Blogs At Work

Blogs are frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts made on the web (Marketing Terms, 2010). Blogs can be about anything and everything, they can pictures, videos and links to other webpages (Blog Connection, 2010). Blogs enable individuals to express their thoughts freely and for this reason they can be very beneficial for organizational problem solving.

For instance, Vanderlei Industries Inc. created a company blog and permits all of his employees to post suggestions to the different problems of the organization. This enables the employees to express themselves privately and without the pressures of expressing themselves in front of an audience. In addition, by posting what they think is a solution to the organization problems, the employees get a sense of involvement with the organization that could be motivating for the workforce

Furthermore, the company uses its blog to communicate new procedures and memos to the workforce, therefore cutting cost on paper and diminishing the risk of the memo getting lost. However, not all is good with blogs and organizations. Since the use of blogs is fairly new the company had to spend a lot of money to train their employees. Plus, the company had to deal with some traditional employees who preferred the old fashioned way of doing things and opposed the idea of using blogs for office communication. Essentially, blogs have the potential of being very beneficial for organizations, however companies need to be determined to this idea and make the necessary costs to gain these benefits.

Disadvantages: Privacy

The biggest problem with RFID technology is that it invades individuals privacy. Since RFID tags are already in present in items that most individuals carry every day, these tags have the potential for tracking individuals without their knowledge and consent (SimsonL. Garfinkel, Ari Juels, and Ravi Pappu, 2010).

Though these chips might be beneficial to companies,by helping them track inventories as well as shipments. They are often placing people’s identities at risk since they can also be found in credit cards, driver licenses and passports. Furthermore, as the total dollar loss by Canadian identity theft victims increased to $10,882,279.04 in 2009, a 68.3% increase over 2007, (Canadian Anti-Fraud Criminal Intelligence Analytical Unit, 2009) protecting one’s privacy is fast becoming a priority. In addition, in 2003 the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported credit card fraud to amount for 33% of all frauds reported that year, accounting for the largest source of identity theft (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, 2007).

Advantages

RFID technology enables businesses to place a lot of information on a small chip, so they can tell where that particular product is going, as well as getting other information on individual products while they are in transition.

For instance, Metro Group AG (a German grocery store company) already is using RFID Technology to gain a virtual view of inventory from 20 suppliers that are tagging pallets and cases shipped to Metro's distribution centers. Another 80 suppliers are scheduled to use the same RFID procedures later this year. The German retailer's goal is to eliminate inventory errors and improve customer satisfaction by making sure products are on the shelf when needed (Tech Advances Index, 2010).

Furthermore, RFID technology can also be used for security reasons. For example, the U.S. National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) has shown that RFIDs to be used in U.S. passports can be read from as far away as 30 feet. This would make it easy to spot people carrying U.S. passports and capture information about them, and maybe even the passport holders themselves (Tech Advances Index, 2010). In addition, RFID tags can be implanted into animals and be used for tracking and linking the animal to food and location (rfidXchange, 2010).

RFID vs. BARCODES

RFID tags and barcodes are similar in the way that they both carry information about products. However, RFID tags are steadily replacing barcode technology. Here are some differences between the two:

• Scanners need to be in a direct line of contact with the printed barcode. In contrast, RFID scanners do not require a direct line of sight read the information contained by the RFID tags.

• RFID tags can be read at much greater distances; an RFID reader can pull information from a tag at distances up to 300 feet. The range to read a barcode is much less, typically no more than fifteen feet (Technovelgy LLC).

• RFID tags can be read much faster than barcodes can, since they don’t need to be in direct line of sight with the object being scanned.

• Line of sight requirements also limit the ruggedness of barcodes as well as the reusability of barcodes (Technovelgy LLC). Barcodes need to be printed on the outside of the product due to the line of sight required to scan them. Therefore, they are in subject to greater wear and tear in comparison to RFID that can be placed within the product itself, guaranteeing increased ruggedness and reusability.

• RFID tags allow you to add/remove information to the tag. However a printed barcodes does not.

• While RFID tags are more efficient than barcodes they also consume more power and are more expensive (Mayfield, 2002)

What is RFID Teachnology?

An RFID is an ID-identification-system. It depends on a tag that contains as minuscule chip that records and stores data, such as a serial number, price or purchase record. This RFID tag can be used to identify all sorts of things such as, merchandise, shipping containers, vehicles, even pet or animal collars. The tag is identified by an electronic scanner that uses radio signals to read chip and track the ID tag.

RFID technology can be very beneficial for organizations. For instance, it can be used to check inventory. The tags can be scanned at a distance and checked against the company’s database, making extremely simple for the company to know what it has on hand. Such as, in 2005 Wal-Mart demanded it’s to suppliers to implement this technology to simplify the management of its huge inventory (IDTechEx, 2005).

In recent years, RFID technology has virtually exploded in popularity. Chances are that you have already encountered quite a few RFID-enabled products, like car keys with an anti-theft chip, that need a valid code to start your car, automated highway tollbooths that can automatically read transponders installed in the vehicles of frequent users (these are in use on Toronto's Highway 407), the Speedpass TM keychain, which automatically debits your bank account or credit card when you pump your own gas (OCA, 2007).