Seminar 6 Review

We had an interesting seminar this week. We got to do a fast case analysis on "Wireless Infrastructure for a Regional Food Safety Initiative in Southeast Asia". Basically, it was a model to help the Agriculture Ministry keep track of the cattle used for the meat products in Singapore in wake of all the diseases that are cause loss throughout the world. For the assignment, we were supposed to present screen designs for particular scenarios that a ministry inspector could encounter.
Before we started on the case analysis, the professor explained why this particular kind of assignment was important to master. It seems it was what many companies test when one applies for a job with them. The professor also explained to us something called the "In-box" exercise. I searched for some explanation and came up with this. It explains how the HR managers or the trainers design an In-box exercise.
The professor gave us a taste of whats that like while we were doing the assignment. I felt that the time we had for the assignment wasn't utilized properly by our group. I guess thats what an In-box exercise is all about, time management.

We also talked about the different approaches one can take for a case analysis. The professor pointed out that it was important to recognize which approach, for example, Value Chain or Process Flow Analysis, Value Systems Analysis, Financial Analysis, is required for the case. He also walked us through what a DHL value chain looks like.
Let me give the example of OCBC Bank and their value chain. The value of their service in Singapore is the easy accessibility to one's account and money. What they need to know to provide this value to its customers are the most frequented places and where these access points (ATM machines) can be placed so as to provide the accessibility at these places. Some such places can include the malls, MRT stations and bus terminals, etc. Another thing which is very important is for them to provide good customer support services.
If we look at the primary activities of the value chain analysis for OCBC, we will see that the inbound logistics consist of getting new accounts made and accepting and handling the cash that comes in and entering the information in the bank servers. The operations that the bank would need to do is to calculate interest for the money it holds and at the same time use that money to make investments and earn profits. The outbound logistics for OCBC will mainly consist of providing customers with access like I mentioned above. Along with all this. there would need to be some marketing involved to attract new customers along with the support services for existing customers.

I am making some improvements in the elevator pitch we made for a previous seminar. I will post the link as soon as I have uploaded the video.

Also, I found this interesting news on one of the websites:"Barack Obama Hops on the Web 2.0 Bandwagon". It just goes to show how significant a role the new Web 2.0 platform is playing in the society today.