Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

Implementation and unification of the ERP system in a global company as a strategic decision for sustainable entrepreneurship

This article considered factors connected with the implementation and unification of an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, and their influence on the sustainable development of global companies. It showed a cognitive model on such impact and gave an example in the form of a case study of a global company listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The basic strategic objectives of each organization include long-term growth and sustainability. In a growing competitive environment, it is essential to manage the company effectively. This can be achieved provided that the company's organizational structure and operations are properly set from the point of view of the ERP system. The research results were aimed at creating the generalized process of the ERP system's gradual implementation, to make the development of an organization progressive. The paper was focused on describing the implementation and unification of the Enterprise Resource Planning System, in a global company listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The aim of the paper was to monitor and evaluate, the links between Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management. This process is time consuming and costly. To achieve the aim, the case study was carried out in the form of an expert survey aimed at assessing the impact of the unification and implementation of the ERP system in a global company. The study included methods of systemic analysis, methods of sociological expert survey, a method of qualitative peer review, and a method for a cognitive model. It leads not only to effective management of global companies but enables the monitoring and comparison of Key Performance Indicators and the Net Promoter Score in each country, using the same parameters. The implementation of a unified Enterprise Resource Planning system leads to a significant cost reduction and has a positive impact on the financial indicators reported on the stock exchange. This study highlighted the importance of the implementation of an effective ERP system, to make the development of organizations sustainable.Web of Science108art. no. 291

Success for pacific learners : the impact of tertiary education strategies

This project examined the impact of the 3 successive tertiary education strategies (2002-2007; 2007-2012 and 2010-2015) on how tertiary education institutions have developed their support for Pacific learners. Findings show that the Pasifika objectives within each of the 3 strategies are considered to be an important signal to Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) that success for Pasifika learners is a significant and continuing government priority and that the strategies are seen as an important enabler of change. These objectives have raised the priority for action to support Pasifika learners, unlocked resources for Pasifika initiatives and promoted the inclusion of Pasifika priorities on the strategic agendas of TEIs. It was noted however, this influence is only one of a number of internal and external, and local and national influences on enhancing success for Pasifika learners

Standardization Framework for Sustainability from Circular Economy 4.0

The circular economy (CE) is widely known as a way to implement and achieve sustainability, mainly due to its contribution towards the separation of biological and technical nutrients under cyclic industrial metabolism. The incorporation of the principles of the CE in the links of the value chain of the various sectors of the economy strives to ensure circularity, safety, and efficiency. The framework proposed is aligned with the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development regarding the orientation towards the mitigation and regeneration of the metabolic rift by considering a double perspective. Firstly, it strives to conceptualize the CE as a paradigm of sustainability. Its principles are established, and its techniques and tools are organized into two frameworks oriented towards causes (cradle to cradle) and effects (life cycle assessment), and these are structured under the three pillars of sustainability, for their projection within the proposed framework. Secondly, a framework is established to facilitate the implementation of the CE with the use of standards, which constitute the requirements, tools, and indicators to control each life cycle phase, and of key enabling technologies (KETs) that add circular value 4.0 to the socio-ecological transition

The elicitation of key performance indicators of e-government providers: A bottom-up approach

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.Delivering an adequate e-Government service (e-service) is becoming more of a necessity in today's digital world. In order to improve e-services and increase the engagement of both users' and providers' side, studies on the performance evaluation of such provided e-services are taking places. However a clear identification of the key performance indicators from the e-Government providers’ side is not well explored. This shortcoming hampers the conduct of a holistic evaluation of an e-service provision from the perspective of its stakeholders in order to improve e-services as well as to increase e-services take-ups. In this paper, a systematic process to identify indicators is implemented based on a bottom-up approach. The process used three focus-group meetings with providers, users, and academics in Qatar, Lebanon and UK to collect, identify and validate key indicators from the perspective of e-services’ providers. The approach resulted in the identification of five factors levels (service, technology, employees, policy and management and social responsibilities) with fifteen sub-categories of SMART variables. Hence, leading to the development of a new model, STEPS, that can fully explain and predict e-government success from the providers’ point of view. It will work as a strategic management tool to align various stakeholders on common goal and values based on evidence based evaluation of e-services using smart measurable indicators for the improvement of an e-service at the engagement level in the field of e-government. In addition, other fields can benefit from the outcome of this work, such as logistics service providers, who make their services available across new and existing relationships between the Internet commerce firms, their customers, and their vendors

Establishing realistic performance measurements for customer relationship management in the SME context

This research reviews aspects. of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) literature. It examines, in particular, the area of CRM performance measurement. The main objective of this research is to develop a business-orientated measurement tool for the assessment of CRM performance. The research context is set within the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) across the United Kingdom. Although the literature review showed that there are both successful· and unsuccessful cases of CRM performance, the research highlighted a significant issue concerning CRM performance measurement. It was found that many companies are unable to quantify their performance claims. Additionally, there is little or no strong evidence that companies measure their CRM performance, it is therefore questionable in regard to the justification of reported cases of CRM success and failure. Further literature evidence on the area of existing CRM performance measurement tools was critically reviewed. Overall the evidence points to the need for a simplified and realistic measurement tool that is based on what CRM user companies are actually doing or capable of doing regarding the assessment of CRM performance. Research methodological approaches undertaken were hierarchical in their nature. Two stages of empirical work were conducted: questionnaire survey and semistructured interviews. The questionnaire survey covered the scope of 2,200 SMEs across the United Kingdom. The survey aimed to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ,adopted by companies and to also create a profile of CRM companies for the next phase of research. The interview stage aimed to gain insight into CRM performance measurement in order to aid the development of a practical and business-orientated CRM performance measurement framework. There were 26 self-selected CRM user companies involved at the interview stage. Results from the quantitative analysis of survey data revealed a number of KPIs adopted by companies including the profile of CRM users. The qualitative· and quantitative analyses of interview data allowed a CRM performance measurement framework to be derived and developed. The main findings suggested that companies should focus primarily on assessing the process rather than putting the entire focus only on the final outcome or bottom line (i.e. financial outcome). The close relationship between the process and outcome measures implied that the effective assessment ofprocess would result in the effective outcome. There were also other outcomes relevant to the research such as issues with CRM market forecasts, issues with existing CRM measurement tools and extreme views on CRM. In regard to the ways they assess their CRM, one of the interesting findings of this research revealed that CRM user companies who view CRM from a customer perspective enabled by technology perspective appear to be more successful than those who view CRM solely from a strategy perspective

Improving the performance of accounting information systems of commercial banks in Jordan by using the balanced scorecard approach

The continuous development of information technology in the modern word affects the performance of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) in Jordanian business organizations, including commercial banks, in many respects, including: its objectives, strategies, nature of work and instruments that achieve its objectives. Hence, the traditional AIS needs to be reviewed since it requires new instruments to determine, measure and present accounting information in order to adapt to the requirements of modern technology and competition factors.The problem of this study stems from the ignorance of some commercial banks in Jordan about the impact of AIS on the level of banks' success in performing their various banking business, indicating that AIS is not used efficiently and effectively. Also, the problem stems from the great interest in AIS from other commercial banks in Jordan, although they are unable to take full advantage of AIS and what it can offer. With the prominent presence and effective role that could be played by companies of systems, programs and communications in Jordan in formulating the level of service performance of banks in Jordan, ignorance of AIS on the part of these commercial banks would negatively impact on their market share and effective performance, bilaterally, jointly, and their competitive position.Despite the argument of many commercial banks in Jordan that AIS is an important aspect of their daily operations, there are still some factors that limit the effectiveness of AIS performance. Hence, various critical problems emerged for the commercial banks, which are the main problems addressed by this study. First, specific technology in any AIS field might prevent it from being effective; second, it may prevent the production of credible information for stakeholders; third, it will hinder any technical progress in its control operations. This would negatively affect bank's performance in terms of providing highly efficient, low-cost services, and decrease its competence and competitiveness both internally and externally.Considering the negative reflections discussed in the previous section, it is noted that the impact of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) problems on AIS performance in the commercial banks in Jordan is a pressing and significant issue, especially in the KPIs field that enhances AIS performance. The problem that the researcher identifies to solve in this study is: What are the KPIs that will improve the accounting information systems' performance in the commercial banks in Jordan? This needs to address the question arising from the absence of a strategic vision in the literature to develop and improve the AIS professional performance in commercial banks in Jordan. Also, it highlights the importance of investigating the KPIs that lead to improving AIS performance in the commercial banks in Jordan.To improve AIS performance in commercial bank in Jordan, Balance Scorecard (BSC) as an integrated system of performance measures from the financial and non-financial perspectives, such as: financial, customers, internal business process, learning and growth, and internal control have been used. KPIs related to these perspectives were revealed and identified classified, and their relationships with, and their effects and influence on, the effectiveness of AIS performance in those banks, were examined. On the other hand, analyses were made for the all BSC-AIS elements and their effect on the performance of work strategies and tendencies by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Analytical Network Process (ANP). The researcher also tested BSC-AIS in the field part, on the society, with emphasis on basic performance improvement stimulants AIS-KPIs, through analysing the questionnaire's results, using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) programme. Then, analysed each element based on each of the five perspectives. A comparison was conducted between the analysis results of SPSS and analysis results of AHP/ANP, in order to get final KPIs to be adopted as a basic criterion to conduct the comparison between fact and the expected AIS future performance. Furthermore, the study suggests ten recommendations to be implemented by the commercial banks in Jordan in order to improve the performance of AIS.Finally, the study produced results that facilitate the establishment of a comprehensive AIS strategy intended to achieve, and maintain a competitive advantage, provide the attributes that produce comprehensive information for different stakeholders, improve and maintain the internal control systems. This study concluded that all of these elements together lead to the development and improvement of AIS performance in the commercial banks in Jordan, thereby improving AIS operational performance with different materiality determined by the relationship between the target elements and objectives