Machines vs. Human Workers

Machines vs. Human Workers Introduction In the recent past, technology has evolved to such an extent that human labour has either been replaced either partially or completely by machines. People, companies and organizations have turned to research on machines as a possible replacement of human labour by. There have been postulations that machines make work easier. Work which was supposed to be done by several people can be done by only one person who is operating a machine. For example, a company has employed twenty people to be carrying some bags from point A to point B. If this company gets a machine with a conveyer belt to run from point A to B, the company will only need one person to operate the machine and the same work which was supposed to be done by twenty people will be done by one person. This fact has made most of the organizations to embrace technology and employ more machine labour than human labour with a view of cutting down the cost of production and at the same time increase the efficiency of work done. T his paper examines the effects of machines on human labour and how they interact. (Oscar, 2010). The need to make production similar in all aspects of the organization was a major problem facing most of the producers. Producers wanted to produce goods and services which were similar with one another. However, human labour was very different. People have different characteristics and behave differently in the same situation. This is also reflected at the work place. Two different people given the same work will not produce exactly similar results. This became an issue and the first solution was the development of protocols which would guide human beings in labour. These protocols would serve as guidelines to the workers in an attempt to produce similar results. However, the strategy did not yield very good results as expected. There was an increase in the administrative labour needs of organizations. In addition, there were a lot of conflicts between the laborers. The white color laborers and blue color were always in conflict. In addition, the companies could not produce the sam e goods. Research showed that the only way to produce similar products was by the use of a machine which led to the advent of machines. Although the first machines were not as advanced as the current ones, the machines replaced human labour partially. With time, a machine could do the work of very many people and thus reducing the need for human labour (Clay, 2010). Loss of Employment As mentioned above, machines have significantly reduced the need for human labour. Machines make work easier. With the advent of machines, an individual using a machine can perform work which would have needed several people to carry out. A machine will only need one person to operate it and then carry out duties which needed many people. An example is the transport industry. Initially, horses used to be the main means of transport. Each horse would need one individual to transport a person. However, the horses have been replaced by vehicles, planes and trains. These machines have completely replaced the need for horses and their operators. For one horse, one operator was needed and only one person could be transported. Currently, a train can carry one thousand people and with only one operator. In the normal case, transportation of one thousand people would have needed one thousand operators of the horses. However, the train has replaced the rest of nine hundred and ninety nine oper ators rendering them jobless. Machines carry out their functions with a lot of efficiency. Machines are continuously improved to work faster and become more efficient. Machines carry out the functions of human beings at relatively higher speed as compared to human beings. In the transportation of goods from one place to another, a machine can move at a speed which is one thousand times more than the human being or even more. The implication of this is that work which would have needed one thousand days of human labour will only need one day of machine labour. As a result, the machine will replace one thousand days of human labour with one day of human labour. An individual would have worked for a thousand days without the machine. This is thus reduced to just one day. If only two thousands day equivalent of human labour was available, the person will only work for two days only making him or her jobless for the rest of the remaining days (Penslar, 1995). The combination of the fact that a machine can carry out work of several individuals at the same time and do work faster than humans makes it displace human beings effectively. A machine will perform a certain duty faster than human beings and at the same time perform duties of several human beings at the same time. Most organizations will opt to use machines which will reduce the cost of operation by reducing the number of people needed for the job. Machines are therefore being a favorite for most of manufacturers. They will buy and install as many machines as possible so as to minimize human labour as much as possible. The end result will be a situation where very few people are needed for the running of an organization while the rest of the people are replaced by machines. Advancement of Capitalism Machines reduce the need of the company management of employing human workers. The organization will only need to buy a machine and then the organization will not pay human beings salaries and wages. The money which was supposed to be paid as wages and salaries is maintained by the organization as profit. Thus, the machines will divert the money which was supposed to be given to several people to the pocket of one individual. The owner of the organization will continue increasing his profit while the rest of the people who would have served as employees to the organization continue getting poorer as they do not have an income. The income for more than a thousand people will end up going to one person. This means that the people who have the capital to buy machines are more likely become rich while those without capital will become poor. Companies will invest more in buying technology. The organizations will buy software which is for replacement of the administrative duties of the human beings. Software will be designed such that it can perform most of the administrative duties in the organization. This makes the software very expensive and thus making the organizations which make such software benefit much from them. The result will be a boom in the software manufacturing industries. Thus, organizations and institutions which train people on the skills of performing certain job will become obsolete. An organization, for example, training people on the way to ride a horse for transport will become useless as no one will need such people. The machines are thus replacing the need to acquire certain skills. The training institutions for such skills will therefore not be needed and the people employed in those institutions become jobless. Replacement of Human Beings with Robots Part of the functions of human beings has been replaced by machines and robots. In some cases, the functions of human beings have been replaced completely. For example, in the transit of goods in production from one section to another has been replaced completely by the robots. These robots are able to move the goods at very high speed from one region to another without any delays. The machine will work without fatigue and thus can work for even twenty four hours per day. Some of the robots will need the input of human beings as a controller while others will not need such a controller. Depending on whether the robot needs human control or not, there can be complete replacement or partial replacement. Robots which need some human control are better because they do no replace completely the human labour. However, some machines and robots will replace humans completely since they need no human input in their running. They are just programmed and thus run without needing any input from human being. There however some instances in which human labour are very essential. An example is the medical field. Although there have been a lot of advances in medicine, it has become almost impossible to replace human labour with robots (Peterson, 2010). In the diagnosis, robot cannot accurately make a diagnosis. Even with advancement in technology in the medical field, there is no machine which is intelligent enough to carry out the functions of the doctor. Thus, although the machines are taking over most of human functions, there are some of the functions which the machine cannot perform (Williamson, 2000). Human beings have an advantage than robot in that they are intelligent. Human beings are able to think and adjust according to the situation. For example, during an operation, a human being is able to feel the force of pulling a suturing thread and estimate the need for applying more or less energy. However, a robot can easily cause damage because it does not have the feedback mechanism which human being has making it not appropriate for the performance of the specific functions which need a lot of intelligence. Human beings can look at a situation and think on the best way forward (Sheila, 2006). However, a robot or a machine will perform a certain duty in the same manner in all the cases making it not very appropriate for tasks which need thinking (Stevenson, 2010). Advantages of Machines over Human Beings Machines have very many advantages as compared to humans. First, machines perform work faster than human beings. Machines have a very high efficiency and they perform certain tasks at a faster rate than humans (Penslar, 1995). As outlined above, a machine can perform work which human being can take a thousand days in one day. This makes it efficient for the performance of most of duties especially where the time is a limiting factor. An organization will employ machines which will enable it produce a lot of goods or services within a short duration of time. With a machine, an organization will be able to beat all the deadlines and ensure that there are no delays to their customers. Machines have an advantage that they do not get exhausted. As opposed to human labour, most of machines can work for a full day without getting fatigued. This makes them be able to perform tasks which need to be performed throughout. For example, a lift can work for twenty four hours without getting exhausted. This makes it appropriate for use in the buildings. If it were a human being he or she would not be able to withstand the work and would eventually lose control. A machine is also not governed by the laws of labour concerning its working hours as opposed to the human beings who will only work for eight hours per day and any hour above that will be paid as overtime. Machines will not have overtime. Machines are not paid. Although their acquisition is very expensive, they do not need to be paid a salary or a wage. They do not need allowances like human beings. This makes them very cost effective. The money which the organization would have used as salaries forms part of the profit. The organization reduces its cost of production by a high percentage as the machines will replace the need of human labour and thus making it cheap for the organization to operate. The only expenses for the machines are its acquirement and its maintenance which is far much less than what would be the cost of paying employees if they were the ones working. Machines are able to products which are similar. A machine will operate in the same way and will not vary with time. Where it has been adjusted, it produces the goods with that standard. This is very important especially in mass productions where the organization needs to produce a lot of goods which are similar with one another. It makes it easier to test the quality of the goods since just a sample is needed and it acts as a representative of the rest of the products. The sample is a true representation since the machine produced goods which were all the same. For example, in the packaging of oil in the oil cans by ExxonMobil, all the cans contain the same volume and quality of oil as long as the settings were not altered. Thus when someone wants to tests the quality of goods being produced, he or she will just need to test one product. Machines are not vulnerable to corruption. Corruption is gaining root in most of the places especially in the third world countries. To reduce this corruption, machines are employed. A machine will apply one standard to all situations regardless of whatever situation presents. This is as opposed to human beings where a brother or a friend may receive favors of the person in charge. For example, in the automated betting systems, the machine is able to decide without bias who has won which is opposed to a situation where a human being is in control and therefore will be biased (Thompson, 2003). Disadvantages of Machines over Human Beings Machines are at times not able to completely replace human beings. Machines are not able to think and conform to the situation at hand (Zainab, 2010). A machine will not be able to adjust according to the situation so as to make it possible for it to do the best at that time. A machine cannot notice that there needs to be a change in the actions since the environment demands a different way of operation. Human beings can adjust to the situation and change accordingly. A machine will only operate on commands and without the commands, the machines will not operate. What the machine or the robot has been commanded will form its actions until a different command is given (Ridley, 1998). Machines have reduced the need for human labour. Human labour has lost mean because of its cost and its effectiveness. Organizations sack people and their duties taken over by machines. Employees will lose their way of life and make them baggers. Most people will become jobless as the machines take over all the functions of humans. With very efficient and effective machines being produced, they can completely replace all the functions of human beings in an organization. An organization will depend almost completely on the machine for the labour. Conclusion Technology has gone to a very high level in the recent years. Technology has concentrated on making work easier and reduces the need for employing many people. This has led to the decrease in the importance of human labour. People have been losing jobs and their duties played by the machines. The machines have the advantage that they are faster and more effective. They enable an organization to meet its deadlines and thus avoid a situation where the organization is not able to carry its duties in time. On the other hand, machines lead to loss of jobs for people and thus making them not have an income.

Is There Too Much Technology? Essay

Technology is a great thing, it is used anywhere and everywhere around the world. Whether it’s a radio or an iPad, we all have some sort of technological device lying around somewhere in the house. You can ask it to do something and it will do it for you, it is a way of improving our living conditions. Let’s start with the mobile phones as an example. If you are like me then you can’t be off your phone for more than two minutes. If you are not calling someone then you are texting someone. If you are not texting someone, then you are browsing the web, most likely you would be on facebook or twitter. If you are not doing any of those things then you would be staring blindly at your phone with nothing to do, or just waiting for something to happen. We seem very reluctant to just turn our phones off. Being a user myself I have nothing against mobile phones, but technology has become more than a tool and more of a lifestyle.  We all have to adapt to a new generation of technology. It’s all something we have to get used to. As time passes by technology seems to get better, better and better. When I was a little children all I remember was playing with my dolls. Internet usage can lead to loneliness and misery. Imagine the people, who spend all their time on the Internet, this would not leave them any time to spend with their families or friends. They would never have time to get out of their homes to meet new friends or neighbours, not allow them time to exercise , or allow them the ability to experience life. Although some people argue that technology can be good for introverted people by allowing them opportunities to have more social activities, a more accurate assessment of modern day technology would be that it is harmful to society, causing people to spend less time with family and friends, at parties, at sporting events, and less time pursuing an active lifestyle. We need to understand that while technology is useful and necessary, there are also many negative drawbacks. The modern day Internet provides users with instant information from around the globe. We are able to learn and process information at much greater rates than society did before the invention of modern technology. While all this is exciting and wonderful, technology users need to understand the dangers associated with too much of a good thing. Teens should be limited to the amount of time they spend on-line, and by themselves.

Hardware and Software Used in Public Bank

Public Bank is currently the largest domestic bank in Malaysia by shareholders’ funds. It is well-known in 1966 by its founder and chairman, Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow. The bank was planned on the Malaysia Stock Exchange in 1967. The Public Bank Group employs more than 14,000 people, with in Hong Kong and China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Sri Lanka. Public Bank is one of the most competent banks as reflected by its low cost to revenue ratio in Malaysia.The Public Bank Group has established a strong potential of delivering remarkably high rates of organic growth in its centre business. Over the years, the Public Bank Group has been part of physically powerful catalysts to support Malaysia economic growth. From the start of this, Public Bank has form itself into a strong and successful financial institution, contribution wide range of competitive and innovative products and solutions to meet its customers’ needs. Public Bank is the most recognized brand in the Mal aysia financial services manufacturing for its strong brand guarantee.Public Bank Berhad is occupied in commercial banking, investment banking, financing and Islamic banking business, stock-broking, provision of related financial services, management of unit trust funds and sale of trust units, underwriting of insurance, and investment holding. Complemented by business banking services, Public Bank is a market leader in consumer banking and retail commercial lending to SMEs in Malaysia. The company operates six segments. Hire purchase operations are focused on the stipulation of passenger vehicle financing to all levels of customers.Retail operations focus on producing products and providing services to each and every customer. The Company operates six segments. Hire purchase operations are focused on the provision of passenger vehicle financing to all levels of customers. Retail operations focus on providing products and services to individual customers and small-and medium-sized e nterprises. Corporate lending operations cater to the funding needs of corporate customers. Treasury and capital market operations is involved in trading in treasury related products and services. Investment banking operations caters to the business needs of corporate customers.Fund management operations consist of sale of trust units and the management of unit trust funds. Others refer to non-core operations, such as property holding. 2. 0 Types of contemporary information systems in Public Bank 2. 1 Customer Relationship Management System Introduction Customer Relationship Management System or usually known as CRM is one of the system used in Pubic Bank Berhad. CRM is a type of software application which used organized customer demographic, account and transactional information to obtain a better understanding of customer’s banking and financing needs, relationships and financial behavior..CRM helps improve the quality of customer relationships and offers opportunities to e xtend and cement the customer’s relationship with the Public Bank Group and improve on the company’s customer cross-selling ratio. Hardware and Software requirements To install the CRM system, there are some requirements need to be fulfill before proceed to the installment of the system. Of course beside of the basic hardware requirement such as mouse, keyboard, and monitor, it still need some more powerful hardware tools.First and the most important it should has a processor which is at least more than dual 1. 8 GHz Pentium Xeon to keep the server is usable. Using a lower-grade of processor with CRM system will caused server to freeze. Then, it should has a Random Access Memory (RAM) with at least 1 GB which gives its CRM program enough extra headroom to operate on its most basic level. For a better stability, run CRM on a system with 2 GB of memory or more. For the disk space requirement, it should have 400MB or more free space on the hard disk before installing CRM. Last one is the operating system and IIS.CRM need Windows Server 2003 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 in order to operate the CRM system. Along with operating system, Internet Information Services(IIS) version 6. 0 or 7. 0 need to be installed. While for software requirement, first it need a network interface card(NIC) to allows a client computer to connect to the central location where the CRM applications is located. Besides that, it need network protocol to allow two or more computers to communicate. The most common protocol is TCP/IP protocol which is also used to connect to the Internet. Functions and Core activities performedThere are several functions of CRM in Public Bank Berhad which may deal with every different department in the company. 1. Significance -CRM should serve as the method used by Public Bank to gain insight into their existing and future customer base. It allows them to measure the amount of customer business that already exists along with the product and service s that need to be offered in order to retain customers. 2. Function -The function contained within the CRM system must allow Public Bank to formulate its overall marketing and business strategy plan.This function is based upon calculations performed by the CRM platform that produces profitability by asset and liability type followed by the complete drill down to all basic components such as profitability from deposits and loans. 3. Features -CRM platform should be available to all marketing staff, management and any other sales related area of Public Bank. The monitor screens for these staff members should indicate customers by bank officer, business transactions, total and itemized profitability, contact information and customer profile data.It should also provide â€Å"what-if† scenarios that allow marketing staff the opportunity to develop personalized business plans for each customer. 4. Considerations -The CRM system of Public Bank must be constantly monitored for proper coding, subiness types; income and cost allocations along with rate analysis. CRM system must be updated and changed for the inclusion of a new business line along with all the associated information necessary for functionality. Advantages and Disadvantages There are a lot of advantages of using CRM in banking industry such as Public Bank Berhad.By using CRM, Public Bank can increase their revenue and profitability where bankers can easily see what products is currently used by customers, what products they are eligible for and what additional benefits should be added into the product or service. Besides, it also can improved customer service when CRM give proactive banks access to technology that helped them improve customer retention by using customer feedback to offer conveniences like ATMs and online banking. Next is the highly target marketing. With the captured data from their customer profile and ransactions, bankers are able to better identify target markets or rank custome rs according to lifetime expected value and then tailor the promotional campaigns to individuals. However, disadvantages of CRM will occurred on the same time. CRM is not always profitable so that Public Bank will need to pay a high cost for the continual maintenance or setup of its server which will takes up company resources. In addition, Public Bank need to hire professionals to train their employees in group in order to provide training for their employees.This may takes away time for productivity because most CRMs have specialized functions for managers and executives. Besides that, implementation of CRM may face overhead problem where Public Bank need to pay an amount of money to the software developers whenever a new version of software was applied to their CRM. Lastly is the integration problem faced by CRM because if a certain CRM system is not compatible with Public Bank’s other system such as email or accounting systems, the CRM system will not be effective. Implem entation ChallengesPublic Bank Berhad should consider of lease the CRM system from outside vendors as it may keep their database organized and updated. Customers trend keeps changing from time to time so they may not captured the trends if their CRM systems is not updated with the latest software or facilities and worse it may lead to lose to compete in the market where many of their customers start on choosing other company. 1. One of the biggest challenges facing by Public Bank to implement CRM is the cost associated with purchasing, installing and training employees to use new software.However, properly implemented of CRM will eventually show a good return on performance of the bank. 2. CRM-centric businesses focus on placing customers and their satisfaction before Public Bank and it is typically very complex and span multiple departments. This means that most employees must go through some sort of training to adopt with the system. 3. In-House CRM software will be more effective than supported system CRM but In-House CRM will be much more difficult to implement.Public Bank should consider supported system which means outsourced to another company in order to help them implement CRM effectively. Supported systems typically less costly to implement because it is not as effective as In-House solutions. Security Issues Possible security attacks in a CRM system are: 1. Denial of service (DOS) is a type of attacked in system where it attacked the system and make it unavailable to customers. Some of the possible attackers are angry customers, script kiddies, formal employees, and the competitors. 2.Intrusion of sales automation systems and customer database. Sales Automation systems normally have numerous information about customer so it may effort risk from potential attackers to break into the systems and steal the customer information. 3. Identity theft is a type of crime where someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or o ther crimes. 4. Malware attacks. Malware includes viruses and worms where their attacks can cause the damage on DOS, hardware and loss of data. 2. 2 Database Management System IntroductionA Database Management System is also known as DBMS is one of the software application used in Public Bank Berhad. A DBMS is best described as a collection of programs that manage the database structure and that control shared access to the data in the database It is a program that lets one or more computer users in the bank to create and access data from a same database. DBMS may use a variety of database models such as relational model or non-relational model. It also can be thought as a â€Å"file manager† that manages data in databases rather than files in file systems.A DBMS provides facilities for controlling data access, enforcing data integrity and maintaining database security as well. Hardware and Software requirements For hardware requirement of DMBS, it needs a basic 32-bits or a 64-bits operating system in order to implement the software. The minimum CPU speed for a DBMS is 1GHz per server but it is recommended to apply a 2GHz, multi-core for each server. Minimum RAM requirement before implement DBMS is 512MB per server. However, for multiple databases which is more than 100GB,it is recommended to apply 4GB for each server. While in disk ubsystem, it must at least enable SCSI or SATA hard disks or SSD which provides minimum 7200 rpm. For a better or high speed database, a SDD or high-speed HDD arrays will be more suitable for the system. Functions and Core activities performed Generally, there are several functions of DBMS in Public Bank which is:1. Support Concurrent Updates -Concurrent updates occur when multiple users make updates to the database simultaneously. So it is important for Public Bank’s database management to ensures that updates are made correctly and the end result is accurate to avoid lost of data or inaccurate data stored. . Recove ry of data -In the event of catastrophe occurs, DBMS of Public Bank can provide ways to recover a database so that data is not permanently lost. If the database is destroyed or damaged in any way, DBMS will able to recover the correct state of database by making a regular backups of information. So in the event of a disaster occurs, the database can be restored to the state that it was last at prior to backup. 3. Able to update and retrieve data -This is a fundamental component of DBMS and essential to database management.Updating data in database includes adding new records, deleting existing records and changing information within a record. Advantages and Disadvantages There are several advantages of DBMS in Public Bank and the first will be storing lots of data in one place. By using DBMS, Public Bank can store a large amount of important and sometimes some confidential information such as pay records and personal details in a database. Besides that, security of data also a major issue where Public Bank will able to keep confidential information, passwords and restricted that data only available for certain high-level employees.Next is a fast query where employees of Public Bank can searched for data by just key in certain keywords and thus will enable all the relevant information to appear on the screen immediately. Lastly is ability to share by more than 2 users. With DBMS, employees of Public Bank will not faced network jammed because the database or the same data can be accessed by multiple users at the same time. While there are some disadvantages of DBMS too which is complexity and costs. The control and administration of DBMS are challenging and hiring administrators who are specialized database experts is also expensive.Secondly, confidentiality, privacy and security risk is another main issue because when information is accessed remotely, the possibilities of information disclosure and leakage are greater than with conventional data processing syst em. Last disadvantage of DBMS is data quality and data integrity risk where when databases are accessed and used by multiple users, it will increase the risks of potential damage to the data. Users who are not database experts may try to update or append data to the database will caused damage of data too. Implementation challengesPublic Bank Berhad should rent or lease the DBMS system from other vendors or outsourced it since managing or build a internal database is much more complex and it take a lot of costs. So they may hire other vendors especially some professional in managing database system in order to help them in the process. Then, the benefits of rent the database from other vendors is the company just need to pay for the amount they used or some maintenance fees. When there is some latest software published, they also may immediately change for it after their license for the system had expired.In addition, they also may just add on extra space for the storage of data by just pay for some extra costs. There are several issues faced when DBMS is implemented: 1. Primary VS Secondary memory -Before a DBMS is implemented, Public Bank should consider whether which memory they would like to use whether a primary memory or secondary memory for a more effective processing. Primary memory is fast and has a low latency but it is non-persistent and its size may be smaller than data size. Secondary memory is opposite in each case.2. Recovery The transaction in Public Bank may face failure or the system also could fail, so implementation of DBMS must be able to recover as much data as possible and it must never leave a transaction â€Å"half done† so it should restore all the data to consistent state. 3. Query processing -The DBMS must able to translate the query into relational algebra (RA) expressions because it likely to be more efficient and indirectly this will minimize the size of intermediate relations. It also must provide different algorithms for each RA operation.Then cost is estimated using statistical information from the database catalog and the cheapest queries should be chosen. Security Issues After DBMS is implemented in the company, it may face some threats to their database which caused loss of integrity, lost of availability and loss of confidentiality. To protect database against these types of threats, Public Bank may 4 methods to encounter the threats which the first one is access control where user accounts and passwords to control login process by DBMS is created.Next is inference control and it controlled the access to statistical database which is used to provide statistical information or summaries of values based on various criteria. The 3rd is flow control. Flow Control is a type of security way which prevents information from flowing in such a way to reaches unauthorized users. The last security method is encryption used to protect sensitive data that is being transmitted via some type of communication network.The data is encoded using encoding algorithm and only authorized users are given decoding or decrypting algorithm or keys to decipher the data. . 3 Enterprise Resourse Planning System Introduction Enterprise Resource Planning systems or ERP are software modules that handle the core functions of a business enterprise which integrates all department is the business including planning, human resource and finance and marketing. In Public Bank, ERP is used to integrate all networks from different department into a single central database for a better data transfer. Public Bank use ERP systems to maximize resources improve customer and vendor relationships and empower decision made.With the implementation of ERP system, the process of the bank will be faster and more effective. Hardware and Software requirements Hardware requirements to install a ERP is it must has a CPU which is running Intel Pentium III 500 MHz or above and minimum hard disk space needed is 30 GB. For RAM, it mu st at least has 256 MB but 512 MB RAM is recommended for a better performance. The PC must ensure it has a CDROM if the ERP system is installing from a CD and at least it has Intel Compatible Ethernet Card for the NIC. While for software requirements, the PC must has at least Windows NT Server 4. or Windows NT Server Pack 6. 0. Then,it needs a internet browser which is at least Internet Explorer 5. 0 or above.Besides that, it also need at least Microsoft SQL Server which is 7. 0 or above. Functions and Core activities performed There are several functions of ERP in Public Bank: 1. Central Database -A central database is essential for an efficient ERP system because it allow for visibility between operating divisions and help improve business processes in multiple departments. All departments in Public Bank may use the same input format so no time is waste in transferring and translating information. . Human Capital Management -ERP software allows Public Bank to manage their employee s more effectively or track their employee’s progress. This means employees can be better awarded for good performance and employees with potential can be targeted for additional training. It also helps to ensure the goals of employees are in alignment with the goals of Public Bank. 3. Operations Management -The operations management provides managers with the capability to manage procurement and logistics, resulting in efficient flow of materials.Managers of Public Bank use this automated process in real time to control the product development and manufacturing life cycles. Indirectly, this will helps them to cut the costs. 4. Performance Measurement -It provides real-time measurements and metrics that assist managers in understanding the business and making decisions. Business monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure against expected performance such as employee turnover rate. Using ERP, it can integrate this with other business process such as plannin g, forecasting and budgeting. Advantages and DisadvantagesThere are some advantages of ERP in Public Bank and the most important is integration. By using ERP, all the business departments can be integrating into a single and cohesive platform. In addition to synchronization of work flow, ERP also provide a clearer overview of enterprise functioning and quicker performance. Secondly, ERP help to reduced operation costs because the system facilitate faster information flow between departments and offices so it will help employees to work faster, save valuable time and reduce operational costs. Another advantage of using ERP is data benefits.ERP has ability to streamline data so it reduces redundancy of similar data from different departments. All data is linked to each other and stored in a database so the data will only updated with accurate information and the data from a central database is accessible to multiple departments so it increased information processing time and allowed m anagers to obtain critical information quicker with a better accuracy. Last advantages is aid strategic planning decisions. ERP systems allow Public Bank to access data in real time and due to this it allow them to become more nimble and align it process and operations with their organization goals.So they can quickly captured the situations and come out with a proper solutions to overcome it. Implementation Challenges For ERP system, Public Bank should just purchased or buy the system once they have confirmed or identified that the system chosen is totally meet their requirement. It is because if the company had purchased an effective ERP system for their company, they do not need to pay large amount of money for the new training of their staff or employees and the costs for the purchase of new system. If the company purchased the system, they will only need to pay a little amount of money for the maintenance of the system.Besides that, if the company choose to implement new ERP sy stem, it will take a long period for their employees to adopt with the new system . Indirectly, this will reduce the productivity of the employees and wasted the resources of the company. Several issues need to be concerned before implementation of ERP: 1. Resistance to change -Adoption with ERP system is a major issue before the system is implemented because many units or divisions in Public Bank may resist to ERP due to insufficient guidelines or explanations from top management.If the benefits of ERP are not explained well, the recipients may resist and slow down the successful adoption of the system or refuse to use it correctly. 2. Training -Usually ERP errors result from improper user training. Public Bank should consider provide adequate time to thoroughly train the users because if without a proper training, they might often find themselves struggling to get proper materials. 3. System selection -There are many types of ERP system from different vendors so Public Bank should choose ERP systems base on functionality, scope, price and ease of use of the ERP.If the company fail to address these issues during selection of ERP system, they may face multiple challenges before, during and after the system was purchased. Security Issues There are a lot of issues about the security in ERP systems which include theft, damage, copying, unauthorized access to information, natural disasters and sabotage. But most common forms of security threat to ERP systems are from computer technology which is tapping or hacking. Public Bank may used security controls where authorized user need to log in with a secure username and password he may use the system.Besides that, they can limit a user’s accessibility into a certain level only so employees are only able to find some data regarding to their departments. Then, data encryption also can be used where it limits someone’s ability to export the database. Audit logs is build in ERP systems to track individual tr ansactions or changes in the system but it only provide a little detail about the relevance of the transaction. However, most of the organizations do not configure their ERP system to maintain audit logs because they are concerned about performance, degradation and they think they don’t need it. . 0 Porter’s Five Forces Analysis The Porter’s Five Forces illustrates how the competitive environment in the industry impacted by five forces.These forces are Threat of potential competitors, the intensity competition among existing firms, the power of suppliers, the power of the customers and the easiness of changing to substitute products. Porter’s five forces tool helps understand where power lies in business situation and it is useful, because helps understand clearly about the strength of current competitive position and the strength of a position that need considering to move into.Public Bank has used this porter’s competitive model to developed comp etitive strategies and enhanced performance by using information systems. Next, information systems that used by Public Bank are Customer Relationship Management System, Enterprise Resource Planning and Database Management System. 3. 1 The Power of Customers The power of customers is one of the forces of Porter’s Five Forces. It’s refers to the ability of customers can exert on businesses to get them to provide higher quality products, better customer service, and lower prices. The power of customers is one of the forces that shape the competitive structure of an industry.For example, Public Bank is one of the banks that faced these forces. Customers switching their loans and investment from one commercial bank to another, because banking industry is provide service and customer does not require to pay any large amount of costs. So, when the number of suppliers of investment banking services increase, the bargaining power of customers also increased. Besides that, cust omer power become high also because substitutes are available, threat of backward integration is high and costs switching are low.Porter’s five forces can solve by using information system. Appendix 1) Information system that can solved bargaining power of customer is Customer Relationship Management System (CRM). CRM is a technology and best tool use to analysis customer desires and needs from the firm, it is also a database created for the different type of customer information which helps to have a competitive advantage with others firm. Based on staff opinion, CRM collected and stored customer information to information and business strategy use. CRM helps Public Bank to attract new customer because they can identify what customer needs and wants.Besides that, they also can help bank having a good relationship with profitable customers because they produces efficiency operation compares to others firm. CRM is a unique strategy use to differentiate with competitors, they u sed by the firm for segmentation customers and to concentrate on retaining profitable and valuable customer. CRM store all the details of the customer what they buy and when they buy, so it’s can help reorganize customer details and help Public Bank to satisfaction customer by availability, quality, presentation, image, value for money and fulfill the expectation of customers.In addition, CRM provide staff with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand and identify the customer needs and effectively build relationships between the firm and its customer base as a distribution partners. Public Bank use CRM software to help them manage their customer relationship and build customer loyalty to their bank. Next, Public Bank also use Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) to helps managed the important parts of business. ERP software applications can be used to manage product planning, parts purchasing, inventories, interacting with suppliers, provide customer service and tracking order.ERP application modules help Public bank manage their finance department, human resources department and also including manufacturing, sales and marketing. Based on staff opinion, ERP help to shares the data flow from one department to another department across the organization. Besides that, ERP also manage the information flow from organization to the connection with outsiders. For example, customer may get their money from ATM from one bank to another or they get money from other bank use different debit card or credit card. ERP help manage all the money flow and transfer the data to the organization.In addition, ERP system deal with customers as well as other people, they attempt to cover all the basic operations of any given organization and government. Moreover, ERP is easier to use and enables organization get better understanding their business and standardize business process. ERP help organization to attract customer because they manage all information and data systematically and efficiently, this give a nice impression to customers. Database Management System (DBMS) is software system uses a standard method to cataloging, retrieving, and running queries on data.DBMS manages incoming data, organizes it and provides ways for the data to be modified or extracted by organization. Public Bank use this software system to manage large structure sets of persistent data, offering hoc query facilities to customers. DBMS help Public Bank manage their customer data and make staff easier to find the information when they needed. This saved a lot of time and cost to the organization and customers. Besides that, its gives a good impression to customer and make them more confidence to the organization and build a customer loyalty.DBMS also accept the requests for data from the application program and instructs the operating system to transfer the appropriate data. When DBMS used, information systems can be changed easily as the organization required to change. DBMS is design to help organization record the data into different types and related to each others. This makes transaction processing more efficiently and systematically. 3. 2 The Power of Suppliers A bank has three suppliers of its products; it is depositors, the credit market and the central bank.Suppliers is very important and powerful to an organization, in banking industry they provide bonds, and certificate to sell to the bank and bank will sell those things to customers. Without suppliers, organization can’t function well, when supplier less and they provide limit action to the industry then power of supplier will be high and powerful. Large clients, corporation, government agencies are offered packages of services in market orientation in management. The central bank is effectively resources of last resort, its supply liquidity banking system in virtually unlimited quantities at a reasonable cost.Information system can help bank to en hance their performance and run the process effectively. Public bank used CRM to maintain a good relationship with their potential suppliers. They understand anticipate and respond to the needs of an organization to help grow relationship. CRM ensuring the correct people in place, with the correct skills to deliver outstanding personal service and establishing clear material service that supplier need. Based on staff opinion, CRM help organization having a good relationship with supplier can make all things become easier.Staff can easily prove the document from supplier and also can pass the document to customer in short time. This saved cost and time because shorten transaction processing time. Besides CRM, ERP is also a important system to enhance relationship with suppliers. ERP is a set of software application to the organization, its help standardize business processes necessary effectively plan and control. So, supplier can develop their plan and process about the product thro ugh ERP and ERP and shares the information flow inside the organization.By using ERP, banker and supplier can clearly classify information that they need and use for forecasting for their future plan. Moreover, Public bank also use DBMS to enhance their performance in banking industry. By using DBMS, organization can classify their data one by one because DBMS function is determine all the information from various departments and put in different type of document. In addition, DBMS help organization identify what investment should invest and identify federal investment bonds, bills, and short term federal bonds. DBMS is important for organization to interacting with suppliers and customers. .3 Threat of New Entrants Threat of new entrants is a factor that leads to increase the number of competitors in an industry. New entrants is competitive because they having the same activities and business in same market. Normally when one industry making high profit will attract new entrants to compete, when new entrants keep increasing, it’s will causes some firm lose and they will exit in that industry. So, to keep the organization increase profit steadily, organization must have a unique characteristic to attract customers and also have a good relationship with customers.But in banking industry, probability threat of new entrants is less because want enter bank industry is not a easy way. They need a lot of board of director and required a lot of capital. In addition, opening a bank not only need to check by government and also need having license and fulfill all the federal and state regulations. Opening a new bank also need to face changing of technology, strategic planning and expertise problems. Besides that, opening a new bank need a lot of money to buy advanced information system to help bank make transaction process and keep all the data.For example, bank use CRM to maintain the relationship with customers, ERP help manager to planning and forecast and DB MS help bank manage all the data flow from one department to another department. 3. 4 Threat of Substitute Products In the banking industry, they are no real threat of substitute products because all bank are having the same services such as investment, loan and deposit. But based on other view, threat of substitute like non-financial competitors is one of the reasons that faced by bank.Substitute product are the natural of industry competition, they involved the same function of the product that the industry already produces. For example, loan and mortgage is not much different, both is because customers want money and make an investment. In the banking sector, there have several products at the same time, so it counted as substitutes products. For example if someone is looking for a travelers check and that could not be provided, so it might decide to telegraphic transfer. Information system can help to enhance their performance to the threat of substitute products.Information sys tem can help bank solved the threat of substitute. Like CRM, its can help bank have a good relationship and the customers confidence with that bank. With this, banker offer bonds, mutual fund and stock to customer and they will more accept what they prefer because they trust that bank. Main purpose of CRM is help bank to attract new customers, having a good and healthy relationship with profitable customers. Besides that, CRM also increase efficiency process and help to gain competitive advantage over the banking industry. Not only CRM help to solved threat of substitute product, ERP also help a lot in managing the planning.ERP help integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer that can serve all those different department particulars need. ERP help differentiate different type of product and make compare to another products to make a analysis. Its help customer more clear and understand about the product they interest. 3. 5 Competitive Rivalry Amon g An Industry Banking industry is a highly competitive industry. Financial services industry has been around for hundred years and everyone need to save money, make investment and loan the capital.Bank offers lower financing, higher rates, investment services and greater conveniences than their rivals. Rivals always compete by using advertising, introduce new products, more attractive customer services and warranties to enhance their standing and market share in specific industry. Rivalry will causes factors like equally balanced companies, slow growth within an industry, high fixed cost, lack of product differentiation, overcapacity and price-cutting, diverse competitors, high-stakes investment, and the high risk of industry exit.So, bank need to use information system to solve the rivalry problems. Same as ention before, CRM, ERP and DBMS can help bank to compete with rivalry. There not only can help bank gain competitive advantage and also help increase profit and process efficie ncy. CRM helps Public Bank to attract new customer because they can identify what customer needs and wants. Besides that, they also can help bank having a good relationship with profitable customers because they produces efficiency operation compares to others firm. CRM is a unique strategy use to differentiate with competitors, they used by the firm for segmentation customers and to concentrate on retaining profitable and valuable customer.ERP help to shares the data flow from one department to another department across the organization. ERP also manage the information flow from organization to the connection with outsiders and help manager planning and forecasting. While DBMS manages incoming data, organizes it and provides ways for the data to be modified or extracted by organization. Public Bank use this software system to manage large structure sets of persistent data, offering hoc query facilities to customers. DBMS help Public Bank manage their customer data and make staff ea sier to find the information when they needed.4. Strategic System Analysis 4. 1 Structure of Industry and firm location The Public Bank is one of the banks that using a lot of technology and also strategy in order to outstanding in the financial industry. Public bank used business strategy like multiple delivery channels to better serve its large customer base of individuals and business enterprises. The Group has also enhanced its internet banking and mobile banking services and they will continue to tap on its large sales and marketing force and strategic alliance with key partners to deliver high value products and services to its customers.This is one of the reasons why the Public Bank can stand a chance to be one of the leaders in financial industry. Nowadays, the customers more prefer choose the bank that offer several types of the loan and facilities in order to fulfill their needs in any financial problem. Nowadays, there many financial institutions on the market and all of them also come out with a lot of excellent services and products in order to retain their position in the market. So, Public Bank eventually cannot be avoided, will with face a lot of rival banks such as Maybank, CIMB, Hong Leong Bank, UOB and others.Public Bank and their competitors are competing with each other in a similar market, similar products and services such as home loan, credit card, insurance and investment funds. The corporate structure of Public Bank is unique in the financial industry since its structure is regionally decentralized. The corporate structure is generally separated into two parts that is Malaysian companies and Overseas & Offshore companies. For Malaysian companies it mainly focus on financial business such as Islamic banking, Family Takaful, Trustee services, investment banking, sales and management of Unit Trust, Leasing & Factoring and Property holding.On the other hand, for Overseas and Offshore Companies they usually handle business like investment & property holding, stock &share broking, deposit-taking & finance, securities dealing and underwriting, offshore banking and last but not least offshore trust company. Public Bank have many branches throughout Malaysia and also overseas such as Hong Kong, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China and Sri Lanka. The location of Public Bank is headquartered at 27th floor of Menara Public Bank, 146 Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is located at the capital of Malaysia. 4. 2 Value chainsThe idea of value chain was first came up by Michael Porter (1985) to depict how customer value accumulates along a chain of activities that lead to an end product or service. Porter describes the value chain as the internal processes or activities a company perform â€Å"to design, produce, market, deliver and support its product. † He describes the value chain into three categories which are: business, firm and industry. (Appendix 2) In the financial market now, the customer are more prefer to choose buy goods and services from the bank that are more worth trusted and excellent in service and product provide.As a result, Public bank are aiming this kind of behavior and provide much type of products such as loan, deposit, investment, cards, ATM and insurance to fulfill the needs of the customer. Furthermore, Public bank also focuses in adding in more value with the customers by providing nice services to them. Firstly, Public bank had offer a time saving and more convenience way for their customer to do any transaction businesses that is ATM machine and online banking.For example, there many places in Malaysia are full of ATM machines that offer by Public bank, whether in the bank branches, shopping mall and even inside the school. It gives people to either deposit the money or withdraw money in faster way. Besides ATM machine, online banking also helps customer save a lot of time too. Customers no longer need to step out of their house to settle any transaction at the bank anymore. Next, with its strong customer service culture, the Public bank continues to maintain its superior delivery standards which have been benchmarked against international ISO standards.Public Bank also remains the first and the only bank in Malaysia which has attained bank-wide ISO 9001:2000 certifications for customer service at the front office of its branches and bank-wide loan delivery service. Public bank makes sure that whenever there is a customer walks into any of their branches, customer can expect consistent superior delivery standards that match the best in the world. Furthermore, Public bank also valuing by provided the financial management education to their customers. The purpose is to let them learn how to manage their financial future and make money management more interesting and easy to understand.This help in response to consumers struggling to find relevant, easy to understand and trustworthy financial information and advice. Besides that, Public bank also introducing PB Sharelink for customer learn how to invest. It is a product specifically designed to assist clients with their share trading and margin financing needs on the Malaysia Securities Exchange Bhd (MSEB). It offers the maximum purchasing power through leveraging against existing funds or collateral to enable customers to purchase and invest in shares to capitalize on any emerging opportunities in the stock market. 4. 3 Alignment of IT with Business Strategies and GoalsUntil fairly recently, the traditional role reserved for IT has been fairly subservient in business planning. IT was been merely an implementation tool, not only involved in shaping strategy but also created opportunities as well as a market channels to the new business. IT plays an important role in developing the long-term business strategy. So, organization needs to ensure their IT and business strategy functions are completely synchronized towards their business goals. Previously we have mentioned th at Public bank more focus in business strategy and goals in managing the structure and also valuing the relationship with the customer.In addition, Public bank also utilize the technology in the strategy in order to make their strategy can be perform in faster and efficient way. The international goal of Public bank is â€Å"to sustain the position of being the most efficient, profitable and respected premier financial institution in Malaysia. † Therefore, through the product innovation provide by Public bank, the aligned IT with their business strategies and goals is gradually achieved. The use of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) was one of the technology instruments which help to improve the number of Public bank card user.This is because the transactions are processed in less than a single second which is very convenience and time saving to the cardholder. Besides, it also allowed the cardholder make their fund transaction at any time and place since the ATM provides 24 hour s of the transaction service throughout countries. 5. 0 Conclusion As a conclusion, the implementation of IT has successfully driven the global economy by connecting all the cards, acceptance locations, ATMs and financial institutions around the world to help Public bank become one of the successful bank in financial industry.As a leader in financial service industry, Public bank not only need to focus on how to improve their sales of product and services offered by them but they also need to find out what are the changes out of its company, in order to avoid being eliminate by their rivals as well as the world. So, through the Porter five forces analysis, Public bank can enhance their strength so they can create more market opportunity for themselves and be prepared with their weakness and threat, treat those weakness and threat as a challenge for their company.Besides that, the top management needs to hire a strong and experienced project manager to ensure that the implementation of system will run smoothly. By using advance of technologies, the customer feels more confident with the product and services of the ING Insurance Bhd. Finally, Public bank can become a successful leader in the financial service industry because of the 3 system used, that is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Database Management System (DBMS) and Customer Relationship System (CRM).

Report On The Backyard Of Damien Echols Backyard

The bottom-line, up-front is that evidence found in the backyard of Damien Echols’ backyard; specifically , the wooden box found near the shed, should be suppressed because of the negligence of law enforcement officials in respecting the Fourth Amendment rights of Mr. Damien Echols. 2. This suppression of evidence is a result of the negligent police actions that took place one week from 08 June 1993 near and on the residence of Mr. Damien Echols. The events began with anonymous tip to the Arkansas Police Department that stated Mr. Echols held an unspecified piece of evidence pertaining to the murder of the three boys somewhere in his home. Following up on the anonymous tip a week later, Detective Ridges went to the residence of Mr.†¦show more content†¦3. The issue surrounding these circumstances is whether the search warrant given to police, which ultimately led to the discovery of the wooden box, was obtained using information gained illegally under an improper search of the Echols’ residence 4. The main set of rules that dictate the ruling in this situation stems from the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This amendment protects individuals from â€Å"unreasonable searches and seizures† from government employee or agent; or when they violate an individual’s expectation of privacy. The following cases serve as legal precedent for this case, elaborating further on the application of the Fourth Amendment in criminal cases, which are relevant to this case: a. Katz v. United States (1) This case established the criteria required for establishing a reasonable expectation of privacy. The Court stated that for one two establish a reasonable expectation of privacy, one must: (a) That a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy, and (b) That the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as â€Å"reasonable† b. Jardines v. Florida (1) This case established the legal precedent for using police dogs, concluding that â€Å"[t]he government’s use of trained police dogs to investigate the home and its immediate surroundings is a â€Å"search† within the meaning of