Corporate IT Research Articles

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF USING 3-D VIRTUAL WORLD ENVIRONMENTS IN E-COMMERCE STRATEGY

E-commerce has been a rapidly expanding component of many organizations' corporate strategies. As part of this expansion, companies are exploring alternative and more non-traditional approaches for growing sales and expanding brand awareness. Commensurate with the growth in e- commerce is the rapid growth of the computer gaming industry. This contribution of this paper is the synthesis of the union of a specific type of computer game environment-the metaverse and how it is being employed by organizations as part of their e-commerce strategies. The authors look critically at both the potential advantages and drawbacks of this union as well as articulate the role of corporate IT in managing this ambitious union.

The Influence of the Corporate IT Investments on Stock Return and Economic Goodwill

The Influence of the Corporate IT Investments on Stock Return and Economic Goodwill

Hackers vs slackers [control security

Hackers are regularly trying to break into the country's key commercial and industrial networks, said the UK government's security minister Lord West of Spithead. His was a general warning that echoes those from security experts over the past several years. It's usually assumed that these attacks target only the office or corporate IT networks, which is often true, but now there's a more specific threat, to SCADA-based process control networks. The threat is growing and its consequences are potentially catastrophic.

IT-Compliance – Challenges in a GlobalizedWorld

A decade ago, keeping the systems up and running was the only really important issue for corporate IT departments. Today the necessities of compliance demand that an increasing number of highly complex statutes, legal regulations and corporate policies be considered when processing the masses of digital information modern companies generate every day. Globalization adds further complexity to IT-compliance. Multinational corporations and all companies with cross-border business relations are confronted with various potentially applicable foreign laws. Keeping abreast of all legal requirements quickly becomes an overwhelming experience. This article will provide an overview of some of today's most important global IT compliance issues.

Putting Intelligent Characters to Work

Extempo Systems, Inc. was founded in 1995 to commercialize intelligent characters. Our team built innovative software and novel applications for several markets. We had some early-adopting customers during the Internet boom, but the company was not quite able to survive the significant downturn in corporate IT spending when the bubble burst. In 2004, Extempo ceased operations and was formally liquidated. Although our commercial venture failed, we learned a lot, had fun, and are trying again with a new company. To others who aspire to commercialize their AI technology, I say: ;;Take a chance!;;

Strengthening enterprise applications using trusted platform modules

Although millions of laptops and desktops are shipped with Trusted Platform Module chips, the corporate IT buyer has only recently become aware of TPM's existence and its strong cryptographic features. TPM allows enterprises to harden their enterprise applications through email and document signing, data confidentiality protection, VPN infrastructure, and machine identities. A good TPM implementation uses tamper-resistant hardware as a means to protect it against physical attacks, and it represents a root of trust that is a prerequisite for all trustworthy systems. Thomas Hardjono of Wave Systems explores the security benefits of the TPM. Millions of digital transactions are done each day by consumers and businesses. With the advent of wireless availability in many coffee shops or hotels, strong security solutions are critical. Recipients need to be able to trust the identity of participants, content authenticity, and system integrity.

조직의 전략과 정보기술 역할이 아웃소싱 의도결정에 미치는 영향

정보기술 아웃소싱의 확대와 함께 최근 들어 아웃소싱을 전술적인 의도가 아닌 전략적인 의도에서 바라보며 비즈니스에 미치는 효과를 최대화하고자 아웃소싱을 추진하는 기업이 증가하고 있다. 이에 따라 다양한 형태를 보이고 있는 아웃소싱의 의도 결정에 영향을 미치는 요인에 대한 연구의 필요성이 제기되고 있다. 아웃소싱 의도는 선행 연구에 따라 정보시스템 개선, 사업에의 영향, 상업적 이용으로 분류하였고, 이러한 아웃소싱 의도를 결정하는 요인으로 조직 전략 유형 및 정보기술 역할 그리고 이들 간의 상호작용을 채택하고, 이들 요인이 아웃소싱 의도 결정에 미치는 효과를 보다 명확하게 파악하고자 조직 규모 및 정보기술 성숙도를 조절변수로 채택하였다. 분석 결과 정보기술의 역할보다는 조직의 전략이 아웃소싱 의도 결정에 영향을 미치는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 조직의 전략 유형 중 방어자는 분석자와 수동적 반응자에 비해 정보시스템 개선을 위한 의도로 아웃소싱하는 정도가 높았다. 또한 탐색자의 경우에는 분석자 및 수동적 반론-자에 비해 상업적 이용을 위한 의도로 아웃소싱하는 정도가 높았다. 이는 조직의 전략적 특성이 아웃소싱 의도에 반영되는 것으로 볼 수 있다. 정보기술의 역할에 따라 아웃소싱 결정이 달라진다는 선행 연구가 있지만, 정보기술의 역할에 따라 아웃소싱 의도가 달라진다고 보기는 어려운 것으로 밝혀졌다. 또한 조직의 전략 유형 및 정보기술 역할 간 상호작용에 따라 아웃소싱 의도가 달라진다고 보기는 어려운 것으로 나타났다. 아웃소싱 결정을 내리게 될 때 조직의 전략을 적극적으로 파악 및 반영하여 아웃소싱의 의도를 분명히 한다면, 아웃소싱의 실패 위험을 낮추고 성공 가능성을 높여주게 될 것이다. Corporate managers look at IT outsourcing as long-term strategic choices not as short-term tactical ones, and maximizing the effect that IT outsourcing brings about is the main concern to them. Emerging different types of IT outsourcing and their effects on the corporate business decisions necessitate the research on this subject. According to previous researches, the Intent for IT outsourcing is categorized as IS Improvement, Business Impact, and Commercial Exploitation. The decison factors for these IT outsourcing include corporate strategy types, IT role, and interaction between these two. Firm size and IT maturity are selected as moderating factors to add the credibility to the research of the effect of IT outsourcing decision making. Analyzing collected data revealed that corporate strategy rather than IT role is more significant factor affecting the intent for IT outsourcing decision. Defenders(as in corporate strategy types) tend to use IT outsourcing more as a means to improve information systems, compared to analyzers and reactors. Prospectors tend to use IT outsourcing more as a commercial exploitation, compared to analyzers and reactors. These outcomes prove that corporate strategy characteristics reflect outsourcing intent. There were previous researches that showed outsourcing decision depends on IT role, however the hypothesis was rejected that IT role determines outsourcing intent. It was also rejected that the interaction between corporate strategy types and IT role determines outsourcing intent. Corporate decision makers should first analyze corporate strategy, and reflect it on the outsourcing intent when they make IT outsourcing decisions. Only the precise defining of IT outsourcing intent will lower the risk and increase the possibility of success.

Forensic analysis of SCADA systems and networks

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are commonly used to automate and control industrial processes. Modern SCADA protocols leverage TCP/IP to transport sensor data and control signals. Also, corporate IT infrastructures now interconnect with previously isolated SCADA networks, raising serious security issues. This paper describes an architecture that supports the forensic analysis of SCADA systems and networks. The architecture is implemented in a prototype networked environment using the popular Modbus TCP protocol. In addition to supporting forensic investigations, the architecture incorporates mechanisms for monitoring process behaviour and analysing trends that can help improve plant performance.

Estimating a System's Mean Time-to-Compromise

Mean time-to-compromise is a comparative security metric that applies lessons learned from physical security. To address this need in the SCADA world specifically and the corporate IT security world more generally, we propose a mean time-to-compromise (MTTC) interval as an estimate of the time it will take for an attacker with a specific skill level to successfully impact a target system. We also propose a state-space model (SSM) and algorithms for estimating attack paths and state times to calculate these MTTC intervals for a given target system. Although we use SCADA as an example, we believe our approach should work in any IT environment.

Analyzing the impact of a firm's capability on outsourcing success: A process perspective

We investigated the effect of a firm's resource capabilities and interaction processes on the success of IT outsourcing. Grounded in available literature on outsourcing relationship and process theory as well as a resource-based view of the IT resource capability, a conceptual model was composed to examine the causal structure of capability, process, and relationship in IT outsourcing. We identified the firm's resource capability factors and, based on the premise that relationship intensity should be affected by the IT outsourcing process, we developed a first-order factor analysis of resource capabilities in the interactions between the outsourcer and provider. Results of empirical testing using responses from 267 IT outsourcing project teams in Korea supported most of our hypotheses. The integration of corporate IT resource and capability theories with social exchange theory distinguishes our research from that of others, who have generally treated these theories separately.

Alliances key to Japan's move into enterprise IT

There are excellent examples of computer, software and services companies that have made it big in the wider world - Fujitsu and Hitachi, say - but, aside from them, Japanese players in the global IT space are few and far between. There's no doubting Japan's achievements as a high-tech powerhouse, but is has not made the inroads into the corporate IT market that match its dominance of consumer electronics.

Open Source Software: An introduction

This article sets out the origins of Open Source Software and considers its progression from programming hobby to a mainstream commercial strategy for acquiring and maintaining competitive advantage. It looks at the types of open source licences in use and summarises the features of the most common. Some of the legal controversies arising from the use of open source licences are explained and guidance is given on how a corporate IT strategy might be adapted to manage the associated risks.

Handling Multiple Credentials in a Heterogeneous SOA Environment

With all the diverse technology in a typical corporate IT environment, it's no surprise that multiple types and formats of security credentials exist, each one designed to protect its respective software system. We can address the problem of handling multiple credential types and formats in a heterogeneous SOA environment by using a data structure designed not only to store and propagate user credential information but also to accurately reflect trust relationships between credential instances. Modeling credentials in this manner leads to improved assurance for applications that need to enforce security policies, either based on business rules established at the corporate level or by compliance to the relevant security specifications.

Realizing the promise of enterprise video communications

The adoption of digitized rich media content has been progressively changing the business landscape over the past decade. Historically, the media and entertainment space has led the market in demand for managing rich media content. Now increasingly, with a surge in the usage of all types of digital content, the need for organizations across industry verticals to manage and deliver rich media communications has grown dramatically. This shift in demand has primarily come about because of the extensive and increasing use of time-based content (audio, video and animation) across departments within the enterprise. Coupled with improvements in the corporate IT infrastructure and network capacities, corporate entities have started seeing the tremendous ROI in moving towards a digitized environment. Global 2000 companies not only have much of their brand equity on rich media but also have accumulated and are continuously creating a large amount of rich content in corporate communications, education and training, HR/benefit administration, sales/channel enablement and other departmental areas. The desire and ability to use rich media to educate and communicate across the enterprise, both internally and externally, has resulted in the need to store and manage those assets in a scalable and secure fashion. The further inclusion of added functionalities such as interactivity with the media, on-demand content, tracking and auditing of usage has led to the establishment of a whole new market category of Enterprise Video Communications (EVC) software and technology.EVC business drivers: 1 Use video to communicate quickly and easily. 2 Create and distribute live, VOD and Digital Signage seamlessly. 3 Schedule and conduct video events with minimal IT intervention. 4 View usage reports that present “who watched what for how long”. 5 Deliver and repurpose video to multiple platforms: portals, plasmas, devices. EVC technology drivers 1 Proactively manage and monitor video infrastructure through a single, web-based console. 2 Scalable and reliable live and video on demand (VOD) delivery. 3 Elimination of Live]VOD]Digital Signage interfaces. 4 Publishing point and distribution network fallover. 5 Security administration that addresses user authentication and network security. Although there is strong and growing interest for EVC solutions, the market is relatively new and corporations are only now becoming cognizant of the requirement to have technology and business processes in place to effectively scale rich media usage. Many organizations today, when pressed to implement an initial platform for EVC, have either pieced together various point solutions available in the market, or have developed homegrown solutions. This ad hoc, customized approach has created a drain on IT resources due to many factors such as: The time and money required to develop and integrate the solutions. The requirement to maintain and upgrade these solutions over time. Communication and portability issues associated with the lack of industry standards and best practices. Business users are forced to rely on IT resources rather than work autonomously. Integrating and streamlining the various point solutions into a seamless “Video Value Chain” is a core requirement for companies embarking on an enterprise video implementation. In the subsequent sections, we will describe in further detail the application and infrastructure components of the Video Value Chain, and the overarching EVC framework that unifies the components into a complete, end-to-end solution.

Corporate Governance and Returns on Information Technology Investment: Evidence from an Emerging Market

Prior studies have reported mixed findings on the impact of corporate IT investment on firm performance. This study investigates the role of corporate governance, an important management control system, in the IT investment-firm performance relationship in the Taiwanese high-tech industries. Two specific corporate governance factors, i.e., board independence and foreign ownership, are explored across firms of different sizes and in industries whose degrees of competitiveness run a wide gamut. Our results show a positive moderating effect of board independence on the IT investment-firm performance relationship, especially when competition intensifies. Furthermore, we find that the association between foreign ownership and firm performance is negative but not significant. Yet, foreign ownership is a significant positive moderator for small firms, suggesting that foreign investors may bring IT expertise to help small firms reap the benefits of using IT.

A case study in the globalization of jobs in Ireland

PurposeThe paper sets out to identify the challenges and potential responses Ireland has related to the potential loss of jobs due to offshoring in a key Irish employment sector. The following research question is addressed. How can Irish call centers effectively respond to offshore competition?Design/methodology/approachThis case study is a based on a field research project including interview and survey data. The project was supported by The Irish Development Agency (IDA) to obtain data about the workers, management and demographic trends of the Irish call center sector. A review of literature available on the subject and observations made during the data gathering phase of a field research project run during the summer of 2004.FindingsShows that the global market for offshoring is growing at an accelerated rate due to economic drivers, cultural perceptions and expectations of corporate managers, SMEs, and IT systems integrators. Illustrates how Ireland can turn the problems associated with offshoring into strategic advantage.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes responses to the threat of lost jobs in Ireland due to the forces of globalization may offer useful insights for other countries facing similar economic threats.Originality/valueVery few papers have been published related to Irish job migration. The value is the paper studies a significant Irish industry sector in terms of employment and very real issues related to the globalization of jobs via offshoring. This is important to the IDA and to economic development practitioners in other countries facing the loss of jobs to globalization and offshoring.

An empirical study of relationship between IT investment and firm performance: A resource-based perspective

The resource-based view of the enterprises generally attributes superior financial performance to organizational resources and capabilities. Firm-specific IT resources are classified as IT infrastructure, human-IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. This paper empirically examines the association between IT investment and firm performance. Results indicate that firms with high levels of IT infrastructure and human-IT resources have a strong positive relationship with IT-enabled intangibles, but not with firm performance. In addition, IT-enabled intangibles are strongly positively correlated with firm performance. The relationships between IT investment and corporate IT capability are also examined. The results suggest that IT investments have begun to show results, indicating that they can make a positive contribution to firm IT infrastructure. However, the various measures of IT investment do not appear to have a positive relationship with human-IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. Although IT investment is likely to improve organizational IT infrastructure, but the IT-enabled intangibles is the key factor to effect the business performance, and the human-IT resource is a driving force for the IT-enabled intangibles.

Aligning Business and It: The Process-Driven Architecture Model

Due to the fact that the corporate IT function is tightly coupled to enterprise processes and the organization's information needs, today's IT investments and processes are driven by the same dynamics as the enterprise itself. This article describes a model of a four-layer process-driven architecture (PDA) that can be used as a framework for addressing the alignment of business and IT.

Webjacking, and how to boot it out

Webjacking should be fixed firmly on corporate IT security's watch list by now. With 'ransomware', an extortionist infects a computer with code that encrypts a user's documents, then demands a ransom for a key that can be used to decipher them. Don't assume webjackers only have private individuals in their sights. Webjacking - like bull fighting - is a particularly risky venture for the perpetrator, but the rewards are high. For it to work, a communication dialogue must be established to exchange the encryption keys. Currently, one of the most popular infection methods is via web browser technology, such as Internet Explorer. Ransomware is being viewed primarily as a threat to individuals and home computers at the moment. It is argued that the reason corporations have not experienced this form of attack yet is because they have devices at the perimeter that constantly monitor for malicious activity and take steps when signs of malicious activity occur. As the author puts it ''There is a tremendous problem with this argument''. The rise in webjacking activity has received a lot of press lately, and should be firmly on corporate IT security's watch list by now. With ''ransomware'', an extortionist infects a computer with malicious code that encrypts user-based documents, then demands a ransom for a key that can be used to decipher them. Companies are deluding themselves if they think this is just for home users.

IT finds its calling: leading corporate productivity

The role of the corporate IT has steadily evolved over the past 25 years. Unfortunately, most executives know neither where IT fits in their organization nor what it should be doing. To maximize corporate productivity, IT departments must recast themselves to do what they were meant to do: Understand all factions (including customers) within a company and how they should interact, ensure that all required information is available exactly when and where it is needed, make it easy for customers to do business with the company, and take a proactive role in implementing this vision throughout the company