Seven principles for managing IT solutions from a provider’s perspective

IT solutions are a way to differentiate between competitors and to meet new customer expectations. For organizations transforming into IT solution providers, it is still unclear how to manage IT solutions. Based on literature on IT solutions and a multiple case study, we derive seven principles for managing IT solutions from the provider’s perspective. Main principles include that IT solution providers should have a modularized offering portfolio in place to ensure cost-efficient IT solution delivery for each customer and that IT solution providers should learn from each customer engagement to attune their offering portfolio constantly to market needs. As a result from our management principles, we argue that becoming an IT solution provider requires more effort than just changing the offering portfolio to include service

DEVELOPING A RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND RISK TAXONOMY FOR MEDIUM-SIZED IT SOLUTION PROVIDERS

To differentiate from competitors, some organizations are transforming their business models from offering single products or services to providing IT solutions. In an IT solution, the provider and the customer co-operate in integrating hardware, software and service components to fulfil customer-specific needs. The new business model, however, presents new risk management challenges. First, IT solution providers need to understand additional risks of IT solutions, e.g., risks engendered by operating the IT solution on behalf of the customer and by integrating modules from third-party providers. Second, risk management must account for special IT solution characteristics, e.g., supporting the whole lifecycle from planning to end-of-life and accounting for customer-specific risk profiles. In this paper, we present the results of our design science research with a medium-sized IT solution provider. We developed two artifacts. First, we cooperatively developed a risk management process that could be generalized to other solution providers of similar size. Second, we derived a taxonomy of IT solution risks to provide a foundation for the risk management process. We describe the process by which our research partner transformed the risk management and discuss implications for medium-sized IT solution providers

A CONCEPUTAL FRAMEWORK OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF E-LEARNING OFFERINGS FROM A PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE

The term e-learning subsumes all forms learning where electronic media is used for the presentation and distribution of thecourse content. Although various guidelines and models exist, the development and operation of e-learning offerings hasshown to be a difficult task. Often existing approaches focus on single aspects such as technical details or the content ofteaching, while neglecting other aspects such as level of service requirements. As e-learning offerings are IT-based systemsconsisting of hardware, software, and services that have to be considered from a lifecycle perspective, they exhibit similarcharacteristics as Product Service Systems. We, therefore, suggest designing e-learning offerings from a systems perspective.As a first step, we synthesize a requirements framework for e-learning offerings from the e-learning and PSS literatures. Weenrich the framework with examples from a real-life e-learning offering and argue why the PSS approach is useful for thedesign of e-learning offerings

Development and Production of Artificial Test Swarf to Examine Wear Behavior of Running Engine Components - Geometrically Derived Designs

Subtractive manufacturing processes are usually accompanied by the occurrence of tiny flakes and swarf, which later on cause severe wear and damage, especially in moving components such as rolling or sliding bearings, pistons, etc. However, up until now, such detrimental effects have hardly been investigated. One reason is the lack of a definition of a typical design of debris particle. Therefore, the main goal of the project described in this paper was to elaborate a draft that defines standardized test particles. It had to be evaluated whether test particles could be adequately reproduced and whether they would reveal significant damage potential. Taking into account future mass fabrication, Micro Powder Injection Molding (MicroPIM) was chosen as a production method. Five different 3D designs of geometrically defined test particles were developed. The maximum size of each design was 1167 mm in green state; however, all samples shrank in size during sintering. Specially tailored feedstocks containing 42CrMo4 steel powders were used and the related molding, debinding and sintering procedures were developed. All particle geometries and related mold inserts were developed using a commercial software routine for the layout of runner systems, gate locations and ejector positions. The damage potential of the test particles was evaluated based on trials using journal bearing and shift valve test rigs. Although only a moderate degree of damage potential could be ascertained up until now, it can be expected that the artificial swarf will enable standardized wear test procedures to be developed

Solid-state flurbiprofen and methyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes prepared using a single-step, organic solvent-free supercritical fluid process

The aim of this study was to enhance the apparent solubility and dissolution properties of flurbiprofen through inclusion complexation with cyclodextrins. Especially, the efficacy of supercritical fluid technology as a preparative technique for the preparation of flurbiprofen-methyl–β–cyclodextrin inclusion complexes was evaluated. The complexes were prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide processing and were evaluated by solubility, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, practical yield, drug content estimation and in vitro dissolution studies. Computational molecular docking studies were conducted to study the possibility of molecular arrangement of inclusion complexes between flurbiprofen and methyl-β-cyclodextrin. The studies support the formation of stable molecular inclusion complexes between the drug and cyclodextrin in a 1:1 stoichiometry. In vitro dissolution studies showed that the dissolution properties of flurbiprofen were significantly enhanced by the binary mixtures prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide processing. The amount of flurbiprofen dissolved into solution alone was very low with 1.11 ± 0.09% dissolving at the end of 60 min, while the binary mixtures processed by supercritical carbon dioxide at 45 °C and 200 bar released 99.39 ± 2.34% of the drug at the end of 30 min. All the binary mixtures processed by supercritical carbon dioxide at 45 °C exhibited a drug release of more than 80% within the first 10 min irrespective of the pressure employed. The study demonstrated the single step, organic solvent-free supercritical carbon dioxide process as a promising approach for the preparation of inclusion complexes between flurbiprofen and methyl–β–cyclodextrin in solid-state

Towards A Set of Requirements for A Holistic IT Solution Engineering Approach

IT solutions are integrated bundles of products and services that create high value for the customer by meeting individual technical, organizational, and business needs. The complexity of designing and provisioning IT solutions requires companies to restructure their organizations towards supporting customer-relational lifecycle activities. Hence, researchers particularly focus on developing methods for designing IT solutions. In this paper, we suggest reconceptualising the fundamental process of solution engineering by highlighting the role of sales in integrating requirements elicitation and exploiting business opportunities. Furthermore, we include the phase of module engineering to capture experiences from providing IT solutions. Based on a multiple case study analysing IT solution procurement processes, we argue that the extant set of design methods still follow the traditional product-centric processes of first producing and then selling IT solutions. Hence, we suggest requirements for a holistic IT solution engineering approach by combining implications from literature and our case study

Ein Lebenszyklusmodell für IT-Lösungen aus Sicht kleiner und mittelständischer Anbieter A life cycle model for IT solutions from the perspective of small and medium providers

Kleine und mittelständische IT-Unternehmen treten zunehmend als Lösungsanbieter auf. Als solche müssen sie Leistungen anbieten, die kundenindividuell gestaltet und über den Lebenszyklus betrieben werden. Der dabei entstehende Koordinations-, Integrations- und Organisationsaufwand führt zu einer hohen Komplexität bei der Erbringung von IT-Lösungen. Hierzu wird ein Modell vorgestellt, das die notwendigen Aktivitäten eines Lösungsanbieters anhand des Lebenszyklus von IT-Lösungen strukturiert. Der Fokus liegt insbesondere auf der Integration von selbst entwickelten und fremdbezogenen Leistungskomponenten als einer typischen Anforderung kleiner und mittelständischer Anbieter.Small and medium IT companies increasingly occur as a solution provider. As such, they need to offer services that are customized designed and operated over the life cycle. The resulting coordination, integration and organizational effort leads to high complexity in the provision of IT solutions. To this end, a model is presented that structures the necessary activities of a solution provider based on the life cycle of IT solutions. The focus is particularly on the integration of proprietary and non-self-power components as a typical requirement of small and medium suppliers

Seven principles for managing IT solutions from a provider’s perspective

IT solutions are a way to differentiate between competitors and to meet new customer expectations. For organizations transforming into IT solution providers, it is still unclear how to manage IT solutions. Based on literature on IT solutions and a multiple case study, we derive seven principles for managing IT solutions from the provider’s perspective. Main principles include that IT solution providers should have a modularized offering portfolio in place to ensure cost-efficient IT solution delivery for each customer and that IT solution providers should learn from each customer engagement to attune their offering portfolio constantly to market needs. As a result from our management principles, we argue that becoming an IT solution provider requires more effort than just changing the offering portfolio to include service

A Conceptual Framework of requirements for the development of E-learning offerings from a product service system perspective

The term e-learning subsumes all forms learning where electronic media is used for the presentation and distribution of the course content. Although various guidelines and models exist, the development and operation of e-learning offerings has shown to be a difficult task. Often existing approaches focus on single aspects such as technical details or the content of teaching, while neglecting other aspects such as level of service requirements. As e-learning offerings are IT-based systems consisting of hardware, software, and services that have to be considered from a lifecycle perspective, they exhibit similar characteristics as Product Service Systems. We, therefore, suggest designing e-learning offerings from a systems perspective. As a first step, we synthesize a requirements framework for e-learning offerings from the e-learning and PSS literatures. We enrich the framework with examples from a real-life e-learning offering and argue why the PSS approach is useful for the design of e-learning offerings

Digitalisierung bei Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions : Entwicklung eines Reifegradmodells

Digitalisierung in Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)-Prozessen birgt ein erhebliches Potenzial zur Effizienz- und Effektivitätssteigerung, erfährt jedoch bislang in der betrieblichen Praxis nur eine geringe Aufmerksamkeit. Dieser Beitrag schlägt angesichts dessen ein Reifegradmodell vor, womit sich der Ist-Stand der digitalen Reife eines Unternehmens bei Corporate M&A ermitteln und darauf aufbauend Optimierungspotenziale identifizieren lassen. Grundlage der Modellerstellung sind einerseits eine Analyse der vorhandenen Reifegradmodelle und andererseits Interviews mit M&A-Experten unterschiedlicher Unternehmen