The Review of Non-Technical Assumptions in Digital Identity Architectures

The literature on digital identity management systems (IdM) is abundant and solutions vary by technology components and non-technical requirements. In the long run, however, there is a need for exchanging identities across domains or even borders, which requires interoperable solutions and flexible architectures. This article aims to give an overview of the current research on digital identity management. We conduct a systematic literature review of digital identity solution architectures and extract their inherent non-technical assumptions. The findings show that solution designs can be based on organizational, business and trust assumptions as well as human-user assumptions. Namely, establishing the trust relationships and collaborations among participating organizations; human-users capability for maintaining private cryptographic material or the assumptions that win-win business models could be easily identified. By reviewing the key findings of solutions proposed and looking at the differences and commonalities of their technical, organizational and social requirements, we discuss their potential real-life inhibitors and identify opportunities for future research in IdM

Between the Rock and the Hard Place - Conflicts in Implementing Integration Platforms

The world is digitalizing in fast pace and the number of connections between different digital systems, i.e. integrations, is growing at the same time. That has created a need for more efficient integration management. For that reason, many companies are now implementing modern integration platforms to manage their external and internal integrations. Although these platforms are fast and easy to take in use technically, the main problems tend to be organizational. In this research, we study the experiences of the professionals, who have gone through an integration platform adoption project in their company recently. In our analysis, we found out that the technical challenges of the companies were easier to solve. However, if the organization does not have clear management, strategy or understanding on how to get the most from the new integration platforms, the capabilities of the integration platform are not used in their full scale. In the paper, we make visible the intervention points for a successful integration project

Between the Rock and the Hard Place - Conflicts in Implementing Integration Platforms

The world is digitalizing in fast pace and the number of connections between different digital systems, i.e. integrations, is growing at the same time. That has created a need for more efficient integration management. For that reason, many companies are now implementing modern integration platforms to manage their external and internal integrations. Although these platforms are fast and easy to take in use technically, the main problems tend to be organizational. In this research, we study the experiences of the professionals, who have gone through an integration platform adoption project in their company recently. In our analysis, we found out that the technical challenges of the companies were easier to solve. However, if the organization does not have clear management, strategy or understanding on how to get the most from the new integration platforms, the capabilities of the integration platform are not used in their full scale. In the paper, we make visible the intervention points for a successful integration project

Behind the Curtain: Private Properties of a B2B Platform

Digital platforms are about cooperation and network effects, but also about competition. Not everything is shared. While platforms are often viewed as sociotechnical entities, they can be observed also in terms of common and private properties: what does an actor share with others and what does it keep to itself, and why? We observed a digital platform ecosystem to understand the common and private properties of different actors. The extant research has focused on the common part, but the motivations for private activities are especially relevant in the B2B context due to different business models. Our findings show that in addition to the common scope, platform ecosystem actors rely on private properties when it provides them a competitive advantage. The common and private activities are inseparable

Responding to Healthcare Emergency Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

During the complex emergency of COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare sector experienced challenging pressure surge, related to rapid increase in the number of infections, patient inquiries, and demand of immediate treatment. Such situation, experienced also in Finland at the Welfare Division of Turku City, required quick decision making and fast implementation of a reliable and secure technological solution that can take some of administrative burden off the shoulders of nurses’ personnel. The case presents the implementation of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology that has already been recognized as an efficient tool at multiple business organizations, allowing to automate various commercial processes with quick returns and scalable results. The presented case discusses the drivers and outcomes of automating non-commercial, healthcare processes, as well as its impact on emergency response, operations, and society

What are the requirements of a successful ERP implementation in SMEs? Special focus on Southern Africa

Many international Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems were developed based on the best practices of organizations in which they were developed. These organizations are usually large, and in developed countries. However, small organizations in other parts of the world are also implementing ERP. Implementing a system based on different practices that differ from yours is certainly bound to come with issues. The objective of the study is to identify challenges experienced by SMEs when implementing ERP systems, and to suggest requirements of achieving successful implementations in SMEs in Southern Africa. A thematic analysis methodology was used to explore identified challenges from fourteen SMEs and to identify themes within the data. The study suggested that a successful ERP implementation requires sufficient and appropriate training, reliable internet connection, involvement of end-users, change management, as well as sufficient demonstration of the prospective ERP system

Dialectic Tensions in the Context of Inter-organizational Integration

This study compares the perspectives on inter-organizational integration of information between stakeholders of the architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management (AEC/FM) industry in Finland. Our findings are grounded on semi-structured interviews with practitioners that participated in a project of the Finnish government. Applying the theoretical framework of dialectical analysis, we identified six dimensions where conflicting points of view may arise regarding shared information: Ontology, standards, storage, openness, monetization and the involvement of the public sector. We argue that stakeholders will have stronger motivation to integrate with new actors if they share the same vision about one or more of such challenge areas. Awareness of these tensions helps to understand and guide the development of inter-organizational information systems in networked industries

Risk Management of External Resources in Digital Ecosystems

Participation in digital ecosystems entails the use of externally provided resources such as data, computing capabilities and digital functionalities. Though in many ways useful, these also create dependencies between organizations and pose them to risks that they have little direct control. The question that emerges is how to manage these type of ecosystem risks, which evolve from the digital dependencies created by the digital interconnections between ecosystem actors. By interviewing relevant personnel from companies participating to digital ecosystems and thus utilizing externally provided digital resources, the research evaluates to what extent existing risk management approaches can be utilized to address ecosystem risks. The research finds that risk management in ecosystems rests more upon rationalization than concrete actions to address risks. It further suggests more collective responses to managing ecosystem risks and, among others, highlights the use of alliances of ecosystem resource-takers to counter ecosystem risks