Factors influencing the identification of it indirect costs: A case study

Organizations expenditure on Information technology (IT) related investments continue to rise in the face of the fierce competition in the various marketplaces. Nevertheless, the problem of evaluating such investments remains a challenge to managers due to the inability of the evaluation techniques to accommodate the indirect costs associated with IT investments. This negatively affects the accuracy of the justification process and the investment decision. According to literature, indirect cost factors are not easily identified or quantified because they human and organizational dimensions. Indirect costs, proven to be problematic to accommodate within traditional appraisal techniques, make IT managers choose to ignore them and neglect to include them in IT investment budgets. The research suggests an alternative solution to the problem of quantifying such indirect costs by calling for a more accurate identification of those costs which would enable a more robust management and finally control of such costs. Using a case study the paper highlights the investment decision making process in an international resource company and confirms the call for a more robust identification process. In addition the paper maps each indirect costs factor to the lifecycle stage(s) in which it occurs and presents the factors that influence the quality of the identification process

A comprehensive analysis of it/is indirect costs: Enhancing the evaluation of information systems investments

The level of Information Technology (IT) expenditure within organizations continues to increase over the years in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage in their respective industries. Nonetheless, IT projects still experience budget overruns taking into account the continual fall of hardware costs. This phenomenon presents a dilemma to managers who struggle to evaluate their investments in IT. Adding to the difficulty is the peculiar nature of such investments having Human and Organizational dimensions. Such dimensions are later translated into indirect costs that are both difficult to identify and quantify hence are ignored by managers which hinders the evaluation process. The lack of knowledge of managers about IT/IS indirect costs affect their ability to determine the true costs of deploying IT. It is closing the gap that this paper strives to explore a new method for identifying, managing and controlling IT indirect costs through a case study enquiry of a leading gold producing company. The research establishes a rational that goes beyond the traditional quantification appraisal of costs which is inadequate in the case of indirect costs. It proposes a solution that helps to thoroughly identify the indirect costs, mitigate their effect and achieve the desired control while enhancing the evaluation process through their inclusion

How can Trade Help to Rebuild and Enhance the Economies of the Southern Mediterranean Countries?

Arab countries are experiencing major changes in their governance systems. While the features of the new era are still unclear, what is certain is that a new development paradigm will be adopted and significant efforts will be made to rebuild the economies of these countries, which have been seriously disrupted due to the revolutions and their aftermath. This article seeks to answer the question of how trade can play a significant positive role in rebuilding and enhancing the economies of these Southern Mediterranean Countries

Investigating the factors affecting information systems evaluation within sustainable environments

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.Currently, organizations and stakeholders are more concerned with environmental issues, thus the role of information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) within organizations towards ecological being sustainability has changed. Environmental or Green initiatives is realized as having credibly to assist in shifting to a sustainable society. Furthermore, the elements within IS/IT evaluation including costs, benefits and risks within organizations associated with IS evaluation and sustainability are taken into account in terms of the challenges concerning green practices (Green IS/IT) leading the organizations to attempt to diminish the impact of their IS/IT operations towards the environments socially and ethically, which indirectly assist them in achieving competitive advantages competitors through adopting and implementing environmental sustainability practices. In addition, government sectors are taking a step closer in order to create awareness and incorporate green into all components of the business functions. Practitioners and scholars are motivating to use the existing frameworks and models to evaluate IS/IT initiatives with sustainability taken into perspectives. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to critically review the normative literature associated with IS evaluation within sustainable environments and to develop a conceptual framework or model for IS evaluation within sustainable organizations that measures the impact of environmental sustainability factors and highlight a number of research gaps that need to be addressed in future research

Enhancing IT investments productivity: Integrating network QOS and it indirect costs

Increasing productivity is considered one of the major driving factors for a successful business. From an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure perspective, obtaining an optimised performance of resources is expected to improve productivity. From a technical viewpoint, the introduction of Quality of Service (QoS) models have been perceived to optimise the performance of the organisation network backbone. These models aim to provide an acceptable level of service assurance to the newly introduced applications and services such as voice and video. From a management viewpoint, the proper management of IT investments indirect costs can lead to a reduction of the overall cost portfolio. Consequently, both benefits and productivity increase are likely to be realised. This paper introduces network QoS strategy within the hierarchy of business infrastructure. In addition, it aims to identify the relationship between network QoS and IT indirect costs. Such integration demonstrates how network QoS strategy can be used to control IT indirect costs as well as enhancing network performance

The US-China Trade Conflict: A Game Theoretical Analysis

Game Theory has been gaining great importance in Economics, encouraging research in many theoretical and applied fields. This paper relies on simple game theory tools to set up a major international trade dispute. Using the backward deduction approach, the strategies of the United States and China in their recent trade conflict are analyzed.Trade Conflict, Exchange Rate Policy, Game Theory

Understanding the factors that attract travellers to buy tickets online in Saudi Arabia

Despite widespread discussions of online consumer behaviour and the effect of web quality on online user’s actions, there is still a lack of research in the area of consumer attitude towards the services provided by airline companies due to the specific nature of travellers. – being using the internet for different motivations and buying specific kind of product (e-tickets). This study aims to measure consumers’ electronic satisfaction and intention to purchase tickets from Airlines websites. The results provide better understanding on the factors that attract travellers to adopt the most cost effective distribution channel for Airlines (own website) for ticketing needs. To obtain the study objective, a conceptual framework is developed based on literature pertaining to e-consumer behaviour, web quality, and travel and tourism streams. A detective quantitative methodology was chosen to examine the constructs and the relations within the framework. An online survey targeting actual airline online users (travellers) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is suggested with items covering 9 constructs: Information Quality (IQ), System Quality (SQ), Perceived usefulness (PU), Perceived ease of use (PEOU),e-Trust (ET), Airline reputation (AR), Price Perception (PP), e-Satisfaction (ES), and Intention to Purchase (IP). Findings would help decision makers within airline companies to understand their customers’ online behaviour and enable enhancements and modifications to be made to their airline storefront, hence ensuring the satisfaction of potential customers and conversion of visitors into buyers

Measuring the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) components on the non financial performance of commercial banks: Egypt case

This paper presents customer relationship management (CRM) components as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks, examined from the bankers' point of view. Then, it intends to measure their effect on the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty from the customers’ point of view as examples of the non financial performance measures. The paper is quantitative in nature and consists of two different structured questionnaires using convenience/quota sampling. The first involved 180 employees in order to measure CRM applicability, and the second involved 270 customers to measure the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty and their effect on the Egyptian Commercial Banks' financial performance The findings show that the selected banks apply CRM components but the level of application differs from one bank to another. The results showed a significant positive relationship between CRM and customer satisfaction in the Egyptian Commercial Banks, when applying them together and not separately. In addition, there is a strong positive effect between customer satisfaction and loyalty which was reflected on the Commercial Banks' financial performance. The findings confirm the importance of studying and implementing CRM to achieve customer loyalty and improve the Egyptian Commercial Banks financial performance. Banks wishing to improve their relationships with customers need to focus on the CRM components to develop relevant and effective marketing strategies and tactics. The paper measures the CRM as a multidimensional construct as applied on the Egyptian Commercial Banks and relate it to the achievement of the ultimate goal of retaining customers to gaining a sustainable competitive advantage and achieve more profits