Module 4

The job interview I researched was for a tow truck dispatcher, what dos being a dispatcher have to do with computers you might be wondering. Well another company I have learned that has gone flat is AAA.they happen to be the major contract of a local towing company, they have taken a hands on face to face line of work and flattened it.  You no longer call 411 ask for a local tow company,then hand your tow truck driver your insurance card or credit card. AAA came to the owners of the local tow company and introduced a technical way of doing business. They have installed gps units in all of the tow trucks, through this system not only can the dispatcher monitor the tow trucks that are on duty, through a large screen tv screen that takes up a wall in the office. AAA’s operators can also pull up and track the trucks. this allowed AAA to outsource all of their operator needs to their office in California. Now when you call for AAA, and request assistance anywhere in the united states your talking with a call center employee in california, they then pull up the location of the local tow trucks and a sign the call to the gps unit that is located in the closest truck, they can speak directly to the drive through this system. This allows everyone to track the actual miles of the call, the location and what equipment is required. If being a dispatcher is something of interest now, when you walk in to a impound yard office it is a room full of computer screens, one shows a map of the area and blinking trucks. Several have live camera feeds of the yards the other are the computers that are being used to input the ticket information once the drivers have completed a call, they may be entering in the information in to AAA’s main billing system, or the DMV information if they have removed a car or completed any number of police requested calls e.g. DUI. It is no longer a person to person position, it is now a person to person via computer. I really liked seeing that all of the drivers have smart phones they all upon arrival to a call walk around and video the site, then send it back to the dispatch they store it with the calls information, if there is a question they can simply click it up and review, I thought the was very 3.0.

Outsourcing is the delegation of a task consisting of information to another company that will do the task more efficiently and at the lowest price. The information is processed then sent back to your company. This allows your company to free up the resources and gives a competitive edge. Off shoring is moving your whole company to place that offers the lowest bottom line. Operating your company in a country that has lower wages,tax advantages. allows many companies to stay profitable in today's market. A supply chain is the process that's company has to go through to get a product from point of manufacturing to point of purchase. Walmart took a disadvantage and exploded it. Figuring out that they were losing time and money by having to deal with a brokers, instead of dealing with the  Manufacture directly,lead them down the path of opening a distribution center of there own, this gave them the opportunity to learn what an important key to running a efficient and competitive company. They also took the disadvantage of their location, turning to modern technology to give them the flattening edge. Has put them steps ahead of their competitors. Now they are the standard to strive for. Google is a total equalizer. You no longer have to go out and pitch your product or ideas. You can just go online post it and through the power of the Google search engine, you can be made a super star or a producer of a must have product. This been proven by the new generation of the blogging mom, you can blog and share your daily adventures while bragging about your latest craft or do it yourself project. By adding a link to your etsy store or through PayPal sell them one of their own. Having a link to the product you used for the do it yourself project, gives them a kick back and they are helping support their families from home.   It allows access to resources of the world. By simply doing a google search you can locate customers in all the corners of our flat world.

Module Two

Module Two:

Work flow software, is the protocols that allows you to work with any program you choose seamlessly.  Say that I am a bookie; I need to have a program showing me the up to the minute results, virus the bets.  The up coming events and odds, I also want to see my PayPal activity. To be efficient, I would need to have interoperable work flow software to handle all aspects of my company.

Open Source or Community developed software, are patches or programs that are built on someone else’s source code, that was given a copy right that says you may improve upon just give credit to the original developer of the source code. This is important because it takes something that is good and exploits every once of potential out of it. This is being done from all faucets and industries imaginable. It allows this code to be changed over and over again to make it what ever the programmer needs it to be. While always giving credit back to the original creator, in doing this it allows the creator the option of offering tech support on the programs at a fee. This is important because it allows people to work with their own ingenuity to solve their own problems; this is usually done quicker and more efficiently on their own then by someone else. Giving credit to the original creator makes for a continue supply of new more efficient programs, and a virtual never ending supply of support options, that translates in to cash flow.

Outsourcing, by definition is the process of contracting a business function to someone else. This translates out to, finding the most cost effective, efficient way to run the ins and outs of a business. Once you have, sending your work to be done there.

It is a running joke at my house that I need a clone; the concept of outsourcing may be the solution that I have been looking for. All I need to do is sit down and make a list of jobs, that I need done every day, e.g. laundry, car pool, home work, cleaning of the boys bathrooms. Conduct a search for the most cost effective, efficient person to do these jobs for me and outsource them.  

Outsourcing is important because it allows a business owner that is located any where in the world to look every where in the world for the bottom line, cost effective solution to their needs.

Module One:

Module One:

 Globalization 1.0 was the opening trade between the old world and the new world by Christopher Columbus from 1492-1800, this was the globalization of countries. From this action sprang the idea that if there was a market for something on one side of the world, and a natural supply on the other side of the world you could make a profit by shipping them back and forth. I believe this was where the phrase “One mans trash is another mans treasure.” started from.

Generation 2.0 was the globalization of companies. This can be described as the era of muscle power, horse power, and wind power. Your success was made by the strength of your back and the speed of your feet. The fall in the cost of shipping and the cost of communications are the defining keys of this generation. This was where the ideas of  great leaders were brought to life. The rail road for example, you take the ideas of  great people the hard work and determination of thousands, gave us the another step toward a flatter country and a globalized company.

Globalization 3.0 is the power of individuals to collaborate, create and compete globally. With the new access of digital information, you are only limited by yourself. I think that a great example of this is ETSY, you can shop for anything you can imagine and so much more made and sold by individuals all over the world. I believe that we are just at the beginning of the great change too, I can only imagine what the world of business, information and education will be for my grandchildren, I have already seen the change from when I was in school to now that my children are in school. I had to look up information from the encyclopedia Britannica; my children have to choose to read through many different sources of information. They can also Google earth a destination and view it while sitting at the kitchen table.  

The falling of the Berlin wall meant to Friedman, that we all had a new view of our world as a whole. There were no walls, impeding one part of the world with another. It was the mixing of all of the previous generations, you can now have companies competing for a customer from any land around the world, and you can be an individual selling a product to anyone around the world from any where around the world, there is no need to go through the big corporations any longer.

Netscape was the vehicle that allowed everyone’s ideas to be shared effortlessly. Effortlessly being the key world, now my 5 year old can got my I pad and Google princess’s and have a version of princess everything you can ever imagine, in a mater of seconds.

We can go to web M.D.  Search the symptoms of what ever might be bothering you and get back a list of possibilities. I remember when we got our first computer in 93, you would know there was a way of getting information but not always know how today, you just enter the word or a description of the an idea and you are giving a  plethora of information.