DEVELOPING A SMARTER PLANET
D/505/5400
LEVEL 3
LO2 - Understand what is meant by a
smarter planet
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AIM AND PURPOSE OF THE UNIT
The Smarter Planet is an initiative developed by the IBM
corporation to encourage individuals and organisations to
think and develop solutions to processes or problems
innovatively. The purpose is to encourage individuals and
businesses to review their current practice to identify what
they could change to reduce the impact on the planet/
environment. The Smarter Planet initiative can be applied
cross sector and this unit encourages learners to consider the
ways in which improvements to processes may include cost
savings, environmental impact and system efficiencies.
The smarter ideas which learners may identify may initially be
small but may then grow and the focus is on constant
improvements, developments to “make the planet smarter”.
They should look at technological developments across a
range of sectors to consider whether these can be adapted to
other sectors and they should also identify activities or
processes they think can be improved in everyday life and
consider innovative solutions that may be developed.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
Learning Outcome (LO)
The learner will:
Pass
The assessment criteria are
the pass requirements for this
unit.
The learner can:
1
P1
Explain how changes
in technology have
evolved over the last
century
P2
explain how evolutions
in technology have
impacted on everyday
life
P3
Explain the benefits
and beneficiaries of
improved technologies
to business
P4
Explain how advances
across business
sectors have brought
additional challenges
P5
Explain how advances
to technology could be
improved or extended
2
3
Understand what is
meant by a smarter
planet
Understand the
changing smarter
business environment
Understand how
smarter planet
technologies could be
further developed
Scenario
Criteria
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Merit
For merit the evidence
must show that, in
addition to the pass
criteria, the learner is
able to:
Distinction
For distinction the
evidence must show
that, in addition to the
pass and merit criteria,
the learner is able to:
M1 - Evaluate the wider
uses of these
technological
developments within
an identified sector
D1 - Discuss why the
smarter planet concept
is important to society
as a whole
M2 - Discuss how
technologies could be
adapted to different
business purposes
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Assessment
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LO2 Understand the changing smarter business environment
Learners should identify a range of technologies that have
surprised or impressed them and be encouraged to research in
more depth as to the impacts of these technologies. All
developments have primarily benefits but many provide
challenges and these would be identified, discussed and opinions
given as to whether the advancements out weight the challenges.
There may also be examples where challenges outweighed the
benefits and the original purpose was not completed. These
technologies will not have been wasted as they are frequently
repurposed. Identification of these will assist the learners when
they are required to think of wider uses for technology in LO3.
Identification of developments in a sector the learner can relate to
will enable them to contextualise the scope of the development
and appreciate the benefits. Research may include benefits to
individuals as well as the main business organisation focus.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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For P2 learners must explain how evolved changes in
technology have impacted on everyday life This may be an
addition to P1 where the learner explains impacts against a
timeline for each change to a range of identified technologies
across a range of sectors. Learners should consider the impact
on social activity and business activity.
For merit assessment criterion M1 learners must evaluate the
wider uses of these technological developments within an
identified sector. Learners could evidence this with a report
identifying where these developments have been put to a
wider use and should evaluate the application of identified
technological developments to an adapted purpose.
For distinction assessment criterion D1 learner must discuss
why the smarter planet concept is important to society as a
whole. Learners should consider the concept of the smarter
planet, the underpinning concepts and ideas and why the
concept is important for a range of factors. This is likely to be
a report identifying the concepts and ideas in detail and the
benefits explained. Alternatively this may be a video
presentation covering the same criteria.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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For P3 learners must explain the benefits and
beneficiaries of improved technologies to business.
This could be evidenced with an annotated diagram
and supporting narrative to clearly identify the
beneficiaries of identified improvements and what
the benefits that they experience are.
For P4 learners must explain how advances across
sectors have brought additional challenges. This
could be evidenced in the form of a report or as an
addition to P3. The proposed beneficiaries of
technological advances may not always have
benefitted and learners should identify challenges
that changes in technology have brought. Examples
can be focussed across a range of business sectors.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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All businesses change and technology within those businesses has
changed the character and nature of the business. In each sector
technological developments have often been dominant to the change,
the make or break of progression. Areas include, distribution, business
processes, warehousing, ordering, online sales and technology within
the business functions. Almost everything in business has had some
technological change that has moved the business forward. Click here
for a list of modern inventions.
For the rest of this section you need to choose two of the following
variant business models and research how technology has impacted on
the business functions.
healthcare
environmental
engineering
manufacturing
IT, retail
electronics
transport
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Engineering – Over the last 20-30 years it has not been obvious how
engineering has moved forward but all the technologies around us are
part of that change. In twenty years we have had a space station,
greener fuel efficient cars, high speed trains, 3D Printing and
technology in our hands.
Every branch of engineering has moved forward, Nuclear Power plants
now account for 20% of the fuel economy of the western world, wind
farms, mechanical limbs have developed since the pointless Iraq War
and more countries in the world have missile capacity than ever before.
In the three fields of science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, there has
been advances usually coming out of a need, to be quicker, more
efficient, safer, better. We thought the Channel Tunnel was a feat of
engineering but China is building 3 bigger and longer ones to Taiwan.
We thought the Tyne Bridge was a feat of engineering until the French
built the Millau Bridge. Click here for others.
If you look at this link and see that the modern developments in
engineering account for half of the top 10 you can see that there have
been achievements of worth.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Manufacturing achievements tend to go hand in hand with engineering
achievements. The revolutionising of a factory floor started in the 70’s, now
car plants are almost completely automated. Modern Manufacturing is not
about reducing human numbers any more, it is about making the efficient
factory floor more efficient. Click here.
Scientific application in manufacturing is also constantly evolving and
improving the present status quo. As technology continues to advance, so
do the demands placed on the manufacturing engineering industry.
Engineers are relying more often on computers and computer driven
technology in order to manipulate things such as electricity, human cells,
atoms and nanoparticles. All of these elements are increasingly being
incorporated into futuristic inventions, and serve to aid in the discovery and
understanding of tangible and intangible products for human use,
consumption, and overall life improvement.
The Chinese revolution in manufacturing is evidence of the modern charge
in streamlining. From a nation with the largest population, their intent is to
remove the human from the process. Click here. For companies like
Foxconn, the concept of taking away their abhorrent working conditions to
be replaced by automation is the goal, fixing their damaged reputation,
making life easier for workers etc.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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IT, retail - The retail industry is one that lives and dies on margins, with a never-ending
quest to increase revenue and decrease costs. Technology has been an area of intense focus
in retail industries. Improvements have been made in areas such as supply chain
management, inventory management, customer experience, and loss prevention. Wireless
technology for instance has enabled the dramatic transformation of business processes in
the past. However, wireless deployments in the past have been limited by security
requirements, the cost of deployment, inadequate management solutions and lack of
standards.
Rapid advances in wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in recent years along with
widespread adoption of the technology in the consumer have eliminated many of these
hindrances. Today, a new wave of opportunity exists for retail industries to improve margins
through the use of wireless technology.
For the modern shopping experience companies are learning to use technology to improve
sales, Tracking is the most dubious of these. Click here.
Other uses include Security tracking, facial recognition, sales processes, self checkouts, the
cashless shopping experience, stock management and ERM, online tracking of purchases,
data mining, customised SEO and SEM.
Companies like Intel push for retail innovations, trying to incorporate their IT technology into
interfaces within shops. Click here.
At the end of the day this is either obvious, point of sales style, or discreet. IF you pick up a
product on a shelf in a major store and put it back, the system tells marketing that you were
interested but for some reason did not want to buy it. Systems kick in, come back a week
later and the price is lower, 10% larger, comes with reward points, anything to make you buy
it the second time. This is called Active Shelf Tracking through RFID.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Electronics – most technology now has this as the key to
improvements. Chips are so small now to be discreet. There is
more technology in your iPhone than the entire moon landing
project. From the inception of the Integrated Silicon chip we have
now made it integral in almost everything we buy and use.
Think of what televisions were like 20 years ago and what they
are like now, radios, the phone you have on you, car dashboards.
We have tracking chips in our pets and our parcels that get
delivered. Remove the electronics from your life and you will be
without power, lights, after three days you will be without water
in your house, after five you will be without food on your shop
shelves and incapable of manufacturing most convenient foods.
Read the following list and see if you understand a word of it but
these technologies get incorporated into daily life. We see the
gadget show and think this is what electronics is all about but
this is the adaptation of the electronics, not the development of
them. Click here for top 50 electronic uses of 2013.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Healthcare - Technology as a physician extender - advances in
smartphone technology, cloud computing, data analytics, and other
innovations have put healthcare in a place where technology can play a
necessary and critical role. Unlike expensive new scanners and tests, the
information technology required to meet patient demand is inexpensive
and easy to incorporate into a hospital practice. Over time, it should
save money, not cost money.
For instance, technology can eliminate inefficiencies that plague
doctors’ business operations (especially private practices). Online
scheduling can help avoid revenue losses by filling appointments more
efficiently. Doctors who regularly see 10 to 20 percent of their
appointments turn into no-shows could make use of previously wasted
time by putting appointment books online.
Other advances in information technology can free up time currently
spent on paperwork, patient follow-up, and other administrative tasks
so that doctors can focus on the actual work of providing health care.
And health information technology will be particularly important as
doctors evolve their practices to account for new delivery and payment
models.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Healthcare - From information technology that makes the operation of
the Doctor’s business more efficient; to telemedicine that can allow
doctors to assess a rash or read an MRI without scheduling a visit; to
consumer electronics that allow patients to collect their own data and
physicians to tailor care to each individual — these advances can serve
as extremely effective “medical extenders” that assist doctors in
expanding their capacity to match growing demand. They can help
doctors build the kind of strong patient relationships that many thought
would be impossible when the era of house calls came to an end.
Patients too are increasingly expecting these conveniences. More and
more patients use social media and the Internet to find and review care
providers, to check their symptoms, or to track their own health data.
Mobile health and medical applications for smartphones are predicted to
reach 142 million downloads by the year 2016. Large majorities of
patients report that they would like far more transparency, online
scheduling, and email communication with care providers, as well as
access to an electronic medical record to review information and email
reminders when they are due for a visit.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Transport – we are all used to how cars are better, but there have been
other developments more subtle in transport technologies. From the
lowest level, we book our train tickets online, print out our own airline
tickets, use e-tickets, use our Oyster card for travel, this has become so
common we do not realise the technology that goes into this.
Less obvious are things such as traffic management systems. You may
not realise that traffic lights are not regular, when traffic on one road is
slow, the lights change, flow through keeps the green lights on busy
patches steady to manage blockages. It is like a game of Sims run on a
professional scale.
Sustainable or more fuel efficient means of transport are always taking
place, specifically with rising fuel costs and environmental issues. Click
here for developments. Electric cars are more common now, rentable
bicycles in cities. The majority of petrol station in France sell Petrol,
Diesel and LPG fuel with a larger promotional discount on LPG.
You can name any transport method and there will have been a change
in technologies to improve efficiency. Even Skateboards have adapted
with change.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
Environmental pressures have been around since the industrial age but have been
more prevalent since the modern use of plastics, industrial raw products and industrial
smelting procedures. The use of technologies within the industry have advances since
the invention of the Geiger counter.
 Environmental technology , or green technology or clean technology is the application
of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring
and electronic devices to monitor, model and conserve the natural environment and
resources, and to curb the negative impacts of human involvement. The term is also
used to describe sustainable energy generation technologies such as photovoltaics,
wind turbines, bioreactors, etc.
 Sustainable development is the core of environmental technologies. The term
environmental technologies is also used to describe a class of electronic devices that
can promote sustainable management of resources.
 Wind farms are the most obvious visual representation of this, renewable energy, but
we also have technologies to benefit Recycling, Water Purification, Air Purification,
Sewage Treatment, and waste management. Click here for the Jebel Ali desalination
plant. Click here for Wave turbines. Click here for Wind Turbine statistics. Click here
for environmental technology in development.
Task 1 – P2.1 – From 3 of the named categories, produce a timeline of technological
change and explain the impact on social activity and business activity these technologies
have made.
 Use the following slide for guidance as to layout.
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Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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Timeline – Produce a timeline of changes in the technology over
the last 30 years or less.
Technical details - Of the changes on the timeline – state the
technical specifications that 5 of these changes has been.
Scope of Change - Of the changes on the timeline – state the
Scope of change, the reason why there was a demand and how
these technologies met that demand.
Impact on Businesses – Of the changes on the timeline – state
the impact that 5 of these changes has made to the business
world.
Impact on Society - Of the changes on the timeline – state the
impact that 5 of these changes has made to society.
Sustained or Adaptable Change – State whether these changes
have been sustained or led to other innovations beyond the
technology.
Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
Using one example from the selected industries you will need to
examine deeper the uses of advanced technology within this
sector and explain how the developments within this field have
expanded beyond the industry to be use din other sectors.
 For instance the developments 3D printing which was designed
for the Art industry is now used for Medical and Engineering
fields to produce implements that are not normally capable of
being produced quickly or without a higher level of skill.
 Developments in Manufacturing processes means a cheaper
quicker supply of goods, this has benefitted all forms of
industry, reducing costs across sectors, allowing for an increase
in developments costs etc.
 Technologies such as GPS designed for travellers and the army is
now used in cars, for goods tracking, for finding your own phone
when lost or for tracking staff when making deliveries.
Task 2 – M1.1 - Evaluate with evidence the wider uses of these
technological developments within an identified sector
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Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
Using one of the selected businesses environments selected in P2, you will need to
discuss the impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Individuals in
terms of the following:
 Health - How has the change made life better in terms of medical field, in terms
of daily living, the environment, in terms of personal monitoring, fitness and
sport.
 Labour saving - How has the change made life better in terms of reducing down
the workload, making working life easier, reducing physical activities.
 Time saving - How has the change made life better in terms of giving us more
time for other things, streamlining tasks, allowing us more leisure time or focus
on more important tasks.
 Flexibility - How has the change made life better in terms of allowing us to do
other things at the same time, of reskilling, improving our knowledge of the field
or impacted on other tasks around it.
 Accessibility - How has the change made life better in terms of disability access,
meeting the needs of different individuals, how it has benefitted society on a
more global scale.
Task 2 – P3.1 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Individuals.
Health
Scenario
Criteria
Labour saving
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Time saving
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Flexibility
Assessment
Accessibility
Using one of the selected businesses environments selected in P2, you will need to discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Individuals Lifestyles in terms of the
following:
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Health – The more technology we have, the less active we become. Technology is designed to
remove menial tasks, adding more leisure time, making us less active and more office bound
in the workplace leading to RSI, Stress and Obesity.
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Comfort – Technology is designed to make us more comfortable, less active, more time for
other things. The technology behind ergonomics for instance is designed to make us more
comfortable and able at work.
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Travel – We are a more travelled nation because of technology and because the acceptance of
technology reduces prices and opens the world up for more competition. Ask parents where
they went as children, Butlins, Bognor, Bangor and Benidorm if they were lucky.
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Communication – we walk around with the world at our fingertips, we communicate digitally
to more people in a day than we did in a week twenty years ago, we send more texts in a day
than letters in a year, we look at every event in our social circle’s life when we used to look at
the obituaries instead for news.
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Social – never has there been a time when Britain has not been such a sociable nation yet we
rarely see each other. Facebook, Skype, Twitter, these has become common terms in our
vocabulary when once it was ring me, pop over, same time next week.
Task 3 – P3.2 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the impact this
sector’s technological revolution has made on Individual lifestyles.
Health
Scenario
Criteria
Comfort
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Travel
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Communication
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Assessment
Social
Using one of the selected businesses environments selected in P2, you will need to
discuss the impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on
Environmental Issues in terms of the following:
 Pollution – Increased output through mechanisation promotes pollution, as does
the increase in transporting goods. The rise in trade also increases the rise in byproducts. All this talk of recycling but pollution is on the rise. Click here to see the
facts.
 Food miles – Increased productivity and the demand for more leisure time also
means the increase of products being sold and delivered. Carbon foot-print, we
hear it a lot when we buy flights, off-setting our sales, reducing down our
emissions. But look in a supermarket and see where the food comes from, how far
it has had to travel to get to your plates. We do not complain because it tastes so
good but ethically we know it is not right. Click here to see where your food came
from.
 Increased energy consumption – TV ratings are measured by the electric surge
when programmes start. The increased demand for products, foreign and domestic
has meant continued energy consumption. Because your Car is greener we drive
further. Click here and here for statistics.
Task 4 – P4.1 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the impact
this sector’s technological revolution has made on Environmental Issues.
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Pollution
Scenario
Criteria
1
Food Miles
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Increased Energy Consumption
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Assessment
Using one of the selected businesses environments selected in P2, you will need
to discuss the impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Ethical
Issues in terms of the following:
 Health and Transplants – The health industry, though the NHS is not a shining
example, has been bettered by advances in other industries. Transplants get to
the hospitals faster because of improved transport links, ambulances are faster
and better equipped. There is even a facility with 3D printers of printing medical
equipment. Ethically there seems no downside.
 The Internet – Good or bad the Internet is here but ethically there is a lot wrong
with it, policing, available of age restricted materials, downloadable guns,
Wikileaks, the Daily Mail, PirateBay etc. these can have an effect on our lives in
terms of legality, e-commerce and desensitisation.
 Data privacy – The DPA is there to protect but there is a limit to how it gets
policed. A secretary has access to more materials that a job implies but needs to
in order to adds more security risks to the storage and maintenance of it. do
their job. The Internet makes it more difficult to police and monitor this
information and adds another level of risk.
Task 5 – P3.3 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Ethical Issues.
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Health and Transplants
Scenario
Criteria
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3
The Internet
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Assessment
Data Privacy
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Using one of the selected businesses environments selected in P2, you will need to discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Social Issues in terms of the following:
Acceptance – We are a nation that puts up with things. Taxes too high, we still pay them; banks take
our money and overpay themselves, we let it happen; technology breaks, we return it without
understanding why. As the world gets busier and the demand increases, we grow to accept the
changes as though they mean little. Lack of surprise at new inventions - acceptance of something
new so quickly becomes commonplace. For instance, the technology in a Smart Phone is so intricate
and amazing but we have lost the surprise. When Siri came out we just shrugged and wondered
when the next new thing was going to be.
Communication – The rise of social media has not always been a good thing. We have become
overburdened with the need to communicate, update our status, gather Facebook friends, find
followers on Twitter. Distractions are more so than ever before, crashes in 2011 due to phone usage
almost doubled by 2013. Think of what a day in your life would be like without a phone, texting,
twitter or Facebook.
Exposure to threat – With the world being more at the end of your fingertips, the risk and threat is
greater. Bullying has new methods with the Internet, governments worldwide restrict twitter because
of the freedom of speech. Super injunctions are broken by texts. At the end of the day the ability to
have information in a second is a liability as well as a boon.
Reduced face to face communication – Socialisation and desensitising, there are large moral
arguments over the Internet and all this technological development taking away from social values.
The decline of verbal communication skills is one of these issues, the reduction in the quality of
English and Mathematics within education due to social interactions.
Task 6 – P4.2 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the impact this sector’s
technological revolution has made on Social Issues.
Acceptance
Scenario
Communication
Criteria
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Exposure to Threat
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Reduced face to Face Communication
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Assessment
The Smarter Planet concept is important for a number of
reasons or at least the philosophy is important. The
need to balance all the previous problems and issues to
make the world better rather than more convenient. IBM
are selling the philosophy using their hardware and
technology in the hope that the planet is made safer,
better for all, free from issues.
 The concept of “The more we know, the more we want
to change everything” is an ideal that all businesses
write into their “Mission Statement” such an intent,
designed to please customers.
 IBM Smarter Planet Projects is about a lot of things, it is
about Parking, about traffic management and about
Challenges through technology.
 For Distinction you need to research why the smarter
planet concept is important to society as a whole. You
should consider the concept of the smarter planet, the
underpinning concepts and ideas and why the concept
is important for a range of factors. Using the company
website here and the PDF’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Task 7 – D1.1 – Discuss how the Smarter Planet concept is
important to society with annotated evidence.
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Scenario
Criteria
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Assessment
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banking
construction
towns and cities
computing and data
storage
education
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energy
healthcare
infrastructures
oil
products
regulatory bodies
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retail
telecoms
transport
The smarter planet concept is important to businesses as a conceptual way of
making them work better, together and globally. The industries listed above are
of specific development targets for the Smarter Planet project. You should
consider the concept of the smarter planet on a more global scale, the
underpinning concepts and ideas and why the concept is important for a range
of factors. Using the company overview of business website here and the PDF’s
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Task 8 – D1.2 – Produce a report Discussing how the Smarter Planet concept is
important to each business practice with annotated evidence.
Banking
Construction
Towns and Cities
computing and data storage
education
energy
healthcare
infrastructures
regulatory bodies
Products
oil
Retail
Telecoms
transport
Scenario
Criteria
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5
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9
Assessment
Task 1 – P2.1 – From 3 of the named categories, produce a timeline of
technological change and explain the impact on social activity and business
activity these technologies have made.
Task 2 – M1.1 - Evaluate with evidence the wider uses of these
technological developments within an identified sector
Task 3 – P3.1 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Individuals.
Task 4 – P3.2 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Individual lifestyles.
Task 5 – P4.1 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Environmental Issues.
Task 6 – P3.3 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Ethical Issues.
Task 7 – P4.2 – Using one of the selected businesses environment, discuss the
impact this sector’s technological revolution has made on Social Issues.
Task 8 – D1.1 – Discuss how the Smarter Planet concept is important to society
with annotated evidence.
Task 9 – D1.2 – Produce a report Discussing how the Smarter Planet concept is
important to each business practice with annotated evidence.
Scenario
Criteria
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2
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Assessment