CHAPTER 15 AND 19 ( LEARNING OUTCOMES )

CHAPTER 15 and 19 ( Learning Outcomes )

CREATING COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP

15.1 Identify the different ways in which companies collaborate using technology.

Ø  Companies must be able to collaborate. Without collaboration companies simply would have a very difficult time operating. Companies collaborate in a number of ways including document exchange, shared whiteboards, discussion forums, and email.

15.2  Compare the different categories of collaboration technologies.
          Collaboration technologies fall into one of two categories:

1. Unstructured collaboration (sometimes referred to as information collaboration) includes document ex¬change, shared whiteboards, discussion forums, and email.
2. Structured collaboration (or process collaboration) involves shared participation in business processes such as workflow in which knowledge is hardcoded as rules.

15.3 Define the fundamental concepts of a knowledge management system.

Ø  Knowledge management involves capturing, classifying, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing information assets in a way that provides context for effective decisions and actions.

15.4 Provide an example of a content management system along with its business purpose.

Ø  A content management system (CMS) provides tools to manage the creation, storage, editing, and publication of information in a collaborative environment. The CMS marketplace is complex, incorporating document management, collaboration and versioning tools, digital asset management, and web content management. One example is www.vignette.com.

15.5 Evaluate the advantages of using a workflow management system.

Ø  Many workflow management systems allow the opportunity to measure and analyze the execution of a process. Workflow systems integrate with other organizational systems, such as document management systems and database management systems.

15.6 Explain how Groupware can benefit a business.

Ø  Groupware is software that supports team interaction and dynamics including calendaring, scheduling, and videoconferencing. Organizations can use this technology to communicate, cooperate, coordinate, solve problems, compete, or negotiate

OUTSOURCING IN THE 21^st Century

19.1 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of insourcing, outsourcing, and offshore outsourcing.

Outsourcing  is an arrangement by which one organization provides a service or services for another organization that chooses not to perform them in house. While, Insourcing is a common approach using the professional expertise within an organization to develop and maintain the organization’s information technology systems. Next, offshore outsourcing is use organization from developing countries to write code and develop systems. In offshore outsourcing the country is geographically far away.

The advantages of outsourcing are :-

·         Swiftness and Expertise: Most of the times tasks are outsourced to vendors who specialize in their field. The outsourced vendors also have specific equipment and technical expertise, most of the times better than the ones at the outsourcing organization. Effectively the tasks can be completed faster and with better quality output

·         Concentrating on core process rather than the supporting ones: Outsourcing the supporting processes gives the organization more time to strengthen their core business process.

·         Risk-sharing: one of the most crucial factors determining the outcome of a campaign is risk-analysis. Outsourcing certain components of your business process helps the organization to shift certain responsibilities to the outsourced vendor. Since the outsourced vendor is a specialist, they plan your risk-mitigating factors better.

·         Reduced Operational and Recruitment costs: Outsourcing eludes the need to hire individuals in-house; hence recruitment and operational costs can be minimized to a great extent. This is one of the prime advantages of offshore outsourcing.

The disadvantages of outsourcing are :-

·         Risk of exposing confidential data: When an organization outsources HR, Payroll and Recruitment services, it involves a risk if exposing confidential company information to a third-party.

·         Synchronizing the deliverables: In case you do not choose a right partner for outsourcing, some of the common problem areas include stretched delivery time frames, sub-standard quality output and inappropriate categorization of responsibilities. At times it is easier to regulate these factors inside an organization rather than with an outsourced partner.

·         Hidden costs: Although outsourcing most of the times is cost-effective at times the hidden costs involved in signing a contract while signing a contract across international boundaries may pose a serious threat.

·         Lack of customer focus: An outsourced vendor may be catering to the expertise-needs of multiple organizations at a time. In such situations vendors may lack complete focus on your organization’s tasks.

Next is insourcing. The advantages of insourcing are :-

o   Research is done by employees who have a deeper understanding and knowledge of your company.

o   Researchers may have relationships with decision makers that promote better communication towards accomplishing the research agendas.

o   Higher degree of quality control.

o   Insourcing gives a company a high degree of control over its research.

o   Insourcing may lower research costs, but only if a company enjoys the business volume  necessary to achieve economies of scale.

o   A company has the ability to oversee the entire research process.

The disadvantages of insourcing are :-

·         Potentially, a company may incur higher research costs due to incompetence and lack of resources.

·         In-house researchers have less focus than market intelligence professionals.

·         Insourcing research reduces strategic flexibility.

·         The high investment required for insourcing research may outweigh its benefits due to economies of scale.

·         Potential professional research consultants may offer superior expertise and services.

·         In-house researchers may lack the experience and knowledge of research consultants.

Last is offshore outsourcing. The advantages of offshore outsourcing are :-

·         Lower cost of labour: When the product is being made in some place were the labour cost is cheaper than the country of companies existence, it really help company to save money by employing cheap labour and even more labour can be hired.

·         High performance: When labour is cheaper it will directly help company in performance by employing or my making labour work in various shifts and work can be done 24x7 and that will give the company high performance.

·         Proper use of time zone: Companies can make proper use of time zone difference. For example as cited in Needle (2010), many USA companies use the service of Indian software engineers when their computer systems are not being used.

             The disadvantages of offshore outsourcing are :-

·         Quality of product or service: When the product is produced by some other company in some other place it might not be necessary that they might give the same kind of service to your product or the quality of product might not be the same as the one you are expecting the quality to be.

·         Communication gap: When two different companies of two different origin works on the product, which might arise a problem were communicating to each other is a problem and that create a communication gap.

·         Threat to security: When outsourcing services such as taxation and payroll, the service provider will be able to see company’s important data and this might create threat to security of data.

19.2 Describe why outsourcing is a critical business decision.

Ø  Outsourcing can give the right combination of people, processes, and technology to operate efficiently and effectively in the global marketplace without burdening time and budget.