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James Williams
Introduction
This paper will examine the efficiency and effectiveness of three current
telecommunications technologies used by local and global teams, analyze each technology for
appropriateness in keeping team members connected over wide distances, and determine which
technology would provide the maximum benefits for team collaboration. The three technologies
examined in this paper are: 1) web portal, 2) mobile telephone, and 3) Personal Data Assistants
(PDA) technologies.
Examination of Technologies
This paper discusses the above mentioned technologies and ranks them according to three
implementation examined the amount of personnel expertise required to employ the technology
to include developer, installer, and user training. The cost of adopting and implementing the
technologies investigated the total cost of ownership (TCO). The success in meeting user needs
explored the effectiveness of the technology in providing users with reliable and timely
communications and its ability to convey information and knowledge between team members.
Web Portals
Web portals require little in the way of any expertise except in web-page programming
and page design. Setting up a web portal requires the assistant of a web master and network
administrator. Many Internet providers also offer web portal hosting as well. Third-part hosting
agencies would add an element of security risk by hackers. Local hosting would require
Cost of adoption and implementation would include the prices for development, hosting
and upgrading the system. In addition additional security may be required in the form of a
specially assigned firewall and additional antivirus and intrusion detection software. Normal
costs for web hosting a portal are from $45 to $199 a month. Additional data transfer rates may
be needed.
In a series of case studies Yusof (2008) presents the success of web portals that use open
and viable solution to distributed connectivity for knowledge workers in a virtual environment.
The addition of an interactive feature such as a blog or message board would allow more
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), or Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) system a web
portal would be a highly effective and efficient method for facilitating the efforts of knowledge
workers while keeping teams aligned with corporate strategies and mission.
Mobile Phones
since basic units are usually procured from third-party agencies. Some user training may be
required to familiarize people with accessing the phones features and secure telephony
procedures.
The costs depend on the number of hours needed by the company or unlimited time may be
selected. Average suggested retail cost of cellular technology runs from $40 to $65 per month
per user and the cost of each phone can run as high as $225 for devices with advanced features.
Technologies for Distributed Connectivity 4
Success in meeting user and team needs with inexpensive cell phones is moderate.
Workers can talk directly with a maximum of two other workers in a conference call. Without
additional features such as texting and voice mail cellular technology is not as effective as
Complexity of development and implementation for PDAs is relatively low. Some user
training is needed and wireless access points (WAPs) need to be installed at strategic locations to
provide WiFi coverage. Additional server storage is also needed for daily backup of PDA
contents.
Costs of adopting PDAs are moderately expensive. Modern units with WiFi capabilities
run around $400 a unit. Additional network resources must also be set up to handle the additional
Success in meeting user and team needs is only marginal. Basic units only provide email,
limited web access, and storage of commonly used files. Communications is asynchronous and is
Results of Analysis
According to Davenport and Prusak (2000), knowledge workers are people who
process information, experiences, values, and rules-of-thumb and apply their judgments, insights,
and intuitions and the external circumstances and contexts to the subject material and produce a
composite element called knowledge. Knowledge is therefore, a product of the mind and resides
within the minds of the people who produce it. Reagan and O’Conner (2002) posit that these
people are the white-collar workers who make up 70% of the workforce in North America. In
order for a given technology to provide a basis for the instant action, self-renewing, and self-
Technologies for Distributed Connectivity 5
adapting learning organization espoused by Fradette and Michaud (1998) it must be able to
facilitate, promote, and capture the knowledge that resides within each worker’s mind and do so
in as cost effective a manner as possible. Haag, Cummings, and Phillips (2005) call the
knowledge retained in a person’s mind business intelligence. Therefore, in order for the
technology for a knowledge team to be effective the technology must provide a high order of
success in collaboration and knowledge transfer while remaining low in complexity. In addition
The results of the analysis of the three technologies are presented in Table 1. While none
of the basic technologies meet all the collaboration and connectivity needs for collaboration and
communication within a widely dispersed knowledge team each technology does meet minimum
needs in one or more of these areas. The final area noted on the chart represents the more
sophisticated PDA systems that provide features for telephony, texting, sharing calendar entries,
email, and web access. Ranging in price from $460 to $725 these advanced PDA systems
provide GPS tracking, WiFi and BlueTooth connectivity, Mobile Office, email, Instant
the best practices for communications is to employ multiple and mixed media channels that
allow for redundancy and diversification in means of communications. The most effective
Technologies for Distributed Connectivity 6
technology to employ for knowledge teams would be a combination of the more advanced
cellular devices alongside a web portal. The cell phone could be used for direct phone and
conference calls, texting one or all team members, recording voice notes, sharing calendar
events, accessing the web portal and interacting with blogs as needed by each member of the
team. The web portal would be used to post common information and discussion sections with a
blog or message board for posting responses. While this solution would not replace the need for
face-to-face communications it can drastically reduce the amount of these meetings and the
associated time and resources inherent in such meetings while allowing virtual teams to prosper
in their efforts.
Conclusion
This paper has described and analyzed the cellular, PDA, and web portal technologies as
possible means for providing dispersed members of a knowledge team with the tools needed for
effective collaboration, innovation, and transfer of knowledge between members of the team.
provide a highly effective environment that meets the needs of an enterprise wide knowledge
team. The present state of cellular technology though has turned the more advanced cell phones
into cellular PDA communication devices that have the majority of features that make
collaboration and knowledge transfer possible. Though expensive these devices meet the
majority of the needs of a knowledge team, especially when merged with an effective web portal
technology.
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References
Davenport, T. H. and Prusak, L. (2002). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what
Fradette & Michaud (1998). The power of corporate kinetics: Creating the self-adapting, self-
renewing, instant action enterprise. London: Simon & Schuster UK, Ltd.
Haag, S., Cummings, M., & Phillips, A. (2005). Management information systems for the
individual and work group technologies (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Yusof, K. (2008). Case Studies Knowledge Bank. Open Source Competency Centre,
Government of Malasia, Septmber 16, 2008. downloaded January 15, 2009 from
http://knowledge.oscc.org.my/case-studies.