Information and Communications Technology Strategies for Improving Global Virtual Teams\u27 Success Rates

Ineffective strategies to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) to support global virtual teams (GVTs) have adversely affected organizations\u27 performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the effective strategies participating GVT managers in 2 organizations in the United States used to integrate ICT to support teams\u27 success. The population comprised managers in New York with at least 3 years of service integrating successful strategies in ICT to support GVT success. Transformational leadership theory was used as the conceptual framework for this study. The data collection process included asking 4 participants semistructured interview questions as well as reviewing archival data from the organizations. Data analysis using mind mapping analysis resulted in 5 major themes: forms of communication, redundancy, inclusion, accessibility, and infrastructure. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to create economic opportunities in developed and underdeveloped countries by incorporating or adapting some or all these strategies to improve efficiencies using ICT to support the success of GVTs. Improving GVT success rates could enable organizations to maintain and grow jobs benefiting employees, families, and communities

Analysis of Risks Faced by Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing Service Providers

To gain competitive advantage, organisations are considering information technology (IT) outsourcing as a strategic option by concentrating on their core operations and by reducing their operating costs. Many organisations are offering outsourcing services from various parts of the world. There are certain risks factors which IT outsourcing service providers come across while managing their service operations. Risk-related data from 50 Indian IT outsourcing service providers about their risks and concerns have been collected and archived. This study identifies risks from the providers’ perspective in regard to offshore outsourcing and put forward some guidelines to mitigate such risks

Relationship between Vendor/Client Complementarity, Vendor Technology Maturity, Vendor Financial Stability, and IT Outsourcing Project Outcomes

Business and IT leaders in financial services are concerned with the limited benefits they are reaping from information technology outsourcing (ITO) projects, despite continued heavy investments in ITO. Grounded in the transaction cost, agency, and resource-based view theories, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between vendor/client complementarity, vendor technology maturity, vendor financial stability, and ITO success. Participants were 65 business and IT leaders in financial institutions engaged in ITO projects. The result of the multiple linear regression was significant, F(3, 61) = 4.845, p = .004, R2 = .192. In the final analysis, vendor/client complementarity was the only significant contributor (t = 2.551, p = .013, ß = .362). The key recommendation for business and IT leaders is to factor in vendor/client complementarity to improve ITO success during the vendor selection process. Incorporating complementarity may foster positive social change by allowing financial services firms to create shared values for themselves, their vendors, and the communities in which they operate

Managing security and compliance risks of outsourced IT projects

PhD ThesisSeveral sources of constraints, such as business, financial and legal, can lead organisations to outsource some of their IT services. As a consequence, different security risks may be introduced, such as confidentiality, integrity and availability risks. Analysing and managing the potential security risks in the early stages of project execution allow organisations to avoid or mitigate the impact of these security risks. Several organisations have adopted ISMS standards and frameworks in an endeavour to manage outsourced IT project security risks. In this thesis, existing ISMS standards and frameworks have been reviewed and analysed to assess their ability to effectively manage the security and compliance risks of outsourced IT projects and satisfy their security needs. The review reveals that existing ISMS standards and frameworks represent only general security recommendations and do not consider variation in security requirements from one organisation to another. There is also a lack of adequate guidance for implementing or complying with these standards and frameworks, and they are not designed to manage the security and compliance risks of outsourced IT projects. To overcome these weaknesses, a new framework has been introduced. The framework is a structured approach that is designed to manage variation in security requirements, as well as provide a methodology to guide organisations for the purpose of security management and implementation. The framework was evaluated using different evaluation methods including a focus group, questionnaire, and case study, which were also used to generate recommendations and suggestions for improvements. The evaluation results confirmed that the framework provided the participants with an effective approach for managing security and compliance risks in the outsourcing context. It was understandable, easy to use, and independent from different constraints such as project size, cost or execution time. The framework is now ready to be put into practice by organisations that intend to outsource their IT services partially or totally