My name is Brian Davidson and I am from Winter Haven, Florida. I am a senior at the University of Florida and am majoring in Business Administration with minors in Mass Communications and Leadership. I am the older brother to three younger sisters, one sophomore and twins that are freshmen, here at the University of Florida, as well. Both of my parents graduated from UF, and my chocolate lab's name is Gator. I guess you could say that we are the epitome of "The Gator Nation." My father owns a Citrus, Candy, and Marmalades and Jelly Factory, which has been in our family for over 40 years. It was featured on the Food Network and re-runs of the show have been aired about 3 times per year, since 2004. I enjoy fishing, surfing, and golfing, and being active in my fraternity. I will be graduating in December and am looking forward to it!
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I feel that a web presence for any company is greatly beneficial for many reasons. There is also a huge advantage for companies that create websites over the ones that don’t. One of the reasons for having a website is effective communication. This enables clients and potential clients to view available products or services, including researching much information about the organization that a simple telephone call would not be able to provide. Also, as more technological savvy as our country gets than it even is now, more and more people will be using the “Yellow Pages” online to search for local or niche companies, compared to looking up the information in the phone book.
As mentioned, having a website also enables organizations to distinguish themselves from others. A website provides a platform to explain their company, and why it is different and stand out form the others. It is an important form of advertising and public relations that commercials, print, and radio advertisements cannot offer. Giving that customers are viewing these websites on their own time, versus having to hear advertisements while waiting for television or radio programs, also suggests that the customers will get much more out of them; they are more interested and likely to purchase what products the company offers.
Another reason to have a website would be for the organization’s “image.” A website suggests that the company is striving to stay current, new, and cutting-edge. Having a website implies that a company is current on every aspect of its business, including the product construction or service practices- leading the customer to feel they are receiving the newest and best products or services.
Lastly, I feel that creating a website is an easy way to conduct business. Usually only a webmaster needs to be employed to create and maintain the website for the transaction to take place, compared to a staff that is receiving orders and can only take them during their working hours. This aspect also leads to one final benefit, that of creating the image of being a large, successful company, without even having a large office. It is understood that many people do not want to purchase form upstart, small companies. Having a website leads people to feel that the company is already successful, and if the consumer is satisfied with the product or service in the end, it doesn’t matter what the actual size of the company.
Podcasts in the business environment can be a very informative, free form of advertising and public relations for organizations. Just like blogs are read by the target market, consumers that are listening to the podcasts have a general interest in the company, compared to the general population that would be viewing or listening to an advertisement. This already gives an advantage to the company, by being able to reach the target market.
It is also an easy way for companies to promote their latest products, practices, and sales, as well as many other facets of their organization. An entertaining or humorous Podcast can also build a deep relationship and loyalty between the listener and the company. By establishing this relationship, whenever the consumer visits the company’s store or website they will have a favorable impression of the company due to their feelings associated with the Podcast.
Because Podcasts are so convenient, listeners can download them to an iPod or other MP3 device, which makes it very easy for consumers to listen to them on the go. This allows them to gather information on the latest sports and movie times, and sales at the mall. This in turn, allows consumers to multi-task, without having to sit down at their computer and waste time reading- they can simply listen as they are on the go. Overall, this form of free, promotional advertising seems very appealing to me.
I feel that secure e-mail can prove to be imperative in the business environment. There are many reasons for this, including both signed and encrypted emails. The inter-company business environment would prove to be the most important, followed by the business to business and business to person fields. The difference between a “normal” email and an encrypted one would seem to be the difference between sending a postcard and a letter in an envelope. One would never send confidential/ important information on a postcard, but may feel comfortable sending that same information in an envelope.
Emails sent to individuals inside the company (but not over the office intranet) would seem to be the most important, due to company details that would not need to be leaked to anyone outside the company. Through email encryption, one would feel comfortable sending a confidential email without much worry.
Business to business emails would be just as important to protect through encryption as emails inside one company. This could be that the two companies work together, such as one is a client of the other’s, or that they are working on a joint venture- either way, the companies involved would not want any other company or hacker to gain access to the information.
Another important note on email encryption would have to do when companies, especially banks, are sending financial sensitive material, Just like business plans would not need to be leaked, financial accounts and information are just as important, if not more important, to protect.
Successful collaborative computing is an integral part of the business environment. It can be used in many different types of business projects: in place of inconvenient meetings or for brainstorming sessions. It can be especially practical if a project does not need to be competed very quickly. Collaborative computing is a very easy and suitable way to communicate when business peers and/or group members have different schedules and are very busy, and when they are located in various parts of the state, country, or world.
This project is an example of how simple tasks or large projects can be completed in the business environment without having to take the time to meet in person. It was very convenient to complete our portions of the project, while gaining feedback from group members, during our different schedules. For example, I noticed that some of our group members posted early in the morning, one during the middle of the day, and I always posted late at night after studying for other courses.
During my internship this summer I used collaborative computing everyday. I was given a group project to have completed by the end of the three months I was there, while completing everyday tasks and individual projects throughout my workday. Our collaborative computing discussion allowed us to communicate when we could not meet or find time for conference calls.
Collaborative computing is a fairly new tool used in today’s workplace. Considering the convenient aspects of this type of communication, even over “better” technologies such as webcams and teleconferencing, I can imagine that this style of planning and discussion will be used throughout today’s, as well as tomorrow’s, business environment.
Excel is definitely a significant tool to be used in the workforce. There are many different applications that Excel can be applied for, including: data analysis, table configuration, chart and graph visuals, etc. Once again, another Computer Portfolio Project coincided with what I accomplished this summer during my internship, thus proving another aspect of how this course, ISM 3004, is an imperative part of business coursework.
Throughout the years I have become pretty familiar with Microsoft Excel, by creating tables, charts and graphs, and by analyzing data in a similar fashion as this project. Excel is a very important program to learn because so many different businesses use it to make since of, or analyze, their data.
For example, during my 4 month internship this year I have used Excel for many different business projects. I used it to input data, in order to analyze it and determine if individual motorcycles were worth insuring. I also used it to create charts and graphs when applying results from a survey about young adults’ interests and their relationship with insurance companies. There were also a few projects that I helped with that used very similar functions such as that of the Pivot Table, to determine rates, number of customers, as well as many other aspects of the company’s business goals.
As previously mentioned, this course has strengthened yet another practical business computing application, and I am grateful to be taking this course the semester that I am graduating so the information I learn will be fresh when I join the workforce.
While working with Access in the 6th portion of the Computer Portfolio Project, I learned the how
important Access is when using databases. Databases are key when organizing and storing data. It can
also be used when keying in on specific sets of information, as well as choosing certain pieces, versus all
of it. Access also has a format that is presented very organized, compared to Excel, and can be sorted
through much better, as well. Microsoft Access is a very beneficial skill to have when entering the
workforce. It is also a very important data sorting program to have if becoming an entrepreneur.
In the beginning of this project, I created two different tables within Microsoft Excel. These sets of data
include information relevant to movie rental outlets, as well as information for the movies, themselves.
I then created a table in Access titled “DVD Outlets” which displays information about the movie outlets,
including: the store name, contact person, address, fax number, and email. Similarly, I created a table
titled “Movies,” which includes the movie names, ratings, release date, genre, run time, and review. I
then created a lookup property so that a options were available for the review. These ratings included
one, two, three, four stars, and unreviewed, with unreviewed being the default option.
Once again, we have learned about a program that I used during my internship this past summer. The
difference in these two were that I used already existing data and analyzed it, compared to creating and
formatting data like this project does. I honestly did not finish the project due to certain reasons
unrelated to this course, but after reading through the rest of the directions, can see how this project
definitely includes tools that would be useful in the business workplace. The relationship creations were
very important with connecting data, and after visualizing the report, I feel like that would be something
that would be used when finalizing the data and using it in analyzing it in the office.