An example of an organization that has utilized client management tools is Microsoft Corporation, which specifically subscribed to FullArmor and DesktopStandard so that administrators of computer systems (i.e., users) can "manage, customize and lock down desktop and server settings based on a set of policies maintained...The policies...can prevent users from changing settings and can disable services such as USB ports to prevent use of removable storage devices" (Fontana, 2005). Through client management tools, Microsoft was able to maintain its own system its employees as well, wherein any security breach or unauthorized retrieval and use of company information are prevented by having the tools that is exclusively for the company's use only.
In addition to contact center management and client management tools, identity management tools are seen as another emergent technology that avoids, among other things, password and information theft, two of the most often committed technology crimes, either through the Internet or the computer system itself. A specific identity management tool is the network access control (NAC), which, in the case of Microsoft and Cisco, is created through a fusion of the companies' two forms of NACs. The merger of these NACs includes tools such as up-to-date patches, antivirus systems, and spyware signature, among others (Fontana, 2006).
Related to the technology of identity management tools, Yahoo's anti-phishing service is most relevant to Internet users who have been victimized by identity or password thefts. Phishins is an online security problem that is commonly experienced by users who have disclosed confidential information through the Internet. Phishing operates by "tricking" people into entering a web site, and gets the "sensitive information" disclosed by the user after entering the site (Perez, 2006).
One apparent characteristic among these technologies is their being integrative -- that is, each technology is actually a system of improved tools wherein customers or clients can take advantage of the systems multi-functionality and flexibility. Apart from their functionality and flexibility as computer system tools, the contact center management, client management, and identity management are examples of how computer systems are...
Technologies, in effect, has reached a point wherein hardware are developed not because of their originality as new technologies, but because of their function, which is to primarily allow users to organize their data and information more efficiently.
These technologies, then, are developed to more than just provide consumers and clients with new computer tools; more importantly, these emergent technologies actually promote better management of data and information. The system's being integrative and consumer-centric are not characteristics developed to just entice customers to use the system or tool, but also to encourage the practice of data/information management, which is an already important task that customers and clients need to do, having numerous data or information that are left unmanaged electronically. These systems reflect the kind of society humanity now lives in: information-laden and technology-centric, not to mention materialistic in its orientation. The technologies reflect the future of Internet and computer technologies, which would actually be based solely on data, information, and their electronic management.
Bibliography
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Nalebuff, B. And a. Brandenburger. (1996). "Co-opetition." Co-opetition Interactive Web site. Available at http://mayet.som.yale.edu/coopetition/chapters/Chap2.html.
Perez, J. (2006). "Yahoo tests antiphishing service." IDG News Service. Available at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/081806-yahoo-tests-antiphishing.html.
