Posts Tagged ‘Importance’

The Importance of Technology In Business

A June 23, 2005 news release from the Office of Advocacy, U. S. Small Business Administration, states that home computer owners are slightly more likely to be business owners than non-computer owners. This report reveals that technology and computing has become an inseparable ingredient in the business world today.
The Computer Trend – A Brief History
The last two decades have marked an enormous increase in the number of home computers. With it, computer owners have invariably taken to entrepreneurship in many varied fields. Thanks to the growth of technology, computers and the Internet, new methods have been developed for processing everyday business activities easily. Without the advent of technology, routine tasks would otherwise have taken and enormous amount of time and specialization. Undoubtedly, the computer represents the top technology development in the last century as it relates to businesses today, both large and small. Advances in the field of technology have created a vast number of business opportunities.
Some Statistics
In 2003, the U. S. Small Business Administration produced a report/survey that established conclusively that more than 75% of small businesses owned computers and had heavily invested in new technology. Let us try to understand what the computers mean to businesses and how they contribute to increase their productivity.
USE OF COMPUTERS IN BUSINESSES
The fundamental reasons for the popularity of computers with small businesses are their efficiency, speed, low procurement cost and more than anything else, capability to handle multiple tasks with little chance for error.
Office Routines: Almost invariably, businesses loaded with the burden of increasing workloads and the pressures of being lean and mean, fall back upon technology for most of their administrative tasks. This work includes, among others, bookkeeping, inventory managing and email. The advent of the Internet has also substantially contributed in bringing down the costs of communication and marketing. In a nutshell, technology has reduced the overall cost of business operations.
New Business Opportunities: The explosion of Internet and e-commerce has opened up a plethora of opportunities for all types of businesses. New management methodologies, such as Six Sigma are easier to implement due to statistical software. Also, companies are able to train their own employees using in-house Six Sigma software programs, and as a result, save money on labor costs.
It is now possible to have many business functions operate on autopilot. This has opened up new opportunities for software development companies and business consultants. Another business trend that has opened up as a result of advancing technology is outsourcing. It is now possible for a company in America to have its data entry and customer service centers in overseas countries such as the UK. In this way, companies can service their customers 24/7.
Indispensable Components of Small Businesses
It is difficult to think of a situation where businesses can do without technology and computers today. It is extremely difficult to say whether businesses depend on computers or computers created business opportunities.
Software Specific To Small Businesses
Certain powerful, yet simple software has come to the rescue of small businesses in reducing their tasks and opening up new channels. Simple applications like spreadsheets and word processing helps them maintain accounts, finances and keep track of correspondence. These applications allow the users to customize reports and other functions to suit their particular business.
Drawbacks
Both men and women in business have adapted successfully to new technology. But the SBA report cites the general decline in skill levels of people, which may eventually result in an overall reduction of income levels. It seems that people get used to technology doing all the work and tend to neglect their skill development. It is up to individual companies to make sure that their employees are still able to do crucial tasks without the assistance of computers, if necessary.

Importance of Client/server Technology

Introduction

Used in almost all automated library systems, client/server technology is the computer architecture. Client/Server technology is computer architecture for separating the application’s functions into two or more distinct parts. Client/Server technology divides functions into client (requestor) and server (provider) subsystems, with standard communication methods (such as TCP/IP and z39. 50). To facilitate the sharing of information between them, it divides the functions. On the desktop computer the client presents and manipulates data. To store and retrieve protected data the server acts like a mainframe. The machines can perform their duties to their best.

Characteristics

The main characteristics of Client Server Technology is as under-

• By the differences in their performing tasks the client and server can be differentiated from one another.

• The client and server generally function on different computer platforms.

• One or more servers may be connected by the clients.

• Multiple clients may be connected by the servers at the same time.

• Without affecting each other the client or server may be upgraded.

• By requesting a service the clients always initiate the dialogue.

In a client/server environment a client PC almost does the following:

• screen handling

• menu or command interpretation

• data entry

• help processing

• error recovery

A server can be anywhere along the dividing line and with a broad range between the clients. Only the user interface has been moved onto the client at one end; at the other end the database may be distributed.

Along the range there are at least five points:

1. Distributed presentation: The server and the client partly handle the presentation

2. Remote presentation: The client handles or controls the entire presentation

3. Distributed logic: The server and the client partly handle the application logic

4. Remote data management: The server handles or controls the entire Database management

5. Distributed database: The server and the client partly handle the Database management

In a library environment there are two major applications for client/server:

1) For an automated library system as the architecture- To facilitate use of this system a vendor designs a system using client/server technology to access multiple servers to improve productivity and to bring together multiple product lines.

2) To linking heterogeneous systems as an approach- To facilitate transparent access a vendor designs a client to systems of other vendors and from others a server to facilitate transparent access to its system.

Benefits

The benefits of client/server computing are as under

1) In spite of changing the legacy application it is much easier to implement client/server

2) Move to rapid application development and new technology like object oriented technology

3) For development and support it is a long term cost benefits

4) To support new systems it is easy to add new hardware like document imaging and video teleconferencing

5) For each application it can implement multiple vendor software tools

Client/Server technology is proved much cost efficient and feasible in a mainframe environment.

Concerns

The companies implement client/server technology on the following concerns-

• Between the client and server where there are many levels of complexity and compatibility issues

• Since you will need to maintain the old system (mainframe) and the new client server architecture development cost will rise in the short term

• There are many layers of complexity and compatibility issues between the client and server.

• Cost will rise in the short term since you will need to maintain the old system (mainframe) and the new client server architecture development.

• Software’s competency such as tools of security and management are not as mature as mainframe counterparts.

• With these tools takes time to become proficient.

• At giving up control of a centralized computing environment Information System departments may draw back.

The Importance Of Technology News

The importance of technology cannot be underestimated; the technological industries are probably the fastest moving in the world following news stories is vital because technology can cover all manner of industries and hence news stories vary greatly in subject matter.
In today’s high tech world it is unsurprising that so many areas of commerce and life depend upon technology and subsequently, any news in these fields is of vital importance to even the lay reader. Technology news is so important that many news websites have created dedicated pages purely to report on technological developments.
Naturally industries such as computing and video gaming are heavily interested in the developments reported as part of technology news stories. In computing new processor chips as well as other developments are always followed closely to assess the power of future computers. The same can be said for the video games industry that constantly uses technology news stories to keep an eye on what competitors are doing.
Not only can news in this industry contain technological developments but sales figures and levels of worldwide sales of consoles or games. Another essential element of news in the gaming industry is to see which games are being banned and heavily policed by regulators as this can help developers gain a good idea of where the boundaries lay in game development.
There are industries that rely on the technology news pages that may surprise some people; the medical industry relies heavily on technical developments to advance forms of diagnosis and treatment. A recent story on students using consoles to increase their dexterity before surgery was a news article that provided a unique insight into the medical world.
Surprisingly sports are becoming increasingly reliant upon technology to increase their efficiency and skill levels; in cricket it is believed that some players where GPS systems that reveal the amount of running a specific player does during a match and hence alter his training scheme accordingly.
The importance of technology in communications is probably where news is most important. As one of the fastest developing industries in the world, communications has the potential to change our lives unimaginably. Already the mobile phone has revolutionised the way we live and communicate and hence many want to be well informed when a new technology arrives. Next generation phones with full mobile internet as well as GPS navigation systems are at the forefront of the mobile phone industry meaning enthusiasts as well as industry commentators are glued to news stories as they role off the presses.
Other developments reported in the technology news pages include information on the interfaces we use to interact with our various pieces of technology. Recent stories have included reports of headsets that allow users to control game characters through emotions and facial expressions as well as the ability to move items cognitively in a virtual world. Outside of the gaming sphere the rumours of a ‘3D internet’ are rife as increasing progress is made in the way we interact with technology.
Developments include ways in which technology may change our home lives. With news stories reporting of fridges that can automatically order food as it runs out, self cleaning ovens and vacuum cleaners that will clean the house without the lifting of the finger. If you believe all the news stories have to say, in the future we will be living in a world without manual labour.
Everyone should have a passing interest in technological developments as eventually they may change everyone’s lives for the better. Granted some of the technology news stories can be too detailed for the lay reader to enjoy but if the stories are written from a general interest perspective, all should be entertained and educated about technology that may one day change the world.

The Importance of Search Engines : Clearpath Technology

Search engines are an important part of the growing online economy, mainly because they are becoming an important part of how people use the Internet. Just 10 short years ago, Internet users weren’t using search engines very often, but favored index sites like Yahoo!, and for good reason. Index sites generally had human editors that chose websites based on topic and posted them in a hierarchical way where there were main categories and sub categories that got more specific. For example, under the heading “Arts and Humanities,” were more subtopics like “Artists, Art History, Visual Arts” and more. When users clicked on any of these subtopics, they would see even more subtopics. The directory of sites by topic allowed the user to find the exact topics they wanted and verity, with the help of human editors, that those pages contained good information. The sites listed were usually reliably accurate in regards to what the user was seeking and still exist to this day.            
On the other hand, search engine technology was far behind today’s standards ten years ago. By using older search engines, users would likely come up with search results unrelated to their keywords. Back then, the technology hadn’t evolved to accurately find and filter search engine results. By simply using some shady techniques, a webmaster could get his or her site displayed for totally unrelated keywords. For example, a site selling herbal supplements might be able to get their site to show up in search engines under search terms unrelated like “education” or “home mortgage. ” The result was that search engines were fairly unreliable and not as many people used them. Today more than 85% of web users use search engines to find the pages they want.            
Currently there are several ways in which users can find the web pages they want to view:
First, they can use search engines. More than eighty-five percent of web surfers use this method in order to find what they’re looking for.
Users can go to websites they’ve heard about on TV, radio, and print advertising. Examples include traditional advertising that lists a website as part of normal advertising, like listing fedex. com in a Fed Ex ad. Another example is an advertisement for a specific website like Monster. com or eHarmony. com.
Users can click on ads they see online. Many sites display advertising on them, and users can follow those ads to find the sites they want to visit.
Users can find websites they learned about from viral marketing techniques, a topic that will be discussed in greater detail in a later chapter. This includes links that have been sent to users by a friend or recommended by someone they know, like word of mouth advertising.