IT Offshore Provider Profiling Strategies: New Zealand and Indian Perspectives

Offshoring of IT products and services to provider nations belonging to the Asia Pacific region is a growing phenomenon. However, clients are apprehensive of risks undertaken by outsourcing work to businesses in different economic spaces which represent different time zones, cultures and income status. This study does an empirical investigation through twenty case studies to understand the profiling strategies used by IT offshore provider organisations in two diverse countries – India (farshore) and New Zealand (nearshore) – to improve their business image and reduce clients’ perceptions of risks. Findings reveal that strategies used by IT providers depend upon ownership status by clients or third parties, their organisational size as well as cultural differences between client and provider nations. The paper contributes to existing studies on emerging offshore marketplace and explains global strategies adopted by IT provider businesses to remain competitive. offshore markets, profiling strategies, outsourcing arrangements, national consortia, accreditation

Managing Enterprise Systems for Enhancing Business Benefits

Enterprise systems (ESs) necessitate a substantial investment for most organisations and maximising benefits from this investment is a critical issue. This research utilises an ES data transformation model from existing literature to investigate how ES data were transformed into knowledge by a hi-tech manufacturing firm from an ES implementation, and how this knowledge was used to provide benefits for the company. Findings indicate that the ES data transformation process was the result of making knowledge-leveraging actions at both operational and executive levels. At the operational level, the ES data supported day-to-day running of business functions to provide an infrastructure for actions. At the executive level, various tools and methods were used for transforming ES data into knowledge including the use of data warehouses and business intelligence modules that helped in extraction and manipulation of data, and reporting on particular data objects. Cascades of balanced scorecards were used for knowledge sharing and to assess progress for achieving goals. The organisation continues to establish analytical and knowledge-leveraging processes to optimise and realise business value from its ES investment

Bridging digital divides in the learning process: challenges and implications of integrating ICTs

Abstract: This paper investigates an initiative by a New Zealand School to integrate one-to-one ICTs into the learning process, called \u27Bring your own device\u27 (BYOD). Prior to embarking on the BYOD initiative, similar past initiatives have been studied and some persistent issues have been identified. Before starting with the detailed investigation of BYOD, a preliminary analysis of the public response data from different sources has also been conducted. From the past initiatives and preliminary analysis of public responses, we have been able to form general research questions for the study. A socio-cultural ecological approach to mobile learning has been considered appropriate as a means of analysis for this study. Authors: Janak Adhikari, Doctoral Student; Dr. David Parsons, Associate Professor and Dr. Anuradha Mathrani, Lecturer, in the department of Information Technology, Massey University Auckland. This paper was presented at mLearn 2012 Mobile and Contextual Learning, Helsinki, Finland, October 16 -18, 2012 and published in the Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning .  &nbsp

ICT Education: Socio-Learning Issues Faced by International Students

Internationalization of education industry has increased the international student intake amongst private and public funded education providers in western countries. However, international students are faced with many challenges in different educational and societal settings of the host country. This study examines a case involving the information and communication technology (ICT) education sector to identify some of the learning and social issues in an international student context. Learning issues relate to understanding of the host country’s education framework structure and to application of subject related concepts to real world practice. Social issues relate to linguistic difficulties and cultural diversity in foreign countries. The study proposes to enhance the student’ socio-learning experience by using a game based learning strategy aligned with the ICT course structure, to encourage student interactions by having more learning and social exchanges

Building Trust Across Virtual Social Spaces: the Software Vendors’ Perspectives

Offshore outsourcing across the world has triggered a new social structure in the way global businesses operate, resulting in emerging virtual social spaces between clients and vendors. These social structures involve understanding of cultural connections over space and time through telecommunication networks, as knowledge intensive tasks are being realized across national boundaries. Clients and vendors belonging to diverse cultures are required to take measures to build trust in relationships for sustained professional success. This paper looks at the trust building practice and experience of four small and medium sized software vendor organizations based in New Zealand and India. The case study data reveals how vendors are sensitized to client apprehensions in sharing knowledge across virtual social spaces. Some practices identified are face-to-face communication to bring visibility of social cue codes, documentation as a common thread of control, international accreditations to build reputations, and use of integrated groupware solutions with privileges for both clients and vendors. A ‘trust curve’ model is proposed to show the trust building process taking visibility factors as determinants of trust

Understanding Learning Outcome Divide in the Learning Process from a Teachers Perspective: A BYOD Case Study

Technology-mediated learning has established itself as a valuable pathway towards learners’ academic and social development. However, within the adoption stages of ICT enabled education further questions have been raised in terms of equity of information literacy and learning outcomes. For the last three years, we have been working with one of the earliest secondary schools in New Zealand to introduce a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. In this paper, we have explored how the information literacy, computer self-efficacy and nature of technology usage are transforming school and classroom curriculum practices. Our analysis reveals changes in boundaries between formal and informal learning spaces with one-to-one devices providing the link between school and home, teachers being transformed to facilitators as students take more ownership of their own learning and how technology is shaping classroom activities which further influence learning outcomes which are known to result in digital outcome divides

Opportunities and challenges of mobile learning for promoting mathematical literacy

Mathematical literacy plays an important role in supporting individuals to fulfil their professional roles in modern society. The affordances of mobile technologies as well as the emergence of new theories in mobile learning have the potential to promote mathematical literacy. However, implementation of mobile learning in Indonesian society faces challenges related to perceived ethical and learning issues in curriculum-based educational settings. This study aims to investigate the preparedness of teachers in integrating mathematics subject content with mobile technologies, especially in promoting mathematical literacy. An exploratory study has been conducted using mixed methods. Questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand teachers’ knowledge in mathematical literacy and to identify opportunities and challenges for mobile learning within instruction. Findings indicate that teachers mostly do not know about mathematical literacy, indicating that the concept of mathematical literacy needs to be promoted. Further, most schools prohibit the use of mobile devices in classrooms as they are wary of inappropriate use of mobile devices which may harm students’ mental health and distract them from learning. Study finds this to be the most common cause for teachers’ reluctance in using mobile learning