The pace of change seems to increase relentlessly, especially changes involving information technology. Using your crystal ball, identify and discuss

Technology has come a very long way and it never stopped changing. From the very first computer man has ever built, up to the latest technologies man has never dreamed would ever be built. The world has never been similar with technology around. Change is constant because from time to time, new discoveries and trends are coming out and replaces the old ones. Every year, technological advancements are made and greatly facilitated to make us live with ease. Most of the time people find themselves trying not to get left behind and have latest version and models of laptops and other high technology equipments which become obsolete in the next few months due to fast innovations and upgrades.

School is embracing this technology which performs a wide variety of activities.From class scheduling to homework assignment submission, new technology is changing the way that schools handle most traditional aspects of the educational experience. At the most basic level, more teachers are embracing new tools, whether it’s an e-book lecture for their courses. Even more so, students are using these tools to thrive in their educational environment.
Talking about information technology and its changes, as a student and as part of the university, a change in the information technology affects not only the school but even the students and faculties. Since change is increasing relentlessly, our university is trying their best to cope up with that change. Honestly, in terms of technology, our university is not that competitive and innovative. Still, we don’t have enough computers that would cater more students at the same time. There are some services of the university that not all students can participate. If we look around the university, there are a lot of problems and some of those problems can be solved and lessen through the use of information technology. One thing that triggers the university to successfully adapt the changes is the cost. Though the university aims to be competitive with the other big schools and as the vision of the university, “premier university in the Asian region”, budget is an intruder to that dream. An implementation of new information technology needs a sufficient budget, especially on the hardware to the software that will be used. Resistance to change is one reason why a certain organization doesn’t want to implement a new information technology. Those organizations are left behind in the modern way of business since every process and transactions are manually done. But as I observe on our school, resistance to change is not a big risk. Everyone wants to be updated with the latest information technology but we fail to achieve this because of the cost.

Using my crystal ball, (ahohmmmm……) with regards to our university, USeP (University of Southeastern Philippines), I foresee some changes likely to have a substantial impact to our school services in the next three years. These are:

RFID as Students Identification Card
At first, I thought RFID means “Request for ID”…hehe! But it was a broad term that encompasses the span of technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects and work with a microchip to store information. RFID simply means Radio frequency identification. We, student in the University of Southeastern Philippines have our own identification card and identification number which is unique. Through this technology, all you have to do is passing within range of the radio frequency acceptor and you are done instead of inserting your card into a card acceptor or scanning it through. It is most common way of storing information is to store a serial number that identifies a person, object, or information on a microchip. The microchip is attached to an antenna and imbedded between the layers of the card. Information can be written, erased, and rewritten, and is stored on the microchip and transmitted by the antenna.
The chip and antenna combination is called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag. The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader. Radio waves reflected from the card (RFID tag) to the reader allow the reader to convert the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can be processed by the computer.


Enrollment System
For me, with the current state and the situation of the school enrollment process I observed that it is still unorganized. Though there were changes made, still cannot be considered as the best or a strategic way of catering the students, especially the incoming first years. Enrolment process should be one of the most organized processes in the school because it motivates the students’ specifically first year students to enroll and encourage their friends to enroll too in our university. We need a change in a procedure would make an impact to a student for they would have to adjust with it. Automating some of these processes would ease the life of the students. Like UNIISYS that are developed by Information Technology as wells as Computer Science graduating students. This is a collection of systems made by the students from the Institute of Computing of the university which would automate some services of the different offices and organizations of the university. If this project would be implemented hopefully in the future on the university, it would make a big impact on the students and those who are within the university who could make use of this system. This system is an ease to some services offered in the university. UNIISYS is a big system which consists of ten (10) subsystems. Namely: Agila (a Davao Geographical Information System that shows all familiar places here in Davao City), eGayd(the university map in school that helps the students, not only the students but also freshman especially visitors who will be entering the University school and helps them know all the departments in the building where they are located), eBenta (an online bidding system for the university students to engage in E-Commerce activity promoting their competitiveness and experience in entrepreneurship), eDikit (an online publication system which let the students upload and publish their literary works online), uPahibalo(an electronic bulletin board or an organizational information system, which handles the information of organizations and its members), eHatag(the title they give to the one of the subsystem which is for file-sharing system), eSkular(a scholarship renewal system), eTudlo(an online tutorial-seeking system which will be helpful to all the students who find difficulties in their subjects that needs to be guided more and explain more to understanding such kind of problems), eSkedyul(a schedule organizer for faculty and students in which it helps in aiding such conflicts between students and teachers that need to be verified just like for example about their schedule time), and the last but not the least is the Alumnay(a community for USEP graduates). From UNIISYS itself, it gives something really significant especially to the developers that enable them to share what they have learned from their Alma matter. This can give also to the university itself a great work that can be proud of as part of the technology trends.

IT Infrastructure

Next change would be the IT infrastructure. Infrastructure defined by Wikipedia is the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. Having a change on the infrastructure of the university specially the IT infrastructure could also have a big impact on the university services. If there would be changes I hope these would be additions on the facilities that the students would make use of not deduction of this.

To wrap it up changes would not mean there would be additions all the time it could sometime mean removing some services. Changes could have positive impact to which it concerns but not all the time it could be for improvement, there are times negative outputs come out of the new implementations or changes that are made.
According to (Malone and Crowston, the increasing speed pace of change require more flexible and adaptive organizations. Rockart and Short cites the ballooning need for the interdependence of organizational structure to IT in managing competitive pressures that included globalization, time-based competition, increased market risk, and a greater emphasis on customer service and cost reduction. Bennis states that "the organization's response to the environment will continue to be the crucial determinant for its effectiveness."

As organizations use information, effective usage of Information Technology likely results to the organizations development and growth.

It is apparent that IT has great impact in the university, and whatever changes in IT has the university as an IT-reliant organization has to go with the changes in order not to be behind. As Keen (1991) noted that IT increasingly and continuously affects the organizations operations as well as its behavior including issues as on how the organization organize, transact business, and contend with other organization.


Automated Library Process
The library is an important body in the university. It is where the students study, do research works and/or simply read books. It offers a whole lot of services for the students such as a virtual library where the students can use computers and surf through the internet. Another service is the audio visual room where the students will be able watch films that are related to their education. Another service that is offered is the OPAC system where the students will be able to search the books they need by using the computer.

Despite the services that the library offers, still, some students are not satisfied with the type of service they offer. The internet service is slow, some audio visual equipments are defective and the OPAC is not accurate. However, the University Library is now planning to outsource a system that will be able to allow the users search the necessary books, journals and important documents accurately. Through this, the library staff and users will no longer have difficulty in looking for books and documents. The automation in the library will be able to provide fast library services such as book borrowing to returning of books that were borrowed, updated and accurate Online Public Access Catalog, a database of books and documents for faster search and retrieval of records by the library staff and a faster internet services and computer units for the University Virtual Library users. Aside from an accurate record of books, the library also plans to integrate all the learning and resource centers in the university for easy an easy access of the documents and books. In this way, if the library clients and/or staff will search for certain document or book, they will know whether that particular book or document is located in a learning and resource center. The library automation is a major investment which must not be taken for granted.

OTHER CHANGES:
Scheduling System
The other change in USEP’s information technology which I found substantial impact on student services is having a Scheduling System. For years, the colleges continue to have conflicts and unofficial changes in the schedules of the subjects. Normally, it would take days, even weeks just to make the necessary schedules. There are times that the person assigned to make the semester schedules might overlook some classrooms, subjects or teachers. Every enrollment, the schedules of subjects are posted and will be taken by the students. However, at the beginning of the semester, they get confused due to some conflicts and unofficial changes.

The scheduling system will act like a decision support system that will automatically generate the semester schedules. It will be capable of assigning subjects to the teachers based on the number of their teaching load, skills and preferred time to teach the subjects. The system will also be able to designate rooms to the subjects depending on its needs like laboratories. The system can also divide the maximum number of lecture hours per week based on the subject’s credit units and the teacher’s preferred time. Moreover, it will be able to minimize the unofficial changes and conflicts in the generated schedules. Through this kind of system, the faculty members and the students will be given assurance that the schedules posted in every enrolment are final and official. Furthermore, the person assigned to create the semester schedules will not have to spend days or weeks just to come up with the said schedules.
Computer Room with Free WiFi Zone
The university can put up a station or computer rooms, not exactly a laboratory, where they can stay, surf through the internet, make their projects and even charge their laptop computers. A venue for us, students to gain access to the internet that greatly helps us especially to those who don’t have a computer at home, and those who have a computer at home but don’t have an internet connection. All students in our university are really in need of the internet particularly us, IT students. Virtual library is an option but it cannot cater all the students at the same time. Another thing is the time allotted for each student plus the internet connection is too slow. Thus, you must wait for your turn.
Having your own laptops is an advantage. All you have to do is find a seat in a corner and open your laptop and detect a WiFi range in your area. A Wi-Fi enabled device such as a personal computer, video game console, mobile phone, MP3 player or personal digital assistant can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet. The coverage of one or more interconnected access points — called a hotspot — can comprise an area as small as a few rooms or as large as many square miles covered by a group of access points with overlapping coverage. Wi-Fi technology has been used in wireless mesh networks, for example, in London. In addition to private use in homes and offices, Wi-Fi can provide public access at Wi-Fi hotspots provided either free of charge or to subscribers to various commercial services. Organizations and businesses such as airports, hotels and restaurants often provide free hotspots to attract or assist clients.
Since the school recently have Wi-Fi spots but there are some area are exclusive for personnel only. But I do believe that this coming 3 years, the University has a Wi-fi connection. This is very helpful to the students and visitor also to access the net even they are in school.
Many public buses and other forms of transportation are testing public Wi-Fi, with the Vail School District now testing Wi-Fi on school buses. Unfortunately, wireless connection in school was secured and we are not advice to charge our laptops anywhere.

Virtual Library

What is a virtual library? The term has been defined by many different people in many different ways. It is a library in which the holdings are found in electronic stacks. It is a library that exists, without any regard to a physical space or location. It is a technological way to bring together the resources of various libraries and information services, both internal and external, all in one place, so users can find what they need quickly and easily.

Sounds great, right? Well, the virtual library also has its drawbacks and limitations. Michael Schuyler makes this point very clearly with his definition of the virtual library. He likens the virtual library to a popsicle, stating that "…[i]f the electricity goes off, the cold goes away - and so does the popsicle, leaving a soggy smear on the shelf where something substantial once resided. The virtual library suffers the same vulnerability and the same precarious existence." 2

However, when they work, virtual libraries can be very useful and very diverse in what they contain. The options for what they can include are virtually endless, and become more and more boundless as technology advances. Some of the content of a virtual library may include, but certainly is not limited to, CD-ROM, Internet subscriptions, lists of annotated web links, internal work products (such as brief banks), proprietary databases (such as LexisNexis or Westlaw) and even web spiders or push technology that deliver targeted research to the user.

So, what does the future hold? What will the law library of the future look like? Or will it even exist at all? The simple answer is yes, it will exist. It will most likely still be similar to what it is today - a carefully thought out mix of electronic and paper resources. Over time, products will find their own niche, or more precisely, librarians will figure out what products are better in print and what products are better electronically, striking the appropriate balance between the two. So, the future doesn't look too much different from the present. And, surely, we are not moving any closer to the “paperless society" that everyone was talking about. In fact, I think we're moving farther in the opposite direction every day.

What will the role of the librarian be in all of this? Will librarians even exist at all? The simple answer, again, is yes, definitely. Librarians will continue to be able to do and provide more for users than ever before with the advantages provided by virtual libraries. We will continue to work towards providing users with seamless, organized access to virtual library resources. Perhaps we will even start to push the envelope and become innovators in the use of nontraditional training and reference services. Who knows? As long as librarians continue to share with one another, both informally and on Internet discussion lists, and at conferences, the opportunities and possibilities are ours for the taking.
As I continue looking at my crystal ball, I happened to foresee that if these changes will be implemented, our university will surely to be proud of. Aside from having competitive students, we can be proud to have a best teachings and good services facilities to offer for aspiring enrollees.

fast forward ..., you were hired and have been tasked to develop a strategic information systems plan for a company. The company officers have extende

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Before I start to present my questions to the company officers, I will just try to recall some important notes which are related to planning or strategic information systems plan.

What is Strategic Information System Plan?

In our previous topic in this forum, we’ve already discussed some information about Information System Plan and Business Plan which is both linked to the word “plan”. We all know that plan is very important since it is the very first step for you to develop tactics. It is a crucial part of an organization especially when it comes in developing a strategy and plans for aligning information systems with the business strategies of an organization.

As I defined IS plan and strategic IS plan in my previous post, Information System Plan can also be compared with strategic information system plan. In developing an IS plan, one thing we need to do is projecting the firm’s objectives and formulized the policies and authorization and above all is you must identify what specific project you want in the future. An IS plan should be useable, timely, maintainable and flexible so that for some circumstances it can be modified if needed. As I mentioned on my post on the fourth assignment on management information system subject that was based on an article written by Somendra Pant and Cheng Hsu, strategic information system plan is a management function not a technical one. SISP is typically the analysis of a corporation’s information and processes using business information models as well as the evaluation and analysis of the possible risk, current needs and requirements. It is used to determine the best targets for purchasing and installing new Management Information System and help an organization maximize the return on investment (ROI) in their information technology.

By the way, before I start I will define first the SISP (Strategic Information System Plan).

According to Allan Warr, Strategic Information System Plan (SISP) is the process of deciding upon the direction, development and policies for an organization’s use and management of information and networking technologies. It also involves the developments of Information Technology infrastructure, determining the application for the information system and the improvements to the management and sourcing of Information System/Information Technology resources. Today, public and private sectors of most large organizations are practicing the Strategic Information System Plan approach.

Hence in this case, I was task to impart a crucial part of an organization which is very vital for aligning some strategies in an organization. Waaah… amazing..hehe! The company officers have invited me to meet with them to discuss the direction of the company. Before the meeting, I was asked to provide a set of questions so that they can be prepared. Moreover, these questions should be answered with explanations to maximize the output.
These are the question I formulated:

What is the mission and vision of this company?

Every organization has vision and mission. Since i will be doing a job for the company, the organization should orient me about their VMGO, it will help me a lot because i will be aware of why does company offer services for. It is also pertinent to be familiar with the company’s vision and mission in SISP implementation because it serves you in carrying out leadership role, unifying efforts and building alignment and loyalty among employees. Mission tells you the fundamental purpose of the organization. It defines the customer and the critical processes. It informs you of the desired level of performance. A Vision outlines what the organization wants to be, or how it wants the world in which it operates to be. It concentrates on the future. It is a source of inspiration. It provides clear decision-making criteria.

What are the goals and objectives of this company?

All companies have goals and objectives knowing that every company should possess an ideal success to the business. Objectives could cover growth, profitability, technology and some offerings however goals are ultimate time-based measurements to be achieved by implementing strategies in pursuit of the company's objectives. In making a business proper, the company should provide an objective and goal, because these two main words denote the achievement and success of the business. It would help give a direction and organize strategy to the business. It is important for me (as hired to develop a strategic information system plan) to know every objectives and what the company want in a company, if ever they may succeed or fail they know how to bring back the company and change another plan to overcome their goals and objectives.

What is the company profile?

It is very significant to be oriented with the firm's history, number and quality of its human, financial, and physical resources organizational and management structure, past, current and anticipated performance, and its reputation, and the standing of its goods or services. In other words to know first the different company products and operations that the company have to have easy way in developing SISP.

What business is in your company?

In developing a strategic planning, it is very much important to define the business clearly. There should be a clear definition of the business in terms of their responsibility in their customers, on what they really do in their customers or in their company. Try to see the things that the company needs to reduce, stop or avoid based on the current state of the organization.

Why the need for change?

Knowing the reasons why the company needs to change is also essential. One factor to consider is why the company takes risk on changing their current system. Because as technology changes, the organization’s practices also change and it will have a great effect to those people who are working in the company. That’s why you should meet the needs of the company that hired you.

What are the critical success factors of the company?

Identifying the Critical Success Factor which is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission is also important. It is a critical factor or activity required for ensuring the success of a company. In any organization certain factors will be critical to the success of that organization, in the sense that, if objectives associated with the factors are not achieved, the organization will fail - perhaps catastrophically so.

What are the strength and weaknesses in your company?

Strength and weaknesses must also identify to know are the positive or negative aspects of the external and internal environments that are under the direct control of a firm. Listing of a company's strengths and weaknesses are a normal part of any attempt at strategic information systems plan (SISP) for virtually all companies. Strengths are those things that your company does well which help you perform your jobs, deliver value to your customers and/or give you an advantage over your competition. It is important to determine your weaknesses to get them out in the open, with everyone in basic agreement that these are actually weaknesses, so the team can determine what to do about each one, if anything.

What are the impacts of current strategy implementation to the organization?

With this question, I can produce strategy implementation planning. This new strategy implementation planning defines change management approach, defines action plan, evaluates action plan, and defines follow-up and control procedure.

How do we involve employees in developing the strategic plan?

Some organizations get input from employees on current issues and concerns as part of assessing their current situation. Others include employees in getting reactions to already-decided on strategic plans, while others actively involve employees in developing the plan itself. There is no one right answer: It depends on your circumstances.

What is the current alignment of top management regarding on information strategic information systems plan?

I can formulate new ideas regarding this question. These ideas consists of understanding the strategic priorities of top management, aligning information systems (IS) strategies with the strategic plan of the organization, adapting the goals/objectives of IS to changing goals/objectives of the organization, maintaining a mutual understanding with top management on the role of IS in supporting strategy, identifying information technology (IT)-related opportunities to support the strategic direction of the firm, educating top management on the importance of IT, adapting technology to strategic change, and assessing the strategic importance of emerging technologies.

How do we deal with resistance to change?

It is really important to know and foresee resistances that might encounter especially stakeholders are involved. These stakeholders can include owners, managers, customers, employees and vendors.

Who is your customer?

Whom do you have to satisfy in order to survive and thrive in your career? Of course, your first customer is your boss, the person who signs your paycheck. Your primary job at work is to make sure that you are satisfying his or her essential needs. Do you know what they are?

You can define a customer as anyone who depends on you for his or her success and anyone you depend on for your success. Under this definition, your colleagues and your staff are also your customers. Everyone around you whom you help, or who helps you, is a customer in some way.

Who is your external customer, the customer who uses what you produce? This is the focal point of business success. Your ability to accurately identify the external customer whose satisfaction determines your success in your career is critical to every element of strategic planning.

What does your customer value? What specific benefits does your customer get from using your products or services? What does your customer want and need from you to be completely satisfied? How does your product change or improve his or her life and work

The twenty-first century has been called the Age of the Customer. The customer is king or queen. Your ability to identify and satisfy your key customers is a critical determinant of your success and your rewards in life.

How the analysis phase is done in the previous information systems planning of the organization?

This is the question that needs the knowledge in understanding the information needs of organizational subunits, identifying opportunities for internal improvement in business processes through IT, improving understanding of how the organization actually operates, developing a “blueprint” that structures organizational processes, monitoring internal business needs and the capability of IS to meet those needs, maintaining an understanding of changing organizational processes and procedures, generating new ideas to reengineer business processes through IT, and understanding the dispersion of data, applications, and other technologies throughout the firm.

In terms of cooperation, how the systems developers of the organization interact with each other in developing an information system?

In this question, I can come up new strategic cooperation process for the organization. This strategic cooperation process involves avoiding the overlapping development of major systems, achieving a general level of agreement regarding risks/tradeoffs among system projects, establishing a uniform basis for prioritizing projects, maintaining open lines of communication with other departments, coordinating the development efforts of various organizational subunits, identifying and resolving potential sources of resistance to IS plans, developing clear guidelines of managerial responsibility for plan implementation.

What are their technologies?

This will help in the study of their existing technology platforms, the infrastructure, the state and format of the data and information present. Along with this is the governance of their technology. Many technologies present in the company will sometimes result to difficulties management. There should be clear and specific choice in the standards, responsibility and approval structure in selecting and implementing technology to avoid difficulty of integration.

If they answer these few questions I put together, I can provide them an output to discuss. They must analyze their plan to achieve their goal and don’t plan to fail. Set their priorities and be ready on some resistances they might encounter.

1.What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan? (at least 2000 words)

A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals. The business goals may be defined for for-profit or for non-profit organizations. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals, such as profit or creation of wealth. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on organizational mission which is the basis for their governmental status or their non-profit, tax-exempt status, respectively—although non-profits may also focus on optimizing revenue. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the effort to balance mission with "margin" (or revenue). Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan. Business plans are decision-making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal.

Unfortunately, many people think of business plans only for starting a new business or applying for business loans. But they are also vital for running a business, whether or not the business needs new loans or new investments. Businesses need plans to optimize growth and development according to priorities.

Business plans may be internally or externally focused. Externally focused plans target goals that are important to external stakeholders, particularly financial stakeholders. They typically have detailed information about the organization or team attempting to reach the goals. With for-profit entities, external stakeholders include investors and customers.[1] External stake-holders of non-profits include donors and the clients of the non-profit's services.[2] For government agencies, external stakeholders include tax-payers, higher-level government agencies, and international lending bodies such as the IMF, the World Bank, various economic agencies of the UN, and development banks. Internally focused business plans target intermediate goals required to reach the external goals. They may cover the development of a new product, a new service, a new IT system, a restructuring of finance, the refurbishing of a factory or a restructuring of the organization. An internal business plan is often developed in conjunction with a balanced scorecard or a list of critical success factors. This allows success of the plan to be measured using non-financial measures. Business plans that identify and target internal goals, but provide only general guidance on how they will be met are called strategic plans. Operational plans describe the goals of an internal organization, working group or department.[3] Project plans, sometimes known as project frameworks, describe the goals of a particular project. They may also address the project's place within the organization's larger strategic goals.[4][5]
Presentation formats
The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context. It is not uncommon for businesses, especially start-ups to have three or four formats for the same business plan:
• an "elevator pitch" - a three minute summary of the business plan's executive summary. This is often used as a teaser to awaken the interest of potential funders, customers, or strategic partners.
• an oral presentation - a hopefully entertaining slide show and oral narrative that is meant to trigger discussion and interest potential investors in reading the written presentation. The content of the presentation is usually limited to the executive summary and a few key graphs showing financial trends and key decision making benchmarks. If a new product is being proposed and time permits, a demonstration of the product may also be included.
• a written presentation for external stakeholders - a detailed, well written, and pleasingly formatted plan targeted at external stakeholders.
• an internal operational plan - a detailed plan describing planning details that are needed by management but may not be of interest to external stakeholders. Such plans have a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality than the version targeted at external stakeholders.
Characteristics of a Quality ISP
A quality ISP must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it is useful. These five are presented in the table that follows.
Characteristic Description
Timely The ISP must be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned.
Useable The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be parceled out to project managers and immediately started.
Maintainable The ISP must be maintainable. New business opportunities, new computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support quick changes to the estimates, technologies employed, and possibly even to the fundamental project sequences. Once these changes are accomplished, the new ISP should be just a few computer program executions away.
Quality While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first try. As the ISP is executed, the metrics employed to derive the individual project estimates become refined as a consequence of new hardware technologies, code generators, techniques, or faster working staff. As these changes occur, their effects should be installable into the data that supports ISP computation. In short, the ISP is a living document. It should be updated with every technology event, and certainly no less often than quarterly.
Reproducible The ISP must be reproducible. That is, when its development activities are performed by any other staff, the ISP produced should essentially be the same. The ISP should not significantly vary by staff assigned.

Whenever a proposal for the development of an ISP is created it must be assessed against these five characteristics. If any fail or not addressed in an optimum way, the entire set of funds for the development of an ISP is risked.
ISP Within the Context of the Meta data Environment
The information systems plan is the plan by which databases and information systems of the enterprise are accomplished in a timely manner. A key facility through which the ISP obtains its Adata@ is the meta data repository. The domain of the meta data repository is set forth in Figure 1, and, as seen through Figure 1, persons through their role within an organization perform functions in the accomplishment of enterprise missions, they have information needs. These information needs reflect the state of certain enterprise resources such as finance, people, and products that are known to the enterprises. The states are created through business information systems and databases.
The ISP Steps
The information systems plan project determines the sequence for implementing specific information systems. The goal of the strategy is to deliver the most valuable business information at the earliest time possible in the most cost-effective manner.
The end product of the information systems project is an information systems plan (ISP). Once deployed, the information systems department can implement the plan with confidence that they are doing the correct information systems project at the right time and in the right sequence. The focus of the ISP is not one information system but the entire suite of information systems for the enterprise. Once developed, each identified information system is seen in context with all other information systems within the enterprise.
Information Systems Plan Development Steps
Step Name Description
1. Create the mission model The mission model, generally shorter than 30 pages presents end-result characterizations of the essential raison d=etre of the enterprise. Missions are strategic, long range, and a-political because they are stripped of the Awho@ and the Ahow.@
2. Develop a high-level data model The high-level data model is an Entity Relationship diagram created to meet the data needs of the mission descriptions. No attributes or keys are created.
3. Create the resource life cycles (RLC) and their nodes Resources are drawn from both the mission descriptions and the high level data model. Resources and their life cycles are the names, descriptions and life cycles of the critical assets of the enterprise, which, when exercised achieve one or more aspect of the missions. Each enterprise resource Alives@ through its resource life cycle.
4. Allocate precedence vectors among RLC nodes Tied together into a enablement network, the resulting resource life cycle network forms a framework of enterprise=s assets that represent an order and set of inter-resource relationships. The enterprise Alives@ through its resource life cycle network.
5. Allocate existing information systems and databases to the RLC nodes The resource life cycle network presents a Alattice-work@onto which the Aas is@ business information systems and databases can be Aattached.@ See for example, the meta model in Figure 2. The Ato-be@ databases and information systems are similarly attached. ADifference projects@ between the Aas-is@ and the Ato-be@ are then formulated. Achievement of all the difference projects is the achievement of the Information Systems Plan.
6. Allocate standard work break down structures (WBS) to each RLC node Detailed planning of the Adifference projects@ entails allocating the appropriate canned work breakdown structures and metrics. Employing WBS and metrics from a comprehensive methodology supports project management standardization, repeatability, and self-learning.
7. Load resources into each WBS node Once the resources are determined, these are loaded into the project management meta entities of the meta data repository, that is, metrics, project, work plan and deliverables. The meta entities are those inferred by Figure 2.
8. Schedule the RLC nodes through a project management package facilities. The entire suite of projects is then scheduled on an enterprise-wide basis. The PERT chart used by project management is the APERT@ chart represented by the Resource Life Cycle enablement network.
9. Produce and review of the ISP The scheduled result is predicable: Too long, too costly, and too ambitious. At that point, the real work starts: paring down the suite of projects to a realistic set within time and budget. Because of the meta data environment (see Figure 1), the integrated project management meta data (see Figure 2), and because all projects are configured against fundamental business-rationale based designs, the results of the inevitable trade-offs can be set against business basics. Although the process is painful, the results can be justified and rationalized.
10. Execute and adjust the ISP through time. As the ISP is set into execution, technology changes occur that affect resource loadings. In this case, only steps 6-9 need to be repeated. As work progresses, the underlying meta data built or used in steps 1-5 will also change. Because a quality ISP is Aautomated@ the recasting of the ISP should only take a week or less.
Collectively, the first nine steps take about 5000 staff hours, or about $500,000. Compared to an IS budget $15-35 million, that's only about 3.0% to 1.0%.
If the pundits are to be believed, that is, that the right information at the right time is the competitive edge, then paying for an information systems plan that is accurate, repeatable, and reliable is a small price indeed.
Executive and Adjusting the ISP Through Time
IT projects are accomplished within distinct development environments. The two most common are: discrete project and release. The discrete project environment is typified by completely encapsulated projects accomplished through a water-fall methodology.
In release environments, there are a number of different projects underway by different organizations and staff of varying skill levels. Once a large number of projects are underway, the ability of the enterprise to know about and manage all the different projects degrades rapidly. That is because the project management environment has been transformed from discrete encapsulated projects into a continuous flow process of product or functionality improvements that are released on a set time schedule. Figure 3 illustrates the continuous flow process environment that supports releases. The continuous flow process environment is characterized by:
• Multiple, concurrent, but differently scheduled projects against the same enterprise resource
• Single projects that affect multiple enterprise resources
• Projects that develop completely new capabilities, or changes to existing capabilities within enterprise resources
Figure 3
It is precisely because enterprises have transformed themselves from a project to a release environment that information systems plans that can be created, evolved, and maintained on an enterprise-wide basis are essential.
There are four major sets of activities within the continuous flow process environment. The user/client is represented at the top in the small rectangular box. Each of the ellipses represents an activity targeted to a specific need. The four basic needs are:
• Need Identification
• Need Assessment
• Design
• Deployment
The box in the center is the meta data repository. Specification and impact analysis is represented through the left two processes. Implementation design and accomplishment is represented by the right two processes. Two key characteristics should be immediately apparent. First, unlike the water-fall approach, the activities do not flow one to the other. They are disjoint. In fact, they may be done by different teams, on different time schedules, and involve different quantities of products under management. In short, these four activities are independent one from the other. Their only interdependence is through the meta data repository.
The second characteristic flows from the first. Because these four activities are independent one from the other, the enterprise evolves by means of releases rather than through whole systems. If it evolved through whole systems, then the four activities would be connected either in a waterfall or a spiral approach, and the enterprise would be evolving through major upgrades to encapsulated functionality within specific business resources. In contrast, the release approach causes coordinated sets of changes to multiple business resources to be placed into production. This causes simultaneous, enterprise-wide capability upgrades across multiple business resources.
Through this continuous-flow process, several unique features are present:
• All four processes are concurrently executing.
• Changes to enterprise resources occur in unison, periodically, and in a very controlled manner.
• The meta data repository is always contains all the enterprise resource specifications: current or planned. Simply put, if an enterprise resource semantic is not within the meta data repository, it is not enterprise policy.
• All changes are planned, scheduled, measured, and subject to auditing, accounting, and traceability.
• All documentation of all types is generated from the Meta data repository.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan
http://viu.eng.rpi.edu/publications/strpaper.pdf
http://www.jmis-web.org/articles/v13_n1_p35/index.html

Assigment 7: Google is a highly successful Internet business. Recently they have broadened their scope with a multitude of new tools. Research Google’

Google is a highly successful Internet business. Recently they have broadened their scope with a multitude of new tools. Research Google’s business model and answer the following questions below. You may add additional information not included in these questions.

Questions:

Questions :
Explain Google’s business model.
1. Who are their competitors?
2. How have they used information technology to their advantage?
3. How competitive are they in the market?
4. What new services do they offer?
5. What makes them so unique?
6. How competitive are they in the international market?



Solution:

1. Who are their competitors?

Google is one such name in the Technology arena that is well poised to rule. Talking of past decade, it’s been all the way up for Google and undoubtedly they have been ruling the internet economy. Google have had its impact in the industry with more than 150 products and will continue to grow with its ever increasing portfolio of products. This is likely to happen but for these 10 companies which have poised some serious competition to Google.


1. Apple

Being from partners to rivals, Apple is one of the stringent opponents for Google in the year 2010. Today, Apple and Google have been locking their horns in the field of Smartphone, Mobile App Store, OS, Mobile Ad, and Online Music and so on. Likewise, Apple is more than up to the task of battling Google in these areas as well as browsers, where Google Chrome competes against Apple Safari. But battle between will intensify, as the market for the digital music and SmartPhones is all set for growth in 2010. Google’s music search along with its partner MySpace and Pandora are looking to compete with Apple’s iTunes, which was the No 1 music retailer in United States in 2009. Further, Google’s Android will have tough time as Apple’s iPhones continues to grab hold of the market all round the globe.


2. Microsoft

Microsoft is a company that have had one of the most dominant impacts in the IT industry. So without a doubt it is Google’s biggest adversary in 2010 and these two giants will be locking their horns for market supremacy in areas such as search, collaboration tools and browsers. Talking of these two giants, Google has reigned as leaders in search, but with release of BING in May 2009, Microsoft has raised few questions amongst in Google’s management team. With features such as ranking search results based on relevancy to other users, Microsoft has inked Bing-related deals with Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo.

Microsoft continued to enhance Bing, adding image search and mapping. But in response Google have unveiled real time search. In December, Google also added a photo search capability, a dictionary and a translator that finds relevant content in 40 languages. Entering 2010, Google still dominates search, with more than 70% of the market. Apart from search, the battle is likely to focus on cloud based collaboration tool.

Google Apps is designed to undercut sales of Microsoft products, including Exchange and SharePoint. Microsoft has responded with Office Web Apps, free Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that are due out in 2010. Last but not the least; the browser war between these two is giants are likely to heat up in 2010. So 2010 awaits the answer if ever so popular Microsoft’s premier browser’s market share could be brought down by Google’s Chrome.


3. Amazon

In 2009, Google’s effort of scanning millions of out-of-print books and incorporating them in online search did gain up some momentum and helped themselves to publish over 500000 digital books for free to customers of Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook, which is due in January. Further, there claims of opening up Google Editions, an e-book store, has opened up new rivalry with Amazon.

Amazon with its Kindle e-book reader is one of the leaders in e-book reader’s market. The other area where Google is taking on Amazon is in cloud computing. Google’s Apps Engine, a newbie cloud computing platform that allows developers to create their own Web applications and run them on Google’s infrastructure will be competing with Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) which has already grab hold of market with its several upgrade after its release in 2006. So it will be a great battle to watch when these two giants fight for market supremacy on Cloud computing and E-book readership.



4. Facebook

Facebook, probably the most popular stuff in the internet right now, has attracted
350 million active users in just six years and is subject of interest for the guys at Google too. In 2010, Google and Facebook rivalry is likely to heat up based on question that where will people find there information in future in Search or Social Network? With ever increasing use of social networking and the rise of Facebook, Google’s worry seems to a viable one. So, in 2010 Google with its ORKUT will be in battle with Facebook.

Orkut offers Google Friend Connect, a tool for Web publishers to add social networking content to their sites, in direct competition with similarly named Facebook Connect. Meanwhile, Facebook has sought out relationships with several arch-enemies of Google, including Microsoft and Yahoo. So its for sure that this battle is worth taking a note off in 2010.



5. Twitter

No doubt if Facebook is in rise, than it’s no difference with Twitter. If social networking is the way to go, then Google will certainly find Twitter in its way. Twitter, a micro-blogging site, has in a way revolutionized the way we communicate these days.

So, Google’s Friend Connect will face tough competitions for Twitter’s Connect in 2010 as Twitter looks to move up the rank in the areas of Social Networking. Other areas where these two find themselves competing are Real time search. Google’s real time search and Twitter’s will be trying to outperform each other in 2010. So, this battle will be a good one to watch for in 2010.



6. Mozilla

With release of Google Chrome, Google has stepped into ever so popular browse battle. Mozilla has been in the markets for years and now this step from Google is likely to create the conflict of interest between these two.

Of late the war between the two has heated up even more. The battle has now gone to default search. Mozilla now has shown intent to kick Google out from its default search engine status. The latest rumours on the internet show that Mozilla is now eyeing to get a deal with Microsoft to make Bing as its default search engine in Firefox.

This may not impact Google immediately but eventually this move, if comes true, is likely to decrease Google’s share of the search market. Hence, Google now has Mozilla on a double war zone; first the obvious browser war and now the war over default searches.



7. Yahoo

When it comes to search, one of Google’s biggest competitors besides Microsoft is Yahoo. Yahoo has been in the market with variety of products in areas of email, Messenger, News, Search and Analytics services. So without doubt it will be a fearsome competitor for Google. In 2009, Yahoo made some improvements in 2009 by integrating search with its rich content. Users can watch videos or stream music straight from the Yahoo search results page.

Yahoo also helps users find travel deals and compare product prices. Further, Yahoo has recently added Twitter to its search Page and if a joint search and advertising deal between Yahoo and Microsoft is approved by federal regulators. This could prove costly to Google so the 2010 is the year to watch as other competitor look to outperform Google in the market with different joint forces being formed by their rivals.



8. Cisco

Google definitely has a tough challenge against Cisco. With years of experience on web based collaborative platfomr, WebEx, and superior VOIP service, Cisco poses a threat to Google’s Wave and Voice. In addition to this, Cisco also is looking to enhance its video conferencing quality by focusing on collaboration through intenret video, desktop video and consumer Telepresence.

In addition to this, Cisco’s presence in Cloud is another leading edge it has over Google. As Google is looking to take everything to the web, it certainly will face a good competition from Cisco on this front.

Moreover, according to Networkworld, Cisco is looking to enter into Smartphone market in the very near future (actually by mid-2010). Its recent acquisition of Pure Digital and Flip shows Cisco’s intent to take video to the mobile phone. Thus, we might see Cisco giving a hard time to Google’s Nexus One in the coming days.



9. IBM

By now it’s quite crystal clear that 2010 will the year where big internet giants will be trying to gain whole lot of market share that will be up for grab in areas of collaboration tools. So, 2010 is likely to reopen Google’s rivalry with IBM with the release of new collaboration tools such as Google Wave. Google has stepped into the battle field with its low cost hosted collaboration tools such as Google Apps. Google will compete against IBM’s Lotus Lives, which has attracted more than 2 million businesses in the last two years.


10. Nokia

Today, Nokia has had grab hold of the mobile phone market with 4 out of 10 mobiles sold. With increase in use of smart phones, means the IT giants Google will be in rivalry with Nokia in periphery of operating systems for Smartphones. Symbian Open source operating system will be competing with Google’s Android. Nokia with recent deals with Microsoft is all set to bring Office Mobile to Symbian devices. With claim of releasing improved version of Symbian in 2010 means Google Android will have to face off tough battle. But, Google’s Android is poised for major developments in 2010 and with commitments from Acer, Sony Ericcson, HTC and Motorola this will be a worthwhile battle to watch in 2010 and years to come.

So, at this point one may feel Google has tough battle to fight in 2010. Most of the arch rivals are gearing up to poise serious threats either single handed or with collaboration. So, 10 line ups of interesting battle is all set to keep the 2010 interesting enough for us to watch and keep the Google on their toes.





2. How have they used information technology to their advantage?


Arguably the most popular search engine available today, Google is widely known for its
unparalleled search engine technology, embodied in the web page ranking algorithm, PageRanki
and running on an efficient distributed computer system. In fact, the verb “to Google” has
ingrained itself in the vernacular as a synonym of “[performing] a web search.”1 The key to
Google’s success has been its strategic use of both software and hardware information
technologies. The IT infrastructure behind the search engine includes huge storage databases
and numerous server farms to produce significant computational processing power. These
critical IT components are distributed across multiple independent computers that provide
parallel computing resources. This architecture has allowed Google’s business to reach a market
capital over $100 billion and become one of the most respected and admirable companies in the
world.

MARKET ENVIRONMENTS
Search Engine
Internet search engines were first developed in the early 1990s to facilitate the sharing of
information among researchers. The original effort to develop a tool for information search
occurred simultaneously across multiple universities is shown in Table 1. Although
functionalities of these systems were very limited, they provided the foundation for future webbased
search engines.


Search Industry
During the 1990s, the Internet experienced exponential growth with thousands of new web pages
being created daily. Online document search became the chief method of navigating the everexpanding
World Wide Web, as Internet users sought useful information among the largely
disorganized pages. As a result, the online search industry was born.
Early web-based search engine had roots in university-based research, with the exception of
AltaVista . WebCrawler was known as the first search engine to perform full-text web
search as opposed to searching library indices. In 1996, increased competition between search
engines triggered the search engine size wars, as the companies competed to index the largest
number of textual documents over the Internet. AltaVista was the first forefront search engine
winner, becoming the most successful and widely adored search engine in the mid 1990s.

The focus of information technology at Google for both software and hardware is speed and cost.
These two metrics are valued more than any other criteria such as reliability of machines or highperformance
enterprise computing hardware. Ultimately, the result must transform a response
time of user query using Google’s search engine to be completed within a one second time-frame.
Started in Larry Page’s dormitory room, the information technology at Google has transformed
into a full-blown large cluster PC network that functions similar to a computing grid.iv Even
though information technology infrastructure has changed dramatically over the years, the model
of IT use at Google has stayed the same. This model follows the original principles adopted by
the co-founders of building a prototype system that uses commodity hardware and intelligent
software. The shift of computer industry with PCs becoming commodity electronic hardware
over the years has worked in favor of Google’s IT strategy in getting the best cost performance
ratio (Patterson & Hennessy, 2004). Thus, instead of purchasing the latest microprocessors,
Google IT performs calculations to look for the best value of processing power per dollar and
purchasing many PCs that are only a few months old in the market, but at a much lower
discounted price. This is suitable for Google because the framework of their search engine is
built around parallelizing many user query requests across multiple machines and if more
processing is required, the system can simply increase more machines to serve even greater user
requests. The overall price per performance is more important than individual peak
performances, and this enables Google to achieve superior speed at a fraction of the cost rather
than using a few, but expensive high-end server systems. The end equation for Google’s IT in
selecting machines is calculated by the cost per query, and is derived by the sum of capital
expenses and operating costs divided by performance. For accuracy, the calculation takes into
inherent effects due to hardware depreciation and maintenance repairs. At the data centers, the
primary cost factor is capital expenditure credited to hardware, followed by personnel and
hosting costs.


3. How competitive are they in the market?


Google vs. Microsoft

Even as Microsoft won a victory recently against its new and increasingly agile young competitor Google in the case of Kai-Fu Lee, Google continues to nibble at the margins of Microsoft's more existential questions - the need for its software in the first place in an age when Web development architecture has taken the "Web 2.0" route offered by schemes like AJAX.

On the Lee case, Microsoft has said it wants the case to be decided in the state of Washington, where a judge ruled last month that the hiring can proceed, with the stipulation Kai-Fu Lee cannot recruit from Microsoft. Google is attempting to keep the case in California where non-compete agreements are said to be viewed with less rigidity.

Microsoft initially filed suit in Seattle's King County Superior Court in July, claiming Kai-Fu Lee violated that agreement when the search giant hired him. Google then countersued Microsoft in California, in an attempt to have the noncompete clause declared invalid.

The battle for Kai-Fu Lee, a former vice president with the software giant, underlines a growing animosity between the two companies, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer allegedly pitching such a fit after losing one executive in 2004 that he threatened to "kill Google" over the continued poaching of Redmond's top brass, even flinging furniture and dropping more F-bombs than I've heard tell in awhile.

Well, Microsoft won its latest round in the fight that has at la

Well, Microsoft won its latest round in the fight that has at last made explicit the smoldering rivalr
ry between the tetween the two otherwise mostly indirect competitors.

But announcements between Google and Sun have indicated Google's interest in helping partners like Sun compete head to head with Microsoft in the office suite market with the recent release by Sun of OpenOffice.org 2.0 - a significant upgrade to the prior version which, if reviews are to be believed, is a virtual replacement (for free under the open source GPL) for MS-Office. According to Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president:

“OpenOffice.org is on a path toward being the most popular office suite the world has ever seen; providing users with safety, choice, and an opportunity to participate in one of the broadest community efforts the Internet has ever seen. As a member of that community, I’d like to offer my heartiest congratulations.”

For sure, it gives Sun a new lease on life after a very tough few years after being the dot in the dot-com crash. McNealy was in full effect with his "network is the computer" mantra, so much exemplified by Google's strategy. If you can call it that: Eric Schmidt, who used to work for Sun and is now Google's CEO (after jumping ship a few years ago from the sinking Novell) even mentioned how he delights in the absence of a strategy... well, I guess. No matter how underwhelming the actual announcement, it creates powerful symbolism in the marketplace where Microsoft has left an opening.

Still, OpenOffice.org has Microsoft running scared from OpenDocument - a revolutionary file format that could at last end the Word/Excel/PowerPoint tyranny even more than PDF has done. Which is why, perhaps, Microsoft licensed PDF support for next year's release of the the updated MS-Office suite. But their enthusiasm for SaaS (Software as a Service) is palpable amid McNealy’s remarks about Windows being the last, sad representative of the old client/server computing world and is ”so last millennium.”

Microsoft's reaction to the announcement took the move in stride, but the evidence lies in nothing less than Google's patents that they've got Microsoft squarely sighted in, as it "builds a patent fence" around search and takes on Yahoo first, then leveraging cutting edge user interface design technologies present in Google Maps (which could challenge PowerPoint) and Gmail (the RTF technology already offering about 70 percent of the functionality behind Word). Deployed on the "Googleplex" platform Google has created as its supercomputer-like infrastructure, calling into question Microsoft's very necessity isn't far around the corner.

Of course, Microsoft has seen such threats before - when Netscape challenged the idea that an OS was even necessary and applications could be run in Sun's Java within the browser. We all know how that ended... despite continuing market share battles with Mozilla Foundation's open source alternative to Internet Explorer (which I use myself), in Firefox.

But Redmond won't go down for the count easily. They've just reorganized decisively to take on such threats. And, while Microsoft might not have invented the idea of "embrace and extend"; they do seem to have perfected it.



4. What new services do they offer?

Our Experimental Fiber Network

Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this and more possible. We've urged the FCC to look at new and creative ways to get there in its National Broadband Plan – and today we're announcing an experiment of our own.

We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:

* Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
* New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
* Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

Like our WiFi network in Mountain View, the purpose of this project is to experiment and learn. Network providers are making real progress to expand and improve high-speed Internet access, but there's still more to be done. We don't think we have all the answers – but through our trial, we hope to make a meaningful contribution to the shared goal of delivering faster and better Internet for everyone.

As a first step, today we're putting out a request for information (RFI) to help identify interested communities. We welcome responses from local government, as well as members of the public.


5. What makes them so unique?

Google's Unique Advantage

Needless to say, it all adds up to a lot of Google on the brain. Google, at the moment, is held up as the gold standard of software companies. They have achieved massive success and are the company almost every developer wants to work for. Ask someone in the software industry which company they want to emulate and they will likely say Google.

Obviously, if it was easy to emulate Google, everyone would have done it or would be doing it by now. The more I think about Google, the more and more I think it is going to be impossible to emulate them. Certainly you can steal some of their ideas and what they’ve pioneered and put it to use in your company, but outright copying Google is going to be near impossible.

Having touched on Google’s corporate culture, let’s look at something else that makes Google even more unique: how it grows.

One thing that has become evident to me is that Google grows in an organic fashion, unlike any other company I know of. Google develops tools that are internally useful and then releases them to the world. Google does not develop products to sell to the world. Google does not have external contracts, at least in the traditional sense, as far as I can tell.

Let me elaborate on this. Google is obviously best known for search and for ads associated with search. This is in essence Google’s one true product. It is the one feature Google developed for the outside world. When Google developed search it was no different from a small company. It is what Google has done since then that makes Google different.

Google doesn’t answer to any external power. They don’t have anyone they have to deliver a product to. There is no contract with a deadline. Due to not having any external dependencies, Google can continuously iterate over a product until it reaches a state of near perfection. It can stay in internal testing as long as Google wants and no one is going to care. See Gmail, Google Maps, etc. This then allows Google to use the perfect form of the agile process. Continuous iterations and testing and development, continues improvement. Then as Google sees fit, release the products. As they get better and better, more people use them and more money from ads come in. It’s beautiful.

It’s also unlikely any other company is going to be able to pull this off. Google hit on the formula for ads before anyone else. They now have such a commanding lead in that arena that to compete with them you need deep pockets of money of your own. That makes it difficult to launch a company and follow Google’s lead of avoiding external dependencies and having the near perfect product development process.

At this point, you might be screaming at me that I’m wrong, because Google does have external contracts, especially for serving up ads on other sites. But notice that Google’s contracts are different from most companies’ contracts. Google isn’t developing a product for these companies. All they are doing is giving them an existing product that Google has already completed and released. Development on that product might still be happening, but it happens within Google, not within the realms of the contract. Google is still free to develop how ever they want.

For almost everyone else, you’re going to have to create a product and then drive sales of that product or else sign a contract and then deliver a custom product to the customer. You’ll have external dependencies that will force an outside reality upon you that Google simply doesn’t have. You can argue that Google is dependent upon ads, but at this point Google has captured such a large share of that market and is steadily capturing more of it, that it really isn’t a dependency for Google. Sure, Google should probably diversify, just in case the ad market tanks, but at this point Google has so much money they can afford to take their time.

So now you see. It’s unlikely you or anyone else is going to emulate Google. Kiss that dream goodbye.

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from Google. Copy the good things that Google does and adapt them to your business. What you shouldn’t do is force the practices of Google on your business simple because they are what Google does. Google is a product of a very specific evolution and your business will be the product of a different evolution.

And when your developers come to you and say that they want to be exactly like Google, you now have an argument to explain why your business can’t be exactly like Google.

Still, there’s nothing preventing you from being the next great company after Google. That prize is still there for the taking.


6. How competitive are they in the international market?

The assertion that Google has a lot to learn in its international efforts couldn't be more over-stated. Google has had success in the international environment, including greater market share than in the domestic market, that every Internet company would covet. This analysis delves deeper into Google's international efforts.

Having studied Google abroad somewhat significantly, I believe this article provides a very naïve view on Google’s success abroad. Absolutely, Google, as any American company, needs to be extremely aware of the impression they make when entering foreign grounds, as the risk as being seen as arrogant – the ugly American – is omnipresent. And, yes, Google should continue to grow their in-country teams significantly in order to best overcome cultural and sales hurdles and take advantage of unique opportunities and the gigantic world market that is growing at a quicker pace than the U.S. market. Recent stats point to European e-commerce in a position to surge past U.S. e-commerce.

Yet, don’t attempt to fool anyone here: Google has enormous international market share. Though I’m on a plane and not able to access these stats immediately, I believe that Google has approximately a 10-point higher share of search in Europe than they do in the States. I attended an online and multi-channel retail conference in London earlier this year, and Google was constantly mentioned, and never in a bad light. I am attempting to arrange a dinner in Paris later this year or early next with top French e-commerce companies, and Google is the likely sponsor, due to their relationship with the French agency that I am in contact with and their relationship with the likely invitees. Google is dominant in most countries, with their distant following to Baidu in China and the Russian example in the article notable exceptions.

In the UK, Amazon.com and eBay have also taken off after some early slips and command a dominant share of the market. Of course, they face hurdles, most notably eBay’s fraud and trust problem, but these American brands have also experienced tremendous success abroad. And there are other huge hurdles across Europe, such as Germany’s reliance on non-credit card payments and their language and cultural barriers. The European Union is still quite segmented, and pan-European plays will rarely be successful. Yet, the world continues to flatten, and American brands can have success abroad with fewer hurdles as can international brands have success in the States.

Google has had success with other products abroad, most notably its Orkut social network which has bombed domestically to its MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn brethren, yet has taken off in huge countries such as India and Brazil. So, sure, Google should be sensitive to cultural sensitivities and will face different regulatory environments abroad, but the truth is that Google has been remarkably successful internationally in large part due to the international word-of-mouth generated by their product and feature set.