Exploring Differences in the Perception of Business & IT Alignment

A key success factor for a successful company in a dynamic environment is effective and efficient information technology (IT) supporting business strategies and processes. In recent surveys however it is concluded that in most companies IT is not aligned with business strategy. The alignment between business needs and IT capabilities is therefore still a prominent area of concern. What is striking about these surveys is that they investigate the concerns of IT executives. The logic of business & IT alignment (BIA) however requires both IT and business executives to share this concern. Other research shows that business executives do not rank business & IT alignment very high in their concerns. This result raises the question whether BIA is an IT issue? And also: Do business executives perceive business & IT alignment differently than their IT colleagues? This paper investigates the difference in perception of BIA between business executives and IT executives. The paper presents an brief overview of the theory on BIA and reports an assessment of BIA maturity by business managers and IT managers in 12 Dutch firms

The Business Value of IT: A Conceptual Model for Selecting Valuation Methods

The relation between IT and value is a complex and disputed one. Many studies are not decisive in their results. This paper presents an overview of approaches to the ‘quest for value’ and identifies the qualities of and issues with each approach. It adds several new insights, including what’s missing from most approaches: taking into account the nature of the investment. From this notion a conceptual model to select the most appropriate valuation approach is developed

Exploring the Relationship Between Alignment and Strategy

Aligning business and IT strategy is a prominent area of concern. Organizations that successfully align their business strategy and their IT strategy, outperform their non-aligned peers (Chan et al., 1997). This paper explores the relationship between business strategy, IT strategy and alignment capability. We found that each business strategy can be supported by all IT strategies, but that certain combinations provide a better fit than others. Regarding business strategy and alignment capability we found no conclusive relationship. Regarding the relationship between IT strategy and alignment capability, however, a clear relationship appeared. We explored this relationship further in a dual case study of two organizations having distinctly different IT strategies. One organization sees IT as an enabler for the business processes with mainly an internal impact, whereas the other organization IT sees as a driver for business innovation that can create competitive advantage in the market place. Based upon an assessment of their alignment capabilities we found that the company with the ‘innovative’ IT strategy scored a distinctly higher alignment capability than the company with the ‘essential’ IT strategy. Although this conclusion may not be surprising, it provides further evidence for the statement that a more ‘progressive’ IT strategy pairs with a better alignment of business and IT

The Impact of National Cultures on Business & IT Alignment

Aligning IT to business needs is still one of the most important concerns for senior management. The message of Business & IT Alignment (BIA) is logical and undisputed, but implementation apparently difficult. As part of a research program on the differences between the theory and practice of BIA this paper presents a conceptual exploration of the impact of national cultures on the maturity of BIA. The paper relies on Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1980) to understand the concept of culture. We present a compact literature review on the influence of culture on IT that leads to the conclusion that there is an influence and that it is likely that also alignment of business and IT will be affected by cultural aspects. After a brief introduction we analyze this influence by conceptually assessing the potential impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on the variables of BIA maturity.

Value of Online Social Networks from the Perspective of the User

This paper reports a study on the willingness to pay for the services of online social networks (OSNs). The relevancy of the question is derived from indications that these OSNs are considering charging their users for more advanced services in order to develop from the advertisement-based business model. The value of these OSNs has been studied mainly from the perspective of the advertiser. This paper reports a study into the value of OSNs from the user perspective. More specifically, the study investigated the willingness to pay for the use of the OSNs Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and the factors influencing this willingness. Based upon a survey amongst 202 Dutch users of OSNs, we found what percentage of users would be willing to pay for the three social networks in our study and we tested the value they would be willing to attribute to the services. We also tested the correlation between the willingness to pay and the eight potential factors of influence that were derived from literature. The contribution the study makes is that it provides insight in the factors influencing the value of OSNs from the perspective of the users. For the organizations behind social media, this is useful information in developing new business models that include charging users for specific services

The Impact of IT Management Processes on Enterprise Agility

In dynamic business environments, the ability to adapt is highly important for organizations in order to best their competition. This is necessary because throughout the years of doing business, organizations have experienced but one constant factor: change. The concept of enterprise agility is designed to counter this phenomenon. In this regard, IT is perceived to play a vital role in enterprise agility, most often viewed as an enabler. However, IT can be an inhibitor of enterprise agility as well because of its potentially restricting nature, structural thinking, bureaucracy, rigor, etc. This especially becomes apparent in information systems (IS) that have been operational in organizations for several years. This research aims at discovering processes of IT management that empower or obstruct enterprise agility. We identify processes on the one hand and aspects of enterprise agility on the other and relate them to each other using propositions. We conclude with the identified contribution of IT management to enterprise agility, propose directions for optimization as well as offer suggestions for additional research

United We Stand? Exploring the Willingness to Cooperate Amongst Open Source Service Providers

Open Source Software (OSS) is an increasingly hot topic in the business domain. The adoption of OSS in organizations has experienced an increasing uptake in the last decade. One of the key benefits mentioned is the unlimited access to the source code, which enables large communities to continuously improve a software application and prevents vendor lock-in. How attractive these benefits may be, the market for OSS however remains limited. This paper reports a study, undertaken in the Netherlands, amongst 206 Open Source Software Service providers (with a 34% response rate) to determine whether service providers wanted to cooperate in an Association that will set quality levels and guarantees to its members and their customers

Sustainability in IS Projects: A Case Study

Sustainability is without doubt one of the most important challenges of our time. How can we develop prosperity, without compromising the life of future generations? Information systems (IS) provide organizations with the ability to change and improve business processes to better support sustainable practices. Therefore, IS can make a contribution to the sustainable development of organizations. However, the organizational change aspects of Green IS are covered only marginally in the emerging literature. This paper aims to contribute the debate on Green IS, by highlighting the role of sustainability in the projects developing or implementing IS. The paper therefore explores the impact of the concepts of sustainability on IS projects. Based on a literature review of the concepts of sustainability, and the relationship between sustainability and project, we will report a maturity assessment of a case study of a Green IS project. We will conclude the paper by addressing the most likely areas of impact for sustainability in IS projects

Exploring the relationship between sustainability and project success - conceptual model and expected relationships

Sustainability is one of the most important challenges of our time. Companies are integrating sustainability in their marketing, communication and their actions. Sustainability has more recently also been linked to project management. The logic behind this link is that sustainability needs change and projects are realizing change. Several studies explored how the concept of sustainability impact project management. The research project reported in this paper elaborates on these works by studying how sustainability affects project success. Project managers, logically, strive for project success and considering sustainability may influence this success. Based upon a review of relevant literature, the paper develops a conceptual model that provides a more detailed understanding of how considering different dimensions of sustainability may affect the individual criteria of project success. The study also provides a conceptual mapping of the different relationships between dimensions of sustainability and criteria of project success. This mapping shows that the most positive relationships are expected for the relationship between sustainability and the success criteria stakeholder satisfaction, future readiness and controlled project execution. The expected relationship between considering sustainability and completing the project on schedule and within budget is uncertain

Exploring the Influence of National Cultures on Non-Compliance Behavior

IT organizations and CEO’s are, and should be, worried these days about the (lack of) data confidentiality and the usage of “shadow” IT systems by employees. In addition to the company’s risk of monetary loss or public embarrassment, the senior management themselves increasingly risk personal fines or even imprisonment. Several trends reinforce the attention for these subjects, including the fact that an increasing number of employees perform parts of their work tasks from home (RSA, 2007) and the increasing bandwidth available to users which makes them rely on the Internet for satisfying their business and personal computing needs (Desisto, Plummer, & Smith, 2008). Employees’ complying with the existing IT security policies is therefore essential. This paper presents a study on one of the factors that influence non-compliance behavior of insiders or employees in organizations: National Culture. The expected influence derived from researching literature has been tested in a survey study amongst employees of a big-5 accountancy firm in the Netherlands and Belgium. The study concludes that cultural aspects are indeed important factors influencing non-compliance behavior, but that not all expectations were confirmed