This article examines digital transformation and technology adoption within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. It focuses on identifying the mechanisms that facilitate or hinder the integration of new technologies in these contexts, often constrained by specific socioeconomic and cultural factors. The research employed a systematic literature review, adhering to a structured protocol to explore existing studies. Critical stages of this review included defining research questions, developing a comprehensive search strategy, and systematically selecting and analyzing relevant studies from significant databases. The review reveals a significant emphasis on basic information systems as the primary form of technology adoption in SMEs within developing countries, with more advanced technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence being less common. Factors such as the entrepreneurial ecosystem and external social influences, including government and private sector initiatives, play pivotal roles in shaping these adoption patterns. This study underscores the critical role of community-driven efforts in promoting technology adoption over initiatives by the public and private sectors. The findings suggest a need for future research to develop tailored technological adoption models that accommodate the unique challenges of SMEs in developing countries. Additionally, more inclusive approaches that consider sociocultural dynamics could further enhance the effectiveness of technology integration strategies in these regions.

The transparency of electronic procedures has become an important strategy to reduce corruption within state organizations and thus promote the sustainable and efficient management of fiscal resources, vital elements in the development of a country. E-government processes have become an important line of development, in which substantial investments have been made to have processes that allow for transparency in a large part of the country’s activities, specifically in the contracting and purchasing of public properties and services. The objective of the study is to present an overview of the work on initiatives that have been used around transparency and electronic procedures of electronic governments to identify which of these initiatives are associated with transparency and which effectively apply to electronic procedures for transparency to learn how these procedures allow for sustainable development of governments. The methodology used in this work was a systematic mapping of the literature, and the main findings suggest that this is a little-explored area.

Software development must be based on more than just the experience and capabilities of your programmers and your team. The importance of obtaining a quality product lies in the risks that can be exploited by software vulnerabilities, which can jeopardize organizational assets, consumer confidence, operations, and a broad spectrum of applications. Several methods, techniques, and models have been suggested and developed to address software security. However, only a few have solid evidence for creating secure software applications. The main objective of this paper is to survey the literature for methods or models suitable for considering the integration of security in all or some of the phases of the software development life cycle and which ones are most considered or neglected. This study represents the beginning of research to generate a methodology that integrates security practices in agile software development, allowing inexperienced developers to create more secure applications.

Incorporating security into software development in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is an increasingly relevant challenge and a crucial necessity, especially in an uncertain and fast-paced environment like that of an agile setting. Given the growing threat of cyberattacks, it is imperative to address this issue. This article examines and subsequently analyzes existing strategies in the literature regarding secure software development in the context of SMEs employing agile methodologies. The study initiates a systematic literature review to identify strategies employed in this context. The findings reveal that 57.9% of the studies present strategies to tackle security in agile software development, with 20.2% specifically focusing on SMEs. Subsequently, practices demonstrating success in integrating security measures into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) are analyzed and categorized. The results underscore the necessity of addressing security in the agile environment, as it remains a significant challenge in software development. Effective approaches are also required for small businesses to ensure application protection and long-term sustainability.

Context. The electronic government has become a trend for transforming public management to comply with the performance of an efficient, modern state. The processes for public procurement and personnel recruitment represent an essential fraction of a country’s public spending. Objective. Maturity models are tools for assessing different management dimensions resulting in some level of organizational maturity on an ordinal scale which can show null, partial, or total progress towards the desired state. This paper presents an e-government maturity model for public procurement and personnel recruitment processes, based on a literature review to determine the current state of research in the field. Methodology. We have used a known procedural model from Becker to support the design of the proposed model. Later on, we have tested it with government buyers and personnel recruiters. Findings. These initial results show that users understand the questionnaires designed for the study, and their answers allow us to obtain deep validation. A tool with these characteristics can be handy for measuring the degree of transparency in public entities, thus reducing corruption levels in their processes. Conclusion. This proposal describes the complexity of variables that influence the transparency of a socio-technical process in public tenders. We describe five levels of transparency for software procurement through development projects. These classifications enable the maturity levels of the transparency of electronic procedures used by government agencies to be measured in different dimensions. Implications. One of the crucial challenges to increasing a government’s transparency is defining a regulatory or legal framework that regulates its processes and allows the levels of transparency or corruption to be measured in its different departments. Thus instruments and metrics play a crucial role in monitoring the expected change. With direct application in the industry, a model is an essential step for fundamental transparency in electronic governments.

In today’s world, private and government organizations are legally obligated to prioritize their information security. They need to provide proof that they are continually improving their cybersecurity compliance. One approach that can help organizations achieve this goal is implementing information security maturity models. These models provide a structured framework for measuring performance and implementing best practices. However, choosing a suitable model can be challenging, requiring cultural, process, and work practice changes. Implementing multiple models can be overwhelming, if possible. This article proposes a prioritization strategy for public institutions that want to improve their information security maturity. We thoroughly analyzed various sources through systematic mapping to identify critical similarities in information security maturity models. Our research led us to create the AIM (Awareness, Infrastructure, and Management) Triad. This triad is a practical guide for organizations to achieve maturity in information security practices.