Peter M Currie

Real Time Accounting

2005-12-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

“In the titanic wake of technological advancements such as electronic data interchange (EDI) and other forms of electronic commerce, many established business practices are being shattered. The speed and magnitude of modern business transactions, the sheer size of today's organizations, and the intensity of competition are among the forces driving the revolution.”

This factor of increased technological advancements has led previous paper based accounting systems are not seriously out of date and with new technology in place the accounting world will have to change the way they go about with accounting. Traditional accounting systems showed the financial position and results for time periods in the past, that is to say that the accounts were historic and looked at the companies previous years performance so the accounts don’t give a great indication of the businesses current situation. Though now with the advancement of technology the majority of all financial information is being captured, measured and recognized as soon as it occurs. This fact means that firms are now able to provide people with a continuous and reliable measure of their financial performance on a day to day basis not just at the end of every year with their financial statements as traditionally occurs. This article provides a good discussion on the battle between real time accounting and traditional accounting.

Real Time Accounting is emerging more popular in the accounting world be providing firms with up to date financial information electronically, without paper documentation. This seems a very viable option for businesses to undertake as not only will they receive the same information as before, which is reliable and extremely valuable but they will also not have to spend as much money on paper and continual production of accounts if they are readily made available on line and electronically. This factor benefits the stakeholders of organizations as they get to see an up to date and reliable version of the company’s financial situation allowing them to ascertain the value of the company. But this also benefits the company a lot as they get to see straight away how they are doing and don’t have to wait a year to make changes to rectify problem situations. Therefore this new technology allows firms to be extremely reactive to any financial situation that occurs in the business.

The application of real time accounting can only be beneficial to businesses and to their stakeholders. As the increased provision of information will make decision making and problem a lot easier, be it in the organization itself or if you want to invest in a company. Though there are some niggling problems that need to be raised and sorted out if this technology is to be effective.

Obviously there is always a cost for such advancements and this could be stumbling block for companies to undertake real time accounting, though I believe its undertaking would provide more benefits than costs. Another factor is that currently GAAP do not provide enough guidance to companies for online measurement, recognition and reporting of financial items. Without proper guidelines this could led to problems as firms would provide information in different ways which could result in reduced comparability between firms, though at the moment the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are looking into this and have already produced statements regarding such factors, which should help negate this problem.

The one factor that I see as the major problem is that of security, it seems that whenever internet is involved security is always businesses major concern. Though it has been stated that they are looking at a variety of security measure’s such authentication, confidentiality and access controls to solve this problem. Though this seems ok I think they will have to spend a lot of time and effort in this area if businesses are to take on this new technology.

After looking closely at this technology I can see that it will be extremely beneficial to the accounting world though I don’t believe it will be fully used in the near future. There are a lot of niggling problems that will have to be sorted and then I believe that there will be a highly politically sensitive decision that will take along time to implement.

Philadelphia go wireless

2005-12-05T01:51:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia is planning a very complicated and fascinating project to provide their residents with free internet through wireless connections throughout the city. Further information regarding wireless technology can be found on Lori Reids Blog. This is a very interesting project that they are undertaking and is currently under a lot of scrutiny in America and the rest of the world.

They have decided to adopt this new strategy in an attempt to strengthen the cities economy transform the cities neighbourhoods with the provision of wireless internet access throughout the city. Wireless Philadelphia will work to create a digital infrastructure for open-air internet access and to help citizens, businesses, schools, and community organizations make effective use of this technology to achieve their goals while providing a greater experience for visitors to the City. This plan I believe will be very beneficial to the residents and visitors to the city, as the internet is now the biggest and most important tool in many aspects including information provision, business, shopping and gaming this provision will be extremely beneficial to the city. All a citizen will have to do is pay a base fee of around $20 depending on the status of their income and they will be allowed access to the network. So far a small fee the world will now be at their fingertips and they will be able to access information on a variety of subjects and for people who do not currently use the internet it could totally revolutionise their lifes.

The increasing advancement of wireless technology has made this scheme quite easy to implement. What they will be doing is building and maintaining a mesh network that will in effect make the city one live hot spot; the network will be made up of over 3000 routers that will be placed around the city to provide wireless hot spots. This allows residents and visitors with a WI-FI enabled laptops, PDA’s or WI-FI phones to access the internet anywhere in the city free of charge, therefore allowing them to use this vast information tool anywhere in the city whenever they want. This broadband connection will allow you to do anything that you would normally do from your home or office anywhere in the city and it’s for free! In my opinion I think this is great idea and if this happened in Glasgow I would be extremely happy and excited and believe this proposal may pave the way for future projects like this going ahead. Obviously this project is still in its infancy and it will be interesting to see how it pans out, and if it is as beneficial as it first seems. I will be looking closely at the outcome though and if the spirit of the project stays the same then there is no reason why it wont succeed.

When first hearing about this I didn’t feel there would be any objections to the implementation of this project though after reading numerous articles I have realised that things aren’t as straight forward as they sometimes seem. Philadelphia is not the first city to attempt this in the US other locations such as Alexandria, Jamestown and Rio Rancho have all implemented this. Though with 1.5 million residents it is by far the biggest city to even entertain the idea of creating a WI-FI city, and for this reason there are bigger problems associated. There are many concerns in relation to reduced competition and the use of this technology for companies to increase their exposure in the surrounding areas as outlined by the following articles 'Wireless Philadelphia' Sparks Concern and Wi-fi venture tests Philadelphia.

Another aspect that has to be taken into account is that to access the network you have to first of all have access to or own a laptop, PDA or a mobile phone that has the technology that will allow you to take advantage of this scheme. This could lead to people scrutinising this project as in poor areas what is the point of having WI-FI hotspots if the people cannot afford the hardware to utilise it. Also people may argue that this is a pointless expenditure and the money should be invested in other areas where it is more needed, such as health care, police etc. Along with these factors there are many questions that arise from the implementation of this plan, but it will be interesting to see how the city of Philadelphia deal with these problems in the years following the implementation. After taking into account these considerations I still agree with the idea of this project, though not it is takes money away from valuable public amenities that need to be provided to increase social welfare.

After taking into account the disadvantages of this scheme I still see this as a very worthwhile project. The advantages that will arise from providing free internet to all citizens in an area in the city are too hard to ignore. Due to the fact that the internet is continuing to grow and becoming more of a necessity than a luxury this scheme is something that I thought would never come around but now that it is I would have to give it my thumbs up, and can now only hope that someday soon Glasgow city council will decide to undertake such an adventurous project.

Firefox

2005-11-30T04:07:00.000-08:00

Mozilla are a basically an organisation that is taking on a project to attempt to preserve choice and innovation on the internet. What they are best known for is the provision of the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email software, that is now award winning and extremely innovative in the online world. What is very interesting is their application of Firefox which as a web browser is now competing with the all powerful Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

To be honest I had never heard of Firefox until recently when I started using it at University and this has led to me warming to its application. After using it for a number of weeks and reading up about it I have realised that it has many advantages over Internet Explorer, which I will go onto examine. It has an in built popup blocker that prevents annoying pop up ads from invading your computer whilst you are surfing the net, which can be very helpful. It also has tabbed browsing that allows users to view more than one web page in a single window, which is a time saving feature that allows users to open links in the background so that they are ready for viewing when you’re ready to read them. Another factor to take into account is the added security and privacy features that it makes available by keeping a comprehensive set of tools that keep your online activity private and secure. There are many other advantages such as Smarter Search, Live Bookmarks, Hassle-Free Downloading, easily customised and extremely easy to set up on your computer. All of these factors show that Firefox is a very efficient and effective internet search engine and there is no wonder that it has now become so popular. According this article feature by feature firefox either matches or surpasses Microsofts Intenet Explorer, this again outlines how useful and advanced (compared to its competitors) firefox is.

Though even though the advantages are easy to see there are downsides that have been aired a lot recently and also ones that I have noticed whilst using this software to search the internet. A recent study has shown that one in ten websites fail to work properly when using Firefox, which is quite a big disadvantage that has to be considered. This is because the majority of firms have only thought of Internet Explorer when designing their websites and not taken into account of Firefox, which means that Firefox is unable to work properly on these websites. But these particular firms are now working hard at updating their websites to make them effective for all internet users. Another aspect that I found quite annoying goes along with one of the advantages that are because of the pop up blocker. I have found that sometimes when I click on a website for a pop up it doesn’t come up because of the pop up blocker and it is very annoying to have to switch it off every time I want to get a pop up. Though it has its disadvantages the advantages that are associated outweigh them considerably.

Firebox has just celebrated its 1st birthday just 3 weeks ago and in early November it celebrated the fact that 100 million people had downloaded this software. At last someone is chipping away at Microsoft’s dominance and it doesn’t seem as though they will be keeping to their laurels. At the moment they are about to release Firefox 1.5 a new development on the previous software which will provide more effective and efficient use of the internet. Though they promise that they will not stop at this they will be constantly updating and making advancements to progress the software that has got them to the place they are. I can see if Firefox continue to develop their software there is no reason why they can’t continue to rival and maybe someday takeover Microsoft.

Cheating Students

2005-11-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

The internet is a very powerful and allows users to gain information on a variety of different subjects very effectively. This is very beneficial to students as it makes it a lot easier for students to gain information and different view points on the subjects they are researching, therefore allowing their studies to be more far reaching and relevant. Though the internet is a very powerful and can be very beneficial to students whilst they are studying and researching, there is a downside to this with the increased use of the internet which has helped students cheating whilst doing their coursework.

It is very easy for students to effectively search the internet and find information that they can plagiarise and copy for their own in an attempt to cheat when completing their coursework. Due to the vast amount of information available on the internet it is very hard to keep track of all the relevant articles in relation to students research topics, so therefore it is hard to see when and if a students has plagiarised an online source. Also there are on line firms that provide essays for sale and download in relation to student’s research topics, which allows them to gain a valuable essay that again they could pass of as their own. It is the same factor that goes on with any research tool and that is there is always a way to cheat, but the internet is allowing students an easy and effective way to cheat when completing their coursework.

What exactly are the authorities attempting to do to try and negate the potential for cheating whilst using the internet during coursework. First of all they are attempting to influence students at the grass roots by stating the importance of your own work and the fact that plagiarism and copying is blatantly wrong. This process will probably stop the masses from cheating but there are always a select few that will not adhere to these guidelines and cheat all the same. This is a problem that has to be tackled head on for coursework to remain valuable and provide a true reflection of a student’s ability.

There is a thought that technology can be used to combat the cheating that is going on in the classrooms but it is no quick fix. There is a very simple solution, you can type in a phrase used in the coursework into a search engine and if the phrase has been plagiarised sites will bring up the article that the phrase was taken from. This is a very simple way but is not very time effective and isn’t a viable way of stopping cheating, something more substantial has to be developed. A couple of education boards are combining to develop plagiarism detection software, to reduce the potential to use or re-use work produced by other people. As of yet development of this software is in its infancy and there is always the problem that it will not be effective as some students may be able to find ways round any software that will be implemented.

In a simple search on the internet i found a website that was willing to write your essays for you at $10 a page, this means that students can simply give this website their research topic and this website will effectively do the students work for a fee. This is quite troubling as there is no doubt that there are many other websites that will offer this service, and in relation to the new software it would not be able to detect any plagiarism as the work has been carried out and would not be plagiarised. This shows the variety of way that students can cheat they can plagarise or they can hire the services of websites to do the work for them, and this is very worrying.

Obviously there are problems associated with the internet as a research tool, due to the fact that enables students to cheat on their coursework a lot easier than before. To attempt to negate these factors a number of solutions are being debated about, what I believe is the most viable is to engrain into students the fact that plagiarism is wrong at young age and this would hopefully negate the factors of internet use for cheating. The one thing though that needs to be taken into account is the fact that the internet is an amazing tool and it can provide great help for students carrying out research but with every technology there are downsides and cheating is one of them.

Sony sued over controversial CD’s

2005-11-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been saying that the advancement of the internet and information technology has led to an invasion of people’s privacy; this though is generally not accepted by the majority. Though recently Sony have done something that is truly unacceptable and has caused a huge invasion to people privacy throughout the US and has led to lawsuits being brought against Sony by the states of Texas and California.

What occurred that caused this problem was the introduction that Sony made when selling some of its CD’s. They installed XCP (Extended Copy Protection) software on around 50 of their artist’s CD’s, and almost two million copies of these CD’s have been sold in the US. This software was introduced to attempt to restrict copying of CD’s and so protect the music on the CD’s from being used without permission and duplicated.

This seems fair enough but what occurred was that Sony used a Rookit, which is generally used by virus makers to hide their malicious code deep within the Windows operating system. So they used this rookit to conceal the software that was installed on peoples computers to stop them copying and duplicating certain CD’s. What this means is that Sony have installed software on to their customers computers without them even knowing about it and this is a complete invasion of privacy. This software is extremely difficult to remove from your computer and can result in you having to completely reformat your computers hard drive just to get rid of this offending piece of software.

This piece of software has been thought to be on 24 million CD’s on artists CD’s such as Celine Dion, Neil Diamond, Ricky Martin and Natasha Bedingfield. These may not be the most popular of recording artists but still their sales are anything but low and the fact that this software could have reached a potentially high amount of people. The point to take into account is that there are new technologies that can be taken advantage of to increase a company’s effectiveness. Though what companies should consider is the fact that they are unable to creep into people’s computers without authorisation and notification to the users or they will be in trouble, such as which Sony now faces. This whole situation is going to worry users more and more about future technological advancements that occur with Sony, and as they are a huge multinational corporation they should have known better.

Sony have backed down and have realised that they have made a mistake in applying this software to some of their CD’s and have allowed people who have the CD’s with XCP to swap them for CD’s without. Though this seems the truth when looking on their website I could find know information about this and it seems as though they are trying to hide this disaster from us.

Obviously the music industry is currently fighting a battle against users illegally sharing their music through the use of the internet and infringing on copyright law, more info can be found on mich's blog. But if must be taken into account that two wrongs do not make a right and Sony should have realised this before the implemented this new software on their CD's, I think it is despicable that Sony have done this and hopefully they will be brought to justice over this. Sony are now in even more trouble as their MediaMax copy protection has caused a number of other problems that is outlined in this article. After taking into account this new article i am even more shocked, a big multinational firm haveing so many problems is unacceptable. What Sony need to do is start from scratch with their software and make sure that is no longer harming to the users or else there will be more problems in the future.

US school swaps books for bytes

2005-11-22T02:03:00.000-08:00

A school in America has taken advantage of the technological advancements that are now available in the education sector by completely throwing out its paper based text books and is now relying completely on laptops and digital materials to teach its pupils. When I first heard of this I found it quite surprising that a school was willing to completely revamp its whole structure. As I have always used books and papers for my learning I honestly have no idea how this will actually work out though it’s interesting to see the way they think it will turn out and why they have implemented this decision.

Empire High School in Arizona, are attempting to provide all their students with laptops so that they can study effectively in and out of the classroom. Though they state that they are not anti books as they have still have a library and encourage reading, but they believe that laptops will provide the most effective learning tool. By using laptops for their learning it allows them to use the internet as an effective information tool, as instead of using examples from a set text they can utilise more relevant information from the internet. Obviously there are advantages to the implantation of this in the school system but there are serious concerns that can occur.

First of all the cost of this technology has to be taken into account, the school in question have estimated that it will cost roughly $800 per pupil to provide the laptops. They state that this isn’t great as is only about $200 more than the cost of text books, but this is still quite high especially for schools that have an established library and don’t have to spend as much on books. The cost as with everything in life will be the stalling factor for this programme to be fully implemented as in Britain they are struggling to keep the schools fit to teach in and so I don’t believe this programme should be a priority. Also books provide valuable and reliable information the same cannot be said for the internet, the information readily available is not of the best quality and the items that are of high quality will cost the school more money to obtain. This is a factor that they may not have taken into account when this was implemented and should really be considered.

Also the school has to put trust in their students that they will use the technology appropriately. As I remember when I was in school whenever you were given computer access we found ways to get around the systems so as to play games and basically use them inappropriately. I find it hard that students will be trustworthy with this technology I can imagine the students instead of studying will be playing games and downloading porn with their new toys. Another factor to take into account as this new technology will make it a lot easier for students to cheat in their course work, as outlined by another one of my blogs. Then again they may not and use the laptops as a valuable research tool, but only time will tell it will be interesting to look back at this school in a couple of years time.

This programme has still not be proven to produce better results from students and in my opinion being old fashioned I don’t believe it will. Due to the costs and the fact there is no evidence to its use I don’t believe that this programme will be implemented in Britain anytime soon even though there is pressure from a leading UK charity for this to be implemented by 2010. I could be wrong though and this could become the new age for the education system and could provide future students huge benefits that they will pass on to the economy in the future, but being the skeptic that I am this is unlikely to happen.

Banking Security

2005-11-16T03:09:00.000-08:00

With the increasing use of internet banking by customers and in turn the increasing breaches of security that are going on in the banking world many customers are worried about the safety of internet banking. There are many different ways that criminals can actually fraudulently obtain your bank and personal details and use them to their advantage whilst you are using internet banking. I will go on to explain a variety of different methods that criminals/hackers use the ways you can prevent this and recent developments that businesses have taken to attempt to increase the security of internet banking.

Phishing

Phishing is the name given to the practice of sending emails at random pretending to come from a genuine company operating on the Internet, in an attempt to trick customers of that company into disclosing information at a bogus website operated by fraudsters. These emails usually claim that it is necessary to "update" or "verify" your customer account information and they urge people to click on a link from the email which takes them to the bogus website. Any information entered on the bogus website will be captured by the criminals for their own fraudulent purposes. Obviously people should be aware of this method, it’s a very simple method but really effective for fraudsters to obtain you personal details.

Trojans

Hackers can use a Trojan which is a computer virus that can be easily installed on your computer without you even realising. This virus can install a keystroke logger, which capture the keystrokes you enter allowing fraudsters to know your passwords, also it can allow them to take screen shots of sites you visit allowing them to see your personal details. All this information is sent to the hackers via the internet and once they have these details your security is truly breached allowing them to access a lot of your personal information.

Trojans are normally installed by the hackers sending out emails with links to a website that installs the Trojan. The emails are not normally about internet banking but use a variety of excuses to get people to go to the malicious website. Once people are on the website and the Trojan is installed the fraudsters have access now to a lot of their personnel details which is quite scary. This can scheme can be negated by continually updating your software and updating your own security measures which will negate the potential problems of Trojans.

Money Mule

Once the Fraudster has your personal details they can have access to all your bank details and all your money. But they don’t put the money straight into their accounts as this would be easy to track. What they do is get an unsuspecting person to transfer the money into their account, they recruit these people through emails and adverts, and they then get the mules to wire the money to them. This action allows the fraudsters to receive the majority of the money, minus commission for the mules, without it being easily traced.

How to Prevent

Obviously seeing the lengths that fraudsters will go to, to obtain your bank details is really quite scary but what can you do to prevent such things from occurring. Many people believe you should protect your computer like you do your house making sure there are no weak spots and that nobody can enter it uninvited the processes to do this are as follows.

Use anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date on a regular basis.

Install and learn how to use a personal firewall.

Download the latest security updates (or patches) for your web browser and operating system.

By following these steps it makes it a lot harder for hackers to access your files and details and allows you to have a little bit more peace of mind when using online banking. But you have to remember to continually update as you know that the hackers will be updating their processes to obtain your details.

What are Businesses Doing?

Currently major banks are developing a new security device that they are hoping will be launched by the end of the year. This new security measure will take the form of a small device in which you insert a chip and PIN card. After the four-digit PIN is entered, a numeric, one-time-only password is generated according to an algorithm and displayed on the screen of the device. This password is then used to authenticate the users so that they may then access online or telephone banking. This then will negate the effects of many fraudsters’ processes as the password is continually changing and means security will be a lot tighter.

This new process is still being tested but it has been endorsed by all the major UK banks and credit card firms. Obviously it has its draw backs due to cost and added inconvenience for customers but if it enhances security for customers then it must be a good thing. Hopefully the business world will not stop at this though and continue to develop new security measures so that eventually people will be safe from fraudsters when using the internet.

Even though there are constant reassurances and new security technologies being developed i am still very scared of what can potentially happen to my personal details when i am on the internet. The remedy that i have found is to remain constantly vigilant and look out for potential problems so the nothing like this happens to me.

XBRL - Implications to Businesses

2005-11-08T05:31:00.000-08:00

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a language that applies to the electronic communication of business and financial data . This new language is based on XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language), and it will translate financial reports into a harmonized language that users can more easily access, query and analyze. For these reasons it is easy to see that the application of XBRL will have major implications to the accounting profession.

The best way to see what the exact implications of this device will be is to look at the advantages and disadvantages of its application to the accounting profession. From this it should show just how advantageous this new language is for accounting firms and for any firm in the business world.

Lots of firms are now implementing this new language to their systems but why? There are many reasons but the main one is that by applying this new simplified and standardised technology companies will now be able to produce financial data quickly and in various different formats. The main advantages that XBRL bring to government entities are listed in the following journal XBRL - Implications for the Accounting Industry. From these advantages it is clear to see the benefits that government entities will gain from the application of this new language in the process of producing financial data and these advantages will also hold true for private companies and accounting firms that wish to adopt this language.

The main disadvantage of the use of XBRL comes hand in hand with one of the main advantages. The fact that there is increased availability and access to financial information there are a variety of new security concerns that have to be taken into account. To take account of these firms would have to apply security measures to prevent unauthorised access to the information and also to maintain its reliability and validity. This would cost firms a lot of money and could negate that benefits that arise from its use, but the costs shouldn’t be too great.

Another disadvantage is that for some firms the start up cost for implementing XBRL will be very large. These substantial costs will mainly occur with smaller companies that do not have the technology in place or a web presence, do apply XBRL to your company you have to have a web presence and specific hardware and software. This means that costs that some firms would face in the application of XBRL will be greater than the benefits that would arise from its use.

Something else that may be taken into account is the fact that with its application many firms are saving a lot of time as people don’t have to repeatedly type in the financial figures. This could maybe result in job reductions as firms no longer need as much people to type in the financial information, this could result in social costs of the loss of workers. This factor should always be taken into account when implementing a new technology, but the savings again from the use of this new language will outweigh the social costs that may occur.

Though there are disadvantages to the use of XBRL these should not deter companies from its use, as the advantages are so great that the disadvantages do not have a great effect. This new language will provide companies with a valuable tool that will save time and increase their production of financial data that will benefit all users of the accounts by providing reliable, relevant and useful information.

Microsoft aims to trounce Google

2005-11-05T05:11:00.000-08:00

It seems that in recent years Microsoft has been under increasing pressure and competition from its rivals that are hoping to knock them of their pedestal. Google is probably the biggest competitor that Microsoft have, and you would think that they have been feeling under threat. But Bill ‘billionaire’ Gates states that “people are underestimating what Microsoft is doing with search technology ” and that Microsoft are doing remarkable things with software and they have the ambition to bigger than Google in search. This is quite a challenging remark from Mr. Gates as Goggles search engine is very effective and is continually being updated with innovative technology advancements, which isn’t something that I would normally have labeled Microsoft as doing.

This is an example of the exact benefits that can be received from competition in this market, that for so long has not been the case. Microsoft have been unopposed as the biggest software company but now with competition from Google in search and Apple in digital music, they realise that there is a need to develop software to compete. These potential advancements that Microsoft are planning can only be a good thing for everyone involved as it allows consumers and businesses more choice over their software. With more competition within a market the more likely firms are going to invest more in new technologies and innovation so that they can produce superior products and services than their competitors. This hopefully will led to Microsoft doing something that has not been seen before and revolutionise the business world, though they will have their work cut out for them with their competitors hoping to achieve the same goal.

Bill gates states that there are continual advancements that are being made and the market will always being going forward and Microsoft plan to use this new software to increase their market share in Search, Digital Music, Mobile Phones and Gaming. The one thing though is that Mr. Gates never actually stated what these new advancements he had where and when he would be releasing them, this could make you question whether he is just saying it to scare his competitors. More than likely though he is keeping everything under wraps due to privacy issues, it will be very interesting to see what he has under his sleeve to attempt to gain a greater market share in areas that they have lost.

Microsoft have been the biggest software firm that has ever existed and to stay this way they have to justify it. Hopefully they can do this with increased technology advancements that can benefit individuals as well as businesses, but only time will tell whether their advancements are enough for them to trounce Google. In my personal opinion I cannot see this happening people may have thought that Google were only a blip but it seems as though they are here to stay and with the innovative software they provide I embrace them with open arms.

The Google Search Appliance

2005-11-01T01:48:00.000-08:00

My knowledge of Google has always been limited, I had thought that they were an internet search engine and that is all, but after looking closely at their website I now have realised that they offer a lot more than that. I discovered that they offer a solution for businesses called the Google Search Appliance. This appliance does basically what their search engine does on the internet but instead of searching the web for results, it searches the company’s files to gain its results. This means firms that have huge amounts of documentation and files on line can access these files a lot easier using this new application.

“The Google Search Appliance makes the sea of lost data on your web servers, file systems and relational databases instantly available with one mouse click”

It does this by applying a software and hardware application to a firm that can index up to 15 million documents, with 220 different file types, 28 different languages and many more variable factors. This means that firms will be able to index nearly every possible file that they could possibly have. Firms that have been having trouble accessing files, this will come as a great relive as this technology allows firms to actively obtain all information that they have and means that employees will no longer have to sift through hundreds of file on a database they will just have to use a simple and easy to use search engine.

But is this new application actually something that should be taken on by firms or is it just another piece of software that will get outdated. When looking at from the point of view of a multinational firm I see that this appliance is very useful and relevant. As a firm that has many offices around the world, will have lots of information spread around each office that may be hard to access and will also be in different formats. For example an office in New York may find it hard to access information in Glasgow, even though it is the same company the information they can access may be different dependant on the office you are in. This is what the Google Search Appliance attempts to resolve, by indexing all companies files this allows firms employees to access all information be it in their local office are offices abroad. So now the amount of information available with this new appliance has increased in quantity and quality allowing employees more information can only increase their knowledge and therefore their effectiveness at work. This was highlighter in the case study regarding The World Bank and showed just how effective this appliance is in a multinational business.

This new appliance allows firms to save a lot of time and effort in their business dealings and also provides the organisation with a much broader knowledge base. All of these factors show exactly why this software is proving to be popular with businesses around the world, Google have effectively provided something that the business world has been screaming for, and now I understand how Google are as strong a company as they are. As with business solutions as well as there internet solutions Google have a product range that many software firms will be envious off, and should provide them with a platform on which they can grow even bigger.

Offshoring

2005-10-25T10:35:00.000-07:00

The practice of offshoring I never really thought would affect me in my search for a job when I graduate; I thought that offshoring would be the practice of moving low skill jobs abroad to developing countries to take advantage of lower wages. But after reading this article I realised that the threat of offshoring is closer to home than I first expected.

This article showed that there is a huge threat that a lot of finance industry jobs will be moved to offices in India and other developing countries to take advantage of their cheap labour compared to that of Britain. Such is the threat of this practice that Amicus have called for independent commission to attempt to produce a strategy to deal with the possibility of losing over 200,000 finance sector jobs over the next five years.

This huge figure is very concerning for me, as I will soon be entering the job market and not only will I have to compete with fellow graduates but also with companies outsourcing the jobs abroad. This whole business practice is very reminisant of big firms in the 1990’s producing their goods in developing countries to again take advantage of their cheap labour and lax labour laws. In that instance the factory workers were forced to work in very poor conditions, for very little pay over many hours. This did mean the businesses got to produce their products for a very cheap price but the labour practices that were implemented were so poor, that when the general public found out there was huge uproar and this tarnished the firms that implemented this practice. It is very unlikely that the new offices that open up will be subject to those sort of conditions but it is well known that the starting up of unions in the workforce has been prevented by these firms and this has led to criticism on the actual conditions of this new workforce.

Obviously I am affected by this practice as jobs that I may have been suited for are now being taken away from me by this process. However another aspect of this new business situation that should be noted is the actual quality of work that financial companies will receive from offloading their jobs to developing countries. At the moment the companies have highly skilled workers with in depth experience of their jobs and provide the financial firms with high quality work that should not be taken for granted. The question you have to ask is if the firms will now generate the same quality work from their new sources abroad? Only time will tell but in my opinion unless proper investment is made in these countries, which is quite unlikely, these new offices will not be producing the same quality work as was previously supplied, and this could generate greater costs than they would had saved in reduced wages. I still don’t understand why businesses constantly look at these sub standard options when they currently have a reliable and highly skilled workforce in the UK, but as with any business anything that cuts costs is a good thing in their eye.

note - this article was taken from nexis lexis and is password protected. it originally came from the Morning Star on the 24th of may 2004, by Hugh Scullion, and the title was offshoring