Is Apple pursuing a strategic move/big investment at the right time?
Apple Orders More Than 5 Million Watches for Initial Run – Digits – WSJ
As we discussed in class proper execution of a product, service, or application can make or break a company. I found this short article about Apple ordering more than 5 million watches for it’s initial run. Now, that may not seem like a huge number for a company like Apple, but we need to keep in mind that this is the first all-new product since the I-Pad. These watches will do much more than just tell time. They can stream live weather reports, reminder notifications, upcoming calender events and more. The base model watch will run around $350+, and the high end model that comes encased in gold looks like it will cost upwards of $4000+. With all that being said I think this watch is an awesome innovative product and if I had the money I eventually would probably purchase one of the low end models. What are your guys thoughts, and also I have a view questions listed below to be answered.
1. What do you think of Apples strategic production forecasting “plan of record?” Do you believe this is what keeps Apple from going under?
2. Do you think Apple is eager to stretch beyond their current abilities?
3. Does Apple understand other people’s constraints and concerns within the market place?
4. Will Apple recover well from setbacks or failures?
Cybersecurity Order
I have seen a couple posts relating to cyber security so I thought this article was worth sharing. An article by U.S. news stated that this past week, President Obama signed an executive order that promotes the sharing of cyber security information between businesses in the private sector. This executive order hopes that information sharing between companies leads to analysis which could improve the abilities of companies to detect and protect against cyber threats. This would hopefully lead to improved protection of people’s personal information. There is also proposed legislation by Obama that would encourage companies to share data with the government to improve cyber security.
Although the idea of this is to improve cyber security, do you think customers of the companies involved in information sharing would have a problem/be worried about other companies having access to some of their information? What about sharing between companies and government? What do you recommend companies do to ease customer’s worries?
Does your Corporate Structure Stifle your Innovation?
http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2015/01/15/insights-davis-new-corporate-structures.aspx
By removing these “old fashioned” structures, companies:
1) Can spark innovation among employees who no longer feel confined by their organizational role.
2) Create more informal network relationships across organizational boundaries.
3) Distinguish themselves from competitors.
This article argues that old-style, hierarchical organizational structures are detrimental to technological companies. “It creates a straight jacket that makes organization adaptability to changes in the market impossible.” The argument is that the inflexibility of a rigid corporate structure creates a “straight jacket” for firms’ innovation, because employees are always consumed by the operations within their business unit.
Davis also argues that these organizational structures prevent network relationships across organizational boundaries. Creating incentives/rewards for this kind of communication needs to be available to drive cooperation.
Lastly, Davis points out that if all companies have a hierarchical organizational structure, that it is not distinguishing itself from its competitors. A person at Firm A can quit and start working a similar position at Firm B the next week, and would need minimal training because the systems/processes across these organizations are almost identical.
Apple HealthKit
I was doing some research on healthcare management and found this article on Apple’s HealthKit application. This application allows patients to input personal data, such as weight, blood glucose, heart rate and blood pressure. This information is transmitted through the cloud to healthcare providers. This can then be utilized to catch early indicators of disease and allow healthcare providers to treat an issue before it becomes more serious. This will ultimately lead to improved survival rates. Other areas of the medical industry utilizing this type of technology include assisted living, home monitoring, and clinical trials. One of the problems with this type of technology is data security. Because it uses cloud storage to improve its connectivity and data sharing, there is a serious threat to theft and data manipulation.
Personally I find this interesting because of the benefits this could provide. Over time, this data can be used to establish trends which would allow health professionals to determine what activities/actions lead to certain health outcomes. I also think it could allow for better health insurance pricing. For example, if you had two people on diabetes management plans, health insurance providers could see which customers are following their health plan and which ones aren’t. The idea here being that people who are compliant with their health plans will use fewer medical services, leading to a reduction in spending on medical services. Health insurance providers could then adjust payments based on health plan compliance.
Outside of benefits mentioned in the article, what benefits do you see from using Apple’s HealthKit? Is there any technology that could be used in conjunction with this? Do you have any suggestions for solving this data security problem? Do you see any other threats to healthcare data security as a result of cloud storage?
Facebook Builds Platform For Companies To Share Cybersecurity Threat data
Facebook launched “ThreatExchange” which is an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows companies to share information with each other about cyber attacks. A few companies including Facebook were demanding to stop a bonnet that was abusing their services to send spam. A manager of the Threat Infrastructure team at Facebook stated, “We quickly learned that sharing with one another was key to beating the botnet because parts of it were hosted on our respective services and none of us had the complete picture.” ThreatExchange is built on Facebook’s infrastructure and the information includes domain names, malware samples, and other indicators of compromise. The platform allows companies to share certain information that share similar issues. The goal of this platform is for organizations to learn from each other and make their systems safer. “That’s the beauty of working together on security. When one company gets stronger, so do the rest of us.”
Do you think ThreatExchange is a good way for companies to share their information regarding systems and hacking? Do you think only social media sites are going to use this platform? Or do you think other industries will also use this platform? Why?
http://www.cio.com/article/2883034/facebook-builds-platform-for-companies-to-share-cybersecurity-threat-data.html
Taking an Investment Management Approach to IT
This article about managing IT projects features an interview with Joe Spagnoletti, CIO of Campbell Soup Company. Spangoletti discuses how he approaches the responsibilities of IT projects and who is accountable for the result. He states that Campbell Soup is moving from an order taking model to a demand driving model. This new model empowers business managers to have more say in IT investments and the IT project portfolio. This means that IT employees work closer with the business side of the company to have a better understanding of the business manager’s desired impact of the project. There are some negatives with this model. The first is determining who owns the decisions. It can be ambiguous who is responsible when an IT employee proposes an idea and the business employee accepts the plan. Another negative is that IT can face more scrutiny under this model. There is more transparency with IT costs and how much value is actually achieved. This puts IT under a magnifying glass and which can seem threatening to the department. Spagnoletti echoes one of the most important concepts of our class: IT decisions need to align with the business strategy. When IT works alone, the business does not get what it needs.
Where would we fall in this business/IT interaction? Would we be middlemen? How can companies face some of the downsides to this model?
Documentation and Over-Documentation
In exploring project documentation techniques online, I found an excerpt from a software quality management book that illustrates the need for a balance between sufficient documentation and “over-documentation.” Some of the information was redundant to what we have learned in class; of course, certain documents are mandatory (project charter), and project scope largely dictates the extent of documentation required—wide-scoped projects need more and narrow-scoped projects need less. At the least, the author describes, documentation must perform the core functions of explaining “what to do (concept and requirements), how to do it (plan and design), how to show that it was done (test), and how to use the system (user).” However, too much documentation creates issues. The author warns that along with inducing an immediate “I’m not going to read all that!” response, over-documentation can result in inconsistencies that create confusion and damage progress.
The process for developing our ideas into interactive prototypes over the course of this semester is not as structured as it was in MIS3535. In that class, specific documents were due each week, and revisions of key documents were also expected regularly. In MIS4596, we are given more general instructions; many of the project tasks we perform—such as deciding the extent of documentation—are self-directed. Given that we have control of our projects’ direction, I expect teams’ documentation to range from minimal to very thorough.
With the hazards of over-documentation in mind, how will your team ensure that your project documentation is both manageable and thorough? How will you check for inconsistencies between documents? Lastly, which documents used in our business analysis and project management classes will you employ this semester, and which will you disregard?
Are Employees the Bigger Issue in Cyber Security?
Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO): Firms Should Also Focus On Employees For Cyber Security
Billions spent on cyber security and much of it ‘wasted’
I found this article from last month in which Terry Greer-King, Cisco’s director of security, said that the focus on IT security should be people. This contrasts from the common notion that not enough money is spent on effective security. This also contrasts the common belief among businesses that IT functions should be left to just IT. I completely agree with Greer-King. IT security cannot be left to just IT; everyone needs to know how to keep their devices secure. All it takes it one compromised device for an entire system to be compromised. Last year, $49.8 billion was spent on cyber security (referenced from the second article), so the infrastructure is certainly in place. But if there aren’t enough competent people to utilize the technology, then security will continue to be a major issue.
What do you guys think is the most important factor of IT security? Do you agree with Terry Greer-King that employees need to be better trained, or that better security technology needs to be in place? Are there any factors to this that you feel are missing or lacking?
The internet: Commodity or Utility?
In this article, the author talks about what the internet should be classified as, a commodity or utility. Currently, the internet is classified as an “information service” which is governed under the Title I of the Communications Act. This means internet service providers have less of a regulatory burden than that of “telecommunication service” providers. Which are governed under Title II of the Communications Act. If the internet is classified as a utility, it would be heavily regulated and their services would be dispersed evenly between all customers. If the internet were to be classified as a commodity, the pricing and availability would be controlled by supply and demand rather than federal authorities. Each classification seems to have its advantages and disadvantages. So, my question is do you think the internet should be classified as a commodity or utility? Why?
“Cyberattacks” Is our information really secure?
Debate Deepens Over Response to Cyberattacks – WSJ
I ran into this article shortly after reading Jessica’s topic regarding information security. I see information security as one of the greatest concerns for businesses today; especially, ones that collect client/customer information, which in this day and age most companies do. I know it may not seem like a huge deal that hackers obtained control over government social media accounts, but is this a risk management red flag that should be taken much more seriously? It makes me think about BP oil company, or Sony. If hackers can breach government firewalls, and security protocols what makes Amazon, Facebook, or any other company that collects our personal information safe?
Why do you think there is a sudden increase in company security breaches? Are companies getting lazy with IT security, or are hackers just getting smarter?
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