Katharina Ebner

Think Big with Big Data: Identifying Suitable Big Data Strategies in Corporate Environments

Businesses increasingly attempt to learn more about their customers, suppliers, and operations by using millions of networked sensors integrated, for example, in mobile phones, cashier systems, automobiles, or weather stations. This development raises the question of how companies manage to cope with these ever-increasing amounts of data, referred to as Big Data. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to identify different Big Data strategies a company may implement and provide a set of organizational contingency factors that influence strategy choice. In order to do so, we reviewed existing literature in the fields of Big Data analytics, data warehousing, and business intelligence and synthesized our findings into a contingency matrix that may support practitioners in choosing a suitable Big Data approach. We find that while every strategy can be beneficial under certain corporate circumstances, the hybrid approach - a combination of traditional relational database structures and MapReduce techniques - is the strategy most often valuable for companies pursuing Big Data analytics.

Exploring the path to success

We synthesize previous research on information technology (IT) management and benchmarking into a concept relationship map on strategic IT benchmarking success.We find that there is much literature on how to obtain strategic IT benchmarking (SITBM) results.Research does not, however, explain how results are transformed into outcomes.We suggest propositions and future research directions as a foundation for a theory of successful SITBM. Information technology (IT) organizations use strategic IT benchmarking (SITBM) to revise IT strategies or perform internal marketing. Despite benchmarkings long tradition, many SITBM initiatives do not reveal the desired outcomes. The vast body of knowledge on benchmarking and IT management does not help overcome the challenges of successful SITBM. We therefore synthesize the existing research on IT management and benchmarking into a concept relationship map and derive future research avenues. We find that there is much literature on how to obtain SITBM results. However, research does not explain how these results are transformed into outcomes - essentially the problem many practitioners struggle with.

Does the is Artifact Matter in Sociomateriality Research? A Literature Review of Empirical Studies

A fundamental objective of IS research is the investigation of the dynamic interplay between the social and the material. As a consequence, the concept of sociomateriality has evolved to depict the interaction of the social and material in different environments, such as organizations. Although various definitions have emerged, sociomateriality remains a buzzword, however, its application in real world settings often remains unclear. Our studys objective is to assess the IS artifact in sociomaterial research and to clarify the intertwining of the social and material agencies. On the basis of the conceptualization of the IS artifact and the dominances of the agencies, we suggest a framework to systematically evaluate the artifacts role in sociomaterial research settings, and derive opportunities and potentials for future research on sociomateriality. Our approach will be helpful to focus greater attention on the dynamic interplay and the role of the IS artifact in sociomaterial inquiries.