Have you ever experienced buying a very expensive original anti-virus software just to end-up being the laughing stock among your friends and colleagues even if you’re the one who made the right thing? Instead of bragging your latest purchase to them, you feel so ashamed of yourself and you think like you’ve been commercially robbed? Mind you, I had.

Having a laptop with licensed software requires an original anti-virus partner to maximize IT security. When my friends learned that I bought an original anti-virus software, they burst into laughter and made fun of me. For them, I have wasted a good money for a software that could be availed for free in just a click of a button over the internet. After quite some time, my friends told me that their computers broke down and are beyond            repair. “Bad karma”? No, I call it “Bad ethics”.

Using downloaded or cracked versions of software is unreliable. During the process, foreign objects like viruses and worms, among others, could also be downloaded together with the program and impose a threat in your beloved computers and ruin your valuable stored data. But the threat of viruses or worms is just a side light of the bigger picture. Software piracy is the biggest issue that software industries worldwide fight on the daily basis. In countries like Russia and China where disposable income are comparatively low, piracy is a common practice. In the U.S., intellectual property rights were strictly protected compared to the other countries in the world. Yet, “softlifting” incidents have been increasing every year which compromises the future of the industry.  Although computer related sales have relatively increased in China, counterfeited versions shared a bigger portion of these sales.

Several reasons were associated with the practice of “softlifting”. One big factor that drives people into this practice is the financial incapability. Others justify their actions due to ignorance of the IP protection law, influence of the widespread public piracy, laxity of the authorities in implementing the law, low ethical standards observed within the locality or persuasion of the seller in promoting the cheaper version. Culture and beliefs also does a great contribution in software pirating. In the Philippines, the “pwede na ‘yan” principle is very common. Being contented with the counterfeited program to remedy the need of the situation and settle for a cheaper cost is not resourcefulness at all but rather unethical. 

Given the great disparity of technological opportunities between the industrialized countries and the developing countries, the Philippines experience the so-called digital divide. One crucial aspect to be considered is –education. A “divine intervention” from the government authorities to address the urgency of the matter is very vital. In today’s very modern world, computers and the internet are the enabling technologies of the Information Age, thus, digital divide is an important concern in the future of education.

To combat the problem in software piracy, several organizations have been created by software industries, like the Software Publishers Association and the Business Software Alliance, among others. These organizations regularly bring suit against companies involved in piracy, provide hotline for reporting “softlifting” acts, and provide web pages for online reporting of program copycat sellers and users.  However, piracy is more of a moral issue rather than legality. A legal copy of an MS Office might cost as high as your two months’ salary but committing a theft in buying a counterfeited version is unforgivable which your lifetime income should not afford. The “legal waters” may seem quite lax in combating the law against these pirates but this does not mean that moral values should not be upheld. Moral decadency comes from within us. It is influenced by our sound choices and not by other people’s actions around us.

Using an unlicensed program in our business is very unprofessional and reduces credibility especially to those in the service-oriented business. At times, we may be trapped in a situation where being moral seems to be very expensive. But legal and reputational issues should not be discounted at all times. The ROI for operating a business ethically is not measured by money alone. The action we took from the very start defines our brand of business and reputation. Having original software within the establishment is a moral investment. This is operating a business with integrity and dignity, setting a good example within the community.

Even if in our country counterfeiting might be a norm among the larger populace, let us be reminded that the number of people doing a wrongful act does not make it right in any way. Counterfeiting will destroy the software industry in the long run and will affect us all in different terms. Nobody could blame a person using pirated software. In fact, we shouldn’t be in the blaming stage at all. We should be in the encouraging phase to help people stand out for the right reasons and choices they made.  We should always consider our actions to be in line with morality rather than legality because not all legal is moral but surely all moral is always legal anywhere we go. Being morally upright is the key not to experience the ethical dilemma of “softlifting”.

Knowledge is power and power is everything. It is for this very reason that top executives of big industries chase knowledge to stay on power. Once they are on the top of the food chain, staying on the pedestal of power imposes a challenge on challenge itself.

In every organization, there is the presence of overflowing knowledge that sometimes not systematically managed and properly utilized. Its existence within an individual employee, group of personnel or the entire organization may sometimes unrecognized but there is an unconscious consumption of this knowledge. Accumulation of knowledge is innate in all of us. Our brain has a natural capability to capture and digest knowledge, stored in our memory for immediate or future use. Brilliant thinking realized the value of knowledge and its substantial benefit that could be derived upon application. Knowledge is a valuable asset that like money, property and human resource, it needs to be managed to maximize its capacities and strengths. Because of this realization, Knowledge Management (KM) came into this world.

Knowledge Management is a field of science that is very new to me. As I’ve learned and understood its concept and application, I asked myself, “Does my office implement and take advantage of Knowledge Management?” I realize that KM is widely practiced within our organization from the day to day implementation of all projects. Employees may not realize that KM has already been playing a vital role in the success of every endeavor our programs had achieved without them recognizing KM itself. From the initial step of project conceptualization to the final implementation and the follow-up evaluation, project leaders and support personnel have been sharing knowledge, brainstorming ideas, recognizing talents and maximizing capabilities and skills in order to deliver a quality public service that is the very heart of the organization.

The Provincial Agriculture Office, as a public institution, is a venue of agricultural best practices developed through project testing, demo trials, researches undertaken, ideas conceptualized and from experiences learned. Explicit knowledge is being gathered and systematically documented and organized for the main purpose of dissemination, enabling clients to gain information that could help them improve their livelihood through scientific farming. Tacit knowledge of agriculture experts, hard to document as it is, were made possible to be codified. Yes, the organization believes that knowledge is power but it strongly holds that knowledge sharing is empowerment. With these ideals, the office provides free technical assistance and expert advice to farmers to share knowledge of agriculture professionals. Field workers are being assigned even to remote towns within the province to reach small farmers and fisher folks alike empowering them to a sustainable source of living. Knowledge sharing is an advocacy in the nature of agricultural public service.

Knowledge Management is the bloodline of the organization; hence, team building and project planning and workshop is an essential annual undertaking. A FITS Center or the Farmers’ Information and Technology Center was established within the office to serve as a library of agricultural reading materials published and printed made available to the farmers as manuals. To spread more the information and knowledge, leaflets and flyers are distributed for free. Databanks were regularly updated and made readily accessible for public use.

Several pilot programs had been launched for different commodities like livestock, fishery, poultry, and high value crops. Demo farms were established at the Agri-Aqua Research and Technology (ART) Center site to showcase best practices and technology applied. An annual field day is being hosted to open the farm to interested clients especially farmers to exhibit new agricultural innovations designed to improve productivity that ultimately increase income.

Knowledge Management may deliver great benefits in our organization’s goals and objectives but some barriers must be hurdled to fully gain from its advantages. It is a cultural change process of changing the hearts and minds of people involved. But some people in our organization are hesitant to change. They are not equipped to embrace new ideas and tend to experience culture shock. They have difficulties in adapting to new environment and have a hard time to adjust. On the other hand, professional jealousy tends to be a reason of hoarding knowledge for personal power. Knowledge hoarding is the direct opposite of knowledge sharing which imposes threat to the very essence of KM. Absence of trust of other people’s innovative ideas and the degrading respect of rights among co-workers could be a barrier during collaboration and planning. Unable to overcome these barriers will render KM worthless and a lifetime of struggle.

Governance plays an important role in the success of KM implementation. Key personnel and leaders must be the spearheading factor to recognize sharing, preservation and re-use of knowledge. They can promote implementation of KM through reward systems, granting of incentives and public recognition of successful knowledge sharing output. Every year, the Provincial Agriculture Office, during the Annual Semana Sang Iloilo Celebration, conducts a search for model farmers that successfully utilized knowledge shared by the expert Agricultural Technologists in their farming methodologies. Gawad Saka awardees and the partner agriculture professionals that gave technical assistance during the farming process were both given recognition and award. Other awards like the Magsasakang Siyentista are also granted to farmers or professionals who succeed on farming through scientific knowledge applied. They have improved their value of business, increased productivity, higher return on investment and enjoyed an abundant life through the proper use of Knowledge Management.

Having a business with a mind of its own? Yeah, you got it right. Nowadays, because of an increase in dependability of business with the use of information technology on its day to day activities, managers of big organizations have acquired a new bestfriend, the Business Intelligence (BI). This includes a wide range of applications, practices, and technologies for the extraction, translation, integration, analysis, and presentation of data to support improved decision making. Installing BI software into a business operation is like putting a brain to the business itself. With just a click of a button BI tool gives a specific report of the real time business scenario and historical data that could aid in the decision making process of the user.

Organizations conduct trainings and orientations to their employees to help them better understand BI tools. Enabling them to learn and appreciate the concept of applications would encourage more effective use of these tools. The use of BI empowers employees to be good decision makers within their level which maximizes their capacity and promote career growth among them.

Although BI software, being a virtual analyst, seems to think on its own, it is the human capital that develop a critical analysis of information from a data warehouse to be used for planning, budgeting, and forecasting events drawn from historical data patterns. “An ounce of precaution is better than a pound of cure” as we often say, predicting an outcome and making solution to the problem before it can actually happen is one of the most important benefits from using BI tools.

Because people respond to incentive, a reward program rather than punitive approach is an effective motivating agent to upgrade job performance that would require employees to make use of BI applications. Awarding of bonuses, cash incentives, pay raises or promotions to employees that maximizes work capacity as a result of BI analysis would result to human resource satisfaction. A satisfied workforce performs well that would lead to a better ROI of a very expensive BI investment.

Who’s shopping on the internet today? Almost everybody. They maybe men, women, young or old, professionals or not, people from all walks of life. Call it anything you want…e-web-store, e-shop, e-store, web-shop, web-store, online store, online storefront or virtual store, e-commerce is an international marketing that every web entrepreneur is spending their fortune at just to have their customers within reach. The largest online retailers servicing the so-called business-to-consumer (B2C) shopping are Alibaba, Amazon.com and eBay.

In one article that I have read, internet is referred to as the “New Mall of America”. Well, not just in America. Internet has become the “New Mall of the World”. Internet shopping activity has reached every corner of the Earth. More and more people are adopting this global phenomenon nowadays. Who would never be? Shopping online addresses what consumers want to afford, convenience. With just a click of a button you could purchase anything you want. From simple household necessities to high tech appliances to ordinary wants to crazy and insane stuff you could ever think of. Online stores offer a wide variety of inventory that caters even the most meticulous of all buyers.

Convenience is the very main reason why people are into internet shopping. You could shop in different stores simultaneously at the comfort of your home. Several sites also offer reviews and product comparisons that help consumers make better purchases at lower prices.  It helps busy people save their time and effort having access to a fast and easy shopping. Most online stores offer free shipping facilities that delivers right at your own doorsteps. People are now becoming more comfortable of cash-less transactions paying bills through credit cards.

Going to a physical store is stressful and tiring for most of us especially to the older ones. Shopping online saves them the discomfort of travel, hassle of traffic and exposure to pollution. A dual-career-mom could pick her son’s Halloween costume without going through the trouble of leaving one work or another in order to bring him at the mall. Going to a traditional brick-and-mortar store with a particular shopping purpose may end up shopping for more unnecessary stuff like toys and more toys when accompanied by a child. Also, you could do away with a bad day experience from an annoying salesclerk to a sarcastic cashier.

Internet shopping also gives consumers a chance to experience the luxury of shopping in another country without actually traveling to that place. A customer in the Philippines could enjoy discounts, freebies, coupons, or gift vouchers on various products during the Mardigras Festival in Brazil or have an amazing deal buying gadgets in U.A.E. on Dubai Festival. You could avail of the newest product in the U.S. or grab the latest fashion trend in Italy anytime through virtual stores. One site in particular invites shoppers to sign up to have their own virtual address in the U.S. for easy delivery location. Members could shop anywhere in the world and have it deliver to their U.S. address and that site will be the one responsible delivering to the buyer anytime anywhere.

But is shopping in just a click of your computer button all about convenience? Online shopping also imposes some disadvantages on consumers. Having a variety of choices laid down before your eyes would make you more confuse on what exactly to buy. Instead of saving your precious time and effort, you would end up spending most of it without accomplishing any of your shopping needs. Having a slow search engine or web browser also consumed more prepaid internet hours not to mention additional electricity cost. Most products featured on the web are also very misleading in reality. You could always order a misfit garment than your actual size or apparel inappropriate to your personality and taste. It is also coupled with easier-said-than-done money back or product return guarantee. Because of these, internet shopping tends to be a risk of money and resources.

Knowing your particular need and preferences, several transactions could be made through the internet without hesitation. For example, buying an airplane ticket for a domestic or international flight or a local ferry ticket online is the most practical and ordinary practice these days. Making a hotel reservation worldwide has been made easier through online accommodations, too. Tourists all over the globe avail of very affordable travel promos and discounts on the internet. A confirmation letter is being sent via email to the customer and could be printed out for easy reference. Records of airline companies, sea liners or hotels could be search easily for further reliability and information check. A textbook or a latest novel could also be purchased in the web without any trouble. As long as the total price including the shipping charges is cheaper than the offline bookstore could offer buying it online is advisable.

But some consumers might be hesitant to avail of particular items online. Some of these are clothes, foot wears or makeup for the ladies. Shopping online for clothes is really a bad experience. You don’t see the actual appearance or color of the item over the internet, you don’t get to feel the material, not to mention not being able to try out the outfit nor can you bargain for the price. Buying a pair of shoes is really tricky. You need to have a precise judgment of the correct size. A size conversion chart is available online for reference but different brands and styles of footwear offers a dissimilar fit to various foot shapes. A ½-inch difference could mean nothing less than torture when wearing it. Choosing the correct size and wearability comfort are two very essential factors for choosing the right footwear. While clothing and footwear are not advisable to be purchased online, makeup is next on the list. A patch test is always recommended for makeup that is applied for the face to try for any allergic reaction for the consumers’ safety. A foundation should also be tested on the face to select the proper color that will suit the tone of the skin. Purchasing this online may not be favorable. You may end up buying a makeup that would make you look like a clown. While there are policies that you can return the product and get your money back, what you can also have is the discomfort of an irritated skin and the expensive medical treatment caused by these products online. What you wear and put on yourselves will either make you look great or humiliate you. Choosing the right clothing is like choosing the proper words to communicate with people around you. After all, a good first impression often lasts.  Shopping in the offline stores for clothes, footwear or makeup is an effort that is worth investing of your time. This is a process that cannot be bypassed by just a click of a button online.

While there are products that you may be hesitant to buy online, buying medicines, vitamins or food supplements and other consumables is a big no-no in the internet. Most people are very health conscious and buying food or medicines online is a very bad idea. Internet shopping for consumables is a risk of your precious lives. There is no way to know where they come from, they may be contaminated, seal broken or tampered, they could even be fake to render them unsafe. Even simple over-the-counter drugs could have an adverse reaction when taken unsupervised. To add more to the nightmare the website selling these might not have a license. Food and drugs must first pass through rigid tests by the authorized government agencies before selling them in the market. Your browser can buy these things but it cannot buy the guarantee of the safety of your lives. You must let your local markets be the venue of shopping for your foods where the inventories are always fresh and new. Consulting on expert doctors and depending on your local medical stores is the best option in taking care of your health needs.

Online shopping is not all that bad. In fact, online shopping has made shopping a more rewarding experience for most of us. You just need to be good decision makers to be certain of what you want to buy online to benefit more on this e-commerce phenomenon.

Should An IT Security Be Outsourced?

Business and risk are twins in the world of financial endeavor. The more a businessman takes risks in investing his assets the more he would gain in the field of investment he is in. That is… when things turn out to be as expected.

In the advent of today’s Business Processes Outsourcing, more and more organizations are adopting this trend. There are numerous natures of processes that a company might outsource from a third party supplier. Most common in outsourcing is the IT support, desktop support and infrastructure. An increasing number of organizations are investing in outsourcing e-commerce systems, datacenter hosting and software and application development. But security outsourcing…?

Security outsourcing decision remains a challenge to many big organizations’ executive. Despite the potential to increase security without investing in more staff or new defense technologies, the risks associated in outsourcing security are very considerable, causing decision makers to think twice or do away with a plan. From a theoretical point of view, any security service could be outsourced. A lot of security suppliers are available in the market that enable organizations to outsource their firewall management, security monitoring, vulnerability assessment, authentication services, content checking, anti-virus, and e-discovery capabilities, among others.

IT professionals agree that while an organization can outsource the responsibility for delivery of a security service, it cannot outsource accountability to its clients once that security service fails. In deciding what nature of security function a company should outsource, several issues and concern should be taken into vital consideration. Having a third party provider for security imposes risk on theft of confidential data or information that could compromise the operation of an institution. Property rights, secret formulas and patents are sensitive assets that are vulnerable and needs protection. Security breached is very common and outsourcing it leads to a higher susceptibility to a company. There is also the issue of how effective and efficient is the supplier of security service in promoting and supporting the company in delivering its core business processes and in upholding the ideals of the organization.

Like any other strategic plans and actions, a thorough research and deliberation should be taken into account to decide which security supplier an organization employs. An investigation of the supplier’s background, verification of its legal requirement compliance and the investigation of its past and present clients should be done. Conducting surveys and gathering feedbacks are also very helpful information.

After taking into consideration all aspect related to this decision and the company opts to outsource security, a strong service level agreement (SLA) should be provided in the contract in full detail. An SLA is a legally binding contract that outlines the provisions of performance and service quality parameters. Each SLA is unique in every contract because of the nature and complexity of the service it provides. The SLA must include a clear and extensive description of the service to avoid assumptions and holes in what is and what is not covered by the service that should be provided. It must also define the required parameters of the service like the response time required in case of an incident, like 24/7 if necessary, and the extent of responsibility in prevention, remediation and recovery procedures. A well- defined obligation of the security provider and the ramifications for the good and bad performance should be documented before it fails to meet those obligations. An SLA must also include a crisis management procedures and a resolution clause when something go bad, a required documentation and reports in a regular basis for the organization’s IT team to be continually updated of the its security posture, proper protection of intellectual property, compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, confidentiality of the scope of service to outside non-authority parties, confidentiality of security breaches in case it happens, a stipulation that every third party employee must sign a confidentiality contract and be informed of their personal liability in case of non-compliance, change in control processes environment must be properly approved before implementation and contract termination or bankruptcy situation conditions, among others. It must also be emphasized in the SLA that the outsourcing company should not, in any circumstances, be allowed to subcontract in part or in whole any service it provide to the organization without prior proper approval and documentation.

If a company considers all matters at hand and it understands clearly what is at stake and what is most beneficial to its business, it can surely reap the fruits of an advantageous decision in outsourcing IT security without increasing the risks and costs to the organization.

IT and Me

In a very modern world like ours today, technology is way fast advancing. Those gadgets and gizmos that once I just saw on movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman and James Bond to name a few are now out in public and seems very common and a natural part of our everyday lives. When I saw those fancy little toys in those movies long ago, I even commented that they are very impossible and could only happen in our imagination. Boy, was I very wrong!

Information Technology (IT) is now part of my natural element. Its importance is synonymous to the air I breathe, the water I take, the natural heat and light energy I enjoy from the sun and the earth underneath my feet where I live. It becomes the way of my life like everybody else around me. I personally call my generation the IT Era.

During the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda alone, IT has proved its importance in disaster management and mitigation. I have contacted families and friends through internet and get news and updates of what’s going on with our “kasimanwas” out there. When I went to help during the Relief Operation of our office in the northern part of Iloilo, I have learned to appreciate my cellphone and Facebook so much. I went to an island in Estancia where like its neighboring towns there is no electricity and no cellphone signal. I cannot contact my family in the city to check if they are ok and also to report that I’m doing fine. I mean, they could be worried sick that they cannot communicate with me. I realize, I’m only spending one day there and it seems that I cannot last any longer because I felt that I’m lost and I’m disconnected to the world. Helping typhoon survivors is really noble and my experience is truly heartwarming but on the other side of me I feel very sad. Sad for the experience of those people, for being so cut off with the world without their means of communication not to mention the scarcity of food and water and the loss of the comfort of their homes. I admire the survivors so much that they could last in a situation like that.

I was very excited to go home after the relief operation. When we arrive at the very first place with electricity and cellphone signal, I whispered to myself, “Ah…civilization. Nice to be back.” When I came home the first thing I did was check my Facebook and flip through the internet until late that night. I am alive again!