Why is Networking So Important?

Networking today is vital for business and social health and well-being. When you are in a network it simply means you are in a group of like-minded people, interest group or that you share some other common denominator.

Computer Networking: This is where all the wires, leads, cables and couplings come together in one place. If these cables or wireless points didn't join up, they wouldn't be networked. Anyone today who has a wireless internet connection and more than one computer at home or in the office, all going through the one router, is networked. The joining point in this instance is the router that is the joining point of the network. This is called a LAN or Local Area Network.

This LAN is now routed through the router to your ISP or Internet Service Provider. This now forms a WAN or Wider Are Network. If you can visualise a group of small spider webs all joining at one point and going outwards to form other small webs, you will be able to understand why the Internet is called the World Wide Web.

Why is Networking So Important?

Social Networking: Years ago it used to mean (and in similar fashion still does) your group of peers that you socialise with. That is, your drinking buddies, your girlfriends, your mates, your friends. Now if you belong to a chess club or a sporting club, they are your physical social network that you as an individual depend on. When we use the term "to depend on", we mean that it is from this group of people that you get your persona from and your sense of self. Your mental health will be affected if you have a falling out or disagreement with this group of people. Your emotional health will suffer. Everyone needs friends and these are found in your social network group of friends.

This concept has now been extended to include a social network of friends and like-minded people on the internet. It has seen the massive growth of social bookmarking sites, and micro blogging sites, so that everyone can "chatter" to their group of friends in a series of short messages. The longest these micro blogs can be is up to 140 characters long. Some micro bloggers just say to their friends what they are doing now. Some people micro blog what they are going to have for dinner, while others use the blogosphere for less mundane notices.

Politicians even micro-blog to their members what is happening when they are electing a new leader for their political party! I have seen Tweets to their followers from Parliamentarians sitting in Parliament and supposedly making important decisions that will govern our lives. Personally, this disgusts me as I consider it a self-serving, irresponsible approach to setting new rules for me to live by. Worse still, is when these people pass laws that will cost me and you (the tax payer) millions or billions of dollars.

This kind of social networking is an unforeseen outcome to the ease in which everyone can micro blog today so there will no doubt be some lines drawn in the sand soon enough. I hope, anyway.

Business Networking: This is still based on what it originally was and still is, today. This is where business people come together to explore areas of common interests and to see where their common interests lie. This is why Associations like Unions, Master Builders, Master Plumbers, Small Business Associations etc form a specific group in which they invite like-minded, similar or complimentary businesses to join; because they all share some common area of interest that they can benefit from.

It is important for all businesses, both on the Internet and those that have a physical street address, to join a business network group in their community where they can socialise with like minded people, and get more business from those that they in turn can pass business on to. This is the basis of a good network.

Why is Networking So Important?
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Learning how to create online and off-line social networks [http://www.learninghowsite.com] leads to happier and more prosperous results.

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How to Trace a Cell Phone Location

New advances in technology have made it possible for anybody to trace a cell phone location.

These advances in technology designed to trace a cell phone location came about as a result of a number of recent events, including the events of September 11, 2001. Technological breakthroughs which have occurred since then include the inclusion of GPS technology in most mobile phones, and an improved ability to detect a phone's location based on signals from local transmission towers.

There are number services on the Internet which allow you to trace the location of a cell phone. They may differ in therms of interface and appearance, butthey are using the same data from the telecom companies.

How to Trace a Cell Phone Location

In the past the only way to gain access to the technology to trace a cell phone location was to buy equipment, and the use of this equipment was largely regulated to official organisations such as the police.

The way these services work is by gathering information from the telecom company that provides the cell phone service. this information includes the location of the cell phone as calculated by a combination of factors including the GPS as previously mentioned, and the distance to each of the nearest cellphone transmission masts. This is the same information which the police get.

There are wide range of reasons why you might want to trace a cell phone location, such as trying to find out where a friend or relative rates while you're out and about, keeping track of the location of a child, meeting up with friends, and trying to find shops and restaurants near you. Companies make use of these services in order to track their employees location, and also to provide security for employees when they are working in a remote location on their own. In the end, there are probably as many reasons as there are users.

The way GPS technology works in modern cell phones varies between the different cellphone networks, and with some operators it does not continuously transmit location. This means that when you want to trace a cell phone location, the information that you will be gathering is most likely collected from transmission tower locations.

The location of the phone will be tracked using triangulation - by taking 2 or more readings, it is possible to calculate where the signal is coming from by working out the triangle that fits the signal strengths. The 3rd point is the location of the phone.

However, when the person who has the phone has made an emergency call, this GPS transmission will always be sent. This is designed to ensure that the police can always track a cell phone location, in order to get help to people who need it.

The result of this design that the accuracy of the location which is provided by the service will be greater in areas which are more populated, and have more radio transmission masts, and will be lower in areas where there are very few radio masts, such is the wastelands, deserts, or un-populated areas of countryside. So, it is easier to track a cell phone location with a high level of accuracy in built up areas.

Nonetheless, most times you trace a cell phone location the information from the cell phone masts should be fine. After all, you do not need to know the person's location with a very great deal of accuracy for most purposes.

How to Trace a Cell Phone Location
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Matthew Burns is the author of Internet Guider. He has published a guide to cell phone search resources to help you locate cell phone numbers on the Internet.

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Ford Motor Company - Case Study

Background (General Facts)

Ford Motors is one of three leading automotive manufacturing companies in the United States. Based in Michigan in 1903 by Henry ford and grew to reach revenue of 0 billion and more than 370,000 employees by 1996 [1]. In the 1970's, the automobile market for the major auto makers - General Motors (GM), Ford, and Chrysler- was crunched by competition from foreign manufactures such as Toyota and Honda. In 1999, Ford acquired the Swedish Volvo model in an attempt to compete in the foreign market and expand to other regions. Furthermore, Ford launched a full organization re-engineering business process plan called "Ford 2000" aiming at reestablishing the company's infrastructure. The process meant reduction in their Vehicle Centers (VCs) to only five covering the operations that spanned 200 countries. It also meant cutting redundancies and requiring Information Technology (IT) to be the driving force and the link between Ford centers worldwide.

In building Ford's IT infrastructure, the company focused on implementing a setup that supported the TCP/IP communication protocol based on the U.S. department of Defense requirements. At those days, Ford internal network was meant to serve files transfer unlike most companies that used the network mainly for email communications. Throughout the 1990's, Ford developed a cost effective Global Enterprise Network Integration (GENI) process to link all its locations compromising on the type of the connection and the cabling in favor of full coverage. During the same time, Ford started building its Web Farm, which was basically a set of hardware and software managed by a team for building Ford's public website. The work started by publishing documents for technical references and moved to more advanced images from a live auto show. As a result, the website received 1 million visits a day in less than 2 years after its official launch. Throughout the end of the 90's, Ford established its web services by increasing the amount of information published, building more intelligent and standard web application in 12 weeks period, purchasing more Netscape browsers for setup on its users' machines, and creating a B2B server to allow the suppliers secured access to Ford's Intranet.

Ford Motor Company - Case Study

In the path towards service cost reduction and bringing more business through the web, Ford worked closely with its competitors in the U.S. market GM and Chrysler to establish what came to be known as "Automotive Network Exchange" (ANX) certificate. The protocols aimed at providing a unified communications standard through the Internet to enable suppliers to provide common technology for all manufacturers. Moreover, Ford focused on making information on its web site more accessible and useful by deploying a team to manage the process of adding and updating information based on an analysis of how humans deal with information. One final aspect of Fords endeavor was to try to build a model through its infrastructure that benefited from the model implemented by Dell computers to improve their supply chain and delivery process. The direct model would not work well for automotives as it would with computers, as a result Ford worked on its retailing network remodeling and identifying what would eventually give it the extra edge in delivery time.

Enterprise Architecture Issues

Ford's regional expansion to address the competition for market shares demanded cost management for the infrastructure upgrades IT infrastructure places limitations on the type of application development based on the platforms Easy access to information and prompt delivery of vital data to key individuals requires proper knowledge managementOrganizations reengineering and process remodeling is necessary when adapting new technologies to maintain the cost and increase efficiency Supply chain errors and delays can severely affect the progress of the business and the market value of the corporation
Analysis

Infrastructure Upgrade

Since the inception of the Internet in the 1960's, much effort has been made in standardizing how computers connect to it. In 1982, the International Organization for Standards (ISO) realized that during that period many ad hoc networking systems were already using the TCP/IP protocol for communications and thus adapted it as a standard in its model for the Internet network [2]. The main driver for IP convergence, at that period, was the growth in data traffic through wide area networks (WANs) established by local companies. Furthermore, in 1991, the Internet was open for commercial use, and that demanded a reduction in the total cost of operating the network to cope with 1 million Internet hosts that materialized in only 1-year time. Telecommunications companies like AT&T understood the potential and worked on standardizing the network offering voice services over IP networks that managed the separation between voice and data transmission [3].

At the same time, Ford had launched its plan to update its infrastructure, and seized the opportunity brought by the global movement of integrating the voice, fax transmission network with data transmission and expanded its WAN to include its offices in Europe and elsewhere. The financial benefits also came from the fact that Ford adapted the TCP/IP protocol from the beginning and made sure that all its technical infrastructure upgrades adhere to the standards. This made the transition of its system to the Internet as cost effective as it could be.

Web Technologies

Intranets employ the hypertext and multimedia technology used on the Internet. Prior to 1989, when Tim burners-Lee invented the Web [4], most applications used standard development languages such as C and C++ to create desktop applications that were proprietary and dependent on the platform. For example, applications running on a command-based operating system such as UNIX would not run under Windows, and those working for PCs might not work on Apple computers and vice versa [5]. The invention of HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) introduced a new model for applications that conform to the standards provided by a single program, the "Web Browser". Unlike standard applications, the browser brought a unified interface that had a very fast learning curve. Users seem to require no additional training to work with web browsers. Furthermore, system administrators did not have to spend time installing upgrades on users' machines, since the Intranet client/server architecture facilitated all the updates through the connection with the web server [6].

Since Ford established its Intranet, it was aiming at building web applications through the initial analysis of "Mosaic", the early form of web browsers. The technical department at Ford used web languages to create the first web site in 1995. In 1996, the team started building applications making use of the unified "Netscape" browser that was deployed on all machines at the company, and working on a standard template to cut on the development life cycle. There was a substantial cut in training cost due to the user-friendly interface of web applications. Furthermore, the speed of development made vital applications available to different individuals across the company. For example, the B2B site allowed suppliers remote and secured access to various sections of Ford's Intranet. In addition, the development team created an application as a virtual teardown on Ford's website where Ford's engineers could examine parts of competitors' cars and evaluate any new technologies. The alternative would have been an actual trip to a physical location where Ford tears down cars to examine the parts.

Knowledge Management

While there are many definitions for knowledge, each company might adapt its own based on how it analysis data and information to acquire knowledge. The University of Kentucky, for example, defines knowledge as "a vital organization resource. It is the raw material, work-in process, and finished good of decision-making. Distinct types of knowledge used by decision makers include information, procedures, and heuristics, among others... " [7].

Organizations go through different activities to manage the amount of information they collect to form the knowledge base of the company. Activities include creating databases of best practices and market intelligence analysis, gathering filtering and classifying data, incorporating knowledge into business applications used by employees, and developing focal points for facilitating knowledge flow and building skills [8].

Ford was excited about the traffic it was receiving on the Web site and everyone was publishing all the material they have on desk on the Intranet. Nevertheless, there was a growing concern about the usability and usefulness of the material people were adding. As a result, Ford created a "Knowledge Domain Team" to build complete information in nine areas that were identified as vital to the business. The process Ford took was based on surveys and specialists input in how people perceive information, and what is considered vital and what is distracting in the structure of Ford's website. The aim behind the initiative was to reduce the time individuals spent in searching for information through proper indexing of the website content, and making sure that what was important could be accessed in due time, and what is trivial did not overwhelm the researcher with thousands of results.

Business Re-engineering

In the area of organization's re-engineering process innovation is the set of activities that achieve substantial business improvements. Companies seeking to benefit from process innovation go through the regime of identifying the processes, the factors for change, developing the vision, understanding the current process, and building a prototype for the new organization. History shows that organizations who define their processes properly will not have problems managing the issues and developing the change factors [9]. When introducing technology, business redesign is necessary. The industrial fields have been using Information Technology to remodel processes, control production, and manage material for generations. However, it is only recently that companies recognized that the fusion of IT and business would go beyond automation to fundamentally reshaping how business processes are undertaken [10].

When foreign companies were allowed to compete in the U.S. market, Ford understood that to succeed in business in a competitive arena it needed to implement strategies that competitors find difficult to imitate [11]. As a result, Ford bought Sweden Volvo to enter the European market, and partially owned Mazda to have a competitive edge with Japanese cars1 [12]. To achieve that it re-engineered its production development activities and global corporate organization and processes for dramatic cost reduction. Furthermore, it understood that expansion requires collaboration and alignment, and thus planned to establish the IT infrastructure through a WAN that connected all the offices. In the process of innovation and re-engineering, Ford has set policies to manage the cost of establishing the network, built models for continuous implementation, and organized global meetings to align all parties with the process. Adding to that, when it came to managing the website, Ford facilitated an awareness campaign for all the branches to understand that Ford is using the web to collaborate and research and adapting information technology as a way to maximize its business value. The goal for Ford was to maintain its leadership in the market and to do that in the most efficient and cost effective method that is there.

Supply chain management

Supply chain management (SCM) is about coordinating between suppliers, manufactures, distributors, retailers, and customers [13]. The basic idea that SCM applications revolve around is providing information to all those who are involved in making decisions about the product or goods to manage delivery from the supplier to the consumer [14]. Studies show that reducing errors in supply chain distribution, increases revenue, enhances productivity, and reduces the order-to-fulfillment period [15].

Ford often compared its supply chain process to that of Dell's, in an attempt to close the gaps in its own process and reach the level of success Dell has reached. The difference in the distribution model between Dell and Ford lies in the middle link of using retail shops. Since Ford cannot skip retail as a focal distribution point, it worked on establishing a network of retail shops that it owned. Ford made sure shops are not affecting each other in terms of sales, and gave them all a standard look and feel to establish itself in the consumer's market as a prestigious cars sales retail company. Furthermore, extensive re-engineering initiatives were undertaken to enhance Ford external network by eliminating the correlation with smaller suppliers. In that way, Ford made sure that key suppliers have access to forecasting data from customers' purchasing trends and production information to enable a faster order-to-delivery cycle. Ford vision was to create a model that allowed flexibility, predicable processes and delivered the product at the right time to the right consumer.

Conclusions

Ford is an example of how traditional organizations can mature to adapt what is current and maximizes the business value. The process that Ford went through necessitated the continuous support from management. In addition, it depended on alignment between those involved as a key for success. The correlation was not restricted to internal staff; it extended to cover competitors to reach mutual benefits, to work with suppliers to maintain similar grounds and adequate infrastructure, and to create training programs to educate all on the vision and organization's objectives.

Ford technical progress came at a time where the Internet was yet to reach its full potential. The introduction of Fiber-optic cables in the late 90's and the substantial increase in bandwidth would have helped Ford and cut on the cost in endured connecting its own offices. Furthermore, the ISP services that provided hosting servers were limited to only few players, which explained why Ford preferred to manage its own web server and maintain the overhead of the 24 hours uptime and backup.

From this case study, I understood the level of commitment large firms have to maintaining their position in the market. These companies know the revolving nature of business in the sense of how easy it is to fall back if they did not keep up with the change. The Ford process also shows the need for quick and resourceful thinking when faced with situations that might seem to be unfavorable. The way Ford ventured into the foreign market by acquiring local manufacturers was a strategic decision that did not only enabled Ford to merge with different technologies, but it also saved it the additional cost of establishing production centers in Japan and Europe.

Recommendations

Maintaining leadership in the market requires innovative organizations willing to reengineer to succeed. IT fusion with the business means restructuring and remodeling to understand the role IT would play to meet the business objectives Planning and modeling is vital when coordinating work with large teams. Constructing websites is not about content; it is about understanding what adds value and how humans interact with information. Knowledge management is a plan that companies need to develop as part of their initial business process modeling It is not wrong for large firms to try to adapt to successful processes implemented by other firms.
References

Robert D. Austin and Mark Cotteleer,"Ford Motor Co.: Maximizing the Business Value of Web Technologies." Harvard Business Publishing. July 10, 1997. harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=WDARNHINBSYKSAKRGWCB5VQBKE0YOISW?id=198006 (accessed July 30, 2008). Computer History Museum, Internet History 80's. 2006. computerhistory.org/internet_history/internet_history_80s.shtml (accessed July 30, 2008). Darren Wilksch and Peter Shoubridge, "IP Convergence in Global Telecommunications." Defense Science & Technology Organization. March 2001. http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/publications/2400/DSTO-TR-1046.pdf (accessed July 30, 2008). Computer History Museum, Internet History 80's. H. Joseph Wen, "From client/server to intranet." Information Management & Computer Security (MCB UP Ltd) 6, no. 1 (1998): 15-20. R. Boutaba, K. El Guemioui, and P. Dini, "An outlook on intranet management." Communications Magazine (IEEE), October 1997: 92-99. Joseph M. Firestone, Enterprise Information Portals and Knowledge Management (OXFORD: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002), 169. David J. Skyrme, "Knowledge management solutions - the IT contribution." ACM SIGGROUP Bulletin (ACM) 19, no. 1 (April 1998): 34 - 39, 34. Thomas H. Davenport, Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology (Watertown,MA: Harvard Business Press, 1993), 28. Thomas H. Davenport "The New Industrial Engineering: Information Technology and Business Process Redesign." Sloan Management Review 31, no. 4 (Summer 1990): 11-28, 12 Gary M. Erickson, Robert Jacobson, and Johny K. Johansson, "Competition for market share in the presence of strategic invisible assets: The US automobile market, 1971-1981." International Journal of Research in Marketing (Elsevier Science) 9, no. 1 (March 1992): 23-37, 23. Austin and Cotteleer, "Ford Motor " , 2. Henk A. Akkermans, et al. "The impact of ERP on supply chain management: Exploratory findings from a European Delphi study." European Journal of Operational Research 146 (2003): 284-301, 286 Thomas H. Davenport and Jeffrey D. Brooks, "Enterprise systems and the supply chain." Journal of Enterprise Information Management 17, no. 1 (2004): 8-19, 9. Kevin B. Hendricks, Vinod R. Singhal, and Jeff K. Stratman. "The impact of enterprise systems on corporate performance:A study of ERP, SCM, and CRM system implementations." Journal of Operations Management 25, no. 1 (January 2007): 65-82.

Ford Motor Company - Case Study
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Sally Ahmed is a webmaster , web technology analyst, and a developer for more than 7 years. Earned the Certified Web Professionals title from the International Webmaster Association in 2001. Worked as a technical Internet instructor at New Horizons computer learning center. Worked in several companies where she developed and planned over 20 websites . Holds a Masters degree in web technologies from the University College of Denver, CO. Currently working as a web technology consultant and an E-commerce manager for several local companies.

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Networking Events - 7 Good Questions to Ask

No matter how confident you may be, the experience of entering a room full of strangers can be nerve-racking and leave you grasping for something to say. I believe the best route is actually the easiest - we all know that people like talking about themselves, so why not ask questions designed to draw them out a little more than standard shop talk?

Here are a selection I have found to be useful in establishing a connection with someone who at first glance appears to have nothing in common with me at all.

1. How did you come to be in your line of work? Often people fall into their job through a chance encounter or a stroke of luck - these stories are often interesting, and recounting them will bring your new contact alive in a way that a straightforward discussion about current business never does.

Networking Events - 7 Good Questions to Ask

2. Describe to me your dream customer. You will learn much about their motivation and goals by listening carefully to this.

3. What changes are happening, or can you predict happening, within your industry? Tap into a source of inside information here - it may well have implications for your own business or give you ideas on doing things differently. It is easy to get into habitual patterns of thought without realising it. A totally different perspective can really sharpen you up.

4. What do you regard as your greatest achievement in business to date? Another great way of breaking the ice and getting to know someone better.

5. What do you love about your work? Someone else's business will come alive for you if you listen to them describing their favourite activities.

6. Are there things you wish you could change? A natural follow-on from the above.

7. How would you like people to describe your contribution to your industry? This gets away from day-to-day business and allows them to discuss their deeper aspirations if they wish.

Any of these questions will provide you with a more enjoyable and memorable encounter, and with luck will ensure you are remembered likewise.

Networking Events - 7 Good Questions to Ask
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Andy Britnell is an executive coach who works with high achievers in both the private and public sectors who wish to fulfil more of their potential by thinking and behaving more effectively.

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