A framework for cloud computing adoption by Saudi Government overseas agencies

This study aims to identify key factors that organizations should consider when deciding whether to adopt cloud computing, and sets out a framework for how these factors can be weighed in order to make a decision. The study uses the Saudi Government agencies as a case study and makes several specific recommendations that pertain to the Saudi authorities' implementation of cloud computing. Although there are many benefits associated with deployment of cloud computing applications, there are also several challenges, such as compliance, legal issues, hosting issues, security, trust and privacy. There are also inadequate resources and guidelines for the policy makers and managers to inform their decision of whether or not to adopt cloud computing. This study identifies a number of factors; technological, environmental, organizational and societal, which need to be considered when an organization decides whether or not to adopt cloud computing. After identifying these factors, the study develops a comprehensive framework for organizations to assess their readiness for cloud computing. In addition, the feasibility of cloud computing applications is assessed so that different delivery and deployment models can be taken into account, and cloud computing evaluated from both business and customer perspectives

Factors affecting SMEs\u27 willingness to share knowledge online : a path model

This paper presents the findings of a study of SME owner-managers that examined their willingness to share information online with other members of a local business network. The main variables associated with willingness to share knowledge online were found to be willingness to share information in conventional modes and the intensity with which they used the internet for business activities. A number of other variables were found to be indirectly or unrelated to willingness to share knowledge online. A significant locality effect was also identified which suggests that the social context of the network to which the business belonged influences willingness to share knowledge online. Our work supports previous research which concludes that online knowledge sharing initiatives should enhance relationships within the business network itself as well as the technical aspects of the networking platform and the technical competence of potential users.<br /

Open Source Alternatives for Business Intelligence: Critical Success Factors for Adoption

The purpose of this research is to identify critical factors that affect the adoption of Open Source Business Intelligence (OPBI) tools and to compare the differences between OPBI and Proprietary Business Intelligence (PBI) tools. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, an organizational adoption model was designed to analyze four cases of organizations that have adopted Business Intelligence (BI) tools. The cases were documented using a tested protocol and a set of interviews. The analysis of the cases shows that organizations with fewer resources and simpler IT selection processes tend to adopt OPBI. The most cited reason for using OPBI software is cost savings. The results also reveal that for most users OPBI does not require sophisticated BI specialists and offers as many useful features as PBI tools. These findings are important to BI vendors, users, developers, and organizations interested in adopting BI technologies

Adoption of Technological Innovations on Organizational Performance: Case of Commercial Banks in Kenya

Internet banking (IB) allows functional banking activities online. Adoption of IB varies significantly across commercial banks. Banks with large size tend to adopt IB earlier. In 2006, 96 percent of banks with assets over Kshs 24 billion had a website, compared to only 51 percent with assets under Kshs 8 billion. These observations raise important questions: what explains these variations of diffusion rates across banking groups?  This study reports the results of a descriptive survey on factors causing variations in adoption of IB.  A structured questionnaire was administered to all financial managers in all 46 commercial banks with a response rate of 70%. The SPSS was used to run simultaneous-equation regressions on data collected. Factors driving adoption of IB include increase average bank assets, non adopters imitating early adopters and loan specialisation in consumer lending. Factors hindering IB adoption include competition among banks and average age of a bank.  The study recommends that to enhance IB adoption, banks should; strive to increase their average assets size, non adaptors to carefully study early adaptors, specialize in consumer lending, feed off competition by forming strategic alliances finally new banks have the advantage of installing IB technology in a package with other computer facilities compared to old banks. The study is important because banks have been blamed for not initiating programmes that adequately satisfying demand for financial services. The research contributes to the debate on how to enhance access to financial services in Kenya. Key word: Adoption of Technological Innovation, Organizational performanc

Factors Affecting SMEs’ Willingness to Share Knowledge Online: A Path Model

This paper presents the findings of a study of SME owner-managers that examined their willingness to share information online with other members of a local business network. The main variables associated with willingness to share knowledge online were found to be willingness to share information in conventional modes and the intensity with which they used the internet for business activities. A number of other variables were found to be indirectly or unrelated to willingness to share knowledge online. A significant locality effect was also identified which suggests that the social context of the network to which the business belonged influences willingness to share knowledge online. Our work supports previous research which concludes that online knowledge sharing initiatives should enhance relationships within the business network itself as well as the technical aspects of the networking platform and the technical competence of potential users

Towards a Theory of “Use” in the Autonomous Things

The way users perceive and use information system artefacts has been mainly studied from the notion of behavioural believes, cognitive efforts, and deliberate use (e.g., clicking or scrolling) by human actors to produce certain outcomes. The autonomous things, however, do not require deliberate cognitive processes and physical actions to operate. Hence, the existing notions of logical and deliberate use by human actors to produce certain outcomes warrant a revisit. Consequently, drawing on the theories of consciousness and technology adoption, we proposed the notions of conscious use in the context of autonomous things. We argue that unlike the manually operated technologies and systems, the “use” of an autonomous artefact is a state of a user’s consciousness rather than a logical, deliberate cognitive, or somatic activity. A fully autonomous artefact is consciously perceived by users anticipating their needs (through sensory information and situational awareness) without requiring any cognitive efforts, instructions, and physical contact to produce the desired outcomes

Encouraging small firm up-take of SCM using education: a future research agenda

The success of supply chain management (SCM) practices often depends on small firms in the supply chain adopting these practices, yet they are often reluctant to do so. The existing literature mostly explores SCM adoption barriers rather than approaches to encourage adoption. This paper argues that an educational perspective has promise, and proposes a research agenda which should guide future studies by all researchers studying small firm SCM up-take. The agenda encompasses the diversity of small firms, the major educational players, appropriate types of education approaches and the theoretical framework to underpin this research. The paper then gives an example of how this research agenda can be applied to a specific research project which will explore the impact of the Supply Chain Knowledge Centre (SCKC), a state of the art SCM education facility developed by GS1 Australia, on small firm SCM up-take.<br /