Selective Outsourcing in Global IT Services : Operational Level Challenges and Opportunities

Companies need to answer and react timely and efficiently to their customers’ perception in order to stay in business. Companies are finding ways to control and reduce costs. Increasingly, internal IT development and service delivery activities are outsourced to external suppliers. The most common outsourcing forms are total and selective outsourcing, which are produced in nearshore and/or offshore mode. In this dissertation, the case units are two global units in Nokia Devices: IT unit and Delivery Quality and Corrective Action Preventive Action (DQ and CAPA) unit. This dissertation consists of five publications and five research questions. The motives for the research questions originate from the case units’ real-life needs and challenges. The research approach used is qualitative. Action research was conducted during years 2009-2013. This research gives focus on the global IT service delivery, although the case company’s core-competence was to produce end-consumer products. The target was to get operational level knowledge from the case units’ outsourcing operation and practices in a Global Selective Outsourcing Environment (GSOE). This dissertation addresses the opportunities and challenges of outsourcing faced by the operational level personnel. In the GSOE, the service purchasing company’s personnel and the supplier’s personnel jointly cooperate to produce the expected outcomes and IT services. This research found that the GSOE-based operation includes multi-level customer- and supplier-ships. In order to answer the customers’ perception, the operation included quality and customer-centric practices. This research found that defining and implementing customer centricity is challenging. Unclear definitions, requirements, roles, responsibilities, and activities can negatively affect the operational level implementation. The GSOEbased operation includes also contract negotiations among the GSOE parties. Successful IT outsourcing is not built only on formal contracts. Focus is needed also on building trust, commitment, communication, and mutual cooperation and dependence. This study found that retaining operational level progress and information visibility inside the service purchasing company made it possible to hold the ownership and avoid getting into a “supplier trap.” The operational level cooperation, interaction and quality management practices affected the service purchasing company’s trust and satisfaction. The trust in the case units was found to exist among people, and this trust was formed based on an individual’s knowledge, capabilities, behavior, and performance. Quality management practices played a significant role in building trust that added to the credibility of the operation

Advanced Information Systems and Technologies

This book comprises the proceedings of the VI International Scientific Conference “Advanced Information Systems and Technologies, AIST-2018”. The proceeding papers cover issues related to system analysis and modeling, project management, information system engineering, intelligent data processing, computer networking and telecomunications, modern methods and information technologies of sustainable development. They will be useful for students, graduate students, researchers who interested in computer science

Self-Powered Gesture Recognition with Ambient Light

We present a self-powered module for gesture recognition that utilizes small, low-cost photodiodes for both energy harvesting and gesture sensing. Operating in the photovoltaic mode, photodiodes harvest energy from ambient light. In the meantime, the instantaneously harvested power from individual photodiodes is monitored and exploited as a clue for sensing finger gestures in proximity. Harvested power from all photodiodes are aggregated to drive the whole gesture-recognition module including a micro-controller running the recognition algorithm. We design robust, lightweight algorithm to recognize finger gestures in the presence of ambient light fluctuations. We fabricate two prototypes to facilitate user’s interaction with smart glasses and smart watches. Results show 99.7%/98.3% overall precision/recall in recognizing five gestures on glasses and 99.2%/97.5% precision/recall in recognizing seven gestures on the watch. The system consumes 34.6 µW/74.3 µW for the glasses/watch and thus can be powered by the energy harvested from ambient light. We also test system’s robustness under various light intensities, light directions, and ambient light fluctuations. The system maintains high recognition accuracy (\u3e 96%) in all tested settings

Smart data management with BIM for Architectural Heritage

In the last years smart buildings topic has received much attention as well as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and interoperability as independent fields. Linking these topics is an essential research target to help designers and stakeholders to run processes more efficiently. Working on a smart building requires the use of Innovation and Communication Technology (ICT) to optimize design, construction and management. In these terms, several technologies such as sensors for remote monitoring and control, building equipment, management software, etc. are available in the market. As BIM provides an enormous amount of information in its database and theoretically it is able to work with all kind of data sources using interoperability, it is essential to define standards for both data contents and format exchange. In this way, a possibility to align research activity with Horizon 2020 is the investigation of energy saving using ICT. Unfortunately, comparing the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry with other sectors it is clear how in the building field advanced information technology applications have not been adopted yet. However in the last years, the adoption of new methods for the data management has been investigated by many researchers. So, basing on the above considerations, the main purpose of this thesis is investigate the use of BIM methodology relating to existing buildings concerning on three main topics: • Smart data management for architectural heritage preservation; • District data management for energy reduction; • The maintenance of highrises. For these reasons, data management acquires a very important value relating to the optimization of the building process and it is considered the most important goal for this research. Taking into account different kinds of architectural heritage, the attention is focused on the existing and historical buildings that usually have characterized by several constraints. Starting from data collection, a BIM model was developed and customized in function of its objectives, and providing information for different simulation tests. Finally, data visualization was investigated through the Virtual Reality(VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Certainly, the creation of a 3D parametric model implies that data is organized according to the use of individual users that are involved in the building process. This means that each 3D model can be developed with different Levels of Detail/Development (LODs) basing on the goal of the data source. Along this thesis the importance of LODs is taken into account related to the kind of information filled in a BIM model. In fact, basing on the objectives of each project a BIM model can be developed in a different way to facilitate the querying data for the simulations tests.\ud The three topics were compared considering each step of the building process workflow, highlighting the main differences, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of BIM methodology. In these terms, the importance to set a BIM template before the modelling step was pointed out, because it provides the possibility to manage information in order to be collected and extracted for different purposes and by specific users. Moreover, basing on the results obtained in terms of the 3D parametric model and in terms of process, a proper BIM maturity level was determined for each topic. Finally, the value of interoperability was arisen from these tests considering that it provided the opportunity to develop a framework for collaboration, involving all parties of the building industry

Social impact and governance of AI and neurotechnologies

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and brain science are going to have a huge impact on society. While technologies based on those advances can provide enormous social benefits, adoption of new technologies poses various risks. This article first reviews the co-evolution of AI and brain science and the benefits of brain-inspired AI in sustainability, healthcare, and scientific discoveries. We then consider possible risks from those technologies, including intentional abuse, autonomous weapons, cognitive enhancement by brain–computer interfaces, insidious effects of social media, inequity, and enfeeblement. We also discuss practical ways to bring ethical principles into practice. One proposal is to stop giving explicit goals to AI agents and to enable them to keep learning human preferences. Another is to learn from democratic mechanisms that evolved in human society to avoid over-consolidation of power. Finally, we emphasize the importance of open discussions not only by experts, but also including a diverse array of lay opinions

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

China\u27s Industrial Policy and its Impact on U.S. Companies, Workers and the American Economy

[Excerpt] China’s industrial policies have had a profound effect on the U.S. economy. The trade deficit with China in goods reached $266 billion in 2008, resulting in slower U.S. economic growth and fewer jobs here than if the trade relationship were more balanced between imports and exports. Witnesses differed as to the degree that the overall U.S. trade deficit would decline if the trading relationship between the two countries were brought into balance. But it is significant that the U.S. deficit with China represented 33 percent of the total U.S. trade deficit with the world and 42.6 percent of the deficit with non-oil exporting countries. In addition, it is not just the size of the deficit that policymakers should examine, but the changing nature of its composition. The United States in 2008 ran a record$72.7 billion trade deficit with China in advanced technology products

A framework for overall sustainability assessment of local small-scale energy production - demonstration of an approach

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New and enhanced policy measures for the sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture and forestry

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Lean technology development

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology and Policy Program, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-91).In today's corporate world, successful technology management is separating market leaders from laggards. Because technology is in constant change and what is state-of-the-art today will be obsolete tomorrow, it is not companies with the best technologies that ultimately succeed. Instead, successful companies are those that succeed in institutionalizing and sustaining an efficient technology development process. Moreover, this process must be continuously improved by applying new techniques and concepts to cope with the increasing challenges of technology management. This thesis will explore the extent to which Lean principles can be applied in technology development and how they can contribute to achieving new technology development imperatives (fast cycle time, increasing number of technology introductions, etc.). In order to answer these questions, the thesis proceeds in a logical manner by decomposing the objectives of technology development into organizational solutions using Axiomatic Design. Then, Lean principles as they have developed within the Product Development Focus Team of the Lean Aerospace Initiative are mapped into the above decomposition. The research concludes that under some additional considerations, Lean principles do lead to the achievement of technology development objectives. More, the above theoretical research is applied to a real world case: Technology development at Ford Motor Company. After an assessment of the current process, opportunities of improvement are identified and a leaner process is proposed. Finally, issues and opportunities with OEMs-Suppliers partnerships for new technological systems development are studied. The objective was to formulate policies and make recommendations for a better management of technology supply.by Salim Bouzekouk.S.M