There Is Still No Fit for All IS Development Method: Business Development Context and IS Development Characteristics Need to Match

Information systems development has returned to strategic management due to the increase of software-enabled businesses. We investigated two failed IS development projects using the exploratory case study method. One of the projects was executed with the plan-driven approach methods and the other with the change-driven (agile) approach methods. Data analysis showed that both projects followed the principles of the selected methods. That, however, was not enough. The plan-driven project achieved project objectives but did not deliver business value and the IS was never taken into use. The change-driven project delivered desired business value but failed to release a robust IS. Our main contribution to research is our proposition to match the characteristics of IS development methods with the characteristics of business development contexts. We also disclose some novel reasons for IS project failures

Finnish consumers' expectations on developments and changes in payment habits. Survey in connection with the research project 'Finnish payment habits 2010'

The Bank of Finland’s Finnish Payment Habits 2010 project predicts that Finnish payment habits will face substantial changes. The causes for these changes include: the standardisation and integration of European payment systems, development of payment services-related legislation and regulation at EU level, changes in payment services-related cost factors and pricing, and new opportunities offered by technological advances. The last few years have seen a surge in new payment instruments and services. Increasing reliance on information and communication technology is characteristic to the development of these payment instruments, the vast majority of which have however failed to entice consumers. To increase our understanding of changes in payment patterns, this report analyses consumer needs, tastes and payment habits as new payment systems are adopted. Research data was collected in September 2005 using a mail-survey covering the central payment methods and addressed to 2,000 randomly-sampled Finnish consumers. According to our findings, security and trustworthiness are the most important characteristics of any new payment instrument. Other essential characteristics are the ability to produce good transaction-related information, compatibility with shopping and payment habits, accessibility, ease of use, time and cost savings, as well as time and place independence. New payment instruments – electronic billing and paying for shopping by mobile phone – are not likely to supersede conventional payment methods by 2010 when judged by the aforementioned characteristics: Trust and cost factors do not separate consumers well-disposed towards electronic bills and mobile payments from those set against these payment methods. A relatively restricted group of differentiating factors was found. Ease of use is a common differentiating factor for both electronic bills and mobile payments adoption. Additionally, accessibility is a differentiating characteristic in mobile payments adoption.payment habits; payment services to consumers; consumer behaviour; diffusion of innovations; theory of planned behaviour (TPB)

A Contingency Theory Motivated Framework to Select Information System Development Methods

Several change-driven (agile) information systems development (ISD) methods have been launched during the recent years. In addition to agile ISD methods it is still possible to succeed also with plan-driven ISD methods. To facilitate ISD method selections that maximize the probability of ISD project success we crafted and evaluated an ISD method selection framework based on the idea of matching the properties of ISD methods and the characteristics of the business contexts where ISD methods are used. We conducted a systematic literature search to evaluate whether the proposed framework is also able to capture the findings of prior ISD method selection research and to guide future empirical research. From over 1000 potential articles we identified 42 articles that address ISD method selection. We discovered that the proposed framework was able to explain the findings of prior research

Fit to Context Matters – Selecting and Using Information Systems Development Methods to Develop Business in Digitalization Contexts

We ponder the relations of software, information systems (IS) and business development methods in the development of digital businesses and in the digitalization of extant businesses. We present our published IS development method (ISDM) framework and its development. The framework is used as the background to reason the relations between the three development layers of digitalization: software, IS and business. We then propose six highly potential areas of future research. In addition, we answer to two research questions also paving the way to future research: is the matching of IS and business development a reasonable proposition, and is the finding of extant literature true, according to which ISDMs are used limitedly in IS development work. We organized two workshops with 21 (14+7) participants to answer these questions. We detected yes and mixed answers. We contribute to research with the empirical findings and the proposed research areas

On Solving the Business Requirements Engineering Problems of Information Systems Development Projects – Lessons from Three Projects

Information systems development (ISD) often fails. Requirements engineering (RE) problems rank high in ISD project failure statistics. RE is often regarded as the link between business (processes) (BP) and IS. Thus, in RE, the BP and IS requirements need to be synchronized. We conducted three case studies to investigate RE problems and the reasons for them, especially to contemplate how to synchronize business process and IS development requirements in plan-driven (waterfall) and change-driven (agile) projects. Investigated cases indicate that the ontological and epistemological matching of IS and BP requirements engineering methods improves requirements quality

The Usefulness of the Recommendations Regarding the Information System Development Method Selection during the Era of Digitalization

The business criticality of information systems (IS) and their development (ISD) appear to have increased recently. Backsourcing, cosourcing and multisourcing of ISD are some of the consequences. They, in turn, extend the need for understanding how to select information systems development methods (ISDM). In this research, we first condensed the knowledge base of ISDM selection research into nine recommendations. We then interviewed 28 ISDM experts and asked them to evaluate how useful the extant ISDM selection recommendations of prior research are to IS user organizations. We discovered that most recommendations were perceived outdated and only limitedly useful. We finally contemplated that paying more attention to how ISDMs are used in business development contexts is a means to increase the usefulness of ISDM selection recommendations

Challenges to IS quality

Investing in quality was popular in the early 1990s. Several approaches were developed, but it seems that none of them provides a solution that is generally accepted and adequately detailed for both scientific and practical purposes within the IS field. We claim that most quality approaches concentrate too much on the technical and control oriented aspects of managing quality thus causing unsatisfactory results. There is a need and a demand for better quality practice that can be attained through cooperation between practitioners and researchers. This paper discusses these challenges to IS quality and presents some suggestions for bridging the gap. </p

Willingness to Share Supply Chain Data in an Ecosystem Governed Platform – An Interview Study

The exchange of business documents and technical product data between the partners of industrial ecosystems can be automated and integrated through digital supply chain (DSC) platforms. The advocates, managers and developers of DSC platforms need to solve several technical and social challenges during the implementation of such platforms. Operative level officers’ willingness to share business and technical product data with partner organisations’ officers is one of them. This article presents findings from the interviews of 25 sourcing and accounting experts in two industrial ecosystems jointly developing a DSC platform to be governed by industrial ecosystems. The interviewees considered schedule data shareable and detailed design drawings non-shareable. We discovered 12 factors increasing and 9 factors decreasing the willingness to share data. Our study contributes to platform and ecosystem research and offers practical advice to the developers and other stakeholders of the investigated DSC platform

Adoption of a Comprehensive Web-Based Wealth Management Service

The design of electronic financial services differ crucially from that of conventional services due to their inability to adjust sporadically to the needs and wants of consumers, as adaptability is strongly associated with the human component of services production. In this regard, identification of the motives driving adop- tion and consumption is the precondition for successful implementation of electronic services. This article reports the results of a survey conducted for an R&D project with the objective to design an innovative and comprehensive wealth management service for consumers, a service that is offered mainly via the internet. In this study, the authors found that the conventional wisdom of mainstream finance and technology adoption theories, return-risk thinking, and cost-benefit analysis of product characteristics were insufficient to predict adoption. Rather, the adoption decision appears to be dominated by the perceived fit between the new service and the consumer’s established consumption patterns. </p

WHY AND HOW DO MUNICIPAL AREAS GOVERN INTERORGANIZATIONAL ICT COOPERATION: INDEED, “THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES”

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are significant for the development and production of municipalities’ services and activities. Yet, municipalities typically operate their ICT independently with only limited resources. Limited resources are a key incentive for inter-municipal ICT cooperation. We investigated, how inter-municipal ICT cooperation was executed and governed in 20 Finnish municipal regions including 144 actual municipalities. As the theoretical background, we reviewed Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource Based View theories, and the literature on IT governance practices. These theories and literature were used to identify theory-proposed ICT cooperation benefits and governance practices. We then compared theory-proposed benefits and practices empirically to those perceived in the actual regions. Finally, we used Granovetter’s social network theory to understand the empirical findings on ICT cooperation benefits and IT governance practices. Our findings reveal distinct differences in perceived ICT cooperation benefits, in ICT cooperation, and in the governance of IT between Finnish municipal areas, and the lack of social ties helps to understand detected differences. Our findings also indicate that the emperor will not enjoy new clothes – ICT cooperation benefits – unless ICT cooperation is systematically organized and governed. The extension of the theory base in IT governance research is our main contribution