1,720,992 research outputs found
Re-envisioning the role of benefits realisation in a world dominated by robots
No full textIn recent years there has been a great deal of academic and practitioner interest in the role of 'benefits realisation management' [BRM] approaches, as a means of proactively leveraging value from IT investments. However, as automated technologies are increasingly being introduced on the basis that they deliver more cost-efficient solutions than their human counterparts, important questions needs to be asked about how value should be defined in a world that is increasingly dominated by robots. Consequently, the aim of this work-in-progress paper is to explore, using the literature, how automated systems continue to replace the human agent, in a growing number of organisational contexts, before looking at how tools such as benefits realisation, may need to be modified to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between the social and the technical in the planning of future IS/IT investments. In so doing, this essay seeks to develop a provisional research agenda, which will hopefully help to shape future contributions to the domains of benefits realisation, sociotechnical approaches and IT evaluation
Re-envisioning the role of benefits realisation in a world dominated by robots
Get PDFIn recent years there has been a great deal of academic and practitioner interest in the role of 'benefits realisation management' [BRM] approaches, as a means of proactively leveraging value from IT investments. However, as automated technologies are increasingly being introduced on the basis that they deliver more cost-efficient solutions than their human counterparts, important questions needs to be asked about how value should be defined in a world that is increasingly dominated by robots. Consequently, the aim of this work-in-progress paper is to explore, using the literature, how automated systems continue to replace the human agent, in a growing number of organisational contexts, before looking at how tools such as benefits realisation, may need to be modified to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between the social and the technical in the planning of future IS/IT investments. In so doing, this essay seeks to develop a provisional research agenda, which will hopefully help to shape future contributions to the domains of benefits realisation, sociotechnical approaches and IT evaluation
Aligning the information security policy with the strategic information systems plan
Get PDFTwo of the most important documents for ensuring the effective deployment of information systems and technologies within the modern business enterprise are the strategic information systems plan (SISP) and the information security policy. The strategic
information systems plan ensures that new systems and technologies are deployed in
a way that will support an organisation’s strategic goals whilst the information security
policy provides a framework to ensure that systems are developed and operated in a secure
manner. To date, the literature with regard to the formulation of the information security
policy has tended to ignore its important relationship with the strategic information systems
plan, and vice versa. In this paper we argue that these two important policy documents
should be explicitly and carefully aligned to ensure that the outcomes of
strategically important information system initiatives are not compromised by problems
with their security
Towards the formulation of a comprehensive framework for the evaluation of investments in sell-side e-commerce
Get PDFIn recent years, whilst considerable attention has been focussed on the Internet,
and in particular its potential as a sales medium, little research has been conducted into how
such investments can be objectively evaluated. Based upon a review of the literature and a
series of exploratory interviews, a provisional framework for evaluating e-commerce
investments is presented. It is shown that in addition to considering generic issues such as
flexibility and implementabilty, an e-commerce evaluation framework should address
specifics, such as customer management, marketing and logistics
The role of IS capabilities in delivering sustainable improvements to competitive positioning
Get PDFIt has long been argued that organizations have struggled to achieve business benefits, and
in particular sustainable competitive advantage, from their IT investments. In this paper
we draw upon resource-based theory to explore how the effective deployment of IS capabilities
might deliver sustainable improvements to an organization’s competitive positioning.
In so doing, this research makes a significant departure from the enterprise-level
orientation of prior studies, by focusing upon the role of IS capabilities in leveraging sustainable
improvements to competitive positioning from individual IS initiatives. Based
upon the responses to a quantitative and qualitative survey of practicing managers, it
has been shown that an organization’s ability to leverage and sustain improvements in
its competitive positioning, from IS initiatives, are directly dependent upon its ability to
effectively apply an appropriate portfolio of IS capabilities. Moreover, it has been shown
that sustainable improvements in competitive positioning are most likely in circumstances
in which the successful outcome of an IS initiative is dependent upon ‘outside-in’ and
‘spanning’ capabilities, which are both lacking in transparency and difficult to replicat
An investigation into the uptake, content, dissemination and impact of information security policies in large UK-based organizations
Get PDFDespite its widely acknowledged importance, the information security policy has not, to date, been the subject of explicit, empirical scrutiny, in the academic literature. To help fill this gap an exploratory research project was initiated that sought to investigate the uptake, content, dissemination and impact of information security policies in large UK-based organizations. The results of this research have indicated that whilst policies are now fairly common, at least amongst our sample, there is still a high degree of variety in terms of their content and dissemination
The uptake and application of workflow management systems in the UK financial services sector
Get PDFWorkflow management systems (WFMSs) are an important new technology, which are likely
to have a significant impact on the way in which clerical and administrative operations are
organised and executed. This paper seeks to investigate how WFMSs are being exploited
and utilised commercially by UK-based organisations operating in the financial services
sector. In-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen project managers to explore the
development, application and commercial implications of this powerful, yet flexible,
technology. The results indicate that workflow technology has the potential to facilitate
significant changes to the way in which an organisation conducts its business, through the
automation of a wide range of document-intensive operations. Furthermore, when applied in
a well-focussed manner it has the potential to realise significant increases in an
organisation’s flexibility, and productivity, as well as delivering major improvements to the
quality, speed and consistency of customer service
An investigation of the factors affecting the successful treatment of organisational issues in systems development projects
Get PDFA review of the relevant literature confirms the importance of treating organisational issues in order to
avoid information systems development failures. To investigate how such issues are treated in practice and
the factors associated with their successful treatment, a large-scale survey was conducted. A questionnaire
was mailed to senior IS executives and over 600 responses were received. A majority of the respondents
(60%) perceived that organisational issues were more important than technical issues and a similar proportion
reported treating these issues explicitly, although there was noticeable variation in the frequency
with which specific types of issues were treated. However, only 50% felt that organisational issues were
successfully dealt with in more than 30% of the projects for which they were responsible. This proportion
seems to be independent of the type of organisation or the general development approach adopted, but the
results also indicate that using an approach to treating organisational issues which is explicit, frequent and
covers a wide range of specific issues is associated with higher levels of success. These results suggest
that senior IT executives need to go further in ensuring that the treatment of organisational issues is given
greater time, resource and level of priority
Improving competitive positioning through complementary organisational resources
Get PDFPurpose - In this paper we draw upon resource-based theory to explore the role of existing, complementary organisational resources, in leveraging sustainable improvements in competitive positioning, resulting from information systems initiatives.
Design/Methodology/Approach – A research model has been derived from the literature, which is then used to guide the conduct of a major, integrated quantitative and qualitative survey of managers.
Findings – In this paper, it is shown that improvements in competitive positioning are likely to be more significant and sustainable when a new IS initiative makes an indirect contribution, through the leveraging of complementary organisational resources, rather than stemming directly from the functionality of the IT asset.
Research limitations / implications – The main limitations of this study relate to its use of a ‘convenience’ sample and a ‘single-informant’. However, both these comprises were viewed as being worthwhile, as it gave us the opportunity to conduct a study that was both broad and deep, in terms of the data collected.
Practical implications - We draw out the implications of our empirical study for the management of IT projects, to improve their ability to deliver sustainable improvements in competitive positioning.
Originality / value - This research makes a significant departure from the aggregated, enterprise-level orientation of prior studies, by focusing upon the process-level impacts of individual IS initiatives
The cultural impact of workflow management systems in the financial services sector
Get PDFThe implementation of information systems is increasingly resulting in significant
changes to the host organisation’s culture. In particular, the workflow management system
(WFMS) is one new technology that, because of its tendency to have a direct impact on the
organisation and execution of work, has the potential to significantly modify an organisation’s
culture. This qualitative research investigates the nature of the relationship between WFMS
and organisational culture, in the UK financial services sector The research concludes that
WFMS have the potential to modify culture in a positive way by improving the organisations
customer orientation, flexibility and quality focus
- …
