ITM501 MOD 4 Cases Assign Mangement Information System Essay

ITM501 MOD 4 Cases Assign Mangement Information System - Essay Example With the advent of technology as uprising of modern techniques, it is believed that the notion of â€Å"software as a service† will dominate the next few years of software business (Wainewright, 2011). SaaS has the ability to draw a new canvas of business. However, from the perspective of a business, the IT infrastructure needs to be advanced so as to support its functions (Guptill, 2012). This study intends to lay emphasis on the significance of â€Å"software as a service† in the present days and will try to establish how this concept is going to dominate the next several years in information management. Discussion The notion of SaaS has been into the limelight over a considerable number of years now and its origin dates back to the early 1960s. However, the initial concept was limited to time sharing and common data base storage. During this epoch, IBM along with other mainframe service providers, carried out a service bureau business which is often termed as a time sharing business. The services provided by these companies were however limited to large organizations and financial institutions. Theorists believes that in the coming years, most business software or solution packages will be delivered via the mechanism of SaaS. In addition, scholars also believe that the notion of SaaS will be elongated by the next big thing in IT, which is ‘Utility computing’. The ‘utility computing’ is a concept in which IT will be more accessible for common man and will act just as other necessary stuffs of the daily life such as electricity and telephone. Likewise, electricity and telephone bills, people in the near future may have to pay IT bills. ‘SaaS’ is also sometime referred to as on-demand software" provided by the Application-Service-Providers (ASPs). The mechanism is simple as software packages are delivered to the customers which are centrally hosted in the cloud. It has become one of the most common of softwar e delivery forms. For example, solution packages such as management software, customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing software, management information systems (MIS), and service desk management software to name a few can be delivered via this distribution mechanism. This is the reason why it has been observed that a number of companies have already incorporated this strategy as a part of their business strategy. These evidences clearly suggest that â€Å"SaaS† is the future of information management (Wainewright, 2011). There are several advantages of â€Å"software as a service†. The cost gets reduced to a great extent for everyone who is involved in the process. From the point of view of a customer, they do not have to pay incur large upfront cost for gaining the access to that particular software; on the contrary they can avail renting option and can pay on a monthly basis. For example, if a customer need access to one o f the word processing software. If he or she wants to buy it, the cost to be incurred is around $300. On the contrary, if the customer rents it, the cist will be merely $10 a month. Thus, the pressure on customers gets reduces to a great extent and the opportunity to access increases simultaneously. In the similar way, the software vendors also get highly benefitted for pursuing the â€Å"software as a service† strategy. The software vendors

Improving the Performance of a Team Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Improving the Performance of a Team - Assignment Example Technical factors include understanding the mission, spelling out goals, and developing activities critical to success of the goal. To improve the functioning of a particular team, these factors have to be addressed. The following steps go towards improving the performance of a team. A project team is subject to group dynamics because of an assembly of individuals with diverse talents and commitments. The most common problems faced by work teams arise from: Different points of view, role conflicts, implicit power struggles, and groupthink which compromises decisions in favour of unanimity. (Nurick, 2001) There are many other problems that may arise due to behavioural and skill factors. Performance measures need to be devised taking both performance factors and process factors into account. The performance measures would measure the performance/outcome factors which may be: Team cohesion; Improvement orientation like creativity, forward thinking, proactivity; and Team achievements. Team process factors, which also affect the performance of a team includes factors such as: Team relationships, team focus, approach to performance, leadership style, team discipline, team decision making, team confidence, value of contributions, decision focus, social contact, process focus, and lastly, consistency. Team performance is also related to attractiveness of performance, agreement with team goals, team goal level, and willingness to use cross-training, perceived participation, team efficacy, and team commitment. Some factors which also need to be measured are: 1. Team member dispositions - Studies have indicated that employees' need for achievement, need for affiliation, aggressiveness towards other people and the value placed on autonomy affect the team in a lot of ways. 2. Team process skills - process skills include skills like communication, leadership, goal setting, problem solving, and conflict resolution skills. 3. Employee perceptions about the team - This includes perceptions about team efficacy, and perceived participation. 4. Goals and goal commitments - this includes factors like team goal level, goal commitment, agreement with team goal, and performance expectations. 5. Attractiveness of performance and self efficacy. (Scott and Townsend, 1994) Measures that take the above factors into account can help assess how the team would fare in a task and what is to be done to improve its performance. Step 2: Making the Team and Planning Work Activities The second step to enhancing team performance involves the selection and training of the team and planning the work activities for the team. Selection: To ensure team effectiveness one criterion for selection of members of a team is interpersonal skills. Other criteria would include the member disposition, member skill sets, commitment to goals, and other such factors. This can be done by using the performance measures devised in the first step. Training: The next step would involve training the team in product knowledge, time management; interpersonal skills like listening, assertiveness, and conflict management skills; creativity; meeting deadlines; energy and determination; reporting and administration; personal appearance and image; steadiness under pressure, and such other factors. In addition to receiving training in skills they should be empowered to use