The AI-based Transformation of Organizations: The 3D-Model for Guiding Enterprise-wide AI Change

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly gaining importance for organizations due to its immense potential for value creation and growth. However, companies struggle to tap this potential, as many AI projects fail in the early stages because of lacking guidance and best practices. To shed light on how AI adoption and transformation can be approached and what challenges organizations face, we analyzed eleven organizations of varying sizes and industries. Drawn on these insights, we identify four transformation types distinguished by different AI transformation stages and journeys. Furthermore, we develop a 3D-Model to guide enterprise-wide AI change and propose concrete recommendations for action on each dimension. Our findings help practitioners navigate, manage, and (re)evaluate their AI strategy for an enterprise-wide transformation

Design Knowledge for the Lifecycle Management of Conversational Agents

Organizations spend extensive resources on artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in customer service in order to remain customer-focused and competitive. A rising language-based application of AI emerges in the context of conversational agents (CAs), such as chatbots, which represent increasingly intelligent, autonomous, scalable, and cost-effective service platforms. However, AI-based CAs bring new organizational challenges. They are underrepresented in current research, leading to many unanswered questions and research potential regarding the management of their introduction, operation, and improvement. To address this issue, we provide design knowledge that considers the organizational perspective of CAs. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) and qualitative interview study to reveal and analyze individual issues and challenges, develop meta-requirements, and finally, use them to create design principles. We contribute to the emerging field of CAs that has previously focused mainly on the individual, behavioral, interactional, or technical design

Creating Common Ground: Formalizing and Designing Employee-driven Innovation Processes with Decision Points

Striving for innovation and advancement, a phenomenon can be observed wherein organizations are progressively incorporating their \u27ordinary\u27 employees into the innovation process, capitalizing on their creativity, expertise, and knowledge to foster novel ideas. Such integration mandates formalized yet flexible processes to offer a common ground for both employees as idea contributors and managers as decision-makers, enabling control and governance. Despite this, a conspicuous knowledge gap exists within the realm of employee-driven innovation (EDI) concerning the design of EDI processes. In this paper, we present the outcomes of an action design research project conducted with a medium-sized organization, focusing on formalizing and designing an EDI process with decision points through three iterative cycles. This research contributes fourteen meta-requirements and eleven design principles for EDI process design, thereby expanding the theoretical (prescriptive) knowledge base. Additionally, the results offer practical implications, enabling organizations to adopt the EDI process accordingly

Leveraging the Potential of Conversational Agents: Quality Criteria for the Continuous Evaluation and Improvement

Contemporary organizations are increasingly adopting conversational agents (CAs) as intelligent and natural language-based solutions for providing services and information. CAs promote new forms of personalization, speed, cost-effectiveness, and automation. However, despite their hype in research and practice, organizations fail to sustain CAs in operations. They struggle to leverage CAs’ potential because they lack knowledge on how to evaluate and improve the quality of CAs throughout their lifecycle. We build on this research gap by conducting a design science research (DSR) project, aggregating insights from the literature and practice to derive a validated set of quality criteria for CAs. Our study contributes to CA research and guides practitioners by providing a blueprint to structure the evaluation of CAs to discover areas for systematic improvement

Unfolding Effect Areas of Employee-driven Innovation: A Systematic Literature Review

Over recent years, employee-driven innovation (EDI) has emerged as a prominent topic in both practical and academic circles. Particularly in economic-oriented organizations seeking growth, there is an increasing trend to involve “ordinary” employees—those whose primary responsibilities do not traditionally include innovation tasks—in the innovation process. These employees are tapped for their creativity and experience in the hope that they will generate innovative ideas beneficial to the organization. Consequently, EDI is increasingly acknowledged as a significant source of competitive edge, with employees often seen as initiating innovators that complement traditional channels, such as formal research and development departments. Despite the growing body of research in the interdisciplinary field of EDI and the interplay of multiple perspectives and effect areas, a comprehensive overview remains elusive. In this article, we conduct a systematic literature review to expose the vast effect areas of EDI, focusing on the micro (employee) and meso (organizational) levels. We identified four effect areas at the micro-level and seven at the mesolevel. Our research enhances the understanding of the multi-layered components of EDI and provides insights and implications for academics and practitioners aiming to harness its potential

A candidate for a background independent formulation of M theory

A class of background independent membrane field theories are studied, and several properties are discovered which suggest that they may play a role in a background independent form of M theory. The bulk kinematics of these theories are described in terms of the conformal blocks of an algebra G on all oriented, finite genus, two-surfaces. The bulk dynamics is described in terms of causal histories in which time evolution is specified by giving amplitudes to certain local changes of the states. Holographic observables are defined which live in finite dimensional states spaces associated with boundaries in spacetime. We show here that the natural observables in these boundary state spaces are, when G is chosen to be Spin(D) or a supersymmetric extension of it, generalizations of matrix model coordinates in D dimensions. In certain cases the bulk dynamics can be chosen so the matrix model dynamics is recoverd for the boundary observables. The bosonic and supersymmetric cases in D=3 and D=9 are studied, and it is shown that the latter is, in a certain limit, related to the matrix model formulation of M theory. This correspondence gives rise to a conjecture concerning a background independent form of M theory in terms of which excitations of the background independent membrane field theory that correspond to strings and D0 branes are identified.Comment: Latex 46 pages, 21 figures, new results included which lead to a modification of the statement of the basic conjecture. Presentation improve

Critical review on biofilm methods

Biofilms are widespread in nature and constitute an important strategy implemented by microorganisms to survive in sometimes harsh environmental conditions. They can be beneficial or have a negative impact particularly when formed in industrial settings or on medical devices. As such, research into the formation and elimination of biofilms is important for many disciplines. Several new methodologies have been recently developed for, or adapted to, biofilm studies that have contributed to deeper knowledge on biofilm physiology, structure and composition. In this review, traditional and cutting-edge methods to study biofilm biomass, viability, structure, composition and physiology are addressed. Moreover, as there is a lack of consensus among the diversity of techniques used to grow and study biofilms. This review intends to remedy this, by giving a critical perspective, highlighting the advantages and limitations of several methods. Accordingly, this review aims at helping scientists in finding the most appropriate and up-to-date methods to study their biofilms.The authors would like to acknowledge the support from the EU COST Action BacFoodNet FA1202

MAS NMR investigation of molecular order in an ionic liquid crystal

The structure and molecular order in the thermotropic ionic liquid crystal (ILC), [choline][geranate(H)octanoate], an analogue of Choline And GEranate (CAGE), which has potential for use as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and transdermal and oral delivery agent, were investigated by magic-angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), polarizing optical microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry and the 1H NMR chemical shift reveal that CAGE-oct is a dynamic system, with metathesis (the exchange of interacting ions) and hydrogen exchange occurring between hydrogen-bonded/ionic complexes such as [(choline)(geranate)(H)(octanoate)], [(choline)(octanoate)2(H)], and [(choline)(geranate)2(H)]. These clusters, which are shown by mass spectrometry to be significantly more stable than expected for typical electrostatic ion clusters, involve hydrogen bonding between the carboxylic acid, carboxylate, and hydroxyl groups, with rapid hydrogen bond breaking and re-formation observed to average the 1H chemical shifts. The formation of a partial bilayer liquid crystal (LC) phase was identified by SAXS and polarizing optical microscopy at temperatures below ∼293 K. The occurrence of this transition close to room temperature could be utilized as a potential temperature-induced “switch” of the anisotropic properties for particular applications. The presence of an isotropic component of approximately 23% was observed to coexist with the LC phase, as detected by polarizing optical microscopy and quantified by both 1H–13C dipolar-chemical shift correlation (DIPSHIFT) and 1H double-quantum (DQ) MAS NMR experiments. At temperatures above the LC-to-isotropic transition, intermediate-range order (clustering of polar and nonpolar domains), a feature of many ILs, persists. Site-specific order parameters for the LC phase of CAGE-oct were obtained from the MAS NMR measurement of the partially averaged 13C–1H dipolar couplings (DCH) by cross-polarization (CP) build-up curves and DIPSHIFT experiments, and 1H–1H dipolar couplings (DHH) by double-quantum (DQ) build-up curves. The corresponding order parameters, SCH and SHH, are in the range 0–0.2 and are lower compared to those for smectic (i.e., layered) phases of conventional nonionic liquid crystals, resembling those of lamellar phases formed by lyotropic surfactant–solvent systems