Saturday Seminars: March 29

Just last Saturday, March 29, I attended a total of three talks. For the first two seminars, it was facilitated by my professor in Enterprise Architecture while the third one was basically part of the Business Intelligence Symposium.

So going on with the first two talks under my ENTARCH class. For the first speaker, Mr. Rommel M. Andong, he discussed about Enterprise Architect Applications and Business Services in Hewlett-Packard. Before he went on with his topic, he first gave us a not-so-brief introduction about HP. He talked about HP being today's largest technology company in the world. That aside from laptops, computers, and printers HP also specializes in providing different services all over the globe. Actually I'm already familiar with these since my sister and cousin works at HP. Also, last term I used the same company for a case study in my Business Performance course so most of the things that he mentioned were not really new to me. 

Going on, his introduction was really really long that I thought that he will never discuss about Enterprise Architecture but thank goodness he still did. So when he started discussing about Enterprise Architecture, well at first it's kind of boring but trying to understand deeper what he was talking about. It made me realize that it's interesting and that I can really use all the information for my projects and hopefully of course in my future work. 

For the second speaker, Mr. Jospeh R. Villordon, he also works at HP and his topic mainly revolved on IT Governance. Basically, IT Governance is the process of helping a specific organization align its IT Strategy with its business strategies in order for the company to achieve its set goals and objectives. Moreover, Mr. Villordon also discussed about different frameworks such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) which consists of practices for Information Technology Service Management and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) which helps in providing organizations clear definition and strategies on how they can appraise and promote good performance and behavior . 

All in all, the two talks were really very informative and at the same time interesting. In fact from their discussions, it made me realize that I should be thankful enough that we were offered with different useful special electives! For I believe that not everyone is given opportunities like this. Also, since the discussion mostly revolved around HP. It really made me even more want to work there someday! 

So for the last speaker, Mr. Constantino Yap, his topic was about Business Intelligence in Banking Industry specifically for Philippine National Bank. This talk basically has the same concept from the other Business Intelligence Seminars that I've attended just recently. The only difference is that this one focused on the Banking Industry. He started his talk by first asking us some questions. I don't know if this is his strategy of engaging with his audience but surprisingly it is really effective. So going on with his actual discussion, he shared with us the current or original Business Intelligence used by PNB. Moreover he also discussed some key pointers in implementing BI which among the different topics he discussed was I think the most interesting and useful. One of the key pointers that he tackled which I think is important is "Practice the right data management and strategy." It's actually true,  part of managing data is to ensure the quality because no matter how big your data is, it will always be useless if it's incorrect. Just like in Business Intelligence, organizations make use of tools or systems to help them in transforming their data into useful and meaningful information for business decisions. But the concern is, even if an organization has a BI tool, it will be useless and ineffective if the data that they're feeding the system are all incorrect. 

Business Intelligence Symposium: March 28

Business Intelligence in Environmental Science

As another make up for my missed seminar, I attended the Business Intelligence Symposium which was conducted by Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan. The talk mainly was about BI in Environmental Science. Basically he discussed about the current status of our country’s coral reefs and in fact the photos that he showed us was somehow an eye-opener especially for students like us. If it wasn’t for the pictures, I won’t really believe that our coral reefs are slowly being destroyed due to human activities.  I’m not really sure why, but maybe because all this time I believed that our coral reefs will never be scarce since my Science teachers back on my elementary and high school days instilled to us that our country’s rich in natural resources that it is impossible for it to be extinct.

                So going back to Dr. Licuanan’s talk, as a part of their Business Intelligence they make use of Hierarchical Sampling to detect and test patterns to be able to generate information for effective monitoring. Also, they make use of Teardrop Tracks, which actually was very interesting. Basically, what this does is that it captures different photographs of coral reefs around the shore and integrates it with the Google Maps for better visualization and accurate tracing of corals. Also as mentioned, this will be used for extrapolating different findings.

                From all the ideas that Dr. Licuanan shared what I liked the most is when he told us that when every time he brings with him his students to the beach to show them the beauty of our coral reefs. He also tell them to bid their last goodbye to these corals for sooner or later this beautiful coral reefs that we have will soon be gone. Sounds so sad but actually its true and probably soon it will happen unless we start caring for our mother earth. 

It's actually about time for us to contribute and help in preserving not only our coral reefs but also everything around us. Because mother earth isn't only made up of coral reefs, she is actually everything that we see.  

Business Intelligence Symposium: March 20

Since I've missed a lot of seminars during our symposium due to conflicts with other subjects, I need to attend several seminars more to make up those that I've missed and complete the requirement of 15 seminars. So today, March 20, I attended the seminar facilitated by the Business Intelligence class. So since the class course is BUSINTL, the topic discussed by the speaker Mr Brian Meneses revolved on the same concept. 

Mainly, Mr Meneses briefly discussed what Business Intelligence is and how it can be very useful especially in bridging the gap of Information. Also I noticed that most speakers, including those from my EMTECH Symposium, mentioned the terms "Big Data". But anyway, as defined by the speaker Big Data is basically all the data that the company processes. Usually, this may come from different departments such as marketing, finance and the like. So going on with the speaker's presentation, he also mentioned the Spend Analysis which is a model that can be used in managing data. This model can actually be revised and/or "remodelled" to fit into the needs of the organization. Another thing that I've learned from the speaker's talk is that, in the corporate world we are usually considered as the Business Intelligence Tool. That we are the ones in charge of formulating strategies and/or decisions that's mainly based on concrete figures and data. 

All in all the talk was very informative and interesting. Not to mention the last part, where he gave us some important notes about Business Intelligence and how we can apply it to different industries.   

Symposium on Emerging Technologies: March 15

                                         

For March 15, I didn't get to attend the first half of the Symposium for it's in conflict with my PERSEF Seminar. For today, the topics mainly focused on the theme "Business Innovations". To start, the first speaker was Mr. Ferdie Cacdac. His talk was all about "Fire Suppression System and Construction Technologies". At first, I actually find the discussion interesting since it's all about fire suppression and I suppose each and every one should at least be knowledgeable about the current trends that we have especially in preventing fire incidents. Most especially that here in the Philippines, the percentage of fire incidents are very high so I think this would be very helpful and at the same time appropriate. So going on, as mentioned he discussed about the current trends and technologies that we currently have to detect and or prevent fire incidents. I was really expecting a lot of different trends from this talk but sadly his presentation was too short that he tackled only a few.

The next speaker was Sir Lee Mojado our Enterprise Architecture professor. He basically talked about "Big Data Emerging Technologies", so basically his talk was literally about BIG DATA and how Hewlett-Packard, the company he's working for, can help in solving such matter. Because when we say Big Data, we are not only talking about hundredths, thousands, millions but gazillions of data! Try to imagine that? So with the uncontrollable and increasing number of data coming in and out, Hewlett Packard has a good solution and it is called HAVEn which stands for Hadoop/HDFS, Autonomy IDOL, Vertica, Enterprise Security and nApps. This solution would really and surely give their clients a heaven-like feeling for what this does is that, it serves as an ecosystem and at the same time a platform for all data. This topic really was very interesting for even myself I can't try to imagine how this thing works and how this was made possible. But good thing this really was created for it can really help companies in managing their gazillions of data.

For the third speaker, our very own, Ms Lea Alyana Capati. She basically talked about "Business Intelligence through different Information Systems" wherein she tackled different ongoing projects to be soon implemented in specific areas of NCR. First thing that she tackled was the Traffic Management System, actually I was already familiar with this one and I think everyone is. But the question is how can this be different from those that were proposed and implemented before? This can be different in a way that, the system mainly works through signals and sensors. Also, Traffic Light system is part of this Traffic Management System wherein in cases that something goes wrong the, people in charge can easily troubleshoot it without even going to the actual place. Sounds good right? Another topic that she discussed was the new generation of Billing. First she explained the traditional and laborious way of billing and then afterwards she explained how their new development can make things easier. This is through the use of a handheld device attached with a sensor that can easily read and generate instant billing slips. What made the topic even more interesting is that she brought with her the said handheld device and gave us a demo. After the demo, she explained what their future plans are for billing. And as exaplained, probably years from now company's like MWSS will make use of GPS and their technology to make billing a lot more easier. The topics discussed were good though it mainly revolved in Information Systems, I think it was still great since I was really able to relate well on what she was discussing.

So going on with the fourth, Mr. Jason Acidre talked about "Inbound Marketing Technology through SEO". Actually before he started his talk, I really don't know what SEO really was about so it was really a good thing that I listened for I really learned something from it. So basically what he explained was the concept of "search engine optimization or SEO"  which is basically the process done by major search engines such as Google and Yahoo wherein based from the topic searched it will rank the most relevant results. So basically, when we try to search something over the net those that were ranked first were the search results that the search engine determined to be the most relevant. Actually I didn't know that there was a concept like that, all I know is that when I search over the net usually those placed on the first page were the most relevant. So maybe this concept also applies to the "I'm feeling lucky" feature of Google? Interesting!

All in all the last day of Symposium was great since I learned new things and concepts that I can surely use in the future! :)

Symposium on Emerging Technologies: March 8

 

Mainly the first half of the seminar today was under the theme “Enhancing Health through Technologies” while the second half revolved around the theme “Emerging Technology Surrounding Business Innovations”. 

So to start, the first speaker was Dr. Alfredo San Andres. He mainly discussed about the “Latest Concepts in Oral Health Care” and focused on the term Remineralization. Basically, as explained by Dr. Alfredo, it is the process of returning minerals in the tooth structure. Moreover, Remineralization is used to restore white spot lesions present on the teeth’s surface. This topic really is something new to me, in fact I didn’t even know that this term even exist. For all I know when we talk about teeth the usual terms that comes into my mind are tooth decays and oral prophylaxis. All in all the first speaker did well in sharing some interesting knowledge about his field of work.

Going on to the 2nd speaker, Dr. Eric Camilio Punzalan, he basically talked about “A Healthy Chemiphysical Solution.” From the very start, the speaker really gave me a good impression, for the reason that from the way he talks it’s as if he knows a lot of things. Though I’m not sure of that since I literally do not him but definitely he really speaks well. So moving on, he basically started his talk about Mercury and the negative and/or harmful effect of it. Though supposedly that wasn’t really part of his topic, he briefly explained it in continuation to the concern that he brought up to the first speaker, Dr San Andres.  Right after discussing about Mercury, he then started talking about the evolution of X-RAY and MRI. He also kind of mentioned some concepts of the modern medicine and then discussed about its effects both positive and negative. Overall, the talk was good but I think it’ll be better if he organized his presentation a little and that he should’ve focused more on the Emerging Technologies not much on the current ones.  

So going on to the third and last speaker for the first half, Dr, Jerome Palaganas, his talk was about the :Future of Health” and the corresponding emerging technologies. Among the speakers, what I found most relevant was Dr Jerome’s topic for he was able to balance well his topic in a way that he didn’t focused only on the health side but also he did make sure that he’s also explaining well the IT part. Moreover, the emerging technologies that he presented were all interesting. Though there are also some that I’m already familiar with. But all in all Dr. Jerome Palaganas really did a great job. His topic was simple yet very interesting!

Continuing with the second half, the talks now were focused on the theme Business Innovations. Given that the theme is relevant to my course, I became more eager to listen for I know that it would be possible that I can apply some new things and knowledge that I will learn in this talk in the future.

For the first speaker, Mr Michael Garcia, he talked about the “Emergence of Data Warehousing.” He was able to discuss well what Data Warehousing is and how it can be very important and useful in the business industry today. Also, for us to have a clearer understanding he linked his topic in one of our courses which is DATBAS. He was able to explain well how a  centralized database can help in saving time and effort most especially in storing and retrieving of data. I really liked his topic for it was pretty interesting and related to our course.

The second speaker was Ms. Cecile Ang. She mainly talked about “SWEEP” a loadable contactless and reloadable cash card which is very much similar to BebaPay. Actually, the topic was really interesting but I think the speaker focused more on marketing its product than explaining the technology behind the SWEEP card. Though the talk went really good that she even distributed free cards for us to try.

The last speaker was Mr. Celmer Santos. His topic was about “Emerging Technology Products of Jupiter Systems.” He basically discussed various technologies including RFIDs and QR codes which I believe is not anymore a new thing since it’s really very common that even a smart phone can generate QR codes and at the same time read it. Though these things were already existing technologies the way these were implemented and used was really a different and unique one. Imagine a chip inside a person’s body? Kind of weird and looks very infeasible but somehow can be possible especially in the near future.

With my first day and first learning experience in this symposium I can say that yes it’s tiring since we have to sit all day and listen to different speakers. But definitely I think it’s really worth it; since first we’re able to learn new things and second it’s free of charge!   

EMTECH Symposium: March 7

(Source: mndresearch.wordpress.com)

Today’s basically my first time to attend the symposium and unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the first two talks since it is in conflict with my friday class. But one good thing is that the second speaker that was originally scheduled in the morning wasn’t able to make it which is why he was I think rescheduled or given extra time in the afternoon to conduct his talk. Actually this was an advantage for me for the reason that since the speaker was late I only get to miss two talks rather than three for the day. So going on with the scheduled talks today, all were focused on the theme “Enhancing Health through Emerging Technologies” wherein different speakers with different expertise presented their knowledge about the newest trends and emerging technologies in the field of medicine. 

(Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

  So since I missed two seminars, my first speaker was Dr. Carmen Tan. Mainly, she talked about Surface Plasmon Resonance and honestly speaking I didn’t get much from this talk for I think what she’s explaining was too complex which I think was already out of our concern as BSINSYS students. She was explaining chemicals and some other chemicals which I’m not even familiar with. Despite that, I still appreciate her effort especially in at least imparting us some of her knowledge which are definitely new to us. 

(Source: www.delaware-valley.biz)

   The next speaker was  Dr. Marian Angela Cumagun, which for me was the best speaker so far. Her topic was “Skin Tightening Lasers: What’s New?”, and really it was very very interesting especially for girls like us! She explained well the different treatments and procedures available for skin tightening as well as the corresponding technologies being used. Also, what made her talk even more interesting is that she showed sample pictures of how treatments are done through the use of certain technology and the quick effect of it to the human body. Pictures were all pretty awesome especially seeing the difference of their before and after pictures. All in all her topic was great. She was able to show her expertise in this field and at the same time impart us some knowledge about the current and future trends being used.  

                                   

   I really thought I’d miss the chance of seeing this person. But thank God he wasn’t able to make it on the morning session! Dr Gil Nonato Santos, was the last speaker for the day. Back on my high school days I had been hearing a lot of great things about Dr. Nonato from my Science teacher. I really can’t remember specifically what my Science teacher was telling us but I know it’s about something good that’s really worth sharing. But sadly I can’t really remember it. Anyway, so much with flashbacks. So going on, Dr Nonato talked about Nanotechnology in Health. Basically, the concept is applying Nanotechnology to glasses in order to lessen and/or decrease the UV rays that reaches our skin. This concept  was already applied to different businesses such as hospitals, restaurants and the like but I think there is still more about this concept that we need to uncover. We need to utilize this kind of technology for this can really be of a big help and surely we  will all benefit from this.  

  Today was a great day! My head was bombarded with too many new interesting ideas, concepts and learning. All in all, the topics discussed were really nice and the technologies were all great!

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