Module 4

                Who I chose to interview for this week is my Mom; she is an Administrative Assistant for Cardiovascular, GI and Hospitalists Services.  She is responsible for taking minutes for meetings, schedule meetings, lots of data input; right reports, sends lots of emails and keeps track of the director’s schedule. She has been working for Intermountain Healthcare for 20 years this Halloween. Computers have always been a huge tool for her profession. Below is some things she performs daily at work that she uses the computer to perform that task.

            When taking minutes for a meeting my mom starts by recording the meeting, and then she writes a report on her computer that went on during that meeting. She has to state who that spoke, what they spoke about, what the follow up is going to be and what the action item is going to be. She does meeting minutes at least twice a week.

            When my mother schedules the meetings in her office she orders catering, has to reserve a room, invite the attendees and do the agenda. This is all done through her computer through Microsoft Word minus the catering.  The catering is done on a catering program on the Intermountain website.

            My mother performs a lot of data entry she takes different percentages and puts them on a graph. It based on how many MRI’s, heart attacks, etc. happen in their department. The program she uses for her data entry is the Microsoft Excel program.

            She is also is in charge of the director of the department’s schedule. She schedules his appointments through his schedule in a word program. She has to make sure that everything is correct and organized through her computer program. She also has to make sure he is overbooked and is aware of any new events happening.

            Emailing is a huge part of how we communicate today. My mother does lots of emails in her office. She orders the education materials and office supplies and all of their department needs. She directly emails 5 different suppliers. Different items come from different places. She is constantly emailing different suppliers about things needed in the offices.

            About 90% of my mother’s job is on the computer. She stated that she is grateful for the technology we have today, without it she wouldn't have the same job. It would be a lot harder without the technology we have today.  Technology has made communication a lot easier in her profession. She makes lots of conference calls and web cam calls; they call people from Bear River, Salt Lake, Provo, etc. Without the computer they would be limited to the way of communicating.

            I've gone to visit my mother multiple times while she is in her office; she is always on the computer. It is true what she said in her earlier statement that her job is 90% on the computer. It’s amazing that some people could not do their job that same without computers. It’s not as efficient. 

Module 3

What is the difference between offshoring and outsourcing? Friedman states on pg. 137, “Offshoring, which has been around for decades, is different from outsourcing.”  Offshoring is moving a whole factory to different locations. Outsourcing is when you take a function that a certain company was performing in –house and giving that to another company to perform that same function.

I wanted to explore the different definitions of supply chains; the one definition that stood out to me and made the most since to me was from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/supplychain.asp their definition states, “The network created among different companies producing, handling and/or distributing a specific product. Specifically, the supply chain encompasses the steps it takes to get a good or service from the supplier to the customer. Supply chain management is a crucial process for many companies, and many companies strive to have the most optimized supply chain because it usually translates to lower costs for the company. Quite often, many people confuse the term logistics with supply chain. In general, logistics refers to the distribution process within the company whereas the supply chain includes multiple companies such as suppliers, manufacturers, and the retailers.”

Wal-Mart gained an advantage through controversial means.  Wal-Mart started by offering the lowest prices they could, it worked to their benefit. People would invest and sell to Wal-Mart because they knew their products will be sold. When a customer thinks of this store what do you think of? They think of the lowest prices possible, that’s what makes this company a billion company. Wal-Mart also is amazing in restocking, have you ever been to a local Wal-Mart store and been out of stock in something you needed or wanted? Very unlikely.

Google has affected business all over the world in a huge way good and bad. When I personally search for a restaurant in my area Google has a section where you can see people who have rated and made comments about the business. If there is an overall bad rating of a business do you think I would want to experience that? Most likely no, if a company has all positive ratings and comments yes; I am most likely want to go to that certain place. Google has made it at your fingertips to find anything out about a business. You can find location, ratings, what kind of merchandise/products they sell, and even pricing. Honestly I don’t know what I would do without Google they have made life easier not just for businesses but for many other things. I bet not one person in the time of age have gone to Google for one thing.

Module 2

Brittney McMurray

Module 2

When reading about workflow I thought of that exact word workflow, it made work flow better, made it more efficient, and reliable. It also made me think of how technology is today, machines helping out another machine, eliminating most human interaction. My example of work flow is any type of communication, its email, instant messaging or maybe the extreme of webcam. Think about communication 50 years ago. The phone and letters were the main way of communication and now “workflow” has upped that technology and probably will continue for many many years. I also think of my occupation right now, I have to constantly communicate with others who are not exactly close by. Emailing my boss, who is across town, is helping my work flow even more. It’s amazing what we can do in this time.

Open source software or also known as community developed software made me think of a concept we know as sharing or contributing. If one company downloads this certain program they can make changes too effectively to help work for them. Meaning they wouldn't have to go back to the company to request a change, it pretty much gives them full access, or like I said earlier sharing. Friedman said something in this section that caught my attention, "Not being a computer geek, I had never focused much on the open-source movement, but when I did, I discovered ti was amazing universe of its own, with self forming communities of online, come-as-you-are volunteers."

Friedman defines outsourcing as “any service, call center, business support operation, or knowledge work that could be digitized could be sourced globally to the cheapest, smartest, most effective provider.” What I got out of this section was companies that have so much incoming calls cannot answer each of these individuals they would never hang up the phone. Wal-Mart for example, if you needed to call Wal-Mart do you think you would talk to someone directly from the store? You are more likely to be transferred to a call center how has the number/employees to provide the service you request. The crazy thing is that call center might even be in a different state!  They have the technology and equipment to answer your questions to their fullest knowledge.

I am going to be honest; this book is still hard for me to understand. I have to reread a section over and over to fully understand it. What I do know Friedman is one amazing man. I can defiantly tell he looks at the world in a different way. It’s very interesting to read. Even though I am having troubles with the reading, I still know Friedman is one smart guy. Hopefully as I read on that it will be easier for me to understand.