Institutionalization and de-institutionalization processes in the UK healthcare system : the role of emerging technologies

This thesis is a result of a research project that examines the Information Systems strategy of the National Health Service (NHS). The researcher followed the process of implementing a Primary Service Provision (PSP). PSP is an initiative by the NHS Information Authority (NHSIA) to develop and establish a National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT)—a means of providing a useable electronic health record nationally to the UK. Five case studies are presented in the thesis, containing: 1. Two primary care facilities; 2. Three secondary care facilities; These cases were developed as a result of studying the internal processes, decision and support paths applied individually in the NHS. The research approach adopts qualitative and interpretative analysis that includes longitudinal case studies. This multiple case study approach has an embedded design incorporating the components of work business processes as subunits to enhance insight. Data was collected predominantly from interviews supported by archive material, documents, and direct observation. Overlapping cross case, and within case analysis was undertaken, using Activity Records, Strategic Choice Analysis, and concepts supported by various researchers in the past (Avgerou & Cornford, 1993; Davenport, 1993; Eisenhardt, 1989; Galliers, 1991). While it might be possible for similar processes to result in different solution when adopted in another research context, in these seven cases quite different approaches were taken. The Thesis concludes that while the core processes were the same across the cases, the following issues combined together to lead to quite different approaches in each case: 1. The detail of the IS strategic processes; 2. The variation in the contexts; 3. The logic of the decision process as they evolved; and 4. The view of the actors involved. The researcher is of a strong belief that as time progresses and experience is gained and the situation with NPfIT evolves, the various actors would change their views towards IS strategy. This could result in changes in the overall NHS IS business model and healthcare delivery process support. This assumption, however, could be affected by the appearance of very little transfer of knowledge—across different parts of the NHS—regarding past experience with IS implementation. The author argues that NPfIT mainly serves to diffuse information and communication technologies in the NHS. As a result the NPfIT is changing the way by which the NHS competes and meets the needs of it patients, the business model and the value-creating processes. New opportunities are also taking place introducing new healthcare delivery processes and modifying the existing processes

Service Quality and Profit Control in Utility Computing Service Life Cycles

Utility Computing is one of the most discussed business models in the context of Cloud Computing. Service providers are more and more pushed into the role of utilities by their customer's expectations. Subsequently, the demand for predictable service availability and pay-per-use pricing models increases. Furthermore, for providers, a new opportunity to optimise resource usage offers arises, resulting from new virtualisation techniques. In this context, the control of service quality and profit depends on a deep understanding of the representation of the relationship between business and technique. This research analyses the relationship between the business model of Utility Computing and Service-oriented Computing architectures hosted in Cloud environments. The relations are clarified in detail for the entire service life cycle and throughout all architectural layers. Based on the elaborated relations, an approach to a delivery framework is evolved, in order to enable the optimisation of the relation attributes, while the service implementation passes through business planning, development, and operations. Related work from academic literature does not cover the collected requirements on service offers in this context. This finding is revealed by a critical review of approaches in the fields of Cloud Computing, Grid Computing, and Application Clusters. The related work is analysed regarding appropriate provision architectures and quality assurance approaches. The main concepts of the delivery framework are evaluated based on a simulation model. To demonstrate the ability of the framework to model complex pay-per-use service cascades in Cloud environments, several experiments have been conducted. First outcomes proof that the contributions of this research undoubtedly enable the optimisation of service quality and profit in Cloud-based Service-oriented Computing architectures

Cloud Computing: TOE Adoption Factors By Service Model In Manufacturing

Organizations are adopting cloud technologies for two primary reasons: to reduce costs and to enhance business agility. The pressure to innovate, reduce costs and respond quickly to changes in market demand brought about by intense global competition has U.S. manufacturing firms turning to cloud computing as an enabling strategy. Cloud computing is a service based information technology model that enables on-demand access to a shared pool of computing services provisioned over a broadband network. Cloud is categorized across three primary service models, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), differentiated by the cloud provider’s level of responsibility for managing hardware services, development platforms and application services. While prior research in cloud computing has sought to define the concept and explore the business value, empirical studies in the Information Systems literature stream are sparse, limited to exploratory case studies and SaaS research. Using the Technology, Organization, and Environment framework as a theoretical foundation, this research provides a holistic cloud adoption model inclusive of all cloud service layers. The study analyzes factors influencing organizational cloud adoption utilizing survey data from 150 U.S. manufacturing firms. The results find organizational innovativeness as a crucial factor to cloud computing adoption in manufacturing. An inverse factor relationship suggests the more innovative the firm culture, the less likely it is to adopt cloud. Other significant adoption factors include trust and technical competency. Findings also suggest variations in adoption influences based on the cloud service model deployed. The study has strategic implications for both researchers and managers seeking to understand the antecedents to adoption, and for practitioners developing an organizational cloud strategy spanning multiple cloud service models. For vendors, the study provides insights that can be leveraged to inform product design, solution strategy, and value proposition creation for future cloud service offerings

Infrastructure-as-a-Service Usage Determinants in Enterprises

The thesis focuses on the research question, what the determinants of Infrastructure-as-a-Service usage of enterprises are. A wide range of IaaS determinants is collected for an IaaS adoption model of enterprises, which is evaluated in a Web survey. As the economical determinants are especially important, they are separately investigated using a cost-optimizing decision support model. This decision support model is then applied to a potential IaaS use case of a large automobile manufacturer

Measuring the Business Value of Cloud Computing

The importance of demonstrating the value achieved from IT investments is long established in the Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) literature. However, emerging technologies such as the ever-changing complex area of cloud computing present new challenges and opportunities for demonstrating how IT investments lead to business value. Recent reviews of extant literature highlights the need for multi-disciplinary research. This research should explore and further develops the conceptualization of value in cloud computing research. In addition, there is a need for research which investigates how IT value manifests itself across the chain of service provision and in inter-organizational scenarios. This open access book will review the state of the art from an IS, Computer Science and Accounting perspective, will introduce and discuss the main techniques for measuring business value for cloud computing in a variety of scenarios, and illustrate these with mini-case studies