:: MIS Insights ::

It’s been around 6 years since I’ve really watched anything on television. The last thing that I really followed was Samurai X and that other show. I’ve never really grown fond of television.

Maybe it’s because of…

• my childhood school training (No TV during weekdays)
• the blackouts (It’s very irritating to have a power outage right after the opening of X-Men the Animated Series)
• my interest in other things (Books and computers win over televsion anytime)
• my impatience (the suspenseful 7 day wait for each episode kills me)
• my brother (television is one of the things he really enjoys. Under my watch, he gets priority over the remote control)

So, for the past 6 years, 10 minutes of channel surfing every week was more than enough television for me. However, there is one show that could make me stop whatever I was doing. It’s Crocodile Hunter. [don’t bother clicking though, the site is currently down]

Steve Irwin was one of my Television heroes alongside McGyver, Fox Mulder and Shaider. He’s probably the main reason for my fascination with snakes and crocodiles. Too bad I won’t see new episodes from him anymore.

Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian whose catch cry of “Crikey!” helped him rise to global fame as television’s the “Crocodile Hunter,” was killed Monday by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was in the water at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called “Ocean’s Deadliest” when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, said John Stainton, a friend and colleague.

“He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat, Croc One, at the time.

This is a very sad day… Crickey…

Remember, remeber, the Third of September,
The night which changes everything
The age of Rich Text Editing.

A few hours ago, I decided to dissect WordPress. After being stuck with paperwork for the past 2 weeks, I was more than willing to tackle any kind of technical job that can come my way.

Actually it’s more of a configuration rather than something technical. Though I don’t mind however we call it - whatever gets monotype fonts and Dreamweaver back to my blood stream is good. Nonetheless, allow me to share one of the happiest moments of my programming career.

You see, for the longest time, I’ve been deploying online Content Mangement Systems (i.e. blog) with my own html text upload form. Yes, that’s the primitive <input type=”textarea”>. It’s simple, elegant, it works, but I must admit, it sucks. After three years of putting up with such limitation, I decided to see tonight how WordPress can help me.

15 minutes into the Wordpress documentation, I was already publishing WP-created content in my web pages! Mwahahahaha!

Goodbye “To have text in bold, enclose the text in <B></B> tags!”
Hello user-friendly image and text uploading!

Goodbye basic html textareas!
Hello rich text editing!

Goodbye hours of customizing CMS!
Hello hours of getting to do more!

I love WordPress. This discovery greatly improves my ability to deliver products and services the way my customers want it.

Mark 7:14-15

Jesus called the crowd to him and said,
“Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”

Nouveau-riche

Nouveau-riche - Characteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this new position.

Everyone in this world can be wealthy. Though not everyone in this world knows how to handle wealth. Today’s bible passage is not asking “Did you do something bad with what you have?” It’s asking us “Did you do something good with what you have?”

You who can spare a pack of crackers for the street beggars, when was the last time that you did?

You who don’t tolerate mendicancy, when was the last time you voted for someone who had actual solutions for the poor?

You who can spend 100 pesos (US$2) on a drink, when was the last time you gave to charity?

Do you know how to handle your wealth for the benefit of the people? Are you really rich where it matters?

Philips is currently developing a Skype phone that will no longer require a personal computer.

This is a big step in addressing one of the biggest challenges of VoIP proliferation in the market. With the Philips VOIP841, all you need is a broadband connection via a router, and you’re set. The same goes for Netgear’s Skype Phone, which was introduced earlier this year.

Will this shift in the winds of technology help increase VoIP popularity in the Philippines? Will VoIP be the next big thing for our country’s ICT infrstructure? Only if VoIP service providers can address the current communications infrastructure of the Philippines.

• Analog Telephones. Our current telephone system works fine the way we need it. If VoIP service providers can target long distance callers, then they’ll have a chance of making it big with the families of 8 million OFWs abroad.
• SMS. Text Messaging has grown to be one of the most popular means of communication in the Philippines. Though intended for SHORT messaging, trust the FilipnoP0et2wrkArndSchPrblm. If VoIP could integrate SMSoIP, now we’re talking.
• Mobility. Mobile people would rather use cellular phones for portability and coverage. This is most useful when you have to move around a lot (ex. sales agent) or if you don’t really have your own office space (ex. laptop-powered workforce). The internet connection requirement currently limits the mobility of VoIP phones. If we could develop a Wireless Metropolitan Area Network…
• E-mail. E-mail is cheap, fast and dialogue is asynchronous. Hmm…
• Telco. With one big telco company running the show for both analog telephony and digital subscriber lines, DSL-dependent services that can eat through their telephony business profits are not really welcome in the ICT ecology.

However, as with most capitalist economies, if there is a need, there will be a supply. Is there a need for VoIP in the Philippines?

If there is, maybe not in the consumer market right now.

If there is none, maybe the government can help in improving the use of our current ICT infrastructure. We might be doing well against our Asian neighbors in terms of tech level, however the advanced technology is limited mainly to foreign companies and their offices here. For instance, Quezon City touts itself as the ICT capital of the Philippines. I don’t think having the most number of call centers in the country is an indicator of ICT-ness from a profitable business perspective. We have a 3-5 year telco advantage among other Asian countries. I hope we could develop programs that take advantage of the benefits of our ICT infrastructure.

//picture borrowed from flickr. thanks.

According to a popular economic theory, Consumer Spending, consumers can dictate what happens to the economy because they have the money and spending power. In my opinion, consumers who don’t have money or spending power can also dictate what happens in the economy. Let’s take a look at Wal-Mart’s recent global performance to find out.

Almost a month ago, Wal-Mart pulled out of Germany because of its lackluster performance. The main reason can be attributed to how they forgot to account for the preferences of their customers.

German Wal-Marts adopted the U.S. custom of bagging groceries, which many German consumers find distasteful because they tend not to like strangers handling their food.

This pull-out from Germany happened barely a quarter of a year after Wal-Mart also also got out of South Korea.

The Importance of Culture
In both situations, Wal-Mart failed to take into account the cultures of the repsective countries. Sometimes, these cultures are close to being sacred that they can make or break a business. Business-culture relationships can be influenced by:

• Geography (try selling ice cream at the arctics versus Ice Cream at the beaches)
• Religion (Muslims consider pork as dirty [not sacred] and will not eat it)
• Tradition (Germans wanting to take care of their own food)

Of course this is nothing but common sense available from your local hardware store. Didn’t the analysts and advisers of Wal-Mart think about this? Actually, if there’s a reason why there isn’t a Wal-Mart in the Philippines, it’s because the analysts have done their job.

Pinoy Wal-Mart
In the Philippines, several reasons prohibit wholesale businesses like Wal-Mart from prospering.

• No Money. Filipinos simply can’t afford wholesale purchase of goods. It might be cheaper and more cost-effective, but when getting cheap items mean expensive bulk orders, it no longer looks cheap in the eyes of a budget-conscious person.
• Buying Pattern. Filipinos aren’t used to buying wholesale. We only get what we need at a time - such trait can be traced from our ancestors. In the olden days, everything was a property of the community. Everybody shared everything. This meant that there was no concept of property and no need for hoarding.
• Convenient Competition. There are simply too many supermarkets out there. This saturates the market with enough sources of competition. This availability makes it convenient for people not to hoard. Why hoard? I can always get another bar of soap outside.

On another note, retails stores in the Philippines (i.e. SM or Robinson’s Supermarket) pose a big barrier to entry for wholesale groceries like Wal-Mart. They have a customer-centric ethos which the economies of scale of Wal-Mart cannot bully around. The locals have done their homework and have customized their establishments to fit the needs of the market in terms of pricing and availability, whether they’re servicing those with purchasing power (shops available everywhere so that it becomes convenient for the people to spend) or those without (affordable prices for everyone). Where quality isn’t really much of an issue, economic victors are determined by the price wars.

Can you provide a caption or insight about this picture?

One caption will be chosen among all entries. One winner will get an mp3 player in the year 2016! Another winner will get free webhosting for 12 months and a free subdomain from paminta.com!

So hurry up! The more entries you send, the more chances of winning!

Mechanics / Disclaimer:

• I will choose the winner on September 30, 2006. My Pareto-based criteria is 80% “Because I like It”, 20% “Because it’s witty/funny”
• I declare the contractual limits and requirements of the webhosting package. Batteries and domain name not included.
• I have the right to cancel and terminate the contracts involved in this contest anytime I want.
• All submitted jokes become the property of the community and may be regurtitated as wanted.

Rationale. One of the important traits of an MIS professional is his creativity. The usefulness of learned skills, past experiences and stock knowledge can be amplified by a creative mind. The ability to think out of the box, to spot the obvious and to frame a situation from different perspectives are indispensable characteristics in an MIS professional.

A barrel of oil costs an average of US$75 dollars right now. With more and more energy-dependent industries sprouting left and right, the price of such limited and elastic good has nowhere to go but up. Businessweek speculates over what could happen once this black gold hits a US$100 per barrel. When it does happen, what could be in store for the Philippines?

In my opinion, a 33% increase ($75 -> $100) in oil prices can mean the end of the world for the Philippines.

The Book Says: Once oil prices increase, an inevitable rise in transportation fare will trigger an avalanche of price increases in the basic commodities of man. According to Economics 101, consumer spending will decrease, revenues will drop, businesses will get killed and ultimately, the economy will go down. Theoretically.

I Say: However, that’s nothing we haven’t experiencd before. Gas prices have doubled in the past two years but Filipinos are still standing in the ring. I think this is because Filipinos are like cockroaches. You can throw Filipinos in any working condition or let him/her engage in the most inhumane activities but they’d still find a way to get through. Whether it’s uncanny adaptation skills or the inability to respond otherwise to the situation, Filipinos have proven to be a resilient race - thanks in part to centuries of colonization and the teachings of our passive Christian heritage. [I say this part in behalf of the majority of the Filipinos. On the other hand, I do recognize that not every Filipino is a Christian.]

The Book Says: Social unrest will increase. Protests of the following flavors will show up:

• Unemployment woes due to the death of businesses
• Requests for wage increase to offset the avalanche of price increases
• Inadequacy of the government, standard operating procedure

Unfortunately, this does nothing but discourage investors from dealing with us. As such, the government will be prompted to raise tax rates again to compensate for the decrease in the country’s ca$h flow.

I Say: Why are people dependent on the government to provide us with what we do not have? I think Filipinos have grown too fond of looking for what they do not have. We are too much of a Dona Victorina to realize that we have many opportunities / blessings right in front of us.

For instance, being in a capitalistic nation with a democratic government does have its perks despite the bullcrap that we have to put up with. There is no rule prohibiting people from setting up their own businesses or practices. Why wait to be employed, when one can employ themselves? In this way, not only did you get a job, but you can also help someone else by employing them! Imagine if everyone thought like that…

The article at Businessweek talked about what could happen to the major players in the global economy - where, obviously, the Philippines wasn’t included. Why? Because Filipinos want to be Bosses, but not employers. Can you spot the difference?

I hope we don’t allow the cockroaches to be gassed first at US$100 before we do something about the situation. Let’s do what we have to do to save the cockroaches. And let’s do it now.

I’m thankful to God. My family. My teachers. My friends. For what I have and what I don’t have.

Two weekends ago, I was complaining about how bored I was. After having lived la vida loca in Ateneo, getting stuck with two or three small projects at a time got me restless. It wasn’t enough to while away my time. Sure, it gave me lots of time to do what I wanted to do - watch movies, exercise, play games, read, etc. However, such lifestyle left me feeling empty and unfulfilled at the end of the day. It made me miss the sleepless nights that the relentless assault of overlapping deadlines that academic and non-academic commitments brought.

That was two weekends ago though. Fast-forward to today and I’m head up to my arse with projects that aren’t small and aren’t few. It’s not bothering me though. The sheer thrill of having so much to do with so little time makes my blood tingle with anticipation for the exciting months to come.

I don’t know what’s with me and MIS, but these are the moments that make me feel alive. These are the times that make me grow as a professional and as a person. For instance:

• Pipboy as a construction worker. In the beginning, I was all for writing code manually for every project that I got. Nothing gives me more pleasure than writing new software code that addresses the client’s needs. It’s like balancing an accounting problem in an exam on the first try - but better!
• Pipboy as a foreman. After a while though, my projects became repetitive. To avoid copy-pasting code which was effective but crude, I started compiling my functions into libraries. This allowed me to reuse code in my projects. It cut down development time and this allowed me to take in more projects at the same time.
• Pipboy as an architect. Even though most solutions to the scenarios that I encountered were within reach of my function libraries, no two projects are exactly alike. For every project, there was always a little tweaking and customization needed by the client. This forced me to improvise. Since last summer, I’ve been working on a meta-program. I call it The Regurtitator 2000. It’s a program that writes my PHP and MySQL code for me. It’s not yet complete, but i think it will all be worth the effort and just in time for the upcoming deluge of projects coming my way.
• Pipboy as a visionary. Up Next? My own IDE.

I don’t claim to be the most elegant coder or the brightest programmer out there though. There are a hell lot of people who are smarter, experienced and more knowledgeable than I am. From where I stand though, I guarantee results aligned with a company’s business objectives. It’s not enough to create a database that can keep a company’s data. There must also be a way to harness such data into information that will be useful to different types of people. This is just a sample of what I bring in to the table.

If you’re a subordinate to a fellow programmer in the field, chances are, elegant code and A+ algorithms are a must. However, if you’re like me who’s dealing mostly with Small and Medium Enterprise Company Owners or Management-level IT heads, they won’t be looking at your code. They’ll be looking for business results. And in this e-business-enabled economy that we have, it’s not the e that brings home the bacon - it’s the business.

APC wrote an article about how new hires are shying away from workplaces that have restricted internet. From banning certain websites, online tools (Instant Messaging) and ultimately, total internet lockdown, restrictions left and right are being set up to guide (or limit) what people can do at the workplace.

Kirah defines ‘digital immigrants’ as people who were not born into the digital lifestyle and view it as a distraction rather than an integral part of life. The younger generation of workers have been using computers and mobile phones since birth and she calls them ‘digital natives’.

From a Digital Immigrant perspective, management is just doing everything it can to make the workplace as productive as possible. There’s nothing wrong with this. Management not only has a right to do this, but are obligated to do so for the sake of the shareholders. For instance, non-work-related e-mail can easily eat up an hour’s worth of work everyday from an employee. The logic goes, In minimizing distractions, employees can focus on work.

Digital Natives would disagree though. Humans were born to be distracted. Humans need a break, a period of rest or some diversion from what they’re doing once in a while. Even soldiers need a break from the war.

The only problem is when we get too many breaks to the point that it hurts productivity. This is where pro-active management comes in. While reactive management will try to keep blocking services to guide its employees, pro-active management will educate its employees on the proper use of the internet at work. Like the hallway printer isn’t meant for printing your favorite song lyrics, the internet is also a tool that can be helpful if properly managed. If college students didn’t learn that playing TextTwist during class was bad, it is management’s right and obligation to teach them once they get into the workplace.

There are two types of people in this world.

Those who create options.
Those who choose from the options

Which one are you?

-=+=-

For the past two weeks, I got hold of two books that made me postpone my filing of SEC registration papers.

The first was Elements of Business Fianance by G Miranda. The book talked about the different entities (ex. Partnerships, Corporations, Etc.) one can create in the Philippines. It also dabbled on management topics for proper financing and cost control.

I got this book because I wanted the right legal representation for the different types of services I offer. What would I need for my web hosting, web development and systems analysis and design services? Is it a sole proprietorship, partnership or a corporation? At first glance, I wanted to go for incorporation since it provided the most ways to raise funds (stocks) and offered protection (limited liability). However, the exorbitant tax rates are very discouraging. Besides all the monthly reports and annual financial statement paperwork, corporations are charged higher tax rates than other entities.

That’s why I got another book - How to Protect Your Property and Business from Lawsuits by J Lopez. This one examines the legal characteristics of the above-mentioned entities in detail.

As a primer to the Philippine Asset Protection Law, it shows other ways of protecting your business besides choosing the right legal entity. The book’s numerous examples and historical snippets illustrating possible legal business scenarios have been very helpful.

This weekend, I will scour bookstores for discussions on proper Financial Reporting and Taxation Laws in the Philippines. After protecting your company from industrial threats (competitors and what-not), one always has to stay on “the good side” (the government).

I’m very glad that there are Filipino books and writers like these out there. The books might have cost a mere Php500 ($US10), but compared to the knowledge I have acquired or the interview fee of attorneys or lawyers, these books are priceless. Though I do plan to team up with an attorney or lawyer someday, I need to learn some legal jargon first so that we can communicate properly and effectively.

As such, I feel like I never really left school (save the fact that I’m still at the Ateneo everyday for gym and business matters). There are so many things that I’m still learning (Doing Business Legally), re-learning (Economics, Statistics) and want to learn more about (Accounting). Learning makes my time worthwhile. The more that I learn, the more options I create.