Measuring Information Systems Agility: Construct Definition and Scale Development

Organizational agility has been a touted by both researchers and practitioners as a key success factor in navigating turbulent business environments. With a heavy reliance on computer systems by many organizations, information systems agility has become an important contributor to organizational agility. The purpose of this paper is to investigate previous attempts at defining the IS agility construct and synthesize the previous work into a single, comprehensive definition of IS agility. With a complete definition of IS agility compiled, steps will be outlined for developing a reliable scale for measuring IS agility within organizations

A Theoretical Model of the Enterprise System Agility Life-Cycle

Organizations spend a great deal of money and time maintaining enterprise systems (ES) to support their ongoing business needs. The ability to quickly modify these systems, or ES agility, is of paramount importance. Prior research has investigated factors relating to agility at a single point in time however we believe it is important to consider how agility changes over time. We propose a three phase life-cycle that describes how ES agility evolves as businesses address agility challenges. Upon implementation, an ES unity phase exists where an enterprise system exhibits a “clean” design and has a high level of agility. Eventually, system changes will add complexity to the design and the enterprise system will grow; a phase we call ES Expansion. A third phase, ES rigidity, exists when continuous changes to the system make it increasingly difficult to address new agility challenges and the system exhibits limited agility characteristics

Control in App Platforms: The Integration-Differentiation Paradox

Despite violations of several common assumptions regarding the use of control, platform ecosystems rely heavily on such mechanisms. This calls into question whether controls serve purposes other than just the alignment of their participants’ interests, as the extant literature suggests. We develop a model that explains how and why control mechanisms influence performance of applications in a mobile computing platform ecosystem. Our model uncovers an apparent paradox in that controls influence performance because they promote knowledge integration but simultaneously inhibit differentiation. Knowledge is embedded within controls, which allows developers to leverage it in developing high-quality applications. However, leveraging the same knowledge stock inhibits the extent to which developers can differentiate their work from others. Taking into consideration endogenous instruments of control, we will test our model using data collected from Research-in-Motion’s Blackberry AppWorld. Our results will extend the current understanding of the purpose and use of controls in platform

Security Breach at Target

This case study follows the security breach that affected Target at the end of 2013 and resulted in the loss of financial data for over 70 million customers. The case provides an overview of the company and describes the reasons that led to one of the biggest security breaches in history. It offers a discussion on Target’s vendor management processes and the vulnerability at Fazio Mechanical Services that was among the main causes of the breach. Further, the case introduces the incident response plan implemented by Target and discusses the aftermath of the attack. The lessons learned describe some of the steps the company took to mitigate risks in the future and to strengthen its security posture. While the breach had a significant impact on Target, the organization was able to fully recover from it and develop best practices that are now widely implemented by other retailers. The case is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in information security or information systems courses that discuss vendor management, security incident response, or general security program administration topics

What Technical and Professional Skills are Needed for Cybersecurity Roles?

The Cybersecurity Skills Survey was designed to respond to the high-demand for cybersecurity professionals, noted by the findings of SIM (Society for Information Management) IT Trends and Issues Study (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021). The findings of the IT Trends and Issues Study are based upon input from over 1,000 IT leaders representing 37 SIM Chapters. The goals of the cybersecurity skills survey were to identify: (1) What technical skills are needed for entry-level professionals in cybersecurity jobs? (2) What professional skills are needed for entry level professionals in cybersecurity jobs? (3) What technical skills are needed for early-career professionals in cybersecurity jobs? and (4) What professional skills are needed for early-career professionals in cybersecurity jobs? The survey findings provide key insights into in-demand skills and “difficult-to-find” competencies. This paper reports on 99 responses captured from IT leaders representing the SIM Chapters in St. Louis, Austin, Milwaukee, and Phoenix

Naturopathic Physician Attitudes and Practices for Vaccination and Primary Care in the State of Vermont

Introduction: Recent increase in measles cases has sparked vaccination controversy. Naturopathic physicians (NDs) have been recognized as primary care providers by VT since 2012. It is not well understood how NDs address vaccination with patients. Our goal was to determine how Vermont NDs address vaccines and preventative care with their patients.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1234/thumbnail.jp

The 2022 SIM IT Issues and Trends Study

The Society for Information Management’s 42nd Annual IT Issues and Trends Study received responses from 796 IT executives, including 334 CIOs and 540 unique organizations. The average revenue of participating organizations was $6.1 billion (median$400 million). IT spending as a percentage of revenue was 5.9%, up slightly from 2021 but close to the 10-year average of 5.7%. However, 74.6% of organizations reported increasing IT headcount, a 10-year high and up from 63.6% in 2021. Similarly, 94.8% reported increases in average IT salaries. The top five IT management issues for organizations in 2022 were Cybersecurity, Alignment, Analytics, Compliance and Digital Transformation; the top five largest IT investments were Analytics, Cybersecurity, Cloud, Application Development and ERP; while the five most difficult to find soft skills were Critical Thinking, Teamwork, Business Acumen, Leadership and Problem Solving. The most common criteria for assessing CIO performance were Value of IT to the Business, Internal Customer Satisfaction, Cybersecurity, Strategic Contribution of IT and IT Availability. The average tenure of CIOs was 5.9 years (median 4 years) with 48% reporting to the CEO. CIOs continue to come from outside organizations at record levels (82%), and 24.6 came from prior non-IT positions