ICT Professional Practice and Ethics

This study material discusses the importance of ICT professional practice and ethics in the digital transformation era. It explores the challenges faced by organizations, using a case study evaluation of Westfield Company. The material covers topics such as the framework for ethical conduct, realization of business values, and IT governance.

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ICT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND ETHICS
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1ICT PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND ETHICS
Executive Summary
Digital Transformation is essential to survive in a scenario where disruptions caused digitally
are imposing various demands on the organizations and the information technology. Its main
aim is creation of value in order to take the advantages of the digital technologies in order
increase effectiveness. In the process of transformation there are risks and in order to avoid
failures the companies implementing the same must be well prepared and they should adopt a
organized process in order to achieve the same. In this paper the ICT professional practice
and related ethics will be talked about with reference to a organization named Westfield
Company that wants to build a online store for its customers.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
Case Study evaluation............................................................................................................4
Frame work................................................................................................................................5
Realization of Business values...............................................................................................7
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
Recommendations....................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
Modern businesses and services are generally subjected to digital disruption as the
businesses constantly face changes and new challenges in their business process. It becomes
important for the business to constantly adapt and adjust to the rising new conditions in the IT
and business world. The disruptive forces are mostly based on Information and
Communication technology or ICT systems. There is a high possibility of these forces being
an intrinsic part of the existing ICT infrastructure, new models of infrastructure or other
cloud based solutions. Digitization of information and data has brought in drastic change in
the way science; technology and business interact with one other. It also involves the human
aspect of interaction in the technology and business processes (Dutta, Geiger and Lanvin,
2015). The changes in the recent development of ICT instances and application have gone
through a number of disruptions. The last few decades have seen new development in digital
devices, implementation of new IT techniques in the business process or completely altering
the technological environment in the business process, the convergence of internet and
devices and also changing operational aspects of a business like outsourcing of services. The
changes in the field require monitoring of the aspects and they should follow the ethical code
of conduct to preach business ethically. The report discusses the issues faced by an Australian
mall West Field, the customers are mostly moving toward getting their product online which
is disrupting the business of West Field Mall in Australia. West Field has implemented
several new digital techniques and methods to retain a large part of the customer base. The
new methods raise certain ethical concerns and require stringent IT governance. To win back
the customers who have moved away from the services provided by West Field and retain the
unique customers, it is important to design a framework and analyse the ethical and IT
governance required to put the case into action.

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Discussion
Australian searchable mall Westfield features around 100,000 products online. The
innovation of online service and shops is affecting the business of West Field drastically
(Vaishnavi and Kuechler, 2015). The management has taken up the matter to provide a
solution for the problem faced by West Field.
Case Study evaluation
A searchable mall in Australia, named West Field, features a plethora of products
online. The company features around 100,000 products online. The innovation of the internet
and the openings of several online stores have started affecting the business of West Field
mall in Australia. The company realized the major issue and challenge they are facing in their
business model, is the from changed shopper behaviour (Tong, Tak and Wong, 2015). The
change in shopper behaviour was accounted with the use of internet, which made access to
products easy and smoothen out the complete shopping process. The shopping cycle was
dramatically disrupted by online shopping entry into the model. The successful business
model of West Field, with large buildings, quality and long lasting malls all around the world
was coming under threat from the online business sector. The shopper behaviour was
changing with technology enabled connectivity. The entry of online shoppers into the market
space created both threats and opportunity. The threat of the issue being, online shopping
could drastically change the way shoppers shopped and have a negative impact on physical
malls. There is also opportunity in the given situation. The companies can use the Internet to
create more business opportunities for the company and cater to a larger customer base while
retaining many of its unique customers in the process (Capurro, 2018). To look at the internet
as a transformative opportunity, it can be used to build online shopping centres and connect
with the digital shoppers with the shopping centres. This will overall have a positive effect on
the customer shopping experience and highly enhance customer satisfaction. West Field saw

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the use of internet in the shopping pace as an opportunity and used it to its advantage. West
Field set up labs in the year 2012, leveraged into the retail ecosystem with innovative
technological and social skills. The motive behind setting up labs intercepting the digital
space was to create digital market opportunities which will connect the physical world with
the digital shopper.
The learning outcome of West Field include increase in the curiosity around
technology, understanding the scenarios involved in the shopper’s journey and lastly to
support these shopper with a wide range of new digital technologies and innovations (Bynum,
2017). West Field incorporated numerous digital innovations in their shopping platforms.
They introduced digital storefronts, click and collect hubs, digital in-centre signage, Wi-Fi
networks, online food serving apps frictionless car parking payment services and lastly
searchable mall web platform. These digital technologies were introduced to integrate
retailers and help the shoppers in the mall to easily access the products and locate the items
the shoppers require in their local West Filed shopping centre. The initiative taken up by
West Field is purely to increase customer satisfaction and converge the digital shoppers
available with the physical world.
Frame work
The ethical framework that guides the working of a business and it is aimed specifically
at the individual practitioner to follow and accept the ethical code of conduct. The ACS
system consists of the following guidelines:
1. The Primacy of the Public Interest: The interest of the public is of the highest interest
and value above any business or personal interests.

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2. The enhancement of Quality of life: the life of the individuals who are directly
connected with business of the individual, the individual should strive o enhance the
quality of the life of the people (Hunt et al., 2016).
3. Honesty or integrity: When conducting the business, the members of the firm should
be completely honest with the representation of skills, service, knowledge and
products.
4. Competence: There is a need to work diligently and competently for the associated
stakeholders.
5. Professional development: There is an importance for self enhancement and also the
enhancement of other individual who are associated with the business or the
organization (Sandler, 2016).
6. Professionalism: Integrity of the society, one is working in should be maintained and
the members within the society should be respected.
If there arises a situation of conflict between the given values, the primacy of the
public interests takes high precedence over the other ethical values.
The framework for the West Field is so designed to ensure the governance of the IT
entities in the company. The governance of the IT entities will allow West Field to achieve
their objectives and goals to create stakeholder value. This will also ensure keeping an
account of the benefits, realization of advantages, resource optimization and risk optimization
(McDermid, 2015). The framework of West Field mall includes staffs, officers, managers,
operational officers; applications, infrastructure, information, behaviour and skills. The
framework designed addresses both internal and external requirements like contracts and
service capabilities. The strategic planning and development of the IT resources to gain
customers and provide them with services which are satisfying are also included in the
framework of governance of enterprise IT. The framework incorporates the necessary

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processes and the roles, accountabilities and responsibilities are all included in the
framework. The establishment of a communication channel inside the system to connect and
converge the digital shoppers with the physical world.
In the contemporary business satire, companies highly depend on IT attributes to run
the business operation. West Field Group heavy invested in IT products to improve their mall
services and attract a large base of customers (Al-Saggaf, Burmeister and Schwartz, 2017).
The new strategies implemented with the help of IT, aids in better disruption handle and
overall provides a positive impact on the business operations of the organization.
Management of complex IT structures require is a difficult task therefore proper governance
is required in enabling IT tools in the system. To deal and handle with the rising difficulties,
numerous tools have been applied to respond to such issues.
When there is an IT failure or a complete system shut down it is of utmost important
to keep the business process running (Brassett, 2016.). IT systems in an organization execute
millions of instructions in few seconds. Therefore, these IT systems are indispensable for
organizations to keep their businesses running.
Realization of Business values
The ratio of failed vs. successful IT projects is unfortunately very high due to
improper planning, high costs, and insufficient IT staff. Successful implementation of IT
projects requires high planning, as failure can lead to damage of assets and loss in business
revenue. Establishment of accountability is required in an operation of a business. For
Westfield mall, IT management and governance are implemented to derive strategies and
evaluate performance. It is of utmost importance for the evaluation of the performance
provided by the IT tools to Westfield mall, to understand customer satisfaction and unique
customer profile base. The aim and objectives of all the stakeholders lies in achieving IT

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governance initiatives that involve everyone in a group to diligently perform his or her
specific role and responsibility to complete their IT tasks successfully. SWOT matrix and
BCG matrix are used to identify and understand IT strategies. The growth matrix provides a
framework for analysing the services provided in accordance with growth and market value
relative to the competitor. Analysing the services will help Westfield in identifying which
products are bringing in high revenue and the ones who are draining the resources.
There are various ethical consequences when transforming to a digital firm and it
mainly affects the diversity and inclusion. On the basis of the above scenario, embracing
inclusion can serve as a skill that could inculcate humanity in the workforce. The culture and
the way of behaviour is a vital pillar that makes the workforce employable providing the
customers of the firm with better experience of shopping. Ethics play an important role in all
organizational frameworks and thus the firms need to hire on job applicants able to
demonstrate their skills such as communication, resilience, self-motivation, empathy and
flexibility. The above mentioned capabilities have the potential to serve as a competitive
advantage as and when grouped with advantages of AI driven systems. Digital
transformation being a primary topic, the growing firms requires considering an effective
strategy that could help them in achieving the desirable changes ensuring that the ethical
issues well addressed and sorted. As per anticipations those firms failing to incorporate or
adapt the world of digitization will fall prey to “Digital Darwinism” that could adversely
affect the growth of the business. The Westfield Company requires analysing the case studies
of the companies those who have failed in implementing the desired digitalization that could
possibly help the firm to avoid such instances in their process keeping in mind the related
ethics. In order to align ethics with digitization the firm should not only focus on technologies
but should also take important strategic decisions into consideration. As per the research done
by (), the organizations that have been unsuccessful in their venture of transforming their

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platforms into the digital sphere mainly suffered due to the lack of strategies. Inclusion in this
case could be made an important skill instead of just tagging it as a concept of the corporate
world. The change in the mindset could possibly transform inclusion from a program-driven
concept into competency driven thus leveraging the trust in between the employees and the
employers thereby providing the customers with enhanced experience and a good
environment. Information technology governance constitutes of the processes, leadership and
structures that in turn enable the firm to take certain important decisions ensuring that the
organizations IT sustains and its respective strategies and goals are extended. IT governance
serves as an integral part of Enterprise Governance and thus the Westfield Company needs to
make a thorough analysis of its strategic aims and objectives and a supporting framework
associated with repetitive processes in order to be a support to the various decisions being
made ensuring alignment of the IT investments with the desired objectives and aims. IT
governance in a firm helps ensure that the IT decision taken by the company focuses on the
following facts that are as follows:
1) Evaluation and direction of the usage of the information technology in order to serve as a
support to the organization.
2) Monitoring the various usage of information technology in order to achieve plans.
3) Usage of the various strategies of IT and the associated policies in order to achieve the
purpose it solves.
4) To bring in an appropriate alignment of the strategies of IT with the goals of the
organization.
The process involved to establish effective governance should consider the ethical issues that
can be a part of the process of the transformations that is desired and required. Supporting

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resources are essential for the growth of the governance. The Westfield Company should
work accordingly to the ethics that are an important part in running any organization. In the
process of transforming to digital platform, governance and management are the two pillars
which create a strong base. Thus the existing frameworks should be analysed in this case
especially the information technology domain such as ISO/IEC 38500 and COBIT 5. The
first internationally accepted standard providing the guidelines for IT governance was the
ISO/IEC 38500. Its updated version is ISO/IEC38500:2015. This specific standard provides
the necessary principles that serve as guidelines for the members of the governing bodies of
any firm on the acceptable, effective and efficient use of the firm’s information technology
within its premises. This standard is linked with the concept of corporate governance in the
Cadbury report and the six underlying principles that apply to almost every organization. The
Westfield Company can align its process of transformation to this standard and work
accordance to the principles that are as follows:
1) Responsibility: The workforce of the company needs to understand their roles within the
work environment so that IT supply and demand is well addressed and the transformation to a
digital platform made easy.
2) Strategy: The business strategy of the company should consider the present and past
capabilities of the information technology. The strategic plans related to IT help satisfy the
present and the ongoing requirements of the firm’s business strategy.
3) Acquisition: The IT acquisitions in case of IT governance align to some valid reasons on
the basis of the ongoing and appropriate analysis along with decision making. In accordance
with the IT governance regulations the perfect balance in between the costs, benefits, risks
and opportunities in the short and long term.

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4) Performance: IT is effective in serving as a support to the firm, by providing the requisite
services, levels of service and the quality of the service rendered in order to meet the present
and the future business requirements.
5) Conformance: IT of the company should be in accordance with the mandatory legislation
and the regulations in order to bring in the required transformation. Policies and the practices
are needs to be defined and set and properly implemented so that the customers get
benefitted.
6) Human behaviour: IT decisions, policies and practices depict respect for human behaviour
that includes the present and the emerging requirements of all the stakeholders in this
process.
In the standard ISO/IEC 38500, the body responsible for governing is defined as “a
generic entity responsible and accountable for performance and conformance of the
organization” and has a set of defined roles. In addition to this ISO/IEC 38500 allows the
governing bodies to result in an entity that is subsidiary serving the purpose of paying closer
attention to the various tasks in IT governance for example the board committee. COBIT 5
provides a comprehensive structure that could aid the organization to achieve their goals for
the purpose of governance and management of the enterprise IT. COBIT 5 is based on five
basic principles that are as follows:
1) Meeting the requirements of the stakeholders.
2) End-to-end coverage of the organization.
3) Applying a framework that is single and at same time integrated in nature.
4) Supporting an approach that is holistic in nature.

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5) Separating the governance form the management.
From all of these principles the last one is the most important as according to the
perspective of ISACA the governance and the management should be differentiated in this
case as this would help the company to incorporate the digital world to its accord and help
satisfy its customers. The governance mainly focuses on ensuring that the stakeholders’
requirements are met and at the same time evaluated in order to determine balanced firm
objectives that need to be accomplished by setting directions by the medium of prioritization
and effective decision making. Monitoring the performance and compliance against the
agreed-upon goals and objectives is also a part of the governance. The management of the
company can monitor the activities that are being performed to bring in the required
transformations by aligning themselves with the set directions provided by the governing
bodies in order to accomplish the objective of the company to build its online platform.
Conclusion
From the above analysis been made it can be conferred that IT governance and ethics
plays a vital role in implementing the digital store of the company. The company can adopt
the various IT governance technologies so that it helps the firm to achieve the desired growth
and the expansion it wants. With the emerging digitalization, the company needs to analyze
well the loopholes of the firm that have tried implement the same but failed as these factors
could help the firm help with the process.
Recommendations
1) A well organized plan needs to be there so that the company does not have to struggle in
the process of management.

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2) The three aspects of the digital transformation process should be considered namely the
business model, customer experience and operation process.
3) Digital transformation should be done following the process that relies on the nature of the
company and its specific needs.
References
Dutta, S., Geiger, T. and Lanvin, B., 2015. The global information technology report 2015.
In World Economic Forum(Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. P80-85).
Vaishnavi, V.K. and Kuechler, W., 2015. Design science research methods and patterns:
innovating information and communication technology. Crc Press.
Tong, C., Tak, W.I.W. and Wong, A., 2015. The impact of knowledge sharing on the
relationship between organizational culture and job satisfaction: The perception of
information communication and technology (ICT) practitioners in Hong Kong. International
Journal of Human Resource Studies, 5(1), p.19.
Capurro, R., 2018. Why Information Ethics? 1. International Journal of Applied Research on
Information Technology and Computing, 9(1), pp.50-52.
Bynum, T.W., 2017. Ethical challenges to citizens of ‘The automatic Age’: Norbert Wiener
on the information society. In Computer Ethics (pp. 3-12). Routledge.
Hunt, M., Pringle, J., Christen, M., Eckenwiler, L., Schwartz, L. and Davé, A., 2016. Ethics
of emergent information and communication technology applications in humanitarian
medical assistance. International health, 8(4), pp.239-245.
Sandler, R. ed., 2016. Ethics and emerging technologies. Springer.

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