Local Organization for IT assessment 1

Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) [size=18]is the Philippines' leading wireless services provider millions of subscribers on its GSM network.

A wholly owned subsidiary of the country’s dominant telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). SMART operates a nationwide cellular network, a fixed wireless broadband service and a satellite phone service. It has the most extensive and modern digital communications GSM network and infrastructure in the country, covering over 99 percent of the population.

As its widely known brands, Talk n Text, Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, an also introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as offers a wireless broadband service, known as Smart bro.

As the leading wireless services provider, SMART dedicates itself to achieve their mission to be the true measure and standard of leadership in everything they do and envisions a world of people truly connected and enabled to realize their limitless possibilities.

Through applying rapid, relentless, and relevant innovation in making the technology fit the needs of their subscribers.

Such services are as follow:

GSM - SMART operates the most extensive and modern GSM network and infrastructure in the country.

3G - From video calling to high-speed Internet access and social networking, SMART offer the nationwidest 3G coverage. 3G literally means “3rd Generation.” It is a generic term for the next generation of mobile phone communications systems.

Mobile Commerce - SMART m-com technology is opening the gateway to a whole new world of wireless financial transactions. From banking to payments, from top-up loads to remittances – are just some examples of innovative mobile commerce applications that can be done through the mobile phone.

Fixed WBA - Connecting to the World Wide Web with fixed wireless broadband technology and also Connect to the Internet without phone lines with SMART's fixed wireless broadband technology. Also known as "wireless cable", "broadband wireless local loop" or "wireless DSL", fixed wireless broadband provides high performance Internet service for residential, business and enterprise users. Not to be mistaken for WiFi 802.11 and mobile systems, fixed wireless broadband offers widespread availability and flexibility even in areas underserved by conventional telco services.

Mobile satellite - SMART mobile satellite service uses the ACeS technology which covers the entire Asia-Pacific region. Mobile satellite service (MSS), also known as global mobile personal communications by satellite (GMPCS), is a powerful communications transmission service that uses satellites.Utilizing portable terminals, MSS includes land mobile, maritime mobile and aeronautical mobile satellite services. It also provides a variety of voice, data, fax and messaging services anywhere on the globe.

SMART Communications, Inc. (“SMART” or the “Company”) is dedicated to doing business in accordance with the highest standards of ethics. The Company, its directors, officers and employees endeavor to promote a culture of good corporate governance by observing and maintaining its core business principles of accountability, integrity, fairness and transparency in their relationships among themselves and with the Company’s customers, suppliers, competitors, business partners, regulators and the public.

Here are some of the best IT/IS practices of Smart Telecom:

1. Provide customer support - SMART has build a Business Solutions Team to facilitate their valued customer with the following channels:

a. Relationship Manager - A dedicated Relationship Manager (RM) will be assigned to handle all sales and after-sales concerns. These include inquiries regarding the line subscription, defects and repairs, or any changes related to the corporate subscription.

b. The Corporate Business Group Communal Email - an email address with dedicated CBG personnel, ready and willing to answer any query regarding your SMART Gold Corporate subscriptions. There will be a ready notification of receipt of your query 15 minutes from sending your message. Email us at cbg.smart.com.ph

c. Business Hotline - A corporate hotline number 848-8889 or press #888 to Smart cellphone (toll-free) is available for all corporate subscribers.

d. Bill Delivery - To ensure on-time receipt of your bills, personal delivery will be arranged to facilitate ease in distribution and settlement of your bills.

2. Open for more effective IT changes in sytem and infrastructure - SMART operates the Philippines’ most extensive and modern GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network and infrastructure in the country, covering over 99% of the population. SMART, we’re upped the ante by taking the lead in developing new wireless applications. SMART uses UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems) an specific 3G system chosen as the path of the worldwide GSM community for 3G evolution. It is based on a GSM network enhanced with W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiplex Access). Aside from enhancing the existing GSM network, 3G supports the effective transmission of multimedia service. With 3G, many enjoy video calling, high-speed video streaming and mobile Internet six times faster than the current GSM/ GPRS networks.SMART started its preparations for a seamless transition to 3G as early as late 2000. On February 14, 2006, SMART launched its 3G service on a free trial basis, making the company the first telco in the Philippines to offer 3G services to the public. The service is an exciting addition to SMART’s offerings.

3. Provides Employee’s Personal and Professional Development –

a. Wellness Programs – a series of year-long programs to assist SMART employees in their quest to achieve physical and mental well-being. These programs include activities and learning sessions on career, physical and spiritual health, and personal relationships.

b. Learning and Development – SMART enable employees to maximize their potentials through training and on-the-job coaching. They also have individual career development plans for consistently performing employees. They develop homegrown talents to be the next Smart Leaders.

4. Service functionality and effectiveness – Smart Link utilizes the technology of Asia Cellullar Technology (ACeS) which covers the entire Pacific region with three gateways in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. ACeS satellite has a footprint covering 11 million square miles in the Asia-Pacific region. SMART now offers its satellite phone services in more than 10 countries. The ACeS system is comprised of a geosynchronous satellite, a Satellite Control Facility, a network Control Center, gateways that interconnect with terrestrial telecommunications network worldwide and the end-user terminal.The ACeS system is owned by ACeS International Ltd., a consortium that includes Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company through its wholly-owned subsidiary ACeS Philippines Cellular Satellite Corporation (APCSC), Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia (PSN), Jasmine International of Thaliland, and Lockheed Martin of the USA. In late 2006, ACeS International Ltd. and Inmarsat PLC, a leading global mobile satellite operator, forged a partnership agreement that will make the service truly global with the combined coverage of ACeS Garuda 1 satellite and the Inmarsat series satellites. To be introduced also is the Inmarsat’s Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service, the world’s first mobile communications service to provide both voice and broadband data simultaneously through a single, truly portable device on a global basis.

5. Telecommunication –in-sachets – SMARTLoad prices were broken down into smaller denominations P30, P60, P115, P200. The smaller denominations were designed for the klow income Filipino market that already purchases consumer goods in small quantities. SMART realized that most Filipino incomes fall in the lower income brackets, with as much as 51% of the population surviving on US$2.00 per day or less. SMART retailers are predominantly “sari-sari storeowners. SMART has created a network of over 500,000 retailers including sari –sari stores, housewives, students and other roving agents. According to SMART, some retailers earn up to P1000 per day in re-load sales. In December 2003, SMART introduced the PASALOAD initiative which further lowered the denominations of prepaid cellular services into P2, P4, P10, P20, P30.

6. Organization and Leadership - SMART had 18,191 employees as of end of 2003. SMART had 5,441 employees at the end of 2003, and 5,537 as of June 30, 2004. There is considerable crossover among the leadership of PLDT and SMART. Management moves have integrated SMART leadership into the upper levels of PLDT.


7. Business Benefits and Development Impact - SMART’ innovative approach minimizes physical product distribution costs and creates a demanding response stocking system for pre-paid airtime, reducing risk across the firm. Product distribution is now faster, more efficient and as the company claims, more secure . The new distribution structure and pricing scheme benefits retailers as well. Retail distributors have no physical stock to store and manage and no accompanying property theft risks. The SMS distribution interface is reportedly easy to used and can be sold in a personal fashion complementary to sari-sari business practices. The special retailer SIMs have a function allowing retailers to open or close their retail handsets via SMS and allowing retailers to sell outside of a physical location and for shop owners, outside of regular store hours.


References:
http://www.digitaldividend.org/pdf/smart_communications_case.pdf
http://smart.com.ph/corporate/about/company/

REFLECTION IN MY SUBJECT MIS

Reflections?

hmmm... what did i learn from our first meeting was nerve cracking! nerve cracking in a sense that it was our first time here in USEP obrero and being a transferee scares us a lot on what we will find out in our nosebleed subjects, new classmates and terrorific professors! hehe..

it was a enjoyable yet scary class with Dr. Gamboa. He really likes oral recitation. He wants active participation from his class. in that sense, it scares me most but as the discussion keeps going, I found out that with the oral participation we can deeply understand what Dr. Gamboa wants to convey. I found out that management is a term that implies to someone or somebody needs to be manage. Managerial work has functional descriptions such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It is us who manage our own time and decisions. God doesn't manage us but he guides us. We also learned that IS (Information System) components are hardware plus software plus peopleware.

Management Information System in my own notion denotes human management in a work zone particularly managing a work force. As a manager, he is entask to take control of everything. Hardware as it's aid of data handler and gathering tools and software as the processor of the important data.

Dr. Gamboa give us a lot of post assignments. From that day, it thought me of a wonderful lesson. Time is gold. Make most of your time doing important things like studying your lessons, do advance research and read a lot. I guess i have to change my study habits so that i can adjust with the new environment that hopefully i will belong. IC in USEP according to many usepians are called "endangered species" ..hehe.. Endangered in a sense that it is survival of the fittest and the brave! it also made me happy to know that i am belong to this endangered species! with God's help sana mkagraduate nga ako!

and because of this subject i will be totally entouched to WEBSPACE! hehe.. have to connect to internet all the time..
i also found out the we USEPIANs are born leaders and managers! we're capable of everything especially the IC students!
that with positive attitudes, our future career are brighter than the stars!

GODSPEED! i know.. we know that with God's help we can make it to the top!

IS Leadeship Roles

In my 2nd post, it really challenge me a lot to explain what I have understand about the Technical Aspects of Leadership (IS Leadership Roles according to CSC) and Social Aspects of Leadership (IS Managerial Roles according to Mintzberg). As instructed by Dr.Gamboa, we must find out all of these.

First, let's talk about Social Aspects of Leadership (IS Managerial Roles according to Mintzberg). But before that we must know first who is Henry Mintzberg. Henry Mintzberg is a Canadian Academic wh0 was trained as a mechanical engineer, wrote his PhD thesis at the MIT Sloan School of Management analysing the actual work habits and time management of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs).

According to Minztberg, managers undertake activities to achieve the objectives of the organization. Mintzberg's role typology described manager's job in terms of varoius roles:

1. Interpersonal Roles - roles managers assume to coordinate and interact with subordinates and provide direction to the organization.

2. Informational Roles - associated with the tasks needed to obtain and transmit information for management of organization.

3. Decisional Roles - associated with the methods managers use to plan strategyand utilized resources to achieve goals.

In other way, Mintzberg's empirical research involved observing and analysing the activities of the CEO's of five private and semi-public organizations. To make the description short, Mintzberg first identified six characteristics of the job of the managers:

1. managers are always under tight time pressure.
2. Managerial activities are often self-initiated.
3. CEOs prefer action.
4. They prefer vebal communication.
5. They maintain relationships with their subordinates.
6. They have limited involvement in the execution of works although they initiate many of
the decisions.

From this, Mintzberg then identify ten separate roles in Managerial Works. Each Roles defined as an organized collection of behaviours belonging to an identifiable function or position. He separated this roles into three subcategories as mention in the above paragraph:

1. Interpersonal Roles
a. Figurehead - performs ceremonial and symbolic duties as head of the organization.
b. Leader - foster a proper work atmosphere and motivates subordinates
c. Liaison - develops and maintains a network of external contacts to gather information;

2. Informational Roles
d. Monitor -gathers internal and external information relevant to the organisation;
e. Disseminator - transmits factual and value based information to subordinates;
f. Spokeperson - communicates to the outside world on performance and policies.

3. Decisional Roles
g. Entrepreneur - designs and initiates change in the organisation;
h. Disturbance Handler - deals with unexpected events and operational breakdowns;
i. Resource Allocator - controls and authorises the use of organisational resources;
j. Negotiator - participates in negotiation activities with other organisations and individuals.

In his 1973 study, Mintzberg declared that the Manager's position is always the starting point in organisational analysis. He then added that managerial roles are sequential -
First, manager makes interpersonal contact through his formal status;
Second, this contact allows information processing;
Then, it leads to decision making.

Through time changes, both information technology and competition continue to change the role of the information systems executive.

In 1996, CSC (Compuer Science Corporation) has suggested six new IS Leadership Roles which are required to execute IS's future agenda:

1. Chief architect. The chief architect designs future possibilities for the business. The primary work of the chief architect is to design and evolve the IT infrastructure so that it will expand the range of future possibilities for the business, not define specific business outcomes.

2. Change leader. The change leader orchestrates resources to achieve optimal implementation of the future. The essential role of the change leader is to orchestrate all those resources that will be needed to execute the change program.

3. Product developer. The product developer helps define the company’s place in the emerging digital economy.The product developer must "sell" the idea to a business partner, and together they can set up and evaluate business experiments, which are initially operated out of IS. Whether the new methods are adopted or not, the company will learn from the experiments and so move closer to commercial success in emerging digital markets.

4. Technology provocateur. The technology provocateur embeds IT into the business strategy. The technology provocateur works with senior business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business. He is a senior business executive who understands both the business and IT at a deep enough level to integrate
the two perspectives in discussions about the future course of the business. He have a wealth of experience in IS disciplines, so they understand at a fundamental level the capabilities of IT and how IT impacts the business.

5. Coach. The coach teaches people to acquire the skillsets they will need for the future. Coaches have two basic responsibilities:
teaching people how to learn, so that they can become self-sufficient, and providing team leaders with staff able to do the IT-related work of the business. A mechanism that assists both is the centre of excellence - a small group of people with a particular competence or skill, with a coach responsible for their growth and development.

6. Chief operating strategist. The chief operating strategist invents the future with senior management. The chief operating strategist is the top IS executive who is focused on the future agenda of the IS organisation. The strategist has parallel responsibilities related to helping the business design the future, and then delivering it. The most important, and least understood, parts of the role have to do with the interpretation of new technologies and the IT marketplace, and the bringing of this understanding into the development
of the digital business strategy for the organisation.


Alas, hopefully i have explain well in this post.. hehe..



REFERENCES :

http://www.csupomona.edu/~wcweber/301/301slide/ch01301/sld022.htm
http://www.provenmodels.com/88/ten-managerial-roles/mintzberg
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.21.2007

what is management information system?

When we talk about the term Management, we must undergone steps to fully understand what does Management implies. Four keywords are commonly used when we talked about management - Planning, organizing, directing and controlling. When we plan, we view things forward. We make plans for the future and plans to achieved goals. Next, we organize. Organize means to maneuver, gather essential elements to fulfill desired plans. Next, directing. Directing means to make actions out of the plan. To make the plan realistic. Lastly,controlling. When an individual manage he must take in control. According to Mintzberg, when someone manage, he done interpersonal contacts both with subordinates and with a network of contacts. He takes control in information gathering, decision rulings and interpersonal roles.

Risky as it seems, the act of management may be sometimes confuse with the term leadership. What was its difference? Let's differentiate a Leader from a Manager. In the Article published on 1977 adopted on January 2004 as an HBR Classic written by Mintzberg, it strongly stress ou the difference of a leadrer and a manager. The manager's goal arise out of necessities rather than desires. Simply means that a manager placates all sides while ensuring that the organization's day-to-day business gets done. He excel in defusing conflicts between people or department. On the other hand, a leader adopt personally and has active attitudes towards goal. He look for active opportunities and rewards. He simply wants to prove his worth. He inspire colleagues or subordinates and challenging them up in creative process with their own capabilities.

Furthermore, the Article published 1977 , he again stress out that both manager and leader are essential in management particularly in business.

Now, let's incorporate Management with Information System. As we continue, let us first define what does the term Information System is all about. The term Information System (IS) refer to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization and it includes the organization's manual and automated process. In a narrow senses, Information System refers to the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and automates some of the information processing activities of th organization. In equation, Information system = IT + Peopleware. There are various type of information system. For example: transaction processing system, decision support system, management systems, experts system, office automation and business intelligence. Information System in a different sense is an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, processing and communicating information. For example, Business firms and other organizations and individuals in contemporary society rely on information system to manage their operations, complete in the marketplace, supply services an augment personal lives.

Now, we have previously mentioned the term Information System and some essences it brought. Let us then sum up what does Management Information System ponder about.

MIS short for Management Information System is a planned system of collecting, processing, storing and disseminating date in the form of information needed to carry out the functions og management. in restrictive sense, MIS refers as Information Technology Management.

According to Philip Kotler, "It is consist of people, equipments and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate an distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketing decision makers". It is a set of computer based system and procedures implemented to help managers in their crucial job of decision making.

Academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods binds to the computerization or support on human decision making.

There are different types of Components in MIS. First, The Concept of Management. Lets take an example so that we may fully understand the concept of Management in MIS. Example, MIS are monthly generated by big companies to find out where they are standing out in the business. Each department will report and submit their reports according to the requirements of the management. Therefore, the concept of management in a business must then be well planned and strategically update by managers or heads.

Second, the Information. Information means collection of data. Data that could be expressed facts numerically. text type, image, voice. Data served as historical records. In business sectors, evolution had greatly challenge manager to manage information assets more effectively and wisely. Each organization are encourage to maximize their business value of information and force investment made in all data management technologies.

Next, Information System. This component of MIS is a system of group of interrelated components working together towards a common goal by accepting working inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process. In this system, there are basice components or functions involved. Input, Processing and Output. Input involves gathering and assembling essential elements that enter the system that are need to be process. After input it undergone transformation process. After successful processing and transferring of elements that have been produced by transformation processes it will come up to its ultimate end.

Lastly, Management Information System in my own notion denotes human management in a work zone particularly managing a work force. As a manager, he is entask to take control of everything. Hardware as it's aid of data handler and gathering tools and software as the processor of the important data.

It take a lot difficult readings and research before i understand what does Management Information System. Hopefully in this post i had able to justify my explanation. =)


REFERENCES:

http://www.provenmodels.com/88/ten-managerial-roles/mintzberg
http://www.henrymintzberg.com/books.htm

http://wiki.answers.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems
http://brittanica.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management information system