Creating business value from big data and business analytics : organizational, managerial and human resource implications

This paper reports on a research project, funded by the EPSRC’s NEMODE (New Economic Models in the Digital Economy, Network+) programme, explores how organizations create value from their increasingly Big Data and the challenges they face in doing so. Three case studies are reported of large organizations with a formal business analytics group and data volumes that can be considered to be ‘big’. The case organizations are MobCo, a mobile telecoms operator, MediaCo, a television broadcaster, and CityTrans, a provider of transport services to a major city. Analysis of the cases is structured around a framework in which data and value creation are mediated by the organization’s business analytics capability. This capability is then studied through a sociotechnical lens of organization/management, process, people, and technology. From the cases twenty key findings are identified. In the area of data and value creation these are: 1. Ensure data quality, 2. Build trust and permissions platforms, 3. Provide adequate anonymization, 4. Share value with data originators, 5. Create value through data partnerships, 6. Create public as well as private value, 7. Monitor and plan for changes in legislation and regulation. In organization and management: 8. Build a corporate analytics strategy, 9. Plan for organizational and cultural change, 10. Build deep domain knowledge, 11. Structure the analytics team carefully, 12. Partner with academic institutions, 13. Create an ethics approval process, 14. Make analytics projects agile, 15. Explore and exploit in analytics projects. In technology: 16. Use visualization as story-telling, 17. Be agnostic about technology while the landscape is uncertain (i.e., maintain a focus on value). In people and tools: 18. Data scientist personal attributes (curious, problem focused), 19. Data scientist as ‘bricoleur’, 20. Data scientist acquisition and retention through challenging work. With regards to what organizations should do if they want to create value from their data the paper further proposes: a model of the analytics eco-system that places the business analytics function in a broad organizational context; and a process model for analytics implementation together with a six-stage maturity model

What\u27s So Different about Developing Web Based Information Systems?

This paper considers the suitability of traditional IS development methods to Web-based information systems. A two year e-commerce development project is used to explore Web-based IS development using action research. To distinguish the project from consultancy a framework of ideas – Multiview - is declared and tested in the research process. Multiview was defined in 1985 and has been since refined to become an influential approach to information systems development. It has soft and hard aspects and, as a contingency approach, is not prescriptive but adapted to the particular situation in the organization and the application. The differences and similarities of traditional IS development projects and Web-based projects are reported and found to be more about concrete differences of methodology content than abstract concepts. The project also provided an opportunity to reflect more generally about the role of methodology in IS development

An empirical exploration of requirements engineering for hybrid products

In this paper we report on an empirical study on requirements engineering of hybrid products. Hybrid products (often also referred to as product service systems) – a combination of product, software and service elements – are an emerging trend on the market. Companies intend to offer holistic solutions for customer problems and not single products. The development of hybrid products differs from the development of “classic” products because of the high-level of technological integration of the elements that hybrid products consist of, the interdisciplinarity and the different lifecycles of their single components. We have conducted fifteen expert interviews to explore current practices in requirements engineering in three industries developing hybrid products: automotive, IT-consulting and system integrators, and medical technology. Our results show that most components of hybrid products are developed independently from each other. Based on our empirical insights we have identified requirements and challenges for the design of an integrated requirements engineering process for hybrid products

Investment appraisal and evaluation: preserving tacit knowledge and competitive advantage

This research asks if intuitive investment appraisal and evaluation are appropriate under conditions of rapid change, uncertain outcomes, limited information, and when competitive advantage derives from tacit knowledge. Measures and rational approaches to appraisal and evaluation require distal knowledge made explicit in documents and techniques. Converting valuable tacit knowledge, residing in individuals and organisational context, into coded distal knowledge, which is more easily replicated, risks jeopardising the uniqueness of competencies and capabilities that underpin competitive advantage. The research investigates e-learning projects in higher education and finds little evidence of formal rational investment appraisal and evaluation in IS projects characterised by uncertainty and a lack of clear information

Persuasion: an analysis and common frame of reference for IS research

Information Systems (IS) researchers persistently examine how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) changes attitudes and behaviours but rarely leverage the persuasion literature when doing so. The hesitance of IS researchers to leverage persuasion literature may be due to this literature’s well-documented complexity. This study aims to reduce the difficulty of understanding and applying persuasion theory within IS research. The study achieves this aim by developing a common frame of reference to help IS researchers to conceptualise persuasion and to conceptually differentiate persuasion from related concepts. In doing this, the study also comprehensively summarises existing research and theory and provides a set of suggestions to guide future IS research into persuasion and behaviour change

Interorganizational Collaboration and Value Creation in the Automotive Industry

In response to the difficulties experienced by the automotive industry in adopting new procurement technology this research investigates an emerging phenomenon: electronic interorganizational collaborative platforms consisting of e-Hubs, WebEDI, and CAD networks. A study of eight European cases explores collaborative working and information sharing using e-procurement to transform value creation. Outcomes from interviews and workshops reveal conflicting stakeholder motivation and barriers at firm and industry level. Vehicle manufacturers seek significant cost reductions through large-scale hubs, but are overwhelmed by supplier resistance, structural differences, cultural mismatch, and legacy systems. Suppliers are more selective in their use of electronic applications, but are hindered by network complexity, lack of standards, and limited resources. The study concludes with recommendations concerning electronic topology, supplier relationships, disbenefit, leadership, and a transition from traditional inter-organizational systems thinking. Keywords: collaborative platforms, e-procurement, supplier relationship

A CONSOLIDATED UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNICAL DEBT

Technical debt utilises financial debt as a metaphor to describe the phenomenon of increasing software development costs over time. Whilst this phenomenon is evidently detrimental to the long-term success of software development, it appears to be poorly understood in the academic literature. The absence of a clear definition and model for technical debt means that the notion of technical debt remains metaphorical, thus preventing the realisation of technical debt\u27s utility as a conceptual and technical communication device. This exploratory study reconciles the high-level, abstracted view of technical debt presented in academic literature. It establishes the boundaries of the technical debt phenomenon and develops a comprehensive theoretical framework to facilitate future research. The resulting theoretical framework portrays a holistic view of technical debt that incorporates a set of precedents and outcomes, as well as the phenomenon itself

Inter-Personal Socialisation in Knowledge Transfer: Encouraging Personal ICT Use

Knowledge transfer and effective knowledge resource management facilitates organisations to innovate and develop new products and services. The knowledge transfer and creation processes require formal and informal networks and relationships. While the need for formal knowledge transfer networks may receive organisational attention, informal inter-personal networks, relationships and friendships also play an important role in knowledge transfer and creation. This paper suggests that rather than attempting to eliminate social activity such as personal use of information and communications technologies, socialisation activity should be encouraged to help build a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation

Exploring Industry Dynamics in eProcurement: Sense Making By Collaborative Investigation

The case study method supported by interviews is used widely by IS researchers. In ‘messy’ problems, such as the adoption of e-procurement across manufacturing supply chains, a more collaborative approach is needed to explore and make sense of the problem domain. This paper proposes the use of qualitative politicised influence diagrams - QPID – to enable the investigator to structure the process of collaborative investigation as part of an action case strategy. The paper describes how QPID workshops are used as part of a multiple methods research design to support and help practitioners articulate the issues surrounding the adoption of e-procurement in the automotive industry. Four outcomes of the approach are identified: 1) QPID is a systems modelling method that is meaningful to practitioners, 2) QPID can be used to promote good quality conversations, 3) QPID models provide a consistent notation for case description that supports cross-case and industry level analysis, and 4) collaborative workshops, through the creation of trust and shared understanding between researcher and practitioner, can provide a platform for subsequent interventions