Cogent: Communication: Real World Case

Read the Real World Case 3, Cogent Communications, Intel, and Others: Mergers Go

•         More Smoothly When Your Data Are Ready (pp. 213-214). Place yourself in the role of a manager at a company undergoing a merger or acquisition. Explain your customer’s expectations during the merger with at least three examples and describe what role IT would play in meeting those expectations.

     In the process of managing an M&A, two or more companies join together to form one company (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). Generally, when a merger or acquisition takes place, the new company that is developed develops a new name as well. Mergers are often perceived as a bad experience for our customers because in the process of a merger minor changes may occur in the process of operations (Moeller, 2009). Actually, it has been identified that over half of all mergers fail to deliver the improvements that they initially intended to. To this company, these changes may be small, however, customers might erceive these changes to be big. For example, changes in IT software or changes to a ompany website may result in a difficulty to effectively understand how to maneuver through the site altogether.

     In the process of a merger, companies should focus mainly on keeping the customer first. New features might misdirect existing customers. Like a cellphone company website, for example, new menu options, formats, and even a new policy might be difficult for customers to understand. IT like gmail.com could help customers to communicate this issue to the company. Text messages and images could be sent to and from other firms.

     Another issue might involve the closing of a company store in a certain location. For example, a M&A could result in the company closing its physical branch in one state and only offering its products and services through its online website. As a result, customers might have to travel to another state just to speak with the company's representatives in person which could be a great inconvenience for customers. Traveling expenses might be looked upon as meaningless to customers who have to travel miles away from their hometown to experience certain services or to purchase specific products. IT like video chat software could help the company to communicate visually with the use of a webcam. The camera can help to operate meetings that are held over the internet. Also, internet services could also help companies to provide door to door deliveries within particular routes to better satisfy potential customers.

     Changes in operations or changes in performances might be confusing to customers or consumers as well (Moeller, 2009). For example, in the process of the merger, products and services might not be offered at the company's highest quality. As a result, customers might decline in their levels of satisfaction. For example, the admission process might be quicker compared to what it used to be, although the information might need to be updated or validated. This could mean long admission time frames. Overall, mergers can operate smoothly with a data center that is well prepared.

•         Focus on what Andi Mann in the case calls “tribal knowledge.” Explain what you think is meant by that, and why it is important to the process. Provide at least one strategy you would suggest for companies that are faced with the extensive presence of this issue in an acquired organization.

     Tribal knowledge is any information that is not commonly known. Tribal knowledge is known as information that is not documented and is unwritten. This type of information can be translated from older employees to new employees of an organization. However, there are both advantages and disadvantages to utilizing tribal knowledge. For example, it has been stated in the text that tribal knowledge can be a disadvantage to a company as well. Whenever one company references information others need to know in order to produce a product or a service, the term tribal knowledge can be identified. This particular type of information is not commonly known by the other individuals within that company. Tribal knowledge could be a list of the company's rules or a set of the company's information is generally known by a specific group of employers within the company. This particular group then makes significant contributions to the quality of performances, products, services and eventually financial strengths. In my opinion, tribal knowledge should be top secret and confidential within a company at all times if possible.

•         Most of the discussion on the case focused on hardware and software issues. However, these are essentially enablers for underlying business processes developed by each of the companies involved. Analyze the different alternatives that companies have for merging their business processes, and discuss the role IT would play in supporting those activities. Be sure to address data management and governance issues.

     Even though some business owners may want to make merging their last opportunity, there are a number of alternatives to making the decision to merge with another existing company. Many say that companies should resist merging altogether. Mergers can also mislead executives within their business operations. The level of expected uncertainty is rather high as well. Therefore, merging could be seen as a last resort. For example, rebase is one alternative. Organic in-house growth provides full control to companies because it can be a lot easier to integrate. As a result, there are lower levels of disruption.

     Although organic growth has been known to be insufficient. Most companies want a balanced level of internal growth and external partnerships. Purchasing a firm can help to balance out interna. Having the right social context and innovation, however, can still onflict with the status quo of a company as well. Your company might choose to build its capacity through internal R&D. Another option is borrowing the resources you need through strategic partner shipping, another merging alternative.

     Cultivating strategic partnerships can be a great way to obtain knowledge from that partner. However, depending too much on the partner and not your company can threaten secracy in the knowledge of your own company. As a result of this, the company could reach a level of growth where your partnering won't be necessary and they might not need you anymore. This is said because, in the process, some of your best, highly skilled professionals would be transferred to and from the other corporation on a routine basis as they help to manage the alliance and to transfer tribal knowledge back to their headquarters. However, tribal knowledge is documented and only exists within the minds of certain people. Strategies could also be identified to kill or to remove tribal knowledge as well. In the process of an M&A, two or more companies join together to form one company.

Software Usage: Simple Databases Questions

•         Matching Training to Software Use 3-D Graphing You have the responsibility to manage software training for Sales, Accounting, and Operations Department workers in your organization. You have surveyed the workers to get a feel for the amounts of time spent us- ing various packages, and the results are shown below. The values shown are the total number of workers in each department and the total weekly hours the department’s workers spend using each software package. You have been asked to prepare a spreadsheet summarizing these data and comparing the use of the various pack- ages across departments.

•         Create a spreadsheet illustrating each application’s average use per department. To do this, you will first enter the data shown above. Then compute the average weekly spreadsheet use by dividing spread- sheet hours by the number of Sales workers. Do this for each department. Repeat these three calculations for both database and presentation use. Round results to the nearest 1/100th.

•         Create a three-dimensional bar graph illustrating the averages by department and software package.

•         A committee has been formed to plan software training classes at your company. Prepare a slide presentation with four slides illustrating your findings. The first slide should serve as an introduction to the data; the second slide should contain a copy of the original data table (without the averages); the third slide should contain a copy of the three-dimensional bar graph from the previous answer; and the fourth slide should contain your conclusions regarding key applications per department. Use professional labels, formatting, and backgrounds.

Training Methods: Skydive Chicago

TRAINING METHODS                                                                                               

SKYDIVE CHICAGO

•         Describe how this information system benefits the skydiving student.

     Many people love the sport of skydiving, while many others wish to learn how to skydive. Although, a number o individuals do not know enough about it to participate. However, in many locations, skydiving may require a license. Generally, a certain number of jumps are required in order to obtain such a license. An organization by the name of Skydive Chicago s currently training students in knowledge of the activity, as well as students who are going to be first-time jumpers.

     The information system can provide a number of benefits to the skydiving student. For example, students have the opportunity to undergo training to be a first-time jumper. In this step, students can obtain an effective understanding of how skydiving is done by the company where they will be doing the skydiving. Also, for students who are members of internationally competitive freefly teams, they are able to further their education involving this sport as well. Students who are already skilled will have the opportunity to jump at a much faster speed than they could before.

     Also, the information that is provided gives students a vision of some activities that they will be required to participate in. In the process, students will learn a new skill.Informing the students that the videos will be taped helps them to better prepare for the course. Mistakes can be identified by students when utilizing these videos. This information system allows students to see their mistakes instead of having to remember their mistakes. Students can also share these videos with others. This system helps to promote safety during these activities and procedures as well.

•         Describe how this information system benefits Skydive Chicago

     When implementing this training method, Skydive Chicago can experience a number of benefits as well. For example, all Skydive's jumpmaster employees have an opportunity to copy videos and to keep them in the company's library. All jumpmasters are paid per jump. These videos help jumpmasters to better train their students in a manner that is more effective. When students arrive at the facility, they arrive more prepared to jump which can save a lot of valuable time. As a result, the jumpmasters are able to train more students in one day.

•         Create an Information Systems Model similar to Figure 1.19. Be sure to include

information.

     The people in the diaphragm are the students who are being trained and the Jumpmasters who are in charge of training. Software generally runs on top of hardware components of a peripheral device or device. The software is what saves the information to a device. This information is most commonly saved on an external device, which also helps it to recognize other devices that are on the actual monitor. Software resources would involve the record, the playing of the video as well as the video itself. Hardware resources are known as the physical device or telecommunication. Hardware resources are assignable, and addressable. These bus paths or forms of information technology allow

other devices to communicate with each other. These types of resources would generally include both input and output port addresses.

     Hardware resources would be the video camera, the VCR and the VHS tape. Data resources represent all data that is available to the organization. Data resources would also be the video. Network resources would be the camera cables and the VCR itself. The term I/O is generally defined as any operation, any program or device that is utilized to actually transform any data to or from a computer or device. In this process, each and every transfer that takes place is considered to be an output which is from one device into another device. The actual transfer is known as the input. The input resources would be the videos of the jumps that are recorded to be available in the organization's library. When the actual process of computation takes place, an instance of a computer program is executed. This particular type of program contains the program's code, along with all program activities.

     In the process of multitasking, multiple processes share CPUs as well as other resources. However, each CPU can only execute one single individual task at one time. The process resources would be both the video and the copy video. The output resource would be both the student's copy of the video as well as the library's copy of the video. The storage resource would be the VHS tape that will be located in the video section of the company's library. A storage resource, in this case, could be the drive space that is available within the area's network. The management of storage involves the process of managing the capacity utilization and policy. Effective storage management helps to maximize the amount of storage that is available. Finally, the control resource would be the VHS tape itself.

THE END

McGraw-Hill: PRIMIS

ANALYSIS

• Describe the kinds of questions McGraw-Hill might have asked as part of determining the feasibility of the Primis idea. Be sure to address the needs of the organization, end users (sales representatives, faculty, and students), IT specialists, and the groups involved in producing the finished custom books. Assess the likelihood of implementing the system given the information the team had at the time. Justify why, or why not.

     In the very beginning, it could not be effectively understood how to proceed with a final idea. For example, there are several questions McGraw might ask in the process of feasibility determinations. The term feasibility generally involves situations where there is a large sum of money that is at stake. In the process of a feasibility study or analysis, the main focus is to best determine whether or not a proposed project is technically feasible, whether or not the project is feasible within the estimated cost, and third, whether or not the proposed project can be expected to be profitable. Concerning a business setting, a feasibility study is generally utilized for the purpose of providing support to the organization within its decision-making operations. These types of studies tend to strongly focus on the actual business or the project viability. This particular study is commonly performed in the process of deliberation.

     The process of deliberation is generally operated in that businesses development cycle, before he actual commencement of the business plan that is most formal. It was a technical team that first reviewed proposed system. It was finally identified that there was a level of expertise that was efficient enough to develop the system in question. The same level of expertise was also efficient enough to implement and to manage the system as well. Involving the economic feasibility, an analyzation was performed for the purpose of determining whether all cost would outweigh all benefits deliberation.

     Involving the legal feasibility, the proposed system was also analyzed to determine system capabilities. For example, the system was analyzed to determine if the original authors would be given full credit for their works through independent calculations and through royalty fees, as well as other fees that were set to be charged. For example, errors in the operation of this system could very well result in legal liabilities on the company’s behalf. The company has agreed to comply with certain laws involving the protection of their data as well as other laws involving copyright infringement issues and violations.

     Although, one question could be how he or the organization should involve the implementation of marketing techniques and strategies. The organization and its team of employees are currently experiencing a great need for financial growth purposes. Therefore, McGraw might want to produce questions involving the most effective marking strategy that would promote a greater level of growth that is most profitable. The organization as a whole wants to mainly focus on maintaining a high level of student interest, yet the need for a cost benefit analysis still exists.

     Other questions should concern benefits deliberation. In this process, both tangible benefits as well as the benefits that are intangible should be identified as well. This would help the company in its decision-making process. When making determinations involving the feasibility of the Primis data, the question of the strengths and weaknesses of the sales representatives and agents to promote the strategy of custom publishing should arise as well. This can help to predict the overall outcome of the operation as well as determine whether any changes or improvements would be needed deliberation. Other questions should involve the actual material and strategies that should be utilized to produce the most effective form of student communication and their levels of understanding.

DESIGN

• Process engineering is the design of business processes to achieve competitive advantage in cost, quality, speed, and service. Evaluate which advantages were driving the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill.
    
     Driving forces can shape the future of an organization. For example, simple organizational knowledge and competence of management skills and workforce operations are known as driving forces deliberation. Other external forces are identified as the economy, an organization’s level of technological skill or even the company’s competitors.
 
     Both internal as well as external factors influence this company’s decisions and organizational policies, which in return, helps the company to maintain high levels of competitiveness. In the process of the development of the Primis system for McGraw-Hill, there were several different driving forces. For example, the ISBN system, the metadata system, the royalties’ system as well as the sales representative database all served as drivers which helped the company to both achieve and to maintain an advantage that was competitive in addition to speed, quality and costs deliberation.

     When identifying the true meaning of quality, we can say that the term quality in a business perspective is known as a measurement that is numerical. This measurement involves the actual performance of an organization. For example, as identified in the text, the true quality of performance can be assessed through the measurement of physical products. These measurements most commonly involve statistical sampling as well as the output of processes, through the implementation of survey procedures whenever goods and service purchases are made deliberation. Overall, quality is known as a numerical measurement of divisional performances as well as procedural performances.
  

    There are a number of advantages businesses can experience by providing speed within their services and operations. For example, let’s say that company A can sell 20 books within a one-hour period, yet company B can only sell five books at the price of five dollars. This can mean that company A performs at a much faster pace than company B can perform. This also means that company B can be considered to be much less competitive compared to company A. As a result company A is returning a profit of $100/hr., when company B only profits at a rate of $20 dollars an hour.

     Speed of operation is essential within business operations deliberation. This also means that company A may be spending a lot less to operate their business as well as experiencing an opportunity where they could be even more competitive through a reduction in prices per every sale that is made. However, quality must also accompany speed where service is involved. Customers want the lowest price and the highest possible level of quality. As a result, some students may be more satisfied than others. Today, compared to in history, more and more companies like McGraw-Hill have become more and more interested and aware of their needs to improve in their quality of services as a whole.

• Business customers must perceive that products/services are solutions to their problems. Describe how the Primis system design kept this objective in mind.
    
  Instructors are better able to decide the content of the topics and to choose based on the institution’s structure. The timeliness of customer services helps to maintain customer satisfaction deliberation. In the process, a reduction in cost is appealing to customers as well. Today, compared to history, internet technology has greatly advanced. When the Primis system was developed it was created with these very same predictions in line, involving  high expectations of the use of technology, with a customer in business intertwined with these services that are offered.

     Although plans were also made to help to resolve any issues resulting from such changes. The team knew that there would be some degree of confusion or uncertainty in the midst of modifications. The amount of funding that was spent on the system was justified by improvements in the financial outcome overall. When the feasibility study was complete, alternative solutions were developed and evaluated which helped the team to identify a solution in accordance with McGraw-Hill’s perspective.

SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

• Assess whether the prototyping would have helped the Primis team. Justify why

or why not.
   
     Yes, prototyping would have helped the Primis team. For example, prototyping would have helped the team to foresee future expectations which could have supported more ethical spending activities, along with a reduction in the overall cost of capital.

• Conclude why it was important to consider the relationship of Primis to back-end

systems at McGraw-Hill.
    
     A relationship to back-end systems are critical to the success of the system because end users are directly involved by interaction of the system deliberation. Also, all royalties were paid out through this system and all ISBN numbers are identified through this system as well. Access to databases and inventories are provided through these types of relationships as well.

• If you were the project manager for Primis, explain and defend what would you have done differently.

     If I were the actual manager, I would have implicated the prototype strategy. With such a new system for the purpose of identifying the actual risk of barriers that could possibly develop in the process of the development.

MAINTENANCE

• Part of system maintenance is managing the growing volume of content in the Primis database. Explain the criteria you might use for determining content to add to the database. Since many print textbooks are revised every few years, describe how this process would affect contents in the Primis database.

     Publishing the custom text, would be a good strategy that I might use in the process of determining what content would be added to the database. Today, professors now have the ability to choose what content they want to include in their courses. As a result, the text that is chosen can be potentially effective to the class that is taught deliberation. In the very beginning, it could not be effectively understood how to proceed with a final idea.

Leadership Performance

Leadership Performance Evaluation Essay

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