Jean-Paul Van Belle

Factors affecting the organizational adoption of service-oriented architecture (SOA)

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) takes an architectural approach to designing and implementing IT solutions. Although it is fast emerging as one of the major architectural styles to execute enterprise architecture management, academic empirical research on SOA adoption is scarce, with most studies focusing on qualitative analysis. This study investigates organizational SOA adoption in South Africa and combines the perspectives of the diffusion of innovations theory and the technology-organization-environment framework into one comprehensive model of SOA adoption. In order to validate the research instrument and to gauge the state of SOA adoption, an online survey was conducted among enterprise architects in South African organizations. The survey provides insights in the perceived risks, obstacles but also expected benefits of SOA adoption. The results also highlight a number of factors significantly influencing SOA adoption in South Africa. Use of multiple standards and platforms, compatibility, top management support, good governance and strategy, adequate human and financial resources, vendor support for integration and development tools are all significant factors for a fruitful SOA implementation. Finally, all of the above adoption factors as well as cost and complexity were also found to correlate significantly with the degree of success of the SOA implementation as perceived by the IT or EA department.

Open source software adoption by South African MSEs: barriers and enablers

This paper explores the factors which influence the use of Open Source Software (OSS) by small and micro enterprises. OSS has been identified as a facilitator for small enterprises in emerging markets to implement an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure at reduced cost. However, its diffusion in South Africa has been rather slow. This research aims to highlight OSS adoption factors applicable to small enterprises. The Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework was used to guide the data analysis. This research also attempts to identify additional factors which are unique to the context of this research and evaluate their implication on the OSS adoption decision. Although there are many factors influencing the adoption decision by smaller enterprises, the lack of knowledge and exposure were fundamental to the slow diffusion of OSS. Factors contributing to this lack of product knowledge were the lack of OSS marketing and easily accessible OSS vendors.

Management Issues with Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is becoming popular and many organizations are considering the adoption of cloud computing because of its promise of convenient, on demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction [22]. Although Cloud computing has many benefits and has the ability to increase an organizations return on investment, there are many issues such as ethical issues, security issues, data lock-in, lack of standardization, customization, technology bottlenecks, strategy issues etc. which are preventing managements of organizations from adopting cloud computing. As a result of this, it is important for managements of these organizations to be aware of the issues with cloud computing that could affect their implementation success. In order to identify the issues and propose ways to resolve these issues, this paper discusses the different management issues with cloud computing that have been identified by literature and suggests possible ways to resolve them. This paper also suggests that proper investigation into these issues and how to resolve them will increase managements confidence in cloud computing and ensure successful adoption and implementation of cloud computing.

Using ICT as a Value Adding Tool in South African SMEs

This article investigates how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been used to add value to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, particularly in the retail, production and service provision sectors. This empirical study had three objectives. The first objective was to find out which ICTs South African SMEs are currently using. The second goal was to investigate what SME owners perceived and what value ICTs added to their operations. Finally, the various barriers which SMEs face when adopting ICTs were looked at. It was found that ICT does indeed add value to SMEs, the use of ICT differs between different sectors, and South African SMEs encounter a number of critical barriers in the process of adopting ICT.

Critical Success Factors for Migrating to OSS-on-the-Desktop: Common Themes across Three South African Case Studies

This paper investigates the critical success factors associated with the migration from proprietary desktop software to an open source software (OSS) desktop environment in a South African context. A comparative case study analysis approach was adopted whereby three organisations that have migrated to desktop OSS were analysed. For diversity, one case study each was drawn from government, private industry and the educational sector. Most of the findings agree with those in the available literature though there are notable differences in the relative importance of certain factors.

A Proposed Interpretivist Framework to Research the Adoption of Learning Management Systems in Universities

This paper proposes a practical research framework based on activity theory as a lens to research the adoption of learning management systems in tertiary education institutions. Following the identification of the interpretivist paradigm as an appropriate research approach, approaches such structuration theory, actor network theory, or activity theory are briefly considered. The paper then argues that activity theory is a natural fit and it was used but reconceptualized for the context of an academic learning environment to propose an analytical research framework for LMS. In particular, e-Learning can be analysed as a teaching-learning work activity with an objective, mediators, actors, actions, mediator tensions, work activity as a transformation, and the activity outcomes.The paper posits teaching and learning through an LMS as an activity object; sees rules, pedagogy, nature of tasks and social contexts as mediators for the e-learning activity; institution, educators & learners as actor; work activity as transformation and quality learning as activity outcomes.

Security awareness and adoption of security controls by smartphone users

Growth in smartphone functionality and adoption makes such devices tempting targets for criminals. The device, but to a greater extent the information it contains, presents a valuable target for attack. It is therefore critical for smartphone users to take precautionary measures against threats, which may come from potential criminals or negligence by the user. Measures include awareness of vulnerabilities and threats as well as adoption of security controls. This study adds to the body of knowledge in this area by empirically exploring these measures. Using a survey approach an analysis of 510 respondents examines security awareness and adoption of security controls. Previous studies claim that smartphone users do not possess good security awareness, which was mostly not the case in our sample. We report on perceived efficacy and adoption of authentication and anti-theft controls, finding several correlations with smartphone OS, language, and gender. We propose that user education using a simple, non-technical design is key to encourage security awareness and adoption of security controls, especially in emerging markets.

The Impact of Collocation on the Effectiveness of Agile is Development Teams

This article looks at the impact of collocation on the effectiveness of information system development teams. The research objective was to investigate which features of the collocation environment have the greatest influence on team effectiveness and how these can assist in a better design for a collocation working environment. The empirical foundation for this research was a number of agile software development teams. The two key factors which were found to impact team effectiveness were the impact of noise and interruptions, the use of war room layouts and the need for break-away areas.

Exploring the Barriers and Enablers to the Use of Open Educational Resources by University Academics in Africa

Considerable effort has gone into Open Educational Resource (OER) initiatives in the past decade. These initiatives have created free, high quality educational resources for everyone and anyone to use. However, these open and free resources appear to remain largely unused by university academics on the educationally resource-poor African continent. The objectives of the research study are to explore the inhibitors and enablers are experienced by academics that use OER, and what barriers prevent academics from using OER. The sample consists of academics from East, West and Southern Africa. Information was gathered by means of a survey questionnaire. A modified version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model was used to identify the influence of certain factors on a user’s intention to adopt OER. Some of the key findings indicate that Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy have a positive effect on a user’s Behavioural Intention to use OER, and the latter has a strong influence on the Actual Use of OER. Facilitating Conditions do not have a statistically significant impact. Additionally, significant differences were found in the barriers which users and potential users of OER have identified as either limiting their current use of OER, or negatively affecting their intention to use OER. These barriers include discovery, relevance, context and individual resources. Addressing these factors could lead to a more widespread adoption of Open Educational Resources in Africa and, consequently, more pervasive and higher quality educational opportunities.

Big Data capabilities and readiness of South African retail organisations

Big Data enables organisations to use the large volumes of data generated through different devices and people to increase efficiency and generate more profits. South African retail organisations are already using data to their advantage using loyalty cards, but their capabilities and readiness in using Big Data is not very clear. This paper presents a qualitative approach to understand the current capabilities and readiness of Big Data in South African retail organisations. Two theoretical models; Technology Organisation Environment (TOE) together with Task Technology Fit (TTF) were used to understand the factors that enable adoption and implementation of Big Data in retail organisations. Semi structured interviews were conducted with individuals from retail organisations, Big Data vendors and IT professional service providers to get an understanding of the current status of Big Data in the South African context. The study reveals that South African retail organisations are capable and ready to adopt and implement Big Data, however, more efforts need to be placed from the organisational perspective and Big Data technology vendors need to provide more support to enable realisation of more benefits of Big Data in South African retail organisations.