Mahmood Shah

Organisational critical success factors in adoption of e-banking at the Woolwich bank

The provision of banking services on the Internet (e-banking) is growing but there is a lack of research related to the organisational issues involved in its adoption. This paper brings theory and practice together by synthesising the existing literature with real-life experience of a UK bank. Two questions motivated this research. First, what is the experience of organisations in adopting e-banking? Second, what are the organisational factors which are critical to the success in e-banking adoption? A case study research approach was used to investigate organisational critical success factors in e-banking adoption at The Woolwich bank. The factors found to be most critical for success in e-banking included: understanding customers, organisational flexibility, availability of resources, systems security, established brand name, having multiple integrated channels, e-channel specific marketing, systems integration, systematic change management, support from top management, and good customer services. We concluded that banks need to implement considerable organisational changes in order to web-enable themselves. The main focus of their e-commerce strategy should be to integrate the e-banking channel with other service delivery channels to maximise benefits.

Software process simulation modelling: A survey of practice

In recent years, simulation modelling of software development processes has attracted considerable interest in software engineering. Despite the growing interest, there is little literature available that reports on the state-of-practice in software process simulation modelling (SPSM). We report results of a survey of simulation in SPSM and relate it to simulation practice in general. The results of this survey indicate that software process simulation (SPS) modellers are generally methodical, work on large complex problems, develop large models, and have a systematic simulation modelling process in place. However, on the other hand, the simulation modelling process and simulation model evaluation have been identified as the most urgent problems to be addressed in SPSM. The results from this investigation are interesting and bring many problems into focus. The paper helps understand the characteristics of the SPSM and SPS modellers, and highlights areas of interest for further in-depth research in the SPSM.

Evaluation of investment for enterprise application integration technology in healthcare organisations: a cost-benefit approach,

Recent developments in the field of Information Technology (IT), such as integration technologies have promised to bring improvements in the quality of services; however, costs of these technologies are relatively high. Consequently, investment justification for these technologies is one of the many challenges that are faced by managers in healthcare organisations. IT investments in healthcare organisations are usually justified using traditional investment-appraisal techniques such as Return on Investment (ROI) analysis, internal rate of return, net present value and payback approach. The techniques are specifically used to measure the financial impact of the investment; therefore, the techniques are limited to accommodate human and organisational benefits associated with the adoption of integration technologies. In exploring this phenomenon, the paper focuses on benefits and costs of Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) adoption in healthcare organisations. This may be useful for the managers in preparing investment budget proposals.

An overview of online stock trading: history, characteristics, opportunities, challenges and the impact of the SEC regulation reform on trading structure

This paper discusses the impact of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation reform on online and traditional trading structures. The aim is to provide a review of relevant issues within online stock trading and subsequently form a research agenda. To achieve this aim the following objectives are set: (1) to describe the current state of online trading, (2) to provide an overview of Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) and existing regulations and (3) to discuss the impact of SEC regulation reform on trading structures. In doing so this paper will provide insights into how ECNs are used and how their growth and development are affected by the SEC regulation reform.