Internet Privacy – No Thanks

Orwell’s 1984 is reality now - Big Brother is watching you!

Data mining and online surveillance are reality. Someone watches your every click whether you shop, socialize, use email or just research “stuff”. Sophisticated software analyzes the data in hope to find patterns of behavior and identify potential terrorists. No, I’m not kidding, terrorists use the internet to communicate their plans with practically no chance of detection. I wonder how many innocent people are tagged as terrorists, is it really worth it? By no means do I want to ignore the terrorist threat but don’t we have a right to privacy? Watch the video Data Mining for Terrorists and Innocents and decide for yourself. How much further will it go?

Daily, thousands of spam emails and ads commute on the internet highway, where do these people get our email addresses? Have you ever noticed when you unsubscribed from one “solicitor” you get bombarded with more emails from others? How come they don’t use high-tech software to identify those terrorists? They hijack our email addresses and solicit every second, with each click; I wonder what behavior pattern those spam bombs produce? Plus, it’s solicitation illegal? I guess only on the streets, must not apply for the data highway. Surprisingly spam filter are not as advanced as anti-terrorist technology. All that data analysis for terrorist watch lists, amazing we can’t get a simple do-not-email list legalized.

References

Christina, V. V., Karpagavalli, S. S., & Suganya, G. G. (2010). Email Spam Filtering using Supervised Machine Learning Techniques. International Journal On Computer Science & Engineering, 3126-3129.

Laudon, K. & Laudon, J. (2012). Management Information Systems: Managing the digital Firm (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.

DTIS Customer Relationship Management

The RE-Designed Call Center

In my experience the introduction of new technology comes with resistance. Regardless whether the resistance is for the sake of resistance to change or just the inconvenience of having to learn something new or different, the affected employees often fail to see or simply ignore the positive aspects of the innovation.

The solution to the problem is collaboration. As presented in the video, the most important part is to work with the affected employees and to identify the existing business processes and the steps they take from start to end. Considering the end result and identifying what is necessary to successfully complete the process might shed some light on where the weaknesses are. The DTIS team worked with the city employees, to re-design the current processes to better meet the needs of the employees as well as the customers, here citizens. The CRM system with its designated service number provided an easy way for customers to make various service requests, which are stored in a central database. While the CRM system is customized to the needs of each department the creation of a central data repository allows interdepartmental collaboration that results in more efficiency and better customer service.

According to Engle “management resists change in process far more than changes in technology.”  No surprise there, changes in processes affect management since their development is a management function.  Technology changes would affect the workers’ daily operations more than management. Convincing management to change processes is a difficult task and has to be approached very strategically (Engle, 2012). Why should it be different with operations employees?

References

Engle, P. (2012). Moving from A to B. Industrial Engineer: IE, 44(7), 20.

Laudon, K. & Laudon, J. (2012). Management Information Systems: Managing the digital Firm (12th. ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.