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The digital data available online is currently measured in zettabytes. These vast repositories of big web data are increasingly viewed as a strategic resource comparable in value to land, gold, and oil. This big web data can be extracted and analyzed by organizations to gain a better understanding of their internal and external environment and improve organizational performance. Because of these opportunities, automated retrieval and organization of web data (i.e., web scraping) for research projects is becoming a common practice. This article outlines the data-related, technical, legal, and ethical issues related to web scraping. Awareness of these issues can help researchers save time and resources and, most importantly, mitigate the potential risk of ethical controversies or lawsuits related to the retrieval and use of big web data.

With digital technologies shaping competition in many industries, predicting the future of potentially disruptive technologies becomes an essential task of business leaders concerned with the survival and success of their organizations. Looking into the future of disruptive technologies requires a philosophical stance and a practical method that accommodates the inherent uncertainty and nonlinearity of the path of disruptive innovations. Unfortunately, much of the current thinking in relation to adoption and diffusion of innovations is rather linear and deterministic. This article proposes a set of philosophical principles, together with a practical brainstorming method, for glimpsing into the future of disruptive technologies. The method of alternative histories is based on the traditional brainstorming techniques and the philosophical ideas of Imre Lakatos, Roy Bhaskar, Bruno Latour, and Nassim Taleb.

Since the Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging phenomenon, there is a lack of holistic understanding of what IoT is and what business opportunities it can offer for entrepreneurs and existing companies. This article has three main parts. First, it introduces IoT as a broad, socio-technical phenomenon. As a part of this goal, the article covers various elements within the technological, physical, and socioeconomic environment that comprise IoT. Second, this article proposes two approaches for creating new business models using IoT: a sustaining approach and a disruptive approach. The article concludes with a brief reflection on the extent to which the future of IoT can be predicted. This discussion brings up the limitations of the approach for creating new business models outlined in this article and provides guidelines on how this approach should be used. The ultimate goal of this article is to stimulate thinking, creativity, and entrepreneurship in relation to the IoT.

Increasingly, big data is viewed as the most strategic resource of the 21st century, similar in importance to that of gold and oil. While sitting on these vast pools of data, many organizations are simply not ready to take advantage of this new strategic resource. Embracing big data requires addressing a number of barriers that fall into the domains of technology, people, and organization. A holistic, socio-technical approach is required to overcome these barriers. This article introduces the specific tactics we recommend for addressing big data barriers, which involve changes to technology infrastructure, a focus on privacy, promotion of big data and analytic skills development, and the creation of a clear organizational vision related to big data.

The use of managerial control ratios for benchmarking IT costs is widely accepted. This installment of Accounting Matters informs CIOs about IT managerial control ratios and the assumptions underlying the use of these ratios in IT cost benchmarking. Incorrect use of these ratios and violation of the assumptions can lead to faulty inferences and costly mistakes. This article proposes a technique for benchmarking IT costs to draw the right conclusions from the data.

Despite the growing importance of information technology (IT) in organizations, chief executive officers (CEOs) and top management teams exhibit an alarming degree of distrust toward IT and chief information officers (CIOs). This CIO-CEO gap can be explained by several factors including failure of IT to deliver value, poor understanding of IT by business executives, lack of a clear vision with respect to IT, different worldviews of business executives and technology specialists, lack of a shared vision in relation to IT, poor relationship skills of CIOs, and criticism of IT by so-called experts in the popular and academic press. These factors stand in the way of a good CIO-CEO relationship, IT alignment with organizational goals, and improvement in organizational performance with the help of IT. Bridging the gap requires a set of joint and independent actions by the CIO, the CEO, and the entire top management team. Recommendations for both CIOs and CEOs include communication, knowledge sharing, and developing a shared vision in relation to IT. CIOs are advised to focus on business value and develop managerial, leadership, and political skills. CEOs should establish an appropriate reporting structure for the CIO, educate top managers regarding IT, and increase personal involvement in and support of the IT function and the CIO.