Question

Cohension Case- The Broadway Café. Network, Telecommunication & Wireless Computing: Telecommunication systems enable the transmission of data over public or private networks. A network is a communications, data exchange, and resource sharing system created by linking two or more computers and establishing standards, or protocols, so that they can work together. Telecommunication systems and networks are traditionally complicated and historically inefficient. However, businesses can benefit from today’s modern network infrastructures that provide reliable global reach to employees and customers. Businesses around the world are moving to network infrastructure solutions that allow greater choice in how they go to market—solutions with global reach. These alternatives include wireless, voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP), and radio-frequency identification (RFID). Personal sensing devices are becoming more commonplace in everyday life. Unfortunately, radio transmissions from these devices can create unexpected privacy concerns if not carefully designed. We demonstrate these issues with a widely-available commercial product, the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, which contains a sensor that users put in one of their shoes and a receiver that users attach to their iPod Nanos. Students and researchers from the University of Washington found out that the transmitter in a sneaker can be read up to 60 feet away. Through the use of a prototype surveillance system, the researchers could track someone wearing Nike+iPod sensors, plot their location on a GoogleMaps-based website and email and text-messaging real-time surveillance data to anyone. You are working on a plan to offer an in-store music service allowing customers to sip on a mocha latte while using headphones to listen to any of 250,000 songs located on portable kiosks in the cafe. Customers can order songs they like for a set price and you will burn them on a CD and deliver the custom-burned CD to their table. The promotion is called The Broadway Cafe Music To Go package. You believe that selling music can greatly increase the cafe’s revenue. Prices will be comparable to Apple's iTunes service: $6.99 for five songs, the minimum purchase. Albums will cost $12.95. To appeal to a younger set, you will eventually offer wireless downloads to laptops or portable players. At the very least, being able to listen or buy music at the cafe could enhance your core business and keep customers coming back. The time it takes a customer to order a latte, they could have any CD burned on demand. questions to address:

Are there any current laws that you would need to be aware of when deploying wireless technology? If so, what types of liabilities for potential lawsuits should you be aware of to protect the cafe? If not, what types of laws should be created to help protect customers, employees, and the cafe? Would you introduce this technology to the cafe? If so, are there any concerns with using this type of technology? What other types of sensors could you deploy throughout the cafe to help operations? What concerns would you have regarding these sensors? What two new products using network, telecommunication, or wireless tools could you create for new revenue streams?

Answer 1

Laws for deployment, in my opinion, is technology dependent. Also, there is no concrete base of these laws to address the security and privacy concerns. However, as far as putting this system in the cafe is concerned, I think the very basic standards and protocols generic to any technology should be taken into consideration. For instance, before executing the same, various checks on the factors such as compatibility, communication distance, bandwidth, communication band and the channels should be undertaken. Since such measures are driven by market pressures and politics, it should be well compliant with the legal protocols applicable to the area. In addition to this, it should be a complex structure and provocative enough to enter such space to prevent threats from the outsiders.

Certainly, this technology is good-to-deploy phenomena and should be surely introduced. There is no denying the fact that it comes with plenty of limitations to begin with. Firstly, not every person coming over to the cafe would be technology savvy. So, making him equiped with such a system in itself is a rigorous task. Secondly, it could be a hazardous step for the cafe in terms of securing customers' data. In case the leak happens, the business is shut in one go.

From operational point of view, there should be the sensors connecting the customers with the employees. For example, the radio transmission technology should be expanded to not just hearing and downloading the songs, but also to interact with the employees for any kind of service required. This would enable smooth functioning of the cafe and also improve its business in the long run. The sensors should be such that it does not impact the employees' task in hand and should not be a cause of concern. For example, it should be able to detect the nearest personnel to provide the service.

One of the products that I can think of for enhancing the revenues for the business could be a drone. This drone could act as the messenger for any random requirement other than taking the orders. This could act as a unique selling point for the business due to smoothened and interactive environment. Another product could be a digital menu card on every table. This could be in the form of "clicks on the items" on the card, thereby delivering the details to the inside personnels directly and, also making the instant payment by adding up the amount and the card details on the spot and in one go. This could lead to freeing up the unnecessary time for both the customers and the employees at the later stages.