Smart Grids for e-mobility

I touched upon smart grids and privacy laws on one of the discussion questions and I thought I would go even deeper into this IT concept.  This is a new idea that I have just heard of so I wanted to learn more about the subject.  As we being to step into an era with fewer resources and increasing power demand we must learn and understand where and how much energy is need at any specific time.  Information systems can help improve the way we use electricity today.  

As gas prices grow there is more pressure on car makers today to create more fuel efficient cars.  There have even been a few electric cars created that only require to be charged every now and then.  If this idea were ever to take off on a larger scale there would be a need to create a smart grid for this.  Recently a term has been coined call vehicle-to-grid (V2G) which is described as electric cars being plugged into a power grid which will communicate with power companies and they will be able to better chart demands.  The concept works by having the cars batteries feed power back into in the system at peak times and then in down time to recharge.  This way the battery always have a continuous state of power and are not being overloaded.  Since cars are normally parked 95% of the time the power levels will always be consistently monitored. 

The benefits to this type of project have been criticized.  In order for this to be successful this has to happen on large scale.  There also needs to be an increased number of these electric and hybrid cars created.  We are just starting to see additional emergence of these types of cars hit the market but so far no enough has been done on the part of the utility companies because this types of cars only make up a minority portion.  In the years to com I think you will the systems and the technology improve as well as the number of electric cars grow due to the rising cost of gas.  It will be interesting to see if this concept is implemented in the upcoming years. 

Why executives know anything about IT?

Increasing costs and investments in the IT world will force managers to have an even wider understanding of IT.  When you look at some companies today you beginning to see more and more large highly profitable companies like Google and Amazon who are predominantly IT based companies.  With companies becoming more dependent on information systems there is a real need to management to understand these technologies.  I believe there will always be a need for IT based managers maybe not CIO but some type of manager who can help implement large systems.  More often you are also seeing large companies outsource this kind service however that does not mean your management should have no knowledge on the subject.  Throughout our course we learned that whenever trying to implement some type of product you needed to know your exact business objectives.  Since this service is being outsourced who best to determine the product and process than your manager. 

As IT begins to grow there is no doubt that it will have a bigger area in management through the coming years.  I have begun to see this in all the courses that I have been taking in at a job.  IT give you the efficiency and knowledge to do your job even better and the faster that companies being to change their practices the higher the profits will rise.  Executives today are beginning to realize that they need this knowledge which is why I think you see so many CIO being hired.  In the coming years it will be interesting to see if this position still exists because the CEO are going to start becoming more and more knowledgeable on the subject.  I know if some days my peers were to rise to that level there would be little reason for a CIO.

Cloud Computing

Imagine being able to access your information from any local device in the world.  Well this would be an example of cloud computing.  The great part about it is having all you data out there for you and accessible at anytime and from any smart device.  It is believed that many individuals have been using this type technology already.  Take for instance social networking on the internet.  These types of website are based on one set of IT infrastructure much the cloud computing concept.  Big investments are now being poured into this type of research to get a better model for this concept.

It is believed that cloud computing is set up to be incorporated into enterprise systems.  For larger companies this change will occur slowly but for individuals whom have been leading the charge can make the switch fair easily.  Larger companies will struggle with this because of the enormous amount of data and testing that will go into.  In the years to come we can most likely expect the government to take a bigger role by implement some type of quality certifications for companies for the better of business. 

Enterprise Systems

Pros

IT technology becoming a commodity but how you use that technology can give your company the edge.  More often than not you’re finding companies not completely utilizing these systems.  An enterprise system can help a company become extremely versatile and efficient.  The concept is to create one master system spans throughout a company’s departments.  Departments will no longer operate as an island but work and unison.  Working in unison will then foster a high amount of collaboration amount the companies departments.  Knowledge Management and business intelligence systems will be easy to implement because all the data is routed through one system.  This makes for a very fluid and efficient IT infrastructure.   

Cons

Enterprise systems require a large investment and maintenance so selecting the correct type of system can be a challenge.  In fact, this issue alone is why companies are hesitant to invest so much money in this.  The concept of enterprise systems has been around for at least a couple decades and in this consistently change economic and IT climates it is tough to hang your hat on a system that you may be using for many years to com.  Another possible hump to get over is the amount of effort it takes to implement one of these types of systems.  People from across the organization have to come together to agree on certain customizations and be flexible if that concept cannot be adopted.  Above all humans normal do not like change and this is a change that would affect the whole company.  

Conclusion

For large companies with tens of thousands of employees I believe the enterprise system is a way to keep the company acting in unison and efficient.  However with cloud computing taking off it is hard to judge whether this concept is a thing of the past.  With the amount of data that is being produce and the need to keep that for analytical data I believe with the help of knowledge management and business intelligence systems enterprise system will continue to exist and be a smart ROI. 

Business Intelligence

Business intelligence tools are utilized by companies to compile data to analyzing. With what seems
endless amount of growing data in businesses today systems are simply needs to simply the data into
the fields that are required. For instance one of you suppliers is coming into you location and you’re
looking for historical spend with this company. With business intelligence you can obtain this data with
just a few key strokes. These types of systems help management make better more timely decisions.
Many small companies are beginning to adopt these practices because these types of systems are
becoming more cost effective and in turn have increase the ROI. As that increase this type of system is
being more and more widely used. Anything from calculating sales to high analytical data can be crunch
using these types of systems. If a company has some type of enterprise model in place you can possible
utilize suppliers and/or customers that may be based in a different region of the work whom another
site has already done business with. I think of BI as an easy tool to regurgitate only the information you
are looking for in the simplest form.

Hottest BI Trends

I was able to dig up an article on some of the hottest BI trends. Many of which I already touched upon
on my previous blogs like mobility, social analytics and BI on cloud type systems. From a mobility
sense it would be huge efficiency if managers were able to access this data from their laptops or even
mobile devices from anywhere in the world. I spoke about how smart grids are being support by
utility companies and that social data will most likely be crunched by some type of BI system. If all of
your data is moving onto cloud computing you must ensure that efficient BI is created to collect this
information back at any time. To read more on these trends please see the link below. Great article!

http://searchbusinessintelligence.techtarget.in/feature/6-predictions-for-BI-in-2011

Cyber Terrorism

Cyber Terrorist Classifications:  After reading a few different articles on cyber terrorism I have defined three different types.  There are those who start virus and normally this is just because they are looking for some type of challenge and like to create chaos.  Then there are those who purposefully attack individuals and I refer to those as common cyber criminal activity.  These hackers are either looking to make money or show out their newly acquired skills.  Finally there are hackers who purposely and professionally attack corporations and government organizations.  This is normally done for money or a newly coined term called hacktivism.  Hacktivism is when a hacker attacks a specific target trying to justify criminal activity for a certain cause.  Hackers today are trying to win over more and more followers.  Some have even said they are being to recruit great scientific mind right out of college.  When an actual hackivism attach occurs it often has several hackers who are involved in the process.    

Many people today think that companies as well as governments do not have adequate resources to defend against hackers.  Often companies take a more reactive stance than a proactive stance.  One issue the US government is trying to do is educate those companies and individuals on cyber terrorism.  One article stated the following great measures you can take to defend against cyber terrorism.

1. Have a plan – If you’re attacked have steps you can take or a business continuity plan.  
2. Back up information – Have some type of system that backups your system critical data this way if you’re attacked your company can quickly resume their processes. 
3. Authenticate Network Users – Everyone should have their own account and have a badge which is not impossible for a hacker to get by but it acts as a simply deterrent.  
4.  Reporting Problems in the Workplace – An IT team should be trained to find issues within the system and act upon employees concerns. 
5.  Reducing Vulnerability – Whether it be benchmarking, consulting or even hiring a hacker it is important for these to be identified before a real hacker attacks the system. 
6.  Everyone should know what to do – In the event of an attack employees should know what to do and who to go to.

The Google Take Over

After reading this article on Google getting into antivirus software, I couldn’t think in what online facet they were not trying to be competitive in.  According to Google’s official blog they will be able to scan your computer for malware by simply going to their site.  Google hopes to warn users to update their antivirus software to remove the infections.   This whole issue was spawned from China hackers targeting US officials Gmail accounts. 

As we grow more and more reliant on the internet and tools used off it the cyber security will being to start growing into its own industry.  Like Sony, many large companies today are struggling to keep their data secure as well.  It will be interesting to see what companies, like Google, are able to forge in the upcoming years to insure data security throughout the countries and corporations.