RECENT EVENTS
May 19, 2010 Business Roundtable
Business through the Internet: Current Practices and Emerging Applications
While doing business through the internet is nothing new, it has
become a ubiquitous part of current practices. The May Business
Roundtable benefited from the knowledge of three specialists who
brought the crowd up to speed on the changing uses and ever emerging
applications of the internet as it relates to industry.
Cohen Barnes of TBC Net, Inc. and DeKalb Fiber
Optic, LLC, gave the opening presentation which introduced the
concept of cloud computing. He defined cloud computing and virtualization
before delving into the benefits and disadvantages encountered
by companies using this technology. Some benefits included the
many choices available and the reduced scale and cost. Disadvantages
acknowledged were the lack of control a user may have over the
applications as well as the possibility of a lower level of security.
Barnes warned that companies should weigh all sides before making
the move to cloud computing.
Ralph De Stefano of Direct Response Web Solutions,
Inc., presented next on e-commerce, defined as "the buying
and selling of products or services over electronic systems such
as the internet". After talking briefly on the history of
e-commerce, m-commerce was introduced. Using mobile devices to
market to clientele can greatly improve business. Ralph cautioned
that not all applications of e-commerce and m-commerce are for
every type of company but most can profit from employing some
of their functions.
Michael Verhulst, of Elegant Research, Inc.,
rounded-out the program with a presentation on open source products
which were presented as an alternative to commercial products.
He explained some of the perks of open sourcing such as the low
to no cost and the east of modifying the program for specific
business applications, and then gave a short demonstration on
some of their many capabilities. Finally, he wrapped up with a
look at future developments for both open source and commercial
products as they compete against each other.
Power Points that offer much more detail in the language of the
presenters are available in the Members Only
section of the DCEDC website.
Lunch and networking before the program
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 The three speakers, Michael Verhulst, Cohen Barnes and Ralph De Stefano
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