Investigating perceptions of reliability, efficiency and feasibility of data storage technology: A case study of cloud storage adoption at UCT Faculty of Science

Within an increasing number of organisations cloud storage is becoming more common as large amounts of data from people and projects are being produced, exchanged and stored (Chang & Wills, 2016: 56). In fact, “technology has evolved and has allowed increasingly large and efficient data storage, which in turn has allowed increasingly sophisticated ways to use it (Staff, 2016: n.p.). Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of reliability, efficiency and feasibility of data storage technology. The investigation is done by addressing claims and perceptions of data storage technology within the Faculty of Science at UCT. This study intends to determine if cloud storage is the future of storing, managing and preservation of digital data. The study used a qualitative research method grounded by Management Fashion Theory. Data was collected from three case studies from the Faculty of Science, and also from a desktop internet search on the marketing of cloud storage. Data collection from the case studies was facilitated through semi-structured interviews and from three researchers and academics who are working on cloud storage projects. Main themes that guided the dialogue during data collection originated from reviewed literature. The study concludes that cloud storage is the way forward for storing, sharing and managing research data. Academic researchers find storing data on cloud beneficial; however, it comes with challenges such as costs, security, access, privacy, control and ethics

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Evaluating Sociotechnical Factors Associated With Telecom Service Provisioning: A Case Study

Provisioning Internet services remains an area of concern for Internet service providers. Despite investments to improve resources and technology, the understanding of sociotechnical factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle remains limited. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the influence of sociotechnical factors associated with telecom service provisioning and to explore the critical success and failure factors, specifically in the telecommunication industry of Kuwait. Guided by sociotechnical systems theory, this qualitative exploratory case study approach examined a purposeful sample of 19 participants comprising of managers, engineers, and technicians who had the knowledge and experience of the service-provisioning life cycle. Semistructured interviews, project logs, and a self-created follow-up questionnaire were the primary sources of data. Thematic analysis techniques assisted in coding the data and developing themes, which resulted in a set of critical success and failure factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle. Cross-functional communication, risk management practices, infrastructure availability, and employee skill development were among the emergent factors that influenced the service implementation. Internet service providers may use the results from this study to improve the service-provisioning life cycle. Successful implementations will promote an environment of positive social change that will increase employee motivation, productivity, and employee morale

An Examination of Small Businesses\u27 Propensity to Adopt Cloud-Computing Innovation

The problem researched was small business leaders\u27 early and limited adoption of cloud computing. Business leaders that do not use cloud computing may forfeit the benefits of its lower capital costs and ubiquitous accessibility. Anchored in a diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey study was to examine if there is a relationship between small business leaders\u27 view of cloud-computing attributes of compatibility, complexity, observability, relative advantage, results demonstrable, trialability, and voluntariness and intent to use cloud computing. The central research question involved understanding the extent to which each cloud-computing attribute relate to small business leaders\u27 intent to use cloud computing. A sample of 3,897 small business leaders were selected from a commerce authority e-mail list yielding 151 completed surveys that were analyzed using regression. Significant correlations were found for the relationships between the independent variables of compatibility, complexity, observability, relative advantage, and results demonstrable and the dependent variable intent to use cloud computing. However, no significant correlation was found between the independent variable voluntariness and intent to use. The findings might provide new insights relating to cloud-computing deployment and commercialization strategies for small business leaders. Implications for positive social change include the need to prepare for new skills for workers affected by cloud computing adoption and cloud-computing ecosystem\u27s reduced environmental consequences and policies

The future of Earth observation in hydrology

In just the past 5 years, the field of Earth observation has progressed beyond the offerings of conventional space-agency-based platforms to include a plethora of sensing opportunities afforded by CubeSats, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and smartphone technologies that are being embraced by both for-profit companies and individual researchers. Over the previous decades, space agency efforts have brought forth well-known and immensely useful satellites such as the Landsat series and the Gravity Research and Climate Experiment (GRACE) system, with costs typically of the order of 1 billion dollars per satellite and with concept-to-launch timelines of the order of 2 decades (for new missions). More recently, the proliferation of smart-phones has helped to miniaturize sensors and energy requirements, facilitating advances in the use of CubeSats that can be launched by the dozens, while providing ultra-high (3-5 m) resolution sensing of the Earth on a daily basis. Start-up companies that did not exist a decade ago now operate more satellites in orbit than any space agency, and at costs that are a mere fraction of traditional satellite missions. With these advances come new space-borne measurements, such as real-time high-definition video for tracking air pollution, storm-cell development, flood propagation, precipitation monitoring, or even for constructing digital surfaces using structure-from-motion techniques. Closer to the surface, measurements from small unmanned drones and tethered balloons have mapped snow depths, floods, and estimated evaporation at sub-metre resolutions, pushing back on spatio-temporal constraints and delivering new process insights. At ground level, precipitation has been measured using signal attenuation between antennae mounted on cell phone towers, while the proliferation of mobile devices has enabled citizen scientists to catalogue photos of environmental conditions, estimate daily average temperatures from battery state, and sense other hydrologically important variables such as channel depths using commercially available wireless devices. Global internet access is being pursued via high-altitude balloons, solar planes, and hundreds of planned satellite launches, providing a means to exploit the "internet of things" as an entirely new measurement domain. Such global access will enable real-time collection of data from billions of smartphones or from remote research platforms. This future will produce petabytes of data that can only be accessed via cloud storage and will require new analytical approaches to interpret. The extent to which today's hydrologic models can usefully ingest such massive data volumes is unclear. Nor is it clear whether this deluge of data will be usefully exploited, either because the measurements are superfluous, inconsistent, not accurate enough, or simply because we lack the capacity to process and analyse them. What is apparent is that the tools and techniques afforded by this array of novel and game-changing sensing platforms present our community with a unique opportunity to develop new insights that advance fundamental aspects of the hydrological sciences. To accomplish this will require more than just an application of the technology: in some cases, it will demand a radical rethink on how we utilize and exploit these new observing systems

New Organizational Challenges in a Digital World: Securing Cloud Computing Usage and Reacting to Asset-Sharing Platform Disruptions

Information technology (IT) and IT-enabled business models are transforming the business ecosystem and posing new challenges for existing companies. This two-essay dissertation examines two such challenges: cloud security and the disruption of asset-sharing business models.The first essay examines how an organizations usage of cloud storage affects its likelihood of accidental breaches. The quasi-experiment in the U.S. healthcare sector reveals that organizations with higher levels of digitalization (i.e., Electronic Health Records levels) or those with more IT applications running on their internal data center are less likely to experience accidental breaches after using public cloud storage. We argue that digitalization and operational control over IT applications increase organizations awareness and capabilities of establishing a company-wide security culture, thereby reducing negligence related to physical devices and unintended disclosure after adopting cloud storage. The usage of cloud storage is more likely to cause accidental breaches for organizations contracting to more reputable or domain expert vendors. We explain this result as the consequence of less attention being focused on securing personally accessible data and physical devices given high reliance on reputed and knowledgeable cloud providers. This research is among the first to empirically examine the actual security impacts of organizations cloud storage usage and offers practical insights for cloud security management.The second essay examines how Asset-Sharing Business Model Prevalence (ASBMP) affects the performance implications of industry incumbent firms competitive actions when faced with entrants with asset-sharing business models, like Airbnb. ASBMP represents the amount of third-party products and services that originally were unavailable inside the traditional business model but now are orchestrated by asset-sharing companies in an industry. We use texting mining and econometrics approaches to analyze a longitudinal dataset in the accommodation industry. Our results demonstrate that incumbents competitive action repertoires (i.e., action volume, complexity, and heterogeneity) increase their performance when the ASBMP is high but decrease incumbents performance when the ASBMP is low. Practically, incumbents who are facing greater threat from asset-sharing firms can implement more aggressive competitive action repertoires and strategically focus on new product and M&A strategies. This research contributes to the literature of both competitive dynamics and asset-sharing business models

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Playbook for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Companies

Companies, and specifically brands, that are able to establish direct and meaningful relationships with their target consumers can maximize their opportunity to gain a competitive advantage against companies who are not able to establish these types of relationships. Some industries rely heavily on product branding, create products that are frequently utilized in the daily lives of consumers, and compete in categories with fixed growth. These companies are particularly susceptible to being impacted, both positively and negatively, by building relationships with their consumers. Categories with fixed growth, or narrow categories, present challenges for marketers in terms of redefining the concept of market share and competing for a piece of a much smaller pie. Doug Anderson, Nielsen Senior Vice President (SVP), research & development said “Growth will only come from increasing share against competition”. (“Nielsen: Marketing \u27Gravy Train\u27 to Derail by 2020”) One such industry is Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). CPG companies often spend a significant amount of time and resources collecting information about their consumers, but they have a need to develop meaningful ways to utilize the information to both provide value to these consumers, and provide the company with a positive business impact. Depending on the product’s life cycle stage, companies can potentially use consumer data to drive awareness, trial, conversion, loyalty, and/or advocacy of the brand or company. Over time, consumers have also shown a proactive desire to establish relationships with the brands that they are interested in, or already use, by exhibiting behaviors that include visiting company and brand web sites, joining user groups and forums, completing registration forms with personal contact information, and opting in to receive future communications from the brand or company. Web 2.0 is also influencing how companies build relationships with consumers. Consumers also engage with brands by: interacting with brands on social network sites such as Facebook fan pages and providing ratings and /or reviews about products on sites like Amazon.com. The consumer incentives for providing his/her information and agreeing to receive communications from these companies and brands can include: information relevant to the consumer based on past historical information, and free or discounted products or services based on follow up actions taken by the consumers. These follow up actions could be: redeeming a coupon, submitting a rebate, and/or earning points by purchasing products that can be redeemed for something of value at a later time. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), also known as Consumer Relationship Management (CRM), in the CPG industry, is an area that can be investigated to bridge the gap between companies and consumers, who both have a stake in the relationship. “CRM is a business strategy aimed at understanding, anticipating and responding to the needs of a company\u27s current and potential consumers in order to grow the relationship value”. (“CRM Defined and Understood”) This project will investigate the ways in which CRM can achieve business benefits using people, processes, and technology in a changing landscape using communication vehicles or touch points, such as e-mail, direct mail and text messages, to consumers across the offline, online, and mobile spaces. This project will focus on how CRM has been, and will continue to be, impacted by Web 2.0. The deliverable of this project will be a customizable CRM playbook for CPG companies to utilize. This toolkit will contain best practices, processes, and software that can be applied in a combination of ways to meet various CPG companies’ and brands’ needs. The best practices section of the playbook will include how to define appropriate CRM-specific objectives, goals, strategies, tactics, and measures for CPG companies and brands. Strategies and tactics include extending relationships with consumers in the social media and mobile spaces. The playbook will define the governance of consumer data based on business rules defined by the company and the standard processes. E-mail deployment software is an example of how technology will be highlighted in the toolkit. Success will be measured in various ways. As a strategic goal, companies should strive to maximize the utilization of data as a company asset and drive toward a higher degree of consumer segmentation and personalized communications. At a tactical level, companies can measure CRM program success though key performance indicators (KPIs) such as open rates, click through rates, and click-to-open rates of outbound e-mail communications. These are some of many vehicles used to build relationships with consumers