Stephen McLaughlin

Cloud Computing Adoption Readiness and Benefit Realization in Irish SMEs: An Exploratory Study

This exploratory article tests the applicability of existing cloud computing adoption models, targeted primarily toward larger organizations, in supporting Irish small and medium-sized enterprises in transitioning to the cloud computing environment. Further, the article examines benefits realized from cloud adoption. Based on a quantitative research approach, the study’s findings indicate that existing cloud adoption frameworks are not suitable “as is” for the small- and medium-sized enterprise market. This provides strong justification for developing small- and medium-sized enterprise-specific frameworks for managing cloud migration.

A Framework for Information Security Governance and Management

Daily changes in the information security landscape mean that organizations face unprecedented challenges in securing their information systems. It appears easy for organizations to adopt a tactical approach in which they respond to problems as they occur. However, when such a paradigm exists, it becomes difficult to act strategically. What is required is for organizations to be able to assess their current maturity state with respect to information security governance and management, and to proactively identify problem areas that need to be addressed. Here, the authors present a capability maturity framework to support organizations in this activity. The framework addresses the technical, process, and human aspects of information security and provides insight and guidelines for organizations to implement effective information security governance and management processes.

IT Frameworks

This article is a collection of papers collected from the nonprofits that run three critical frameworks in use by IT organizations around the globe–the Project Management Institute, Capability Maturity Model Integration, and the Innovation Value Institute. These papers outline the current state and future direction of these organizations and their frameworks.

Actions towards Maturing the ICT Profession in Europe

This paper presents a framework and identifies a series of action points to support the maturing of the ICT profession in Europe. The paper stems from a research initiative launched by the European Commission to develop proposals for a European framework for ICT professionalism, with the intention of maturing the ICT profession within Europe and facilitating worker mobility.