SQL Queries

SELECT "Customer Name", "Region", "Product Category", "Profit" FROM "Sales" WHERE "Region"='East' This allows for a company to see what category of product created the most profit while conducting business in the East region. https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?OBJID=793504000000020016&STANDALONE=true&ZDB_THEME_NAME=blue&DATATYPESYMBOL=false&REMTOOLBAR=true&SEARCHBOX=true&SHOWHIDEOPT=true SELECT "Date", "Product", "Region", "Cost" FROM "Sales" WHERE "Region"='East' AND "Cost">10.00 This allows for a company to see what products in the East region are costing them the most in money. I made it so that only products costing them over 10 dollars were listed. https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?OBJID=793504000000020105&STANDALONE=true&ZDB_THEME_NAME=blue&DATATYPESYMBOL=false&REMTOOLBAR=true&SEARCHBOX=true&SHOWHIDEOPT=true

Multimedia

The focus of my post will be on the multimedia aspect of Chapter 7 and how the use of it affects the success of business. We are surrounded by all different types of multimedia every day, especially the younger generation. I, personally, am always sending my friends pictures or videos or posting them on Twitter or Facebook. Multimedia is a very quick, interesting, fun way to get information across. Because of this, more and more businesses have been incorporating multimedia into business practices such as presentations, projects, marketing and advertising. “Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation,video, or interactivity content forms” (1). “The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users' experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information” (1). It may be faster to just send a picture rather than to describe, in tons of words, what is in front of you. This form of information can create a faster pace in conducting business and communicating within a business. However, due to some of the costs in the use of multimedia, it is crucial that businesses get the most bang for their buck. They have to make sure that the use of multimedia will have an effect on their intended audience. Multimedia is very effective when targeting to a young audience (2). The younger generations are the ones who really pay attention to multimedia. Marketing to younger generations with multimedia will have a greater effect on them than when marketing to older generations. Multimedia has been very useful not only in presentations and internal projects of the business, but with promotion and marketing. As a user of twitter, I constantly see promotions with pictures that businesses “tweet.” “Twitter's TweetPhoto will automatically enable you to publish photos to your Twitter and Facebook accounts for free via mobile and Web platforms. Tweet pictures of discounted and new items or offer exclusive incentives” (3). Twitter is a great form of mobile marketing. This is one example of a simple, quick way to promote and advertise through the use of multimedia. “Since multimedia solutions have the tendency to captivate potential customers or visitors to your site, the exposure of your business will be greatly possible” (4). With more and more people on the internet, putting multimedia marketing on the internet will be extremely effective. This gives people more access to your business. Although there seems to be great hype about the use of multimedia, I came across a few disadvantages in conducting my research. Two major disadvantages that are discussed in the use of multimedia for business purposes were equipment failure and lost productivity (5). The article that I read discussed the common scenario of equipment failure just before a big presentation. If the multimedia fails, the whole presentation is lost and ruined. Furthermore, the article discussed lost productivity due to the time and effort that multimedia takes. Maybe this is suggesting that individuals who are quick and experienced with the use of multimedia should be the ones using it. In conclusion, the use of multimedia seems like a great way for businesses to expand and enhance their work. Although there are some possible disadvantages, I feel that the benefits surely outweigh the costs. Presentations and projects are more appealing, and marketing is made quick and easy through such promotions as pictures and videos in using multimedia. 1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia 2.http://www.smallbusinessmultimedia.com/article2.html 3.http://www.inc.com/guides/multimedia-for-business-marketing.html 4.http://www.barrytatum.com/the-importance-of-multimedia-marketing-to-your-business/ 5.http://smallbusiness.chron.com/disadvantages-using-multimedia-professional-communication-18491.html

DSS

My main focus of this assignment is the way that Decision Support Systems go beyond the ability of human intelligence. DSS softwares go beyond what we can do as humans, eliminating a lot of human error. The term “Decision Support System” is defined as “a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities” (1). Business has become so complex and technologically advanced that we can no longer rely on the abilities of a human to accomplish the tasks that a business needs to complete. Tasks need to be done faster, and even with great intelligence, humans cannot perform these tasks as quickly as a DSS software. Decision Support Systems involve the implementation of AI (Artificial Intelligence). The goal of AI is “to develop computer systems that exhibit intelligence or simulate the ability to think” (2). Since AI in computers has the ability to think, why not just simply use humans to do this thinking? The reasoning is that computer systems handle complexity better than humans (2). There is more that goes into decision making than meets the eye, and humans are born with the natural inclination to make mistakes throughout their lifetime. This is where AI and DSS softwares pick up our slack - they eliminate errors. “Aiding the deficiencies of human judgment and decision making has been a major focus of science throughout history” (3). It was interesting to read about how psychology is implemented into these AI and DSS softwares. One would think that only humans would have the ability to experience the phenomenon of psychology and cognitive psychology, but cognitive psychology is implemented into computer programs for complex decision making (3). The elimination of human error is exemplified in a couple of the models involved in DSS’s. A brief history of DSS’s explains two models: 1. Accounting and Financial models, and 2. Representational models (4). Both of these models are involved in calculating the consequences of possible actions taken by humans. These models can determine the affects that one single decision will have on a business, now or in the future. This eliminates human error because if the consequences are bad enough, the business will not make this decision. Without Decision Support Systems, the business would be forced to out on a limb and maybe never know what will happen as a result of the decision. In conclusion, DSS and AI softwares do things that a human cannot do alone. However, human traits are what make these softwares what they are. “A successful DSS is one that assists rather than replaces the human decision maker” (5). Both humans and computers have their strengths and weaknesses: “The strengths of human decision makers in the areas of conceptualization, intuition and creativity are the weaknesses of the computer. Conversely, the strengths of the computer in computation speed, parallelism, accuracy and the persistent storage of almost unlimited detailed information are human weaknesses” (5). A computer enhances the abilities of a human, and extends our intelligence with quicker speeds and accuracy. 1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system 2.www.cs.siena.edu/.../Decision%20Support%20and%20AI%20(22).ppt 3.http://www.pitt.edu/~druzdzel/abstracts/dss.html 4.http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html 5.http://www.cadrc.calpoly.edu/pdf/decision_brochure.pdf