IST 1100 Module 2

The world has really come so far technologically in the last few decades, and even more so in the last few years. It’s amazing to think of how things used to be and how much things have changed, how much more productive we are able to be now and the things we are able to accomplish because of the worlds available technology.

One huge breakthrough that allowed companies as well as individuals to be many times more productive than they had been in the past was the development of workflow software. The book, The World Is Flat uses the example of the production studio that made animated films for Disney. It was pretty amazing to learn about the software they used and some of its capabilities. So I would typically think if there was a studio, and they were going to make an animated film, all the various parts would be done on location. Things like the animations themselves, the editing, the voice acting and other components of making the film. But the studio used some amazing computer software that allowed them to collaborate with several different key players in the production process from all over the world. Individuals that were involved could access the ongoing project from computers in various locations and do their jobs remotely. The voice actors were even able to submit lines from special computers called “footballs.” This is the essence of workflow software, it creates standards and protocols that allow different people, departments, and computers to all access the same project and contribute simultaneously.

Imagine only a few years ago before standards had been put in place and we were still living and working in the metaphorical stone age. A company would take an order over the phone and write it down by hand, perish the thought, and take that order physically over to the shipping department. The shipping department would ship the product and the walk over to billing so that a physical invoice could be created. I’m sure during this time, people had learned to be efficient, or at least as efficient as they could be considering the limitations they dealt with. But with windows and universal email, and later microsoft office and similar products, things could be done in a blink, and everyone was tapped in. They used workflow software, software that created standards for digital communication and collaboration. Software that allowed several departments of the same company to access the same data and use that data to complete their individual responsibilities. Workflow software revolutionized how work was done and greatly improved efficiency.

A good example of workflow software is something that musicians use. Music isn’t always recorded with every artist involved in a single studio. Different studios collaborate, and they often hire studio musicians to play on specific tracks that are in different cities or even countries than where the song or songs are being recorded. In addition to that, after tracks are recorded and compiled, they are sometimes sent to other individuals to do mastering and mixing. For so many artists to be involved, special workflow software must be in place to allow for so many people to work from so many locations to make one final product. Without the internet, and standards in software like windows and mac os with other recording software, collaborations like this would not be possible.

Open Source Software is an amazing thing, I have a personal love for the Android Operating System for phones and this is open source. I have followed the development of Android and how it has evolved over the past several years that it has been around. Open source software is software that is developed with the intention of community collaboration. The source code is initially developed by a company or a team of programmers and rather than it being kept proprietary, the code is released to the world to do with it as they want. The only stipulation is that any improvements made to the software is resubmitted to the community for all to use and learn from. If a popular improvement is made to the software it can be assimilated back into the source code, and in this way the software is improved and advanced. Open source can be a very good thing. There are many many people in this world that are brilliant and can do amazing things in the programming and software worlds. But not all of these people are employed by the same company and don’t all have the ability to offer input on a large software project in the conventional way. This is where open source is so amazing, it allows anybody from anywhere to provide feedback and ideas. Going back to the example of Android, I have watched it advance and develop over the past 5 years, and every year Google will release a new version with improvements, many that surfaced before they were integrated into the source code. Android has become my mobile operating system of choice, and I feel it is largely because of it’s open source nature and the techy community behind it that is always coming up with new ideas and tweaks to make it better.

Outsourcing is a huge part of business economics, and for good reason. There are a few reasons why it is important and done by so many companies. The first and main reason is that for a company to think they can do every aspect of their business process ie production, development, advertising, marketing, shipping, customer service, finances etc. is nothing short of arrogant. As long as economies have existed, and there has been trade and commerce in this world, there has always been some individual or some group that can do one particular thing very well, and that was their trade. In history, before the industrial revolution, there may be someone that was a great fisherman, and someone else that was a great hunter, and maybe someone else that was great with crafting or metallurgy, the list could go on. I mention this because although times are different, the concept is the same even today. A big company like Verizon Wireless still outsources much of its’ advertising to a company I am familiar with, Mccan Erickson, they are an advertising agency and they are very good at what they do. Outsourcing allows a company to let someone who is an expert handle a particular aspect of their business because they can do it better, and from a financial standpoint they will probably save money letting another company worry about it because that company has learned how to do it the most efficient way.

The other reason why a company would outsource would be to save money, the book talks a lot about the Indian call center 24/7. This call center is a prestigious place to work in India, and their employees are paid very well. However, it is still cheaper for big American companies to outsource their customer service to India then to pay American workers on American soil. This may sound like a bad thing, taking jobs away from Americans, but it is good business, and the Indian workers who do it enjoy it and make good livings doing it. Outsourcing will always be a part of big business.

IST 1100 Module 1

I have found Thomas L. Friedman’s: The World Is Flat to be a great read and very interesting.  His conception of technology making our world a flat one is very interesting.  One of the key points Friedman discussed is the different eras of Globalization and how they affected the world.

The first globalization, or Globalization 1.0 began with Christopher Columbus in 1492 and his historical journey west to test his theory that the earth was actually round and to find an alternate trade route to India.  He was able to prove his theory correct and in the process discovered a whole new continent and opened trade between the old world and the new world.  In essence, Globalization period 1.0 took the world from a size large to a size medium.  Countries began to look at where they fit into global competition and opportunities, and how they could use the resources they had to be part of a bigger world economy.  This all began to break down walls and knit the world together.  This era lasted until the year 1800 when Globalization 2.0 began.

The Globalization 2.0 era lasted roughly from the year 1800 to the year 2000, minus the time periods during the great depression and both world wars.  According to Friedman, this era shrank the world from a size medium to a size small.  The driving force of this second globalization era was multinational companies.  It started with the Dutch and English joint-stock companies as well as with the Industrial Revolution.  The first half was based around falling transportation costs credited to the invention of the steam engine and the railroad.  The second half was based around falling telecommunication costs thanks to the PC, telephone, satellites, fiber optic cables and the introduction of the internet.  A lot happened during era 2, and the beginning was drastically different from the end.  By the end there were far more efficient ways to travel, trade goods, and communicate, walls had come down, some literally, and there was indeed a world economy.  Every Country that was a part of this economy had to see where they fit in and how they could contribute.

Around the year 2000 we entered Globalization phase 3.0, this era has shrunk the world from a size small to a size tiny and has flattened out the playing field.  This latest era has seen the rise of personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.  This era is based more around what individuals are able to accomplish and the amount of information any one individual can access at any time, it is a very empowering era.  Workflow software made it possible for companies to collaborate on the same digital content from anywhere in the world.  Something that wasn’t mentioned in the book because it is a few years old is the rise of cloud computing, I could go to an entirely different part of the world and pull up my Google account and have my email, music, pictures, school assignments, calendar, and many other things tied to it.  That concept has definitely made the world a “tiny” place.

So the major differences when comparing the three eras would be that the first era was about countries globalizing, the second era was about companies globalizing, and the third era was and is about individuals globalizing.  Of course each era had its own technological, mechanical, economical, and sociological advancements that made them unique but the big picture comparison is what organizations or entities were globalized.

When Friedman talked about the Berlin Wall coming down I found it very inciteful and interesting.  Of course the fall of the Berlin Wall was huge for Germany and for The Soviet Union, communism stifles growth and innovation, it just creates a lot of equally poor people as Friedman put it.  So when the wall came down, obviously those countries were very heavily impacted.  But Friedman points out that at that instant, when the wall fell, it meant something to the entire world. In Friedman’s words, “It tipped the balance of power across the world toward those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies.”  It allowed bottom up economics, controlled by the interests, aspirations, and ideas of the people as opposed to top down economics, ruled and manipulated by corrupt governments.  Before the wall fell there were two types of systems in the world, after, there was only one left and everyone was forced to adapt.  During the Cold War the influence of the Soviet union and communism was felt all around the world, it wasn’t localized.  Many countries, even if their governments weren’t communist, still often had elements of it that buried the private sector in regulations that slowed economic growth.  To put it simply, when the wall fell, it created a ripple effect that was felt worldwide and a huge shift began, a new era began, back towards capitalism and democracy.

I feel that the story of Netscape is so important because its’ creators helped pioneer open protocols and open standards in the internet world which paved the way for what the internet is today.  The story also illustrates the evolution of technology and shows a company thinking of more than just making a profit, they were looking at the bigger picture.