In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerat... more In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerated by Information Technology (IT) practitioners such as Google, IBM and Microsoft as well as by the academic community. Research in this field seems to have been narrowed down in two areas; Green Information Technology (Green IT) and Green Information Systems (Green IS). Confusion reigns on whether green IT and green IS are the same thing or two different concepts. Within the academic community, a review of literature shows that there exists a difference based on the definition and scope of each of these concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce thei...
Lately, researchers have been paying attention on e-commerce adoption equally in the developed an... more Lately, researchers have been paying attention on e-commerce adoption equally in the developed and developing countries. The study’s main objective was to evaluate the individual factors influencing e-commerce adoption among SMEs within Nairobi Kenya from the perspective of CEOs, management and staff. The researcher investigated four factors affecting e-commerce adoption with emphasis on individual determinants versus technological, environmental, external and individual factors. The problem identified was lack of adequate research in EC adoption among SMES in the manufacturing industries. The research design used was both exploratory and descriptive. The underpinning theory used was Technology Acceptance Model theoretical framework. The researcher conducted the study based on the formulated research questions which consequently guided the structure of the questionnaires used. The proposed study area was manufacturing SMEs within Nairobi Kenya, who are registered with KAM. The data ...
In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its ... more In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market environment, customers and competitors and taking appropriate business actions before their competitors. The ability to be pro-active and not reactive is one of the greatest techniques for creating value within an organization. This requires a continuous process of transforming information into intelligence and intelligence into actionable knowledge so that a company can plan for and manage the future. Information systems have for long been considered as competitive weapons; their ability to convert data into competitive intelligence makes them essential tools for today's enterprises. This research considers the role of information systems in transforming business information into knowledge to drive decision making within business enterprises. The research considers business intelligence from the perspectives of ICT tools adoption, growth in data capture in firms, organizations dependence on information in making decisions and the declining costs of ICT tools acquisition by firms as key characteristics that continue to drive the dependence of ICT as a critical driver of decision making in firms.
The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has ... more The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has amplified the role of government in enhancing sustainability. To business and the industry leaders, the global economic challenges have compelled them to reconsider how they do business to gain an economic advantage and as a drive towards enabling a socially responsible business environment. This has forced businesses and industry to consider and act on a broad range of socially responsible and sustainable programs. As a majority business and industry align their goals by embedding sustainability mechanisms as key pillars to economic empowerment, most global governments seem to be lagging behind in providing the necessary facilitation in their economies. In the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the integrating and enabling role of ICTs has been considered critical in managing the global carbon footprint by exploiting their innovative capabilities thus providing sustain...
Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve... more Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve their competitiveness in an ever dynamic market. This paper analyzes the strategic management approaches and the strategic significance of Information systems in information driven business economies. The various strategic IS concepts are identified and the importance of aligning IS and Information Technology (IT) goals and business goals is highlighted. Considering the growing interest and the vital role of Information Systems in improving the competitive position of firms, this paper reviews both academic and practitioner research in this area to provide insights in aligning IS and corporate objectives. It concludes that based on the strategic importance of IS, there is need to develop a framework that leverages IS/IT strategies with business objectives.
Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental po... more Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental pollution despite the fact that the carbon footprint of these economies has comparatively been low. However, statistics today predict a steady growth in economic development in Africa driven by an accelerated growth in the construction sector and migration from rural to urban centers. With this, the Carbon footprint of these countries is expected to steadily increasing the environmental burden for an environment that is already torn apart. This is because the construction industry alone has been blamed for a third of the global environmental pollution. However, prior research by academia, global environmental bodies and governments has shown that sustainable green approaches can be adopted within the construction industry to reduce its carbon footprint and to enhance savings on the environment. Moreover, these environmental savings have been considered not just as enhancing savings for the environment but also their capability to bring greater financial benefits for the organizations as well as increased quality of life for occupants of these buildings and to the society at large. This research analyzes the green technological innovations that can be leveraged for sustainable economic development in developing economies. The research considers two green building cases (the United Nations green building in Nairobi and the Eastgate center in Harare, Zimbabwe) to draw its conclusions. The result of this study is a framework for sustainable building and construction in developing economies.
Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the p... more Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the programmer has to reproduce the failure; second, s/he has to find the failure cause. Software debugging is the process of locating and correcting erroneous statements in a faulty program as a result of testing. It is extremely time consuming and very expensive. The term debugging collectively refers to fault localization, understanding and correction. Automated tools to locate and correct the erroneous statements in a program can significantly reduce the cost of software development and improve the overall quality of the software. This paper discusses fault localization, program slicing and delta debugging techniques. It identifies statistical fault localization tools such as Tarantula, GZoltar and others such as dbx and Microsoft Visual C++ debugger that provides a snapshot of the program state at various break points along an execution path. In conclusion we note that most software development companies spend a huge amount of resources in testing and debugging. A lot more research need to be conducted to fully automate the debugging process thereby reducing software production cost, time and improve quality.
The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast... more The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast amounts of data every day relating to their various business activities. Understanding this data leads to better insights, less costs and risks and provides avenues in which the organization can improve its performance, offer better services to its customers and earn more revenue giving it a competitive advantage in the market. Advanced tools have been developed to gain this much needed insight into data that was previously considered irrelevant or inaccessible based on its unstructured form. These tools help an organization drill into its data and data from other external sources such as competitors, government reports, proprietary and other multi dimensional databases available from the internet to gain knowledge that can be applied to improve the organization’s competitive position. The aim of this research is to provide insights to organizations on how business analytic tools and so...
Organizational Implementation of Information Systems Innovations (OIISI) Framework was developed ... more Organizational Implementation of Information Systems Innovations (OIISI) Framework was developed in the context of University in Kenya and can be used to understand the implementation of Information Systems (IS) Innovations in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). A quantitative approach to research was taken to determine the degree of associations and relationships in the OIISI framework in HEIs and, in so doing, aimed at providing researchers and practitioners with a valid and reliable instrument that covered all the key constructs identified by the framework. In this study, data was collected from identified respondents in some selected HEIs that have implemented IS or are in the implementation process, analyzed and the outcomes presented, thereby validating the relationships. Judgmental and convenience sampling design was used to select HEIs. A questionnaire based on a seven point Likert scale was administered to different participants of IS implementation in selected HEIs in Ke...
Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the p... more Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the programmer has to reproduce the failure; second, s/he has to find the failure cause. Software debugging is the process of locating and correcting erroneous statements in a faulty program as a result of testing. It is extremely time consuming and very expensive. The term debugging collectively refers to fault localization, understanding and correction. Automated tools to locate and correct the erroneous statements in a program can significantly reduce the cost of software development and improve the overall quality of the software. This paper discusses fault localization, program slicing and delta debugging techniques. It identifies statistical fault localization tools such as Tarantula, GZoltar and others such as dbx and Microsoft Visual C++ debugger that provides a snapshot of the program state at various break points along an execution path. In conclusion we note that most software development companies spend a huge amount of resources in testing and debugging. A lot more research need to be conducted to fully automate the debugging process thereby reducing software production cost, time and improve quality.
In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market e... more In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market environment, customers and competitors and taking appropriate business actions before their competitors. The ability to be pro-active and not reactive is one of the greatest techniques for creating value within an organization. This requires a continuous process of transforming information into intelligence and intelligence into actionable knowledge so that a company can plan for and manage the future. Information systems have for long been considered as competitive weapons; their ability to convert data into competitive intelligence makes them essential tools for today's enterprises. This research considers the role of information systems in transforming business information into knowledge to drive decision making within business enterprises. The research considers business intelligence from the perspectives of ICT tools adoption, growth in data capture in firms, organizations dependence on information in making decisions and the declining costs of ICT tools acquisition by firms as key characteristics that continue to drive the dependence of ICT as a critical driver of decision making in firms.
Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental po... more Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental pollution despite the fact that the carbon footprint of these economies has comparatively been low. However, statistics today predict a steady growth in economic development in Africa driven by an accelerated growth in the construction sector and migration from rural to urban centers. With this, the Carbon footprint of these countries is expected to steadily increasing the environmental burden for an environment that is already torn apart. This is because the construction industry alone has been blamed for a third of the global environmental pollution. However, prior research by academia, global environmental bodies and governments has shown that sustainable green approaches can be adopted within the construction industry to reduce its carbon footprint and to enhance savings on the environment. Moreover, these environmental savings have been considered not just as enhancing savings for the environment but also their capability to bring greater financial benefits for the organizations as well as increased quality of life for occupants of these buildings and to the society at large. This research analyzes the green technological innovations that can be leveraged for sustainable economic development in developing economies. The research considers two green building cases (the United Nations green building in Nairobi and the Eastgate center in Harare, Zimbabwe) to draw its conclusions. The result of this study is a framework for sustainable building and construction in developing economies.
The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has ... more The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has amplified the role of government in enhancing sustainability. To business and the industry leaders, the global economic challenges have compelled them to reconsider how they do business to gain an economic advantage and as a drive towards enabling a socially responsible business environment. This has forced businesses and industry to consider and act on a broad range of socially responsible and sustainable programs. As a majority business and industry align their goals by embedding sustainability mechanisms as key pillars to economic empowerment, most global governments seem to be lagging behind in providing the necessary facilitation in their economies. In the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the integrating and enabling role of ICTs has been considered critical in managing the global carbon footprint by exploiting their innovative capabilities thus providing sustainable solutions to the environment. Even in this area, the government has been considered a late adopter thus limiting its ability to provide solutions that is critical in this vital area. This paper therefore analyzes the role of government in building a sustainable economy using ICT and provides an action plan for governments in developing economies. This is based on data collected from both primary and secondary sources. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data and to draw conclusions. The action plan evaluates the role of government on green ICT from the perspectives of legislation, policies and regulations, Incentives, Education and social economics, support for business process integration and Implementation and usage of green ICT .
The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast... more The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast amounts of data every day relating to their various business activities. Understanding this data leads to better insights, less costs and risks and provides avenues in which the organization can improve its performance, offer better services to its customers and earn more revenue giving it a competitive advantage in the market. Advanced tools have been developed to gain this much needed insight into data that was previously considered irrelevant or inaccessible based on its unstructured form. These tools help an organization drill into its data and data from other external sources such as competitors, government reports, proprietary and other multi dimensional databases available from the internet to gain knowledge that can be applied to improve the organization's competitive position. The aim of this research is to provide insights to organizations on how business analytic tools and software can be applied in lighting up previously unknown or ignored data. This is done through an in-depth analysis of secondary data and practitioner reports to provide an understanding of the various concepts and tools essential in identifying meaningful patterns and trends into an organization's data.
Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve... more Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve their competitiveness in an ever dynamic market. This paper analyzes the strategic management approaches and the strategic significance of Information systems in information driven business economies. The various strategic IS concepts are identified and the importance of aligning IS and Information Technology (IT) goals and business goals is highlighted. Considering the growing interest and the vital role of Information Systems in improving the competitive position of firms, this paper reviews both academic and practitioner research in this area to provide insights in aligning IS and corporate objectives. It concludes that based on the strategic importance of IS, there is need to develop a framework that leverages IS/IT strategies with business objectives.
This paper analyzes the role of the government in establishing green ICT within organizations. Lo... more This paper analyzes the role of the government in establishing green ICT within organizations. Looking at the practicescurrently adopted by governments, this paper identifies some of the most important areas through which the low carbon value added by new technologies could be increased. Drawing on evidence from other countries around the world, practitioners and from the academic community we can see that there are similarities between the approaches taken by a number of governments, but we can also see that this area of activity will need to be context-specific as well. As we move forward, areas of focus will become more obvious for particular countries and regions, where they have a unique role to play and can add more value. We achieve this by adopting two approaches. One is by investigating what other countries have done as regards toentrenching green ICT in their countries, second was by an analysis of the Kenyan context which took a case of the Kenyan government’s ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the national environmental managementAuthority (NEMA) to find out the extent of government support for businesses and the implementation of Green ICT within the core functions and departments of the organization. Data collection was then carried out within two major ICT consumer companies to find out the level of green ICT adoption within them and the way forward, as well as gauge the level of user awareness on green ICT concepts. The paper concludes by making recommendations which could help the government to invest more on green ICT, develop a green ICT policy to guide in green ICT adoption and support for organizations implementation of green ICT. Keywords: Green ICT, Regulations, Greenhouse gases (GHG)
Issues to do with environmental management and sustainability have continued to generate great in... more Issues to do with environmental management and sustainability have continued to generate great interest in the last two
decades. The world seems more united than ever before in trying to find ways to combat this global phenomenon whose impact has had tragic results especially in developing economies. Companies and organizations have been urged to develop innovative ways of doing business without causing any arm to the environment; with that, a number of approaches have been developed including green energy, green construction, green supply chain, green IT, green IS and many others that aim to ensure that every aspect of the organization is analyzed to reduce their carbon footprint. The field of computing has been discussed under green Information Systems (Green IS) and Green Information Technology (Green IT).Green IT aims to reduce the Information Technology (IT) environmental footprint. Green IS tries to look for innovative ways in which organizations can apply Information Systems (IS) to manage their environmental footprint. Research on environmental protection and global green house gas (GHG) emissions seem to concentrate on large companies and developed countries with the notion that developing countries and small and medium organizations contribute less in carbon emissions mostly because of the limited industrial activities in these countries and in the case of computing, the limited number of computers in these firms. The purpose of this research is to highlight the various mechanisms that an organization in developing countries usually small and
medium businesses can apply on its internal core functions to reduce its carbon footprint. To achieve this, we first carry out a
review of both practitioner and academic literature to justify the scope and focus of the research. We then offer highlights on
development of a corporate level green IS strategy and finally we describe each of the internal practices that small and medium size organizations should focus on to reduce their carbon footprint and validating each of them using opinions from past research.
Keywords: green IS, green IT, footprint, sustainability
In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerat... more In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerated by Information Technology (IT) practitioners such as Google, IBM and Microsoft as well as by the academic community. Research in this field seems to have been narrowed down in two areas; Green Information Technology (Green IT) and Green Information Systems (Green IS). Confusion reigns on whether green IT and green IS are the same thing or two different concepts. Within the academic community, a review of literature shows that there exists a difference based on the definition and scope of each of these
concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce their environmental footprint. Green IT aims to reduce the IT induced global green house Gas emissions while Green IS tries to look at the innovative ways in which computing can be used as the solution to environmental pollution. The aim of this paper therefore was to investigate the applicability of Green IT concepts in Green IS. This was done by carrying out a
tentative review of Green IT and Green IS research and then carrying out the comparisons between the two concepts to identify any gaps and overlaps. Later on, the researcher proposes future research areas based on the results.
In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerat... more In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerated by Information Technology (IT) practitioners such as Google, IBM and Microsoft as well as by the academic community. Research in this field seems to have been narrowed down in two areas; Green Information Technology (Green IT) and Green Information Systems (Green IS). Confusion reigns on whether green IT and green IS are the same thing or two different concepts. Within the academic community, a review of literature shows that there exists a difference based on the definition and scope of each of these concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce thei...
Lately, researchers have been paying attention on e-commerce adoption equally in the developed an... more Lately, researchers have been paying attention on e-commerce adoption equally in the developed and developing countries. The study’s main objective was to evaluate the individual factors influencing e-commerce adoption among SMEs within Nairobi Kenya from the perspective of CEOs, management and staff. The researcher investigated four factors affecting e-commerce adoption with emphasis on individual determinants versus technological, environmental, external and individual factors. The problem identified was lack of adequate research in EC adoption among SMES in the manufacturing industries. The research design used was both exploratory and descriptive. The underpinning theory used was Technology Acceptance Model theoretical framework. The researcher conducted the study based on the formulated research questions which consequently guided the structure of the questionnaires used. The proposed study area was manufacturing SMEs within Nairobi Kenya, who are registered with KAM. The data ...
In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its ... more In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market environment, customers and competitors and taking appropriate business actions before their competitors. The ability to be pro-active and not reactive is one of the greatest techniques for creating value within an organization. This requires a continuous process of transforming information into intelligence and intelligence into actionable knowledge so that a company can plan for and manage the future. Information systems have for long been considered as competitive weapons; their ability to convert data into competitive intelligence makes them essential tools for today's enterprises. This research considers the role of information systems in transforming business information into knowledge to drive decision making within business enterprises. The research considers business intelligence from the perspectives of ICT tools adoption, growth in data capture in firms, organizations dependence on information in making decisions and the declining costs of ICT tools acquisition by firms as key characteristics that continue to drive the dependence of ICT as a critical driver of decision making in firms.
The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has ... more The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has amplified the role of government in enhancing sustainability. To business and the industry leaders, the global economic challenges have compelled them to reconsider how they do business to gain an economic advantage and as a drive towards enabling a socially responsible business environment. This has forced businesses and industry to consider and act on a broad range of socially responsible and sustainable programs. As a majority business and industry align their goals by embedding sustainability mechanisms as key pillars to economic empowerment, most global governments seem to be lagging behind in providing the necessary facilitation in their economies. In the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the integrating and enabling role of ICTs has been considered critical in managing the global carbon footprint by exploiting their innovative capabilities thus providing sustain...
Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve... more Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve their competitiveness in an ever dynamic market. This paper analyzes the strategic management approaches and the strategic significance of Information systems in information driven business economies. The various strategic IS concepts are identified and the importance of aligning IS and Information Technology (IT) goals and business goals is highlighted. Considering the growing interest and the vital role of Information Systems in improving the competitive position of firms, this paper reviews both academic and practitioner research in this area to provide insights in aligning IS and corporate objectives. It concludes that based on the strategic importance of IS, there is need to develop a framework that leverages IS/IT strategies with business objectives.
Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental po... more Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental pollution despite the fact that the carbon footprint of these economies has comparatively been low. However, statistics today predict a steady growth in economic development in Africa driven by an accelerated growth in the construction sector and migration from rural to urban centers. With this, the Carbon footprint of these countries is expected to steadily increasing the environmental burden for an environment that is already torn apart. This is because the construction industry alone has been blamed for a third of the global environmental pollution. However, prior research by academia, global environmental bodies and governments has shown that sustainable green approaches can be adopted within the construction industry to reduce its carbon footprint and to enhance savings on the environment. Moreover, these environmental savings have been considered not just as enhancing savings for the environment but also their capability to bring greater financial benefits for the organizations as well as increased quality of life for occupants of these buildings and to the society at large. This research analyzes the green technological innovations that can be leveraged for sustainable economic development in developing economies. The research considers two green building cases (the United Nations green building in Nairobi and the Eastgate center in Harare, Zimbabwe) to draw its conclusions. The result of this study is a framework for sustainable building and construction in developing economies.
Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the p... more Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the programmer has to reproduce the failure; second, s/he has to find the failure cause. Software debugging is the process of locating and correcting erroneous statements in a faulty program as a result of testing. It is extremely time consuming and very expensive. The term debugging collectively refers to fault localization, understanding and correction. Automated tools to locate and correct the erroneous statements in a program can significantly reduce the cost of software development and improve the overall quality of the software. This paper discusses fault localization, program slicing and delta debugging techniques. It identifies statistical fault localization tools such as Tarantula, GZoltar and others such as dbx and Microsoft Visual C++ debugger that provides a snapshot of the program state at various break points along an execution path. In conclusion we note that most software development companies spend a huge amount of resources in testing and debugging. A lot more research need to be conducted to fully automate the debugging process thereby reducing software production cost, time and improve quality.
The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast... more The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast amounts of data every day relating to their various business activities. Understanding this data leads to better insights, less costs and risks and provides avenues in which the organization can improve its performance, offer better services to its customers and earn more revenue giving it a competitive advantage in the market. Advanced tools have been developed to gain this much needed insight into data that was previously considered irrelevant or inaccessible based on its unstructured form. These tools help an organization drill into its data and data from other external sources such as competitors, government reports, proprietary and other multi dimensional databases available from the internet to gain knowledge that can be applied to improve the organization’s competitive position. The aim of this research is to provide insights to organizations on how business analytic tools and so...
Organizational Implementation of Information Systems Innovations (OIISI) Framework was developed ... more Organizational Implementation of Information Systems Innovations (OIISI) Framework was developed in the context of University in Kenya and can be used to understand the implementation of Information Systems (IS) Innovations in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). A quantitative approach to research was taken to determine the degree of associations and relationships in the OIISI framework in HEIs and, in so doing, aimed at providing researchers and practitioners with a valid and reliable instrument that covered all the key constructs identified by the framework. In this study, data was collected from identified respondents in some selected HEIs that have implemented IS or are in the implementation process, analyzed and the outcomes presented, thereby validating the relationships. Judgmental and convenience sampling design was used to select HEIs. A questionnaire based on a seven point Likert scale was administered to different participants of IS implementation in selected HEIs in Ke...
Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the p... more Fixing failed computer programs involves completing two fundamental debugging tasks: first, the programmer has to reproduce the failure; second, s/he has to find the failure cause. Software debugging is the process of locating and correcting erroneous statements in a faulty program as a result of testing. It is extremely time consuming and very expensive. The term debugging collectively refers to fault localization, understanding and correction. Automated tools to locate and correct the erroneous statements in a program can significantly reduce the cost of software development and improve the overall quality of the software. This paper discusses fault localization, program slicing and delta debugging techniques. It identifies statistical fault localization tools such as Tarantula, GZoltar and others such as dbx and Microsoft Visual C++ debugger that provides a snapshot of the program state at various break points along an execution path. In conclusion we note that most software development companies spend a huge amount of resources in testing and debugging. A lot more research need to be conducted to fully automate the debugging process thereby reducing software production cost, time and improve quality.
In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market e... more In today's dynamic business environment, no organization can exist without analyzing its market environment, customers and competitors and taking appropriate business actions before their competitors. The ability to be pro-active and not reactive is one of the greatest techniques for creating value within an organization. This requires a continuous process of transforming information into intelligence and intelligence into actionable knowledge so that a company can plan for and manage the future. Information systems have for long been considered as competitive weapons; their ability to convert data into competitive intelligence makes them essential tools for today's enterprises. This research considers the role of information systems in transforming business information into knowledge to drive decision making within business enterprises. The research considers business intelligence from the perspectives of ICT tools adoption, growth in data capture in firms, organizations dependence on information in making decisions and the declining costs of ICT tools acquisition by firms as key characteristics that continue to drive the dependence of ICT as a critical driver of decision making in firms.
Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental po... more Africa and other developing countries have for long borne the blunt of continued environmental pollution despite the fact that the carbon footprint of these economies has comparatively been low. However, statistics today predict a steady growth in economic development in Africa driven by an accelerated growth in the construction sector and migration from rural to urban centers. With this, the Carbon footprint of these countries is expected to steadily increasing the environmental burden for an environment that is already torn apart. This is because the construction industry alone has been blamed for a third of the global environmental pollution. However, prior research by academia, global environmental bodies and governments has shown that sustainable green approaches can be adopted within the construction industry to reduce its carbon footprint and to enhance savings on the environment. Moreover, these environmental savings have been considered not just as enhancing savings for the environment but also their capability to bring greater financial benefits for the organizations as well as increased quality of life for occupants of these buildings and to the society at large. This research analyzes the green technological innovations that can be leveraged for sustainable economic development in developing economies. The research considers two green building cases (the United Nations green building in Nairobi and the Eastgate center in Harare, Zimbabwe) to draw its conclusions. The result of this study is a framework for sustainable building and construction in developing economies.
The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has ... more The growing threat on the environment driven by an accelerated growth in economic activities has amplified the role of government in enhancing sustainability. To business and the industry leaders, the global economic challenges have compelled them to reconsider how they do business to gain an economic advantage and as a drive towards enabling a socially responsible business environment. This has forced businesses and industry to consider and act on a broad range of socially responsible and sustainable programs. As a majority business and industry align their goals by embedding sustainability mechanisms as key pillars to economic empowerment, most global governments seem to be lagging behind in providing the necessary facilitation in their economies. In the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT), the integrating and enabling role of ICTs has been considered critical in managing the global carbon footprint by exploiting their innovative capabilities thus providing sustainable solutions to the environment. Even in this area, the government has been considered a late adopter thus limiting its ability to provide solutions that is critical in this vital area. This paper therefore analyzes the role of government in building a sustainable economy using ICT and provides an action plan for governments in developing economies. This is based on data collected from both primary and secondary sources. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data and to draw conclusions. The action plan evaluates the role of government on green ICT from the perspectives of legislation, policies and regulations, Incentives, Education and social economics, support for business process integration and Implementation and usage of green ICT .
The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast... more The most important asset for any organization today is data. Organizations collect and store vast amounts of data every day relating to their various business activities. Understanding this data leads to better insights, less costs and risks and provides avenues in which the organization can improve its performance, offer better services to its customers and earn more revenue giving it a competitive advantage in the market. Advanced tools have been developed to gain this much needed insight into data that was previously considered irrelevant or inaccessible based on its unstructured form. These tools help an organization drill into its data and data from other external sources such as competitors, government reports, proprietary and other multi dimensional databases available from the internet to gain knowledge that can be applied to improve the organization's competitive position. The aim of this research is to provide insights to organizations on how business analytic tools and software can be applied in lighting up previously unknown or ignored data. This is done through an in-depth analysis of secondary data and practitioner reports to provide an understanding of the various concepts and tools essential in identifying meaningful patterns and trends into an organization's data.
Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve... more Information Systems (IS) are becoming increasingly important for business and industry to improve their competitiveness in an ever dynamic market. This paper analyzes the strategic management approaches and the strategic significance of Information systems in information driven business economies. The various strategic IS concepts are identified and the importance of aligning IS and Information Technology (IT) goals and business goals is highlighted. Considering the growing interest and the vital role of Information Systems in improving the competitive position of firms, this paper reviews both academic and practitioner research in this area to provide insights in aligning IS and corporate objectives. It concludes that based on the strategic importance of IS, there is need to develop a framework that leverages IS/IT strategies with business objectives.
This paper analyzes the role of the government in establishing green ICT within organizations. Lo... more This paper analyzes the role of the government in establishing green ICT within organizations. Looking at the practicescurrently adopted by governments, this paper identifies some of the most important areas through which the low carbon value added by new technologies could be increased. Drawing on evidence from other countries around the world, practitioners and from the academic community we can see that there are similarities between the approaches taken by a number of governments, but we can also see that this area of activity will need to be context-specific as well. As we move forward, areas of focus will become more obvious for particular countries and regions, where they have a unique role to play and can add more value. We achieve this by adopting two approaches. One is by investigating what other countries have done as regards toentrenching green ICT in their countries, second was by an analysis of the Kenyan context which took a case of the Kenyan government’s ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the national environmental managementAuthority (NEMA) to find out the extent of government support for businesses and the implementation of Green ICT within the core functions and departments of the organization. Data collection was then carried out within two major ICT consumer companies to find out the level of green ICT adoption within them and the way forward, as well as gauge the level of user awareness on green ICT concepts. The paper concludes by making recommendations which could help the government to invest more on green ICT, develop a green ICT policy to guide in green ICT adoption and support for organizations implementation of green ICT. Keywords: Green ICT, Regulations, Greenhouse gases (GHG)
Issues to do with environmental management and sustainability have continued to generate great in... more Issues to do with environmental management and sustainability have continued to generate great interest in the last two
decades. The world seems more united than ever before in trying to find ways to combat this global phenomenon whose impact has had tragic results especially in developing economies. Companies and organizations have been urged to develop innovative ways of doing business without causing any arm to the environment; with that, a number of approaches have been developed including green energy, green construction, green supply chain, green IT, green IS and many others that aim to ensure that every aspect of the organization is analyzed to reduce their carbon footprint. The field of computing has been discussed under green Information Systems (Green IS) and Green Information Technology (Green IT).Green IT aims to reduce the Information Technology (IT) environmental footprint. Green IS tries to look for innovative ways in which organizations can apply Information Systems (IS) to manage their environmental footprint. Research on environmental protection and global green house gas (GHG) emissions seem to concentrate on large companies and developed countries with the notion that developing countries and small and medium organizations contribute less in carbon emissions mostly because of the limited industrial activities in these countries and in the case of computing, the limited number of computers in these firms. The purpose of this research is to highlight the various mechanisms that an organization in developing countries usually small and
medium businesses can apply on its internal core functions to reduce its carbon footprint. To achieve this, we first carry out a
review of both practitioner and academic literature to justify the scope and focus of the research. We then offer highlights on
development of a corporate level green IS strategy and finally we describe each of the internal practices that small and medium size organizations should focus on to reduce their carbon footprint and validating each of them using opinions from past research.
Keywords: green IS, green IT, footprint, sustainability
In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerat... more In the last five years, research on the role of IT in managing the environment has been accelerated by Information Technology (IT) practitioners such as Google, IBM and Microsoft as well as by the academic community. Research in this field seems to have been narrowed down in two areas; Green Information Technology (Green IT) and Green Information Systems (Green IS). Confusion reigns on whether green IT and green IS are the same thing or two different concepts. Within the academic community, a review of literature shows that there exists a difference based on the definition and scope of each of these
concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce their environmental footprint. Green IT aims to reduce the IT induced global green house Gas emissions while Green IS tries to look at the innovative ways in which computing can be used as the solution to environmental pollution. The aim of this paper therefore was to investigate the applicability of Green IT concepts in Green IS. This was done by carrying out a
tentative review of Green IT and Green IS research and then carrying out the comparisons between the two concepts to identify any gaps and overlaps. Later on, the researcher proposes future research areas based on the results.
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added by new technologies could be increased. Drawing on evidence from other countries around the world, practitioners and from the academic community we can see that there are similarities between the approaches taken by a number of
governments, but we can also see that this area of activity will need to be context-specific as well. As we move forward, areas of focus will become more obvious for particular countries and regions, where they have a unique role to play and can add more value. We achieve this by adopting two approaches. One is by investigating what other countries have done as regards toentrenching green ICT in their countries, second was by an analysis of the Kenyan context which took a case of the Kenyan government’s ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the national environmental managementAuthority (NEMA) to find out the extent of government support for businesses and the implementation of Green ICT within the core functions and departments of the organization. Data collection was then carried out within two major ICT consumer companies to find out the level of green ICT adoption within them and the way forward, as well as gauge the level of user awareness on green ICT concepts. The paper concludes by making recommendations which could help the government to invest more on green ICT, develop a green ICT policy to guide in green ICT adoption and support for organizations implementation of green ICT.
Keywords: Green ICT, Regulations, Greenhouse gases (GHG)
decades. The world seems more united than ever before in trying to find ways to combat this global phenomenon whose impact has had tragic results especially in developing economies. Companies and organizations have been urged to develop innovative ways of doing business without causing any arm to the environment; with that, a number of approaches have been developed including green energy, green construction, green supply chain, green IT, green IS and many others that aim to ensure that every aspect of the organization is analyzed to reduce their carbon footprint. The field of computing has been discussed under green Information Systems (Green IS) and Green Information Technology (Green IT).Green IT aims to reduce the Information Technology (IT) environmental footprint. Green IS tries to look for innovative ways in which organizations can apply Information Systems (IS) to manage their environmental footprint. Research on environmental protection and global green house gas (GHG) emissions seem to concentrate on large companies and developed countries with the notion that developing countries and small and medium organizations contribute less in carbon emissions mostly because of the limited industrial activities in these countries and in the case of computing, the limited number of computers in these firms. The purpose of this research is to highlight the various mechanisms that an organization in developing countries usually small and
medium businesses can apply on its internal core functions to reduce its carbon footprint. To achieve this, we first carry out a
review of both practitioner and academic literature to justify the scope and focus of the research. We then offer highlights on
development of a corporate level green IS strategy and finally we describe each of the internal practices that small and medium size organizations should focus on to reduce their carbon footprint and validating each of them using opinions from past research.
Keywords: green IS, green IT, footprint, sustainability
concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce their environmental footprint. Green IT aims to reduce the IT induced global green house Gas emissions while Green IS tries to look at the innovative ways in which computing can be used as the solution to environmental pollution. The aim of this paper therefore was to investigate the applicability of Green IT concepts in Green IS. This was done by carrying out a
tentative review of Green IT and Green IS research and then carrying out the comparisons between the two concepts to identify any gaps and overlaps. Later on, the researcher proposes future research areas based on the results.
added by new technologies could be increased. Drawing on evidence from other countries around the world, practitioners and from the academic community we can see that there are similarities between the approaches taken by a number of
governments, but we can also see that this area of activity will need to be context-specific as well. As we move forward, areas of focus will become more obvious for particular countries and regions, where they have a unique role to play and can add more value. We achieve this by adopting two approaches. One is by investigating what other countries have done as regards toentrenching green ICT in their countries, second was by an analysis of the Kenyan context which took a case of the Kenyan government’s ministry of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the national environmental managementAuthority (NEMA) to find out the extent of government support for businesses and the implementation of Green ICT within the core functions and departments of the organization. Data collection was then carried out within two major ICT consumer companies to find out the level of green ICT adoption within them and the way forward, as well as gauge the level of user awareness on green ICT concepts. The paper concludes by making recommendations which could help the government to invest more on green ICT, develop a green ICT policy to guide in green ICT adoption and support for organizations implementation of green ICT.
Keywords: Green ICT, Regulations, Greenhouse gases (GHG)
decades. The world seems more united than ever before in trying to find ways to combat this global phenomenon whose impact has had tragic results especially in developing economies. Companies and organizations have been urged to develop innovative ways of doing business without causing any arm to the environment; with that, a number of approaches have been developed including green energy, green construction, green supply chain, green IT, green IS and many others that aim to ensure that every aspect of the organization is analyzed to reduce their carbon footprint. The field of computing has been discussed under green Information Systems (Green IS) and Green Information Technology (Green IT).Green IT aims to reduce the Information Technology (IT) environmental footprint. Green IS tries to look for innovative ways in which organizations can apply Information Systems (IS) to manage their environmental footprint. Research on environmental protection and global green house gas (GHG) emissions seem to concentrate on large companies and developed countries with the notion that developing countries and small and medium organizations contribute less in carbon emissions mostly because of the limited industrial activities in these countries and in the case of computing, the limited number of computers in these firms. The purpose of this research is to highlight the various mechanisms that an organization in developing countries usually small and
medium businesses can apply on its internal core functions to reduce its carbon footprint. To achieve this, we first carry out a
review of both practitioner and academic literature to justify the scope and focus of the research. We then offer highlights on
development of a corporate level green IS strategy and finally we describe each of the internal practices that small and medium size organizations should focus on to reduce their carbon footprint and validating each of them using opinions from past research.
Keywords: green IS, green IT, footprint, sustainability
concepts whereas practitioner research seems to be more focused on the former (green IT) where direct benefits can be easily accrued by individuals and customers and left out the part on Green IS. Most IS academic researchers have encouraged that more research needs to be directed to Green IS which has the potential to bring in more benefits in terms of organizations drive to reduce their environmental footprint. Green IT aims to reduce the IT induced global green house Gas emissions while Green IS tries to look at the innovative ways in which computing can be used as the solution to environmental pollution. The aim of this paper therefore was to investigate the applicability of Green IT concepts in Green IS. This was done by carrying out a
tentative review of Green IT and Green IS research and then carrying out the comparisons between the two concepts to identify any gaps and overlaps. Later on, the researcher proposes future research areas based on the results.