Barriers to Mission-Critical Open Source Software Adoption by Organizations: A Provider Perspective

While open source has long been increasing in the infrastructure software domain, few organizations have adopted open source for mission-critical software application. We use the Delphi method to investigate barriers to mission-critical OSS adoption as perceived by two panels of experienced providers in France (n= 18) and in Canada (Quebec) (n= 11). On average, panelists have 15 years of experience in the software industry including 9 years with open source software. By comparing the barriers selected by each group, zones of concordance and discordance are identified. We complement the open source adoption literature by adding new insights to the existing body of knowledge dominated by client perspective alone. We also anchor our findings in the extant literature by comparing our results with those of previous studies

European hospitals' transition toward fully electronic-based systems: do information technology security and privacy practices follow?

Background: Traditionally, health information has been mainly kept in paper-based records. This has deeply changed throughout approximately the last three decades with the widespread use of multiple health information technologies. The digitization of health care systems contributes to improving health care delivery. However, it also exposes health records to security and privacy breaches inherently related to information technology (IT). Thus, health care organizations willing to leverage IT for improved health care delivery need to put in place IT security and privacy measures consistent with their use of IT resources. Objective: In this study, 2 main objectives are pursued: (1) to assess the state of the implementation of IT security and privacy practices in European hospitals and (2) to assess to what extent these hospitals enhance their IT security and privacy practices as they move from paper-based systems toward fully electronic-based systems. Methods: Drawing on data from the European Commission electronic health survey, we performed a cluster analysis based on IT security and privacy practices implemented in 1723 European hospitals. We also developed an IT security index, a compounded measure of implemented IT security and privacy practices, and compared it with the hospitals' level in their transition from a paper-based system toward a fully electronic-based system. Results: A total of 3 clearly distinct patterns of health IT-related security and privacy practices were unveiled. These patterns, as well as the IT security index, indicate that most of the sampled hospitals (70.2%) failed to implement basic security and privacy measures consistent with their digitization level. Conclusions: Even though, on average, the most electronically advanced hospitals display a higher IT security index than hospitals where the paper system still dominates, surprisingly, it appears that the enhancement of IT security and privacy practices as the health information digitization advances in European hospitals is neither systematic nor strong enough regarding the IT-security requirements. This study will contribute to raising awareness among hospitals' managers as to the importance of enhancing their IT security and privacy measures so that they can keep up with the security threats inherently related to the digitization of health care organizations. © 2019 Journal of Medical Internet Research. All rights reserved

The Usage of Password Generators to Enhance Data Security in Most Used Applications

One of the world's global issues is data breaches. These crimes can happen because most people use hackable passwords such as their birthdates and sequencing numbers or alphabets so they would not be easily forgotten. Setting weak passwords in almost or all accounts certainly raises issues and increases the possibility that classified information is hacked and leaked. When it happens, classified data can be misused and taken advantage. This research will help spread awareness to society on how important data security is and how helpful password generators can be to reduce and prevent the probability of data security crimes from happening. This quantitative research uses SMART-PLS as a statistical tool to process the data gathered and random sampling to determine its population. SMART-PLS is variance-based structural equation modeling that uses the partial squares path modeling method. Overall, researchers successfully gathered 114 datasets. Google Forms was used to gather the data. A potential limitation of the study is that all respondents are primarily based in Jakarta. Expanding the geographic focus for further study to gain more insights is highly recommended. 48% of the respondents came from the age group of under 20, occupation as students. Factors significantly affecting people's intention to comply with password generators are perceived password effectiveness, perceived ease of use, subjective norms, and attitude. Eventually, the intention to comply may arouse actual compliance. The result of the study can be used to raise educational campaigns on the usefulness of password generators to promote data security. Based on the result, 78.9% of the respondents are willing to increase their data security. This research contribution is to see how aware people are of data security, how well they know password generators as a technology to generate strong passwords, and how welcome they are with the idea of using password generators

Perceived Organizational Readiness for IT-Based Change and its Antecedents: An Exploratory Study in the Healthcare Sector

This study builds on the change management literature and identifies variables associated with perceptions of organizational readiness for change in the specific context of health information systems. A questionnaire was distributed to the future users of a telehomecare project in 11 home care organizations. A total of 138 questionnaires were returned, for a response rate of 90%. Our findings reveal that project managers would benefit from explicitly addressing change content perceptions when pre-implementing information systems. More specifically, all three types of change sentiments – vision clarity, change appropriateness and change efficacy – have a positive influence on users’ perceptions of organizational readiness. Furthermore, we observed that users’ perceptions of the organization’s flexibility were positively related to organizational readiness for change. In short, as organizations continue to invest in IT to improve performance, understanding the factors that influence organizational readiness for change represents an important avenue for future research

HOME TELEMONITORING FOR CHRONIC DISEASE MANAGEMENT: AN ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

International audienceOBJECTIVES:There have been very few assessments of the economics of home telemonitoring, and the quality of evidence has often been weakened by methodological flaws. This has made it difficult to compare telehomecare with traditional home care for the chronic diseases studied. This economic analysis is an attempt to address this gap in the literature.METHODS:We have analyzed the consumption of healthcare services by 95 patients with various chronic diseases over a 21-month period, that is, 12 months before, 4 months during home telemonitoring use, and over 5 months after withdraw of the technology.RESULTS:Our findings indicate significant benefits to the home telemonitoring program as evidenced by large reductions in number of hospitalizations, length of average hospital stay, and, to a lesser extent, number of emergency room visits. Contrary to expectations, however, the number of home visits by nurses increased both during and after the telemonitoring intervention. In terms of the financial analysis, the telehomecare program resulted in significant savings: the equivalent of over CAD1,557 per patient as calculated on an annualized basis. This represents a net gain of 41 percent as compared to traditional home care.CONCLUSIONS:While the present economic analysis led to positive results, additional assessments should be conducted to confirm the cost-effectiveness of this mode of care delivery