Browsing by Author "Hart, Mike"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    The attractiveness of the Western Cape for offshore outsourcing contact centres
    (2006) Derakhshani, Saba; Hart, Mike
    This study examines the attractiveness of the Western Cape for offshore outsourcing contact centres and suggests a series of normative business practices contact centres can adopt to achieve superior organistional efficiency and performance. A literature review defines the concept of a contact centre and discusses the various functions these operations perform. Contact centre technology is also reviewed as well as the personnel management and service quality components of these operations, such as first call resolution and the effectiveness of service encounters. The phenomenon of offshore outsourcing contact centres is discussed by reviewing its risks and benefits. Offshore outsourcing is primarily done to reduce costs, as well as for other factors, such as increased flexibility, efficiency and scalability. However, it is risky due to issues as cultural misalignment and managerial difficulities. A brief overview of the South African contact centre industry reveals that South Africa is home to approximately 525 contact centres including 105 operations situated in the Western Cape. It is estimated that 30% of these operations are outsourcers, of which over 55% service offshore markets.
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    Excavating the meaning of information and communication technology use amongst South African university students : a critical discourse analysis
    (2011) Brown, Cheryl; Hart, Mike
    This thesis examines what Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) mean to South African university students and how these meanings form the basis of technological identities. It explores the relationships between these meanings and identities and the possibilities and opportunities that they create or limit.
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    A framework for the analysis and evaluation of enterprise models
    (2003) Van Belle, Jean-Paul; Miller, Jonathan; Licker, Paul; Hart, Mike
    The purpose of this study is the development and validation of a comprehensive framework for the analysis and evaluation of enterprise models. The study starts with an extensive literature review of modelling concepts and an overview of the various reference disciplines concerned with enterprise modelling. This overview is more extensive than usual in order to accommodate readers from different backgrounds. The proposed framework is based on the distinction between the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic model aspects and populated with evaluation criteria drawn from an extensive literature survey. In order to operationalize and empirically validate the framework, an exhaustive survey of enterprise models was conducted. From this survey, an XML database of more than twenty relatively large, publicly available enterprise models was constructed. A strong emphasis was placed on the interdisciplinary nature of this database and models were drawn from ontology research, linguistics, analysis patterns as well as the traditional fields of data modelling, data warehousing and enterprise systems. The resultant database forms the test bed for the detailed framework-based analysis and its public availability should constitute a useful contribution to the modelling research community. The bulk of the research is dedicated to implementing and validating specific analysis techniques to quantify the various model evaluation criteria of the framework. The aim for each of the analysis techniques is that it can, where possible, be automated and generalised to other modelling domains. The syntactic measures and analysis techniques originate largely from the disciplines of systems engineering, graph theory and computer science. Various metrics to measure model hierarchy, architecture and complexity are tested and discussed. It is found that many are not particularly useful or valid for enterprise models. Hence some new measures are proposed to assist with model visualization and an original "model signature" consisting of three key metrics is proposed.Perhaps the most significant contribution ofthe research lies in the development and validation of a significant number of semantic analysis techniques, drawing heavily on current developments in lexicography, linguistics and ontology research. Some novel and interesting techniques are proposed to measure, inter alia, domain coverage, model genericity, quality of documentation, perspicuity and model similarity. Especially model similarity is explored in depth by means of various similarity and clustering algorithms as well as ways to visualize the similarity between models. Finally, a number of pragmatic analyses techniques are applied to the models. These include face validity, degree of use, authority of model author, availability, cost, flexibility, adaptability, model currency, maturity and degree of support. This analysis relies mostly on the searching for and ranking of certain specific information details, often involving a degree of subjective interpretation, although more specific quantitative procedures are suggested for some of the criteria. To aid future researchers, a separate chapter lists some promising analysis techniques that were investigated but found to be problematic from methodological perspective. More interestingly, this chapter also presents a very strong conceptual case on how the proposed framework and the analysis techniques associated vrith its various criteria can be applied to many other information systems research areas. The case is presented on the grounds of the underlying isomorphism between the various research areas and illustrated by suggesting the application of the framework to evaluate web sites, algorithms, software applications, programming languages, system development methodologies and user interfaces.
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    The impact of Information Technology (IT) on the financial performance of organizations in a developing country
    (1994) Lubbe, Samuel Izak; Hart, Mike; Mullany, Michael John
    The effect of IT investment on the risk and risk profile of managers were studied in the IT-using industry in Namibia. IT investment uses certain of an organization's resources. The following models (computerization index (CI), IT expense ratio (ITEX) , IT costs efficiency ratio (ITCE), operating cost efficiency ratio (OPEX), operating leverage, cost-benefit ratio, return on IT assets ratio and profitability performance measurements in terms of six strategic ratios; profit/total assets, profit/turnover, turnover/total assets, gross margin/turnover, profit growth rate and sales growth rate) were used. The study also established the importance of perceived risk in any organization's and managers' daily activities. The study further investigated the close link between calculated organizational risk and IT investment decisions. The results displayed a positive association between the CI and turnover growth. A link was shown between ITEX and OPEX and OPEX and the monetary value of IT, allowing the study to accept these two hypotheses. It was thus concluded that CI and ITEX could be used as a possible measurement of computerization. On the other hand, managerial perceived and calculated organizational risk were not found to be the deciding factors while an IT investment was being made.
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    The impact of system features on call centre agents' job performance and on their service delivery
    (2010) Maseko, Sibusiso; Hart, Mike
    The study was conducted with the agents in a contact centre environment in one of the leading insurance organisations in South Africa. The framework adopted was Theoretical Framework of User Satisfaction with a Web Interface which is adapted from Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene theory.It was found that there are several factors impacting agents' job performance and customer service, including systems performance, page loading capacity, complexity and speed of information seeking tasks, system-telephonic integration, system-emails integration, system-system integration, frequent changes of service delivery processes, and difficulties of combining products with systems training. It was found that the greatest impact of these factors was on average handling time (AHT) and 'not ready' time.
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    The implementation and adoption of a corporate performance management information system in the City of Cape Town Municipality : a case study using actor-network theory
    (2011) Tudor, Mark; Hart, Mike
    This study examines the adoption of a Corporate Performance Management (CPM) Information System in the context of a local Municipality with South Africa. The role of ICT in supporting and facilitating CPM is also examined within this context. The historic progression of CPM Systems is reviewed from their origins rooted in early executive information systems to the rich functional business intelligence aligned platforms of today.
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    Inclination of scholars to major in information systems or computer science
    (2005) Seymour, Lisa; Hart, Mike; Haralambous, Peter; Natha, Tasneem; Weng, Chia-Wen
    This paper describes a survey of 497 final year scholars at schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. They were asked about their inclination to study information systems (IS) or computer science (CS), their knowledge of the areas, and their opinions of salaries and job opportunities. Unlike much past research, significantly more interest came from those previously ‘deprived’ in the IT area. Those from schools previously disadvantaged by the apartheid school system and without access to computer or Internet access at home were more inclined to study CS or IS. These categories also expressed most optimism about IT job prospects and starting salaries, as did female scholars. Perceptions of the activities of IS students were far less accurate than of CS students. Males were more predisposed to study IS than females, and black students and those without school computer access favoured CS. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
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    Interrogating the impact of ICT infrastructure expansion in Francophone West Africa 1993-2005 : a critical theory study using archival data and non-parametric research methods
    (2010) Bollou, Felix Afri; Hart, Mike
    This thesis critically investigates the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure expansion on Development in Six West African Countries. While recent research has shown that ICT has contributed significantly to economic and social transformation in Western developed countries, the same is not necessarily true for less developed countries. After over a decade of heavy investment in ICT infrastructure expansion in Africa, little empirical research on the contribution of ICT to development has been conducted to assess the impact of these investments on the development of these countries. This work is a groundbreaking effort to advance a much needed research program to measure the impact of ICT infrastructure expansion on development in Africa.
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    Investigating the application of real-time business intelligence and facilitating its justification through a proposed conceptual model
    (2012) Dobrev, Kiril Vladimirov; Hart, Mike
    Although real-time Business Intelligence (BI) environments overcome the setbacks of traditional BI, and offer a host of value adding benefits to organizations, their implementation has said to be hampered due to their technological complexities, and has required changes to the business environment, as well as the high costs required to put them in place. In addition, the justification of IT investments still remains a common problem as they provide many intangible benefits which are incompatible with traditional (financial) IT benefits measurement models. For this reason, the research set out to investigate and understand the technological components and organizational changes surrounding real-time BI in order to shed light on these issues. This study also aimed to further the understanding of how real-time BI can be justified as a prudent investment...
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    The shareholder-wealth and trading volume effects of information technology infrastructure investments in a developing country
    (2003) Webber, Russel; Hart, Mike
    Little research has been done into the relationship between IT investment and business value in South Africa, particularly regarding the effects of IT infrastructure investment. Therefore this thesis, in a replication of a recent US study, poses the research question: Do South African stock market investors perceive significant value in IT infrastructure investments? The event study methodology was identified as an innovative method to answer this question. Application of the event study methodology, for the time period of January 1998 to December 2002.
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    Towards health management intelligence: a case study from South Africa
    (2014) Rowles , Gregory Thomas; van Belle, Jean-Paul; Hart, Mike
    Over the last two decades various information management processes have evolved in South Africa’s public health system. Most notably a self-service business intelligence tool has emerged at the national level which has been supported by the presence of a Routine Health Information System. Corporate business intelligence and its underlying process are well documented but not in the public health domain. The emergence of this tool and the underlying support processes are investigated in a longitudinal case study. Complex adaptive systems theory is used to demonstrate the evolutionary path of business intelligence processes according to four key areas, namely data quality, master data management, data warehousing and analytics. These processes have developed out of an information management culture that has been nurtured by a participatory approach which required an attractor: the improvement of health services through the collection and use of information. The evolution of these processes took place through a bottom up approach that relied on distributed control structures, self-organization and regular engagement within the CAS that is South Africa’s public health system. This created an environment in which information quality practices and master data management processes enabled the continued production of data for warehousing and analytics. Findings will show how business intelligence processes have evolved within a public health setting to the point that they are supported by a new policy that ensures data integrity, presence, quality and use processes. These processes have developed and stabilized over many iterations and have enabled the establishment of a country level self-service business intelligence platform for health managers.
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    The value of transformational IT investments in South Africa : an event study analysis
    (2006) Van Gysen, Nicholas; Hart, Mike
    This thesis aims to further the understanding of the conditions under which IT investments add value and conducts a replication of a study by Dehning, Richardson and Zmud (2003) in the context of South Africa.