Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, have definitely been some of the most influential persons in the IT industry. In addition, Bill Gates, a co-founder of Microsoft and Steve Jobs, also a co-founder of Apple can be considered the icons of these two decades. Their companies are also one of the biggest ones in the industry therefore there exist many branches in all over the world. Speaking of branches, since most of current big IT companies have their foreign branches, many are now doing worldwide projects. For instance, a software company which its main office is located in San Francisco work with their Tokyo office staff, and proceeds one project. However, recent development in Information Technology enabled far more flexible and efficient forms of work. That is, global work-sharing. As it is explained above, it is no longer rare thing to work with offices in other country. It can easily be imagined that there is time difference between countries. Global work-sharing is very unique in that it uses this time difference to improve efficiency. As for example, a Japanese IT company called NTT Date operates their work with two different countries, Germany and India. Especially between Japanese and German offices, they conducted 24 hours operation. One German team worked from 15 to 25 and two Japanese teams worked from 8 to 24. With these three teams they did not really have to stop their work. Accordingly it became possible to deliver their products to the customer more quickly. This type of work can now be seen in a lot of companies and is getting the eye.
Monday, February 28, 2011
IT Human Resources and Leadership
Where would we be without the technological pioneers that we all know and admire today? I am talking about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Richard Branson, Len Bosack, Sandy Lerner, and even Mark Zuckerberg. These individuals are just a few of the many founders of America’s most respected and innovative IT corporations. These companies generate billions in revenue annually, and they each employ upwards of eighty thousand employees nationwide.
What’s great about working for companies like Google and Cisco, is that they treat their employees well. Perhaps the most recognized and respected company, in regards to high employee satisfaction, would have to be Google. Last year Google hired, “more than 4,500 Googlers, primarily in engineering and sales.” It’s already noted that Google takes care of their employees by showering them with benefits such as a matching 401(k) plan, free food, laundry services, and a climbing wall. According to last year’s report, Google’s revenue grew by 20%, which allowed for Google to give their employees a 10% pay increase. Google’s goal as a company is to make sure that their employees are well taken care of so that they can perform at optimum level for the company.
IT companies like Microsoft, Apple, Cisco, and Google are huge advocates for globalizing their companies, and making sure that every individual has the chance to become an employee for that company. IT, in general, is a market where globalization is encouraged. Technology brings nations together, and it makes communication a more efficient process.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/snapshots/4.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/help-wanted-google-hiring-in-2011.html
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Infoslate... Waiting Room Efficiency
Monday, February 21, 2011
Rise of the Robots Watson and what it means for humanity's future
Influence of the emerging companies
It is remarkable that there are so many new emerging companies in this industry. Even within this decade, companies like Facebook, Skype and Twitter appeared and have acquired huge popularity among people all over the world. One of the big advantages for companies in this industry is that once they are accepted in a country, soon they become popular in other countries as well, and become worldwide phenomenal. Another advantage is that once a company becomes big, it is very hard for a similar company to catch up. For instance, when Google became big there were no suitable rivals in their way. Another example is Skype. Skype as it is also their name of software is very unique in that it allows free call to other Skype users. These unique companies have certainly influenced the world not just by economically and socially but also politically. In Tunisia, Facebook was used to organize antigovernment groups and to communicate with other members. In addition to that in Egypt, Twitter had been used as a tool to organize anti-governmental activity till the government sabotaged the use of twitter. What it shows is that this industry is full of opportunity especially in the field of communication. IT made it possible to communicate with people with a long distance. Now, Facebook has become one of the biggest companies in the world and worth more than 500 million dollar (Nikkei shinbun). There are still more companies to emerge or waiting for the time to be discovered.
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Sunday, February 20, 2011
Borders' Survival Plan.
Borders Group Inc has taken a major step towards innovating itself into an E-Books distributer. By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,“[it] will allow Borders, which employs 17,500 people, to access new capital and reorganize its operations. The Ann Arbor, Mich., company has lined up a $505 million loan from GE Capital to fund its operations while in bankruptcy.” The ultimate goal for Borders as a corporation, is to stay afloat among fierce competition, like Amazon and Apple. The only way to do that is by providing more E-Books and E-book services. As of now, the Borders Group Inc. business plan, “is to stay viable by enhancing its customer rewards program, strengthening its e-book business and expanding more into non-book products”.
Once Borders evolves itself into a major competitor among E-Book distributors, its revenue will grow, investors will be less likely to shy away from investing in the company, and the corporation will be able to pay off its debts that it has accumulated within the past couple of years.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Race to the cash
Large corporate IT service providers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint pride themselves on providing fast, efficient, and vast nationwide coverage. Verizon has taken the reins of the IT world, by becoming a 4G service provider. The 4G service is highly sought after by consumers, because it provides faster internet speed, which allows for faster video and audio downloads. Individuals will be able to download massive amounts of data at a faster rate, but the service is much more costly than 3G.
Verizon’s version of the new 4G service is called, Long Term Evolution or LTE. The company vows that it's new 4G service is ten times as fast as it's old 3G service. Verizon claims that it's 4G LTE modem provides faster service, “ [ranging from] five to twelve megabits per second for downloads, and two to five megabits for uploads”.
Verizon’s service comes with a hefty price though, $50 a month for 5 gigabytes of data use or $80 a month for 10 gigabytes. Users will also be charged $10 for every gigabyte they go over. Verizon customers will have to purchase future LTE, 4G devices if they want the faster 4G service. They cannot upgrade their 3G smart phone or modem if they want to use LTE. If Verizon users want faster service, then they’re going to have to shell out more money.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704405704576063810512813874.html?mod=WSJ_PersonalTechnology_LEFTTop