How Wireless Internet Has Changed the Way We Do Business - Research Paper Example

Wireless Internet: How Technology, especially Wireless Internet, has changed the way we do business? The increase of competition worldwide has led firm to continuously update their technology in order to improve their position towards their rivals; the technology used in the context of modern organizations can have many different forms involving in all aspects of these firms’ daily operations. Since the introduction of Internet the perceptions of organizational leaders on the value of technology have changed; Internet offered to organizations of all sizes the advantage of reaching their customers worldwide without being – physically – established in the targeted markets. In this way, Internet promoted a balance regarding the potentials of firms to operate in the international market; the limitation of operational costs – which followed – helped enterprises to survive even during severe market turbulences; however, through the years, another issue appeared; technology was continuously developed, new systems were established and the forms of Internet connectivity changed; Wireless Internet solutions made available to businesses and individuals in all countries worldwide. Wireless Internet offers greater advances – compared to the traditional network modes – but its requirements cannot be met by all its users; enterprises that are interested in the specific technology need to update their Internet technology regularly in order to keep their competitiveness in the particular field. The role of Wireless Internet in modern organizations and its potential use for changing the traditional form of business activities can be understood only if its history is studied; the history of the specific technology is actually related with the appearance and the development of Internet. The historical development of Internet is not identical with that of computers the history of which has been identified in the 19th century – and the work of Charles Babbage (Okin, 2005, 36); Internet, in its initial form, has appeared in 1970s – especially in 1971 - as a ‘Network Control Protocol’ (Okin, 2005, 150, Sarkar, 2006, 155); through the years, the network protocols employed in the Internet have been developed aiming to respond to the increase of the needs of users but also to the development of technology – which has been radical; since technology used in computers worldwide has been continuously updated the Internet should follow the same rate of development. The fact that Internet was developed rather recently – compared to the computing systems – cannot lead to the assumption that the specific technology is independent from computers; in fact, Internet networks and protocols are continuously updated in order to meet the requirements of computing systems developed in countries worldwide; in this context, it would be stated that since its appearance, Internet is historically depended on computers (Norman, 2005, 9). On the other hand, Wireless Internet network is not quite depended on computers; wireless signals can be identified in the work of Markoni as being used in practice in the form of ‘Wireless Telegraph Signals during the South-African War of 1899-1902’ (Sarkar, 2006, 450); the introduction of wireless technology in computers led to the development of Wireless Internet networks – also of simple Wireless computer networks, for the development of tasks that do not need Internet connection. Wireless technology can be divided into two major categories: ‘a) centralized resource allocation and management and b) distributed random access’ (Shen et al., 2009, 201); the mode of Wireless Internet network implemented in modern organizations is depended on these organizations’ existing infrastructure and resources but also on their ability to support the relevant schemes in the long term; the cost of such schemes can be high and for this reason these schemes could not be regarded as short term solutions for the improvement of organizational performance – in the short term these systems’ cost could not be paid back by the profits generated because of their installation. The development of Wireless Internet networks is radical – see also the Table 1 in the Appendix section; on the other hand, the performance of these schemes is not always satisfactory; this fact is highlighted in the study of Xylomenos and Polyzos (2001); the main reason for this phenomenon is the fact that ‘wireless impairments adversely affect higher protocol layers’ (Xylomenos and Polyzos, 2001, 601); the above fact can severely affect the operational activities of firms worldwide. Because of the instability of the performance of Wireless Internet networks, their evaluation is made difficult; their interaction with existing business technology and their potentials within organizations of various industries need to be explored by referring to the evidence presented through academic studies that focus on the specific field. Wireless Internet networks can have many different forms; Alternative Wireless Technologies are Wireless Internet schemes that can offer additional advantages – compared to the traditional modes of Wireless Internet. This issue is explored in the study of Ballon (2007) where emphasis is given on the fact that the development of such technologies has to be supported by the state or international organizations – through the introduction of effective regulatory texts in regard to these systems’ management and control. In this way, the following two targets will be achieved: the quality of services provided in the context of these technologies could be increased – being verified by appropriate authorities – and, at the same time, the benefits of these systems for individuals and businesses could be appropriately promoted. The potential benefits of Wireless Internet have been extensively examined in the literature; commonly, the provision of Wireless Internet facilities to the customers of an organization indicate the high level of quality of this firm’s customer services; this issue is examined in the study of Kemp (2005); In the above study, the quality of service of modern firms – as this quality is promoted through effective Wireless Internet options – is characterized as a key priority; however, because the cost involved can be high, customers are often asked to cover part of it – usually in the form of a subscription or by paying extra for the services/ products provided to them. However, it has been proved that Wireless Internet schemes do not always have the performance expected; Kemp (2005) emphasizes on the mode of Wireless Internet services chosen by modern organizations in order to support their competitiveness towards their rivals; two different modes of such schemes are examined: ‘the circuit-switched networks and packets-switched networks’ (Kemp 2005, 107); it is proved that packet – switched networks can be more effective than the circuit-switched networks; the latter were more likely to be used in the past; however, currently, they are considered as incapable of responding to the customers’ needs. Through the above study it is made clear that the performance of Wireless Internet networks is closely related with their form; in other words, Wireless Internet cannot guarantee the increase of organizational performance unless it is appropriately aligned with each firm’s existing systems and infrastructure. Only under these terms, Wireless Internet could help modern organizations to become more efficient. In the study of Harmantzis and Tanguturi (2007) the performance of Wireless Internet networks within modern organizations was examined using a specific criterion: the level of investment that this technology could attract – referring to the case that an entrepreneur is interested in updating his firm’s existing Internet connection, an initiative that should be financially supported. Two such schemes were set under examination: ‘(a) deferral of the expansion from 2.5G to 3G networks; and (b) expansion of a 2.5G network using Wi-Fi as an alternative technology’ (Harmantzis and Tanguturi 2007, 107); it was proved that the potential investors would try to identify the following details: ‘the investment cost, the pricing of services, the number of subscribers and the risk involved’ (Harmantzis and Tanguturi 2007, 107). In other words, the fact that Wireless Internet network would improve organizational performance could not influence the investors at the level expected; a series of issues – as presented above – should be rather examined making sure that the investment made would be paid back. The concerns of the investors – as revealed through the above study – prove that the performance of Wireless Internet networks is not standardized; these networks – even if carefully designed, established and monitored, can fail to respond to the organizational needs; the reasons for this failure can be differentiated across organizations; the lack of employees’ willingness to support these schemes and the failure of organizational leaders to introduce appropriate supportive mechanisms can be factors negatively influencing the performance of Wireless Internet networks. The findings of the study of Harmantzis and Tanguturi (2007) lead to the same assumption with the study of Kemp (2005) presented above: Wireless Internet network cannot always benefit modern businesses. From a similar point of view, Kinsella (2002) supported that Wireless Internet can help businesses become more efficient; however, it would be necessary for appropriate security features to be implemented in the relevant scheme ensuring the protection of the customers’ data and funds; the end-to-end security scheme is proposed by Kinsella (2002) as a tool for increasing the credibility of Wireless Internet networks; however, it is also noted that trust and communication between the firm/ provider and the customers should be also important for such schemes to perform in accordance with their standards. The introduction of Wireless Internet connection has been related with the change of traditional modes of business activities; in the context of the specific technology customers are able to use a series of features in order to best meet their requirements – regarding a product or service available by a particular organization. However, the challenges that the specific technology has set for modern organizations have been many. Through the research made on the potentials of Wireless Internet schemes to make firms become more efficient, the following issues appeared: a) not all Wireless Internet schemes are effective within businesses of different industrial sectors; in fact, the conditions of the organizational environment have been found to affect the performance of these scheme – especially if measures have not been taken for the monitoring of the relevant technology, b) employees in organizations worldwide are not always willing to support these schemes; the fact that the introduction of such schemes usually results to the reduction of jobs within modern organizations is the most important reason for the employees’ negative perceptions on Wireless Internet as part of the organizational infrastructure, c) the technology developed for the support of Wireless Internet networks of various forms is not effective – being able to meet only part of the customers’ and the organizations’ needs. On the other hand, Wireless Internet has been found to have a series of advantages – referring especially to the limitation of time required for the completion of transactions and exchange of information between the organizations and their customers. Under these terms, the use of Wireless Internet in modern businesses is highly supported – as guaranteeing the increase of their competitiveness in the global market; however, it would be necessary that appropriate measures are taken ensuring the safety and the effectiveness of the tasks performed through the specific technology. [1787 words] Works Cited Anderson, Quitney. Imagining the internet: personalities, predictions, perspectives. 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Hertfordshire: IET, 2002 Xylomenos, George, Polyzos, George. ‘Quality of service support over multi-service wireless Internet links.’ Computer Networks 37.5(2001): 601-615 Appendix Topic Dec-09 Dec-05 Dec-00 Wireless Subscriber Connections 285.6M 207.9M 109.5M Wireless Penetration % of total U.S. population 91% 69% 38% Wireless-Only Households 24.5% 8.4% N/A Direct Carrier Jobs 249,247 233,000 184,000 Direct Carrier Wages $13.8B $12.2B $1.8B Total Wireless Revenues $152.6B $113.5B $45.3B Wireless Data Revenues $41.5B $8.5B $211.2M Annualized Incremental Capital Investment $20.4B $25.2B $18.4B Annualized Minutes of Use 2.3T 1.5T 2 58.8B Monthly SMS Messages 152.7B 9.8B 14.4M Annualized Yearly SMS Messages 1.56T 81B N/A Cell Sites 247,081 183,689 104,288 E-911 Calls Per Day >291K 260K 139K K=Thousand M=Million B=Billion T=Trillion Table 1 –Facts on Wireless Internet (source: International Association for the Wireless Communication, WEB, available at http://www.ctia.org/media/industry_info/index.cfm/AID/10323) Read More