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IT 496 > Final Study Guide > Flashcards

Final Study Guide Flashcards

1
Q

What is the largest source of online data for organizations?

A

Social media is the largest source of online data for firms.

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2
Q

What are the three sets of competencies that companies should have for dealing with big data?

A

The three competencies that companies should have for dealing with big data are:

  • Business analytic expertise
  • Information management expertise
  • An analytic-oriented culture
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3
Q

T/F: Organizational behavior must change if the value of social computing is to be realized.

A

True, organizational behavior will have to adapt to the new value of social computing.

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4
Q

T/F: Business leaders have shorter time horizon in their thinking than IT and are often not prepared to anticipate new technologies.

A

True. Business leaders are generally much more focused on short- to medium-term gains.

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5
Q

What are the three level of analytics maturity in organizations?

A

The three levels of analytics maturity in organizations are:

  • Aspirational: Supports finance and supply chain management.
  • Experienced: Supports holistic strategy, marketing, and operations
  • Transformational: Supports day-to-day strategy and operations
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6
Q

According to Merchand et al., data have four dimensions. What are they?

A

The four dimensions of data are:

  • Unstructured
  • Structured
  • Internal
  • External
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7
Q

What are the five main strategic opportunities developed through the use of big data innovation?

A

The five main strategic opportunities that can be developed through innovating with big data are:

  • Data Generation (Creating new products)
  • Aggregation (Creating a data platform)
  • Service (Create or improve a service)
  • Efficiency (Optimize internal operations)
  • Analytics (Develop superior knowledge & insight)
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8
Q

What are the largest challenges posed by social media?

A

The largest challenges to IT managers for using social media data are:

  • Short business horizons: Business leaders focus nearer to now, and don’t anticipate new tech.
  • Resources: Social computing requires support and facilitation.
  • Culture Change: Participation starts high but usually drops off steeply.
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9
Q

What are the six steps towards using social data?

A

The six steps towards using social data are:

  • Focus: Identify specific problems
  • Develop business-savvy IT staff: Promote business-IT rotation, hire power users into IT.
  • Become a “data factory”: Work to improve data quality, usability, and integration
  • Listen & Engage: Engage customers with the company though IT.
  • Hire a graphic designer: Good UI is good.
  • Support ease-of-use
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10
Q

T/F: Organizations that are “sophisticated exploiters of data and analytics” are three times more likely to be top performers.

A

True, organizations that are sophisticated exploiters of data & analytics are three times more likely to be top performers.

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11
Q

T/F: Learning about how people utilize knowledge for action and then using this as the basis for improving an organization’s intelligence is critical for successful BI.

A

True, learning how people use knowledge lets you produce it better.

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12
Q

T/F: Most organizations’ business intelligence efforts fail because there are too many employees with business intelligence training and expertise.

A

False. Just plain false.

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13
Q

T/F: The ‘holy grail’ of IT is to have a single authoritative source for all data.

A

True.

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14
Q

Define business intelligence.

A

Business intelligence is the manipulation of data, not the management of data, in order to bring the right data/information/knowledge/intelligence to bear on a problem.

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15
Q

What are the six things that BI helps organizations do?

A

Business intelligence helps businesses:

  • Anticipate the future
  • Empower employees’ memory
  • Sense what’s happening in the environment
  • Connect internal and external functions & resources
  • Question the status quo
  • Focus on the most relevant information
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16
Q

What’s the first level of analytics maturity?

A

The first level of analytics security is Aspirational: At this level, analytics are siloed and largely based on structured data and spreadsheets, targeting support activities, like logistic and finance.

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17
Q

What’s the second level of analytics maturity?

A

The second level of analytics maturity is Experienced: Adding onto aspirational, you get visualization, advanced modeling, and data integration. It supports holistic aims, like strategy development, marketing, and operations.

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18
Q

What’s the third level of analytics maturity?

A

The third level of analytics maturity is Transformational: At this level, a broad variety of tools is used to analyze structured and unstructured. This supports day-to-day strategy and operations.

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19
Q

What’s the first set of competencies needed to deal with big data?

A

The first set of competencies needed for a firm to deal with big data are Information Management Expertise; things like data governance, good data management practices, and the ability to get the right data to the right people.

20
Q

What’s the second set of competencies needed to deal with big data?

A

The second set of competencies needed for a firm to deal with big data are Business Analytic Expertise: That is, analytic talent, tools, and technology required to glean insight from data.

21
Q

What’s the third set of competencies needed to deal with big data?

A

The third set of competencies need for a firm to deal with big data are An Analytic-Oriented Culture: A belief that data and analytics are a strategic asset. Have things like analytics champions, mandates, and the involvement of analytics in strategic and tactical decisions.

22
Q

What are the two major reasons for the new interest in BI?

A

The two major reasons for the new interest in business intelligence are 1. the sudden explosion of data and 2. the changing information needs of businesses.
The amount and types of data are vastly increasing, as is our ability to handle it in a useful way. It can be useful.
The ability to use this data in more holistic ways (not reports) is increasing as well, and the desire to find new patterns in it.

23
Q

What’s the first obstacle to helping companies improve BI?

A

The first obstacle to helping companies improve BI is Perspective: Changing the collective mind-set and culture regarding data. Make people see that it’s an asset.

24
Q

What’s the second obstacle to helping companies improve BI?

A

The second obstacle to helping companies improve BI is Lack of Business Knowledge: Be able to understand the actual meaning behind data, and have people with the skills to use business intelligence.

25
Q

What’s the third obstacle to helping companies improve BI?

A

The third obstacle to helping companies improve BI is Lack of Sponsorship and Accountability: BI isn’t a priority in a lot of places, without funding and sponsorship, it’s difficult to develop effective governance.

26
Q

What’s the fourth obstacle to helping companies improve BI?

A

The fourth obstacle to helping companies improve BI is Silo Thinking: People do their own data, locally, without regard to anyone else in the company, because of the inflexibility of the company’s data warehouses.

27
Q

What’s the fifth obstacle to helping companies improve BI?

A

The fifth obstacle to helping companies improve BI is a Lack of BI Skills: It’s a particular skillset, and rather hard to find.

28
Q

List and describe the first five external benefits of a technology road map.

A
  1. Achieving business goals: It compares the business plan to the current tech environment and shows gaps.
  2. Reducing complexity: A tech roadmap reduces the number and variety of tech choices, reducing complexity.
  3. Increasing flexibility: commonalities increase flexibility.
  4. Increasing speed of implementation: Common standards and methodologies relieve the burden of learning and time for implementation.
  5. Preserving investments in new and existing systems: IT investments are planned out with the long-term in mind.
29
Q

List and describe the last three external benefits of a technology road map.

A
  1. Responding to market changes: An up-to-date roadmap means that a company can respond quickly and appropriately to market changes.
  2. Focusing Investment Dollars: Fewer dollars, more targeted.
  3. Reduced difficulties associated with deployment of new tech: Again, less variety equals easier deployment.
30
Q

List and describe the five internal benefits of a technology road map.

A
  1. Providing a constant design point: makes end-to-end integration simple.
  2. Building a consistent and cohesive tech base: you can build up skills revolving around a particular set of tech.
  3. Consolidating global solutions: Technologies are synced globally, keeping local advances in-tune with the rest.
  4. Ability to move forward in planned phases: Development works in a life cycle when it’s well-planned.
  5. Lowering the cost of development and maintenance.
31
Q

What’s the difference between an external and an internal benefit in a technology road map?

A

An external benefit with a technology road map is one that benefits effectiveness, that is, IT aligning with the business. An internal benefit is one that benefits IT directly, increasing effectiveness.

32
Q

What’s the first activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The first activity of a technology roadmap is developing guiding principles, a statement about the roles and principles of technology within the business.

33
Q

What’s the second activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The second activity of a technology roadmap is assessing current technology, developing an inventory of what tech the business currently has, and their statuses.

34
Q

What’s the third activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The third activity of a technology roadmap is to analyze gaps between the technology that is currently available, and what’s required.

35
Q

What’s the fourth activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The fourth activity of a technology roadmap is to evaluate the technology landscape. This means that the firm must keep in-the-know of the technology that is currently available.

36
Q

What’s the fifth activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The fifth activity of a technology roadmap is to describe future technology, that is, tech that will be adopted in the future, and the logic used to determine them.

37
Q

What’s the sixth activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The sixth activity of a technology roadmap is to outline migration strategy, the strategy used to get from today’s technology platforms to tomorrow’s.

38
Q

What’s the seventh activity of a technology roadmap?

A

The seventh activity of a technology roadmap is to establish governance to ensure the roadmap is followed.

39
Q

What are the four trends in system development?

A

The four trends in system development are:

  1. Adopting new development approaches
  2. Enhancing the waterfall methodology
  3. Improving governance
  4. Changing resourcing strategies
40
Q

What are the three core types of development approaches?

A

The three main development approaches are:

  1. Agile, the anti-waterfall methodology
  2. Composition: Developing models of generic components that can be re-used.
  3. Integration: The use of packaged software as much as possible.
41
Q

What are the five things we know to improve system development productivity?

A
  1. Optimizing the bigger picture: System development is only one part of the whole business/technical effort to deliver value.
  2. Adopt more flexible processes: you don’t have to abandon waterfall, but don’t be too rigid.
  3. Reduce complexity: Complexity causes slow system development. Limit paperwork, for example.
  4. Enhance success metrics: Metrics should increase buy-in, promote desired behavior, educate perceptions, and monitor performance.
  5. Create a smarter development environment: Encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing, and finding new opportunities for existing work.
42
Q

Using the language of RBV, explain how computers can not provide a firm with a sustainable competitive advantage.

A 
In the resource-based view, a sustainable competitive advantage is only really applicable to "unique" corporate resources, that are:
- Valuable
- Rare
- Difficult to Imitate
- Non Substitutable
Computers are none of these things.
43
Q

If computers cannot provide a firm with a sustainable competitive advantage, can IT capability? Explain?

A

IT can provide sustainable advantages where computers cannot, because IT capability is able to take the form of unique resources.

44
Q

Grant (1991) classifies resources into 3 categories. List and describe these categories. Give examples of each.

A

The three resource classifications used by Grant are:

  1. The tangible resources making up IT infrastructure components
  2. The human IT resources with technical and managerial skills (Majority of advantages are found here)
  3. The intangible IT-enabled resources (such as knowledge assets, customer organization, and synergy)
45
Q

In your own words, explain the results of the MISQ article, “A Resource-Based Perspective on Information Technology Capability and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation.”

A

The study finds that there is a direct correlation between superior IT capability and firm performance, specifically that IT leaders have significantly higher income ratio when IT is exploited to generate revenue. Firm-wide IT capability is vital.

46
Q

What are the guiding principles of a technology roadmap?

A

The guiding principles of a technology roadmap are:

  • Establish investment boundaries
  • Outline the role of technology for the organization
  • Outline the role of technology within the industry
  • Reinforce the role of standards
  • Specify the role of support
  • Specify the impact on resident IT skills
  • Outline development preference
  • Establish expectations
  • Adherence to regulatory standards
  • Specify timeframe

IT 496 (3 decks)

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