Add Business Value Research Articles

Understanding Big Data for Industrial Innovation and Design: The Missing Information Systems Perspective

Abstract This paper identifies a need to complement the current rich technical and mathematical research agenda on big data with a more information systems and information science strand, which focuses on the business value of big data. An agenda of research for information systems would explore motives for using big data in real organizational contexts, and consider proposed benefits, such as increased effectiveness and efficiency, production of high-quality products/services, creation of added business value, and stimulation of innovation and design. Impacts of such research on the academic community, the industrial and business world, and policy-makers are discussed.

Analysis of the Fit of Learning and Management Systems in Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study from Saudi Arabia

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are heavily investing in learning and management systems tosupport and enhance the quality of services provided to key stakeholders; namely, the students. However, the degreeof fit of such systems with the needs of students varies significantly from one higher education institution to another.Therefore, continuous assessment of this kind of fit has to be undertaken by HEIs to ensure that these systems arecontinuously adding business value and maintaining appropriate level of return on investments. The problematic issueis that there is a scarcity of business and Infromation Technology (IT) alignment evaluation research or tool that isdedicated to this purpose in this sector. This motivates this ongoing research to be undertaken devising a theoreticalframework as an artefact that incorporates set of business analytics tools to facilitate the evaluation of the businessvalue from IT. The Design Science Research is adopted as the research methodology in this research to guide thedevelopment process of this artefact. This paper, however, focuses mainly on providing background information aboutthe issue of business and IT alignment in general and in the higher education sector in particular. It then describes thealignment influencing factors that impact on the alignment between business and IT. Through a real life case studyfrom a higher education institution in Saudi Arabia, the paper aims to present the IT alignment issue in this sector, and also discuss some of its influencing factors to illustrate how they influence the degree of fit between business and IT.

Big data analytics capabilities: a systematic literature review and research agenda

With big data growing rapidly in importance over the past few years, academics and practitioners have been considering the means through which they can incorporate the shifts these technologies bring into their competitive strategies. To date, emphasis has been on the technical aspects of big data, with limited attention paid to the organizational changes they entail and how they should be leveraged strategically. As with any novel technology, it is important to understand the mechanisms and processes through which big data can add business value to companies, and to have a clear picture of the different elements and their interdependencies. To this end, the present paper aims to provide a systematic literature review that can help to explain the mechanisms through which big data analytics (BDA) lead to competitive performance gains. The research framework is grounded on past empirical work on IT business value research, and builds on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities view of the firm. By identifying the main areas of focus for BDA and explaining the mechanisms through which they should be leveraged, this paper attempts to add to literature on how big data should be examined as a source of competitive advantage. To this end, we identify gaps in the extant literature and propose six future research themes.

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Profit-Driven Analytics.

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Profit-Driven Analytics.

Dynamic capabilities: taking an emerging technology perspective

Much has been written about the nature and composition of dynamic capabilities, and their importance in defining and implementing successful strategies. However, recent advances in technology have changed the way organisations engage with technology: cloud, data analytics, mobile, and social media to name the most common developments. These technologies are, for some organisations, reshaping their ability to effectively compete within their chosen markets. The question is what dynamic capabilities do they each need to ensure their technology is adding business value. This paper proposes a set of dynamic technology enabling capabilities that organisations should consider developing if they are to better utilise their technology in building competitive advantage.

The Advances of Information Technology to the Telecommunication Sector: The Case of Albtelecom

Telecommunications in general and mobile telecommunication especially, act as key infrastructure factor for economic development of a country. Its role has become increasingly important with the growth of electronic business. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) represents a contemporary phenomenon in the use of information technology by many telecommunication companies worldwide and also in Albania. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of privatization of the Albanian Telecom, namely ALBtelecom focusing on the added business value of the integrated enterprise system, adopted after the company was privatized. Hence, we analyze Systems, Applications and Products (SAP), which is one of the most frequently selected ERP software. SAP constitutes important topic for research, due to its great potential for strategic, managerial, financial, technical and human benefits, not to mention the associated risks. We measure the business performance of ALBtelecom in ERP environment comparing side-by-side the time before and after implementation using ratio analysis, for the period spanning from 2007 to 2012. We aim to show the importance of information got through financial statements and more deeply through financial ratios which enable shareholders and all stakeholders to better understand the company progress. The findings outline complexity, but in general they indicate significant improvement of ALBtelecom performance. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2016.v5n3s1p198

A Business-Centric Approach to Auditing: Applying the New IPPF Principles

Auditing is about adding business value and improving enterprise operations. In order to raise findings beyond tick-the-box and written reports that never get management and the board’s attention, auditors need to do more than checklist auditing. They need to understand the business environment, align their audits with strategic, performance and risk objectives of the entity under review, be risk-based, and communicate insights and foresights effectively. Audit findings should be expressed in business terms that relate to organizational crown jewels that are at the hearts of top management and the board of directors.By applying the 10 principles of internal auditing and understanding the business environment, auditors are able to express auditing findings in business language that communicates to key stakeholders, thereby adding value and improving organization operations.

Roadmapping problems in practice: value creation from the perspective of the customers

Roadmapping has been recognized as a critical activity for adding business value to a software product. The marketing literature has placed increasing emphasis on customer value and that value is created in customers' everyday activities. This paper presents an action research study on the roadmapping problems of two software product companies. The key findings were that customer knowledge was fragmented across different functions of the companies and that roadmapping neglected service development. To solve these problems, the analysis of customer value and customers' processes was integrated into roadmapping. Facilitated workshops with cross-functional teams were used to analyze the customers' processes in their entirety and to create a holistic view to roadmapping. The lessons learned offer practical means for software companies to shift their focus from the prioritization of software features to the analysis of customers' processes and the prioritization of customers' activities. That shift can promote value for customers and uncover new service business opportunities. Accordingly, this paper provides a six-step approach to adopt the value-creation logic from the customers' perspective into the existing roadmapping process of a company.

Soft Skills Council: A New SPE Initiative

Talent & Technology Our industry has entered a new era. An increasing demand for energy, complexity of resources, developing new technologies, management of the supply and demand for skilled human work-force, and the urgency of rapid knowledge transfer are daunting challenges. The sociopolitical climate, whether it is in one’s backyard or across the globe, demands transparency in our actions that conveys internal congruency with external expectations. This requires substantial ability to interact across a broad spectrum of disciplines, differences and diversity, and individual expectations. To prepare for this new world, future industry professionals must equip themselves with an expanded set of competencies that include organizational abilities to effectively develop and deliver technical solutions—soft skills. While some still advocate identifying the top performers for mission-critical roles, the complexities of the new environment demand a new approach that sees the potential for development of leadership attributes in every individual to not only enhance his or her talent, but more importantly, to unlock organizational capabilities to ensure success. Forward-looking companies see that increasing collaboration in the development and rapid implementation of technology solutions will require a new generation of professionals who are able to inspire and motivate and who display leadership qualities regardless of their position in the organization. In 2011, SPE formed the Soft Skills Council. There were two major drivers for the move: to help SPE fulfill its mission, vision, and values, and to respond to a growing conversation within the industry about the need to help our professionals develop interpersonal skills to add business value in the future. Attributes of a Future Professional The benefits and responsibilities of membership in a professional society are usually included in the organization’s statements of mission, vision, and values. For SPE, these are the following: Mission: To collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence. Vision: To be a society of professional excellence, providing its members the highest quality lifelong learning, and continuous personal and professional growth. Values: Excellent, integrity, professionalism, lifelong learning, diversity, volunteerism, innovation, and social responsibility. Considering that every word in the mission, vision, and values statements was carefully selected, the fact that the word “professional” appears often is an indication of its significance. Providing members with “continuous personal and professional growth” is an important goal for SPE, signifying a belief that the degree to which industry professionals prosper will depend on their ability to continuously develop skills, with a balance between technology and soft skills.

Flexible design‐planning of supply chain networks

AbstractNowadays market competition is essentially associated to supply chain (SC) improvement. Therefore, the locus of value creation has shifted to the chain network. The strategic decision of determining the optimal SC network structure plays a vital role in the later optimization of SC operations. This work focuses on the design and retrofit of SCs. Traditional approaches available in literature addressing this problem usually utilize as departing point a rigid predefined network structure which may restrict the opportunities of adding business value. Instead, a novel flexible formulation approach which translates a recipe representation to the SC environment is proposed to solve the challenging design‐planning problem of SC networks. The resulting mixed integer linear programming model is aimed to achieve the best NPV as key performance metric. The potential of the presented approach is highlighted through illustrative examples of increasing complexity, where results of traditional rigid approaches and those offered by the flexible framework are compared. The implications of exploiting this potential flexibility to improve the SC performance are highlighted and are the subject of our further research work. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009

A product management challenge: Creating software product value through requirements selection

It is important for a software company to maximize value creation for a given investment. The purpose of requirements engineering activities is to add business value that is accounted for in terms of return on investment of a software product. This paper provides insight into the release planning processes used in the software industry to create software product value, by presenting three case studies. It examines how IT professionals perceive value creation through requirements engineering and how the release planning process is conducted to create software product value. It also presents to what degree the major stakeholders’ perspectives are represented in the decision-making process. Our findings show that the client and market base of the software product represents the most influential group in the decision to implement specific requirements. This is reflected both in terms of deciding the processes followed and the decision-making criteria applied when selecting requirements for the product. Furthermore, the management of software product value is dependant on the context in which the product exists. Factors, such as the maturity of the product, the marketplace in which it exists, and the development tools and methods available, influence the criteria that decide whether a requirement is included in a specific project or release.

WHICH THEORY APPLIES: AN ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH

Research in information systems has rapidly expanded during its relatively brief existence. IT offers organizations a fundamental decisionenhancing environment that extends new opportunities, therefore producing thriving, competitive firms, adding business value and offering valuable products and services to customers. Research within the IT domain has produced several new theories, some of which have been used to help explain and predict end-user use of technologies. We provide a comprehensive overview of the major IT theories and review their theoretical fundamentals.

Adding business value: a strategy for identifying and patenting environment‐related inventions and avoiding patent infringement

AbstractFor many environmental companies, reaching financial goals is a function of identifying and protecting intellectual property assets, keeping those assets from falling into the hands of competitors and avoiding litigation disputes over the use of those assets. Recognizing that intellectual assets are valuable tangible and intangible assets of a company is the first step in maximizing the value of those assets. However, many environmental companies are not aware that some of their technologies, ideas, concepts and know‐how are potentially patentable and, therefore, fail to maximize the value of those assets by taking advantage of the limited monopolies that patent systems provide to the owners of patents. In the ever‐increasing competitive global market, companies should evaluate their intellectual assets to ensure they are adequately protecting those assets by obtaining patents for ideas that are patentable. As more patents for environmental technologies issue from patent offices around the world, however, the likelihood of infringing one of those patents can increase. Therefore, avoiding infringing others' patents while at the same time identifying and patenting the company's own technologies should be a key business strategy regardless of the size of the environmental company. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

A Framework for Identifying Web-Based Electronic Commerce Opportunities

Companies are finding that the development of World Wide Web presence sites is becoming a competitive necessity, particularly the need to establish online storefronts. Even so, there are few useful frameworks in the electronic commerce (EC) literature to help managers identify online opportunities and what types of applications can add business value to the user. I expand on an existing framework originally developed by Hammer and Mangurian [1] to identify opportunities from Web-based EC applications. I argue that firms compete along 5 dimensions of commerce: By using various modes of interaction, firms compete over both time and distance to provide some product or service to their customers through a chain of relations. In addition, new investments in information technology are typically justified using 3 different criteria-generating efficiency, effectiveness, and/or strategic benefits. These 2 perspectives can be combined to create the Electronic Commerce Value Grid, which identifies 15 areas in which managers can use Web-based electronic storefronts to add value for their customers.

Principled leadership and business diplomacy

This paper introduces the concept of business diplomacy as a way to implement values‐based, ethical leadership. Drawing on the Japanese concept of kyosei, business diplomats take responsibility for themselves and others and treat people with respect and kindness while they simultaneously attempt to be entrepreneurial, add business value, and make a profit. This paper reviews the strategies and tactics of business diplomacy and provides case examples of how to be diplomatic and ethical in difficult situations. The paper concludes with recommendations for how to establish an organizational culture based on business diplomacy.

An MIS course integrating information technology and organizational issues

Integrating technologies and applications to provide better access to, and sharing of, corporate data and to coordinate enterprise-wide tasks and processes is a critical means to adding business value through information technology. Consequently, potential employers seek information systems professionals whose skills focus on the integration of information technologies, information resources, and business strategy. However, these companies also perceive that universities are not providing graduates the necessary integration skills.This paper describes a course, Business Systems Integration, that addresses the gap between the information systems integration skills that employers desire and those that universities teach. The course approaches information systems integration from three perspectives: 1) integrating information technologies, 2) integrating the content of the MIS curriculum, and 3) integrating organizations via cross-functional business processes. Attaining a practical level of knowledge about systems integration requires a sufficiently complex, real-world environment; thus the course relies on an extensive organizational simulation as the primary pedagogical method. That simulation is described in this paper.