LACK OF BUINESS-IT ALIGNMENT IN KENYAN ORGANISATIONS

-         Business-IT alignment is a dynamic state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations).

-         Business-IT alignment is the correspondence between the business objectives and the Information Technology (IT) requirements of an enterprise. These two factors often seem to contradict, but many economic and technical experts agree that alignment between them, maintained over time, is crucial to the success of an enterprise.

-         Business-IT alignment involves optimizing communication between executives who make the business decisions and IT managers who oversee the technical operations. The implementation of flexible business plans and IT architectures, as well as effective cost allocation, are critical components of any business-IT alignment effort. Technical department managers can formulate and submit proposals that can be tailored to ensure the optimum return on investment (ROI). Business executives can attend IT department meetings and seminars to improve their understanding of the technical capabilities and limitations of the enterprise.

-         This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in Kenyan organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to improve the business value of IT investments.

-         This is justified by lack of IT leadership in Kenyan organizations.

-         Ignorance by managers and head of departments.

-         Many Kenyan IT service provider companies are technology driven and therefore do not consider the business needs  of their clients can not translate business needs into technology solutions.

-         Cultural barriers, Kenyan companies view IT as an expense center than profit center.

METHODS

-         The research covered two Kenyan companies , talking to some of the employees identify randomly.

importance

-         Companies should adopt business-IT alignment because of the following reasons;

-         Reducing complexity

-         Helping small and mid-sized businesses become more competitive

-         Increasing the agility of organizations

-         Boost customer satisfaction

-         Making the workplace a more collaborative environment

-         Delivering IT systems on-time and within business expectations

IS CONDOM THE SOLUTION???

Long ago during the times of our forefathers, there were thing that never existed and were considered a taboo, but in our current world because of modernization alot has changed and evil has come of age,immorality is common now-a-days, it started with advertisement of condoms and telling people yes u cn do it but pliz use condom...this has infiltrated into the society such that even celebrities have started having a condom-line and worse stil sing abot sex and such words that were unmentionable, this xaxa xwry generation is headed for destruction if an urgent intervention doesnt happen. Recently there has been this commercial playing on kenyan TVs about a married woman confessing about a mpango wa kando and another elderly lady encouraging her to use condom with the mpango wa kando.....wat do u cal this...i call it gross...why is our morality fading? Why is evil overtaking the good? Can't this organs such as NASCOP advocate more for abstenance rather than encourage use of Condom...the question that begs an answer is ..is Condom the solution???

Microsoft to launch iTunes style video store

Microsoft have announced plans to launch a Zune video and music store to compete with iTunes. The store, which is due "within weeks" according to Microsoft, will also feature a subscription service for Xbox 360, Windows PCs and Windows Phone 7.

The subscription fee for a "Zune Pass" will be $14.99 per month for unlimited downloads and streaming. Craig Eisler, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Group, said of the launch:

The integration between Zune, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live is an exciting advance in our entertainment offering. Zune enables users access to the entertainment they want, wherever they want it - and now, more people than ever will be able to enjoy the freedom and flexibility that the Zune service offers.

Zune has been upgraded with new features and functionality and will serve as the Windows Phone 7 synchronization client. Microsoft say the new software (version 4.7) will be available to download for free in more than 20 countries, including the U.K., France, Italy, Germany and Spain, to allow management of movies, music, podcasts and photos.

What is Android?

Android is an operating system for mobile phones and tablets, in much the same way that PCs run Microsoft Windows as their operating system. It's maintained by Google, and comes in a few different versions, which are;

Version	Code name	Release date	API level	Distribution (December 3, 2012)
4.2	Jelly Bean	November 13, 2012	17	0.8%
4.1.x	Jelly Bean	July 9, 2012	16	5.9%
4.0.x	Ice Cream Sandwich	December 16, 2011	15	27.5%
3.2	Honeycomb	July 15, 2011	13	1.2%
3.1	Honeycomb	May 10, 2011	12	0.4%
2.3–2.3.2	Gingerbread	December 6, 2010	9	0.2%
2.3.3–2.3.7	Gingerbread	February 9, 2011	10	50.6%
2.2	Froyo	May 20, 2010	8	10.3%
2.0–2.1	Eclair	October 26, 2009	7	2.7%
1.6	Donut	September 15, 2009	4	0.3%
1.5	Cupcake	April 30, 2009	3	0.1%

The difference between the versions of Android is mainly in how they use the screen space provided.for example because Android 3.x is designed to run on tablets, its apps have been altered to be able to fit more information on the screen at one time. It also puts all buttons for navigation in the interface, while Android 2.x devices tend to include some physical buttons (usually Home, Back, Menu and Search keys).
Android's standard layout is to have a series of Home screens, which can contain shortcuts to launch apps, or can contain widgets, which are small programs that serve a single function, such as controlling your music or displaying Facebook updates.

ANDROID 2.3: This is the standard Android 2.3 Home screen, as seen on the Google Nexus S
From the Home screens, you can bring up a menu with all of your other apps on. Very little is done from within the Android interface, but instead you launch an app for what you want to do, including dialling the phone or browsing through your contacts.
Android itself contains the functions that are vital to using a mobile phone, including the phone dialler, text messaging client and phone number storage. Google also provides some additional apps, including a Gmail email client, Google Maps (which features free turn-by-turn satellite navigation) and YouTube.
Beyond that, you can also buy or download for free many other apps to enable your phone or tablet to do more. You can get these apps from the Android Market, or from other sources, such as GetJar or Amazon's Appstore. They can also be loaded onto an Android device manually, without using a store.
These apps can include ways to use Facebook, create documents, access online storage services such as Dropbox, or there's a huge range of games available. Some social networks are integrated into certain Android phones by default, enabling you to connect someone's contact information in your phone to their Facebook account, for example, and automatically pull through details such as their birthday.
Android is open source, meaning that manufacturers don't have to pay Google to use it, and that they're free to modify it. This means that it's used in a wide range of hardware varying in price from small budget phones to large-screen high-end handsets.
Because manufacturers are able to tweak Android, it can look quite different on phones from different companies. HTC uses an overlay it calls Sense to add its own apps and social networking features to phones such as the HTC Desire S. It even adds a flashy 3D Home screen on the powerful HTC Sensation handset.

HTC SENSE:HTC makes subtle changes to the standard Android interface
Samsung uses an overlay called TouchWiz on its handsets, such as the Samsung Galaxy S2, which makes its Android phones look a lot more like the company's non-Android phones.

SAMSUNG TOUCHWIZ:The Samsung Galaxy S2 runs TouchWiz 4.0, the latest version of Samsung's interface
Currently, it's not possible for Android 3.0 tablets to be tweaked by the manufacturers, so tablets such as the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 look almost identical. HTC actually uses Android 2.3 on the HTC Flyer tablet so that it can still add the Sense overlay to it.

ANDROID 3.0:The Android Home screen on tablets offers more space for widgets and apps, and has the navigation keys in the bottom-left
Android has many media features built in, so it's easy to load your music and movies onto your device and play them without problems. Most common audio file formats are supported, as are some of the most often-used video formats. Many manufacturers also add support for some of the less-common formats.
There's no official iTunes-like media syncing client for Android (though there are some third-party tools to do this, such as doubleTwist). In most cases, when you connect your device to your computer, it will show up as external storage, in the same way a USB flash drive would. You can then simply drag your music and video files to it to copy them over. When you disconnect your device, it will scan for media, and it to the music player app.
Google regularly releases updates to Android, which are downloaded straight to the phone or tablet without having to connect to a computer. These updates often bring speed and battery life improvement, as well as other new features. However, not all devices get these updates at the same time, and many won't receive them at all. If you want to stay up to date on when the latest Android update is coming to your device, keep your eyes on www.thekenyanme.blogspot.com

iPhone or Android? 6 questions to ask yourself before deciding

Not sure whether to spring for an iPhone or go the Android way? Well, there’s more to the decision than just flipping a coin.

My advice? Don’t pick a new iPhone or Android smartphone until you answer six crucial questions for yourself, starting with…

1. Do smartphones scare you?

When you fiddle with the latest and greatest phones at your local carrier store, do you feel like a deer in the headlights?

When you fiddle with the latest and greatest phones at your local carrier store, do you feel like a deer in the headlights?

Afraid you’ll break something if you tap one of the little icons on the screen?
If so, think twice about Android. Personally, I’m a sucker for all the settings and personalization options on an Android phone, but the thicket of menus and sub-menus may feel bewildering for beginners, or anyone easily frustrated by tricky phone interfaces.
The iPhone, on the other hand, boasts (if you ask me) a clean, simple interface that’s perfect for smartphone novices, while also jettisoning the extra “menu” and “back” buttons that make navigating the standard Android interface such a chore.

2. Do you want a physical QWERTY keypad?

Tapping out lengthy messages on a virtual keypad can be royal pain if you have clumsy fingers, and even those with nimble fingertips may prefer the feel of actual keys to a slippery glass touchscreen.
So if a physical QWERTY keypad is a must, go with Android. Several makes and models of Android phones with roomy, full-on keypads are available. In some cases, the keyboards slide out from behind the touchscreen (like so), while others sit on the front of the phone, just beneath the display.
Apple, on the other hand, shows no signs of making an iPhone with a physical keypad—and while it is possible to connect a wireless Bluetooth keyboard to, say, the iPhone 4S, you’d also have to tote the keyboard accessory wherever you go.

3. Do you depend on Gmail and Google Calendar?

One of the beauties of Android is that the initial setup process is a piece of cake—for Google users, anyway.

If you have a Google account, you can take your new Android phone out of its box, power it up, sign in with your Google ID and password, and presto! All your Gmail messages, mailboxes, Google contacts and calendars will start syncing to your handset automatically. It’s a beautiful thing.
Dedicated Google users who go with the iPhone won’t have too tough a time setting up their Gmail or calendars; dealing with Google contacts is another story, however. A secondary service called Google Sync will help keep all your Google contacts synchronized with the iPhone Address Book, but setting it up is a rather lengthy, tedious process.

4. Do you use a Mac?

Just as Gmail and Google Calendar users will have an easy transition to an Android phone, so will Mac users glide right into an iPhone—particularly if you’re storing your contacts in the Mac OS X Address Book and using iCal for your calendars.
The desktop iTunes software will quickly sync all your Address Book contacts and iCal calendars to a new iPhone (along with all your apps and music, of course), while Apple’s new iCloud service (coupled with iOS 5, the latest version of the iPhone system software) will coordinate all your desktop and iPhone contacts and events wirelessly, no cords required.

5. Want to play Flash videos?

Ever visit a website on a smartphone, only to see a blank panel on the page that reads “Adobe Flash plug-in required”?
That’s because some of the snazziest sites on the web depend on a technology called “Flash” for displaying videos and fancy graphical menus—and without Flash, those sites won’t function properly.
The latest Android phones do support Flash content, meaning just about any site on the web should render properly—and completely.
That’s not the case with the iPhone, though. Indeed, Apple has been openly critical about Flash technology (the late Steve Jobs once called it a battery hog, a slow-poke, and a security concern) and has essentially declared both the iPhone and iPad to be Flash-free zones.
Keep in mind, however, that more and more Flash-heavy websites offer alternate versions tailored for non-Flash smartphones like the iPhone—a development that may eventually render mobile Flash support a moot point.

6. Are you an app addict?

While Android boasts one of the liveliest communities of app makers around, Apple’s App Store is the undisputed king of mobile applications. Its shelves are stocked with 500,000 apps and counting (compared to a still quite healthy 350,000 or so for Google’s Android Market), and the most interesting and exciting applications and tend to be built for the iPhone first.
Angry Birds, for example, didn’t land on Android until nearly a year after debuting on the iPhone, while Android users had to wait nearly a year and a half for their own version of the wildly popular Instagram.
Still debating whether to go with Android or the iPhone? Let me know!

MOHA.