due to lack of assistance during their novice days and fear that what they share (which they personally discovered, applied or not) may be wrong or face criticisms. Mostly, they lack incentive to share their knowledge (again, for personal reasons.)

Basically, if people are oriented, encouraged and trained towards organizational wide cooperation and team effort then the best incentive will be the properly synchronized organizational procedures. It is a priceless fruit of their labour.

Knowledge is power but knowledge sharing is empowerment. I guess a question from this statement is – “Whose empowerment will it create?”

Because of personal reasons, one can seldom find an organization composed of individuals who are actively empowering their colleagues. I think this organization is one with a very small percentage of turn over since an encouraging management is a very good motivating factor for an employee to stay for a long period, even reaching retirement.

Again, the issue on who will be empowered is easy to answer. Naturally, the teacher shall be empowering the student for all the knowledge that the teacher learned from the length of time that he stayed in the organization. His insights on how the rules are actually applied, the lines that he read between the lines that he understand through hardships and experiences as well as the unspoken rules are taught to another person in just a week or month. The knowledge he got from a year is easily received by a trainee in a month, saving the latter of the sweat and tears.

In return, the teacher is rewarded with respect and high regard by the student. The teacher is treated with utmost consideration and gratefulness. This is a different empowerment – solid respect and acknowledgment.

Knowledge management can empower both.

I guess in the end, even if the teacher is not treated well by his students despite his guidance, the teacher will always emerge the victor. Why? The answer is that a student, who learned a lesson the easier way, cannot fully be aware of its impact, may take it for granted and consequently forget it. But the teacher who learned it the hard way knows it by heart and will never forget.

The teacher’s wisdom will ultimately be the greatest advantage he will have over the student.

In knowledge management, people should form this mindset and heart to be content to be part of someone’s life through sharing one’s knowledge and stop asking or expecting any return. God rewards people a hundred fold so definitely, all our efforts will be rewarded sooner or later. Let’s not be selfish and share however we can to contribute to our organization’s well being, to our country and to the world as a whole.

However, since earth is not heaven, have care and make sure you protect yourself from the knowledge shared that may be used against you. You were not selfish to share what you know but to fully lay down your cards may be suicide. You were asked to share but I think they will understand if you retain something enough to ensure your survival.

Again, this is reality so we should deal with it realistically (an often cruel but helpful reminder for me from time to time).

Encouragement is effective if the potential users know what the BI tools can actually contribute to their current jobs. Keeping in mind that technology also poses a threat to the employees, the organization must present the BI tools as a partner to the personnel to minimize resistance to learning new things or procedures.

Many who are not technologically inclined will have initial resistance to something that seems overwhelming and appears to need a lot of effort to learn. Organizations are typically expecting personnel to learn fast in a sometimes unrealistic pace which ignores the reality that each personnel have their own generation backgrounds including culture, mindset and exposures.

It is advantageous if at the beginning of introduction, organization presents the BI tools together with the support staff in order to assure the users from the beginning that they are well taken care of in case they need assistance. This gives them a sense of security that they are not alone in their journey of using the BI tools. The support crew must also ALWAYS be patient in letting the users understand and AT THE SAME TIME users must learn to REMEMBER what they have been taught and NOT KEEP on relying on the support staff at all times. Everyone has his or her own responsibility to embrace the tools by heart and mind to make things easier for everyone in the long run. This also assures them security in their jobs at the organization as well opportunities to learn updates about the technologically innovative world.

The effectiveness of the use of BI tools will need performance evaluation. Results of the evaluation, depending on the organization, may result to incentives for good performance or reprimands and possible administrative sanctions if users were not able to deliver or refuses to cooperate.

Rewards and sanctions both need proper basis for implementation. Thus standards need to be established accordingly and objectively. The standards or basis must take into consideration possible factors that may arise that can challenge the standard. To accurately measure the standards’ effectiveness, the organization must start slow and give simple system requirements until they can think of more detailed requirements to ensure that only those worthy can receive rewards and those that needs sanctions are corrected earlier.

Rewards systems can be effective in the short run but I doubt it can be a major motivating factor in the long run in order to encourage consistent and quality performance. Employees can become content on their current output and be disinterested in learning more about the BI tools, especially if outputs are recurring and if personnel are limited to only one specific process.

Punitive programs can help address issues and concerns that arise when personnel refuse to cooperate, consistently perform and deliver below expectation, and discourage others from maximizing the BI tools due to personal prejudice. Again, this program should be in place but it is not also a major contributing factor for the successful of the implementation of BI tools. This merely serves as safeguards by the organization against erring personnel.

In my opinion, pay raises based on job performance that would require employees to make use of BI applications can be an effective program to encourage BI tools utilization. This is because personnel are rarely able to cheat on their performance and outputs if the tools used records the transactions and reports made. As users, their usage can be performed periodically based on monitoring tools which can verify their claims. Personnel will want to be credited accordingly for the jobs they have performed and accomplished and thus will be a very good motivating factor to embrace the BI tools especially if they see it as a very easy way to have increased compensation. The sweat and tear in learning the BI tools will be worth it, both for income and intellectual improvement.

Once a part of a project team, I personally experienced and observed how users react to new ideas presented by management. I realized that it is very important for the organization for its management and employees to work together. Both should understand each other and meet halfway.

I think everyone, regardless of background and year of birth, must be ready for new ideas to be introduced to the organization. An organization will ultimately adapt to the changing world landscape in every industry and sticking to an old-fashioned system and resist change can be detrimental to the organization you are employed in and much more to yourself.

I think an organization is lucky to have management who is active in introducing advancements to its employees. The organization will also be lucky to have very cooperative employees.

Let’s face it. If you are so intimated by a simple Excel function, how can you be able to learn better ones that help make your life and work easier? 

Before the advent of internet, high society will buy things simply by browsing through brochures or looking at TV shopping channels. They order the items by phone and have them delivered at their door. Travels are  booked by phone to a travel agency.

Average citizens meanwhile spend time commuting from one store to another, looking through displays and selecting the items they need. From one store to another, they look for the best quality at the lowest possible price (and with the biggest discount or sale). Itineraries are planned to maximize the destinations in a shorter time. Bookings via phone is a rare luxury that not all average citizens can afford.

With the advent of the internet, it has yet again transformed the buying behaviour of the consumers. Patrons of vendors turn to online transactions rather than spend time talking over the phone. Potential consumers are discovering more alternatives and choices in shops where they can purchase which they were not aware before. Sellers are given alternatives to lessen their sales personnel and instead maintain their sales program to accept order. Logistics have greater demand due to the increase in the sales and deliveries by the supplier.

The Internet has indeed revolutionized man’s behaviour and preferences. Just as there are advantages so are there threats lurking that one should always be alert and informed about.

I have never shopped online before except for plane tickets. Personally, buying online is risky for my taste. Though optimistic, I always make myself aware of the threats that I can overlook.

Shopping in the internet provides consumers available wide range of choices in one click. This saves time in actually creating a pool of possible choices before purchase. Manually, choices can be pooled by visiting stores and noting their displays and compare them with other stores you have visited. Another is by watching ads, and gathering brochures. The easy pooling of choices allows the consumer to maximize his/her time to focus on choosing. Likewise, the effort and the fuel/transportation cost consumed is saved and used on another activity.

With the ease of pooling the choices, there is better and faster product comparison and evaluation. Usually prices are available online which adds to the efficiency of comparison. With the absence of actual face to face contact, consumers can avoid situations on feeling conscious for inquiring on price tags of items on display from the salesperson but not buying them.

With internet available 24/7, buyers have the luxury to choose when to shop. The usual working hours are from 8am to 5pm, and if all vendors follow the same store hours, consumers can not purchase unless they go on leave. Buyers are given freedom and opportunity to place an order even after store hours in the vendor’s website and can have the item delivered.

As much as the internet is providing all the mentioned benefits, it comes with its own cons.

Buyers can be frustrated if the connection to the website is easily disrupted either by a connection error or server error. The single frustration to an online transaction can also affect the buyer’s attitude to future online transactions and might became wary of other online vendors. Interruptions can happen upon and during purchase.

Buyers can likewise experience the inconsistency of the items posted online from the item actually delivered. Pictures of items are usually accompanied by a note saying that actual items may differ. At this point, the buyers accepts the risks that the color if less brighter than what appears or that the function that the product is expected to performs does not satisfy the buyer. Ordering without actually testing the items can result to the buyer returning or have the item exchanged thus extending the time for the purchase.

Online transactions also exposes the buyers to security threats for all the information being registered in the vendor’s website. It is therefore a requirement for the vendor to ensure that consumer data is secured from hackers and malicious programs. Because of this threat and possibility, consumers must always beware and only purchase in trusted sites. Unfortunately, trusted sites may also offer limited choices of items for purchase.

If I were to purchase items from the internet, I’ll limit my purchase to plane tickets, grocery items and accessories. These are items which I feel are safe to purchase which also will give a low frustration effect if  there are mistakes. These are purchases arising from needs and are not expected to last long.

Online purchase of plane tickets gives me ample time to decide my destination and dates of travels. It also helps me experiment and surf for dates with lower rates. With my part finished, the responsibility for the airline company to take me to the destination and time I booked starts. Grocery items do not require to be tested before purchase and are usually consumed for the period. Accessories for clothes are generally bought to be used for any outfit. Accessories for gadgets are bound to malfunction through wear and tear.

Now, occasionally one has extra money and may be tempted to buy things online. It should be worth my money. However, these results to hesitations and will require one to fully consider all options and suggestions before actual purchase. It is not easy to disburse P10,000 and above for items that will be considered investments. Items which may not be easily disposed and which I will hesitate to buy will be cellphones and gadgets, appliances and perfumes.

For an earning average citizen, I have to ensure that disbursements amounting to P500 and above should be spent worthwhile. Thus I should only buy cellphones, tablets, phablets and other gadgets when the specs are to my liking, the model offered with complete accessories and whose parts and service centers are fully available in my area. The online purchase should be better off than purchase from actual stores. Appliances purchased should have the same concept of requirement and should be durable. Perfumes on the other hand may or may not suit my body chemistry as they call it thus without any sample on hand purchase of the perfume will be based on other consumers’ feedback on its scent.

There are however boundaries on online shopping for me. I will not be buying medicines or contraceptives online because I feel that they may not be genuine and might cause harm to the human body. Thus I will only buy them upon the doctor’s prescription and from a genuine pharmacy. I will not buy undergarments online. The size description may not fit my body proportions. I prefer to buy those sold in stores where I can examine the product’s quality and material before purchase. The same concept applies to purchases of RTW (ready to wear) clothes and shoes. I need to fit them before purchase and check the durability of the materials.

Ah, online shopping may someday be the norm in societies. Technologies will ultimately be accessible to everyone regardless of status. New guidelines will have to be implemented because of this to ensure order and legality in the online market. Commerce is no longer restricted to items. Animals and likewise fellow humans are sold. This is a sad reality in the world.

As buyers and sellers, we must all be responsible for the demands and supply that we introduce in the market. I hope that people not only choose from their options but be aware of the options presented. The freedom to choose what to buy should not also become the freedom to sell everything and anything, especially your fellow human being.

Outsourcing an organization’s IT security can help them cut cost. This eliminates costs of employing and training people for the org’s IT security. It helps the organization focus on its core competencies, the things that they do best and not be worried of maintaining the IT security. The outsourcing also enables the organization to tap into updated services and technologies in IT security.

Lots of risks are associated with the IT security. For example, when hacking or theft of information or equipment occurs, settling legal matters with the outsourced agency regarding future possible security breach occurrences and other legal matters, receiving negative feedback from customers or clients due to the effect of the security breach, and the integrity of the outsourced agency due to the breach. The location of the IT security provider should be taken into consideration when anticipating these risks because communication will be difficult with the increase of the geographical distance not to mention the possible legal differences in handling legal issues between the different geographical locations.

Personally I prefer that the IT security aspect of any organization should be managed in house or if it is outsourced, it should be a sister company or affiliated organization. The strong affiliation creates a solid relationship that enables efficient and effective issue management and resolution. In the absence of these options then the organization must choose a trusted and tested-and-proven IT security provider as their partner.

In case there is a need to outsource, the most important aspect should be the contract that stipulated the agreements on the IT security as well as the limitations on the information usage and availability. This will be the basis for providing the safeguards to ensure that both parties are aware of their responsibilities and for the organization to be alert whenever the outsourced partner is sharing information about the organization or putting the organization at risk due to malpractice and breach of contract.

The outsourced IT security provider must sign a document that all information about the organization should be kept in strict confidentiality and within only on the persons involved with the organization’s operations. The personnel to be outsourced must recognize authority from the employing organization to ensure that matters are decided with the knowledge of the organization. Any decisions made without the knowledge of the organization will be considered a malicious act and a ground for cancellation of contract. There should be explicit listing of the technology and equipment that the outsourced provider can access from the organization and vice versa to establish the agreed access to data. In case there is change in the outsourced personnel, there should be explicit agreement that the personnel can not use any information of the organization to other parties even if he/she is no longer connected with the security provider. There should be clear stipulations in the contract on who will be liable and how much will the penalty if either or both parties breach or terminate the contract.

Overall, organizations must be ready for whatever consequence the IT security outsourcing will give. There will definitely be good and bad. They’ll just have to aim for its success, more or less.

Once, I needed two to three floppy disks to save all the pictures that I wanted from the internet. Now, that is only a few MB to the total 500GB capacity of my hard drive.

You can only surf the internet using a computer but now, the simple smartphone lets you do it anywhere, anytime.

These are only two of the many scenarios that I never ever imagined 20 years ago (sci fi movies lets me imagine flying cars and teleportation though).

I think no one can escape IT. You have to accept that sooner or later it is going to be one important aspect in your life, if not vital. It is never too late or too old to start getting familiar with it. The sooner you accept it, the sooner your pain and fear will disappear. Resistance is futile because there is no escape.

My adventure with IT started when I met the World Wide Web – simply, the Internet.

The Net comes to mind whenever anyone mentions IT. Data transfers, Data storage and Data manipulation are the basics to talk about.

Who would have thought that WIFI is possible, or Bluetooth was even better than Infrared ^_^

Before the typewriter was invented, nobody ever thought of the concept of “words typed per minute”. Before the computer was invented, people were busy noting how thick books were and used magnifying glasses to “enlarge” their vision of the standard font sizes of typewriters.

Now, our data is created in our computers using software and stored in our hardware. Data can be transferred via bluetooth, external media and over the internet. We can create our reports, edit and delete items and “save” it, all without leaving heaps of papers with erasures. We don’t need a magnifying glass since we can “zoom in and out” of the screen and adjust the font size.

The Net, once viewed only as tool for sending and receiving can now be used as the data banks of various individuals, groups and even companies. Personally, information about almost anything and everything is in the internet and costs a lot cheaper than purchasing all the magazines and books. And without the internet, my appreciation of IT today may be impossible. After all, when I stopped watching for episodes in the TV, I always go to the internet to check the latest news, episodes and a whole lot more from my favorite shows and hobbies.

I hope people in my generation and the ones before can appreciate the stages on how information technology evolved during our lifetime. And I just hope we can handle the next inventions (especially the heavy investment that will be needed to adopt to the new technology).

Before working, I have looked at the desktop computer, laptop, printers and the internet as means of leisure and assignment/project accomplishments. However, a working individual will have to add back pains, neck pains, shoulder pains and hand/finger discomfort to that list, especially when you combine bad posture and prolonged sitting in front of the computer.

Though currently, paperless transactions are becoming a trend, if not a requirement, the paperworks (still) does not end.

And now that I think about it, I have a lot to say about IT having been employed than when I was still an undergrad. Why is this? Because it is in businesses that one can fully appreciate (and even feel frustrated) about the many uses and potential of IT to your organization and to your life.

And I’m looking forward to more things to say in the coming 2014.

Well then about IT and Me… we’ll be together forever. How about you and your IT?

Happy New Year everyone and God bless ^_^