Innovations & Solutions

            Over time, businesses have experienced the need to forecast the future of their respective markets, their industry, and the effects of technological and other innovative developments on their organization’s sustainability.  In the late 1960’s, American auto manufacturers predicted the Japanese auto industry would not obtain a substantial amount of the U.S. automobile market; however, as of 2008 Toyota has emerged as the world’s largest automobile manufacturer. (Stansberry, 2011).  Unlike businesses in the American auto industry, print news organizations began to see widespread acceptance of technology and forecasted the potential impact on their traditional new format (Frum, 2013). Forecasting the Future of Print News   With the emerging technological advances and increased acceptance of digital devices, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) embarked on a study to assess how advancement in technology and the proliferation of electronic devices would have on the tradit

 Decision-makers often experience failure in their approach to making decisions based on a predisposition to rationality, focus on only external variables, conflicts in information and knowledge, and mental models built on biased premise or policy (Chermack, 2004).   While traditional forecasting methods leverage many of the pitfalls identified by Chermack (2004), the scenario planning methodology provides a more versatile approach in the decision-making process.  Traditional Forecasting vs. Scenario Planning Organizations leveraging traditional forecasting models in their decision-making process  rely heavily on historical data (Stoll Quevedo, 2020). By applying data mining techniques, forecasting models have a specific dependency on data structure and the data processing applied to the data.  Statistical analysis and visualization models use exact computations and calculations to determine the results' dependencies based on identified inputs and hypothesized relationships betwe

Over the years, the medical community has achieved advancement through carefully planned, tested, and developed methods.  While many industry innovations have directly resulted from a direct solution methodology, innovation has often emerged from the unintended consequences of a deliberate approach to a problem.  The artificial, implantable pacemaker emerged as a critical medical device implementation by the developer intending to use a device to record the human heartbeat. History of Pacemakers In the early 1900s, scientists and medical researchers began studying the impacts and use of electricity to regulate heart rates (Allan, 2003).  Initial implementations of pacemakers proved to be very unwieldy due to their design's complex nature and required operational dependencies.  While useful in concept, the first pacemaker consisted of cumbersome vacuum tubes and needed a direct external power source creating a traumatic experience for the patient and lacked practicality in mobil

Think Tanks The definition, composition, focus, and methodology for think tanks can differ from one region to another and across the world (Pop, 2012).  Often considered idea factories, think tanks typically comprise of subject matter experts assembled to produce solutions to a specific problem set (Whittenhauer, n.d.).  Pop (2012) argued think tanks fall into either academic, research institute, advocacy, or political classifications based on the nature and scope of the defined problem.  Development of think tank behavior, techniques, and methods depends on the category of the think tank and the institutional environment (Ruser, 2018) Think Tank Construct Whittenhauer (n.d.) identified two distinct think tank models that define the physical construct or aggregation of participants.  The one roof model provides a practical approach by gathering all participants into one physical environment to facilitate synchronous interaction.  Conversely, the “without walls” model offers a more

Decision-Making Techniques      Managers and team members struggle with decision making situations having significant impacts on large-scale projects having long-term organizational effects.  The methodology for analyzing problems and the decision-making process can impact the outcome of the decision.  Based on differing opinions, perspectives, and personalities among team members, decision making groups seek to employ a methodology for effective decision making to ensure a positive outcome emerges from the process.  In reviewing decision-making processes, the Delphi technique and brainstorming have emerged as two prominent methods for deriving and selecting a decision path to a given situation.  Delphi Technique Developed by Dalkey and Hemler in 1963, the Delphi technique leverages collaboration among identified field and subject matter experts through group communication for decision making, setting goals, and predictive analysis (Hsu & Sandford, 2007).  As a popular approach,

               Effectiveness in educational methods and tools has emerged as a concern and goal for academic environments and training organizations to enhance educational outcomes (Lee & Wong, 2008).  Alternative reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) provide an opportunity to inject creative learning through immersive technologies to enhance the effectiveness and understanding of education (Craig & Georgieva, 2017).  Through immersive learning, students are taken out of the traditional classroom and transported to a digital world where educational interactions are undisturbed through virtual reality technology.  As students engage in VR and AR educational environments, physical learning environments' distractions become less of a concern.  While the participant may be sitting in a chair in the classroom setting or in the comfort of their home, AR and VR technology transforms the traditional learning environment into a more interactive environment heightening the visual s

Welcome to Innovations & Solutions! First of all, welcome to a newly designed addition to the virtual world of blogging!  My name is Ryan Frueh, an IT and Cyber mercenary by trade and educator by chance!  By day, I am engaged in providing cybersecurity solutions for the United States Government/Military to support NORAD/USNORTHCOM as a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.  By night, I'm an educational warrior bringing my years of experience and knowledge to the physical and virtual classroom for the next generation of cybersecurity warriors, ninjas, and mercenaries to prepare for their role in protecting the innovative and evolving digital world.  I currently serve as Adjunct faculty for Pikes Peak Community College and the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and a cybersecurity instructor for Cal State University-Long Beach.  In addition to contributions to the academic sector, a desire for continuing education and commitment to life-long learning has brought me back t