Digital Transformation Project: Quooker

14

October

2016

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Quooker produces boiling water taps, creating a luxury in the kitching. The company has strong competitive position and is leading the boiling water tap market. It is a young and innovative company, which can not only by seen by their innovative IT strategy, but also by paying a lot of attention to the environment. Sustainability is an important factor within the company, expressed by a sustainable office driven by solar-energy.

As said, Quooker handles an innovative IT strategy, using multiple software systems for multiple causes. However, the organization is not completely flawless. The most important flaw is the internal communication in the organisation. There is a lot of miscommunication between departments, resulting in increasing separation within the company. The consequence is that employees make many wrong assumptions which lead to a few bottlenecks within the organisation.

Since the organisational structure model of  Laudon & Laudon (1988) does not hold for Quooker, the bottlenecks of such a flat organisation should be pointed out. All bottlenecks that were discovered, are attributable to the common term ‘internal communication’. In order to optimize internal communication, the factors ‘response time’, ‘transparency’, ‘cooperation’ and ‘culture’ are identified as the dominant metrics.The first problem that is addressed by the proposed information system, is that of information asymmetries between separate business units within Quooker. Principal-agent problem, moral hazard and lack of information flows can endanger operational processes. In fact, this coordination problem is fairly easy to resolve, at least to some extent. The new IS, called ‘Intranet’, encompasses a system of information flows that improve information redistribution throughout the firm.

The implementation of an intranet would have the following effects on the dominant metrics we distinguished: Response time. If business units are able to interact quicklier and it is easier to navigate to a person/ business unit of interest, the response time straightforwardly decreases.Transparency. By implementing the Intranet, departments are obliged to share key performance information, which can subsequently be easily monitored by other departments, improving the transparency within the organisation. Cooperation. The implementation of the system provides a better internal communication system which is very helpful to improve cooperation between employees and departments. Culture. It is hard to maintain the family culture within Quooker, especially because the firm is growing and a lot of new employees are being hired. It is believed an informal system can boost internal communication and restore social cohesion and most of all the family business culture.

The recommendations we make to the management and how the new technology should be implemented is shown in the following youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ne6NLLsEo

Group: 27

Referencies:

  • Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P. Management Information Systems, (2nd edition), Macmillan, 1988.
  • Woltjes, G. (2016). A Manager’s View on the Organisation.

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Choose: citizens’ privacy or the fight against terrorism?

2

October

2016

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Two terrorists shot fourteen people dead in the city of San Bernardino on the 2nd of December 2015. They committed this terroristic attack after they publically stated that they were IS sympathizers. The FBI found the phone of one of the shooters, and wanted to check for any contacts with other terrorists. FBI investigators are now trying to enforce Apple, by help of the court, that they provide software to unlock the iPhone. The FBI wants to have a kind of back door which enables security services to crack encrypted iPhones in the future. The technology company refuses categorically, Chief Executive officer Tim Cook called it the “Software variant of Cancer”. The words used by Mr. Cook are straightforward, but is the metaphor founded?
Google, Facebook, Microsoft and dozens of other competitors from Silicon Valley supported Apple in the fight against the FBI. All these companies and the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations fear that the privacy of all users will be at stake. Moreover, they are worried that this case will be used as a precedent. The probability that Apple has to crack more iPhones will increase. During a hearing in the US Congress the FBI stated that it would indeed be a precedent, which confirms the fear of the IT companies. The last argument Apple alleges is about the software to unlock iPhone. The software can leak to cybercriminals or can be reproduced by the FBI or other law enforcement agencies. That is a lot easier if there is an example.
The FBI, supported by victims and survivors of the shooting in San Bernardino, also wants to unlock iPhones of suspected drug dealers. They indicate that unlocking the iPhones will promise benefits in the field of detection and prevention of criminal actions such as drugs activities. The latest news is that the FBI confirmed that they successfully unlocked the iPhone of the San- Bernardino shooter. This without any help of Apple. It is not disclosed what method was used by the FBI to release the data on the phone. The government do not want to say which third party helped the FBI. But several media reported that it is the Israeli software company Cellebrite. They successfully cracked the outdated software of Apple.
So, how will this ethical and privacy subject evaluate? Mr. Cook believes the technology companies should take part in a committee, to talk together about the implications of the police investigation and privacy. This commission might be able to judge in this situation on the most ethical and correct approach. I personally think that the fear of Apple is well founded. Companies and governments must be very mature, thoughtful and careful with the personal information of an individual citizen.

C. Cuijpers, S. van Schendel. Data protection by Design as argument in FBI vs. Apple debate, 2016, Vol 42 Issue 3, pp. 37-47.
http://www.nu.nl/internet/

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What is the impact of Internet of Things?

20

September

2016

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As you will all know the Internet of Things (IoT) is a very hot and interesting item. But what is the IoT exactly and what will be the benefits and the cons in case it will be applied on a large scale? Let me start with a general description. The IoT has been defined in Recommendation ITU-T Y.2060 (06/2012) as a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies. Thus, IoT provides connectivity for everyone and everything.

Proponents of this development argue that a lot of manual processes can be automated and the functionality of products will improve significant. If the information from the internet will be added to dumb objects, they are useful and perhaps more versatile. One of the most famous examples is perhaps the intelligent thermostat which is connected with the internet and your smartphone. The device learns why, when and how to get the temperature down or turn up and will do that automatically later for you. When it becomes warmer outside, the heating will be less likely to catch on and as the weather gets colder, the thermostat will ensure that it stays warm in the house when needed.

Opponents refute the benefits with the following arguments. The fact that everything is connected to the internet means that hackers can enjoy themselves completely and can demand access to our daily lives. In addition, there is a lot of data consumed by the cloud, especially if we use more and more smart products. Since we will use more and more intelligent products, more data will be stored in the cloud. Because devices know exactly what you want, often means businesses know what your preferences are. And then the question is how they deal with it. Early adaptors must think carefully about this and consider the consequences.

What is your opinion about the IoT? And what kind of ethical questions must be considered and argued?

 

  1. References:
    1. J. Gubbi, R. Buyya, S. Marusic, & M.P., Palaniswami. The Internet of Things: A vision, architectural elements, and future directions, 2013, pp. 1645-1660.
    2. http://www.itu.int/
    3. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/what-is-the-internet-of-things-google

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