The emergence of a national collaborative digital ecosystem. A study of one-citizen-one-health-record in Norway

Developing national e-health solutions has proved to be quite challenging in most countries. However, the coming of digital ecosystems have changed our understanding of how to deal with this type of large-scale socio-technical complexity. Platform ecosystems is not only a technical structure, but a new organisational form, which builds on a particular governance-architecture configuration. How can these insights contribute to improve the national e-health structures? How can we transform a fragmented e-health infrastructure into a national collaborative ecosystem? Our framework is the idea of a collaborative digital ecosystem, characterised by collaborative architecture and collaborative governance. Our empirical evidence is the gradual emergence of the e-health ecosystem of Norway, which we studied over a decade, from 2011 to 2022. We offer two contributions. First, we discuss how to orchestrate a collaborative architecture-governance configuration, focusing on complementary roles, the need for a self-reinforcing process, and the balance of control and autonomy. Second, we point to the role of attractors, i.e., architectural and governance elements that work as gravitational forces, in shaping of the ecosystem

Chief Digital Officers’ Evolving Strategies: Balancing Lightweight and Heavyweight IT During the Digital Transformation

In this paper, we investigate how chief digital officers (CDOs) deal with the digital transformation over time. The study is based on interviews with the CDOs of 26 Norwegian organizations, conducted over a three-year period. Our analytical lens involves differentiating between the knowledge regimes of heavyweight and lightweight IT. Based on the CDOs’ perceptions, we identify three important shifts related to strategic, technological, and methodological aspects, all indicating a more balanced approach to the interplay of heavyweight and lightweight IT. We contribute to the literature on the digital transformation and CDOs’ contribution, and to the theory of lightweight vs. heavyweight IT

Organizing Robotic Process Automation: Balancing Loose and Tight Coupling

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is penetrating organizations at an accelerating rate. This trend is challenging the existing IT governance structures, because RPA usually is acquired and implemented by local business units, outside the control of the IT function. Consequently, how to organize and govern RPA initiatives is a topical issue. The recommendations from prior research are unclear, and there is a call for more research on this area. In this paper, we report from a study on RPA usage in three firms. In particular, we investigate the organizational consequences of having local business units manage the RPA initiatives. We make use of lightweight IT research as our analytical lens, contributing to research by unveiling the consequences and considerations of decentralized management of RPA

Digital Transformation: Drivers, Success Factors, and Implications

In this paper, we explore drivers, objectives, success factors, and implications of digital transformation. This investigation is conducted through a systematic literature review that focuses on empirical contributions in the Information Systems (IS) field. By reviewing prevailing empirical contributions on digital transformation, we provide insight into why organizations undergo digital transformation, how to accomplish such a transformation, and how digital transformation affects an organization

Digital Business Strategies for Incumbent Firms. How a Scandinavian hotel chain competes with the internet giants

The rise of digital platform companies has shaken many business sectors and led to the emergence of new competition arenas, digital business ecosystems. Incumbent firms realize they need to change how they do business, and that conventional business strategies are no longer fit for competing in these new digital arenas. Our research questions are (i) how can incumbent service firms develop and leverage a digital business strategy, and (ii) how can hotels and hotel chains compete with online travel agencies (OTAs) in digital hospitality ecosystems? We chose a longitudinal case study to explore how a large Scandinavian hotel chain implemented a digital business strategy to compete with OTAs in a digital hospitality ecosystem. Our approach was to stay close to the practices and actual behaviours of the company and the individuals engaged in fulfilling the strategy. We contribute to theory and practice by proposing that (i) incumbent firms need two strategies, one for the digital ecosystem and one for the traditional competition arena, (ii) that the two strategies should be implemented ambidextrously but also integrated and (iii) that to succeed, it is essential to establish self-reinforcing interactions between the digital and the physical

Prosessledelse og digitalisering

I denne artikkelen utforsker vi om det er en gjensidig sammenheng mellom prosessledelse og digitalisering. Prinsipielt handler prosessledelse om å ha kontroll med virksomhetens prosesser og forbedre dem ved behov, mens digitalisering handler om å utvikle og innføre digitale løsninger basert på moderne digital teknologi. I artikkelen drøfter vi om, og eventuelt på hvilken måte disse påvirker hverandre og om det sterke fokuset det er på digitalisering i dag har innvirkning på prosessledelse som fag. Og hvis digitalisering påvirker prosess- ledelse, vil dermed prosessledelse bli mer relevant som støtte til virksomheters digitaliseringsarbeid? For å undersøke dette henter vi inn erfaringer fra norske virksomheter gjennom en undersøkelse med 104 respondenter. Funnene bidrar til økt forståelse for forholdet mellom prosessledelse og digitalisering, og har implikasjoner for praksis og videre forskning

Hva skjer når etablerte, samlokaliserte agile team må arbeide og samarbeide fra hjemmekontor?

I denne artikkelen utforsker vi hvordan etablerte, samlokaliserte agile team påvirkes av overgangen til en virtuell arbeidsform. For å svare på spørsmålene har vi studert tre agile team i et norsk utviklingsselskap, som på grunn av Covid-19 ble nødt til å bytte arbeidssted fra et felles kontorlandskap til individuelle hjemmekontor. Studien finner at virtuelt arbeid påvirker den agile arbeidsformen ved at det blir færre interaksjoner, mer skriftlig kommunikasjon, mer formaliserte relasjoner, samt økt bruk av dokumentasjon. Videre finner vi at overgangen til hjemmekontor fikk konsekvenserfor teamledelsen og en annen lederstil enn hva tradisjonelle, samlokaliserte agile team har behov for. Studien gir tre bidrag. For det første bidrar den til litteraturen om agil metode ved å dokumentere hva som skjer når teammedlemmene skal arbeide og samarbeide fra hjemmekontor. For det andre bidrar studien til litteraturen om hjemmekontor, og effektene av hjemmekontor på samarbeid. Og for det tredje bidrar studien til praksis ved at det foreslås tiltak som kan bøte på ulempene ved at teammedlemmene ikke kan oppholde seg på samme arbeidssted

The Effects of Virtuality on Agile Development

In this article, we explore how agile development teams are affected by transition from physical to virtual agile teamwork. To this end, we examined three agile teams at a software company, which due to Covid-19 had to change from working in a shared office space to individual home offices. We find that virtual work affects agile development in that there are fewer interactions, more written communication, more formalized relationships, and increased use of documentation. Furthermore, we find that virtual agile teams need a different style of team management. In light of this, we discuss whether a virtual context is compatible with agile development, or whether the form of work is affected so much that it no longer can be considered agile

The adoption of ITIL in the Nordic Countries: exploring regional differences

This paper responds to a call for exploring regional differences of how IT Service Management (ITSM) is adopted. We do so by examining the adoption of the ITSM processes as defined in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The adoption levels of the individual ITIL processes are compared, and the contributions of country, organization size and industry sector are assessed. The analyses are based on 836 responses from three consecutive surveys over a five-year period conducted in collaboration with the four Nordic itSMF chapters: Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. We also compare and analyze these results with findings from three studies in other regions. We found that significant differences exist in the adoption levels of ITIL between the Nordic countries, between companies of different size, and that the adoption levels of public and private sector firms differ over the years. Furthermore, compared to crossnational studies from other regions, our findings showed that the Nordic countries had lower overall adoption levels of the ITIL processes. Implications for practice and for further research are discussed.publishedVersionnivå