Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A PARADIGM SHIFT TO OUTSOURCING PART (A)

The case for a national outsourcing initiative for any country drives from the fact that, globally, outsourcing is gaining momentum and is a source for enhancing revenue generation, particularly in developing economies. In its most common form, outsourcing occurs anytime one enterprise makes a contract with another to perform a process that is normally done internally by the first enterprise.
Outsourcing took a major leap forward in the late 1960s when firms began to use data transfer to outsource their payroll administration. Today, India, China and other South East Asian economies have made outsourcing an important emerging and key sector in the development of their economies.
In the drive for economic returns and development of the economy in any country, the government has recognized the growing importance of the outsourcing economy in the wealth of nations. The belief today is that some countries has the basic ingredients and is at the stage where it can now develop a vibrant outsourcing sector.
On the contrary, a precise definition of outsourcing or subservicing has yet to be agreed upon. Thus, the term is used inconsistently. However, outsourcing is often viewed as involving the contracting out of a business function; one previously performed in-house – to an external provider. Of recent concern is the ability of businesses to outsource to suppliers outside the nation, sometimes referred to as offshoring or offshore outsourcing. In addition, several related terms have emerged to grasp various aspects of the complex relationship between economic organizations or networks, such as nearshoring, multisourcing and strategic outsourcing. Almost any conceivable business practice can be outsourced for any number of stated reasons. The implications of outsourcing objectively and subjectively vary across time and space.
Here are some of the related reasons that engender outsourcing as a panacea not only for large corporations but also for small businesses. Some organizations outsource to;
I. Control Capital Costs: Cost-cutting may not be the only reasons to outsource, but it is certainly a major factor. Outsourcing converts fixed costs to variable costs, releases capital for investment elsewhere in your business, and allows you to avoid large expenditures in the early stages of the business. The benefit of outsourcing as it pertains to controlling capital costs also make your firm more attractive to investors. This is owing to the fact that it allows you to pump more capital directly into revenue-producing activities.
II. Increased Efficiency: Some company that does everything themselves have much higher research, development, marketing, and distribution expenses. At the end of the day, all of which must be passed on to customers. Invariably, an outside provider’s cost structure and economy of scale can give your firm an important competitive advantage.
III. Reduce Labour Costs: The issue of hiring and training of staff for short-term or peripheral projects can be very expensive and temporary employees do not always live up to expectations. Here, outsourcing lets you focus your human resources where you need them most.
IV. Start a new Project Quickly: A good outsourcing firm has the resources to start a project right away. At the same time, handling the same project in-house might involve taking weeks or months to hire the right people, train them, and provide the support needed. Subsequently, if a project requires major capital investments (such as building a series of distribution centers), the startup process can be even more difficult.
V. Focus on your Core Business: Every business has limited resources, and every manager has limited time and attention. Outsourcing can help your business to shift its focus from peripheral activities toward work that serves the customer, and it can help managers set their priorities more clearly.
Summarily, outsourcing or subservicing often refers to the process of contracting to a third-party. While outsourcing may be viewed as a component to the growing division of labour encompassing all societies, the term did not enter English-speaking lexicon until the 1980s. More so, its applications are more felt now in developed countries than in the undeveloped countries. Since the 1980s, transnational corporations have increased subcontracting across national boundaries. Readers what benefit are there when organizations outsource and what is your view to outsourcing? It will be seen on your comment.
http://wwwinformationage.blogspot.com

Monday, September 13, 2010

WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

Hi,
As we enter the month of September 2010; I will like to announce to my friends and followers of this blog that there comes a revolution. This is from the stable of the
Life Empowerment International

Featuring:

1.) Building your website using HTML and XHTML Coding.

2.) CSS Standards Coding.

3.) Creating Animated FLASH Buttons and Banners and incorporating it into your website.

4.) Introduction to PHP Scripting focusing on FORMs to EMAIL.

5.) Introduction to JavaScript focusing on FORMs to DATABASE and creating EVENT WINDOWS using JavaScript

6.) Website Management focusing on Strategies for Updating Site contents.

7.) Site Engine Optimization (SEO) - Optimizing your website for Google, etc.

8.) Introduction to Drupal Content Management System.

If you are interested in the training or seminar or in any need the materials for the Seminar endeavour to Register by following this link: http://www.theempoweredlife.net/news.html and follow the details. Thanks and bye for now.

http://wwwinformationage.blogspot.com

Saturday, September 11, 2010

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EXPANSION (PART II)

The topic above is a follow-up of my last blog post entitled “Overview of Information Technology Part I”. Here, the reader will gain an in-depth knowledge and understanding of information technology evolution and standardization. May I once more lead you to an eye-opening venture of the emergence of computer and its appendages, Internet etc. It is against this backdrop that I will relate to you how computer as a tool, totally indispensable in this age got the extension called Internet: with computer playing a vital role. In the year 2002, in a High Tech interactive reveals the following as it discusses this technology:
“…before the Internet was developed, Isaac Asimov had written about things that happened in the galaxy in the electronic age. It is possible that in future from a single central room; a group of people are able to control all forms of human life, transactions and business, across the nations. This is so because as you know, the Internet is a derivative from the Apernet, which was developed in the American Army galaxy industry”.
With the above passage in focus, I think it is high time we discuss the Information age and Speed.
§ Information age and Speed: when we take a closer look on the development of Banks, Marine-time industry, Manufacturing, Governmental setup especially election, Education and Communication in view of mobile devices we tend to or must envisage speed. It permeates and in deed diffuses into any form of societal strata and the world in general. He that works in the banking industry with computerized architecture must work at the pace of speed. At the same time, he that teaches or works in exporting or importing must act with every sense of speed. More so, he that dwells in the area of information dissemination must do so with every momentum of speed and so on.
This impression is in tandem with the assertion of Christ Uwaje and he states; “one vital phenomenon that unveiled itself in 1998 and which shaped the way information technology would react and evolve henceforth is speed. When we talk of speed you are already referring to the Internet. That is the structure analysis of the engine or the potential of the I.T. industry.” Actually, the potential of the I.T. industry is so paramount in every sphere of our day-to-day activities. This entails with the speed that computer and its successive architecture brings and encourage.
§ The GUI – Graphical User Interface World:
Computer architecture and mode of operation have gone into a series of evolution. Initially, batch mode is being used as from 1950s to 1960s, which is the first age. The time-sharing and interaction via commands exists from 1960s to early 1980s and the raster graphics based and WIMP GUIs exits from 1980s to 1990s. Finally, the present age starts from 1990s down. Summarily making up the four ages of user interfaces.
The WIMP Generation: The modern trend is for operating system (O/S) to support WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointing device, typically a mouse). It is graphical user interface, which allows easy user interaction with the computer. Contrarily, the next generation has been described as Post-WIMP. These do not use menus, forms, or toolbars but rely on, for example, gesture and speech recognition for specifying the operation and the operand.
The Post-WIMP Generation: The feel of this generation is mostly felt in the more advanced countries. This generation are based on a three dimensional (3D) spatial metaphor rather than the two dimensional desktop metaphor for organizing information. The area in which this has been fully utilized so much is in the area of forensic study and research.
Some of the example of this generation are the commercially available pen-based (the notebook laptops with Intel Atom architecture), hand held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) such as Apple Newton, Arcade games and Driving simulators with steering wheels, golf simulators where the player hits the real golf ball with a real golf club and the computer simulates the trajectory and displays it.
Finally, it is been predicted that the future of hardware consisting of wearable computers, PDAs and wall-sized displays where the user sees computer-generated information superimposed on real-world objects via optical or video merging to provide, for example annotation or x-ray vision. The world is moving towards this great era, why not join the trail.