The Dynamics of Transformation in the Development of Digital Services

Service providers are increasingly depending and using digital infrastructure and tools provided by digital platforms to transform their services and develop digital ones that meet the needs of heterogeneous end users. However, while there is an emerging literature of developing digital services, little is known about the dynamics of transformation. Using multiple cases of firms that develop digital services, the digital service taxonomy was synthesized to understand the dynamics of transformation in developing digital services. This study identifies five main dynamics: the services experience, the service process, the service capabilities, the service environment and the service delivery.  Each of those dynamics and their associated factors is explored under the objectives of business, interaction and technology. This enables us to extend the existing literature on digital service development in particular and contributes to the research of digital innovation in general

An Ontology Approach for Knowledge Acquisition and Development of Health Information System (HIS)

This paper emphasizes various knowledge acquisition approaches in terms of tacit and explicit knowledge management that can be helpful to capture, codify and communicate within medical unit. The semantic-based knowledge management system (SKMS) supports knowledge acquisition and incorporates various approaches to provide systematic practical platform to knowledge practitioners and to identify various roles of healthcare professionals, tasks that can be performed according to personnel’s competencies, and activities that are carried out as a part of tasks to achieve defined goals of clinical process. This research outcome gives new vision to IT practitioners to manage the tacit and implicit knowledge in XML format which can be taken as foundation for the development of information systems (IS) so that domain end-users can receive timely healthcare related services according to their demands and needs

The Challenges of Designing Digital Services for Multiple Mobile Platforms

The value of digital services is increasingly recognized by owners of digital platforms. These services have central role in building and sustaining the business of the digital platform. In order to sustain the design of digital services, owners of digital platforms encourage third-party developers to tap into and join the digital ecosystem. However, while there is an emerging literature on designing digital services, little empirical evidence exists about challenges faced by third-party developers while designing digital services, and in particular for multiple mobile platforms. Drawing on a multiple case study of three mobile application development firms from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, we synthesize the digital service design taxonomy to understand the challenges faced by third-party developers. Our study identifies a set of challenges in four different levels: user level, platform level, distribution level and ecosystem level. The identified challenges are then illustrated by different design dimensions. For each challenge, we identified set of factors and classified them under three objectives: business, interaction and technology. In doing this, our research extends and complements existing digital service literature and contributes new knowledge about the design of digital services

BLOCKCHAIN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The Blockchain technology has attracted a huge attention from both industry and academia. Despite the fact that there are great potentials of the blockchain, it is facing a number of technical challenges and social challenges. There is a substantial body of literature on the technical challenges and a limited number of researches that addressed the social challenges and opportunities of blockchain. Drawing on a multiple case study of twenty-one firms from six different Middle Eastern countries we synthesize the blockchain technology and IT in the Middle East literature to understand the challenges and opportunities of that technology in the Middle East. Our study identifies a classification of challenges and opportunities: Fine-tune challenges, estrangement challenges, sprint opportunities and act on opportunities and four associated factors: regulation, education, collaboration and culture. In doing this, our research extends and complements existing blockchain research and contributes to the IT literature in the Middle Eas

The Faces of Bureaucracy: Understanding Enterprise Social Media

The social media are often perceived as tools that support openness and flexible participation among individuals and communities. This might explain the reason why social media have become indispensible for many daily practices in organizations. But how do these organizations appropriate and use these media relative to their formal structures and characteristics is a question in focus for the current paper. Drawing on classical concepts of organizational bureaucracy from Weber (1978) and Eisenstadt (1959), we present a qualitative analysis of empirical data obtained from two large organizations that use a wiki as a collaborative knowledge platform. The results show how the tendency to organize the use of the wiki through introducing structure might create barriers for open and democratic collaboration and knowledge sharing at the workplace. They also show that while a freer approach to using wikis might allow for self-organizing, there is still a possibility for enacting social structures that limit openness and flexibility. As such, the paper contributes novel insights into how social media might be used in bureaucracies and soft bureaucracies.

Third-Party Development for Multi-Contextual Services: On the Mechanisms of Control

The increasing adoption of nomadic devices and the associated use of information in numerous use situations pose new challenges for the ISD practice; handling the development of such multi-contextual services covering a broader vignette of users, devices and use situations than typically associated with ISD. Recently organizations have started tapping into development resources in large networks of third-party developers. Such development is enabled through the use of software platforms where developers through boundary resources, such as APIs, may access and extend functionality in new ways. Yet, studies on how organizations are able to control this type of development remains scarce. By synthesizing theory on control and boundary objects we aim at putting a new perspective and gain a greater understanding of how organizations attempt to control such development efforts. As an illustration, we draw upon a case study of a public transportation company which through deployment of a software platform is provided access to a large body of third-party developers. We use this case to study the measures taken to control development

Value Creation in Digital Service Platforms

Value creation is increasingly relevant for owners of digital service platforms (DSPs). These owners have two vital goals: increase their service base and sustain their service offerers. A key element in continuously accommodating these goals is value creation. While the literature on DSPs is growing, there is a paucity of knowledge on the value creation process in these platforms. Drawing on a qualitative study of Uber drivers in Denmark and Sweden, we synthesize Schumpeter’s theory of value creation to develop an understanding of the value creation process in DSPs from the perspective of service offerers. As such, our study proposes and contributes a value creation framework for DSPs that identifies 8 value sources and highlights resource combination and exchange in the process of value creation

KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND COLLABORATION THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA - THE CASE OF IBM

Intellectual capital is the single most important asset owned by any organization. Business continuity, innovation, and long-term sustainability of Small Medium Enterprises depend partly on accumulated organizational knowledge. Knowledge is hard to capture and manage due to its implicit nature. This paper seeks to investigate how Web 2.0 technologies are being used to overcome knowledge sharing and collaboration issues. The new web technologies, which are based on platforms, are referred to as emergent social software platforms (ESSP’s). The use of ESSP’s within a business enterprise to achieve business goals is known as enterprise 2.0 (E2.0). Central to this research is the proposed knowledge sharing cycle model, which has three main stages - internalization, externalization, and objectification. This model is adapted based on the findings of a case study of IBM Corporation. The findings indicate that ESSP’s can be used to support knowledge sharing practices and to help convert knowledge into its different forms

Micro-Strategizing in Platform Ecosystems: A Multiple Case Study

The strategy by which a platform owner manages the future trajectory of its platform involves many unknowns. In particular, the ambition to simultaneously control the platform and distribute design capability to users is challenging. While there is an emerging literature on strategy in platform ecosystems, little empirical evidence exists about the series of strategic actions that platform owners conduct to create value in an ecosystem context. Drawing on a strategy-as-process perspective, this paper augments existing platform perspectives by seeking to understand the micro-strategizing of a platform owner. To this end, we report a multiple case study of Apple’s use of application programming interfaces for generating value from the iPhone platform. Our comparative analysis identifies and explores five different micro-strategies that can be enacted proactively or reactively: counteracting, monetizing, resourcing, securing, and sustaining. The paper concludes with a number of theoretical and practical implications of these micro-strategies and their interaction

The Evolving Interdependencies between Banks and Fintechs within Open Banking Platforms

The enactment of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) by the European Union, has pushed banks to develop digital open banking platforms to enhance market competition and promote innovation in the banking industry. PSD2 mandates banks to offer APIs to provide access to banking data to external third-party providers (TPPs). This mandate might disrupt the role of banks since external complementors such as fintechs have the legal right to access and leverage banking data to offer innovative banking services. As such, the emergence of regulated open banking platforms engenders complex interdependent relationships between banks and fintechs. Drawing on a case of an open banking platform by Nordea Bank, we aim to examine these interdependencies with emphasis on the engagement between banks and external complementors in a regulated platform context. We conclude with insights into the lack of access control by platform owners and new conditions of platform openness