Saturday, August 30, 2014

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is most likely a new term or concept to most people. The best way I can describe what the concept of net neutrality is is comparing Verizon TV and Internet services to Verizon's telecommunication services. When people buy a cell phone plan through Verizon they either pay full price for an unlimited data plan for their phone or they get a certain amount of data that they can use per month that is priced in tiers according to the amount of data in the plan. When people buy TV and Internet services through Verizon for their homes they pay a flat fee.  The problem arises when the difference in pricing is noted and Verizon realizes how much more income they could net if they priced both phone and home data plans in the same tier system.  Clearly Verizon would probably generate more income if they did charge home TV and Internet customers in the same manner as they do with their cell phone customers. However, it is also clear that a line needs to be drawn because Verizon could hinder the sales revenue of companies like Netflix, Hulu, and Youtube if they do charge TV and Internet customers for the amount of bandwidth they use.  Thus, the term Net Neutrality is born.  Net Neutrality is a set of rules that the FCC adopted that ensures that ISP's cannot charge per bandwidth.  This will prove to be an interesting topic as years progress and ISP's will need to consider new business strategies as research suggests: "Congressional leaders are on record to overturn the rules. Some broadband pipe owners are already making lawsuit rumbles. Net neutrality will be in the courts and in Congress; the outcome is certain to affect broadcast revenue streams. Broadcasters need to follow the net neutrality happenings, understand the issues and strategize accordingly"(Net neutrality, 2011).

(http://www.wired.com/2011/01/verizon-sues-fcc/)



Net neutrality. (2011, February 1). Broadcast Engineering, 53(2). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA249652321&v=2.1&u=lincclin_spjc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=94b8ce133e6efd6f86009553fa815cb9

SAP Business One ERP MH Equipment

Within the Chapter 3 Video case #3 there is a lot of proof that small companies can integrate information technology software into their business just as the fortune 500 companies do.  Since most of the fortune 500 companies already have established IT systems, companies such as SAP have started to target medium to small sized companies.  One of these companies is MHE. MHE is a materials handling equipment corporation and they found the Business One ERP system from SAP to be extremely beneficial to their company. The Business One ERP system is a database that can track inventory, parts, and service contracts.  It also integrates with the companies financial data.  What MHE found once they decided to go ahead with integrating the SAP system was that it was scalable, configurable, easy to implement, and easy to teach employees.  A company that is similar to MHE that implemented the same software is Gasrec. Gasrec proclaimed that SAP Business One "ensured a robust, scalable solution that's flexible and able to handle multiple business processes; including order processing, project management, purchasing, production, and sales"(Gasrec, 2013).  MHE recognizes a competitive advantage that they get from the software as it separates them from their competitors. MHE saw a 30% reduction in operating costs and a 12% Increase in Revenues.

(http://www.agentil.com/en/content/sap-businessone#.VAJyW-B0G0s)


Gasrec Go-Live with SAP Business One. (2013, September 4). PR Newswire. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA341743607&v=2.1&u=lincclin_spjc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=8a4f8f8cc2049e9261603904756f9c90