Technology: "CORPORATE CHANGE AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE NEW FRONTIER"

"CORPORATE CHANGE AND MODERN TECHNOLOGY AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE NEW FRONTIER"

Written by Bill Rosoman

"The next information revolution is well under way... It is not a revolution in technology, machinery, techniques, software, or speed. It is a revolution in CONCEPTS." (Drucker, 1998)

"Corporate or organisational change". Big words, but what do they mean?

Within an organisation there is a culture, sometimes good sometimes bad. Some of it is subtle, like how does an organisation and repparttar staff adopt and use technology?

This article concentrates on Technology Adoption and Change.

It strikes me, having worked with computers since repparttar 133566 early 80's and used email since repparttar 133567 mid 80's that some people have not reached repparttar 133568 20th century let alone repparttar 133569 21st century. I liken it to a car. Most people drive a car and use all repparttar 133570 gears; with technology most people seem to use 1st and maybe 2nd gear but do not even know that it has 1 maybe 3 more gears.

Technology seems to be a big mystery still to a lot of people. Well what do we do?

Technology can make an organisation and staff so much more productive; make internal and external communications so much easier and efficient. Reporting on events, finances are so much easier with repparttar 133571 use of technology. That is, save time and money.

Technology is providing a revolution in repparttar 133572 workplace and at home. The problem is that most humans have not caught up with 10% of it yet.

I have some suggestions and plans about how we can make organisation and staff much more in tune with repparttar 133573 latest IT (Information Technology)

Information Technology (IT) Plan Each organisation really needs an IT plan. What technology do you need, what training do you need, how will you implement IT across repparttar 133574 organisation? What do you need and what can you afford, or can you not afford not to have repparttar 133575 time and money involved? If you are still doing things manually and have a mountain of paperwork, will your organisation be around in 2 years time? Should you buy or lease some our all of your IT needs? Staff Training and awareness One critical thing I have found is that an organisation can provide repparttar 133576 latest technology but staff need training in how to use it and on an ongoing basis. It is not good enough to have one session on some new technology and then say that is it! There seems to be some fear of IT and some reluctance to learn and adopt sometimes as well, this can be for an individual or an organisation as a whole. I believe one should use and reflect IT internally so that externally you will be seen as a user of IT. Computers and Networks Are repparttar 133577 computers you have adequate or should you look at an ongoing replacement plan? Should repparttar 133578 computers be networked so you can rationalise resources like repparttar 133579 Internet and printers, scanners etc? Are there better ways of doing what you are doing? Should you not review current policies and procedures in repparttar 133580 light of advancing IT and adopt new methods for doing things? You could for instance abandon a lot of face-to-face meetings, paperwork etc if you adopted new technology like Web cams and an online briefcase! Common software Is repparttar 133581 software you are using common across repparttar 133582 organisation and is it adequate for repparttar 133583 tasks expected, not an overkill or an underkill? Is repparttar 133584 software legal and what is repparttar 133585 plan to keep up to date with software and related issues? Agreed process for communication and reporting of information Does repparttar 133586 organisation have an agreed internal and external communications and reporting procedure? And more importantly is it used every day by everybody? Training should be given to all staff on an ongoing basis as to repparttar 133587 processes for communications and reporting. Internet The Internet is such a wonderful tool for research, communication, software, updates, ebusiness, b2b, etc, but how little it is understood and used! The Internet should be your first choice, for communication, to look up a phone number or to find software or information, repparttar 133588 cost and speed is usually much better than by any other means. Things that should be used on repparttar 133589 Internet; * Email * Online Banking * Organisation Website * News Groups * Briefcase * Information * Software * Support * Sales * Virtual Office Like today, I had a bid in on a LAN card, I have won repparttar 133590 bid, contacted repparttar 133591 seller and expect it will be at my address on my return from my current business trip. All done online and some 400 miles away from usual office. What would we do without repparttar 133592 Internet. Email Perhaps one of repparttar 133593 most widely used part of repparttar 133594 Internet is Email. But it is one of repparttar 133595 most abused. I spend Monday mornings downloading repparttar 133596 weekend's email; this is usually round 150 to 200 emails of which 95% is spam and or junk mail. Most un-solicited mail turns me right off in a big hurry. The other way email is abused is friends and associates sending large attachments. When I would far prefer repparttar 133597 idea of sending me a link to repparttar 133598 file and then I will decide whether to download it or not. Perhaps repparttar 133599 last thing is all repparttar 133600 viruses sent by email. Personally I do not use or recommend Outlook Express or MS Exchange as they constantly attacked with viruses. I use Incredimail from www.incredimail.com as it is fun and also recommend Foxmail, or Pegasus etc. I do not recommend Outlook Express or MS email as these are repparttar 133601 ones attacked most often with viruses and anyway repparttar 133602 are dumb programs. WWW: World Wide Web (or sometimes Wait) Well this is repparttar 133603 new toy on repparttar 133604 block, but is only a real small part of repparttar 133605 Internet. There are other things like repparttar 133606 newsgroups at http://groups.google.com and like ftp, try ftp://ftp.paradise.net.nz/VideoClips/ has some great movie clips, etc.

The Value of Software in Our Daily Lives

Written by Bill Platt

Long, long ago when I was in high school during repparttar

early 1980's, personal computers were just coming into existence. Back then, I had taken on Basic programming as a high school student. In those days, repparttar 133565

PC of choice was repparttar 133566

Radio Shack TRS-80 --- this was just a couple of years before repparttar 133567

introduction of repparttar 133568

first Apple computer.

In those dark days before repparttar 133569 Internet and before Microsoft, repparttar 133570 only software choices we had were retail programs that could cost hundreds of dollars, or cheap video games that were offered as Shareware.

Believe it or not, in those days, we computer nerds would pass around software on floppy disk. These days, there simply are not too many programs that can be loaded onto a single diskette.

I mention this now as I contemplate repparttar 133571 various ways in which software is now distributed. We consumers are always playing a cat-and-mouse game with software developers.

In repparttar 133572 early 80's, repparttar 133573 companies who had deep pockets were repparttar 133574 ones selling their software at retail. The ones who were struggling to find traction in repparttar 133575 marketplace were repparttar 133576 ones offering their software as Shareware.

If you doubt this conclusion, then let me ask you a question. Which Microsoft products are available to repparttar 133577 public as Shareware packages?

You just proved my point.

Being an individual who has played both sides of repparttar 133578 software fence as both a consumer and developer, I am in a position to tell this story so that you as repparttar 133579 consumer can really appreciate repparttar 133580 quandary of repparttar 133581 developer.

Nag screens are repparttar 133582 storefront of repparttar 133583 shareware developers. See, repparttar 133584 challenge is that it really does cost money to develop software. Yet, repparttar 133585 public is still of repparttar 133586 mindset that they want all of their software for free.

Understanding repparttar 133587 free mindset of repparttar 133588 consumer, software developers have tried various schemes to get paid for their time and efforts. These days, you will find Shareware, Trialware, Adware and Retail.

See, repparttar 133589 retail boys have repparttar 133590 best advantage. They can afford to dump millions into advertising to build repparttar 133591 interest in their products. Funnier still, repparttar 133592 consumer does not expect to get retail products for free. For some reason, it is okay to pay repparttar 133593 big boys retail for their products, but repparttar 133594 little guy is supposed to give away his work for free!

So, why is it that we consumers treat repparttar 133595 small companies differently? We will pay $100 to $175 for Microsoft Office XP, but we would not pay for Sun Office! Sun Microsystems Office product is considered by many to be a much better product than Microsoft's, but Sun had to resort to offering their version for free to get market share!

What is wrong with this picture?

Ironically, repparttar 133596 difference is easy to see from my chair. As a marketer, I am always watching repparttar 133597 marketplace horizons to see where repparttar 133598 next advantage might be found.

We consumers have a need for one thing only. We want value for our money --- real value.

With Microsoft's deep, deep pockets, they are able to sell us on repparttar 133599 idea of repparttar 133600 value of their products. Additionally, Microsoft can afford to put their software into pretty boxes and on repparttar 133601 shelves of thousands of retailers, adding to their carefully crafted perception of value. Because Microsoft can afford to paint a solid picture of value to us, we do not hesitate to cough up repparttar 133602 hundreds of dollars required to own Microsoft's products.

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