Roman Corry
IST 1100
9/6/13 Module 2
The World is flat in the office, web
communities, and in other countries
Workflow software is software
developed so that a workplace can share information and documents easily.
Workplace software is made so that the workers can connect with software that
is compatible with each other. This is in order to communicate without the
hassle of hardware or software differences in their computers. For example, if
a paper company had computers for their staff, then the sales department would
have different computers then the shipping department. The sales computers
would be more capable of handling contacts and emailing, while the shipping
department would have computers more suited for billing and shipping logs. If
they had good workflow software then the salesman, let’s say his name is Jim, would
be able to send his sales order and documents to the head of the people in the
warehouse, let’s say his name is Darryl. Jim would just have to send his
contacts or shipping order down to Darryl by using a simple email. With this
system, Darryl would most likely be able to deliver the paper shipment on the same
day that Jim sold it. Without compatible software then Jim’s email would have
to go through several time eating processes in order for Darryl’s computer to
be able to read it. Most likely Jim would have to go down, or send a rival
salesman to go down, and give the order to Darryl personally. Darryl wouldn't be
able to receive this personal order until, most likely, the next day or longer.
He then wouldn't be able to send out the order as quickly. Good Workflow
software is designed to maximize the effectiveness of a company’s time.
Open source
software is software that is developed by a bunch of people that are trying to
improve the current software. They work together to create improvements and
distribute it for free in order for even more people to improve on it. It’s
designed so that a bunch of people get good software for free and it is
constantly improving. It’s important because this is the fastest way for a community
of people to improve their personal software for cheap. They do this with
either patches or improving the quality of the software. I personally find this
a great idea because there is a ton of intelligent people out there that can
improve the software on their computers and now they get to share it and grow
with it as a community. Everyone benefits. The person that adds to the software
gains the reputation of being intelligent and becomes part of that higher programming community. The people that use the cheap or free software can use it
in their company to save money.
Outsourcing
is when a company hires people outside their country to do jobs that don’t even
require they be on the same continent. This is very beneficial because the
company can then be working 24/7 because the outsourced employees can work when
the employees at the company’s base are asleep. This provides 24/7 service for
that company. It is also easier to outsource because there might be a greater
need for jobs in the other country and the employees are more willing to be paid
less. However, this takes away jobs in the home country because they aren't improving the economy locally so they would not gain the benefits of a stable economic
home community.
