STRATEGIC PLANNING

(THINKING)

FOR THE DIGITAL ERA


Volume 7, Number  1                               September 2000






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OUR GOAL

"Electronic business will reduce administrative costs as functions that were performed manually are automated.  'E-enabling,' our current platforms also involves improving those platforms" interactive voice response and electronic data interchange capabilities.  With proper alignment, electronic business can also improve managed care's medical expense, taking advantage of Improved, real time information to enhance medical management processes and outcomes."

Humana 1999 Annual Report, p. 17.

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E-HEALTHCARE TO REACH $27B BY 2004

"Less that 1% of the overall medical supply and device market is purchased using the Internet, according to a recent study by the Millennium Research Group." "The 'Online Opportunities in the Medical Products Marketplace,' study also finds that by the year 2004, online procurement of medical products is expected to reach $27.3 billion.  This is achieved after business-to-business verticals create a one-stap-shopping online network to bring together buyers and sellers of medical equipment and supplies." (See Electronic World, 10(8), August 2000, 20).

http://www.mrg.net/                                        http://www.ecomworld.com
 

BIOMETROPOLIS

Imagine applications of biometric technology throughout an entire community and in your workplace.  You awaken and peer into a box next to your bed and a coffee pot begins to heat up your java, the shower turns on, etc.  Well, we are not there yet.  But, COMDEX In November will have Biometropolis to feature hands-on comparisons of leading biometric systems that include voice verification, face and hand geometry, dynamic signature verification, and eye biometic/retinal ++.

http://www.comdex.com/

Blometric, card, voice and other technology are used in.... How can WE learn about these and other topics?  Browse on.
 

TOPICS FOR ALL LEARNERS

Biometric, card, voice, wireless and other technologies are being integrated into all aspects of life and work.  Could a biometrics club be co-created with children and youth in the middle and upper level schools?  The biometrics club could access and browse web sites to mine high quality materials?  Clubs could be formed for each of the above-mentioned areas.

Imagine clubs in above-mentioned technologies focused on projects by the end of a year.  During the senior year, youth could either continue with a specific technology and/or form teams that focus on applications and integration.  Competitions could be held within or even between schools.  Senior students could become mentors and competition judges.

Colleges and universities could build on that foundation.  An Anytime (24 X 7 X 365) Anywhere communications revolution is driven by Electronic Newsletters (ENs) (see next page).  ENs could be analyzed for content, focus, and new trends.  Students in degree programs could analyze content and distribute high quality information to consumers as part of the requirements in preparing Knowledge Managers (KMs).

Research companies could be analyzed for content, research methodology, and trends.  Chief Information Officer (CIO) certificate programs could include a requirement related to analysis and distribution of information with a focus on "value added" and "Return On Investment" (ROI) analyses.
 

 BUILDING A MULTILINGUAL WEB SITE

"As more and more of the world embraces the Internet, it is inevitable that less and less of the world will embrace English-only sites.  In fact, it is estimated that by the end of this year less than half of the Internet users will be native English speakers.  American companies are suddenly  feeling the pressure to offer Web sites in multiple languages; .... Language is often the least challenging aspect of customizing, or "localizing," a Web site for a foreign audience.  The hard part is understanding all the technical challenges." 

http://www.webtechniques.com/

Yunker, John.  "Speaking in charsets." webtechniques.5,(9), September 2000, 59-63.
 

DIRECTED STUDY (DS) or INDIVIDUAL STUDY

Directed Study (DS) provides new opportunity to engage in research and scholarship.  However, a plan is essential.  Four units must be completed in some combination of work in DS and/or additional research methods.  As you read this issue of STRATEGIC THINKING, identify topics that could be researched to raise your awareness of problems and issues.
 
 

BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY

http://www.biometrics.org/
http://www.biomouse.com/
http://www.abio.com/
http://www.biometricaccess.com/
http://www.digitalpersona.com/
http://www.identix.com/
http://www.iosoftware.com/
http://www.gvtrek.com/
http://www.nist.gov/bc2OOO

CARD TECHNOLOGY

http://www.cards-worldwide.com/
http://www.isec-worldwide.com/
http://www.mobilecommerceworld.com/
 

ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTERS

ONLINE LEARNING NEWS.  Email mailto:%20lakewood@emailpub.com with "subscribe ONLINE-LEARNING-NEWS" on the subject line.

Virtual Universitv Gazette.  Send an e-mail message with SUBSCRIBE to mailto:%20vug@oaknetpub.com

EDUCOM and CAUSE merged into EDUCAUSE.  To subscribe to
Edupage, e-mail: mailto:%20listproc@educause.unc.eduwith subscribe.
Educom Review continues. http://www.educause.edu/
E-mail addresses: mailto:%20conf@educause.edu       http://www.blackboard.com/courses/webcom/coursedocuments/-68093809/info@educause.edu

The Society for College and University Planning distributes SCUPLink free.  Send a message to mailto:%20info@educause.edu

New Thinking.  Send an e-mail to mailto:%20newthinking%20request@nua.ie with the word subscribe in the body of the message.
Also,
NUA Internet Surveys                       http://www.nua.ie/surveys
New Thinking                                    http://www.nua.ie/newthinking
IBM Focusing  On You.        Email:  mailto:%20info@isource.boulder.ibm.com
Netguide Now.                      Email: mailto:%20netguidenow@lists.cmpnet.com
TechWeb News.                   Email: mailto:%20techwebnews@lists.cmpnet.com
Delphi Newsflash Headlines.          mailto:%20client.services@delphigroup.com
or                                      mailto:%20delphi-headlines@appolo-delphigroup.com
or 1-800-335-7440 or                      mailto:%20%20lmw@delphigroup.com
with SUBSCRIBE HEADLINES in subject
InformationWeek Daily:                    http://informationweek.com/daily
 

RESEARCH COMPANIES

Yankee Group                             http://www.yankeegroup.com/
Gartner Group/'Dataquest         http://www.dataquest.com/
Forrester Research                    http://www.forrester.com/
Meta Group                                 http://www.metagroup.com/
IDC (International Data Corp)    http://www.idc.com/
Hurwitz Group                             http://www.hurwitz.com/
Zcna Research                           http://www.zona.com/
Aberdeen Group                        http://www.aberdeen.com/
Giga Group                                 http://www.giga.com/
New Thinking                              http://www.nua.com/
 

CHOICE AND SEQUENCE OF EXCITING TOPICS

Biometric, card, voice, wireless, and other technologies ace "basics" to awareness and understanding changes in economies and societies.  Anytime (24 X 7) Anywhere communications are also basics along with understanding databases and networks.  Children and youth are aware of many of these basics through the arcades they visit, the television programs they watch, and the toys they acquire.  How do cell phones work and what has been their impact?  How are cell phones evolving and how are they being used in sectors of an economy in countries?  Finland leads the world in cell phone use.  How are adults using cell phones?  How are children and youth using them?  How is wireless e-commerce likely to evolve in the future?

http://www.radicchio.org%20http://www.sonera.com

 NEWSLETTERS (with Links) and WEB PAGES (with Links)

Newsletters and other resources are available at Web sites.
Access http://www.blackboard.com/courses/webcom as a guest.
Click on "Announcements" and then on "Course Documents."
Then, click on "Warren Groff's Newsletters"

The newsletters are filled with information for learners to pursue by browsing and mining the rich accay of references.  Individuals can browse the June issue and link to Ananova and Motorola plus the Web Weavers at an elementary school.

The July issue contains Web sites to technology forcasts.  It also contains the INTERNETWEEK 100 elite in E-Business.  A list of education programs online is also included.  All of the references link a learner directly to the Web sites.
 

CRITICAL THINKING COMPETENCIES and PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS are essential now and will be more important in the future.  Thus, click on "External Links" and "The Friendly Forum" and BROWSE "The Friendly Forum: Class Discussion." Browse Asia Society, Globalization and the Family of IT Careers, Taiwan, Korea, etc.  Access a few of the links.

Globalization and the Family of IT Careers also contains links to high tech exporters reported in World Trade: Centocor with a focus on biotechnology, PowerGuest with interesting job openings, and Arterial Vascular Engineering with EC positions.

Globalization and the Family of IT Careers contains links to Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International, GE Medical Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and Medtronic, Inc.  These five companies are forming an Internet-based marketplace that will allow hospitals and other health care facilities to link directly to suppliers.  Imagine the "extended family" of health care products and services available from the five companies available via E-Commerce, possibly worldwide.
 

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Electronic Commerce World is one of the best publications
on the subject of E-commerce and E-business.  ECW publishes
an annual Software Directory that is unmatched.  The eighth
annual Software Directory lists 156 profiles of venders.
Electronic Commerce  also analyzes the following groups:

Regional User Groups

http://www.atlecf.org/                        Atlanta, GA
http://www.neecom.org/                   Boston, MA
http://www.necedi.org/                     Cleveland, OH
http://www.dfwedi.org/                       Dallas - Ft.  Worth,.  TX
http://www.scedir.org/                        Los Angeles (& Southern CA)
http://www.globalx.net/ecc                Electronic Commerce Canada 
                                                            (contains a series of Web sites)
 http://www.ecfocum-maine.org/       Portland, ME
 http://www.edi-info.com/                  Portland, OR
 http://www.spokane.net/edi           Spokane, WA

North American Electronic Commerce Associations
- only a few from a long list

http://www.disa.org/               Accreditation Standards Committee
http://www.clml.org/                Council of Logistics Management
http://www.disa.org/               Data Interchange Standards Assn.
http://ecworld.org/                  Electronic Commerce World Institute
http://www.hibcc.org/            Health Ind.  Bus.  Communic.  Council
http://www.himanet.com/       Health Manufacturers Assn.
http://www.hedic.org/             Healthcare EDI Coalition
http://www.idea-inc.org/        Industry Data Exchange Assn.(IDEA)
http://isaweb.com/                 Information'System Agreement (ISA)
http://issa-intl.org/                  Information Systems Security(ISSA)
http://www.nam.org/              National Assn Manufacturers
http://www.nededic.org/        National Dental EDI Council
http://www.ncf.com/               National Retail Federation
http://phrma.org/                    Pharmaceutical Mfrs Assn.
http://www.gloablmfg.com/   Society of Manufacturing Engineers
http://www.xplor.org/              Xplor International

Electronic Commerce Product Center

http://www.harbinger.com/                    Harbinger Corporation
http://www.interface.com/                     Interface Systems
http://www.momsys.com/                      Momentum Systems
http://www.edipartners.com/                EDI Partners Ltd.
http://www.edifecs.com/                        Edifecs Corporation http://www.mytec.com/                         Mytec Technologies Inc.
 

ELECTRONIC COMMERCE WORLD 2000

http://www.ecomworld.com/

Electronic Commerce World 2000 will be held at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, October 2-5, 2000.  Consider requesting 30 copies of a brochure to distribute to advisory committees, boards, chamber members, or employees.
 


GLOBAL SMART PARTNERSHIPs (GSP)

The August issue of STRATEGIC PLANNING contained comments about a GLOBAL SMART PARTNERSHIP (GSP) Program by the UN.  Global Smart Partnerships Design Group, Inc., will host an Asia Pacific - USA SMART Partnership Conference, Feb. 11-15.  Asia Pacific representatives will bring project ideas to the conference to form partnerships with corporations, education and training, and venture capitalists.  How can this real world experience be turned into appropriate learning units?

AP extends nearly 10,000 miles East to West from French Polynesia to China and 7,000 miles North to South from Japan to New Zealand.  AP encompasses 43 nations and island territories with more than 50% of the earth's population and about 15,000 major languages, dialects, and subdialects.

How could children browse Web sites to become more aware of cultures in AP countries such as in South Korea and Taiwan?  Click on "External Links" and "The Friendly Forum" and BROWSE "The Friendly Forum: Class Discussion."  Browse Asia Society and access a few of the links.  Web sites for middle and high school in South Korea are: 
MIDDLE SCHOOLS: http://element.unitel.co.kr/middle/
HIGH SCHOOLS: http://high.unitel.co.kr/high
Biometric, card, voice, wireless and other technologies were introduced in elementary teacher education in Korea in 1999.

How could adults and entrepreneurs analyze global markets?
Globalization and the Family of IT Careers links a reader to
Centers for International Business Education and Research,
American Chamber of Commerce locations in Asia Pacific, and
World Trade Association centers throughout the world.

How can colleges and universities collaborate with AP peers?  Taiwan contains information about the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) strategies for "Planning of intelligent industrial parks and buildings of Taiwan into a technology island." Analyze a few of the 12 education reform mandates by the Ministry of Education (MOE):
1. Revamping National Education Projects, K12;
2. Diversified Vocational Education;
3. Lifelong Learning Projects;
4. Expanding Access to Colleges and Universities; etc.

A plan can be developed between now and the meeting in Feb.  Children and youth could select any combination of topics.  Teachers facilitate linking topics to curriculum standards.  Youth can select topics that contribute to a family business.  Chamber of commerce members could collaborate and at the same time assist neighborhood schools in meeting standards.  Computer labs for K-12 students could be made available to chamber members and community groups in the "down" hours.
 

ASIA PACIFIC

Countries                            Analysis: A Prelude to Strategy
                                      Sept.    Oct. --Nov.     Dec.    Jan.    Feb.
Australia
China
   B2B
   C2C
   E2E

Cook Islands
Fiji
French Polynesia
Guam
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Japan
Kampuchea
Kiribati
Laos
Korea
   B2B
   C2C
   E2E

Malaysia
Marshall Islands
Myanmar
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Papua & New Guinea
Philippines
Pohnpei
Samoa
Singapore
   B2B
   C2C
   E2E

Solomon Islands
Taiwan
   B2B
   C2C
   E2E

Thailand
Tonga
Vanuata
Vietnam

KEY:
  B2B - Business-to-business (electronic online or traditional)
  C2C - Community-to-community (electronic online or traditional)
  E2E - Education-to-education (electronic online or traditional)
 

DIGITAL WORKFORCE NEEDS

The Techforce Initiative is a curriculum project by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), the National Alliance of Business (NAB), and the Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, MA.  The initial phase is to work primarily with 23 Centers of Excellence (COES) to develop high quality curriculum for traditional IT roles such as database managers, network administrators, etc.

Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
http://www.itaa.org/

The National Alliance of Business (NAB)
http://www.nab.com/

Education Development Center (EDC)
http://www.edc.org/

Centers Of Excellence(COEs)
http://www.edc.org/CEEC/techforce/coe/profiles.htm
 

EDUCATOR/S WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (EWIT)

EWIT was created to assist educators link to IT Websites.
http://www.edc.org/EWIT/indtext.html

EWIT contains information about the following topics:

Skill Standards for IT                 http://www.nwcet.bcc.ctc.edu/
Path in Telecommunications    http://www.cwa-union.org/
Tech Fdn Standards                 http://www.cnets.iste.org/
ITworks.Ohio                              http://www.itworks-ohio.org,/
Info Literacy Standards            http://www.ala.org/

State IT Curriculum Standards

AK:  http://www.eed.state.ak.us/contentstandards/Technology.html
A7:  http://www.ade.state.az.us/standards/technology/
MA: http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/archives/
MI:   http://cdp.mde.state-mi.us/MCF/ContentStandards/Technology/
NC: http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/Curriculum/
UT:  http://www.usoe.kl2.ut.us/ate/it/it.htm
WI:  http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/standards/
 

DIRECTED STUDY (DS) or INDIVIDUAL STUDY (IS)

Directed Study (DS) or Individual Study (IS) can greatly enrich someone/s program.  However, a plan is essential.  Conversion from paper-based to electronic formats will continue, especially in global business.  Computer based distance education is accelerating in the private sector.  DS requires carefull planning to combine four units of credit with additional work in research methodology (RM): (a) four in DS and none in RM, (b) three in DS and one in RM, (c) two in DS and two in RM, or (d) none in-DS and.... DS topics can be useful for IS not emphasized in seminars.

A Challenge: As individuals BROWSE and MINE the Web sites, consider the type of format and structure that is needed to meet consumer/learner wants worldwide.

Warren H. Groff, 3408 N. 49th St., Milwaukee, WI, 53216-3208

mailto:%20groffw@nova.edu