Valuing information technology infrastructures: a growth options approach

Decisions to invest in information technology (IT) infrastructure are often made based on an assessment of its immediate value to the organization. However, an important source of value comes from the fact that such technologies have the potential to be leveraged in the development of future applications. From a real options perspective, IT infrastructure investments create growth options that can be exercised if and when an organization decides to develop systems to provide new or enhanced IT capabilities. We present an analytical model based on real options that shows the process by which this potential is converted into business value, and discuss middleware as an example technology in this context. We derive managerial implications for the evaluation of IT infrastructure investments, and the main findings are: (1) the flexibility provided by IT infrastructure investment is more valuable when uncertainty is higher; (2) the cost advantage that IT infrastructure investment brings about is amplified by demand volatility for IT-supported products and services; (3) in duopoly competition, the value of IT infrastructure flexibility increases with the level of product or service substitutability; and (4) when demand volatility is high, inter-firm competition has a lower impact on the value of IT infrastructure.     

From IT deployment capabilities to competitive advantage: An exploratory study in China

As more and more companies are deploying, or plan to deploy, information systems, the organizational capabilities to effectively deploy information technologies to support and shape businesses become increasingly important. While many studies have focused on how to acquire state-of-the-art information technologies and on how to effectively utilize implemented information technologies, more studies are still needed to investigate how a company can successfully deploy acquired information technologies to support and shape businesses strategies and value chain activities. IT deployment capabilities are defined as the organizational capabilities to configure and reconfigure a company’s information system by adding new IT components or by adapting the existing information systems in order to make the whole information system available to support and shape businesses. This study identifies and investigates the three building blocks of IT deployment capabilities: strategic IT flexibility, business–IT partnership, and business–IT alignment. Using the resource-based view, we propose a framework to explain the relationship between IT deployment capabilities and competitive advantage. The research model is tested on data collected in China. Results show that strategic IT flexibility and business–IT partnership have direct impacts on competitive advantage, while business–IT alignment has an indirect impact on competitive advantage. The effect of business–IT alignment on competitive advantage is fully mediated by strategic IT flexibility and business–IT partnership. The results provide support for the relationship between IT deployment capabilities and competitive advantage. The study presents implications for how to develop IT deployment capabilities and how to generate business value from IT investment.     

The impact of enterprise risk management on competitive advantage by moderating role of information technology

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) on Competitive Advantage (CA) by moderating role of information technology dimensions including Information Technology (IT) strategy and Information Technology (IT) structure. A total of 84 valid questionnaires were obtained through self-administered survey conducted at Iranian financial institutions. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was conducted for the analysis of data and hypotheses testing. The findings of this study showed that ERM had a positive relationship with the firms’ competitive advantage. The results also showed that IT strategy and IT structure had a direct effect on the competitive advantage as a well as moderating effect on ERM-competitive advantage relationship. This study extends on previous ERM studies by considering Iran as a developing country which is neglected among previous empirical researches. It also extends previous ERM works by empirically evaluating ERM, IT, competitive advantage and relationships among them. This paper provides insights into the value of implementation of ERM among organizations which could lead to improve competitive advantage. In addition, this study provides implication in terms of manager's planning and decision making to consider IT as one of the critical success factors of ERM practices.     

Can ITIL contribute to IT/business alignment? An initial investigation

Strategic alignment has been viewed as one of the main concerns of management and IT executives. Organizations have realized that in order to achieve competitive advantage, IT needs to be strategically aligned with business objectives. Strategic alignment enables organizations to choose IT applications that meet their needs and as a result, to enhance their profitability and reduce costs. Despite the importance of this matter and a large body of literature written on this subject, it has not yet been identified how it can be successfully achieved and maintained. This paper attempts to provide insight on this matter by investigating an initiative called Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which ensures the effective and efficient delivery of IT services. The intention of this research was to identify how effective ITIL was in improving alignment between IT and business objectives. The Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) developed by Henderson and Venkatraman was used for this research. This consists of four parts: IT strategy; business strategy; organizational infrastructure and processes; and IS infrastructure and processes. By placing ITIL in the internal domain of the model as a substitute for the IS infrastructure and processes it has been identified that it has the ability to impact the other three main areas of the model and as result enables alignment between all the four parts of model to be achieved. In addition to the above an empirical study has been conducted in order to further investigate the ability of ITIL in achieving alignment between IT and business objectives. Four participants have been interviewed from three organizations ranging from education and banking to the IT sector. The results of the research indicate that ITIL has potential as an effective approach in achieving alignment.     

How do IT capabilities create strategic value? Toward greater integration of insights from reductionistic and holistic approaches

After more than two decades of intensive research, researchers are still struggling to explain the strategic value of information technology (IT) capabilities. The current study suggests that sufficient advancement has not been made in this area of research because of the gap between the richness of theoretical formulations and the minimalism of the reductionistic approach taken to test them. While theoretical formulations describe complex relationships between IT capabilities and competitive advantage, reductionistic explanations rely on models that represent the integration of simple relationships. This area of research can, therefore, benefit from the wider adoption of a holistic approach that attributes competitive advantage to profiles of IT capabilities. This study draws on the resource-based view and configurational theory to develop two reductionistic (direct and mediation) and two holistic (gestalt and profile-deviation) models of IT strategic value. The four models are tested with data collected from IT managers. The empirical analysis illustrates the insights that can be gained by drawing on the relative strengths of reductionistic and holistic explanations of IT strategic value.     

Information technology management: the case of the Port of Singapore Authority

The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) used information technology (IT) extensively to create a high-tech port that has become the busiest port in the world. Now corporatised as a commercial port operator, PSA Corporation Ltd employs four key management success factors in managing IT to meet the demands and challenges facing port operators. They are: (1) having a business-driven IT investment; (2) aligning business and IT plans; (3) maintaining a flexible and extensible IT infrastructure; and (4) encouraging IT innovation and creativity. These management success factors are discussed and examples are given to illustrate how they help PSA more effectively leverage IT to streamline operations and sustain its competitive advantage.     

IT alignment strategies for customer relationship management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction. A CRM strategy involves the entire enterprise and is employed on an ongoing basis. Despite the fact that CRM projects incur huge expenditures, a large percentage fails to achieve the stated objectives. Failure in CRM initiatives could be avoided if a firm's CRM strategies are intelligently linked with its employees, customers, channels, and IT infrastructure. In this paper, we focus on those linkages, particularly on the linkages between an organization's CRM strategies and its IT infrastructure. Even though the relationships between IT and business strategies have been extensively explored in the IT alignment literature, prior research has not addressed how a firm's CRM strategies are aligned with its IT infrastructure. In this paper, we investigate the issues relating to CRM-IT alignment based on an in-depth case study of a large, well-known Internet travel agency.     

The role of software patents in sustaining IT-enabled competitive advantage: a call for research

A number of information technology (IT) researchers have examined IT and sustained competitive advantage. However, the relationship between software patents and IT sustained advantage is often unclear and incomplete. This paper reviews some of that research, pointing out various research contributions while indicating some of the problematic issues in dealing with competitive advantage and software patents. In addition, we highlight a number of software-based patents that have been awarded to organizations in diverse industries, including some that provide researchers and executives with insight into how organizations are protecting unique business methods with software patents. We also pose some intriguing research questions, including determining why firms do in fact patent software, and investigating the potential differences in doing business globally involving countries that either take steps to protect software assets with patents versus those that do not. Based on the information presented, we anticipate that IT researchers would be more open to investigating the relationship between software patents and sustaining IT-based competitive advantage.     

IT infrastructure services as a requirement for e-learning system success

Evaluation of e-learning systems success is an essential process in managing and developing these types of systems. There are still arguments about the factors can be used to evaluate the success of e-learning systems. Inadequate attention has been paid to investigate the role of IT infrastructure services as a foundation to create the success of e-learning systems. The focus of this study is the role of IT infrastructure services in terms of the success of e-learning systems. A model is proposed which includes five constructs: IT infrastructure services; perceived usefulness; user satisfaction; customer value; and organizational value. A quantitative study was conducted at an Australian University, with survey responses from 110 Academic staff members and 720 students who use the e-learning system. The empirical study confirmed that an IT infrastructure services is a valid and reliable construct to measure e-learning systems success. In addition, this study provides evidence of the critical role of IT infrastructure services in the success of e-learning systems via its significant effect on perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, customer value, and organizational value.     

Organizational competence for harnessing IT: A case study

In spite of decades of discussion and research into the benefits of the use of IT in the organization, it has been difficult to prove a positive gain. Literature on IT management has reported more cases of failed implementations than of success. We believed that developing organizational competencies both helped in harnessing IT and also in gaining competitive advantage. Conceptual schema for developing this was based on the theory of strategic competence, which formed the basis of our work. We undertook a case study to prove this. Findings suggested that three broad categories of competence were necessary for harnessing IT. A number of facilitating competencies were also found and are presented.     

A process model for analyzing and managing flexibility in information systems

Competitive pressures are forcing organizations to be flexible. Being responsive to changing environmental conditions is an important factor in determining corporate performance. Earlier research, focusing primarily on IT infrastructure, has shown that organizational flexibility is closely related to IT infrastructure flexibility. Using real-world cases, this paper explores flexibility in the broader context of the IS function. An empirically derived framework for better understanding and managing IS flexibility is developed using grounded theory and content analysis. A process model for managing flexibility is presented; it includes steps for understanding contextual factors, recognizing reasons why flexibility is important, evaluating what needs to be flexible, identifying flexibility categories and stakeholders, diagnosing types of flexibility needed, understanding synergies and tradeoffs between them, and prescribing strategies for proactively managing IS flexibility. Three major flexibility categories, flexibility in IS operations, flexibility in IS systems & services development and deployment, and flexibility in IS management, containing 10 IS flexibility types are identified and described.     

基于Hadoop技术框架的组织知识管理系统设计与实现

利用大数据技术来增强组织中的知识管理,使随着大数据技术发展的必然产物。目前,基于新的大数据体系架构,通过高级数据分析手段来存储和分析知识数据,为组织决策生成至关重要的实时知识。具体来说,必须具有一个单一的基础结构,该基础结构提供知识管理的通用功能,并且足够灵活以处理不同类型的大数据和大数据分析任务。本文提出利用可存储和处理大量数据的云计算基础架构实现大数据的高效处理,最大程度地降低了大数据分析所需的各类成本,该框架可以实时分析大数据,以促进增强竞争优势的决策。     

A meta-analysis of relationships between organizational characteristics and IT innovation adoption in organizations

Adoption of IT in organizations is influenced by a wide range of factors in technology, organization, environment, and individuals. Researchers have identified several factors that either facilitate or hinder innovation adoption. Studies have produced inconsistent and contradictory outcomes. We performed a meta-analysis of ten organizational factors to determine their relative impact and strength. We aggregated their findings to determine the magnitude and direction of the relationship between organizational factors and IT innovation adoption. We found organizational readiness to be the most significant attribute and also found a moderately significant relationship between IT adoption and IS department size. Our study found weak significance of IS infrastructure, top management support, IT expertise, resources, and organizational size on IT adoption of technology while formalization, centralization, and product champion were found to be insignificant attributes. We also examined stage of innovation, type of innovation, type of organization, and size of organization as moderator conditions affecting the relationship between the organizational variables and IT adoption.     

Managing the Reliable Design of an Enterprise IT Network Infrastructure

Today's businesses are more and more dependent upon their information technology (IT) infrastructure. Therefore, the managers are aware of the huge costs associated with data loss (and recovery) and invest millions of dollars in special equipments in order to increase the reliability of their IT systems. Thus, the focus in this article is on the practical modalities of designing a reliable IT network infrastructure in an enterprise. In this direction an algorithm has been developed that is a hybrid between classic greedy and simulated annealing that search for the most reliable IT network infrastructure meeting the imposed budget cost constraints and the enterprise managers' decisions constraints. A key point of the proposed solution is the way in which the enterprise managers are involved in the estimation of the relative importance of their interconnections between their business's data centers. Furthermore, the algorithm presented in this article has been evaluated in the case of a retail enterprise for addressing the business's demands for a higher reliability of their IT network infrastructure.     

Streams of digital data and competitive advantage: The mediation effects of process efficiency and product effectiveness

Firms can achieve a competitive advantage by leveraging real-time Digital Data Streams (DDSs). The ability to profit from DDSs is emerging as a critical competency for firms and a novel area for Information Technology (IT) investments. We examine the relationship between DDS readiness and competitive advantage by studying the mediation effect of product effectiveness and process efficiency. The research model is tested with data obtained from 302 companies, and the results confirm the existence of the mediation effects. Interestingly, we confirm that competitive advantage is more significantly impacted by IT investments affecting product effectiveness than those affecting process efficiency.     

Facilitating Transformations in It: Lessons Learned Along the Journey

In many IT organizations, in response to change, people must work longer and harder. While people can do this in the short run, the short run has become the long run in many IT organizations. This trend must be quickly altered or the company's success will be negatively affected. Given a tight labor market for IT workers and ever-increasing job stress, the key to a sustained competitive advantage through people is the learning organization. the transformation to the learning organization must begin with the “whys” and “hows.” in addition, IT leadership must tell and show people that there is light at the end of the tunnel.     

Maximizing the positive influence of IT for improving organizational performance

In the analysis of whether information technology (IT) has an impact on organizational performance, focus is usually placed on the relationship between an organization’s investments in IT and that organization’s performance. Therefore, it is standard to devote special attention to the size and complexity of the organization, to the investments in other organizational resources that may affect the performance of IT, and to the manner in which the two variables are measured. However, one area that has not been well explored is the manner in which the relationship between investments in IT and organizational performance develops. In this article, we show empirically that the planning and management of IT influence the organization’s endowment of resources (physical and human), which consequently has positive effects on each of the IT-related areas usually found in organizations (applications, reliable and secure systems and communications, and training and support). In turn, the functioning of these areas influences the impact of IT on the organization, which then has positive effects on organizational performance. We have used data corresponding to IT management in Spanish universities, as well as independent rankings that are useful for evaluating their performance.     

Factors facilitating the use of Information Technology for competitive advantage: An exploratory study

A content analysis of fourteen published cases showed the importance of an organization's existing systems in the use of information technology for competitive advantage. Such uses were often precipitated by threatening external events. There were little support for the literature's assertions that competitive pressure is a key factor motivating strategic uses of IT. There were indications that understanding the potential strategic processes may lead to greater IT utilization. Finally, the study confirms the importance of customer needs and management support as factors facilitating the use of IT for competitive advantage.     

MANUFACTURING DECISION SUPPORT ARCHITECTURE Achieving Effective Information Delivery

World-class manufacturing organizations must leverage their IS capability to create cost or competitive advantage and distinctive services. IS must create the optimum IT architecture and computing infrastructure and adopt an organizational structure that reflects its new primary product: information delivery.