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EJISE Editorial for Volume 19 Issue 1

Shaun Pather

[email protected]

From the time of the first commercial application of computers in the mid 1900s, organizations of all sizes and

types have developed an increasing dependency on Information Systems (IS) to achieve their goals. Whilst

the early literature tended to focus on the business sector in the main, the pervasiveness of Information and

Communication Technologies, spurred by the advent of the Internet, has resulted in a complex array of IS

studies delving into problems across the societal spectrum. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems

Evaluation (EJISE) continues to play an important role in this regard as evidenced by the diverse scope of

research problems addressed in our published papers. The broader IS research community continues to

address questions regarding new ways to in designing and building IS. In contrast, the EJISE scope focuses on

research relevant to Information Systems evaluation, with an emphasis on the organisational and

management problems. The Editorial team of EJISE is thus pleased to continue to uphold its mandate in this

regard with the publication of this issue.

The current issue brings to the fore the complexity of evaluating IS in the modern networked world. Given the

ubiquity of technology researchers will continue to be challenged to be creative to resolve complex IS

evaluation challenges. Vlad Krotov examines the application of regression analysis in the realm of IT Cost

Benchmarking. The paper argues that important capital allocation decisions should not be made without an

understanding of the theoretical and methodological issues in relation to IT cost benchmarking using IT

managerial control ratios. The paper posits that adopting a regression-based approach to benchmarking IT

costs augers for a more robust approach to determining and interpreting a company’s position relative to the

industry norm.

EJISE continues to receive submissions which interrogate IS management problems within a cloud

environment. In this issue Deep Ray introspects an integrated perspective of cloud adoption, and in doing so

consolidates the diverse examination of the issue from the extant literature. The paper makes a contributing

by providing a holistic framework for businesses to use to assess prospective cloud adoption.

Given the imperatives of an inter-networked era the value of agile methodologies in systems development are

increasingly important. Scrum is one of such methodologies. The paper by Deon Takpuie and Maureen Tanner

investigates the characteristics of Scrum team members to successfully transfer tacit knowledge during agile

software projects. The paper which focuses on expertise of the human element in IS projects, presents a

model of the characteristics of Scrum team members which facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge during a

software project.

The title of this issue’s next paper IT Project Selection: Politics, Experience and good Friends by Keld Pedersen

will be bound to evoke an imaginative response in the minds of EJISE readers. Pedersen rightfully argues that

selecting the optimal portfolio of IT projects is becoming increasingly important as the dependency on IT for

organizational performance increases. The paper hones in on the problems in large and complex

organizations related to selecting the most appropriate IT projects. The empirical findings are structured using

a model with five components: Focus areas and principles, formal organization, informal organization,

decision-making behavior and the decision-making context. In tying the findings back to the creative title the

author argues that IT portfolio managers use a decision-making process based on intuition and experience,

mental simulation and the exploitation of personal networks.

The final paper in this issue by authors Chaysin, Daengdej and Tangjitprom extends the debate on IT

investment evaluation. The paper tackles the rather complex issue of what is the most appropriate approach

to measure the return on IT investment and its contribution to business benefits. The authors argue that none

of the mainly traditional financial approaches are suitable in practice. For example, as a result of the rapid

change in markets and increased demands of shareholder value, the relevance of approaches such as Net

Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) are questioned. With the benefit of an extensive

introspection and analysis of current approaches, the authors identify five key reasons why a response to the

ISSN 1566-6379 1 ©ACPIL

Reference this paper as Pather S, “Editorial for EJISE” The Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation Volume 19

Issue 1 2016, (pp1-2), available online at www.ejise.com

Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation Volume 19 Issue 1 2016

vexing issue of investment evaluation is not forthcoming, and thereby providing a foundation for future

studies to explore further.

Finally, I must once again record our since appreciations to the reviewers of the papers in this issue. Without

their unstinting support, our commitment to independent assessment and review of the scientific endeavor,

cannot be upheld.

Shaun Pather

EJISE Editor

www.ejise.com 2 ©ACPIL

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