Podcasting!

Podcasting, a relatively "new" phenomenon can be used for more than the much advertised playing of music videos on an iPod. According to wikipedia.com, podcasting is the distribution of audio and video files online, on personal computers and mobile devices.

Can It Help My Business?

Podcasts can help businesses both internally and externally. John C. Hayes disscusses several uses in his article, "Podcasting" on about.com. Aside from the obvious external use of advertising a product or service, I picked 2 of Haye's methods and added one from my own experience.

1. CEO CubicleCasts: Hayes describes this as a weekly cast in a radio show format, perhaps with the CEO interviewing employees on ideas/concerns, or giving them best practice advice alone. I think that any improvement to the "monthy newsletter" that would actually get employees interested could be great.

2. ConferenceCasts: Hayes describes these as "best of" podcasts, to update those that perhaps missed a conference session. He advises to keep the casts under 15 minutes and that an "audio team" would need to edit and get it ready for disribution relatively fast.

3. Training Casts: This concept was first introduced to me when working for a technology solutions based company over the summer. The idea is to provide required or professional training to employees in an easily accessbile format. This is a combination of Haye's "HR Podcasts" and "Welcome Tours". Either way traditionally stagnant training can be updated through podcasting.

More great information on podcasting can be found in Hayes' full article.

IT Is the Place to Bee!

Apparently, IT is the place to bee! Upon "meta-researcing" my last posting's information regarding popularity of the Information Technology major at American universities, I found conflicting results. But first, I had to figure out exactly what I was looking for...

Information Technology

WorldWideLearn.com was especially helpful in clearing up what an Information Technology major really is. An article on WorldWideLearn defines Information Technology as, "...the study of how computers process and manage all manner of information. IT professionals work in all manner of industries, designing hardware, software, communications networks, Internet applications, and more".

Computer Science

The Princeton Review ranked the "Computer Science" major as number nine in their article "Top 10 Most Popular Majors". Their definition of the major read, "...Included will be classes on how to develop business applications and perform system analysis and the process of developing software (from designing to programming to testing). Programs may also include instruction in robotics, natural language recognition programs, artificial intelligence, programming languages, and numerical analysis".

What's the Difference?

What I took from both descriptions was that the terms "Information Technology" and "Computer Science" are often used interchangably, but can be different things. I infer that Computer Science focuses more on the actual development of software and programming, really getting to the core of what makes a computer work; i.e. the "science" aspect. Information Technology seems to be more of a systems management and applications based approach. Eitherway, both articles boasted that the major(s) are in high demand in the job market.

Check out the articles in their entirety at WorldWideLearn.com and princetonreview.com.

Where to Start?

My first attempt at searching for business technology information was a fruitful one. I found an article that proves my point of how businesses are having a bit of a struggle with implementing all the technological opportunities that exist. It just so happens the website I found the article on, TechWeb got top billing on Google.com as well.

Businesses Are Learning

The main point of the ariticle is that businesses are learning what a challenge it is to manage their new IT (Information Technology) resources and the skilled people needed to do so. K.C. Jones of TechWeb reports that the New York based company Interop is taking note of these trends. CEO of Interop, John Swainson is quoted as saying, "We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run...it often takes longer than we expect for a technology to have an impact, but when it does, its impact often exceeds our expectations. And the reason is that technology invariably is used in ways we never imagined".

IT Resources

In order to manage these new ways of using technology, a business requires people who are skilled in IT work. Jones reports that the average business devotes 9 percent of its budget to IT resources and that few have formal processes for managing those resources. Interop's Swainson seems to think this will increase with the demand for more technology in business processes.

A Snag in the Plan?

I think the most bewildering part of the article strolls in a slightly different direction, but is notable. Jones merely mentions that the number of IT students in American Universities has declined. This not only indicates future challenges for those who'll need to hire IT professionals but also spells big opportunities for me and my peers. And this brings about a topic for my next post: IT students in American Universities and Colleges!

Make sure to check out K.C. Jones' full article at www.techweb.com .