The Hindu Business Line : Try an `inside-out' approach

The success of any big strategy is in the small details, says Frank Prestipino in Getting to Big the Small Way ( www.tatamcgrawhill.com). “In much the same way that the nanotechnology and biotechnology industries deconstruct particles and molecular systems in pursuit of cures for viruses, cancers, and energy deficiencies, businesses should utilise an inside-out approach when dealing with problems that affect, interact with, and coexist with other parts of the corporate ecosystem,” he insists.

Alas, such an approach is not easy when the organisation is big. For example, when Oracle discovered that the company’s internal systems and the way it had come to be organised were inefficient and potentially stunting growth, a corporate-wide initiative became necessary.

“There was a history of autonomy across the regional offices, and while growth was steady and sustainable, it became clear that duplications and redundancies were cutting into margins and indeed stifling growth… Different accounting systems and processes were being used in several regions around the world.”

With the experience of having been a vice-president of Global Enterprise Applications Strategy for Oracle Corporation, the author narrates how the biggest issues came not from the inability of the technology to respond and handle the task, but from people and processes that needed to be undone and relearned. Yet, the payback was good.

“After a lightning-speed rollout of these applications worldwide and centralisation at the head office, the aggregate savings in the first year amounted to in excess of $1 billion, or almost 10 per cent in bottom-line savings.” Compulsory read.

Dubious agents of development

Will the Internet change the world? This is the question that Charles Kenny opens with in Overselling the Web? Development and the Internet ( www.vivagroupindia.com). He argues that while the Internet can be a powerful tool to help improve social conditions, it is a big step to argue that the Net will be a powerful force for growing social inclusion worldwide.

“A focus on self-reported success stories still at the very early stages of development might well allow projects that turn out to be unsustainable to be put forward as models for replication.” For the Internet to be a tool of economic revolution, it needs to be used to accomplish dramatic new things – the eBay model, Kenny suggests. “And it is precisely these more revolutionary tools that low-income populations tend to be least equipped to use.”

The author is hopeful that a focus on the basic needs of people in developing countries will unearth a significant role for information and communications and even some role for advanced ICTs such as the Internet. He hastens to add, however, that to suggest that the Internet is a leapfrog innovation with the capacity to radically alter global economic inequality far overstates its role. “The Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web, remain dubious agents of development,” concludes Kenny.

For a different perspective.

All in a day

Firewalls, streaming, Web services… About these and more you can learn, all in a day, from Joe Casad’s Sams Teach Yourself TCP/IP in 24 Hours, fourth edition ( www.informit.com).

The book begins by explaining that TCP/IP is a protocol system, a collection of protocols that supports network communications. “A network protocol is a system of common rules that helps define the complex process of transferring data.”

In ‘hour 14’ you’ll learn about protocol dysfunction and misconfiguration. “Like any software, TCP/IP protocol software sometimes doesn’t get installed properly. Even after it is installed, it might stop working because of a corrupt file or some change to the system configuration,” Casad guides.

“For example, even if the software is working, the computer might not be able to connect to other computers because its IP address and subnet mask are incorrect.”

And by hour 22, you’ll be tackling ‘network intrusion.’

Greatly instructive, and enjoyably fast-paced.

Into the maze of networking

Each day, as computer users, we use our desktops and laptops to send and retrieve mails, schedule meetings, share files, prepare reports, exchange images and perhaps check the current stock price.

All this requires computers to access multiple networks and share their resources, reminds Jeffrey S. Beasley in Networking, second edition ( www.pearsonhighered.com).

“The multiple networks required to accomplish this are the local area network (LAN), the campus area network (CAN), the metropolitan area network (MAN), and the wide area network (WAN).”

The painstakingly-written volume handholds the novice through the maze of networking, even as the task of learning is made easy by the reader-friendly presentation.

Recommended addition even to the shelf of the seasoned professionals.

For security’s sake

A peek at ‘Active Directory’ is in the ‘things to come’ chapter of Mastering Windows Server 2008: Networking Foundations by Mark Minasi, Rhonda Layfield, and John Paul Mueller ( www.wileyindia.com).

Directory services are all about security, they begin. “Put simply, directory services mainly exist for one reason: your organisation’s data and server resources are in some senses nothing more than one big cookie jar, and if you don’t put a lock on that jar, then dirtbags assume that you have no problem with them absconding with your cookies,” the authors explain, via an appetising analogy.

‘Group policy’ centralises management, security, and configuration, because it can become horribly expensive to manage many computers.

Without centralised management tools, an organisation can spend on average about $1,200 per PC per year, the authors state. “That’s almost the cost of buying a new PC – the hardware, at least – every year!”

Prescribed study for the avid.

Tailpiece

“We’d designed a special keyboard for the investment bank staff!”

“With billions and trillions in shortcut strokes?”

“Plus, a ‘tanking’ feature that would automatically turn the keyboard turtle when a bailout was imminent.”

dmurali@thehindu.co.in