Developing IT Funding Models

Developing IT Funding Models Developing it funding models With increasing competition, costs and debates on the return of investments. Organizations need to be smarter with better practices on the way they fund their IT departments. Information Technology has grown way beyond its original role and now it is unusual for any company to not have any IT incorporated. Each organization must develop its own funding strategy for its IT. There are some fundamental principles and practices which can guide IT managers and leaders in planning and budgeting, as well as investing in its IT facilities. There are many different obstacles that an organization will face when strategically funding the business. Many different obstacles can be encountered and this usually occurs when there is failure to: Recognize that human resources play a big role in IT expenditure, and that personnel costs present increasing and ongoing annual expenditures. Determine replacement life cycles for different IT and incorporate renewal funding into IT budgets. It is also important that the financial investment is committed every time a new project is approved and that it will be available over the lifespan of that project. Standardize software, hardware and IT Technical Support services as much as possible to deliver baseline services to enable economies of scale. Educate those within the organization about the benefits of IT investments. Ensuring that those who are expected to benefit from the investment understand and have bought into the potential need to make changes in the way that they work. Information technology must be efficiently planned and must engage the attention of executive leadership. There are certain strategic questions that need to be asked. The how much is going to be enough? and how up-to-date and leading edge do we want to be? are very important questions that need to be addressed.   The answers to these questions need to come from IT manages/leaders or from executive leaders. Organizations need to make financial decisions based on realistic and accurate cost figures. Not only new implementations must be budgeted for but ongoing operational costs need to also be accounted for. The cost of supporting the IT must also not be underestimated or forgotten about. Replacement cycles for the different infrastructure must be established.   Hardware, software, wiring and personnel must be incorporated into the IT budget.   There will also need to be funding for the cost of replacement of equipment which will be within the IT budget. All IT expenditures need to be vigorously monitored to ensure that all IT resources are budgeted efficiently. Effective IT funding is very dependent on the IT management practices in place within the organization. Standardizing the use of IT around the organization will mean more effective use of resources. Whilst this is difficult to achieve it is very important so that costs are effectively managed. It is especially important for common baseline services such as networking where unique needs are not a factor. Possible downtime and the cost of reallocating IT should be factored into the IT budget. This is to ensure that funding remains available for higher priority IT projects. As new technology comes into play, old technology should be reviewed. Seeking out anything that its at the end of its useful lifecycle. Despite all of the popular beliefs, there are only a few sources of funds available to all companies. Using profits made selling goods or services. This is the most effective source of funds for any company and hopefully brings in the most revenue. Companies can borrow money from banks and take a loan. The downside to this is the high interest rates that can accumulate over time. The company can sell itself in the form of shares to its investors. This is called equity funding. The benefit to this is that shareholders will not require interest payments. The downside to this is that profits are divided amongst shareholders. These are the 3 main sourcing of funding that is available to companies. Some possible funding models for IT in a company could include the following: Technology Grants-Including public funding and private grants for hardware, software and training. Parent or individual financing Bring your own device options, tax relief and user fees. Public-Private Partnerships government-backed loans, bundled service agreements, seed funding, support from religious institutions, NGOs, and micro-financing Micro Financing There are programs that provide small loans around the world to people in poor countries/third world countries. These have become more and more popular over the years. This funding could be used to purchase certain goods such as hardware and software. Bundled Service Grants Technology businesses out there such as cable providers and computer service companies often partner up together to offer special collections of services and equipment. These offer companies around the world to obtain much of the infrastructure equipment at a competitive rate rather than purchasing individually. These service grants are also being used in countries which have been traditionally under served. The big brand companies such as Intel, Cisco Systems and Microsoft are making an impact of revitalizing Lebanon and improving the economic growth. Government backed loans A Government backed loan is a loan that will be secured by the government. This means that lenders are protected and borrowers also benefit on low interest rates. With low interest and flexible repayment schedules these loans are a very good option for funding Information Technology. Universal Service Fees In third world countries where broadband access has been cost-prohibitive, universal access funds can be used to subsidize new broadband infrastructure and network rollouts. In countries such as Chile, Turkey and Malaysia, governments have successfully created policies and funds to extend voice, data and internet services. A useful way to begin is by using a SWOT Analysis. These are Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Each of the areas will need to be analyzed. Funding strategys do not tend to work well on their own. It tends to be part of an overall business plan or strategy which shows where the organization is heading. The funding strategy is the engine to make this happen. How to go about setting up a funding strategy? What are we going to do? Be clear about the aims and objects Why are we going to do it? Why do we require IT in our business? Who will do it? Decide who is responsible for fundraising e.g. managers/leaders Where will we do it? -Location of department/IT support services How will we do it? -Resources and methods required for fundraising need to researched and decided upon. When we will do it? Have an agreed timescale or ongoing plan to see what you need to do in order to maintain current funding. When to develop a funding model Funding models require considerable time and investment to take hold. The companys leadership teams must be willing to invest in systems and the required staff to support the funding model. Size is also an important factor. Developing a funding model is generally most helpful for companies that generate at least  £3million in annual revenues. This is because smaller organizations can often get by with idiosyncratic fundraising methods. So there is no need to get over strategic until it is necessary to do so. It needs to be clear with what the company wants to achieve from the funding model.   Does it want to propel rapid growth? Become more financially secure while remaining at roughly the same scale? Expand into a new program area? Each of these objectives is likely to imply a different right funding model. Identifying and developing a funding model is a long term investment that will require patience. But it is an investment that is worth making in the long run. An organization needs to reflect on the relative strengths and weaknesses of its current funding methods and its historical methods also. The knowledge that is gained from this will pave the way for implementing a funding model that builds on those strengths and weaknesses. Organizations are likely to think that they already know a great deal about their funding structures and how they have raised money. However, there is a danger that this is wrong. It is recommended that organizations that are in search of a funding model start by researching in 3 key areas: These are: Funding Sources Funder Motivation Fundraising Capabilities Peter Kim describes these in greater detail below: Funding Sources: A few important questions we can ask are: What percentage of ongoing costs is covered by renewable funding sources that are very likely to continue for at least the next three to five years?(Kim 2011) Across how many funders are funding sources spread?(Kim 2011) What percentage of funding is restricted to non-core operations and programs? (Kim 2011) Funder Motivation: It is important to understand why funders can help non profit businesses better. The goal is to see if there is a particular funding model and the existing motivations of potential donors. Important questions to be answered include Are the funders motivated by an organizations track record, the specific population it is working with, or the personal relationships with the top leaders? Fundraising Capabilities: Organizations need to be honest about what funding sources they wish to secure and what investments would need to be made to do so. Important questions here include: Does a single individual (such as the CEO or a board member) generate most of the revenue, or is fundraising more institutionalized?(Kim 2011) What are the development teams current capabilities?(Kim 2011 Image 1: http://er.educause.edu/~/media/images/articles/2015/1/figurereinitzsidebar.jpg?la=en Image 2: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Administration/CS+Organization+Chart+4.JPG Image 3: http://www.bakertilly.com/insights/budgeting-for-information-technology/ Kim, P. (2011) FINDING YOUR FUNDING MODEL, (37-41).

Social Network Service and Facebook Account

Ashley Ontiberos Amy Becker Eng103 Composition II November 17, 2011 The Facebook Addiction Did you know that approximately one in every thirteen people in the world have a Facebook account, according to Digitalbuzzblog. com. In 2010, Facebook was the most-searched term on the internet. With these statistics, I was surprised to learn that there is a disorder known as the Facebook Addiction Disorder or FADS. I didn’t realize Facebook was such a big problem until I began my research. With all the craze of Facebook or social networking, one can’t help but wonder what the ill effects of it really are. Today, In this cause and effect essay I want to inform you about how Facebook can have many negative effects on your job, free time and health. According to research done by Oregonbusinessreport. com, forty-five percent of employers screen social networks such as Facebook, before considering potential employees. This was research conducted in 2009. I am certain that the numbers have risen because of the number of people who regularly sign up as members of Facebook. When employers screen photos and posts they are looking for any kind or provocative and inappropriate photos. Additionally, bad-mouthing previous employers, poor communications skills is also another thing they look for before considering applicants for an interview or employment. Furthermore, even after a job has been granted, employers can still monitor their employee’s Facebook account. A recent example is of a New Jersey first grade teacher who lost her job over a post on Facebook. On March 28th, the teacher posted a status saying, â€Å"I’m not a teacher, I’m a warden for future criminals. † The status was forwarded to her school board and a judge ruled that she should lose her job because this comment was inexcusable. More people have lost their jobs over Facebook usage in recent years because most employers ban the use of Facebook at work. According to Royalgazetteonline. com, one third of employers say that Facebook is a major distraction at work. Most employers don’t block the site but it is a rule that employees are not allowed on social networking sites while clocked in to work. Based on research as indicated in this essay, Facebook has lots of negatives effects for employees if they choose not to control what they say. Forty-eight percent of Facebook users between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four, check their Facebook’s as their first priority each morning. About twenty-eight percent of that number, check it from their smartphones before getting out of bed, according to Digitalbuzzblog. com. According to Addictioninfo. org, Rob Bedi, a registered psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Victoria says, â€Å"There is a difference between procrastination and addiction, if you’re losing assignment time to Facebook use then it’s a problem. Facebook has become such an addiction to people that there are 155 Facebook Addicts anonymous groups on Facebook alone according to Addictioninfo. org. Hubspage. com also gives a list for people to read through that shows symptoms of Facebook addictions. Spending large amounts of time on Facebook is not what you would consider a â€Å"part-time hobby†. Many people are losing out on a lot of free time that could be use d more productively. People who are Facebook addicts choose not to go to the gym. Also they spend less and less time with family and friends to be on Facebook. Facebook addicts can definitely own up to lots of the examples given and have a very difficult time deciding when to log out. â€Å"Is Facebook turning teens into narcissistic, antisocial outcast? †, was a question asked in an article on CBSnews. com. A leading social network researcher, Dr. Larry D. Rosen, responds with a yes to the question. He believes that kids can develop greater empathy and it provides ways for shy kids to socialize but it also causes mental health problems. According to Dr. Rosen, teens who use Facebook show more aggression, mania, anxiety and depression. With these issues already occurring, it can lead to more serious health problems. Young people are turning down opportunities to socialize with their friends at the movies, malls and other hang outs. Instead they choose to hang out online. Recent health studies have also linked Facebook usage to Cancer. According to Dailymail. co. uk, Facebook can increase the risk of serious health problem by reducing the number of face-to face contact people have with people. The way in which Facebook users isolate hemselves from society can alter the way genes work, upset immune response, hormone levels, the function of arteries, and also impair mental performance, according to Dr. Aric Sigman. With these serious alterations, it could lead to more people getting cancer, heart disease, having a stroke or even developing dementia. I have informed you about some of the negative effects that Facebook can have on a person’s job, free time and health. It is so easy to access Facebook with smartph ones or laptops which offer internet usage almost anywhere. Facebook has invaded our lives in an unimaginable and unexpected way. When deciding whether or not to log into Facebook perhaps it would be a good idea to think more productive things you could do. Work Cited Associated Press. â€Å"Teacher should be fired over Facebook ‘warden’ post, judge rules . † Chicago Sun Times 08 11 2011. Chicago Sun-Times. 09 11 2011. Associated Press. 11/17/2011 . Daily Mail Reporter. How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer. 02/19/2009 Mail Online. 11/17/11 . Digital Buzz Blog. Facebook Statistics, Stats & Facts For 2011 . 01/18/2001. 11/17/2011 . Grasz, Jennifer. 45% Employers use Facebook-Twitter to screen job candidates. 08/24/09 Oregon Business Report. 11/17/2001 . Hubs, Pages. Negative Effects of Facebook Addiction. 2011 HubsPages. 11/17/2011 . Jaslow, Ryan. Facebook tied to poor mental health in teens: What parents must know. 08/09/11 CBS News. 11/17/11 . Pope, Danielle. Potential Facebook addiction. 01/28/2008 AddictionInfo. org. 11/17/11 . Royal Gazette Online. It’s official: Face book is a major distraction at work. 06/28/11 Royal Gazette Online. 11/17/2011 .

Henry Moseley

Henry Moseley: An Annotated Bibliography Todd Helmenstine (November 23) November 23 Science History. Retrieved from: http://chemistry. about. com/od/novemberinscience/tp/november23history. htm In this short analysis of Moseley’s accomplishment, Helmenstine basically summed up the most important facts about Henry Moseley and his discoveries. He shows how Moseley proved that the element’s atomic number is more important than the element’s atomic weight. This proved to be important because back then, â€Å"atomic number was just a number indicating the element's position on the periodic table and not a measurable quantity. Although the facts are short, it is a quick outlook of Moseley’s accomplishments. The information found here is safe to use because sites such as About. com do not make up any of their facts. Henry Moseley (2012) Retrieved from: http://www. famousscientists. org/henry-moseley/ This biography has far more information than the previous one. It goes deeper into Moseley’s life instead of just giving general facts about him. The author goes in chronological order by stating his early life, his middle life which includes his discoveries and accomplishments, and his life when he’s older.It goes into more detail by giving the names of his discoveries such as Moseley’s Law which happens to be the systematic relationship between the atomic number and wavelength. The biography also explains that if he had not died in war, he would have contributed even more about the atomic structure and possibly winning a Nobel Prize. † This biography is up to date, and seems to be reliable due to the wide range of other scientists. Heilbron, J. L. (1974). H. G. J. Moseley: The Life and Letters of an English Physicist, 1887–1915. Berkeley: University of California Press. Retrieved from: http://www. hemistryexplained. com/Ma-Na/Moseley-Henry. html In this analysis of Moseley’s life/ discoveries, more fac ts are being shown. For example, it shows that there was a research group composed of Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, Hans Grieger, and of course Henry Moseley. All of these scientists made important discoveries, but Moseley wanted to further investigate x-rays. The author suggests that the way Moseley did things was a â€Å"classical example of the scientific method. † The article is very excellent and seems very reliable, and it seems to have gathered information from various sources.Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley from World of Chemistry. (2005-2006) Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved. Retrieved from: http://www. bookrags. com/biography/henry-gwyn-jeffreys-moseley-woc/ Other than just saying what Moseley experimented, this biography actually explained in detail what he did exactly with the x-rays. It also explains the reason why Moseley knew why atomic number was far more important than the atomic weight. The main difference is that the variati on in atomic masses between adjacent elements is never consistent, whereas the variation in nuclear charge is always precisely one. This statement is one of the most important ones because this is basically his whole discovery. The information is quite old, but it has all the same information as other reliable sites. The University of Oxford (2011) The Story of Moseley and X-rays. Retrieved from: http://www. physics. ox. ac. uk/history. asp? page=moseley Although some of the information has already been mentioned in other various sites, what many of them lack is a visual of Moseley’s experiments, and that’s exactly what this biography has. The visual portrays his experiment in exact details and all the results that came from it.Although â€Å"there was no explanation for these multiple lines (and several other weaker lines not shown on Moseley's diagram) and this had to await the discovery of the spin of the electron and the quantum theory, as did the slight departure s from linearity. † This shows that sometimes even the scientist that is conducting an experiment can be confused or have the lack of knowledge of something. The article found here is a year old, so the information is still valuable, and the source from which it came from is valuable.

Middle School Holocaust Audience - 563 Words

The Holocaust, one of the worst genocides in history, a time that every person should know and understand, the mass murder of Jews over 5 years of pain and suffering. The best way to teach this in my opinion is with the Elie Wiesel interview Death Camp Auschwitz and to show it when middle schoolers are young, but old enough to have an idea of what happened from 1939 to 1945, but the middle schoolers cant watch this without losing important information not given in the video. So there is a reason why the middle schoolers should see this over reading books and online stories, and how they will keep wanting to listen to what else is missing from the picture. But there will be some forms of information lost when the middle schoolers watch this over the books and such. So what gives this interview video an advantage over books. The interview gives middle schoolers the story behind World War Two, the holocaust, without being a boring documentary where the middle schoolers turn their heads away. Instead, the interview has a feel of a gloomy like sadness about what happened at Auschwitz, and to Elie in the death camp. Oprah and Elie talk about Elies experiences at Auschwitz, to what the nazis were doing with the remains of their Jewish victims, showing pictures and videos from the period when Auschwitz was both in operation, and liberated. This gives middle schoolers an idea of what things looked like at that time, without sacrificing information in a difficult manner toShow MoreRelatedGraphic Novels : Are They `` Real `` Literature?916 Words   |  4 Pages(Williams, 2011). For instance, Maus is a graphic novel on the Holocaust and is a well-established piece of work. It is the story of a survivor from the Holocaust in the form of a graphic novel. This is very helpful in middle school Social Studies class es. 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