What is Bitcoin

 Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money. It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet. Bitcoin can also be seen as the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence.

Who created Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is the first implementation of a concept called "cryptocurrency", which was first described in 1998 by Wei Dai on the cypherpunks mailing list, suggesting the idea of a new form of money that uses cryptography to control its creation and transactions, rather than a central authority. The first Bitcoin specification and proof of concept was published in 2009 in a cryptography mailing list by Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi left the project in late 2010 without revealing much about himself. The community has since grown exponentially with many developers working on Bitcoin.

Satoshi's anonymity often raised unjustified concerns, many of which are linked to misunderstanding of the open-source nature of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin protocol and software are published openly and any developer around the world can review the code or make their own modified version of the Bitcoin software. Just like current developers, Satoshi's influence was limited to the changes he made being adopted by others and therefore he did not control Bitcoin. As such, the identity of Bitcoin's inventor is probably as relevant today as the identity of the person who invented paper.

Who controls the Bitcoin network?

Nobody owns the Bitcoin network much like no one owns the technology behind email. Bitcoin is controlled by all Bitcoin users around the world. While developers are improving the software, they can't force a change in the Bitcoin protocol because all users are free to choose what software and version they use. In order to stay compatible with each other, all users need to use software complying with the same rules. Bitcoin can only work correctly with a complete consensus among all users. Therefore, all users and developers have a strong incentive to protect this consensus.

How does Bitcoin work?

From a user perspective, Bitcoin is nothing more than a mobile app or computer program that provides a personal Bitcoin wallet and allows a user to send and receive bitcoins with them. This is how Bitcoin works for most users.

Behind the scenes, the Bitcoin network is sharing a public ledger called the "block chain". This ledger contains every transaction ever processed, allowing a user's computer to verify the validity of each transaction. The authenticity of each transaction is protected by digital signatures corresponding to the sending addresses, allowing all users to have full control over sending bitcoins from their own Bitcoin addresses. In addition, anyone can process transactions using the computing power of specialized hardware and earn a reward in bitcoins for this service. This is often called "mining". To learn more about Bitcoin, you can consult the dedicated page and the original paper.

Is Bitcoin really used by people?

Yes. There are a growing number of businesses and individuals using Bitcoin. This includes brick-and-mortar businesses like restaurants, apartments, and law firms, as well as popular online services such as Namecheap and Overstock.com. While Bitcoin remains a relatively new phenomenon, it is growing fast. As of May 2018, the total value of all existing bitcoins exceeded 100 billion US dollars, with millions of dollars worth of bitcoins exchanged daily.

What are the advantages of Bitcoin?

• Payment freedom - It is possible to send and receive bitcoins anywhere in the world at any time. No bank holidays. No borders. No bureaucracy. Bitcoin allows its users to be in full control of their money.
• Choose your own fees - There is no fee to receive bitcoins, and many wallets let you control how large a fee to pay when spending. Higher fees can encourage faster confirmation of your transactions. Fees are unrelated to the amount transferred, so it's possible to send 100,000 bitcoins for the same fee it costs to send 1 bitcoin. Additionally, merchant processors exist to assist merchants in processing transactions, converting bitcoins to fiat currency and depositing funds directly into merchants' bank accounts daily. As these services are based on Bitcoin, they can be offered for much lower fees than with PayPal or credit card networks.
• Fewer risks for merchants - Bitcoin transactions are secure, irreversible, and do not contain customers’ sensitive or personal information. This protects merchants from losses caused by fraud or fraudulent chargebacks, and there is no need for PCI compliance. Merchants can easily expand to new markets where either credit cards are not available or fraud rates are unacceptably high. The net results are lower fees, larger markets, and fewer administrative costs.
• Security and control - Bitcoin users are in full control of their transactions; it is impossible for merchants to force unwanted or unnoticed charges as can happen with other payment methods. Bitcoin payments can be made without personal information tied to the transaction. This offers strong protection against identity theft. Bitcoin users can also protect their money with backup and encryption.
• Transparent and neutral - All information concerning the Bitcoin money supply itself is readily available on the block chain for anybody to verify and use in real-time. No individual or organization can control or manipulate the Bitcoin protocol because it is cryptographically secure. This allows the core of Bitcoin to be trusted for being completely neutral, transparent and predictable.

What are the disadvantages of Bitcoin?

• Degree of acceptance - Many people are still unaware of Bitcoin. Every day, more businesses accept bitcoins because they want the advantages of doing so, but the list remains small and still needs to grow in order to benefit from network effects.
• Volatility - The total value of bitcoins in circulation and the number of businesses using Bitcoin are still very small compared to what they could be. Therefore, relatively small events, trades, or business activities can significantly affect the price. In theory, this volatility will decrease as Bitcoin markets and the technology matures. Never before has the world seen a start-up currency, so it is truly difficult (and exciting) to imagine how it will play out.
• Ongoing development - Bitcoin software is still in beta with many incomplete features in active development. New tools, features, and services are being developed to make Bitcoin more secure and accessible to the masses. Some of these are still not ready for everyone. Most Bitcoin businesses are new and still offer no insurance. In general, Bitcoin is still in the process of maturing.

Why do people trust Bitcoin?

Much of the trust in Bitcoin comes from the fact that it requires no trust at all. Bitcoin is fully open-source and decentralized. This means that anyone has access to the entire source code at any time. Any developer in the world can therefore verify exactly how Bitcoin works. All transactions and bitcoins issued into existence can be transparently consulted in real-time by anyone. All payments can be made without reliance on a third party and the whole system is protected by heavily peer-reviewed cryptographic algorithms like those used for online banking. No organization or individual can control Bitcoin, and the network remains secure even if not all of its users can be trusted.

business process reengineering

 What is Business Process Reengineering

“Business Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed” – Michael Hammer and James Champy

Business process reengineering is an approach used to improve organizational performance by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of processes that exist across the organization.  In addition to the redesigning of business processes, it also involves the redesigning of associated systems and organizational structures. 

Usually, reasons like new market opportunities, increasing competition, poor financial performance, and decreasing market share trigger the need for a business process transformation. 

BPR involves the analysis and transformation of several major components of a business. These include,

• Strategy
• Organization
• Process
• Technology
• Culture

BPR includes three phases; analysis phase, design phase, and implementation phase. It is also referred to as business process redesign, business process change management, and business transformation.

Benefits of Business Process Reengineering

BPR plays a major role in organizational performance improvement in terms of cost, quality, delivery, employee productivity, etc. It also helps

• Streamline business processes and systems 
• Companies easily adapt to changing times and reduce operating expenses
• Improve company profitability and sustain competitive advantage
• Boost employee productivity 
• Increase customer satisfaction by improving the quality of products and services

Principles of Business Process Reengineering

Following are the 7 principles of reengineering proposed by Michael Hammer and James Champy

1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks.
2. Identify all the organization’s processes and prioritize them in order of redesign urgency
3. Integrate information processing work into the real work that produces the information
4. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized
5. Link Parallel activities in the workflow instead of just integrating their results
6. Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process
7. Capture information once and at the source

BPR Implementation | Business Process Reengineering Steps

Reengineering a process focuses on redesigning a process as a whole which includes fundamentally rethinking how the organizational work should be done in order to achieve dramatic improvement. That’s what differentiates BPR from process improvement which only focuses on functional or incremental improvement. 

Reengineering might not be appropriate in all situations, especially if your processes only require optimization and if your organization is not looking to undergo dramatic change. In such a case, you can opt for a process improvement technique.

Step 1: Set the vision and business goals 

This is where the senior management needs to identify the business situation; customer expectations, competition, opportunities, etc.

This will make it easier to understand the need for change and create a clear vision of where the company needs to be in the future. Then clarify the objectives in both qualitative and quantitative terms. 

Step 2: Establish a competent team

The team you select needs to be cross-functional because expertise and perceptions from all levels of the organization are necessary to minimize the chances of failure. 

It should be the responsibility of the top management to have a clear vision of the activities that need to be carried out and provide strategic direction. You also need to have an operational manager who knows the ins and outs of the processes. It is equally important to have the right engineers with different expertise from various fields to make the team complete. 

At this stage, it is important to have the goals and strategies outlined properly. You can also carry out surveys and benchmarking activities to identify customer needs and analyze the competition.   

In this step, it’s also necessary to communicate the business case for change and the objectives of the project to the rest of the employees. This will encourage their feedback as well and help them get ready for what’s to come.  

Step 3: Understand the current process

In this step, you need to select the process(es) that you will be redesigning. Such processes that are broken, cross-functional, value-adding, have bottlenecks or have high-impact on the organization, etc. can be prioritized. 

Step 4: Redesign the process

Keeping your vision in mind, redesign a new process that effectively overcomes the inefficiencies of the previous process. Here you will create a future-state map that highlights the solutions you have identified for the issues of the current state process. 

Step 5: Implement the reengineered process

Once the process has been redesigned, you can run a small test to see how it works by monitoring with the KPIs you have defined earlier. This will allow you to make necessary adjustments to the process before implementing it company-wide. If the new process works better than the current one, you can implement it on a larger scale.

BPR Methodologies

There are several business process reengineering methodologies out there, and we have listed some of them below, along with the steps. They highlight more ways of reengineering business processes in addition to what we have discussed above. 

Hammer/Champy Methodology

The methodology introduced by Hammer and Champy popularized business process reengineering. It involves six steps. 

Step 1: The CEO who initiates the reengineering process should introduce it to the employees by explaining the current situation of the company and his/her future vision for the company. 

Step 2: Identify business processes in terms of how they interact within the company and in relation to the outside world. Here process maps can be used to visualize the processes. 

Step 3: Select the processes that have the potential to bring value to the company once reengineered and those that are easy to be reengineered. 

Step 4: Analyze the current performance of the processes as opposed to what is expected from them in the future. 

Step 5: Redesign the selected business process using creativity, lateral thinking and imagination. 

Step 6: Implement the redesigned processes. 

The Davenport Methodology

Davenport puts information technology at the heart of business reengineering. The Davenport model covers six steps.

Step 1: Develop business vision and process objectives.

Step 2: Identify the business processes that should be reengineered. Davenport advises selecting not more than 15 processes at a time. 

Step 3: Understand the functioning and performance of the selected processes. And set up performance benchmarks for the reengineered processes. 

Step 4: Study how information technology tools and applications can be applied to the newly designed business processes. 

Step 5: Design a functioning prototype of the new business process. Allow the team to study the prototype and identify areas for improvement. 

Step 6: Implement the tested prototype across the organization. 

Manganelli/ Klein Methodology

Manganelli and Klein state only to focus on those business processes that are crucial to the strategic goals of the company and customer requirements.

Step 1: Ask everyone involved to define goals and prepare for the business reengineering project. 

Step 2: Select the key business processes for redesign

Step 3: Study the current performance of the selected processes and determine the future performance that you want to achieve.

Step 4: Develop information technology design to support new processes. And design new work environments for the people. 

Step 5: Implement the redesigned processes and the new work environments within the organization. 

Kodak Methodology

Developed by the international Kodak organization, the Kodak methodology is applied across all Kodak facilities worldwide. 

Step 1: Plan the process reengineering project and define all project administration rules and procedures.

Step 2: Bring together your project team,  assign project managers, and design a comprehensive process model for the organization.

Step 3: Redesign the selected processes. This step should conclude with a plan of a Pilot Implementation of the redesigned processes.

Step 4: Implement the newly designed processes across the organization. Adjust the organization’s infrastructure to the requirements of the new processes. 

Step 5: The last step is performed parallel to the other steps. Here the project team should find ways to deal with the obstacles that may occur during the reengineering project. 

Mobile app

 A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices.

Apps are usually available through application distribution platform, which began appearing in 2008 and are typically operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store, and BlackBerry App World. Some apps are free, while others must be bought. Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktop computers. For apps with a price, generally a percentage, 20-30%, goes to the distribution provider (such as iTunes), and the rest goes to the producer of the app.^[1] The same app can therefore cost the average Smartphone user a different price depending on whether they use iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry 10 devices.

Encryption and Decryption

Encryption:

 In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding messages or information in such a way that only authorized parties can read it.^[1] Encryption does not of itself prevent interception, but denies the message content to the interceptor.^[2]:374 In an encryption scheme, the message or information, referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, generating ciphertext that can only be read if decrypted.^[2] For technical reasons, an encryption scheme usually uses a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm. It is in principle possible to decrypt the message without possessing the key, but, for a well-designed encryption scheme, large computational resources and skill are required. An authorized recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key provided by the originator to recipients, but not to unauthorised interceptors.

Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original form, so it can be understood. Encryption and decryption should not be confused with encoding and decoding, in which data is converted from one form to another but is not deliberately altered so as to conceal its content. Decryption is generally the reverse process of encryption. It is the process of decoding the data which has been encrypted into a secret format. An authorized user can only decrypt data because decryption requires a secret key or password.

 

 

Microprocessor

 A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated circuit (IC),^[1] or at most a few integrated circuits.^[2] The microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output. It is an example of sequential digital logic, as it has internal memory. Microprocessors operate on numbers and symbols represented in the binary numeral system. The integration of a whole CPU onto a single chip or on a few chips greatly reduced the cost of processing power. The integrated circuit processor was produced in large numbers by highly automated processes, so unit cost was low. Single-chip processors increase reliability as there are many fewer electrical connections to fail. As microprocessor designs get faster, the cost of manufacturing a chip (with smaller components built on a semiconductor chip the same size) generally stays the same.

Application package

 Bundle of two or more computer programs that together address a specific business need. For example, an 'illustration package' might include a drawing program, photograph manipulation program, page setting program, and a color matching and output control (printing) program.

Application packaging may refer to:

• Creation of computer program installations that allow software to be installed across multiple computers
• Operations performed by software bundle management systems in cloud computing environments

Application Package/Software is a set of programs to carry out operations for a specific application. For example, payroll

is an application software for an organization to produce pay slips as an output. Application software is useful for word processing, billing system, accounting, producing statistical report, analysis of numerous data in research, weather forecasting, etc. In later modules you will learn about MS WORD, Lotus 1-2-3 and dBASE III Plus. All these are application software.

Another  example  of  application  Package/Software  is  programming  language.  Among  the  programming  languages

COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) is more suitable for business application whereas FORTRAN (Formula

Translation) is useful for scientific application. We will discuss about languages in next section.

Intranet

 An intranet is a private network, accessible only to an organisation's staff.^[1][2] Generally a wide range of information and services from the organisation's internal IT systems are available from this that would not be available from the outside, and one company-wide intranet can constitute an important focal point of internal communication and collaboration, and provide a single starting point to access internal and external resources.

Intranets began to appear in a range of larger organizations from 1994.^[1] The launch of the a free webserver from Microsoft in 1996 helped make the technology accessible to a wider market.^[3]

 

extranet

 An extranet is a website that allows controlled access to partners, vendors and suppliers or an authorised set of customers - normally to a subset of the information accessible from an organization's intranet. An extranet is similar to a DMZ in that it provides access to needed services for authorised parties, without granting access to an organization's entire network.

Historically the term was occasionally also used in the sense of an two organisation sharing their internal networks over a VPN[1]

Any Branch Banking

 Engaging in banking activities such as accepting deposits or making loans at facilities away from a bank's home office. Branch banking has gone through significant changes since the 1980s in response to a more competitive nationwide financial services market. Financial innovation such as internet banking will greatly influence the future of branch banking by potentially reducing the need to maintain extensive branch networks to service consumers.

DEFINITION of 'Branch Banking' Engaging in banking activities such as accepting deposits or making loans at facilities away from a bank's home office. Branch banking has gone through significant changes since the 1980s in response to a more competitive nationwide financial services market.

Spyware

 Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, or that asserts control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge.^[1]

"Spyware" is mostly classified into four types: system monitors, trojans, adware, and tracking cookies.^[2] Spyware is mostly used for the purposes of tracking and storing Internet users' movements on the Web and serving up pop-up ads to Internet users.

Whenever spyware is used for malicious purposes, its presence is typically hidden from the user and can be difficult to detect. Some spyware, such as keyloggers, may be installed by the owner of a shared, corporate, or public computer intentionally in order to monitor users.

 

SPAM

 Electronic spamming is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited messages (spam), especially advertising, as well as sending messages repeatedly on the same site. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social spam, television advertising and file sharing spam. It is named after Spam, a luncheon meat, by way of a Monty Python sketch in which Spam is included in every dish.^[1] The food is stereotypically disliked/unwanted, so the word came to be transferred by analogy.

Automated teller machine

 An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine^[1][2][3] (ATM, American, Australian, Singaporean, Indian, Maldivian, Hiberno and Sri Lankan English), also known as an automated banking machine (ABM, Canadian English), cash machine, cashpoint, cashline, or colloquially hole in the wall (British and South African English), is an electronic telecommunications device that enables the customers of a financial institution to perform financial transactions, particularly cash withdrawal, without the need for a human cashier, clerk or bank teller.

On most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date or CVVC (CVV). Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN).

Firmware

 In electronic systems and computing, firmware is "the combination of a hardware device, e.g. an integrated circuit, and computer instructions and data that reside as read only software on that device". As a result, firmware usually cannot be modified during normal operation of the device.^[1] Typical examples of devices containing firmware are embedded systems (such as traffic lights, consumer appliances, and digital watches), computers, computer peripherals, mobile phones, and digital cameras. The firmware contained in these devices provides the control program for the device.

RAM

 Random-access memory (RAM /ræm/) is a form of computer data storage. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read and written in approximately the same amount of time, regardless of the order in which data items are accessed.^[1] In contrast, with other direct-access data storage media such as hard disks, CD-RWs, DVD-RWs and the older drum memory, the time required to read and write data items varies significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm movement delays.

SWIFT, Online Processing, Spam, Spyware, Cash Memory, ATM, Smart Card, Extranet, Digital Signature, Data Encryption , Data Decryption

 SWIFT:

 The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. Swift also sells software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFT Net Network.

 Online Processing:

 A method of using a terminal remote from a company mainframe or an interface to the Internet like an e-commerce website for taking product orders and dealing with payments. The online processing of orders offers considerable savings and greater overall efficiency for most business sales operations, although system down time can be costly in terms of lost sales.

 Spam:

 spamming is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited messages (spam), especially advertising. As well as sending messages repeatedly on the same site. While the most widely recognized form of spam is e-mail spam.

 Spyware:

 Spyware is software that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent, or that asserts control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge.

 Cash Memory:

 Cache memory, also called CPU memory, is random access memory (RAM) that a computer microprocessor can access more quickly than it can access regular RAM.

As the microprocessor processes data, it looks first in the cache memory and if it finds the data there (from a previous reading of data), it does not have to do the more time-consuming reading of data from larger memory

 ATM:

 An automated teller machine or automatic teller machinealso known as an automated banking machineis an electronic telecommunications device that enables the customers of a financial institution to perform financial transactions without the need for a human cashier, clerk or bank tellerOn most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip that contains a unique card number and some security information. Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN).

 Smart Card:

A smart card is a plastic card about the size of a credit card, with an embedded microchip that can be loaded with data, used for telephone calling, electronic cash payments, and other applications, and then periodically refreshed for additional use. Smart cards can provide identification, authentication, data storage and application processing.[2] Smart cards may provide strong security authentication for single sign-on (SSO) within large organizations.

 Extranet:

 An extranet is a computer network that allows controlled access from outside of an organization's intranet. Extranets are used for specific use cases including business-to-business (B2B). In a business-to-business context, an extranet can be viewed as an extension of an organization's intranet that is extended to users outside the organization, usually partners, vendors and suppliers, in isolation from all other Internet users. It is in context of that isolation that an extranet is different from an intranet or internet. In contrast, business-to-consumer (B2C) models involve known servers of one or more companies, communicating with previously unknown consumer users. An extranet is similar to a DMZ in that it provides access to needed services for channel partners, without granting access to an organization's entire network.

 Digital Signature:

 A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender, such that the sender cannot deny having sent the message (authentication and non-repudiation) and that the message was not altered in transit (integrity). Digital signatures are commonly used for software distribution, financial transactions, and in other cases where it is important to detect forgery or tampering.

 Data Encryption:

 Encryption is the process of using an algorithm to transform information to make it unreadable for unauthorized users. This cryptographic method protects sensitive data such as credit card numbers by encoding and transforming information into unreadable cipher text. This encoded data may only be decrypted or made readable with a key. Symmetric-key and asymmetric-key are the two primary types of encryption. Encryption is essential for ensured and trusted delivery of sensitive information

 Data Decryption:

 Decryption is the process of transforming data that has been rendered unreadable through encryption back to its unencrypted form. In decryption, the system extracts and converts the garbled data and transforms it to texts and images that are easily understandable not only by the reader but also by the system. Decryption may be accomplished manually or automatically. It may also be performed with a set of keys or passwords.

Online Banking, Mobile Banking, SMS Banking

 Online banking is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a website operated by the institution, such as a retail bank, virtual bank, credit union or building society. Online banking is also referred as Internet banking, e-banking, virtual banking and by other terms.

To access a financial institution's online banking facility, a customer with Internet access would need to register with the institution for the service, and set up some password (under various names) for customer verification. The password for online banking is normally not the same as for telephone banking.

Mobile Banking is a Banking process without bank branch which provides financial services to unbanked communities efficiently and at affordable cost. To provide banking and financial services, such as cash-in, cash out, merchant payment, utility payment, salary disbursement, foreign remittance, government allowance disbursement, ATM money withdrawal through mobile technology devices, i.e. Mobile Phone, is called Mobile Banking.

SMS Banking:

 SMS banking is a type of mobile banking, a technology-enabled service offering from banks to its customers, permitting them to operate selected banking services over their mobile phones using SMS messaging