On the Net

with Chris Goh

IT strategies to help your business grow

IT strategies are often a new concept for organisations with less than 100 staff unless it is their core business or they are a government agency. One of the difficulties for IT managers is to convey to their CEO and other business owners how critical IT is to allowing an organisation to remain operational and how it can play a strategic role in your business growth. Once you get past the operational role of maintaining PCs the more critical aspect of an IT manager's role is to consider how your information resources can act as a commodity for your organisation, and how to protect and secure yourself from loosing your unique IP. Often in SMEs they come in the way of small access databases that have grown large, and it's often not one, but a dozen or so containing a lot of overlapping data. Your databases will also contain critical data on customers, account information, possibly assets and key documents like memos. Now the IT manager's role is often asked to evolve into a knowledge manager, and in many cases IT managers have the dual role of training staff. Simple uses of databases include allowing a business to ascertain what products and services are creating revenue, product cycles and various sales statistics that can also review the performance of staff. However, in my time as an IT manager in a commercial environment, there are usually two ways business leaders deal with that information. Many CEOs who see these figures are reactive, quickly finding way to cut costs and also reprimand staff for slow performance. The other is the pro-active business decision maker who uses this data not just as a simple benchmark of business performance but to make an assessment on opportunities. For example, they use it to see where the next potential sale can be and if there are product lines that are not working, then attempt to identify why and try different strategies to improve the figure. In the coming weeks we will take a more in-depth look at business continuity, records management and staff training.

Hotnews

The Genographic Project, which was pioneered by the National Geographic Society, is aimed at discovering the origins and migratory patterns of man by sampling approximately 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous people around the world. A decade prior to this project the Human Genome Project attempted a similar thing, however, due to the cultural and ethical issues of many native cultures, the project was ceased.

Samsung has brought out OneNand, the smallest 4Gb memory chip on the market at 11x13x1.4mm. It will mean mobile devices will have more capacity.

Motorola has suggested by the end of May it will have an iTunes phone which allows people to download their tunes from the popular music portal.

In June 2002 the optics world was stunned to find that the diffraction limit could be passed by using a thin strip of silver. Scientists from the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg proved that light could pass through smaller holes than the size of its actual wavelength. The diffraction method had said that light attempting to go through such a hole would come out diffracted on the other side. Using that knowledge physicists from the University of Berkley have developed the first Superlens that has a negative refraction index. The implications of this in the photonics and optics world is mammoth.

A week before Pope John Paul II passed away, a Florida man, Roger Cadenhead, had already purchased the domain Benedict XVI.com. The proud Catholic man purchased it on a punt (along with five other domains) and has told news reporters that he will consult with his Catholic grandmother before any content is loaded on the site.

Trend Micro has faced criticism in light of its latest signature update for its virus killer application. The problem with the signature is that it was incompatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and caused the computer to use 100 per cent of the CPU.

Hotsites

www.half-asleep.com/pooh/interact/quiz/

This site is from a special person called Monica who's been in hospital for over a month. This brave 13-year-old has been fighting the same disease most of her life, but is always happy and sees the good things in life. She has made me do this interactive quiz and no matter how hard I try I am always Kanga. Go to this website and find out what Pooh animal you are. And get better soon Monica.

www.birthdayalarm.com

Monica also loves this site for giving smiles to other people. Birthday Alarm is an excellent online card site that allows you to give an e-card for all occasions. It also allows you to upload your own photos and send them in the form of a card.

www.petnet.com.au

Petnet is a simple but great portal for any pet lover and covers topics on all types of animals. It has an excellent summary of all the various breeds and gives you an idea whether the animal the you're after is suited to your lifestyle.