Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 13

Management - Essay Example In modern Business Organization it is well understood that customer satisfaction guarantees the health of a company. This can be achieved only by awareness of customer needs and being able to fulfil them both within time and the acceptable price and quality parameters. The big question is how to be able to obtain this awareness and further how to make the sales force or the marketing people understand the vital role this plays in the ultimate performance of the company. The firs exercise to apply the control approaches to the sales force was made by Anderson and Oliver (1987). A few tests of the performance of the sales force control system was conducted by Challagala et al (1996). Cravens et al (1993), Oliver and Anderson (1994 & 1995). It is only recently that this has taken shape as SFA. It is fortunate that Information Technology is here to assist businesses across board with a multitude of solutions that can help them to tackle this issue. There are many Sales Force Automation Systems that are based on Information systems and are used in marketing. These are automated solutions that combine the marketing management functions and the customer relationship management systems. The aim is to gather information of each individual customer’s behavioural pattern. The purchases they make, the brand and quality preference. The price ranges they accept, the ratio of purchase within seasons, schedules and the variances in selection of products etc. The list goes on depending on the product type and the location and other circumstantial factors. A pattern emerges which can then become predictive and the solution can then forecast the possibility of a sale at a particular time or when a suitable product is available. It also has inbuilt interactive features which can encourage a customer to engage in a dialogue and offer a direct lead to the sales or marketing people to carry on the

Nextguard Technologies Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Nextguard Technologies - Research Proposal Example However, user credentials are required for authorization and authentication on the VPN server. Furthermore, for configuring multiple operating system environments on active directory, a domain server must be placed in Georgia, India, California, Canada and New York. As all applications are hosted on the Phoenix site, they should be configured on HTTPS and must use a VPN tunnel for exchanging data with the other 4 sites. Moreover, for adding an extra layer of security, MAC addresses should be linked with WAN IP addresses requesting access to one of the hosted applications. Access Control policy should be drafted that will address access to whom and why. A responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed (RACI) chart should be developed, as it will define roles and responsibilities for each user permitted to access web based applications. 2 Blowfish Encryption Algorithm for NextGuard As per computer desktop encyclopedia Blowfish encryption algorithm is defined as â€Å"A secret key cryptography method that uses a variable length key from 32 to 448 bits long. It uses the block cipher method, which breaks the text into 64-bit blocks before encrypting them. Written by Bruce Schneier, as a free replacement for DES or IDEA, it is considered very fast and secure† and as per network dictionary, it is defined as â€Å"Blow?sh is an encryption algorithm that can be used as a replacement for the DES or IDEA algorithms. It is a symmetric (that is, a secret or private key) block cipher that uses a variable-length key, from 32 bits to 448 bits, making it useful for both domestic and exportable use†. Blowfish is an encryption algorithm that was invented by Bruce Schneier in 1993 (Pachghare, 2009). It is constructed on a variable length key ranging from 32 buts to 448 bits that is considered to be perfect for both local and international use along with a solid enc ryption algorithm. After its recognition to be relatively solid encryption algorithm, it is gradually gaining acceptance. Some of the core features of blowfish algorithm include (Pachghare, 2009): Blowfish has a block cipher of block consisted of 64 bit The length of the key can be up to 448 bits BladeCenter web interface: MM Control, Login Profiles page. (n.d.) On 32 bit microprocessor architecture, data encryption is supported at a rate of 18 clock cycles on every byte that is much quicker than DES and IDEA encryption. It is still free to use and is not patented Memory requirements for blowfish are less than 5 kilobytes of memory The semantics are simplified and is relatively easy to deploy The design requirements for a blowfish encryption algorithm incorporates robust, simple to code, compact, easily modifiable and flat key space features (Anderson, 1994). Likewise, flat key space facilitates random strings to be considered as a possible key from a required length. Moreover, it d eploys data in massive byte size blocks and incorporates 32 bits blocks where applicable (Anderson, 1994). Key ranges, as mentioned earlier are from 32 to 448 bits and operations are common that are supported by microprocessors such as XOR, table lookup etc. furthermore, pre-computable sub keys are applicable with variable iterative numbers. These sub keys are massive and must be pre-calculated prior to encryption or decryption process carries out. In an example below, let’s assume that P is pre-calculated array consisting of 18, 32 bit sub keys from P1, P2†¦ till P 18. In addition, there are S boxes (32 Bit) indicated by S with entries equal to 256 each (John Rittinghouse & Hancock, 2003). S1, 0, S1, 1†¦S1, 255; S2, 0, S2, 1†¦.S2, 255; S3, 0, S3, 1†¦