The Value Of Partnership In Offshoring

Partnership or strategic partnership is a label attributed to client-vendor relationships characterized as highly involved. This high involvement or collaboration is considered a partnership quality. This study uses the social exchange theory to examine the relationship between clients and vendors as partners in offshoring. Social exchange theory requires that as members of an exchange relationship receive benefit, they must return an equivalent amount of benefit to maintain relationship equilibrium (Homans, 1958). Trust is an important element in exchange relationships because it helpsto ensure equilibrium.  Management of theclient-vendor relationship is critical for the success of the IT offshoring arrangement

Revisiting Client/Server Computing

The role of the Information Technology department is changing as it continues to mature and adapt to changes in technology, much of that change dealing with its interaction with corporate end-users. IT departments must continue to move in a more user friendly direction or they are going to encounter serious political problems with top management. The increased interest in cloud computing, green computing, and in outsourcing are further indicators of the problems that IT departments are currently facing.   Information Technology departments must approach client/server with a clear view of the lasting business benefits that it can bring rather than opposing or resisting the migratio

The Challenge Of Botsourcing

Botsourcing is the augmentation or replacement of human jobs by robots or other computing systems.  This practice is growing in popularity for reasons both economic and technical.  Botsourcing will seriously challenge the human workforce, and in some cases humans will find themselves working alongside robots or other “intelligent’ computer systems.  In other cases, botsourcing will eliminate jobs and will force impacted humans to retrain.  This paper discusses the nature and appeal of botsourcing, as well as the challenge to human employment

Improving The Operational Environment Thru Internet Utilization

This study demonstrates how an Internet based network of railroad information resources can provide a dynamic, cost effective resource to help management improve their operational environment. The informational and knowledge sources needed to support the interoperability and integration of rail networks and their employees are increasingly available via the Internet.  Public resources on the Internet primarily support the distribution of industry publications, notice and proceedings of industry conferences and meetings, communications about legal and legislative issues, and advertisements.  Private resources on the Internet support reservation and scheduling of rail equipment, tendering shipment information, tracking equipment movements, and verifying billing information.  Much of the private information is incorporated into the knowledge management systems developed by individual railroads.  The study provides a proposed stratification of these resources into seven categories: Research and Statistical Resources, Newsletters and Press Releases, Industry Initiatives, Legislative Information, Industry Publications, Professional Associations, and Educational Resources. 

Ace Project As A Project Management Tool

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve the project goals and objectives while adhering to project constraints - usually scope, quality, time and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of resources necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. Project management software provides an active learning component to the study of project management principles. Prior literature indicates that active learning contributes to student success when students are actively engaged both inside and outside the classroom

Offshoring Limitations

Using offshore locations to provide high quality products and services at a lower cost makes good economic sense. The current global environment focuses on reducing costs and having a lean organizational structure. There are, however, numerous repercussions being felt by American IT workers due to an increase in offshoring activities. This paper focuses on the impact of offshoring and the weighing of costs and benefits as a result of offshoring activities. Minimizing costs is often cited as the most important reason for American jobs to be outsourced, but a major factor behind offshoring is the intense global competition among nations in a period of slow economic growth. This competition forces global firms to keep a constant watch on costs to achieve a higher degree of efficiency

Web-Based Testing: Exploring The Relationship Between Hardware Usability And Test Performance

Web-based testing has recently become common in both academic and professional settings. A web-based test is administered through a web browser. Individuals may complete a web-based test at nearly any time and at any place. In addition, almost any computer lab can become a testing center. It is important to understand the environmental issues that may influence test performance. This study furthers our understanding of web-based testing. The research is conducted using an experimental method with 220 undergraduate student participants in an academic environment. Test performance effects are examined based on administration environment, computer hardware configuration, and distractions. Results indicate that minor differences in hardware configurations may have a significant effect on test results

The Impact Of Organizational Change On Information Systems Security

When major change is imposed on organizations, there is often resistance and resentment.  Organizational change has been identified as one of the key issues that will present significant challenges to an organization’s effective and timely implementation of privacy and security standards.  It will be necessary to identify specific implementation requirements that represent the most significant organizational change challenges.  Organizations will also have to identify processes and methods to foster acceptance of the change associated with the  entire compliance project  This research examines changing information security requirements and the strategies organizations are developing to meet the related challenges.&nbsp

E-Commerce/Network Security Considerations

E-Commerce security issues can be grouped under the categories of system availability, data integrity, and data privacy. System availability means that all necessary components are available to support a given users transmission requirements. Data integrity means that all valid messages that are sent are received, messages are not altered in such as way as to make them invalid, and unauthorized messages are not introduced and transmitted over the network. Data privacy means that transmitted messages contain only 'need to know' information and are seen only by their intended audience. Enterprise network security is typically reactive, and relies heavily on host security. This approach creates complicated interactions between protocols and systems that can cause incorrect behavior and slow response to attacks. Network security at both the e-commerce and customer sites must be constantly reviewed and suitable countermeasures must be planned. The security of a site depends on the security of the internal systems and the security of external networks

The Graduate MIS Security Course: Objectives And Challenges

Given the magnitude of real and potential losses, both private and public employers increasingly expect graduates of management information systems (MIS) programs to understand information security concepts. The infrastructure requirements for the course includes setting up a secure laboratory environment to accommodate the development of viruses and worms. The labs and lectures are intended to instruct students in the inspection and protection of information assets, as well as detection of and reaction to threats to information assets