In this year I have submitted together with Georg Hodosi, Mats Danielson and Love Ekenberg a project proposal to Swedish Research Council having the title: “A methodology for assessing the risk exposure to support IT outsourcing decisions”. As we know the decision process for companies to outsource information technology (IT) or not is a substantial business change and in many cases the competence to take such decisions is limited and has major consequences for the company’s future performance. Therefore in this project we have proposed the development of a method that can be used for assessing the risk exposure in support of IT outsourcing (ITO) decisions based on using Transaction Cost Theory (TCT) in order to give us a quantitative measure of the IT outsourcing risks.

On May 27, 2010 our colleague Georg Hodosi has defended successfully his Licentiate Thesis named: “A Method for Decision Support in Information Technology Outsourcing: The Case for Large Swedish Companies”.
On behalf on our research group in IT Management I would like to congratulate Georg and to wish him “Good luck and success towards PhD”. Last but not the least I would like to thanks to all the participants in this seminar.

An abstract of Georg’s licentiate thesis and a picture from the seminar is following below.

Abstract
Information technology outsourcing (ITO) is a growing area. However, not all ITO experiences have been positive, as they have not delivered the cost savings or the expected IT service quality. From this perspective, a method for assessing the risk exposure (RE) in ITO would be a valuable support for IT decision makers from any large company in Sweden that plans to outsource IT. This thesis proposes a novel method for ITO.

The development of the method is based on transaction cost theory (TCT) and risk exposure (RE) and supports IT decision makers in deciding whether to outsource IT or not. The method developed in this research has been implemented in an ITO tool and has been evaluated during the last three years in two large Swedish companies with more than twenty years’ experience of ITO. Moreover, the method developed has been extended with different practices from areas like procurement, contracting and project management based on the professional experience of the author in these areas from a large Swedish company (other than the two included in this research). The main contribution of the thesis consists of a method for assessing the risk exposure in ITO, which can support IT decision makers in determining whether to outsource IT or not. Furthermore, the thesis proposes recommendations for how to reduce the risk exposure in the IT processes intended to be outsourced.

The results of activity done by IT management research group has due to 8 research papers accepted to be published in this year in the proceedings of the 3^rd World Summit on Knowledge Society (WSKS 2010) that will be held in Corfu, Greece (http://www.open-knowledge-society.org/summit.htm) and the 16^th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS 2010) that will be held in Lima, Peru (http://www.amcis2010.org/home/). More exactly four papers have been accepted for publication in each of these conferences (WSKS 2010 and AMCIS 2010).

The authors, the title and a short abstract of these papers accepted for publication are mentioned below.

In WSKS 2010 conference the following four papers will be published in Springer volumes in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Communications in Computer and Information Science:

1. Lazar Rusu: “The Impact of Team Project on Students’ Learning: An Analysis of a Global IT Management Course”. Abstract: The research paper is analyzing the contribution of the team project (project based learning) as a group assignment in Global IT Management course towards the enhancement of students’ learning.

2. Godfried Adaba, Lazar Rusu and Mohamed El-Mekawy: “Strategic Business-IT Alignment in Trade Facilitation: A Case Study”. Abstract: The effective deployment of IT to achieve business goals and gain competitive advantage requires the alignment of business and IT strategies of organizations. Using the Strategic Alignment Maturity model, the paper evaluates strategic alignment maturity of Customs Excise Preventive service, a frontline public organization charged with trade facilitation in Ghana.

3. Christoffer Andresen, Georg Hodosi, Irina Saprykina and Lazar Rusu: “User Acceptance of a Software Tool for Decision Making in IT Outsourcing: A Qualitative Study in Large Companies from Sweden”. Abstract: Decisions for IT outsourcing are very complex and needs to be supported by considerations based on multiple criteria. In order to facilitate the use of a specific tool by a decision-maker in IT outsourcing, we need to find out whether such a tool for this purpose will be accepted or rejected or what improvements must be added to this tool to be accepted by some IT decision makers in large companies from Sweden.

4. Johnny Flores, Lazar Rusu and Paul Johannesson: “Analyzing IT Service Delivery in an ISP from Nicaragua”. Abstract: The paper presents a method for analyzing IT service delivery and its application in an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The method proposed is based on ITIL-processes and case study research; it includes questionnaires for gathering information, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and documents as sources of information for recognition of factual information. The application of this method allows the ISPs to determine their practices and limitations of the IT Service Delivery.

In AMCIS 2010 conference the following four papers will be published in the proceedings of this conference that is among the top-ranked conferences in information systems area:

1. Norman Vargas, Lazar Rusu and Paul Johannesson: “A unified strategic business and IT alignment model: A study of prioritization in the public universities from Nicaragua”. Abstract: The paper provides a prioritization of the components of a defined strategic business and information technology alignment (SBITA) model. The SBITA model used in this study it is based on four well know business-IT alignment models and is used for assessing the relative importance of the components of SBITA model in four public universities from Nicaragua.

2. Anayanci Lopez Poveda, Lazar Rusu and Paul Johannesson: “A Method for Analyzing IT Service Strategy in Governmental Municipalities from Nicaragua”. Abstract: The paper proposes a method for analyzing IT service strategy in the context of governmental municipalities, and the main issues considered are people and organization related (e.g. internal service providers, cost-effectiveness prioritized, current practices oriented to tactical and operational activities, low/no-familiarity with best practices). The method proposed in the paper decomposes the analysis in two different perspectives: strategic practices in use and level of maturity of such processes and has been tested in two governmental municipalities from Nicaragua.

3. Johnny Flores, Lazar Rusu and Paul Johannesson: “Evaluating IT Service Delivery amongst ISPs from Nicaragua”. Abstract: The paper reports an evaluation of IT service delivery in Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from Nicaragua at the end of 2009. The evaluation is supported by a methodological approach based on IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) v2. concepts and case study research. The research paper describes the current practices and limitation of IT service delivery in three nation-wide ISPs (with more than ten years experience) from Nicargua.

4. Edephonce Nfuka and Lazar Rusu: “IT Governance Maturity in the Public Sector Organizations in a Developing Country: The Case of Tanzania”. Abstract: The paper is basing his analysis on the 15 most important processes of the COBIT framework through a case study research in five public sector organizations for establishing the IT governance maturity in the public sector in a developing country like Tanzania. In addition, the study results are compared against a similar benchmark in the public sector in a developed country like Australia and internationally from a range of nations. The results indicates that some IT processes have scored relatively lower in maturity but are very important to the process of IT decision making and monitoring in the studied environment. Finally, based on these results, recommendations are provided to improve poorly performing processes for a successful IT governance in support of better public service delivery in this environment.

A research paper written together with Renalda Paul Tenga (a former ICT4D master student at Stockholm University) has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management. The paper is named “IT Governance in the Healthcare Sector: A case study of a public and private hospital in Tanzania” and is a research study that is among the few ones carried out until now in the case of IT governance practices in healthcare sector from a developing country. The paper has analysed the major problems that two important hospitals from Tanzania are facing in the governance of IT and the actions which IT and business executives from these hospitals should take for the improvement of both Strategic Alignment Maturity and IT governance performance.

On March 17, 2010 the members of our research group in IT management we have had a meeting with Professor Birger Rapp from Uppsala University and Dean of the Swedish Research School of Management and IT (MIT) / Forskarskolan Management och IT (MIT). The meeting was a fruitfully one and has initiating the start of joining the Swedish Research School of Management and IT by our research group in IT management. In this meeting I have made a presentation of our research work in IT management and summarise the results we have obtained till now in this area. Professor Birger Rapp has appreciated our work and has informed us that our research is fitting very well with the profile of the MIT and the cooperation between our research group and MIT could bring us many benefits in terms of financing our PhD students in the near future and also from research point of view too. For more information about the Swedish Research School of Management and IT (MIT) please access the following link: http://www.forskarskolan-mit.nu/

The European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) is considered the most prestigious Information Systems conference in Europe. Therefore we are very happy that our paper “Critical Success Factors for Effective IT Governance in the Public Sector Organizations in a Developing Country. The Case of Tanzania” having as authors Edephonce Nfuka and Lazar Rusu has been accepted for publication and presentation at ECIS 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa. A short abstract of the paper is included below. For more information about this conference please access the following link: http://ecis2010.up.ac.za

Abstract
Today in many organizations in the public sector, the use of IT has become pervasive in every facet of the organizations’ endeavours in supporting and evolving public services delivery. This pervasive use of technology have caused a critical dependency on IT, which in this environment involves a complex mix of political, organizational, technical and cultural concerns that call a specific focus on effective IT governance. Several researches have been done on IT governance effectiveness in these organizations. However adequate focus has not been given to such environment in a developing country like Tanzania, which on one hand is characterized by IT resources, knowledge, and culture constraints and on other hand by the increase of IT investments and applications. In this paper specifically we have addressed such a gap by identifying the critical success factors (CSFs) for effective IT governance in this environment. The research study has based mainly on IT governance focus areas in order to analyze the relevant CSFs from the research literature and also in five organizations from the Tanzanian public sector. Moreover we have taken into account the fact that the IT value to be achieved due to effective IT governance is in relation with efficient and cost effective IT delivery, innovation and business impact. As a result of this research we have identified eleven CSFs that should be considered for effective IT governance practices in the Tanzanian public sector organizations.

On November 23, 2009 I have done a presentation regarding “Trends and Challenges in Strategic Management of IT” for my docent lecture. The abstract of my presentation including the slides and a picture from my docent lecture are included below.

Abstract:
Today in many organizations information technology (IT) is playing a strategic role and has become more important than it was before for the business strategy. In this context is extremely important the way how the IT leaders can improve the IT performance in their organizations by managing IT for strategic purposes.

The lecture will cover some of the concepts, trends and challenges in Strategic Management of IT with examples from the research topics of Strategic Alignment and IT Leadership. In fact the Strategic Alignment between business and IT strategies continues to be a top management concern and organizations who are achieving a greater strategic alignment will enhance the effects of IT on business performance. On the other hand the importance of IT leaders in shaping and enabling business strategy has increased so is very important to analyse how they are running IT and if they are adding value to their organizations.

Therefore the examples discussed in this lecture will focus on the research performed in the topics described before including some challenges in these research topics that will be needed to be further explored.

The slides of my presentation:
Trends and Challenges in Strategic Management of IT.pdf

A picture from my docent lecture:

From16 to 18 September 2009 I have participated to the 2nd World Summit on the Knowledge Society (WSKS 2009) in Chania, Greece. Here I have presented two papers named “Information Technology Leadership in Swedish Leading Multinational Corporations” and “Management Guidelines for Database Developers’ Teams in Software Development Projects” that have been published in LNCS/LNAI 5736 and CCIS 49 by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidleberg.
The papers were written together with my colleagues Mohamed El Mekawy and Georg Hodosi from our research group in IT Management and also with Yifeng Lin a former EMIS master student. For more information about the papers published in Springer please access the following links:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/w7p7125j8ht60627/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/r24567512l566807/
Two pictures from my presentations to WSKS 2009 in Chania, Greece are posted below.