Project Management - Insights in the digital context

This position paper presents an overview of key insights pertaining to the management of projects in the digital business context, as derived from pertinent academic and practitioner literature. These insights, along with insights from subject matter experts, have informed development of IVI’s IT-CMF Project Management (PM) Critical Capability

Risk Management Considerations in Cloud Computing Adoption

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a pivotal role in enabling organizational capability and productivity, and in initiating and facilitating innovation across all industry sectors. In recent years, cloud computing has emerged as a growing trend because it serves as an enabler of scalable, flexible and powerful computing. Consequently, each year significant global investment is made in migrating to the cloud environment. However, despite its growing popularity, several risks and security concerns surround the cloud computing model. Therefore, understanding an organization’s readiness and ability to mitigate associated risks is critical prior to embarking on the cloud computing journey. One approach to determining an organization’s ability to effectively migrate to the cloud is to determine the current maturity of both its cloud computing capabilities and its risk management capabilities. As such, the Cloud Computing tool and the Risk Management (RM) Critical Capability of the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF) are proposed as effective maturity assessment instruments to enable organizations to establish future roadmaps that will improve their maturity with respect to their cloud computing readiness. Increasing the level of maturity improves organizational practices surrounding the identification and mitigation of risks/threats that pertain to the cloud environment

Understanding and Supporting Cloud Computing Adoption in Irish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Cloud Computing adoption has experienced a considerable rate of growth since its emergence in 2006. In 2011, it had become the top technology priority for organizations worldwide and according to some leading industry reports the cloud computing market is estimated to reach $241 billion by 2020. Reasons for adoption are multi‐fold, including for example the expected realisation of benefits pertaining to cost reduction, improved scalability, improved resource utilization, worker mobility and collaboration, and business continuity, among others. Research into the cloud computing adoption phenomenon has to date primarily focused on its impact on the larger, multinational enterprises. However, one key area of the market where cloud computing is expected to hold considerable promise is that of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME). SMEs are recognized as being inherently different from their larger enterprise counterparts, not least from a resource constraint perspective and for this reason, cloud computing is reported to offer significant benefits for SMEs through, for example, facilitating a reduction of the financial burden associated with new technology adoption. This paper reports findings from a recent study of Cloud Computing adoption among Irish SMEs. Despite its suggested importance, this study found that almost half of the respondents had not migrated any services or processes to the cloud environment. Further, with respect to those who had transitioned to the cloud, the data suggests that many of these SMEs did not rigorously assess their readiness for adopting cloud computing technology or did not adopt in‐depth approaches for managing the cloud lifecycle. These findings have important implications for the development/improvement of national strategies or policies to support the successful adoption of Cloud Computing technology among the SME market. This paper puts forward recommendations to support the SME cloud adoption journey

Understanding and Supporting Cloud Computing Adoption in Irish Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Cloud Computing adoption has experienced a considerable rate of growth since its emergence in 2006. In 2011, it had become the top technology priority for organizations worldwide and according to some leading industry reports the cloud computing market is estimated to reach $241 billion by 2020. Reasons for adoption are multi-fold, including for example the expected realisation of benefits pertaining to cost reduction, improved scalability, improved resource utilization, worker mobility and collaboration, and business continuity, among others. Research into the cloud computing adoption phenomenon has to date primarily focused on its impact on the larger, multinational enterprises. However, one key area of the market where cloud computing is expected to hold considerable promise is that of the Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME). SMEs are recognized as being inherently different from their larger enterprise counterparts, not least from a resource constraint perspective and for this reason, cloud computing is reported to offer significant benefits for SMEs through, for example, facilitating a reduction of the financial burden associated with new technology adoption. This paper reports findings from a recent study of Cloud Computing adoption among Irish SMEs. Despite its suggested importance, this study found that almost half of the respondents had not migrated any services or processes to the cloud environment. Further, with respect to those who had transitioned to the cloud, the data suggests that many of these SMEs did not rigorously assess their readiness for adopting cloud computing technology or did not adopt in-depth approaches for managing the cloud life cycle. These findings have important implications for the development/improvement of national strategies or policies to support the successful adoption of Cloud Computing technology among the SME market. This paper puts forward recommendations to support the SME cloud adoption journey

Innovation Management: insights in the digital context

The purpose of this Innovation Management (IM) position paper is to present an overview in summary form of key literature (academic and practitioner) that has informed the shape of innovation management in the digital business context

Business Innovation and Differentiation: Maturing the IT Capability

The IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF) determines an organization’s current and desired level of IT capability maturity and supports planning for improvement. Through capability improvement initiatives, organizations can more readily realize sustainable advantages through IT-enabled business innovation and differentiation

Leading with Love: The Confluence of Spirituality and Leadership in College Students

This study explored the relationship between spirituality and leadership in college students, creating a conceptual framework for student spiritual leadership. Based in the prior work of leadership theory, college student leadership development, faith development, spiritual leadership, spirituality in higher education, and the environment of faith-based institutions, this research built upon previous research to create a framework for future study. Using a case study method that considered a specific context, fourth-year students at a mid-size Catholic institution were interviewed, along with faculty and staff who offered observations of the students. While these students are a small sample of the college student population, the findings from this case study demonstrate that spirituality and leadership share an important relationship with each other. Spirituality was shown to be a significant influence on leadership in four ways: (1) as motivation, (2) by shaping leadership values, (3) through an emphasis on justice, and (4) through relationships and community. The influence of leadership on spirituality was less significant in this study, although a moderate correlation was found. The case demonstrated the importance of justice in the pedagogy and mission of the program studied. Furthermore, students valued the concept and significance of justice, although a strong connection between personal leadership and justice was not articulated by most of the students

Enterprise Cloud Adoption - Cloud Maturity Assessment Model

The introduction and use of cloud computing by an organization has the promise of significant benefits that include reduced costs, improved services, and a pay-per-use model. Organizations that successfully harness these benefits will potentially have a distinct competitive edge, due to their increased agility and flexibility to rapidly respond to an ever changing and complex business environment. However, as cloud technology is a relatively new phenomenon, there is still a lot to learn about the adoption and use of cloud, including issues such as security, data protection, interoperability, service maturity, and return on investment. These issues need to be considered,and if possible remediated,toenablean organization to effectivelymanage itscloud adoption journey. This paper describesan assessmentmodelthat was developed by the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) using a multi method, two-phasedapproach. The first phase involveda review of the currentacademic and practitioner literature in the area of cloud.Based on the key insights identified, together with inputs from a workgroup of industry experts anonline cloud adoption assessmentinstrumentwas developed. This assessmentinstrument aimedto provide organizations with a management structure to understand and assess their Enterprise IT capability maturity to evaluate, introduce,and manage cloud services. The second phase employed the principles of design science and open innovation to pilot, test, validate, and refine the cloud adoption assessment in collaboration with industry-based practitioners.As companies continue to grapple with the issues posed by cloud, the cloud adoption assessment willallow an organization to clearly determine their ability to manage:•Cloud security•Compliance•Dataprotection•Cloud service provider(s)•Costs•Impact on business and IT•The interoperability and integration between existing in-houseand cloud-basedservicesBy using the assessmentmodel, the level of maturity will identify areas of strengthand weakness within the organization and serve asthe basis for an improvement roadmap,to ensure the successful adoption andon-going management of cloud

Rethinking IT Sourcing and Supplier Management for the Digital Age

In the new era of digital transformation, the role of IT sourcing is becoming more strategic. A recent global outsourcing survey showed 53% of respondents outsource elements of their IT function and that continued growth in outsourcing is expected for the foreseeable future. Due to dependency on external partners, there is an increase in both the potential opportunities and the risks involved. Organizations can benefit from integrating third party capabilities, and accommodating ‘outside in’ innovation that leverages the considerable knowledge base of supply partners and creates synergies among other business ecosystem participants. Despite these opportunities, sourcing organizations have many challenges to contend with, such as sustainable supply chain governance, end-to-end traceability, legal and regulatory global compliance, data privacy, and tolerance for risk in service level agreements and contracts. New outsourcing models such as cloudsourcing, microsourcing, crowdsourcing, impact sourcing and rural sourcing have evolved, and many of these new models require behavioural and managerial type shifts. In order to address these challenges, organizations and their suppliers need strong complementary capabilities to build successful relationships. Both contractual and relational governance are important, and organizations additionally need to maintain a strategy of agility and adaptability in order to mitigate the lock-in and dependency risks associated with outsourcing. This paper presents a review of pertinent literature, and discusses core learnings in relation to impacts on sourcing and supplier management in a digital business landscape. Based on an analysis of the literature and insights gained from engaging with industry and academic experts, the paper proposes a model that can be used to develop a capability to support effective sourcing and supplier management. This model provides a basis for further development in an industry/academia collaborative research project and aims to provide practical guidance to organizations in facing key challenges and optimizing the opportunities of IT sourcing and supplier management in the era of digital transformation