Lakshmi S. Iyer

Knowledge management: practices and challenges

Knowledge management (KM) is a process that deals with the development, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of information and expertise within an organization to support and improve its business performance. Organizations are realizing that knowledge is a crucial resource for organizations and it should be managed judiciously. Organizations need to harness knowledge not only to stay competitive, but also to become innovative. KM requires a major shift in organizational culture and a commitment at all levels of a firm to make it work. Through a supportive organizational climate, ideally, through effective KM, an organization can bring its entire organizational learning and knowledge to bear on any problem, anywhere in the world, at anytime

Knowledge warehouse: an architectural integration of knowledge management, decision support, artificial intelligence and data warehousing

Decision support systems (DSS) are becoming increasingly more critical to the daily operation of organizations. Data warehousing, an integral part of this, provides an infrastructure that enables businesses to extract, cleanse, and store vast amounts of data. The basic purpose of a data warehouse is to empower the knowledge workers with information that allows them to make decisions based on a solid foundation of fact. However, only a fraction of the needed information exists on computers; the vast majority of a firms intellectual assets exist as knowledge in the minds of its employees. What is needed is a new generation of knowledge-enabled systems that provides the infrastructure needed to capture, cleanse, store, organize, leverage, and disseminate not only data and information but also the knowledge of the firm. The purpose of this paper is to propose, as an extension to the data warehouse model, a knowledge warehouse (KW) architecture that will not only facilitate the capturing and coding of knowledge but also enhance the retrieval and sharing of knowledge across the organization. The knowledge warehouse proposed here suggests a different direction for DSS in the next decade. This new direction is based on an expanded purpose of DSS. That is, the purpose of DSS in knowledge improvement. This expanded purpose of DSS also suggests that the effectiveness of a DSS will, in the future, be measured based on how well it promotes and enhances knowledge, how well it improves the mental model(s) and understanding of the decision maker(s) and thereby how well it improves his/her decision making.

The Current State of Business Intelligence in Academia: The Arrival of Big Data

In December 2012, the AIS Special Interest Group on Decision Support, Knowledge and Data Management Systems (SIGDSS) and the Teradata University Network (TUN) cosponsored the Business Intelligence Congress 3 and conducted surveys to assess academia’s response to the growing market need for students with Business Intelligence (BI) and Business Analytics (BA) skill sets. This panel report describes the key findings and best practices that were identified, with an emphasis on what has changed since the BI Congress efforts in 2009 and 2010. The article also serves as a “call to action” for universities regarding the need to respond to emerging market needs in BI/BA, including “Big Data.” The IS field continues to be well positioned to be the leader in creating the next generation BI/BA workforce. To do so, we believe that IS leaders need to continuously refine BI/BA curriculum to keep pace with the turbulent BI/BA marketplace.

Agents in e-supply chains

Realizing the potential of intelligent infomediary-based e-marketplaces.

Performance, scalability and reliability issues in web applications

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive strategy for performance, reliability and scalability (PSR) testing of multi‐tier web applications.Design/methodology/approach – The strategy for PSR testing is presented primarily through examination of the intangible knowledge base in the PSR testing field. The paper also draws on relevant recent work conducted in the area of software performance evaluation.Findings – The study revealed that appropriate testing procedures are critical for the success of web‐based multi‐tier applications. However, there was little academic work that collectively focused on PSR testing issues. This paper provides step‐by‐step testing procedures to ensure that web‐based applications are functioning well to meet user demands.Research limitations/implications – Given the rapid changes in technology and business environments, more applied research will be needed in the area of PSR testing to ensure the successful functioning of web‐based applications. F...

Global E-Commerce: Rationale, Digital Divide, and Strategies To Bridge The Divide

Abstract The Internet revolution is sweeping the globe with such swiftness that companies around the world are trying to understand what is occurring, what it all means, where it is going, and how to leverage this new opportunity. In spite of the global nature of this new revolution, studies indicate that almost three fourths of all e- commerce (EC) is done in the United States today and that the United States accounts for 90 percent of all commercial web sites. The purposes of this study are to address several of the underlying rationales for the previous observations, to analyze this digital divide, to propose possible strategies to bridge and overcome this divide, and to propose some specific propositions based on the extensive literature search provided here. To address these questions, this paper provides a general framework including a discussion of present advantages of global EC growth, national and corporate EC comparisons, an analysis of EC limitations, and the development of strategies for global EC growth.

Intelligent Agents to Support Information Sharing in B2B E-Marketplaces

Abstract This article proposes an architecture to support information and knowledge exchange between collaborating business partners. the focus is on knowledge representation and exchange by intelligent agents to support collaborative business functions through agents that exchange problem-specific information in standardized formats. the article then shows the application of the proposed architecture in the context of an infomediary-based B2B E-marketplace.

An integrative framework of mobile commerce consumers’ privacy concerns and willingness to use: an empirical study

This study investigates consumers’ privacy concerns and their determinants and influences in mobile commerce (mCommerce). Based on literature review, we examined the effect of information type, location awareness, personalisation, and service provider’s reputation as four determinants of privacy concerns in the mCommerce context. Our analysis of data from 135 respondents revealed that information type, location awareness, and personalisation are significant determinants of consumer’s privacy concerns. This study serves as an initial step toward proactive privacy management by mobile business vendors; other professionals can also utilise our findings to develop better privacy policies. Additionally, this study provides managers of mCommerce services seeking to enter the Chinese marketplace specific information about the mCommerce users’ willingness to use mCommerce services.

Using Interest Graphs to Predict Rich-Media Diffusion in Content-Based Online Social Networks

Rich-media, pictures, and videos, are becoming an increasingly important aspect of online social networks. Unlike social networks, where users are connected primarily because of being friends, peers, or co-workers, content-based networks build connections between individuals founded on a shared interest in rich-media content. In this study, “interest-graphs” comprised of these content-based connections were examined. As shown, interest graph analysis provides important advantages over traditional social network analysis to identify valuable network members and predicting rich-media diffusion.

Business Analytics and Organizational Value Chains: A Relational Mapping

ABSTRACT Given the increased interest and investment in business analytics (BA) applications, it is important to have an understanding of what analytics capabilities firms use to enhance value through their value chain activities. We illustrate exemplar uses of BA applications, tools, and technologies by presenting a mapping of the (BA) capabilities of a firm from a value chain perspective espoused in Porter’s [52] internet capabilities framework. The mapping of BA capabilities was carried out based on the generally accepted classification of analytics – descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. The study uses both secondary and primary data sets. Results suggest that organizations currently focus on application of analytics where outcomes are easily measurable in terms of direct value creation/addition.