Dennis Viehland

Using enterprise systems to realize digital business strategies

– Organizations invest in enterprise systems (ESs) with an expectation to share digital information from disparate sources to improve organizational effectiveness. This study aims to examine how organizations realize digital business strategies using an ES. It does so by evaluating the ES data support activities for knowledge creation, particularly how ES data are transformed into corporate knowledge in relevance to business strategies sought. Further, how this knowledge leads to realization of the business benefits. The linkage between establishing digital business strategy, utilization of ES data in decision‐making processes, and realized or unrealized benefits provides the reason for this study., – This study develops and utilizes a transformational model of how ES data are transformed into knowledge and results to evaluate the role of digital business strategies in achieving benefits using an ES. Semi‐structured interviews are first conducted with ES vendors, consultants and IT research firms to understand the process of ES data transformation for realizing business strategies from their perspective. This is followed by three in‐depth cases (two large and one medium‐sized organization) who have implemented ESs. The empirical data are analyzed using the condensation approach. This method condenses the data into multiple groups according to pre‐defined categories, which follow the scope of the research questions., – The key findings emphasize that strategic benefit realization from an ES implementation is a holistic process that not only includes the essential data and technology factors, but also includes factors such as digital business strategy deployment, people and process management, and skills and competency development. Although many companies are mature with their ES implementation, these firms have only recently started aligning their ES capabilities with digital business strategies correlating data, decisions, and actions to maximize business value from their ES investment., – The findings reflect the views of two large and one medium‐sized organization in the manufacturing sector. Although the evidence of the benefit realization process success and its results is more prominent in larger organizations than medium‐sized, it may not be generalized that smaller firms cannot achieve these results. Exploration of these aspects in smaller firms or a different industry sector such as retail/service would be of value., – The paper highlights the importance of tools and practices for accessing relevant information through an integrated ES so that competent decisions can be established towards achieving digital business strategies, and optimizing organizational performance. Knowledge is a key factor in this process., – The paper evaluates a holistic framework for utilization of ES data in realizing digital business strategies. Thus, it develops an enhanced transformational cycle model for ES data transformation into knowledge and results, which maintains to build up the transformational process success in the long term.

Bringing the Mobile Workforce to Business: A Case Study in a Field Service Organization

The purpose of this research is to examine how businesses are using mobile computing technologies to improve their workforce efficiency, increase productivity, and to justify this investment. The study addresses questions such as: What benefits do businesses expect to justify their investment in mobile technologies? Once implemented, do mobile technologies match the expectations of the business? Are projected returns on investment positive? What are the key barriers to the m-workforce? How are these barriers being addressed? These questions are addressed through a case study in Alpha, afield service organization that implemented a mobile job dispatch application in 2002. The findings indicate that Alpha has received both monetary (e.g., reduced operating costs) and non-monetary (e.g., reduced abandoned calls) benefits. Additionally some of the drawbacks of mobilizing a workforce found in the literature (e.g., reduced contact between field staff and the organization) were verified and are being addressed.

The Future of Personal Area Networks in a Ubiquitous Computing World

In the future world of ubiquitous computing, wireless devices will be everywhere. Personal area networks PANs will enable communications between devices both embedded in the environment and mobile on vehicles and persons. This research determines the future prospects of PANs by examining a criteria that will lead to success, b barriers to implementation, and c key applications. An initial set of issues in each of these areas is identified from the literature. The Delphi Method is used to determine what experts believe what are the most important success criteria, barriers, and applications. Critical success factors that will determine the future of personal area networks include reliability of connections, interoperability, and usability. Important barriers that may inhibit the deployment of PAN are security, interference and coexistence, and regulation and standards. Key applications for PAN success include monitoring, healthcare, and smart things.

The Selection of the IT Platform: Enterprise System Implementation in the NZ Health Board

The Health Board is one of the largest public health care providers in New Zealand (NZ). In early 1999, a supply chain optimization review recommended an enterprise system (ES) implementation to provide better control and reporting of organizational finances. The focus of this case is the IT platform decision made in conjunction with the ES implementation process. This decision was thoroughly considered by all Health Board stakeholders and the final choice was made in alignment with the Board’s strategic IT policy. Nevertheless, initial testing two months prior to go-live revealed major performance problems with the new system. The case documents the events that led up to the selection of the original IT platform and the challenges the project team faced in deciding what to do when the platform did not meet contractual specifications.

Demographic factors in assessing perceived risk in online shopping

Research in online shopping was the focus of many studies as the age of electronic commerce began in the late 1990s. More recently, research in this area has declined, even as shopping on the Internet continues to increase and now dominates some product categories. This research offers a timely update on this literature by investigating online shopping from a perceived risk perspective. The results find that overall perceived risk is low with only some consumer concerns in psychological, time and performance risk. Analysis of perceived risk across six product categories and four demographic factors finds a significant level of perceived risk for lower income individuals when purchasing consumer electronics, but not in any other construct examined in this research. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence to substantiate the common perception that perceived risk in online shopping is declining and does not differ greatly across product category or demographic factor.

Critical Issues that Will Determine the Future of RFID

This study identifies the critical issues that will determine the future of radio frequency identification (RFID) and the likelihood of each issue being solved within the next two years. Results indicate that standardization is the most important issue and standardization is also the issue most likely to be solved within the next two years. System costs, business process reengineering, and integration also ranked high in importance. Privacy, lack of RFID-skilled professionals, and data warehousing were ranked low in importance for the future of RFID.

Understanding technochange in ERP implementation through two case studies

This study provides an understanding of the organisational change that accompanies enterprise resource planning (ERP) system implementations. While there is general agreement in the literature that organisational change through IT integration technochange is a key outcome to any ERP implementation, there is little evidence on how this change happens. Using two case studies of ERP implementations, we report two variations on the change process. The first is a thoroughly planned and quickly executed implementation that aims to achieve radical change outcomes. In the second case, change is unintended and emerges slowly and gradually as a consequence of implementation progress. An analysis of technochange process variables provides the framework for the cross-study comparison. This studys key findings suggest that thoroughly planned ERP implementations score high on outcome success measures while implementations fostering gradual change pay attention to process success measures.

A health workforce classification framework for decision support in employment relations

This research was motivated by a desire to move decision making about health workforce planning from an anecdotal basis to a more evidence-based process. The principal outcome of this study is a framework for the classification and prioritization of health workforces within the New Zealand health sector. The framework was developed and validated using the Delphi Method, a decision-making methodology that uses the expert opinion of healthcare professionals. Findings suggest that five key factors - service need, public profile, supply factors, operational flexibility, and operational capacity - are central to a prioritization framework.

Key Applications for Success of Personal Area Networks

A personal area network (PAN) performs a variety of tasks, in accordance with the requirements of the applications that are being used. A key determinant of PAN success is the application areas that will be the most popular and widespread. This research determines the applications that are most important for the future success of personal area networks. An initial set of six applications was identified from the literature. A panel of PAN experts suggested three additional applications and rated all nine application areas on which would be the most important for PAN success. Results indicate the top three key application areas for the success of personal area networks are monitoring, healthcare, and smart things.