EJISDC (2009) 39, 5, 1-33
THE NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
PROFESSION IN THAILAND
Jittima Wongwuttiwat
Assumption University, Thailand
jittima@scitech.au.edu
ABSTRACT
The study tests predictions made in the literature about the nature and structure of the IS
profession over the next 5 years against the expectations of organizations operating in
Thailand. Predictions refer to similarities and differences between Provider organizations
where the core activity is the provision of ICT products and services and User organizations
which are engaged in different core activities but require ICT products and services. The
expectations in both types of organizations are analyzed and compared using data collected
by questionnaire. The results are interpreted and theoretical and practical implications are
presented.
Keywords: Knowledge and skills, sourcing strategies, specialists, Thailand, versatilists, work
domains.
1.
INTRODUCTION
On a global scale Morello (2005) predicts that, by 2010, 60 percent of IS professionals will
assume business-facing roles focused on information, process, and relationships and the IS
profession will be structured into 4 domains of expertise focused on technology infrastructure
and services, information design and management, process design and management, and
relationship and sourcing management. These changes are driven by 4 mega forces: global
sourcing; IT automation; consumer IT; and business reconfiguration (Maguire, 2007a).
Global sourcing and automation will produce worldwide geographic labor shifts and strong
competition for competent IS professionals while the IS operations work force may be
reduced by half especially in organizations which are users rather than providers of IT
products and services. User organizations will outsource many of their technical tasks and
will only retain IS professionals engaged in business-focused tasks and the demand for
relationship and sourcing management skills will increase over time (Gibson, 2005).
Consequently, consolidation, globalization, outsourcing, downsizing, re-engineering, and
mergers and acquisitions will challenge IS professionals by weakening employee
commitment and pressuring them to adapt to changed work environments.
The past 2 decades has been the era of the IS specialists but Morello (2005)
anticipates that by 2011 in 70 percent of leading-edge organizations there will be a decreased
demand for specialists and an increased demand for versatilists who are able to respond to
multidisciplinary assignments, roles, and experiences and can create a blend of synthesized
knowledge, skills, competencies, and context in order to fuel business value. There are 3
drivers for the increased demand for versatilists. First, as organizations downsize their IS
professionals must be able to move smoothly into multiple projects, disciplines, and
processes. Second, the IS profession is expected to contribute tangibly to organizational
outcomes and to accelerate growth and innovation. Third, compressed business cycles force
organizations to explore opportunities quickly assembling multifaceted people with broad
experience into effective teams (Maguire, 2007b; Collett, 2006; Meredith, 2005; Plummer et
al., 2005). In response, McAdams (2007) proposed the Control Objectives for Information
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and Related Technology framework as an aid for identifying IS professionals with the
knowledge and skills needed for the new work environment. In particular, Catanio (2005)
claims that slow changing IS curricula lag behind these dynamic needs.
In Thailand the importance of ICT has been acknowledged since 1992 in a sequence
of national ICT policies (IT-2000, IT-2010, and the National ICT Master Plan) involving
government ministries and agencies (Winley et al., 2007) and NECTEC (2009) reports on
ICT indicators designed to monitor progress on these policy objectives. A SWOT analysis by
Wiggins et al. (2006) indicates that Thailand’s strengths (internal ICT infrastructure, labor
costs, and education system) compared favorably with other Asian countries but weaknesses
(political instability, lack of government support for the ICT sector, the limited scale of the
workforce, low English language standards in the workforce, and Internet gateway issues)
place it at a disadvantage. They predict that Thailand’s annual growth rates in expenditure on
Enterprise IT will continue to be lower than in India and Indonesia, comparable with China,
but higher than in Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Steenstrup et
al. (2005) note that ICT innovation and product development have shifted to the Asia/Pacific
region, led by South Korea, Taiwan, China, and India and the region has become the leader in
establishing and driving standards for ICT. Only 3 previous studies were found that focused
on the nature and structure of the IS profession in Thailand. An exploratory study by
Wongwuttiwat et al. (2004) examined the importance of a range of IS knowledge and skills
required by medium to large sized organizations. Winley et al. (2007) compared IS expertise
required in different organizational sectors with Thailand’s national ICT policy objectives
and Rigas (2009) developed a theoretical model of the causes for turnover among technicallyoriented IS professionals.
The purpose of this study is to test predictions made in the literature about the nature
and structure of the IS profession over the next 5 years against the expectations of
organizations operating in Thailand. Predictions often refer to similarities and differences
between Provider organizations where the core activity is the provision of ICT products and
services and User organizations which are engaged in different core activities but require ICT
products and services for their activities. Consequently, the study compares the expectations
in these 2 types of organizations. The predictions and related literature are presented next
followed by a description of the research design and methodology. Data collected by
questionnaire is analyzed and the results are interpreted and conclusions are drawn.
2.
PREDICTIONS AND RELATED LITERATURE
Morello (2005) predicts that the IS profession will be structured into the following 4 domains
of expertise.
Domain 1: Technology Infrastructure and Services. This domain represents the historical
foundation of the IS profession. Those working in this domain must demonstrate mastery of
complexity, operational consistency, and standardization. They must be excellent in their
grasp of a technology and its implications, they must learn about related technologies and
applications, and they must have behavioral competencies regarding communication,
influence, adaptability, and team building.
Domain 2: Information Design and Management. This domain requires a deep
understanding of when and how a particular organization needs, uses, manages, analyzes, and
distributes information. Professionals should work in business areas, core processes, and new
business intelligence programs in order to learn what constitutes the right information.
Domain 3: Process Design and Management. Processes may be designated as standard
operational processes, competitive processes, and automated processes. As standardization
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increases, processes that support standard operations or are automated will move toward the
use of outsourcing while those that fuel differentiation, innovation, and competitive
advantage will remain within User organizations. The domain will attract multifaceted,
versatile professionals who can visualize and understand process components and
established, critical, and strategic processes.
Domain 4: Relationship and Sourcing Management. This domain is distant from the
traditional skills of IS professionals. It is the domain of negotiation, alliances, intangibles,
persuasion, behaviors, and social networking. It is driven by the need for User and Provider
organizations to work together effectively on growth in external sourcing, shared services,
global service expansion, and business value chains. Technical expertise is not essential for
this domain and more important are non-technology soft skills related to experience in
driving significant change, arbitrating conflict, overcoming customer skepticism, and
communicating clearly.
A description of the areas of knowledge and skills in each domain derived from
Morello (2005) is shown in Table 1 as well as the predicted change in the demand for these
skills and the percentage of the IS workforce associated with each domain at present and in
the future.
Table 1: Domains of expertise and predicted changes in demand (Morello (2005))
Domain of
Expertise
1.
Technology
Infrastructure
and Services
2.
Information
Design and
Management
3.
Process Design
and
Management
4.
Relationship
and Sourcing
Management
Description
Enterprise architecture; Infrastructure, Networking; Operations;
Desktop computing; Security; Wireless and mobile; Systems
integration; Applications; Programming and coding; Application
design; and Web services development
Information integration; Information design (Data warehousing, Data
management, Internet design, Data mining, Database administration,
and Web aesthetics); and Information management (Business
intelligence, Knowledge management, Taxonomy and ontology,
Content management, and Privacy)
Business process (Business analysis, Business process modeling, and
Workflow modeling); Operational processes (Business continuity,
Quality, continuous improvements, and Service portfolio design);
Project management; and Innovation management
Internal relationships (Business relationship management, Demand,
supply analysis, Shared-service alliances, and Resource management);
External relationships (Service provider relationship management,
Process partnering, and Vendor management); Customer experience;
and Workplace behavior programs
Change in Demand
(Percentage change
among all IS
professionals)
Users
Providers
Decrease
(65-40)
Decrease
(70-50)
Increase
(20-30)
Increase
(10-15)
Increase
(10-20)
Increase
(15-25)
Increase
(5-10)
Increase
(5-10)
From Table 1 it is noted that at present in both types of organizations the largest
proportion of IS professionals work in domain 1 and the same is predicted for the future
despite decreases in the demand for skills in this domain which has traditionally been the
focus of the IS profession.
In order to examine in detail the predicted changes in demand for skills in each of the
domains Morello’s (2005) broad descriptions in Table 1 were decomposed into categories of
knowledge and skills items. In the process items were identified which related to more than
one of the 4 domains and there were personal attributes of IS professionals noted by Morello
(2005) and others that were relevant to most of the 4 domains. Consequently, each of the
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items was listed for the domain to which it was most closely related and a fifth domain of
Personal Characteristics items was introduced. Table 2 indicates the literature sources that
were used to determine the 185 items used in the study. The items and categories that are
associated with each domain are listed in Appendix Table A1.
Table 2: Literature Sources for Knowledge and Skills Items
Development Methodologies: McAdams, 2007; Winley et al., 2007; Catanio, 2005; Meredith, 2005;
Westervelt, 2005.
Design Skills: Bullen et al., 2007; Glenn and Gordon, 2007; McAdams, 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006; Australian
Government, 2006; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Kamali et al., 2006; Bell and Caldwell, 2005; Catanio, 2005; Meredith,
2005; Morello, 2005; Steenstrup et al., 2005; Westervelt, 2005.
Tools and Techniques: Catanio, 2005; Morello, 2005; Westervelt, 2005; Koh et al., 2004.
Architecture: Bullen et al., 2007; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Catanio, 2005; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004.
Applications: Glenn and Gordon, 2007; Winley et al., 2007; Australian Government, 2006; Ekstrom et al.,
2006; Plummer et al., 2005; Koh et al., 2004.
Data Management Systems: Bullen et al., 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Catanio, 2005;
Floyd, 2004.
Networks and Communications: Winley et al., 2007; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Catanio, 2005; Plummer et al.,
2005.
Technologies for Security: Winley et al., 2007; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Morello, 2005; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004.
Technical Support Services: Bullen et al., 2007; Winley et al., 2007; Westervelt, 2005; Koh et al., 2004;
Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004.
The Organization and Its Functions: Bullen et al., 2007; McAdams, 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006; Australian
Government, 2006; Brewer et al., 2006; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Bell and Caldwell, 2005; Catanio, 2005; Gaudin,
2005; Meredith, 2005; Morello, 2005; Plummer et al., 2005.
Management Activities: Bullen et al., 2007; McAdams, 2007; Srinutapong, 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006;
Australian Government, 2006; Kamali et al., 2006; Catanio, 2005; Gaudin, 2005; Morello, 2005; Plummer et al.,
2005.
Managing Physical Resources: Bullen et al., 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Maguire,
2006a, b, c; Morello, 2005.
Managing Finances: Australian Government, 2006; Collett, 2006; Catanio, 2005; Morello, 2005; Plummer et
al., 2005.
Personal Traits: Bullen et al., 2007; Glenn and Gordon, 2007; McAdams, 2007; Srinutapong, 2007; Aasheim
et al., 2006; Collett, 2006.
Problem Solving Expertise: Glenn and Gordon, 2007; Srinutapong, 2007; Aasheim et al., 2006; Australian
Government, 2006; Morello (2005); Floyd (2004); Wongwuttiwat et al. (2004).
Work Environment: Bullen et al., 2007; Glenn and Gordon, 2007; McAdams, 2007; Srinutapong, 2007;
Australian Government, 2006; Bell and Caldwell, 2005.
Communication Skills: McAdams, 2007; Srinutapong, 2007; Winley et al., 2007; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Gaudin,
2005.
Scope of Skills and Experience: Morello, 2005; Plummer et al., 2005.
Table 3: Changes in Demand for Specialists and Versatilists
Type of IS Professional
Specialists have a deep but narrow set of skills and skills that are recognized only
within the ICT work domain.
Versatilists have deep skills and a broad scope of roles and experience and skills
that are recognized in ICT and other work domains.
Predicted Change in
Demand
Users
Providers
Decrease
No Change
Increase
Increase
Morello (2005) and Plummer (2005) predict that the majority of organizations will
emphasize the employment IS versatilists. No change in demand for specialists is predicted in
Provider organizations but a decreased demand is predicted in User organizations. Both types
of IS professional and the predictions are described in Table 3.
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Sourcing strategies used to acquire technical knowledge and skills associated with:
development methodologies; design skills; tools and techniques; architecture; applications;
networks and communications; security technologies; and technical support play an
influential role in the development of the 4 domains described above and the complete list of
these items is shown in Appendix Table A2. In addition, several studies have made
predictions about the strategies that will be used for particular items by Users and Providers
in the future and these are presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Future Strategies Used by Users and Providers for Particular Technical Skills
Knowledge and Skills
Design Skills: Determine system requirements; Model/design processes; Redesign/re-engineer
processes; Model/design information requirements (Bullen et al., 2007)
Program and code (Bullen et al., 2007; Plummer et al., 2006; Morello, 2005); Completely develop
applications/systems (Bullen et al., 2007; Meredith, 2005)
Architecture: Micro computers; Mini computers; Mainframe computers; Mobile computers
(Bullen et al., 2007; Winley et al., 2007; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004); Open systems architectures
(Bullen et al., 2007; Ekstrom et al., 2006; Catanio, 2005); Parallel architectures (Winley et al.,
2007; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004); Client-server architectures (Winley et al., 2007; Catanio,
2005; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004)
Technologies for Security: Networks; Operational systems; Data/information; Web
sites/applications (Bullen et al., 2007)
Technical Support Services: Hardware, End-users; Enterprise application portfolio (Winley et
al., 2007; Westervelt, 2005; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004); Computer operations (Bullen et al.,
2007)
Networks; Databases; Data warehouses/marts; Websites/applications; Multimedia applications
(Winley et al., 2007; Westervelt, 2005; Wongwuttiwat et al., 2004)
Sourcing
Prediction
IN
OUT
OUT
IN
OUT
IN
Note: IN and OUT indicate mainly insourcing and mainly outsourcing, respectively.
3.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
A cross-sectional field study approach was used to gather data using a self-administered
questionnaire which was reviewed by a focus group of 5 experienced IS professionals and
trialed in a pilot study with 10 respondents. Questions asked about a situation at present and
in the future which referred to a period of about 5 years. Section 1 of the questionnaire
examined the characteristics of the respondents and their organizations and expected changes
in demand for IS professionals in each of the 4 domains proposed by Morello (2005). In
Section 2 respondents rated the present and future importance of each of the 185 items in
Appendix Table A1 on separate 5 point scales using 1 as “unimportant” and 5 as “very
important”. For technical skills they indicated present and future sourcing strategies on 5
point scales with 1 as “totally insourced” and 5 as “totally outsourced” with the mid point
representing a “mixed” approach.
The 2 target populations were medium to large sized User and Provider organizations
operating in Thailand from 7 organizational sectors: Government; Banking and Finance;
Manufacturing and Engineering; Wholesale and Retail; Tourism and Transport; Health; and
Information and Communication Technology. Senior professionals (CIO, IS managers, IS
strategists, and experienced IS project managers) were asked to the answer questions based
on their in-depth knowledge of their organizations.
Approximately 1700 questionnaires were distributed using the Thailand Company
Information (2006-2007) directory as a sampling frame and after a considerable effort 133
usable responses were obtained including 78 from User organizations and 55 from Provider
organizations. Despite the limitations resulting from the smaller than expected sample sizes
the statistical validity of the study is not adversely affected.
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4.
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
The accuracy of data entry using an SPSS (Version 11) worksheet was checked randomly for
10 percent of the samples. A descriptive statistical analysis of the importance ratings of items
in section 2 of the questionnaire examined means, standard deviations, and measures of
skewness and kurtosis. No outliers were detected, standard deviations indicated that the
means were a satisfactory measure of the ratings of items, and upper limits on the magnitudes
of skewness and kurtosis were acceptable (Walpole et al. 2002). The means of the importance
ratings provide a measure of the absolute importance of items and they were used to rank the
items from 1 (most important) to 185 (least important). The ranks provided a measure of the
relative importance of the items and were used to categorize items as highly, moderately, or
lowly ranked depending on whether they were in the top, middle, or bottom third of the
distributions of the rankings, respectively. Appendix Table A1 shows the rank and type of
rank for each of the items in each of the 5 domains where the labels I and D indicate items
that have significantly increased or decreased, respectively, in relative importance from the
present to the future which means that their rank changed by at least 30 positions.
For the technical skills items where respondents were asked to indicate a sourcing
strategy missing values were expected as respondents were instructed not to indicate a
strategy for any item they rated as unimportant and this occurred for less than 5 percent of all
of the responses. A descriptive analysis determined the proportion of responses in each of the
intervals [1, 2.3], (2.3, 3.7), and [3.7, 5] which represented mainly insourcing, mainly mixed
sourcing, and mainly outsourcing, respectively. The distribution of the responses for each of
the technical skills items is given in Appendix Table A2.
4.1
Profiles of Organizations and Respondents
User organizations represented a broad range of the non ICT sectors with most from the
private sector (80 percent) and as expected Provider organizations were from the ICT sector.
Most of the organizations of either type (75 percent) operate only within Thailand but there
are more international User organizations than international Provider organizations.
Consequently, there is confidence that the findings of the study are related to the IS
profession and practices in Thailand and are not heavily influenced by practices and policies
which are determined elsewhere and adopted in Thailand as may be the case with the small
number of international organizations. On average User organizations have almost twice as
many employees as Provider organizations but there are small number of Providers (e.g.
telecommunications) which have almost twice as many employees as User organizations. Not
surprisingly, on average the proportion of IS professionals in Provider organizations (35
percent) exceeds the proportion in User organizations (3 percent).
The majority of organizations (60 percent) expect to have significantly increased
investment in ICT over the next 5 years. Only a few (5 percent) predicted a significant
reduction and this occurs more often among Providers than Users. About one third of
organizations of either type predicted no significant change in investment in ICT. However,
this information was collected prior to the current period of economic depression and it is
expected that these organizations have revised their ICT budget expectations.
There is little difference between the respondents from either type of organization
with respect to their current positions (mostly IT managers), the number of years they have
worked in their current position (about 7 years), their total number of years of IS experience
(about 16 years), and their highest level of education (mostly a master degree). These
characteristics indicate that the respondents are well placed to provide the information about
their organizations examined in the questionnaire.
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4.2
Changes in Demand in the Domains of Expertise
Table 5 indicates the proportion of respondents who indicated significant increases,
decreases, and no significant change in the demand for expertise corresponding to each of the
4 domains proposed by Morello (2005).
Table 5: Expected Changes in the Demand in the Four Domains
Domain of Expertise
Technology Infrastructure and Service
Information Design and Management
Process Design and Management
Relationship and Sourcing Management
Expected Change in Demand
Significant
No Significant
Significant
Increase
Change
Decrease
User Provider User Provider User
Provider
53.8
49.1
39.7
45.5
6.4
5.5
61.5
63.6
38.5
36.4
0
0
52.6
60
44.9
40
2.6
0
30.8
41.8
65.4
58.2
3.8
0
Comparing the information in Table 5 with the predictions by Morello (2005) in
Table 1 it is evident that the prediction of increased demand for expertise in the Information
Design and Management domain in both types of organizations is supported. The same is true
for the Process Design and Management domain particularly in Provider organizations. In the
Relationship and Sourcing Management domain no significant change is the response from
the majority of both types of organizations especially Users where there is even a very small
proportion of organizations that predict a decrease in demand. Although this is different from
the predicted increases there are 30-40 percent of both types of organizations which do expect
increased demands. The findings for this domain reflect the emerging but immature state of
outsourcing as a strategy in Thailand and this is supported by other findings in the study. For
Users the Technology Infrastructure and Service domain continues to be an area of increased
demand and there is no support for the prediction that demand for IS knowledge and skills
will decrease in this domain. The situation is slightly different among Providers where the
proportion indicating a significant increase in demand is about the same as the total
proportion indicating a decrease or no change. However, among Providers there is no support
for the predicted decrease in demand for this domain. It is clear that in Thailand both types of
organizations and especially Users are at early stages of ICT development and have a need to
expand the traditional range of IS skills represented by this domain.
Table 6: Demand for Specialists and Versatilists
Type of IS Professional
Specialists
A deep but narrow set of skills
Skills that are recognized only within the
ICT work domain
Versatilists
Deep skills and a broad scope of roles and
experience
Skills that are recognized in ICT and other
work domains
Types of Rankings
Predicted Change in Demand
(See Table 3)
User
Provider
User
Provider
Present Future Present Future
L
M
H
M
Decrease
No Change
M
M
H
M
Increase
M
H
M
H
M
H
M
H
Increase
Note: H (High), M (Moderate), L (Low) indicate rankings in the top, middle, and bottom third of the
distributions of ranks, respectively.
4.3
The Demand for Specialists and Versatilists
Table 6 shows expected changes in the demand for both types of IS professionals and the
types of rankings for each of the items characterizing these IS professionals at present and in
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the future. Highlighted types of rankings indicate that there has been a significant increase in
the ranking from the present to the future.
From Table 6 there is support for the predicted increased demand for versatilists in
both types of organizations. There is evidence of increased demand for specialists among
Users and Providers organizations rather than the prediction of no change in demand.
However, the expected increase in demand is stronger among Providers. These findings are
compatible with an early stage of ICT maturity in both types of organizations where
especially User organizations continue to conduct many technical specialist tasks in-house
rather than use an outsourcing strategy while Providers need to strengthen their specialist
skills in order to develop their potential to provide ICT products and services to the market.
4.4
The Absolute Importance of Knowledge and Skills
The absolute importance of an item is measured by the mean of the ratings assigned by
respondents. T-tests were used to test for significant differences between the present means and
the future means for Users and also for Providers. For each item and for both types of
organizations there was a statistically significant increase in the mean from the present to the
future (p < 0.05). All the means were approximately 2 or more which indicates that none of the
items at present or in the future could be considered as unimportant even if they are ranked
lowly and this suggests that a relevant set of items has been used in the study.
T-tests were used to test for significant differences between the means for Users and
Providers at present and also for the future. Table 7 shows the items in each domain for which
there was a statistically significant difference between Users and Providers (p < 0.05). There
are no items in the future where the means for Users are significantly less than the means for
Providers and the italicized items are the only items at present where the means for Users are
significantly greater than those for Providers.
Users Mean
>
Providers
Mean
Future
Users Mean
< Providers
Mean
Present
Table 7: Significant Differences between the Mean Ratings of Users and Providers
Domain 1: Technology Infrastructure and Services
Design Skills: Select applications/systems sold by vendors. Tools/ Techniques: Network
performance tools. Networks and Communications: Local area networks (Cable); Wide area
networks (WAN). Technologies for Security: Web sites/applications. Technical Support
Services: Websites/applications.
Domain 2: Information Design and Management
Applications: Document management (DMS).
Domain 3: Process Design and Management
Managing Activities: Alignment of ICT plans with the organization’s mission.
Domain 4: Relationship and Sourcing Management
The Organization and its Functions: Workplace behavior requirements.
Domain 1: Technology Infrastructure and Services
Design Methodologies: Frameworks for development (e.g. Agile). Tools/Techniques:
Software metrics Architecture: Mainframe computers; Parallel architectures. Applications:
Artificial intelligence (AI).
Domain 2: Information Design and Management
Data Management Systems: Object relational databases; Distributed databases.
Domain 3: Process Design and Management
Tools/Techniques: Computer aided systems engineering (CASE).
Domain 4: Relationship and Sourcing Management
The Organization and its Functions: Relationships with partners/alliances.
From Table 7 it is evident that at present Users place more importance than Providers
on items associated with technologies which are crucial for the continuous operation of
organizational processes and functions while Providers place more emphasis than Users on
knowledge and skills associated with software and hardware systems development. This
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distinction continues in the future when in addition Users place more emphases than
Providers on ICT planning, local and wide area networks, and the support of websites. These
trends are consistent with the different roles of User and Provider organizations.
4.5
The Relative Importance of Knowledge and Skills
The relative importance of an item is measured by its rank position among the other items.
The first part of Table 8 shows the results of comparing the present and future rankings by
Users and also by Providers. The second part shows the results of comparing the rankings of
Users and Providers at present and also in the future.
Table 8: Comparisons of rankings
Rankings Compared
User Present Ranking and User Future Ranking
Provider Present Ranking and Provider Future Ranking
User Present Ranking and Provider Present Ranking
User Future Ranking and Provider Future Ranking
Statistic
0.902 ** (S)
0.909 ** (S)
0.696 ** (K)
0.665 ** (K)
Notes: (a) ** indicates statistical significance at a level of 0.01 or less (2–tail), (b) S and K indicate
Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient and Kendall’s Tau (τ), respectively.
For all of the comparisons in Table 8 there is statistically significant agreement
among the rankings. However, there are differences in the manner in which particular items
have been ranked by Users and Providers and the type of rank for each items (high, moderate,
and low) is used for this analysis. Table 9 shows the distributions of the 3 types of ranks
across the 5 domains. The observed percentages are in the body of the table and for each
domain the expected percentage is the proportion of each type of rank associated with that
domain if the 3 types were distributed simply in accordance the number of items in that
domain. Percentages in boldface (italics) highlight observed percentages which are 5 percent
or more above (below) those expected.
Table 9: The expected and observed percentage of items ranked high (H), moderate
(M), and low (L) in each domain
Domain (Expected Percentage)
1. Technology Infrastructure and Services (39)
2. Information Design and Management (12)
3. Process Design and Management (16)
4. Relationship and Sourcing Management (16)
5. Personal Characteristics (17)
Present
Users
Providers
H M L H M L
42 26 48 42 23 52
10 11 16 15 6 16
11 20 16 5 23 18
19 15 13 15 20 13
18 28 7 23 28 1
Future
Users
Providers
H M L H M L
32 31 53 32 25 60
9 13 15 8 15 15
15 16 16 5 31 10
18 15 15 15 18 15
26 25 1 40 11 0
From Table 9 it is seen that in terms of overall emphases on the 5 domains at present
for Users the highly ranked items are distributed in the manner expected. However, among
the other types of ranks there is evidence of less emphasis than expected on the Technology
Infrastructure and Services domain and more emphasis than expected on Personal
Characteristics and this pattern is even more evident in the future. For Providers the shift in
emphasis from the Technology Infrastructure and Services domain to the Personal
Characteristics domain is more evident than for Users. Users continue to emphasize the
Information Design and Management, Process Design and Management, and Relationship
and Sourcing Management domains in the manner expected. Providers tend to increase their
emphases on the Information Design and Management and Process Design and Management
domains while continuing to emphasize the Relationship and Sourcing Management domain
in the manner expected. These trends are next examined in terms of specific items.
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4.5.1 Changes in Relative Importance
Table 10 is derived from Appendix Table A1 and shows the items within each domain that
have changed significantly in relative importance from the present to the future for both
Users and Providers as well as for only Users or only Providers where a significant change
corresponds to a change of at least 30 rank positions.
Table 10: Significant changes in relative importance
Domain
1. Technology
Infrastructure
and Services
2. Information
Design
and
Management
3. Process
Design and
Management
4. Relationship
and
Sourcing
Management
5. Personal
Characteristics
Change
Type of Organization and Items
Users and Applications: Executive information (EIS); Customer relationship management
Providers (CRM). Networks and Communications: Wireless and mobile technologies
Increases
Users
Networks and Communications: Local area networks (Radio/Wireless)
Only
Design Skills: Maintain applications/systems; Completely develop
applications/systems. Architecture: Micro computers; Client-server architectures.
Users and Applications: Office productivity applications. Networks and Communications:
Providers Wide area networks (WAN); Transmission control protocol/ Internet protocol
(TCP/IP). Technical Support Services: Computer operations; Desktop
computing
Decreases
Design Skills: Determine systems requirements; Program and code; Design
Users
networks; Select applications/ systems sold by vendors. Applications:
Only
Transaction processing (TPS)
Architecture: Peripherals. Applications: Web applications. Networks and
Providers
Communications: Local area networks (Cable). Technical Support Services:
Only
Hardware; Networks; Databases; End-users; Websites/applications
Applications: Knowledge management systems (KMS); Document management
Users
systems ((DMS). Data Management Systems: Data warehouses/marts. The
Increases
Only
Organization and Its Functions: Knowledge management; Privacy
Users and
Data Management Systems: Relational databases
Providers
Decreases
Users
Design Skills: Design databases
Only
Users The Organization and Its Functions: Quality assurance. Management
Only
Activities: ICT innovations
Increases
Providers The Organization and Its Functions: Change/risk management. Management
Only
Activities: ICT performance indicators; Help and support functions
Users
The Organization and Its Functions: Regulation by external authorities
Only
Decreases
Providers
The Organization and Its Functions: Internal governance regulations
Only
Users and
Managing Physical Resources: Plan and manage education/training for ICT staff
Providers
Increases
Users
Managing Physical Resources: Assess ICT staff performance
Only
Users Managing Finances: Evaluating bids from ICT providers; Preparing contracts
Only
with ICT providers; Preparing and managing ICT budgets
Decreases
Providers The Organization and Its Functions: Sourcing strategies. Managing Physical
Only
Resources: Telecommunications
Users and Personal Traits: Visionary leadership. Scope of Skills and Experience: Deep
Providers skills and a broad scope of roles and experience
Personal Traits: Manage conflict. Problem Solving Expertise: Understand the
Users
organizational/social implications of ICT. Work Environment: In cross-functional
Only
teams; In cross-cultural environments
Increases
Personal Traits: Develops others. Problem Solving Expertise: Deal with
complexity; Deal with intangibles. Communication Skills: Fluency in more than
Providers
1 language. Scope of Skills and Experience: A deep but narrow set of skills;
Only
Skills that are recognized only within the ICT work domain; Skills that are
recognized in ICT and other work domains
In the Technology Infrastructure and Services domain Users and/or Providers place
decreased emphases on micro computers, peripherals, office productivity and transaction
processing applications, and technical support for computer operations and desktop
computing because these requirements are already well established and supported in their
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respective organizations. For Providers there is a noticeable loss of interest in a range of
technical support services (hardware; networks; databases; end-users; websites /applications)
which may reflect their ability to support themselves as many of these services are part of
their core business activities. Design skills needed to completely develop and maintain
applications/systems are deemphasized in both types of organizations which suggests that
these skills are either already available in-house, as may be the case for Providers, or they
will be acquired from external sources which is likely for Users. Only Users place decreased
emphasis on programming, coding, and network design which is compatible with the
expectation that they will increasingly outsource these requirements to Providers. However,
their decreased emphasis on determining systems requirements and selecting applications and
systems sold by vendors is unexpected even though both of these requirements are ranked
moderately in the future and are not unimportant. Both types of organizations express
increased interest in strategic support systems (executive information and customer
relationship management systems) and wireless and mobile technologies. In particular, Users
have significantly increased interest in radio and wireless local area networks.
In the Information Design and Management domain only Users have significantly
increased interest in document and knowledge management systems as well as data
warehouses and marts and they are increasingly concerned with privacy issues. Despite the
increased interest in knowledge management systems among Users they continue to be
ranked lowly in the future by both types of organizations. However, knowledge about the
overall approach used within organizations to manage knowledge is considered to be very
important for both types of organizations. Apparently, the choice of technologies and the
need for technical skills to support knowledge management technologies are not clear to
many organizations. In the future document management systems continue to be ranked
lowly by Providers but for Users they become moderately ranked and both types of
organizations consider data warehouses and marts to be only moderately important. In the
future privacy issues are highly important to Users but only moderately important to
Providers. The relative importance of relational databases decreases significantly in both
types of organizations but this is because these are well established and supported in these
organizations and compared to other database technologies they continue to be by far the
most popular. The design of relational databases decreases but is still important in User
organizations and continues to be highly important for Providers.
In the Process Design and Management domain the significant increases in the
importance of quality assurance and the management of ICT innovations among Users bring
them in line with the only moderate importance assigned to these items by Providers in the
future. Similarly, for Providers increases in the importance of the management of change and
risk, ICT performance indicators, and help and support functions bring them in line with the
mixture of moderate to high rankings assigned to these items in the future by Users. The
importance of understanding internal governance regulations decreases for Providers but
remains high for Users. For Users the importance of understanding regulation by external
authorities decreases and is moderate to low for both Users and Providers in the future. The
changes in the importance of understanding internal governance may reflect the smaller size
of Provider organizations where internal control and communication may be easier than in
the much larger User organizations. External regulation is not perceived to pose important
problems in either type of organization and this is related to the generally low level of
external regulation and reporting imposed on organizations in Thailand.
In the Relationship and Sourcing Management domain there are significant
increases in the importance of educating and training IS professionals in both types of
organizations but in the future it is more important for Users than Providers. User
organizations also place increased importance on the assessment of the performance of IS
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professionals but this is not as important for Providers. In User organizations decreased
emphasis is placed on the need for IS professionals to evaluate bids and prepare contracts
with external providers and both types of organizations rank these as only being of low to
moderate importance in the future. This confirms the underdeveloped use of strategies related
to outsourcing but may also indicate that when needed these activities will be conducted by
other professionals in other divisions of the organizations with minimal involvement of IS
professionals. Furthermore, knowledge about the organization’s approach to sourcing
strategies has significantly decreased importance for Providers and only slightly increased
importance for Users with the result that it is only moderately ranked by both in the future.
Again, this is indicative of the immature state of the use of outsourcing strategies in these
organizations.
In the Personal Characteristics domain there are no items involving significant
decreases in relative importance for either type of organization and the high importance of
items in this domain at present and in the future was evident in Table 9. The significant
emphases among items concerning the scope of skills and experience were discussed above
in relation to the increased demand for specialists and particularly versatilists (Table 6). An
increased demand for IS professionals with visionary leadership is evident in both types of
organizations. For Users the significant increases in importance are concerned with
organizationally-oriented skills in managing conflict, understanding the organizational and
social implications of ICT, and being able to work in cross-functional teams and cross-cultural
environments and these skills are also highly relevant for Provider organizations. For
Provider organizations significantly increased importance is focused on problem solving
skills for dealing with complexity and intangibles as well the development of other IS
professional and being fluent in more than 1 language where English and Chinese featured
most strongly among the preferred second languages to Thai and these increases are
compatible with the roles of Providers.
4.5.2 Items with High and Low Relative Importance
Appendix Table A4 is derived from Appendix Table A1 and lists the items that have high or
low relative importance in the future. A similar analysis was done for the present but the
results are not shown as they were very similar to those for the future and the main
differences have been presented in the analysis of significant changes in relative importance
above. From Appendix Table A4 it is seen that there is extensive agreement between User
and Provider organizations as to the most important and least important items in each of the 5
domains and it has been noted that even the least important items must not be thought of as
being unimportant.
In the Technology Infrastructure and Services domain local area networks of all
types, internet based communication, and technical support of data storage technologies are
very important for Users and Providers in the future. However, extranets, virtual private
networks, satellite and microwave systems, and cellular or Internet telephony are of little
interest to both and in particular Providers are not as interested as Users in wide area
networks. They both have strong interest in technologies for the security of operational
systems, networks, data and information, and websites. Providers are more interested in
wireless and mobile technologies than Users who are much more concerned with the
technical support of: hardware; networks and their integration; web based applications; and
supporting the much larger number of end-users in their organizations. Providers express
more interest than Users in skills needed for all phases of systems development from the
analysis of requirements to programming, coding, and software testing. In User and Provider
organizations there is little interest in particular development methodologies (systems
development life cycle, object–oriented, and frameworks). Architectures are either in place
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and supported and not of high concern (e.g. microcomputers and peripherals) or they are of
little interest (e.g. mainframe computers and parallel architectures). Both types of
organizations express low interest in a wide range of applications and they do not place a
high priority on supporting Enterprise applications or those developed by end-users. Many
applications are already operational and supported (e.g. transaction processing, E-commerce)
and these do not raise concerns while others have a low priority (e.g. expert systems, artificial
intelligence, and multimedia). In particular, Providers express less interest than Users in
decision support and executive information systems but both are very interested in
management information systems.
In the Information Design and Management domain both have a strong interest in
design skills for integrating information and the management of data storage. Users
emphasize the understanding of information flows and privacy in their organizations while
Providers are more concerned with skills in relational database design and the modeling and
design of information requirements. They both stress the importance of understanding their
organization’s overall information requirements and approach to knowledge management but
their interest in technical knowledge about specific technologies (data modeling and mining;
knowledge management systems; and object-oriented, multidimensional, and distributed
databases) is much less and is either uncertain or will be acquired from the vendors of these
technologies.
In the Process Design and Management domain an understanding of the
organization’s standard operational processes, workflows, and approach to project
management is emphasized by both. Users are much more concerned than Providers with an
understanding of organizational functions (internal governance, change and risk management,
and ICT and organizational strategic planning) and the management of help and support and
systems recovery. There are a number of items such as: participating in R&D projects;
managing innovations; the use of process modeling and CASE tools; and understanding
supply chain management and business process outsourcing which have a low priority for
both types of organizations but are predicted by Morello (2005) to be very important if this
work domain is to assume importance in the future. In addition, Users place a low level of
importance on understanding competitive processes and skills in modeling, redesigning, and
re-engineering processes.
In the Relationship and Sourcing Management domain both emphasize
understanding the organization’s mission and strategies, internal relationships, and
customer/client base. Resource management skills are seen as being very important especially
the management of software and networks. Users show more concern than Providers for the
management of hardware and the performance and training of IS personnel while Providers
place more emphasis on relationships with partners and alliances but have less interest than
Users in workplace behavior requirements and forecasting ICT workforce supply and
demand. Both types of organizations place a low emphasis on negotiating with stakeholders
and evaluating bids and preparing contracts with external providers all of which are very
important in relation to outsourcing. This is most evident among User organizations where
there is a low emphasis on understanding ICT sourcing strategies and managing relationships
with external providers.
Almost all of the Personal Characteristics are very important to both types of
organizations, especially problem solving and communication skills, but Providers place
more emphasis than Users on the ability to work on multiple tasks and in multi-disciplinary
and cross-cultural teams while Users place a noticeably lower emphasis than Providers on
working in virtual teams. Items concerned with the increased demand for specialists and
versatilists have been discussed above. Notably, Providers place a stronger emphasis than
Users on the need for generalists who have a shallow but broad set of skills.
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4.6
Sourcing Strategies for Technical Expertise
For the entire lists of technical skills in Appendix Table A2 the most popular sourcing
strategy at present and in the future is a mixed sourcing approach where organizations work
together with external providers to secure the required products and expertise. However,
despite the overall preference for mainly mixed sourcing the information in Appendix Table
A2 reveals that there are several items where there is some indication among at least 25
percent of respondents that mainly insourcing or mainly outsourcing is preferred and for a
few of these items among Providers both approaches are indicated. Appendix Table A3
presents the details of the technical skills where there is some indication of the use of other
than mixed sourcing.
From Appendix Table A3 it is seen that at present for both types of organizations
insourcing is indicated more often than outsourcing and it is more common among Providers
than Users. For Users insourcing is focused on: applications (transaction processing,
management information systems, office productivity, and multimedia applications);
networks and communications (intranets, file servers, e-mail); security of data and
information; and technical support of computer operations and end-users. Users only indicate
outsourcing for technical skills associated with the Internet, wide area networks, satellite
communications, cellular and Internet telephony, and the support of networks. For Providers
the focus on insourcing is similar to that for Users but includes a more extensive set of items
related to: networks and communications (local area networks; Internet, extranets, and virtual
private and wide area networks); technical support (maintaining applications and systems,
networks, databases, data warehouses and marts, and websites); and applications (enterprise
resource planning and e-commerce). Among Providers there is an indication of outsourcing
for only a small number of technical skills concerned with mobile computers, peripherals,
local are networks (cable), and satellite communications.
In the future Users and Providers indicate a much stronger interest in outsourcing.
Compared to the present insourcing is significantly reduced among Users and is indicated for
only skills related to mobile computer architectures. However, among Providers insourcing is
still common and is indicated more often than outsourcing. For Providers the strong
indications of insourcing in the future are focused on items related to: systems development;
design skills (integration of applications/systems and information, networks, databases, and
web applications); architectures (fileserver, micro, and mini computer); networks and
communications (local area networks; Internet, extranets, intranets, and e-mail); technical
support (maintaining applications and systems, networks, databases, data warehouses and
marts). However, it must be remembered that many of these items relate to the core activities
of Provider organizations and so the indications of insourcing are understandable.
In the future among Users all of the items associated with indications of outsourcing
at present will continue to be outsourced together with additional items related to: enterprise
resource planning systems; local area networks (cable); wireless and mobile technologies;
security systems for data, information, and websites/applications; and technical support of
hardware, databases, and data warehouses/marts. For Providers the small number of items
associated with indications of outsourcing at present will continue to be outsourced but in
addition outsourcing is indicated in the future for: mainframe computer architectures;
microwave systems; technologies for the security of networks and operational systems; and
technical support services for databases, data warehouses/marts, and desktop computing.
It is also noted in Appendix Table A3 that at present and in the future for a small
number of items and only among Provider organizations there is an indication that although
mixed sourcing is the most popular strategy there are indications that both insourcing and
outsourcing are used. When these responses were traced back to their organizations it became
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clear that Provider organizations which specialize in these items indicated insourcing as their
strategy whereas others have indicated a preference for outsourcing.
Table 11 summarizes the details of the preceding discussion and shows the
distribution of the items where there is some indication of insourcing and outsourcing by at
least 25 percent of respondents.
Table 11: Numbers and Categories of Items Commonly Insourced or Outsourced
Indicated Strategy
Technical Skills Categories
Development Methodologies
Design Skills
Tools/Techniques
Architecture
Applications
Networks and Communications
Technologies for Security
Technical Support Services
Insourcing
Insourcing
Architecture
Applications
Networks and Communications
Technologies for Security
Technical Support Services
Outsourcing
Users
0
0
2
0
3
4
1
4
Totals: 14
0
0
4
2
1
Totals: 7
Present
Providers
0
1
0
1
3
10
1
6
22
2
0
2
0
0
4
Users
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
7
4
4
16
Future
Providers
1
7
0
3
1
8
1
0
21
3
0
5
3
3
14
From Table 11 it is seen that for Users at present their indication of the use of insourcing is
focused mainly on networks and communications and technical support while outsourcing is also
focused mainly on different aspects of networks and communications. In the future indications of
insourcing almost disappear and mixed sourcing is dominant but with a noticeable continuing use
of outsourcing for networks and communications technologies. The pattern is different for
Providers where at present insourcing is commonly much preferred to outsourcing especially for
networks and communications. In the future Providers continue to indicate interest in insourcing
focused mainly on design skills and networks and communications but their interest in outsourcing
grows with respect to architectures, technologies for security, and technical support services.
There is only limited support for a small number of the predictions from previous studies
about future sourcing strategies in User and Provider organizations presented in section 2 (Table 4).
There are limited indications among only Provider organizations that technical skills concerned
with mainframe and mobile computer architectures will be outsourced and that skills with
technologies for security will be insourced but none of the other predictions for Providers are
supported. For only Users there are limited indications that skills needed for technical support of
hardware and websites/applications will be outsourced and insourced, respectively, but none of the
other predictions for User organizations are supported. This is not surprising considering the
underutilized range of different sourcing strategies among organizations and the fact that these
predictions were derived from studies conducted in technically advanced nations.
5.
DISCUSSION
The 4 work domains proposed by Morello (2005) (Technology Infrastructure and Services,
Information Design and Management, Process Design and Management, and Relationship
and Sourcing Management) supplemented with the domain of Personal Characteristics have
provided a useful framework for examining the structure and nature of the IS profession.
However, predictions about the demand for knowledge and skills in these domains are not
entirely supported in User and Provider organizations in Thailand. Predictions of increased
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demand in the Information Design and Management and the Process Design and
Management domains are supported. However, for the Relationship and Sourcing
Management domain no significant change is expected in either type of organization rather
than a predicted increase in demand. There is no support for the predicted decreases in the
traditional Technology Infrastructure and Service domain where instead organizations are
expecting increased demand. Personal characteristics conducive to good personal standards
and cooperative work relationships with others as well as sound problem solving and
communication skills are important attributes for IS professionals working in all of these 4
domains in either type of organization. Clearly, both types of organizations realize the
importance of ICT in relation to processes and information but they are operating in an
environment where outsourcing strategies are not fully utilized because of an undeveloped
market place for the provision of ICT products and services. Consequently, they are not
expanding in the Relationship and Sourcing Management domain and instead are continuing
to seek skills in the traditional Technology Infrastructure and Services domain in order to
conduct activities in-house that might otherwise be outsourced.
There is support for the predicted increased demand for versatilists in both types of
organizations. There is evidence of an increased demand for specialists among Provider and
User organizations opposed to the predictions by Morello (2005) and Plummer et al. (2005)
of no significant change for Providers and a decrease in User organizations. These findings
are compatible with the early stage of ICT maturity in both types of organizations where User
organizations continue to conduct many technical specialist tasks in-house and Providers
need to strengthen specialist skills in order to develop their potential to provide ICT products
and services to the market.
Based on the profiles of the organizations Users employee almost twice as many
individuals as Providers and the proportion of IS professionals in Provider organizations far
exceeds the proportion in User organizations. The majority of User and Provider
organizations expect significantly increased investment in ICT over the next 5 years but this
may not eventuate in a troubled economic environment. It is unlikely that there will be
significant increases in the numbers of IS professionals and any increases in expenditure are
more likely to be directed to infrastructure and software and IS professionals who are
currently employed will be expected to develop their skills in the work domains where an
increased demand is expected.
A detailed examination of knowledge and skills items associated with the 4 work
domains revealed that there was a strong level of agreement between Users and Providers at
present and in the future in the manner in which they ranked the importance of the items and
the same was true when present and future rankings by Users (and Providers) were compared.
Despite these significant levels of agreement when individual items were examined there
were interesting differences (and similarities) between Users and Providers within the work
domains.
Increased demand is expected in the Technology Infrastructure and Services domain
but there are some differences between the expectations of Users and Providers. Both
maintain a strong interest in networking although Providers are not as interested as Users in
wide area networks. Both express increased interests in wireless and mobile technologies but
the interest is stronger for Providers and in particular Users have significantly increased
interest in radio and wireless local area networks. Overall, compared to Providers the Users
are much more concerned with the technical support of: hardware; networks; web based
applications; and supporting the much larger number of end-users in their organizations.
Providers have a stronger interest than Users in skills needed across phases of systems
development (analysis of requirements, programming, coding, and software testing). Users
place decreased importance on programming, coding, and network design which suggests
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that they will increasingly outsource these requirements. Providers express much less interest
than Users in decision support and executive information systems but both are very interested
in management information and customer relationship management systems.
Within this domain the main distinctions between the types of organizations are that
Users place more importance than Providers on skills which are crucial for the continuous
operation of organizational processes and functions while Providers place more emphasis on
skills associated with infrastructure and software development. These distinctions are
consistent with the different roles and profiles of User and Provider organizations.
Increased demand is expected in the Information Design and Management domain.
Users emphasize document management systems and the understanding of information flows
and privacy in their organizations while Providers are much more concerned with skills in
relational database design and the modeling and design of information requirements. They
both stress the importance of understanding their organization’s overall information
requirements but their interest in technical knowledge about specific supporting technologies
such as: data modeling and mining; and object-oriented, multidimensional, and distributed
databases is much less and apparently will be acquired from vendors of these technologies.
Understanding the organization’s approach to knowledge management is important for both
types of organizations but this is not matched by a strong interest in skills related to
supporting technologies. Users have significantly increased interest in knowledge
management systems as well as data warehouses and marts but these technologies are not
highly ranked by Users or Providers. Again, the main distinctions between Users and
Providers reflect the different roles of these organizations as users of technologies and
services and as developers and providers of technologies and services, respectively.
Increased demand is expected in the Process Design and Management domain.
While both types of organizations emphasize an understanding of standard operational
processes, workflows, and the organization’s approach to project management Users place
more emphasis than Providers on organizational functions concerned with internal
governance, change and risk management, organizational and ICT strategic planning, and the
management of help and support and systems recovery. Changes in the emphases among
User organizations reflect an increasing need for IS professionals to have more than technical
expertise and a broader understanding of the whole organization, its mission, and important
functions. The same trend is evident but to a lesser degree among Provider organizations but
this is understandable since these organizations are not as large or as diverse in nature as User
organizations.
It is evident that this process-oriented work domain is in an early stage of development in
both types of organizations. There are a number of items such as: participating in R&D
projects; managing innovations; the use of process modeling and CASE tools; and
understanding supply chain management and business process outsourcing which have a low
priority for both types of organizations but are predicted by Morello (2005) to be very
important if this work domain is to assume importance in the future. Noticeably, Users place
a low level of importance on understanding competitive processes and skills in modeling,
redesigning, and re-engineering processes.
No significant change in demand is expected in the Relationship and Sourcing
Management domain. Users and Providers emphasize understanding the organization’s
mission and strategies, internal relationships, and customer/client base and resource
management skills are very important especially the management of software and networks.
Users have more concern than Providers for the management of hardware, the performance
and training of IS personnel, workplace behavior requirements, and forecasting ICT
workforce supply and demand. Providers place more emphasis than Users on relationships
with partners and alliances. Both place a low emphasis on negotiating with stakeholders and
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evaluating bids and preparing contracts with external providers all of which are very
important in relation to outsourcing. This is most evident among Users where there is a low
emphasis on understanding ICT sourcing strategies and managing relationships with external
providers and in particular there is little attention to business process outsourcing. Overall,
for Users and Providers there is much more concern with internal concerns rather than with
external relationships and this is indicative of the immature state of the use of a variety of
sourcing strategies and the availability of external providers in the market place. Furthermore,
there are no strong indications that this is expected to change soon and this IS work domain is
likely to continue to be underdeveloped.
For all of the technical specialist knowledge and skills a mixed sourcing strategy is
preferred by the largest proportion of both types of organizations at present and in the future.
However, among User and Provider organizations there are limited indications of the use
insourcing and outsourcing with the following patterns of similarities and differences.
At present for Users and especially Providers the tendency to insource is much greater
than the tendency to outsource. Among Users insourcing of technical skills is focused on
networks and communications, technical support services, and applications. The same pattern
is even more evident among Providers. For Users limited outsourcing is focused on skills
associated with networks and communications and security technologies while Providers
outsource even less with a focus on networks and communications and architectures. In the
future for Users any indications of insourcing disappear except for technical skills associated with
mobile computer architectures and the tendency to outsource increases with an increased focus on
networks and communications and architectures with new emphases on security technologies and
technical support services.
Overall, mixed sourcing is the dominant strategy with limited tendencies to use other
strategies and among Providers the present and future indications of their use of insourcing is
related to their roles as developers of technologies and service providers. However, despite these
expectations the use of a mixed sourcing strategy and particularly outsourcing are problematic in an
environment where there is not a well developed source of external providers in the market place
and internally there is no priority being given to the development of the Relationship and
Sourcing Management work domain.
6.
CONCLUSION
The findings of the study are detailed and have implications for those with practical and
theoretical interest in: the development of ICT in developing countries; the future
development of ICT at a national level in Thailand; ICT User and Provider organizations
operating in Thailand or with intentions to operate in Thailand; and the initial and continuing
education and training of IS professionals.
From a theoretical perspective the study examined predictions which were derived
from previous studies which were conducted mainly in the context of nations which are more
technically advanced than Thailand. The 4 work domains proposed by Morello (2005)
supplemented with the domain of Personal Characteristics and a detailed set of associated
knowledge and skills are shown to provide a useful framework for analyzing the structure and
nature of the IS profession. In the context of Thailand there were expectations of growth in
the Technology Infrastructure and Services, Information Design and Management, and
Process Design and Management domains but a stable demand in the Relationship and
Sourcing Management domain. Personal characteristics of IS professionals were found to be
very important across all of the work domains and organizations with a continuing strong
demand for both versatile and specialized IS professionals. An examination of knowledge
and skills within each domain revealed differences between User and Provider organizations
which overall were compatible with the different roles and profiles of these types of
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organizations. There are strong indications that organizations have a continuing focus on the
traditional IS skills represented by the Technology Infrastructure and Services domain with
only an emerging focus on the other 3 domains which relate to information, processes, and
external relationships. There are problematic expectations among the organizations related to
the sourcing strategies used for acquiring specialist technical expertise. They prefer a mixed
sourcing strategy with indications among some organizations that outsourcing will become
more popular especially in User organizations. However, this will require growth rather than
the expected stability in the demand for skills in the Relationships and Sourcing Management
domain and a much stronger set of providers in the market place.
The findings are of importance for those responsible for national ICT policies designed
to develop a knowledge-based society. This involves government ministries and in particular
the ICT Industry Promotion Bureau which has responsibility for supporting the ICT industry
and certification of IS professionals who have knowledge and skills that meet national and
international standards. In particular, there are areas which clearly require further attention
including: development of national ICT infrastructure; the development of a sufficient
number of outsourcing providers to international standards; and support for the education and
training of IS professionals in areas of demand. In addition, the findings are of importance to
public and private institutions responsible for the initial and continuing education and training
of IS professionals. In relation to university programs the curricula need to match the
organizations’ expressed requirements and although attention must be paid to technical
expertise it is very clear that personal characteristics, knowledge about the functions of
organizations, and management skills, are just as important and must be addressed in the
curricular. The findings do not support any need for separate undergraduate university
programs to support the requirements of User and Provider organizations although elective
courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels may introduce these different perspectives
and at postgraduate level there may emerge a demand for separate programs. Furthermore, it
is clear that several areas of knowledge and skills related to organizational functions and
management approaches need to be addressed by the organizations themselves with support
from external training providers.
Since this is the first study on this topic to be conducted in Thailand there is a need to
repeat the study with particular attention to obtaining larger sample sizes. It would be
desirable to check the findings of the study by conducting a set of case studies involving
organizations of both types. Related studies may be conducted to compare differences among
the sectors represented by the User organizations and the Provider organizations classified
into different categories (e.g. software developers, hardware providers, and service
providers). A cross-cultural study among ASEAN nations may also establish the relative
position of Thailand compared to its nearest trading neighbors and it would be worthwhile to
conduct a study where the findings of this study are used to examine the ICT curricula in
universities and training programs available from providers.
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EJISDC (2009) 39, 5, 1-33
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APPENDIX
Table A1: Items associated with each domain
Items
Development Methodologies
System development life cycle
Object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD)
Frameworks for development (e.g. Agile)
Design Skills
Understand current/emerging technologies
Determine systems requirements
Design ICT solutions
Program and code
Design networks
Design interfaces
Integrate applications/systems
Integrate networks
Maintain applications/systems
Select open source applications/systems
Select applications/systems sold by vendors
Tailor purchased applications/systems
Completely develop applications/systems
Tools/Techniques
Software metrics
Software testing
Network performance tools
Architecture
Micro computers
Mini computers
Mainframe computers
Mobile computers
Peripherals
Open systems architectures
Parallel architectures
Client-server architectures
Applications
Transaction processing (TPS)
Users Rankings
Present
Type
Future
Domain 1: Technology Infrastructure and Services
Type
Present
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
Type
122.5
158
174
L
L
L
130.5
158
174
L
L
L
82.5
135
158
M
L
L
69
145
149.5
M
L
L
38
28 D
42
65 D
21.5 D
73.5
48
55
31 D
156
85 D
160
81 D
H
H
H
M
H
M
H
H
H
L
M
L
M
60.5
71
66.5
130.5
75
99.5
47
41.5
71
153
114.5
172.5
143.5
H
M
M
L
M
M
H
H
M
L
M
L
L
13.5
11.5
71
49
82.5
38
32
82.5
71 D
160
158
171
78 D
H
H
M
H
M
H
H
M
M
L
L
L
M
5
11.5
57
57
93.5
41.5
19.5
69
119.5
156.5
164
177.5
123.5
H
H
H
H
M
H
H
M
M
L
L
L
L
177
109
85
L
M
M
176
118.5
84.5
L
M
M
164.5
20
147
L
H
L
161.5
16.5
137.5
L
H
L
104 D
176
184
146
119
160
178
55 D
M
L
L
L
M
L
L
H
141
181
185
141
134.5
165
178
138
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
131.5 D
177.5
181
138.5
120 D
149.5
175
49 D
L
L
L
L
M
L
L
H
161.5
179
182.5
147
159
149.5
173
100.5
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
M
111 D
M
154
L
147
L
153
L
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Items
Management information (MIS)
Decision support (DSS)
Executive information (EIS)
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Multimedia applications
Geographical information systems (GIS)
Web applications
E-commerce applications
E-learning applications
Office productivity applications
Expert systems (ES)
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Internal governance applications
External regulation applications
Networks and Communications
Local area networks (Cable)
Local area networks (Radio/Wireless)
Internet
Extranets
Intranets
Virtual private networks (VPN)
Wide area networks (WAN)
Satellite communications
Microwave systems
Cellular or Internet telephony
Wireless and mobile technologies
File server architectures
E-mail systems
Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP)
Technologies for Security
Networks
Operational systems
Data/information
Web sites/applications
Technical Support Services
Hardware
Networks
Databases
Present
28
138
122.5 I
135
152 I
175
180
94.5
172
173
60.5 D
182
185
168.5
166
Users Rankings
Type
Future
H
30
L
118.5
M
71
L
112
L
84.5
L
175
L
179
M
71
L
171
L
162
H
114.5
L
180
L
182
L
166
L
169
Type
H
M
M
M
M
L
L
M
L
L
M
L
L
L
L
Present
59
141
143
82.5
128.5
168.5
182
49 D
173
173
87.5 D
180
183.5
177.5
179
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
H
57
L
125.5
L
127.5
M
87.5
L
105.5
L
171
L
184
H
78.5
L
176
L
174
M
119.5
L
181
L
182.5
L
177.5
L
175
Type
H
L
L
M
M
L
L
M
L
L
M
L
L
L
L
2
106.5 I
1
127.5
11
122.5
31 D
181
183
167
147.5 I
73.5
7
3D
H
M
H
L
H
M
H
L
L
L
L
M
H
H
10.5
53
5
151
16.5
127
64
183
184
163
94.5
102
7
32.5
H
H
H
L
H
L
M
L
L
L
M
M
H
H
5D
29.5
2
141
20
109.5
91.5 D
183.5
185
158
95 I
114.5
1
11.5 D
H
H
H
L
H
M
M
L
L
L
M
M
H
H
69
22
2
142
41.5
133.5
130
180
185
145
57
133.5
1
46.5
M
H
H
L
H
L
L
L
L
L
H
L
H
H
5
9.5
4
7
H
H
H
H
2
8
1
3.5
H
H
H
H
8
10
4
8
H
H
H
H
11.5
15
3
13
H
H
H
H
34.5
19
9.5
H
H
H
60.5
36.5
20.5
H
H
H
44 D
34 D
16.5 D
H
H
H
83
83
46.5
M
M
H
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Items
Data warehouses/marts
Computer operations
Desktop computing
End-users
Enterprise application portfolio
Applications developed by users
Websites/applications
Multimedia applications
Domain 2: Information Design and Management
Design Skills
Model/design information requirements
Design databases
Design web sites
Integrate information
Design web aesthetics
Tools/Techniques
Data modeling
Database query languages
Applications
Data mining
Knowledge management systems (KMS)
Document management systems (DMS)
Data Management Systems
Relational databases
Object relational databases
Object oriented databases
Multidimensional databases
Distributed databases
Data warehouses/marts
The Organization and Its Functions
Information requirements
Information flows
Knowledge management
Privacy
Managing Physical Resources
Databases data warehouse/mart
Knowledge bases
Managing Finances
Determining the costs of information
Present
68
46 D
63 D
25
136.5
150
19
157
Users Rankings
Type
Future
M
57.5
H
80.5
M
105
H
53
L
134.5
L
155
H
27
L
161
Type
H
M
M
H
L
L
H
L
Present
44
34 D
62.5 D
38 D
164.5
152
54.5 D
162
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
H
50
H
93.5
M
130
H
97
L
165
L
166
H
100.5
L
161.5
Type
H
M
L
M
L
L
M
L
114
34.5 D
102.5
34.5
144.5
M
H
M
H
L
134.5
77.5
114.5
41.5
146
L
M
M
H
L
103
23.5
99
44 I
162
M
H
M
H
L
90
26
119.5
5
153
M
H
M
H
L
151
81
L
M
151
102
L
M
128.5
54.5
L
H
133.5
62.5
L
M
163
164 I
141.5 I
L
L
L
146
134.5
84.5
L
L
M
149.5
166
173
L
L
L
136
145
167
L
L
L
28 D
170
171
165
168.5
139 I
H
L
L
L
L
L
64
170
172.5
167
168
88
M
L
L
L
L
M
26 D
144.5
168.5
176
135
71
H
L
L
L
L
M
100.5
161.5
169
171
149.5
75.5
M
L
L
L
L
M
34.5
42
119 I
68 I
H
H
M
M
20.5
41.5
53
32.5
H
H
H
H
20
54.5
54.5
62.5
H
H
H
H
36.5
83
31
83
H
M
H
M
16.5
98.5
H
M
12.5
71
H
M
23.5
87.5
H
M
36.5
69
H
M
111
M
121.5
M
125.5
L
114.5
M
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EJISDC (2009) 39, 5, 1-33
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Items
Present
Users Rankings
Type
Future
Type
Present
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
Type
Requirements
Domain 3: Process Design and Management
Design Skills
Model/design processes
Redesign/re-engineer processes
Participate in R&D projects
Tools/Techniques
Computer aided systems engineering (CASE)
Process modeling tools
The Organization and Its Functions
Internal governance regulations
Regulation by external authorities
Standard operational processes
Competitive processes
Workflows
Business process outsourcing (BPO)
Managing innovation
Quality assurance
Supply chain management
Change/risk management
Research and development (R&D)
Project management
Management Activities
ICT strategic planning
Aligning ICT plans with the organization’s mission
Indicators for ICT quality assurance
ICT performance indicators
ICT support for internal/external regulatory compliance
ICT innovations
ICT projects
System recovery procedures
Help and support functions
Feasibility assessment for ICT developments
Managing Finances
Determining costs of ICT developments
Determining costs of processes
The Organization and Its Functions
Culture
125.5
114
155.0
L
M
L
132
129
146.0
L
L
L
128.5
120
155.0
L
M
L
111
111
149.5
M
M
L
179
160
L
L
177
160
L
L
170
152
L
L
171
155
L
L
16.5
65 D
23
116.5
25
162
147.5
114 I
154
81
141.5
31
H
M
H
M
H
L
L
M
L
M
L
H
20.5
108
16.5
138
10.5
164
141
84.5
156.5
53
127
12.5
H
M
H
L
H
L
L
M
L
H
L
H
26 D
114.5
38
62.5
44
167
144.5
87.5
152
99 I
114.5
51.5
H
M
H
M
H
L
L
M
L
M
M
H
75.5
133.5
36.5
83
57
168
156.5
93.5
158
69
105.5
46.5
M
L
H
M
H
L
L
M
L
M
M
H
55
55
131.5
122.5
106.5
136.5 I
111
38
70.5
116.5
H
H
L
M
M
L
M
H
M
M
47
36.5
114.5
110.5
105
108
98
20.5
62
108
H
H
M
M
M
M
M
H
H
M
109.5
114.5
135
125.5 I
103
123
114.5
99
91.5 I
123
M
M
L
L
M
M
M
M
M
M
93.5
114.5
111
90
83
105.5
100.5
69
83
123.5
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
73.5
M
94.5
88.5
M
105
Domain 4: Relationship and Sourcing Management
M
M
128.5
141
L
L
119.5
119.5
M
M
H
44
H
46.5
H
42
H
36.5
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Items
Structure/internal relationships
Mission
Strategic plans
Relationships with partners/alliances
Workplace behavior requirements
Customer/client base
Supply/demand analysis/forecasts
Public relations management
Resource management
Sourcing strategies
Managing relationships with external providers
Management Activities
ICT sourcing strategies
Negotiations with stakeholders
Relationships with external ICT providers
Business processing outsourcing relationships
Managing Physical Resources
Hardware
Software
Networks
Telecommunications
Forecast ICT workforce supply/demand
Recruit ICT staff
Assess ICT staff performance
Plan and manage education/training for ICT staff
Plan and manage education/training for ICT users
Managing Finances
Preparing tenders for external provision of ICT
Evaluating bids from ICT providers
Preparing contracts with ICT providers
Preparing and managing ICT budgets
Personal Traits
Organizational awareness
Professional and ethical behavior
Service oriented
Visionary leadership
Influential
Develops others
Present
21.5
13
14
50.5
65
42
133
149
38
98.5
119
Users Rankings
Type
Future
H
20.5
H
24
H
14
H
66.5
M
77.5
H
57.5
L
118.5
L
148.5
H
36.5
M
90.5
M
124
Type
H
H
H
M
M
H
M
L
H
M
L
Present
29.5
20
8
3
99
16.5
118
123
51.5
82.5 D
95
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
H
22
H
31
H
16.5
H
8
M
125.5
H
31
M
127.5
L
130
H
52
M
119.5
M
105.5
Type
H
H
H
H
L
H
L
L
H
M
M
125.5
141.5
141.5
153
L
L
L
L
124
148.5
151
159
L
L
L
L
135
155
99
135
L
L
M
L
114.5
153
105.5
142
M
L
M
L
42
25
15
60.5
134
106.5
91.5 I
76.5 I
91.5
H
H
H
H
L
M
M
M
M
47
27
15
77.5
118.5
96.5
57.5
47
64
H
H
H
M
M
M
H
H
M
78
20
29.5
71 D
131.5
114.5
109.5
106 I
120
M
H
H
M
L
M
M
M
M
87.5
22
36.5
114.5
139.5
109
105.5
75.5
97
M
H
H
M
L
M
M
M
M
156.5
143.5
138
89
L
L
L
M
162
147
155
106
L
L
L
M
139.5
142
137.5
90
L
L
L
M
41.5
9
3.5
25
71
84.5
H
H
H
H
M
M
44
13.5
29.5
71 I
106
71 I
H
H
H
M
M
M
41.5
10
14
26
97
41.5
H
H
H
H
M
H
129.5
L
98.5 D
M
106.5 D
M
50.5 D
H
Domain 5: Personal Characteristics
55
19
12
55 I
73.5
78.5
H
H
H
H
M
M
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Items
Catalyst for change
Innovative
Manage conflict
Form good relationships
Problem Solving Expertise
Deal with ambiguity
Deal with complexity
Deal with intangibles
Understand the organizational/social implications of ICT
Work Environment
With other ICT professionals
In virtual teams
In multi-disciplinary teams
In cross-functional teams
In cross-cultural environments
With vendors/suppliers
With customers/clients
On multiple tasks
Communication Skills
Reading
Writing
Listening
Speaking
Fluency in more than 1 language
Scope of Skills and Experience
A deep but narrow set of skills
A shallow but broad set of skills
Deep skills and a broad scope of roles and experience
Skills that are recognized only within the ICT work domain
Skills that are recognized in ICT and other work domains
Present
78.5
55
85 I
7
Users Rankings
Type
Future
M
77.5
H
30
M
53
H
6
Type
M
H
H
H
Present
91.5
57.5
82.5
6
Providers Rankings
Type
Future
M
75.5
H
36.5
M
57
H
5
Type
M
H
H
H
91.5
70.5
98.5
76.5 I
M
M
M
M
90.5
47
71
36.5
M
H
M
H
71
62.5 I
103 I
38
M
H
M
H
57
26
69
31
H
H
M
H
85
129.5
98.5
60.5 I
127 I
98.5
60.5
85
M
L
M
H
L
M
H
M
84.5
127
102
27
96.5
124
47
92.5
M
L
M
H
M
M
H
M
87.5
71
71
26
38
91.5
15
34
M
M
M
H
H
M
H
H
69
69
52
8
31
62.5
8
26
M
M
H
H
H
M
H
H
48
94.5
45
48
144.5
H
M
H
H
L
36.5
80.5
20.5
30
121.5
H
M
H
H
M
62.5
71
44
57.5
138.5 I
H
M
H
H
L
46.5
46.5
18
36.5
78.5
H
H
H
H
M
131.5
102.5
88.5 I
91.5
68
L
M
M
M
M
110.5
92.5
47
99.5
57.5
M
M
H
M
H
95 I
62.5
71 I
109.5 I
78I
M
M
M
M
M
52
62.5
19.5
62.5
26
H
H
H
H
H
Note: I and D represent increases and decreases, respectively, by at least 30 rank positions
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28
Table A2: Distribution of responses for sourcing strategies
Items
Development Methodologies
System development life cycle
Object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD)
Frameworks for development (e.g. Agile)
Design Skills
Understand current/emerging technologies
Determine systems requirements
Design ICT solutions
Model/design processes
Redesign/re-engineer processes
Model/design information requirements
Program and code
Design networks
Design databases
Design interfaces
Design web sites
Integrate applications/systems
Integrate networks
Integrate information
Maintain applications/systems
Design Web aesthetics
Select open source applications/systems
Select applications/systems sold by vendors
Tailor purchased applications/systems
Completely develop applications/systems
Participate in R&D projects
Tools/Techniques
Computer aided systems engineering (CASE)
Software metrics
Software testing
Data modeling
Process modeling tools
Database query languages
Network performance tools
Architecture
Micro computers
Present
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
Future
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
18.0
19.4
23.1
6.6
6.5
7.7
21.7
22.2
20.0
15.2
11.1
10.0
14.3
14.1
16.9
11.1
12.5
10.2
27.7
22.2
18.6
14.9
20.0
11.6
20.0
23.5
20.9
17.7
16.4
23.4
16.7
22.9
19.1
21.5
17.6
16.2
13.4
17.9
20.6
19.7
21.0
20.3
16.9
18.8
15.4
8.6
8.8
9.0
4.8
6.0
3.1
12.1
7.1
7.4
7.7
10.3
7.4
7.5
9.0
10.3
11.5
6.5
13.0
10.2
9.4
8.6
18.0
24.5
17.0
19.1
21.3
21.3
12.8
23.4
21.7
21.3
15.6
21.7
15.2
23.9
26.1
19.5
22.5
23.3
8.1
9.1
24.4
10.0
6.1
10.6
8.5
4.3
2.1
17.0
8.5
13.0
8.5
8.9
8.7
8.7
13.0
4.3
2.4
3.9
7.0
2.7
13.6
7.3
17.4
22.4
18.2
19.0
16.4
14.5
10.4
14.5
16.2
16.7
13.0
12.9
13.2
16.2
19.1
12.3
17.2
19.1
16.7
12.9
12.9
13.0
9.0
10.6
7.9
7.5
9.7
17.9
13.0
13.2
12.1
13.0
11.4
16.2
13.2
13.2
13.8
10.9
14.7
10.0
11.3
11.3
14.3
24.5
20.8
21.3
20.8
17.0
14.9
25.5
26.1
21.3
23.9
27.7
19.1
27.7
26.1
20.9
22.0
25.6
13.5
13.6
25.0
16.3
10.2
8.3
6.4
4.2
4.3
21.3
12.8
13.0
10.6
15.2
12.8
14.9
14.9
8.7
7.0
4.9
7.0
2.7
20.5
9.1
25.5
22.5
30.6
20.3
23.3
22.7
22.7
12.8
6.7
6.5
5.1
3.3
6.1
18.2
12.5
15.4
15.9
14.0
18.6
20.5
20.5
5.0
2.6
11.4
4.7
2.3
15.9
6.8
19.6
9.8
20.6
16.4
15.0
16.7
16.2
15.7
9.8
7.9
8.2
8.3
9.1
17.6
9.3
20.9
19.1
17.8
19.6
19.6
17.8
7.0
11.6
17.0
8.9
6.5
15.2
8.9
26.7
18.3
29.7
18.9
19.7
23.0
28.2
20.5
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Items
Mini computers
Mainframe computers
Mobile computers
Peripherals
Open systems architectures
Parallel architectures
Client-server architectures
Applications
Transaction processing (TPS)
Management information (MIS)
Decision support (DSS)
Executive information (EIS)
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Data mining
Knowledge management (KMS)
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Document management (DMS)
Multimedia applications
Geographical information systems (GIS)
Web applications
E-commerce applications
E-learning applications
Office productivity applications (e.g. spreadsheets)
Expert systems (ES)
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Internal governance applications
External regulation applications
Networks and Communications
Local area networks (Cable)
Local area networks (Radio/Wireless)
Internet
Extranets
Intranets
Virtual private networks (VPN)
Wide area networks (WAN)
Satellite communications
Microwave systems
Cellular or Internet telephony
Present
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
23.7
13.2
13.3
26.7
16.7
16.7
17.9
28.6
20.0
21.7
24.4
26.8
16.4
27.9
28.6
28.6
24.0
18.0
15.9
13.6
20.0
17.5
18.9
13.5
17.6
18.6
23.3
26.5
Future
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
15.4
17.9
16.1
25.8
14.8
16.1
17.2
28.4
9.4
24.4
25.0
29.3
19.0
20.6
25.6
30.2
20.4
18.5
17.8
24.4
12.8
19.1
17.9
17.9
20.0
21.5
20.0
26.7
25.0
26.2
22.0
21.3
17.7
15.4
24.6
21.7
19.0
16.7
10.8
21.0
22.0
17.6
26.6
18.9
13.8
17.3
22.0
10.7
10.8
16.9
13.1
19.4
11.5
8.8
15.0
15.9
16.7
18.9
8.1
7.3
17.6
17.2
24.3
17.2
11.5
12.0
22.7
26.1
21.4
19.0
25.6
16.7
21.4
22.0
24.3
24.3
11.1
23.9
25.7
22.2
20.5
21.9
20.0
21.2
20.6
11.4
8.7
11.9
9.5
16.3
14.3
14.3
17.1
10.8
16.2
11.1
13.0
14.3
5.6
18.2
12.5
8.0
6.1
8.8
21.1
16.9
13.1
15.6
12.7
15.5
12.7
10.9
13.6
14.8
10.9
14.1
14.0
15.8
20.3
12.8
8.1
15.5
18.5
12.3
18.5
23.0
21.9
27.0
15.5
20.6
23.4
19.7
22.2
15.2
17.2
14.0
19.3
18.8
14.9
21.6
10.3
13.0
17.8
23.9
20.9
18.2
22.7
14.0
15.9
20.5
20.5
18.9
13.8
26.1
22.2
17.9
20.5
15.2
17.9
22.2
18.9
13.3
10.9
14.0
13.6
15.9
18.6
13.6
13.6
10.3
16.2
13.8
13.0
13.9
10.3
20.5
15.2
14.3
8.3
10.8
18.8
21.7
14.3
19.3
28.8
19.7
12.3
21.2
25.0
12.5
24.6
20.0
31.4
15.8
16.7
19.7
26.2
27.3
17.9
25.0
30.4
26.7
28.3
28.9
26.7
25.0
26.8
15.4
16.0
23.7
26.1
17.8
26.1
18.4
17.8
12.5
17.1
26.9
20.0
18.4
15.9
14.5
8.5
13.6
23.5
12.5
7.6
16.2
20.0
8.1
31.9
24.6
38.0
18.6
19.1
20.3
27.3
29.7
20.0
27.4
31.1
30.4
30.4
32.5
33.3
23.8
23.8
13.3
14.8
21.1
24.4
19.6
32.6
20.0
20.0
16.7
21.4
30.0
29.6
21.1
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Items
Wireless and mobile technologies
File server architectures
E-mail systems
Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP)
Data Management Systems
Relational databases
Object relational databases
Object oriented databases
Multidimensional databases
Distributed databases
Data warehouses/marts
Technologies for Security
Networks
Operational systems
Data/information
Web sites/applications
Technical Support Services
Hardware
Networks
Databases
Data warehouses/marts
Computer operations
Desktop computing
End-users
Enterprise application portfolio
Applications developed by users
Websites/applications
Multimedia applications
Present
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
11.1
23.8
20.9
20.9
19.4
9.5
26.9
28.6
21.7
23.4
29.0
38.3
23.2
23.2
20.5
29.5
Future
Users
Providers
IN
OUT
IN
OUT
5.9
18.6
32.4
39.5
19.7
24.2
18.2
27.3
21.7
24.3
36.2
25.5
18.6
27.1
27.3
25.0
23.9
17.0
18.4
14.8
20.8
16.7
16.4
12.8
12.2
14.8
17.0
13.3
24.4
18.2
17.1
17.9
16.3
23.3
11.1
2.3
2.4
2.6
4.7
11.6
21.7
9.4
7.5
12.1
18.6
10.4
17.4
17.0
17.0
17.2
18.6
22.4
20.0
17.8
16.7
14.6
13.6
22.7
13.3
4.4
4.8
7.3
9.1
13.6
15.7
18.3
25.4
22.9
27.1
26.8
19.7
21.4
24.4
20.0
31.8
22.2
13.3
11.1
9.1
8.9
11.1
15.3
20.8
16.7
31.9
31.9
26.4
26.4
18.2
15.9
27.3
22.7
27.3
27.3
25.0
22.7
16.9
15.7
18.1
19.1
25.7
24.3
30.4
16.1
25.0
23.9
25.4
23.9
28.6
20.8
23.5
18.6
17.1
10.1
12.9
17.9
9.9
13.6
15.9
25.0
27.3
27.3
22.2
22.7
31.1
20.5
28.6
26.7
20.5
18.2
13.6
13.6
18.2
13.3
18.2
13.3
12.8
11.9
8.9
12.8
9.9
12.9
15.3
15.7
21.4
18.6
27.1
14.3
20.3
18.3
17.7
26.8
31.4
25.0
28.6
22.9
24.3
12.9
15.9
18.6
15.5
16.1
10.9
17.8
20.5
22.7
13.3
14.0
26.7
21.4
17.1
15.9
10.5
21.7
20.0
25.0
25.0
22.2
30.2
22.2
16.7
19.5
13.6
21.1
Note: (a) Proportions in the intervals [1, 2.3], (2.3, 3.7), [3.7, 5] correspond to mainly insourcing (IN), mainly mixed sourcing, and mainly outsourcing
(OUT), respectively, (b) Highlighted values indicate cases where 25 percent or more of respondents indicated mainly insourcing or mainly outsourcing.
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31
Table A3: Indications of the use of insourcing and outsourcing
User
Provider
Present Future Present Future
1. Technology Infrastructure and Services
Development Methodologies
System development life cycle
IN
Design Skills
Design networks
IN
IN
Domain and Items
Integrate applications/systems
Maintain applications/systems
Select applications/systems sold by vendors
Tools/Techniques
Software testing
Architecture
Micro computers
Mini computers
Mainframe computers
Mobile computers
Peripherals
Applications
Transaction processing (TPS)
Management information (MIS)
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Web applications
E-commerce applications
Office productivity applications
Networks and Communications
Local area networks (Cable)
Local area networks (Radio/Wireless)
Internet
Extranets
Intranets
Virtual private networks (VPN)
Wide area networks (WAN)
Satellite communications
IN
IN
IN
IN
O
IN
OUT
OUT
OUT
IN
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
Domain and Items
User
Provider
Present Future Present Future
IN
OUT
OUT OUT
OUT
IN
IN
IN
IN IN/OUT
IN/OUT
OUT
IN
Microwave systems
Cellular or Internet telephony
Wireless and mobile technologies
File server architectures
E-mail systems
Transmission control protocol/Internet
IN
protocol (TCP/IP)
IN
IN Technologies for Security
IN Networks
OUT
Operational systems
OUT
Data/information
IN
Web sites/applications
IN Technical Support Services
IN Hardware
OUT Networks
OUT
OUT OUT Databases
IN/OUT IN/OUT Data warehouses/marts
Computer operations
IN
Desktop computing
IN
End-users
IN
IN
Applications developed by users
IN
IN Websites/applications
IN
Multimedia applications
IN
2. Information Design and Management
Design Skills
I/O
IN Design databases
IN
IN Integrate information
IN IN/OUT
3. Process Design and Management
IN
IN Design Skills
IN
IN Participate in R&D projects
IN
Tools/Techniques
IN
Computer aided systems engineering (CASE)
IN
OUT OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
OUT
IN
OUT
OUT
IN/OUT
IN
IN
IN
OUT
OUT
OUT
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
IN
Note: IN, OUT, and IN/OUT identify items where 25 percent or more of respondents indicate mainly insourcing, mainly outsourcing, or both, respectively.
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Table A4: Items with high or low relative importance in the future
Domain
Users and
Providers
High
Users Only
Providers
Only
1. Technology
Infrastructure
and Services
Users and
Providers
Low
Users Only
Providers
Only
2. Information
Design
and
Management
Users and
Providers
High Users Only
Providers
Only
Users and
Providers
Low Users Only
Providers
Only
Users and
Providers
High
Users Only
Type of Rank/Organization/ Items
Design Skills: Understand current/emerging technologies; Integrate applications/systems. Applications: Management information (MIS). Networks
and Communications: Local area networks (Radio/Wireless); Internet; Intranets; E-mail systems; Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol
(TCP/IP). Technologies for Security: Networks; Operational systems; Data/information; Web sites/applications. Technical Support Services:
Databases; Data warehouses /marts.
Design Skills: Integrate networks. Networks and Communications: Local area networks (Cable). Technical Support Services: Hardware; Networks;
End-users; Websites/applications.
Design Skills: Determine systems requirements; Design ICT solutions; Program and code; Design interfaces. Tools/Techniques: Software testing.
Networks and Communications: Wireless and mobile technologies.
Development Methodologies: Object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD); Frameworks for development (e.g. Agile). Design Skills: Select open
source applications/systems; Tailor purchased applications/systems; Completely develop applications/systems. Tools/Techniques: Software metrics.
Architecture: Micro computers; Mini computers; Mainframe computers; Mobile computers; Peripherals; Open systems architectures; Parallel
architectures. Applications: Transaction processing (TPS); Multimedia applications; Geographical information systems (GIS); E-commerce
applications; E-learning applications; Expert systems (ES); Artificial intelligence (AI); Internal governance applications; External regulation
applications. Networks and Communications: Extranets; Virtual private networks (VPN); Satellite communications; Microwave systems; Cellular or
Internet telephony. Technical Support Services: Enterprise application portfolio; Applications developed by users; Multimedia applications.
Development Methodologies: System development life cycle.
Design Skills: Program and code. Architecture: Client-server architectures.
Design Skills: Select applications/systems sold by vendors.
Tools/Techniques: Network performance tools. Applications: Decision support (DSS); Executive information (EIS). Networks and
Communications: Wide area networks (WAN); File server architectures. Technical Support Services: Desktop computing.
Design Skills: Integrate information. The Organization and Its Functions: Information requirements; Knowledge management. Managing Physical
Resources: Databases data warehouse/mart.
The Organization and Its Functions: Information flows; Privacy.
Design Skills: Design databases.
Design Skills: Design web aesthetics. Tools/Techniques: Data modeling. Applications: Data mining; Knowledge management systems (KMS). Data
Management Systems: Object relational databases; Object oriented databases; Multidimensional databases; Distributed databases.
Design Skills: Model/design information requirements.
Applications: Document management systems (DMS).
The Organization and Its Functions: Standard operational processes; Workflows; Project management.
The Organization and Its Functions: Internal governance regulations; Change/risk management. Management Activities: ICT strategic planning;
Aligning ICT plans with the organization’s mission; System recovery procedures; Help and support functions.
3. Process Design
Users and Design Skills: Participate in R&D projects. Tools/Techniques: Computer aided systems engineering (CASE); Process modeling tools. The
and
Providers Organization and Its Functions: Business process outsourcing (BPO); Managing innovation; Supply chain management.
Management
Design Skills: Model/design processes; Redesign/re-engineer processes. The Organization and Its Functions: Competitive processes; Research and
Users Only
development (R&D).
Low
Providers
The Organization and Its Functions: Regulation by external authorities.
Only
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Domain
4. Relationship and
Sourcing
Management
5. Personal
Characteristics
Users and
Providers
High Users Only
Providers
Only
33
Type of Rank/Organization/ Items
The Organization and Its Functions: Culture; Structure/internal relationships; Mission; Strategic plans; Customer/client base; Resource management.
Managing Physical Resources: Software; Networks.
Managing Physical Resources: Hardware; Assess ICT staff performance; Plan and manage education/training for ICT staff.
The Organization and Its Functions: Relationships with partners/alliances.
The Organization and Its Functions: Public relations management. Management Activities: Negotiations with stakeholders; Business processing
Users and
outsourcing relationships. Managing Finances Preparing tenders for external provision of ICT; Evaluating bids from ICT providers; Preparing
Providers
contracts with ICT providers.
The Organization and Its Functions: Managing relationships with external providers. Management Activities: ICT sourcing strategies;
Low
Users Only
Relationships with external ICT providers.
Providers The Organization and Its Functions: Workplace behavior requirements; Supply/demand analysis/forecasts. Managing Physical Resources: Forecast
Only
ICT workforce supply/demand.
Personal Traits: Organizational awareness; Professional and ethical behavior; Service oriented; Visionary leadership; Innovative; Manage conflict;
Users and Form good relationships. Problem Solving Expertise: Deal with complexity; Understand the organizational/social implications of ICT. Work
Providers Environment: In cross-functional teams; With customers/clients. Communication Skills: Reading; Listening; Speaking. Scope of Skills and
Experience: Deep skills and a broad scope of roles and experience; Skills that are recognized in ICT and other work domains.
High
Personal Traits: Develops others. Problem Solving Expertise: Deal with ambiguity. Work Environment: In multi-disciplinary teams; In crossProviders
cultural environments; On multiple tasks. Communication Skills: Writing. Scope of Skills and Experience: A deep but narrow set of skills; A
Only
shallow but broad set of skills; Skills that are recognized only within the ICT work domain.
Low Users Only Work Environment: In virtual teams.
The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries,
http://www.ejisdc.org