Transcript Introduction to Business computing

Introduction to Business
computing
Last session : conclusions
21 january 2003
AC 2003
Official topics
• Master the Microsoft Office suite
–
–
–
–
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
Access
• An a bit of Internet
AC 2003
The larger view
• To study tools for treating information
• and to communicate
• That involves
–
–
–
–
–
the office suite tools
Internet
Information systems
E-commerce
CRM (Customer relationship mgt), SCM (Supply chain mgt)
• And the history of all this
AC 2003
Why study the history of information
treatment and communication ?
• The purpose of studying history, in general,
is to be better prepared to understand the
future
• The XXIst century is likely to be everything
but uneventful !
AC 2003
Let ’s look at the NTIC
• New Technologies in Information and
Communication
• As future managers you will deal a lot with
Information and Communication
• These are tools to create wealth
• (To create wealth is one of the central
purposes of running businesses)
AC 2003
Let ’s look at the NTIC (2)
• Communication has tremendous new tools
at its disposal :
– Internet
• e-mail
• Newsgroups (= forums)
• ICQ (= I seek you)
– Mobile phones
AC 2003
Communication
• In terms of tools it has a long history
• Not to go farther in the past we can mention
–
–
–
–
–
The telephone
Edison’s electric telegraph
The Post office (mid XIXth century)
Pigeons
Chappe’s Telegraph (1800, by Claude Chappe, in Paris there is a
subway station called Télégraphe, because a télégraphe was
installed there)
– Indian ’s smoke fires
– The Gaulois also used fires to communicate, to gather for
Gergovie, and to call for reinforcements at Alesia
– The Marathon runner
AC 2003
The XIXth century :
the century of electricity
• All along the XIXth century scientists worked to understand electricity
(from Volta, Ampère, Faraday to Maxwell)
• Then engineers were able to replace many mechanical devices by
electrical devices :
– Steam engine -> electric motor
– Mechanical/optical telegraph -> electrical telegraph
– Invention of the telephone
• The understanding of the electromagnetic waves lead to the invention
of the radio (télégraphie sans fil, in French)
• Internet is the grand child of all these researches and inventions
AC 2003
The technical XXth century :
• The XXth century capitalized on and developped many
inventions of the XIXth century :
–
–
–
–
Electricity
Railways
Cars
Vaccination
• It added some new breakthroughs, among them :
– Aeronautics
– Medical breakthroughs (penicillin,…)
– Nuclear power
• The XXIst century is already fascinating…
AC 2003
Communication (2)
• More to come
AC 2003
Information
•
Information media also have a long history
– the invention of History about -3000 BC
– the invention of the press by Gutenberg (the first metal caracters in the West ; there
were some in Korea before http://130.238.50.3/ilmh/Ren/bokt-chartier-china.htm)
– Which date ? The Google reflex : 1447
– Newspapers (T. Renaudot) : 1631 (or 16something)
– more here : http://www.lian.com/TANAKA/comhosei/NPinEB.htm
– Photography (Niepce 1826 http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/)
– (improved by Daguerre, Eatsman, the Lumière brothers, etc.)
– Cinema : Les frères Lumière 1895
– Radio (in the 20 ’s)
– TV (in the 30 ’s)
– Internet
AC 2003
Technology
• As we see Information and Communication
have been using more and more
sophisticated technologies
• It is unlikely that it will stop (right now we are
witnessing the end of the argent-based cameras, more than half the
cameras sold nowadays are digital ; we can buy a 3.3 million pixel
camera for 670€ rue du marché notre dame, and send pictures of
Poitiers to Beijing in seconds)
AC 2003
New
• As we see there have been many steps in
developping information media and
communication techniques before the
present day tools
• The Office suite softwares are a very small
part of the history of new information and
communication tools
AC 2003
When using Word, Excel, PPT, or
Access...
• … it is important that we realise we use
information and communication tools
• These have been created with a goal
– Word : to make nice looking but first of all efficient
business letters, etc.
– Excel : to calculate and present productively, for
instance accounting and budgeting data (Visicalc 1978)
– Access : same kind of comment
AC 2003
Back to Communication
• The tools have undergone tremendous
technological leaps…
• … but the people are the same as before
• Therefore the rules of communicating haven ’t
changed much
– Know who we talk to
– Respect
– etc.
AC 2003
NTIC and palaver
• When discussing, for instance, daily fees for
an intervention with some interlocutor…
• … and the discussion goes on and on.
• It would be a tremendous mistake to curtail
it by saying :
– « well my fees are this, and that ’s it »,
– or by saying right away « OK I accept your
conditions »
AC 2003
NTIC and palaver (2)
• It would be a tremendous mistake to curtail it by
saying :
– « well my fees are this, and that ’s it »,
– or by saying right away « OK I accept your
conditions »
• Why ?
• Because the real subject is not « my fees » but
« who I ’m and who are you ? »
• That is a palaver.
AC 2003
NTIC and palaver (3)
• The real subject is not « my fees » but « who I ’m
and who are you ? »
• That ’s a palaver.
• The purpose of a palaver is to get to know each
other and see whether we can and want to work
together
• For instance :
– « Is he rigid/stuck up ? Or flexible ? »
– « Is he too weak ? Or able to assert what he wants ? »
AC 2003
Communication
• Communication tools nowadays are
flabbergasting
• Yet we communicate usually with one of the
following goals :
– convince people to take such and such action
– to sign a contract
AC 2003
Communication
• In both cases we need to master the
psychological aspect of the communication
–
–
–
–
–
–
who are we talking to
what do they perceive of me
how to convince them
do I want to sign a contract with them
do they want to sign a contract with me
etc.
AC 2003
Communication
• Mastering the tools without mastering the
psychology of communication...
• ...is useless
AC 2003
Information (cont ’d)
• Besides Internet there are many other recent tools
– CRM customer relationship management : it treats customer information
to make the sales dept much more efficient
– SCM supply chain management : it makes plants/factories much more
efficient in getting their supplies (Raw materials)
– Manufacturing Information systems : to make plants more productive
• E-commerce : commerce using Internet ; the commerce part hasn ’t
changed (and in fact there are examples in the past of distribution
channels with no client/product contact and no client/salespeople
contact : mail order sales !)
• E-learning : using to NTIC to make teaching and learning more
efficient
AC 2003
What ’s the purpose of learning ?
• (not get a diploma : that ’s only the proof that we learned, that ’s not the
goal)
• Get a great job
– To be well trained, well prepared
– to open minded
• Prepare for a good future (for ourselves and for what we will have in
charge)
• Improve our knowledge
• To have informed opininons
• To be autonomous and creative and not just a « mold-copy »
• To be useful
• To be accomplished, TO BE RESPONSIBLE
AC 2003
Learning (cont ’d)
• So we need to get information
– mastery of techniques and facts
•
•
•
•
Understand facts
Think
We need to know quite a bit of History
Why ? To foresee a little bit the Future
AC 2003
Learning (cont ’d)
• We need to know quite a bit of History
• Why ? To foresee a little bit the Future
• The XXth century was rather hectic (cf for
instance the US interest rates in the 19th and 20th
centuries http://www.forecasts.org/data/index.htm)
• What will the XXIst be ?
AC 2003
US interest rate
AC 2003
Will there be major conflicts ?
• Conflicts of the XXth century :
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
WWI
Armenia
WWII
Middle-East wars (1956, 1967, 1973, 1991, Intifadas)
Korea
Vietnam
Algeria
Many wars in Africa : Boers, Tutsis and Hutus
• How to reduce their number in the XXIst century ?
AC 2003
Will there be major conflicts ? (2)
•
•
•
•
How to reduce their number in the XXIst century ?
Let ’s understand better how they arise
-> let ’s study History
Internet is a great provider of information (neither
more nor less reliable than in books), but much
faster to get !
• Then let ’s understand and think.
AC 2003
Will there be major changes in
the World order ?
• What happened in the past ? Leading countries per period :
–
–
–
–
–
–
200 AD : Roman empire, Han empire
1200 : Cheng Ji Sihan (Genghis Khan)
1500 : Spain
1700 : France
1850 : British empire
1950 : America
• 2030 - 2050 ?
– Possibly China (if you work hard at ESCEM ; here we teach mostly
techniques and also some facts…)
AC 2003
Will there be major changes in
the World order ? (2)
• 2030 - 2050 ?
– Possibly China (if you work hard at ESCEM ; here we learn mostly
techniques and also some facts…)
• We need to develop a business and historical culture
– Read the newspaper at least once a week
– Take part in discussions
– Have an opinion on all important societal topics (but an informed one)
• Not only will this land you great jobs…
• … but it will make you great managers and people responsible
for the Future
AC 2003
Techniques, Facts and Opinions
• Techniques : ESCEM teachings
• Facts : your questions, read the newspaper
at least once a week, Internet
– example : today is the 40th anniversary of the
Elysée Treaty. What is the Elysée Treaty ?
– 1963 French-German cooperation treaty
• Opinions (informed ones ; uninformed
opinions are useless, weak and dangerous)
AC 2003
What were the Evian accords ?
AC 2003
Techniques, Facts and Opinions (2)
• An example of question :
– related to Turkey
– « should it become a member of the European
community ? »
• Have an opinion ! (an informed one)
• Defend the Pros, then the Cons.
AC 2003
Techniques, Facts and Opinions (3)
• An example of question :
– related to South America
– « should the IMF lend more money to
Argentina or not ? »
• Have an opinion ! (an informed one)
AC 2003
International legal system
• It is likely that the XXIst century will
witness the emergence of an international
right to intervene into domestic affairs of
countries
• But it will have to be codified
• Argentina is one of the next candidates for
such an intervention
AC 2003
Techniques, Facts and Opinions (4)
• An example of question :
– related to Africa
– « what ’s going on these days in Marcoussis ? »
– There is a peace conference concerning Ivory
Coast
• Know the fact !
• Have an opinion ! (an informed one)
AC 2003
Techniques, Facts and Opinions (5)
• An example of more business oriented question :
– related to America
– « what is the US trade deficit in 2001 ? (the difference
between their exports and their imports) »
– http://www.uaw.org/publications/jobs_pay/01/0901/jpe06.html
• Know the fact !
• Have an opinion ! (an informed one)
AC 2003
Good sources of Information
• General :
– Search engines : Google, Altavista, Fast, Voilà, etc.
– Newsgroups : Google Newsgroups (ex-déjà News)
• On line newspapers :
– NYT, LeMonde, WSJ, Washington Post, etc.
• Specialised sites :
– for instance Hoover ’s on line for financial data
• A page of tools : http://lapasserelle.com/sm/web_tools.html
AC 2003
Good sources of Information
• A page of tools : http://lapasserelle.com/sm/web_tools.html
• Use it to find Amazon sales revenues for the
quarter ending Sept 2002 : ….. ?
• In three days will be published the figures for the
next quarter.
– Those persons working at Amazon, that already know
the figures are forbidden to buy or sell Amazon stocks
on the Nasdaq
– Why ? (After all they have the information…)
– Because it would be using « Insider information »
AC 2003
Using Hoover ’s on line...
• Who are Amazon ’s main competitors ?
• Which ones are profitable ?
• What is Microsoft last quarter data
– Revenue
– and Profit
7.7 billion dollars
2.7 billion dollars
• What is IBM last quarter data
– Revenue
– and Profit
19.8 billion dollars
1.3 billion dollars
AC 2003