II.6.2. Information system (IS) capabilities
overview
Resources and capabilities in information system concept can
be «termed as Information system capabilities» which are
«skills, competences and abilities, upon which the value of the physical
Information technology (IT) resource can be leveraged» (N.F. Doherty and
M. Therry, 2009, p4).
According to Collis, D. J.(1994) cited by T. Ravichandran and
C. Lertwomgsatien (2005), «capabilities are social complex routines that
determine the efficiency with which firms transform inputs into
outputs».
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Figure 3. Initial structure of IT capabilities (Bharadwaj,
1999)
Source: A Raverini (2010, p87)
In his research A. Raverini (2010, p.99) gives a broadest and
complete definition of IT capability in these terms: «IT capability is the
capacity, diffused within the whole organization, to plan, use and manage the
resources based on IT-complementarily and jointly with the other resources and
capacities of the organization- in order to achieve a specific organizational
objective and obtain a competitive and sustainable advantage over
competitors».
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II.6.3. Information system capabilities in the scope of
e-commerce
II.6.3.1 Overview of the information system capabilities
for e-commerce
According to the framework presented by Turban (Turban et al.
2008, p7), among the five (5) groups of infrastructures presented in his book,
the first category called «Common business services infrastructures»
includes; security, smart card/authentication, electronic payments,
directories/catalogs, hardware and peripherals.
From this framework, this study will focus on the security of
e-payment systems because it is the core of the electronic commerce capability
which allows the concretization of the transaction.
From this choice of e-payment systems as a prime focus of this
research, another implication is that it is not easy to talk about electronic
payment systems that are using IT capabilities (systems, software, and human)
without having a look at the way online transactions are to be secured in order
to enable effective e-commerce development.
That's why this particular aspect of the IT capabilities of
e-payment systems which consists on security of online payment system is the
focus of this research about e-commerce capabilities readiness in DRC.
The target of this research in the bank sector will be focused
on the following payment systems; online banking payment system and the local
(private) and international well known bank cards provided by local commercial
banks.
It must be understood that in the scope of this research, some
local banks are using well known international cards such as Visa and
MasterCard that are used worldwide as payment system (online and offline) and
therefore providing some confidence to the user because of their brand name
recognition and the existence of payment systems installed at the banks and
shops.
This study will also assess the security readiness of the
e-payments systems and any other online payment system proposed by local
commercial banks in order to leverage them for an effective e-payment system
for the development of e-commerce in RDC.
Also, as stated previously in this section, the advert of
mobile network with gsm operator providing money transfer facility via mobile
phone handsets, a new e-payment system is born in the country which is of big
interest on e-commerce development; mobile payment which is described below.
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