Assignment 6(MIS) IT Consultant

If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved?


First let us identify each element of this topic:

IT Consultant

Job description:

An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organsiation's IT systems. IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development. They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.

Tasks typically involve:

• meeting with clients to determine requirements;
• working with clients to define the scope of a project;
• planning timescales and the resources needed;
• clarifying a client's system specifications, understanding their work practices and the nature of their business;
• traveling to customer sites;
• liaising with staff at all levels of a client organization;
• defining software, hardware and network requirements;
• analyzing IT requirements within companies and giving independent and objective advice on the use of IT;
• developing agreed solutions and implementing new systems;
• presenting solutions in written or oral reports;
• helping clients with change-management activities;
• project managing the design and implementation of preferred solutions;
• purchasing systems where appropriate;
• designing, testing, installing and monitoring new systems;
• preparing documentation and presenting progress reports to customers;
• organizing training for users and other consultants;
• being involved in sales and support and, where appropriate, maintaining contact with client organizations;
• Identifying potential clients and building and maintaining contacts.

Reference: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/ITConsult/



Technology

Technology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek technología (τεχνολογία) — téchnē (τέχνη), 'craft' and -logía (-λογία), the study of something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline.[1] However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology". The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons. Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms. Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology




Infrastructure

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, telecommunications, and so forth. Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory, and also for the distribution of finished products to markets. In some contexts, the term may also include basic social services such as schools and hospitals. In military parlance, the term refers to the buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment, and operation of military forces. In this article, infrastructure will be used in the sense of technical structures or physical networks that support society, unless specified otherwise.
The term infrastructure has been used since 1927 to refer collectively to the roads, bridges, rail lines, and similar public works that are required for an industrial economy, or a portion of it, to function. The term also has had specific application to the permanent military installations necessary for the defense of a country. Perhaps because of the word's technical sound, people now use infrastructure to refer to any substructure or underlying system. Big corporations are said to have their own financial infrastructure of smaller businesses, for example, and political organizations to have their infrastructure of groups, committees, and admirers. The latter sense may have originated during the Vietnam War in the use of the word by military intelligence officers, whose task it was to delineate the structure of the enemy's shadowy organizations. Today we may hear that conservatism has an infrastructure of think tanks and research foundations or that terrorist organizations have an infrastructure of people sympathetic to their cause. The Usage Panel finds this extended use referring to people to be problematic, however. Seventy percent of the Panelists find it unacceptable in the sentence FBI agents fanned out to monitor a small infrastructure of persons involved with established terrorist organizations.

Reference: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/infrastructure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure


Innovations

The term innovation refers to a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly literature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy. Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word "innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economists tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system within which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers. In particular, followers of innovation economics stress using public policy to spur innovation and growth.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation

…in this situation, or in this moment I am already a professional IT personnel. If I am ask or hired by the president of the University to become an Information technology Consultant what are the thing I could suggest about all the elements said above to improve the Internet Connectivity of the University. On the Technology, as describe or as being identified above, I can say that it is very important or the heart of IT. Considering Technology as the main problem of the University, I could only say that we need to move our way of competency on the fashion of today’s world. We need to improve the technology of the University so that we can be in the flow of today’s world that we are living. We are dealing with internet connectivity of the University, and the question is, as an Information Technology consultant how can I improve it using Technology. Internet is a piece of technology, so therefore I can say that through satisfying the proper technology or improve the technology that the University have is a key to improve the internet connectivity of the University. Example, the University has a weak internet connection and the users are having a problem because the data that are transferred to the other domain are having a delay that would take much time, because of poor internet connectivity still problems arises. The solution of it by focusing on technology or the resources that the University, we just need to use the right facilities or resources in order to have a fast connectivity, if the University is using the coaxial cable for LAN connectivity to each users or offices of course as we measure the area of the University that device is not really recommendable, so we need to change the device use into a proper one such as fiber optic cable that can satisfy the area of the University and to have a faster internet connectivity, and also the main problem of poor connectivity is from the source of connection you are acquiring, so as a consultant I should recommend the faster internet connectivity source.
Next is by infrastructure, here are some example of discussing IT infrastructure, Investing in IT infrastructure is one of the most challenging tasks facing senior managers who often feel ill equipped to make these decisions. Investing in the right infrastructure at the right time enables rapid implementation of future electronically based business initiatives and cost reduction of current business processes. This paper presents a framework for senior executives to view IT infrastructure in business terms and to lead in making investment decisions. By studying 180 electronically based business initiatives in 89 top performing enterprises we identified the specific infrastructure capabilities needed for different types of business initiatives and how this capability is provided as an integrated IT infrastructure. An integrated IT infrastructure has ten clusters of IT infrastructure services fine tuned to the enterprise's set of electronically based business initiatives. Using the frameworks for describing IT based business initiatives, executives can identify the future family of initiatives (i.e., their desired strategic agility) the enterprise desires to lead their industry with. This is a process of strategic choice and balancing investing in longer-term agility with shorter-term cost minimization. Successful enterprises get this infrastructure balance right more often than not because they make regular, systematic modular and targeted investments while having a clear picture of their own overall infrastructure capability and how each incremental investment adds value. To lead on multiple dimensions in strategic agility required an integrated infrastructure with high capabilities in all infrastructure clusters and a deliberate approach to data management to manage conflicts. The paper concludes with a set of suggested steps to link an enterprise's desired strategic agility with the above average infrastructure capability needed. So being an IT consultant of the University I need to identify the infrastructure capabilities of the University if their infrastructure is capable of renovation or not.
Innovation, here is some article how innovation take place to improve a certain thing. “Mr. McGee said companies need “IT innovation of the third kind.” The first kind of IT innovation occurs when IT practitioners improve technical solutions to meet IT needs that were identified and initiated by IT people. This can be done through infrastructure modernization with faster Internet speeds, cheaper storage, or improved flexibility through virtualization. The second kind of IT innovation occurs when IT practitioners design innovative IT solutions to meet business needs that were identified and initiated by business people. This can achieved with more CRM channels, smarter business intelligence analytic tools, or better mobile devices. “The third kind of IT innovation takes place when IT practitioners design innovative IT solutions to meet business needs that were identified and initiated by IT people,” Mr. McGee said. “While innovation itself is the first imperative, focusing the value of IT to your organization over the coming years will require attention to five more imperatives.” The six imperatives for innovation of the third kind include: Innovate, Globalize, Connect, Socialize, Advance, and Industrialize.” Through innovation is much recommended to a certain company changes or company that needs improvement, as to our problem the poor internet connectivity of the University innovation or in other words “improvement, advancement and originality”, these things are very important to achieve you goals.
Other thing to do in order to satisfy the need of the University is the process of your work or the steps you are going through is very important so that by achieving your goals of your work it should be organized and well planned.