in;the;virtual;extension
DOI: 10.1145/1735223.1735227
in the Virtual extension
Communications’ Virtual Extension brings more quality articles to ACM
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the Role of it in
Business ecosystems
Hyeyoung Kim, Jae-Nam Lee,
and Jaemin Han
In a business ecosystem that consists of
a large number of loosely interconnected
companies, the role of flagship companies
is crucial for the survival of the ecosystem.
At the ecosystem level, a mechanism
for information flow is significant in
evaluating a flagship’s health, and with
it, the ecosystem’s competitiveness. IT is
used to indicate a flagship’s health as it
allows for the creation of healthy business
ecosystems. This article attempts to
provide underlying guidelines in IT that
will allow companies to create strong
business ecosystems.
monitoring ambient air Quality
with carbon monoxide sensor-based Wireless network
Demin Wang, Dharma P. Agrawal,
Wassana Toruksa,
Chaichana Chaiwatpongsakorn,
Mingming Lu, and Tim C. Keener
Sensors are finding a growing number
of applications in many aspects of our
daily life. This article explores the design
and use of a wireless sensor network in
monitoring the presence of the poisonous
air pollutant carbon monoxide in the
surrounding environment. The authors
discuss the different functional units
required to implementing such a network
and outline calibration, various problems,
and associated limitations.
understanding the Dynamics of
information management costs
Paul P. Tallon
Firms continue to experience exponential
data growth in all areas of their business.
Despite better, faster, and cheaper storage
technologies, information management
costs continue to rise. In this article,
the author considers the challenge of
managing information throughout its
useful economic life in a way that meets
minimum service requirements. Using a
tiered-storage infrastructure, firms can use
a top-down systems approach to augment
service levels for critical information
or a bottom-up approach to reduce
information management costs for less
critical information. Both approaches can
also be used to streamline the transfer of
information between storage tiers.
Roles of the external
it Project manager
Blaize Reich and Chris Sauer
Project managers engaged by customers
to not only deliver on schedule, budget,
and scope targets but also to contribute
to value creation will find this article of
particular value. Interviews with many
senior-level project managers indicate
this focus on delivering organizational
value—both to the client and within
their host organization—has led to three
new roles for today’s project manager.
In addition to the core responsibility of
managing an individual project, managers
are now expected to take on such roles
as account manager, surrogate sponsor,
and profession leader. Performing these
roles successfully requires new skills
such as negotiation, sales, coaching, and
strategic networking. The authors examine
these new roles and suggest a personal
development plan for external project
managers.
the Rise of a health-it
academic focus
E. Vance Wilson and Bengisu Tulu
The U.S. health care industry is catching
up on its lagging IT investment, and this
trend has important ramifications for
IT academics and practitioners. Case in
point: IT investment in the health care
industry has more than doubled in recent
years and that investment is paying off.
As a result there is a great demand for
skilled professionals whose training
combines health care domain knowledge
with business IT skills. The authors detail
examples that reflect the growing promise
of (and demand for) academic training in
health care topics.
number of People Required
for usability evaluation:
the 10± 2 Rule
Wonil Hwang and Gavriel Salvendy
When a software company wants to
evaluate the usability of a new product
before launching it into the market, one
of the problems the company must solve
is determining how many test users or
evaluators are required to detect 80% of
usability problems in the product. Until
now, the ‘ 4± 1’ or ‘magic number five’ rule
has been very popular. however, it cannot
be used as a general rule for an optimal
number of test users or evaluators because
there is experimental evidence against it.
This article tries to answer the question
about optimal sample size in usability
evaluation and proposes a new ‘ 10± 2’ rule.
is Web-based supply
chain integration Right
for Your company?
Charles E. Downing
The performance of three types of
companies is examined in this article:
The company with no electronic supply
chain integration, one with non-Web-based electronic supply chain
integration, and one with Web-based
electronic supply chain integration.
Results show companies using Web-based integration experience lower cost,
higher operational efficiency, a more
cooperative partner relationship, and
superior overall performance as compared
to companies using no electronic
integration. Companies using non-Web-based integration exhibit higher customer
satisfaction, coordination, cooperation,
and commitment with partners, and
overall performance as compared to
companies using no electronic integration.
And finally, companies using non-Web-based integration have a lower volume
of complaints and better coordination
between partners than companies using
Web-based integration.
it innovation Persistence:
an oxymoron?
Theophanis C. Stratopoulos
and Jee-Haw Lim
Managers’ perception of the competitive
contribution of IT innovation (ITI) can
be likened to a roller coaster ride. Such
an observation seems to suggest that
companies do not take a systematic
approach to ITI because it is easily
replicated. however, our analysis shows
that ITI is persistent. IT innovative
companies are more likely to continue
out-innovating their competitors, and this
probability is higher during periods when
managers’ perception regarding the role of
IT is pessimistic. our results show that the
probability is low that a non-I T innovative
company will become innovative and start
out-innovating its competitors within a
relatively short period.