I admit it — I’m hooked on “Veronica Mars.” If you’ve seen the show, you know that the title character finds ways to solve crimes and mysteries each week using some new techie tool or other. Are you searching for a career that incorporates this kind of technology-based investigative work? Look no further than the sizzling field of justice business technology.

Gathering Evidence

Justice business technology is the perfect field for those seeking criminal justice and law enforcement careers that use modern computer technology to prevent and solve crimes. Some of the duties of justice business technology professionals include collecting and analyzing evidence using advanced technology, as well as preventing and investigating computer viruses, identity theft, and Internet crime. With one of many cutting-edge justice business technology careers, you may find yourself working in government, law enforcement agencies, juvenile justice, public and private agencies, homeland security, or corrections, to name a few.

Conducting an Investigation

You already know that when you study at justice business technology schools, you can turn your interest in criminal justice and your passion for adventure into a career in crime-solving. These comprehensive training programs incorporate the advanced technology that adds a whole new dimension to law enforcement.

Specifically, justice business technology schools will provide you with knowledge of criminal justice theories, policies, and procedures, as well as a solid background in information technology, intelligence gathering, computer evidence analysis, network security, and forensics. When you study crime scene techniques, for example, you’ll delve into evidence identification, gathering, and packaging in order to solve cases where there is no suspect.

Courses at justice business technology schools may include computer forensics, crime and crash scene management, modern evidence technology, crime scene techniques, ethics and cultural diversity, weapons training, civil law, communication, psychology, and computer virus issues and prevention.

Cracking the Case

At justice business technology schools, you’ll have the opportunity to spend time in real crime scene labs to review and utilize the tools and techniques you’ll need to succeed in the new age of law enforcement. You may also jump-start your career by completing a justice business technology internship or externship that provides practical, hands-on field experience in a legal environment.

Once you’ve earned your degree, you’ll have your pick of justice business technology careers in local, state, and federal agencies such as juvenile justice, private security, private investigation, loss prevention, law enforcement, corrections, probation and parole, detention centers, community-based intervention programs, and crime scene technician services.

Go ahead, be like Veronica Mars — turn your investigative nature into one of many satisfying justice business technology careers.

The current economic situation worldwide continues to be one of crisis. Once in a while, some gurus predict the end of the crisis, but they usually do not agree on the exact date. Over time, management teams of most organizations have understood that the key to survival is standing out from the competition. The main elements to pursue in order to reach this goal are innovation and multinational presence.

As such, technological companies have a great responsibility: they must be the leading sector in the path towards economic recovery. In fact, they already play an increasingly important economic part, as large technological enterprises have become economic leaders around the world, and the role of small and medium-sized companies on a more reduced scale should not be underestimated either. In other words, technological companies of all sizes will act as triggers for recovery, as they boost the efficiency and productivity levels of other sectors.

Innovation is team work

Guido Stompff, an Océ designer, highlights the importance of collective thinking for R+D in his PhD thesis, which he defended at the Delft University of Technology. “Innovation is often a new concept that usually arises from the interaction between experts, due to the fact that, when their knowledge is combined, new ideas appear that nobody had thought of before”. This new process, which Stompff refers to as “team cognition”, is the binding mechanism that aligns and coordinates group activities into a whole: the product.

When a company decides to invests their efforts in a product, their success basically resides in whether they are capable of standing out from the competition and positioning themselves correctly. In this sense, experts underline that it is not the rivalry among different products, but the customers’ view of these products that matters. This means that defining a target audience and highlighting product features essential to this target should be fundamental parts of the strategy.

Likewise, technological firms dedicate a large part of their revenue to R+D and adapt their processes to their clients’ needs. In other words, in addition to maintaining active players in the market, they are feeding back their experience from the field into their own processes. This ability to adapt and be flexible when needed will, without a doubt, mark the difference.

On the other hand, the competitive edge of small and medium-sized companies lies in their proximity to their clients. These close relationships enable these companies to innovate, as they turn direct first-hand information into new product development.

Future Perspectives

The Cluetrain Manifesto is a document written in 1995 that contains 95 ideas about how business relationships should develop in the newly connected market. One of its theses states that “Markets are now interconnected on a human-to-human level and, as a direct result, markets are getting smarter and profoundly joined in conversation. Companies that do not understand this evolution, are losing their best opportunity.”

International presence, both physically and virtually, means an added value for any company when competing in a globally connected market. In this sense, one of the Manifesto’s ideas highlights that “There are no secrets. The online market knows more than companies about their own products. Regardless of whether the news is good or bad, everyone is informed. “

From the beginning of the crisis, management teams of technological companies have reconsidered their strategies and repositioning methods to adapt to the new global situation. The goal is to sell their knowledge, structure and technologies outside their borders, as close relationships in their immediate environment are making way for a more international presence, with more opportunities to obtain resources if they are competitive.

A company’s international presence may consist of different levels, which may or may not be mutually compatible. Establishing business in one or more countries tends to be a valid option mainly for large enterprises, while expansion strategies through partner alliances seem to be the most interesting option for small and medium-sized companies as these alliances maximize the organization’s presence abroad. As such, English is without a doubt the language of technology worldwide. However, other languages, such as Russian, Chinese and Portuguese, should also be taken into account, via Website translation and/or direct communication, in order to better reach these important markets. Finally, there are the social media platforms, of course. Social media has become an essential means for companies to spread information and create fluid interaction with their public.

Information Sources: Guido Stompff, Delft University of Technology, Cluetrain Manifesto