ITIL: Is it Really Necessary?

The adage “practice promotes perfection” rings true in almost all curricular and extracurricular activities. Be it from the basketball court to the court room, a well prepared individual will most definitely succeed against his adversary. Thus, best practices in an industry are a vital component of a company’s success.  In the financial and accounting services world, Arthur Andersen Auditing firm failed to comply with the mandatory auditing standards which led to the Enron scandal which in turn piloted the formulation of Corporate Governance that highlighted transparency and ethics to a corporation’s stakeholders. Another example of this application would be the Code of Professional Responsibility which emphasizes the various ethical conduct and duties a lawyer must follow in order to promote an effective and efficient defense of his client and of the legal profession.

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library or notably known as ITIL is a species of this assemblage of best practices. Borne out of necessity, ITIL has been constantly improved and refined in order to portray the finest IT global practices to help a company achieve its goals. One of the companies that have promoted ITIL is Disney, a corporate giant with over 1000 IT employees, 800 applications, and 1800 servers worldwide. Customer relations is Disney’s core value, therefore, it must be prioritized and safeguarded. As a consequence, Disney’s Theme Parks and Resorts VP Glen Taylor championed ITIL to improve the level of service available to its patrons resulting to the perfect experience for guests.

I resoundingly agree with Taylor’s move because this would not only increase customer patronage and company profits but also improve Disney’s image as a provider of “a good, clean, great and fun experience for the family”. With enough financial resources, a company should adopt and implement ITIL in the soonest possible time since it will greatly improve its overall performance. Finally, Taylor hints that the ITIL adopter must not underestimated the communication needed since it is critical to success; leverage the tools and documents that already exist; and be as practical as possible. If this is the bandwagon, why not jump in?

Facebook Posting: Is It Mightier than the Sword?

National revolutions, both bloody and peaceful ones, have usually been triggered by somewhat trivial gestures such as the tearing of “cedulas” by the Katipuneros in Balintawak and the dumping of £10,000 worth of tea, infamously known as the Boston Tea Party, from the holds of the ships of the British East India Party to the harbour by American patriots. In 2011, Social networking has elicited a firestorm of protests in Egypt caused by one of Google’s executives who paid dearly for his rebellious wall posts. If the pen is mightier than the sword, then tweeting and the like will definitely blow the nuclear bomb out of the water as seen in the Cairo situation.

Technology has indeed shaped the way we live our lives as well as integrated itself on how politics has been played. During the 2010 Presidential Elections, Facebook has played a vital role in disseminating a candidate’s platform to the populace and these aspirants have reaped the fruits of this cheap yet useful electoral campaign strategy. However, with these advantages come its drawbacks.  Bloggers have almost unbridled access to constantly lambast the candidates with profanities that would make Hitler roll over his grave. This unrestricted freedom of speech has dilatory and destructive effects not only to its recipients but also to the character of its authors. Courtesy and respect must not be sacrificed because of this statutory right. Nonetheless, the truth must always be of primary importance in dispersing this information thru technology.

In Wael Ghonim’s case, I can safely surmise that his facebook posts have not crossed that line and have actually been an exercise of one’s political opinion. His use of technology is a clear example of how powerful the internet is, in this scenario, it was able to topple Egypt’s leader. We must, nevertheless, use this technology with great care and caution so that it would not cross the line of indecency and insurrection.

Philippine E-Commerce: A Modern Urban Legend or Not?

Films have always played a vital role in developing the audience’s ingenuity and imagination. The first of every somewhat unthinkable and unattainable dream was originally conceptualized, captured and seen thru the magic of a Bolex 16mm camera lens namely: the first interplanetary expedition, the pioneering electrical driven vehicles and the affable artificial intelligence and life forms to name a few. Directors Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg were visionaries of the futuristic interpretation of a technologically advanced Utopia seen in “Back to the Future” and “Minority Report”, respectively. Their movies foretell Technology as a precursor of a bright or dark future. Currently, Electronic Commerce is a manifestation of this sort of technology. It just makes life that bloody easy for us homo sapiens.

Experts define this phenomenon as any net business activity transforming internal and external relationships creating value and exploit market opportunities driven by new rules of the connected economy. In a nutshell, E-commerce is just the buying and selling of products and services by businesses and consumers over the internet. This type of business pursuit has exploded in probably almost any corner in the world, from Angola to Zambia; from here to Timbuktu.

In our beloved country, E-commerce has been a quasi frontrunner medium for most commercial transactions not only because it seems hip but primarily for its convenience and accessibility. “It’s the way of the future!” as the eccentric Howard Hughes repeatedly uttered in Aviator. I firmly believe that the pros of using E-commerce outweigh its cons. According to Intel Corporation, the advantages of E-Commerce include better management information, better integration of suppliers and vendors, better channel partnership, lower transaction costs, better market understanding, and expanded geographical coverage.

As proof of its prevalence, business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) websites have been sprouting like untamed mushrooms providing all sorts of products and services from online banking and other financial services to shopping and cinema reservations. With the advent of social networks specifically the extremely popular and addictive facebook, online transactions have spread like wild fire. Therefore, the pertinent question is “Must we control it?”

A resounding yes should be the response because the World Wide Web, as its name accentuates, can be accessed by the World through its inhabitants. Public trust and confidence is therefore imbued in that electronic mechanism. Hence this trust must be safely guarded from fraud and the like to preserve the Public’s patronage. The Government must then strengthen and improve its current policies and laws particularly Republic Act 8792 or the E-Commerce Act to prevent the cited anomalies from tainting the activity’s image to its patrons as well as inhibiting its growth in the country.

Pinoy IT Manager

In this day and age, Information Technology plays a pivotal role in the success of a company in any industry. Consequently, the better the system, the greater a firm’s success rate. Due to the fast pace of technological changes, it is inevitable that costs to upgrade a firm’s present system would also increase. With this price escalation, training would be needed on a regular basis since there is a speedy modification of systems in the institution. This might spell trouble to a company with a tight or limited budget or at its inception stage.

In Professor Ricson Que’s article “ Pinoy IT Manager”, it is apparent that the prestigious school increased its IT requirements without a corresponding enlargement of its budget. Accordingly, Mr. Emerson Siscar has got his hands tied because of the rising attrition rate of the employees in light of the present budget cut or restraint. So how will Mr. Siscar solve this dilemma using IT strategy?

Using a process similar to PDCA of Deming or Shewhart, the first step that Mr. Siscar should do is to map out the big picture by identifying the present IT infrastructure and desired future state of the educational institution. In this case, the division is responsible for providing technical support to both offices and computer laboratories and they are required to provide enterprise systems aside from computer units for the various offices.

Second step is to decide how to get from here to there which is to define the best sequence of interim IT destinations. Third move is to act effectively to manage risk by reaching successive interim destinations every 6 to 9 months. Lastly, Mr. Siscar should evaluate changes thru assessing ways to use new capabilities to seize opportunity and counter threat.

If Mr. Siscar follows this process,  the title of a successful Pinoy IT Manager is his for the taking.