Strategies for Business Process Outsourcing

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of business process outsourcing (BPO) strategies and analyzes related issues. The discussions in this chapter can serve as an aid to decision makers who face the great dilemma of whether to insource or outsource a process, and additionally how to handle outsourcing to offshore locations. While business processes themselves are activities that need to be performed efficiently, outsourcing them is essentially a strategic decision that can ultimately impact the competitiveness of the client firm. This chapter explores the risks and opportunities associated with the numerous strategies related to outsourcing and offshoring alternatives, business process migration, contracting and alliance building, the role of the vendor, the nature of the relationship, multiclient or multivendor relationships, infusing maturity and ushering transformations in business processes, locating required expertise and quantity of workers, and also utilizing on-demand software services from application service providers.

E-Business Risk Management in Firms

In order to understand the different types of e-business risks, this chapter uses a framework focusing on five dimensions of e-businesses. This chapter examines e-business risk management in a broader context by integrating various functions within firms. Primary consideration is given to characteristics of the integrated supply chain functionalities of a firm and their associations with information technology (IT), business models of firms, business processes that have become important to e-business, services that have been interlocked into e-business, the relative importance of partnerships, trust, and the necessity of adaptation in managing the supply chain in order to attain competitive advantage. The purpose of this chapter is to understand how to identify and manage various online risks.

Sourcing and Outsourcing Arithmetic

This chapter studies outsourcing from the United States to India. First, we show that outsourcing is not taking most jobs out of the United States. Second, we argue that outsourcing does not contradict trade theory. Third, we analyze how India has come to occupy a preeminent position in outsourcing. Fourth, we show that the Indian dominance is likely to continue well into the next decade. Finally, we discuss some risks associated with outsourcing.

Consumers' Preferences and Attitudes Toward Mobile Office Use

Consumer preferences, attitudes, and behavior concerning product choice can be of vital importance in the development process and implementation of innovative products or services. The mobile office (MO) is becoming achievable in the business-to-employee (B2E) arena as more work is completed outside the office and the fixed office boundaries extend well beyond the spectrum of the desktop. Potential MO providers (e.g., employers) will encounter adoption resistance as users experience uncertainty. This paper investigates the critical factors in the decision models of consumers when evaluating the acceptance and intention to use MO. It will provide research guidelines for MO designers and developers, IT/IS managers, and IS researchers.

Wireless Networks Based on WiFi and Related Technologies

Multihop wireless networks based on WiFi technology offer flexible and inexpensive networking possibilities. Applications of multihop wireless networks range from personal networks within consumer homes to citywide departmental networks to wide-area vehicular ad hoc networks. In this chapter, we focus on multihop ad hoc networks with communication among user devices and access points, where available, without the restriction that the user devices need to be within the radio range of access points. We first describe pure WiFi networks and their limitations. Next we discuss mixed networks based on WiFi and other wired and wireless technologies to provide robust city-scale networks. This chapter also explores security issues and vulnerabilities of wireless networks. An emerging application of WiFi ad hoc networks-RFID (radio frequency identification) networks based on the WiFi technology for warehouses and large retail stores-is presented. This chapter also presents another emerging application of WiFi-based networks: vehicular ad hoc networks for automobiles.

Interoperability on the Road to Enhance Government-to-Business

This chapter is initiated by the continuously growing governments’ effort to transform their traditional profile to a digital one, worldwide, by adopting e-government models using the ICT and the Web. The chapter deals with interoperability, which appears as the mean for accomplishing the interlinking of information, systems, and applications, not only within governments, but also in their interaction with citizens, enterprises, and public sectors. The chapter highlights the critical issue of interoperability, investigating the way it can be incorporated into e-government domain in order to provide efficient and effective e-services. It also describes the issues, tasks, and steps that are connected with interoperability in the enterprise environment, introducing and analysing a generic interoperability platform (CCIGOV platform). Finally, it illustrates future trends in the field and, thus, suggests directions of future work/research.

Introduction to Cryptography

The chapter introduces the reader to various key ideas in cryptography without going into technicalities. It brings out the need for use of cryptography in electronic communications, and describes the symmetric key techniques as well as public key cryptosystems. Digital signatures are also discussed. Data integrity and data authentication are also discussed.

The Business of Online Education

Many observers have predicted a revolution due to online education. Opportunities exist to save money due to the lack of brick and mortar, and travel necessary to take classes in a traditional setting. Besides costs savings, several studies show that online education has significant benefits including support for self-paced learning and better discussion between learners and teachers. The opportunities for online learning have spurred growth in the business of online education. Entrepreneurs see opportunities for increased market share, while others perceive a threat. The design of an online program is not easy, however. This chapter summarizes pedagogical and business dimensions that must be addressed in order to develop an effective online educational program. The chapter also discusses tactics that will help organizations compete in the online education industry.

Electronic Risk Management

Doing business on the Internet has many opportunities along with many risks. This chapter focuses on a series of risks of legal liability arising from e-mail and Internet activities that are a common part of many e-businesses. Some of the laws governing these electronic activities are new and especially designed for the electronic age, while others are more traditional laws whose application to electronic activities is the novelty. E-business not only exposes companies to new types of liability risk, but also increases the potential number of claims and the complexity of dealing with those claims. The international nature of the Internet, together with a lack of uniformity of laws governing the same activities in different countries, means that companies need to proceed with caution.

A Brief Overview of Wireless Systems and Standards

This chapter provides a brief overview of wireless systems and standards. The evolution of wireless systems from voice-centric circuit-switched systems to data-centric packet-switched systems is discussed. The first- and second-generation wireless systems were designed primarily for voice service. The data rate supported by these systems is very limited. The 2.5G systems were developed to retrofit second-generation systems to support higher data rate applications. The third-generation systems are designed to meet the demands of the Internet era. A wide range of IP-based services is provided using these systems. IEEE 802.16 standard-based systems, commonly referred to as WiMAX, are being proposed as an alternative to third-generation systems for carrying data traffic. Popular wireless LAN and wireless PAN standards are also discussed.