In spite of the reluctance stirred up, the electronic vote passed the test of the recent elections in the United States. That is how several North American organizations and media put it. They said that the tactile screens used by 30% of American voters worked satisfactorily.
Therefore, the electronic vote managed to avoid the possible problems pointed out by its detractors, which ranged from cyber-pirate attacks and electricity cuts to errors in the computer applications.

Towards the Electronic Democracy The use of electronic voting systems in the recent North American presidential elections can be taken as being an overall success. However, this general electronic voting rehearsal is just the first step on what is seen as the long complex road towards electronic democracy.

Full Story

Title: PricewaterhouseCoopers´ Management Barometer
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Date: 27th October 2004
Abstract: Less than half of the large European and North American companies believe that outsourcing leads to real cost savings, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report based on interviews with 278 Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officers of multinational companies. Even so, more than 70% of the companies that outsourced their financial functions in the last two years (75% of all) think that they will continue to do so for at least 12 to 24 months more. 29% even plan to increase outsourcing over the same period by as much as 16% of present expenses.
According to PwC’s Dan DiFilippo, “many companies sign outsourcing agreements without conducting a proper cost-benefit analysis”. 31% of those surveyed think that the benefits of outsourcing in terms of costs are limited or very small; 9% believe they are breaking even; and 4% reckon that they are actually losing money, although they admit that they get other types of benefits such as better follow-up processes. On the other side of the scale, almost half of the executives surveyed (47%) who have outsourced their financial functions say that they have saved a moderate amount (44%) or a great deal (3%).
The external financial services most sought after by North American multinationals are invoicing, payroll and accounts payable services (74%), while European companies prefer to outsource their IT department support functions (70%) and tax services (59%). The management barometer made by PwC also shows that companies that sell products (80%) are more inclined to outsourcing than services companies (63%).

Full Story

Title: China: el nuevo coloso de la Sociedad de la Información
Source: Fundación Auna. Notas de Análisis y Prospectiva.
Date: October 2004
Abstract: China is quickly becoming the flagship of the Information Society and technological products. It is doing so at a pace that does not admit comparisons and, according to the Fundación Auna, the chances are that it will turn into one of the greatest industrial powers on earth, particularly as far as technology is concerned. That says a lot for the country, especially when you take into account that a little more than 20 years ago it had a closed economy, was basically agricultural and underdeveloped. According to the Eighth “Notas de Prospectiva y Análisis” the Fundación Auna published, the number of users of telephony and the Internet in China has risen eightfold over the last five years and there is still a lot of potential to exploit. In fact, the spectacular growth of its internal market is one of the factors that has contributed decisively to this great achievement. However, there are other factors just as important, such as China’s bet on vanguard technology and the public policies of incentives for investment and the concentration of resources of universities, businesses and IT research centers.
In order to keep up this trend of success and growth, the Chinese government set up the Ministry of Information Industries (MII) in 1999 and last August it announced a series of additional measures to develop more sophisticated products with Chinese technology.


Full Story

The “digital home” concept has driven the development of the convergence between computing and consumer electronics, a market whose value will rise to 5,700 million dollars in 2008, according to a study by In-Stat/MDR. But the study also points out that there are three obstacles to overcome before audio and video content reaches every corner of the home: content protection, the legality of the products and the need to educate the user. The industry, however, seems more worried about the lack of standards, above all now that the quantity of software in most electronic consumer products is rising dramatically.
With an eye on solving this question, several companies, two of whom are Samsung and Philips, have set up the Universal Home Application Programmer Interface (UHAPI) Forum. Its aim is to standardize the application programmer interfaces (APIs) for analogue and digital televisions, set-top boxes, DVD players and recorders, servers for the home and other consumer audio and video devices.

Article in VNunet and Internetnews.com
Report in In-Stat/MDR (Payment Service)

60% of Internet traffic is generated by exchanging files over peer-to-peer networks (P2P), according to an analysis by Ovum, the English consulting firm. But if that were not enough, Napster, the P2P network pioneer that has now turned into a legal download company, has just launched a mobile phone music service. For the moment the service costs 15 dollars a month for an unlimited number of uses, but there are already those who say that a P2P network for swapping free music files is just around the corner.
However, the use of these networks is not limited to swapping music and video files. Now it can also be used for telephone calls. This is what the creators of Kazaa, the free file swapping network among users, have done: 30 million people have downloaded their Skype telephony software over the Internet (VoIP). Although the only free calls are those between computers having Skype software, getting through to a land line or a mobile phone costs 1.7 Euro cents per minute.
In Spain, Exis TI takes the lead from Skype and had just announced its own free voice over the Internet service, Call2Net. Its future looks promising: according to a study by the CDW group, Internet telephony will allow Spaniards to save 150 million euros in long distance provincial, inter-provincial and international calls in 2005.
As far as The Economist is concerned, all these initiatives are just another sign of the “demise of traditional telephony”.


Articles in Business Week and The Economist(Payment Service)
News in The Register

The greater knowledge that users have about their computers and the appearance of modular equipment that simplifies the substitution of damaged parts is boosting the concept of “fix it yourself”. The new iMac G5, designed to help its users service it themselves, is a clear sign that Apple is betting on this new trend, that companies like HP have also adopted. According to the manufacturer, about one third of the repairs to his PCs are carried out by the users themselves, and he expects this figure to reach 65% in the next few years.
A report by Jupiter Research underpins Apple’s expectations: 83% of surfing consumers have made an online consultation about the maintenance of their PCs instead of calling the manufacturer or visiting a shop.
Although we have all heard voices warning of the difficulty older users have in doing their own repairs, the study reveals that older customers are more prone to use this self-service option to service their PCs, especially those belonging to the 34 to 44 year old age group.

Articles Wired
News in The Register

The importance of Radio Frequency Identification technology in the distribution sector has grown so much that now it is thought to be the successor to the bar code. This technology offers many advantages (real time tracking of products, complete stock control, prevention of theft and loss) but it also means a steep investment. In this situation the question is whether the adoption of RFID is profitable for industry. This will be one of the questions asked on 30th November at the conference “RFID, the keys to success”, organised by the Club de Marketing de Barcelona and European Association for Sure & Secure Identification (IDtrack). Apart from the presence of many experts in the field and directors of Spanish companies, the event will also be addressed by Brian Subirana, the Director of the EBCenter and IESE Professor. Thanks to the agreement reached between the Club de Marketing de Barcelona and the EBCenter, the readers who identify themselves as subscribers to the e-business Center PwC&IESE Newsletter will enjoy the same entrance fee as the members of the Club de Marketing.

More information