Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Organizations

Organizations that have proven to be successful often use Decision Support Systems (DSS) to help with forecasting, sales planning, revenue projection and other problem solving matters that a manager may come across.  DSS refers to a computerized system that gathers and presents data from a wide range of sources within an organization. (2)

In general, the primary components of a decision support system are a database management system, a model-base management system, and the people that will be utilizing the data.  All of these systems must be able to work with data that are internal and external to the organization. (1) Depending on who will be using the data, the systems used could be placed in different classifications:

A Model Driven system is one in which decision makers use statistical simulations models to come up with a solution or strategy. In this type of system, data is not the basis of the model.

A Communications system model is one in that involves a number of people to come up with a series of decisions depending on selected data that is then manipulated to fit the decision maker’s needs. An example would be the number of employees needed to run a call center based on call volume and trends and may vary from quarter to quarter.
A Document Driven system model uses documents such as text documents, spreadsheets, and records.  When all put together, a decision can be made.
A Knowledge Driven system model uses special rules stored in a computer or that a human uses to determine whether a decision should be made.  In the end it will come up with rules or facts that will be used to make a decision. (3)

Resources

1. http://www.answers.com/topic/decision-support-system
2. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/decision_support_system.html
3. http://www.tech-faq.com/decision-support-system.html

Decision Making Methods and/or Approaches

Whether we are making decisions in our personal life or professional life, there is a process that takes place, considering the advantages and disadvantages of the decision.

Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. [1] When you are part of a workforce that a number of employees depend on the decision that you make, you must always take into consideration the decision is the right one and no mistakes can be made.

People in general take several approaches to make a decision. Well, how many steps or approaches does one take make a decision?  There is no specific answer to the question and every situation will vary depending on the complexity of the issue and what we hope the final outcome will be.  Companies these days are so financially constrained the decision is based on costs-How much is it going to cost me to achieve that goal?  This is just one way one may make a decision but depending on the individual, there are several approaches that could be taken:

1. How can I please others?
2. Use intuition.
3. Let someone else make the decision for you.
4. Should I choose the easy way, or more difficult way?
5. Do some research and consider the advantages and disadvantages.
6. Consult with others that have a true opinion.

The first 4 approaches are ones that you may be able to afford and make wrong decision. A successful company will take approaches # 5 and #6 as they are the more intelligent way of making a decision.  According to Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler, consult is when you ask for input: “Consulting is a process whereby decision makers invite others to influence them before they make their choice.  You can consult with experts, a representative population, or even everyone who wants to offer an opinion.  Consulting can be an efficient way of gaining ideas and support without bogging down the decision making process.  Wise leaders, parents, and even couples frequently make decisions in this way.  They gather ideas, evaluate options, make a choice, and then inform the broader population.” [2]

Other approaches that are intelligent and have proven to be successful are: To vote or until everyone agrees to the decision. When you the method is one of vote, ensure that you have the best decision makers or matter experts in the room so options are given to the group to make a decision. Making everyone agree to a decision is one that is difficult, depending on whom your audience is.  The advantage though is that you have everyone in agreement and you may unify a group.

I once participated in a Tony Robbins session and one thing that he said that is truly motivational was: “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”[2]

Resources

1        http://sourcesofinsight.com/4-decision-making-methods/

2        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_making

Web 2.0/Social Networks

Web 2.0/Social Networks

Should one imagine a set of people that created a network to connect with one another to share thoughts, experiences, facts, etc. on a specific interest through the Web, that network becomes a Social Network. A Web 2.0 site is an application that allows the network to be created and for the interaction of its users.

Human beings are a very unique species that have the need to interact with one another and most of us have special interests in life. A social network allows us and gives us the opportunity to explore, participate and learn. The network is created because of a particular interest but some are also very general, simply to have an interaction with our friends, families, or simply because we now can and have interaction, in our own home, with anyone across the globe. Facebook is a social network that most of have an account or at least are familiar with and usually its purpose is to interact with people that we know, or would like to know. Some may consider it the rolodex of the world. Linkedin is a social network that is very specific to business or professionals to get their name and working experiences to manage their careers.

When you explore the type of Social Networks that exist today, and continue to grow, you get a very good picture of the type of people that surround us, the differences in people’s interests within organizations, geographical boundaries, social boundaries and many others. As one explores any one of these areas, they may find an interest that they were not aware of.

Building these Social Networks on a Web 2.0 concept has become so affordable and easy that the concept continues to grow, allowing more users to educate themselves, communicate with each other. There is also a benefit to society itself or organizations that attempt to study the behaviors of human beings and certain patterns. Predictions can be made on social and economical behaviors of communities. When purchasing a product in today’s world, a consumer may take social networks and learn about the product and read other people’s opinion on the product or even the service that a company may perform. This type of interaction is new and can either make or break a business.

Web 2.0 has been accepted globally and more users are using Social Networking sites more than ever. Social Networks and its implementation of Web 2.0 is here to stay and will only become more popular as time goes on.
Sited Sources:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-socialcollab/index.html?ca=drs-

E-Commerce

Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C)

One of the most important aspects of the internet currently is having the ability to do business electronically, online. This type of business is called e-business or
E-Commerce (1).

There are three categories that E-commerce can be decided into 3 subsets:

1. Business-to-Business (B2B) Transactions between organizations
2. Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) Transactions between consumers using a
third party for the transaction
3. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Transactions between an organization and consumer

Over the past decade, each year is a more profitable one for those companies that do business on-line. It seems to be a more convenient way of doing business with a click of your mouse. “Despite the recession in 2010, e-retailers increased their sales by 9.8% from the previous year, totaling $142.491 billion worth of merchandise, according to Web measuring company comScore” (2).

Business-to-Consumer sites are no longer only about signing on to a companies website and purchasing directly from them. Social Media has become a huge part of advertising and a huge avenue to advertise your product. Since millions of people are signed on to Facebook, companies will advertise their product based on your profile and what you like. Amazon will post on your page products based on what you or your friends have listed as favorite books, authors, etc.

Consumer-to-Consumer Business is on the rise as more individuals and smaller companies have a desire to sell their product at reduced costs, but a profitable market base. As a business, one of the benefits of a C2C e-commerce solution is that you only need to provide the platform to facilitate buyer and interaction. The tedious processes involved in completing a sale such as managing product inventory, order processing and shipping etc are done away with. You as a service provider can earn a commission from every sale that you make. Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist are just some platforms that one may use to sell their product.

There are some disadvantages for C2C transactions. Some, security related but some are simply initiated by scams. “One recent example would the profound “Craigslist Killer” in which a person was purchasing exotic women services only to meet and murder the women giving the service. Though the example is a bit extreme, it nevertheless underlines another disadvantage to the sites is damaged reputation. When things go wrong on C2C e-commerce communities, people can easily spread their stories across the Internet” (3).



Sited Resources
1. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ebusiness.htm
2. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/17/five-hot-consumer-e-commerce-trends-in-2011/
3. http://sites.google.com/site/b188sjsu/Home/ebusiness/consumer-to-consumer