IMPLICATIONS OF SAAS ON COMPETENCIES OF IT-BROKERAGES

The rise of cloud computing provides important challenges for organizations. One such challenge relates to the core capabilities organizations need in order to successfully deploy cloud computing. While implications of cloud computing for client capabilities have been studied, the implications for different types of suppliers are not well understood. Our research investigates the effects of cloud computing on the core capabilities of suppliers. In particular we focus on the consequnces of Software as a Service (SaaS) for the required competencies of IT-Brokerages, intermediary parties between IT-providers and the client organization. Based on literature we developed three propositions which were examined in three in-depth case studies. Results indicate an increased importance of business facing skills, customer development and process re-engineering capabilities of the IT-Brokerage when engaging with SaaS. Results also indicate that governance of SaaS-applications at the client is diverse and often underdeveloped, possibly leading to lack of focus on SaaS-governance at the IT-Brokerage. The research contributes to an increased understanding of requirements for suppliers to optimize cloud usage for organizations. This is crucial for organizations as with cloud computing they become more reliant on the capabilities of their suppliers. \ \ Keywords: Competencies, Capabilities, SaaS, IT-Brokerage, Customer development, SaaS-governanc

Implementing Cloud Computing. A Study of the Impact on the IT Department

Master's thesis in Information systems (IS501)Cloud Computing (CC)has become an area of interestamongmany organizations. Manyhave started to prioritize the development of both public and private Cloudsfor storing the increased volumes of data,andto exploit the benefits of the phenomena.With the new benefits of publicCloud, it is inevitable that some of thetasks the traditional IT departments have provisionedare being outsourced to a third party, and will be contributing to some sort of organizational and managerial change for them.Based on this, the study has its purpose of researchinghow the IT department is impacted in organizations based on CC adoption. Toinvestigatethis topic,wedevelopedthe following research question; “What impactdoes Cloud Computing have on the IT department andits IT governance mechanisms?”. Answering the proposed RQwill help us identifyhow the IT department has been impacted, as well as identifying the change in its IT governance mechanisms. To assist in answering the question above, we developed two sub-questions;“How will the role of the IT department within an organization change after adopting CC services?”and “How will CC affect the managerial responsibilities within the IT department?”. Thesewill provide further informationandanswer ourpresented RQ, as well as providing a broaderspecter of information

Analyzing Dynamic Capabilities in the Context of Cloud Platform Ecosystems - A Case Study Approach

Dynamic capabilities (DCs) refer to a firm’s abilities to continuously adapt its resource base in order to respond to changes in its external environment. The capability to change dynamically is crucial in business ecosystems that are composed of a variety of actors. Amazon Web Services (AWS), the leader in the cloud platform industry, is a promising cloud platform provider (CPP) to show a high degree of dynamic capability fulfillment within its highly fluctuating ecosystem. To date, the full scope of dynamic capabilities in cloud platform ecosystems (CPEs) has not been fully understood. Previous work has failed to deliver a combined perspective of explicit dynamic capabilities in cloud platform ecosystems applied on an in-depth practical case. With our mixed-method case study on the AWS ecosystem we deliver a thorough understanding of its sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities. We generate a set of strategy management frameworks that support our expectations, lead to unexpected insights and answer the questions of what, how, why and with whom AWS uses DCs. In detail, we provide an understanding about DC chronological change, DC network patterns and DC logical explanations. Our research is based on a self-compiled case study database containing 16k+ secondary data pages from interviews, blogs, announcements, case studies, job vacancies, etc. that we analyze qualitatively and quantitatively. We find out that AWS develops and holds a large set of interacting dynamic capabilities incorporating a variety of ecosystem actors in order to sustain tremendous customer value and satisfaction. The thesis infers significant theoretical and practical implications for all CPE actors, like partners, customers, investors and researchers in the field of IT strategy management. Managers of all CPE actors are encouraged to critically evaluate their own maturity level and complement a CPP’s DC explications in order to boost business by implementing sensing, seizing, transforming and innovating capabilities. Keywords: Dynamic Capabilities, Cloud Platform Ecosystems, Innovation Capabilities, Mixed-Methods Case Study, Amazon Web Service

Digitale Transformation aus unternehmensübergreifender Perspektive: Management der Koevolution von Plattformbesitzern und Komplementoren in Plattformökosystemen

Digital platforms have the potential to transform how organizations are doing business in their respective ecosystems. Motivated by this transformation, the purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of digital transformation from an inter-organizational perspective. Therefore, this thesis clarifies the phenomenon of digital transformation, and models and analyzes multiple digital platform ecosystems. Building upon that, this dissertation reflects on multiple case studies on how platform owners can manage the co-evolution of their complementors in digital transformations in digital platform ecosystems.Digitale Plattformen haben das Potential, die Art und Weise, wie Unternehmen in ihren jeweiligen Ökosystemen Geschäfte machen, zu verändern. Motiviert durch diese Transformation, ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit, das Verständnis von digitaler Transformation aus einer inter-organisatorischen Perspektive zu erhöhen. Daher erläutert diese Arbeit das Phänomen der digitalen Transformation, und modelliert und analysiert mehrere digitale Plattformökosysteme. Darauf aufbauend reflektiert diese Dissertation in mehreren Fallstudien darüber, wie Plattformbesitzer die Koevolution ihrer Komplementoren in digitalen Transformationen in digitalen Plattformökosystemen steuern können

Towards a Service-Oriented Enterprise: The Design of a Cloud Business Integration Platform in a Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprise

This case study research followed the two-year transition of a medium-sized manufacturing firm towards a service-oriented enterprise. A service-oriented enterprise is an emerging architecture of the firm that leverages the paradigm of services computing to integrate the capabilities of the firm with the complementary competencies of business partners to offer customers with value-added products and services. Design science research in information systems was employed to pursue the primary design of a cloud business integration platform to enable the secondary design of multi-enterprise business processes to enable the dynamic and effective integration of business partner capabilities with those of the enterprise. The results from the study received industry acclaim for the designed solutions innovativeness and business results in the case study environment. The research makes contributions to the IT practitioner and scholarly knowledge base by providing insight into key constructs associated with service-oriented design and deployment of a cloud enterprise architecture and cloud intermediation model to achieve business results. The study demonstrated how an outside-in service-oriented architecture adoption pattern and cloud computing model enabled a medium-sized manufacturing enterprise to focus on a comprehensive approach to business partner integration and collaboration. The cloud integration platform has enabled a range of secondary designs that leveraged business services to orchestrate inter-enterprise business processes for choreography into service systems and networks for the purposes of value creation. The study results demonstrated enhanced levels of business process agility enabled by the cloud platform leading to secondary designs of transactional, differentiated, innovative, and improvisational business processes. The study provides a foundation for future scholarly research on the role of cloud integration platforms in enterprise computing and the increased importance of service-oriented secondary designs to exploit cloud platforms for sustained business performance

Blockchain and cloud platforms in banking services: A paradox perspective

PURPOSE: The banking sector is under intense pressure from digitalization. One of the accompanying processes is the development of digital platforms and platform ecosystems in banking services. The paper aims to present the dynamic pattern of behavior among partners stemming from the tensions between governance costs and co-created value within platforms in banking services. METHODOLOGY: The study employs an approach based on a systematic literature review of 54 publications selected from Scopus and WoS databases. We applied an approach that consists of two steps. The first step of the research was a literature review and critical analysis of the sources related to our research questions. In the second step, we propose a causal loop diagram research procedure, which is a research system dynamic tool used in modeling system dynamics. FINDINGS: There are different types of platforms, and among the most important are blockchain-based and cloud-based platforms. In both types, the relations between owners, complementors, and customers are important. The tension between governance costs and co-created value informs behavior patterns among platform partners. The degree of interconnectedness between platform participants and the level of centralization of banking services depends on the platform type. The study highlights that blockchain-based and cloud-based platforms play a significant role in the transformation of the current banking services. The choice of platform type has important implications for the platformization of banking services. IMPLICATIONS: The pattern of behavior among platform partners identifies the self-reinforcing dynamics that suggest how managers can navigate the tension over time amidst the asymmetry of benefits and risks. The research findings can be informative for financial regulators and they help work out a policy that reduces the asymmetry of benefits and contributes to the more sustainable development of digital platforms. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This paper addresses the paradox perspective on the banking sector changes during the intensive processes of digitalization and the creation of new ‘platform ecosystems.’ This topic has not been studied in this context so far

INNOVATIVE DIGITAL START-UPS AND THEIR VENTURE CREATION PROCESS WITH ENABLING DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Start-ups have gained media attention since Google, Facebook and Amazon were launched in the 1990s. The book Lean Start-up, published in 2011, was another important milestone for digital start-up literature. As unicorn companies emerge around the world, topics highlighted in the news include the vast amount of capital that digital start-ups are raising, the ways in which these digital ventures are disrupting industries, and their global impact on digital economy. However, digital start-ups, digital venture ideas, and their venture creation process lack a unified venture creation model, as there is a gap in the re-search on entrepreneurial processes in a digital context. This research is an explorative study of the venture creation process of innovative digital start-ups that examines what is missing from entrepreneurial process models in a digital technology context and investi-gates how early stage digital start-ups conduct the venture creation process, starting with the pre-phase of antecedents and ending with the launch and scaling of the venture. The research proposes a novel process model of innovative digital start-up venture crea-tion and describes the nature and patterns of the process. A conceptual model was devel-oped based on the entrepreneurship, information systems, and digital innovation litera-ture and empirically assessed with a multi-method qualitative research design. The data collected from semi-structured interviews, internet sources, and observation field notes covered 34 innovative digital start-ups and their founders. Interviews were conducted in-ternationally in high-ranking start-up ecosystems, and the data were analysed with the-matic analysis and fact-checked by triangulating internet data sources. The contribution to entrepreneurship theory is a new illustrative model of the venture creation process of innovative digital start-ups, including the emergent outcome of the process having a digi-tal artefact at its core (e.g., mobile apps, web-based solutions, digital platforms, software solutions, and digital ecosystems). Digital platforms and their multiple roles in the process are presented, as well as the role of critical events as moderators of the process which trigger new development cycles. During the venture creation process, the recombining of digital technologies, modules, and components enabled by digital infrastructures, plat-forms, and ecosystem partners represent digital technology affordances. This recombina-tion provides opportunities for asset-free development of digital venture ideas

The intention to adopt model of infrastructure as a service-based e-learning in higher education institutions in Nigeria

The global demand for providing education for all in the context of Nigerian Higher Education Institutions signifies the urgent need for an effective and efficient method of delivering e-learning content. Presently, the developed countries are adopting Cloud-Based e-learning for its cost reduction, security, scalability, and the availability of e-learning content 24/7. However, the lack of adoption of the Infrastructure as-a Service-Based E-learning faces a threat to the availability and sustainability of e-learning in Nigeria. Thus, the limited studies on its adoption further demonstrate this. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors that influence the Intention to adopt IaaSBEL from the perspective of the ICT directorates top managers. PLS-SEM was used to analyse the data generated from the questionnaire, while interview data were analysed using a thematic approach. The statistical results demonstrated that Relative Advantage, Cost Savings, Service Provider Support, and Government Support were significantly supported while Compatibility, Trust, Security, Top Management Support, and Competitive Pressure were not supported. The moderating variable (Government Support) statistical results show that Relative Advantage was positively supported while Cost Savings and Trust were negatively supported. The findings of this study further demonstrated the significance of the adopted variables as capable of influencing the perception of ICT directorates’ top managers' Intention to adopt the IaaSBEL model based on the TOE and DOI theories, with the addition of other external variables. However, the study observed some limitations with regards to the ICT infrastructure and policies in attaining education for all in Nigeria despite gender, financial, and location constraints. The study further contributes to the theory and practice of IS as well as recommendations to policy makers and cloud vendors. Also, effective e-learning would be available to staff and students towards reducing the budgetary constraints, hence, impacting the society