Tilo Böhmann

A strategy for knowledge management

– The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of organizational environment on the selection of knowledge management strategies. The paper focuses particularly on the relationship between business and knowledge management strategy and the success of the knowledge management initiatives., – This paper is a case study researching 11 German and Swiss companies. The knowledge management initiatives were categorized by six criteria (objectives, processes, problems, content, strategy, knowledge type) and their fit with the respective business strategy of the organizational unit was evaluated., – The findings in this paper suggest a relationship between the success of knowledge management and the alignment of knowledge management and business strategy. The paper also shows that an organization whose business strategy requires process efficiency should rely primarily on a codification strategy. An organization whose business strategy requires product/process innovation should rely primarily on a personalization strategy. The most successful knowledge management projects were driven by a strong business need and with the goal to add value to the organizational unit operations., – The paper shows there are limitations due to the qualitative nature of the research: logical rather than statistical conclusions, small sample size, and subjectivity of interpretations., – The paper sees that a manager should be aware of the objectives and business processes of the organizational unit and chooses the knowledge management strategy and objective in accordance to the business strategy and objective., – The paper enhances understanding about the influence of organizational environment factors on the success of knowledge management initiatives.

Modular service architectures: a concept and method for engineering IT services

The demise of first generation service models of application service providers (ASP) indicates that moving from individualized services (e.g. many outsourcing offerings) to fully standardised services (e.g. first generation ASP models) leaves many customer requirements unfilled. In our paper we argue that a possible solution for building innovative e-services is the use of modular service architectures. The paper introduces the characteristics of IT services, based on a case study with a leading German provider of application hosting services in the ERP market. We pay particular attention to the general composition of IT services, the role of external factors (how customers and their resources participate in service operations), and varying customer preferences. Referring to these considerations, the paper explains the concept of modularity and the application of the concept in the domain of IT services. We specifically address how the concept of modular service architectures addresses external factors and varying service level requirements. We give an example how the concept of modular service architectures can be leveraged to improve the design and to allow for improved customization of IT services. We conclude with identifying possible further research questions that need to be pursued to achieve the vision of semi-standardised, mass customizable solutions for IT service provision.

Systematische Überführung von kundenspezifischen IT-Lösungen in integrierte Produkt-Dienstleistungsbausteine mit der SCORE-Methode

ZusammenfassungIT-Lösungen sind kundenindividuelle und integrierte Kombinationen von Hard- und Softwareprodukten sowie Dienstleistungen, deren Profitabilität durch die sukzessive Standardisierung und Wiederverwendung nicht differenzierender Produkt-Dienstleistungskombinationen gesichert werden kann. Weil dies in der Regel nicht für die Gesamtlösung möglich ist, wird im Beitrag die SCORE-Methode vorgestellt, welche Anbieter bei der Analyse bestehender IT-Lösungen und deren Überführung in eine modulare Lösungsarchitektur unterstützt. Besonders großer Nutzen entsteht dabei durch die Identifikation von Systemleistungsmodulen, mit denen einzelne Hard- und Softwareprodukte sowie die daran zu erbringenden Dienstleistungen aufeinander abgestimmt, standardisiert und wiederverwendet werden. Ein Beispiel zeigt, wie die Anwendung der Methode die Entwicklung kundenindividueller IT-Lösungen verbessert.AbstractIT solutions are customer-specific and integrated bundles of hardware products, software products, and services. The SCORE method helps providers of IT solutions to benefit from a successive standardization and reuse of non-differentiating product-service-bundles. As a comprehensive standardization of IT solutions is likely to fail, the SCORE methods supports the successive modularization of IT solutions. In particular, the method suggests identifying system service modules that capture single hardware and software components as well as their associated services to support a simultaneous standardization and reuse of product-service-bundles in the small. An example illustrates how the application of the method improves the development of custom IT solutions.

Service Systems Engineering: A Field for Future Information Systems Research

Service systems engineering (SSE) focuses on the systematic design and development of service systems. Guided by a value proposition, service systems enable value co-creation through a configuration of actors and resources (often including a service architecture, technology, information, and physical artifacts), therefore constituting complex socio-technical systems. IS research can play a leading role in understanding and developing service systems. SSE calls for research leading to actionable design theories, methods and approaches for systematically designing, developing and piloting service systems, based upon understanding the underlying principles of service systems. Three major challenges have been identified: engineering service architectures, engineering service systems interactions, and engineering resource mobilization, i.e. extending the access to and use of resources by means of IT. Researching SSE is challenging. Assessing the models, methods, or artifacts of SSE often requires embedded research within existing or even novel service systems. Consequently, approaches such as piloting IT-based innovations, design research or action research are the most promising for SSE research. As an integrative discipline, IS is in a unique position to spearhead the efforts in advancing the architecture, interaction, and resource base of service systems with evidence-based design.

Hybride Produkte: Merkmale und Herausforderungen

Wahrend die wirtschaftliche Bedeutung reiner Sachleistungen aufgrund der geringer werdenden Differenzierungsmoglichkeiten tendenziell abnimmt, gewinnen hybride Produkte zunehmend an Bedeutung. Hybride Produkte sind Kombinationen aus Sach- und DienstIeistungen, die am Markt als integrierte Leistungsbundel angeboten werden. Ziel der Kombination von Produkten und Dienstleistungen ist es, kundenspezifische Problemlosungen anbieten zu konnen.

Quality Management in Service Ecosystems

Service-oriented architectures and Web services mature and have become more widely accepted and used by industry. This growing adoption increased the demands for new ways of using Web service technology. Users start re-combining and mediating other providers’ services in ways that have not been anticipated by their original provider. Within organisations and cross-organisational communities, discoverable services are organised in repositories providing convenient access to adaptable end-to-end business processes. This idea is captured in the term Service Ecosystem. This paper addresses the question of how quality management can be performed in such service ecosystems. Service quality management is a key challenge when services are composed of a dynamic set of heterogeneous sub-services from different service providers. This paper contributes to this important area by developing a reference model of quality management in service ecosystems. We illustrate the application of the reference model in an exploratory case study. With this case study, we show how the reference model helps to derive requirements for the implementation and support of quality management in an exemplary service ecosystem in public administration.

Industrialisierung der IT — Grundlagen, Merkmale und Ausprägungen eines Trends

ZusammenfassungBereits seit einigen Jahren hat die Informationstechnik (IT) nicht nur zur Industrialisierung anderer Wirtschaftszweige beigetragen, sondern unterliegt in zunehmendem Maße selbst einem Industrialisierungsprozess. Die Diskussion der strukturellen Grundlagen der Industrialisierung zeigt, dass es im Zuge eines fortschreitenden Industrialisierungsprozesses zu Veränderungen bei den Faktoren Preis, Produkt, Produktion, Personal und Partner kommt. Die Besonderheiten bei der Industrialisierung der IT werden für die Bereiche Hardware, Software und IT-Services herausgearbeitet. Dabei spielt neben den Veränderungen bei den Produkten der IT und deren Preisen vor allem das Management der IT-Leistungserstellung, d. h. die Produktion von IT, eine wichtige Rolle. Im Zusammenhang mit der Verringerung der Leistungstiefe gewinnt die Zusammenarbeit mit externen Partnern an Bedeutung. Weiterhin wird die Industrialisierung der IT Auswirkungen auf das Personal haben und zu Veränderungen am IT-Arbeitsmarkt führen.

The Concept and Effects of Service Modularity -- A Literature Review

The principle of modularity is well established in product development and software engineering. In recent years, this principle has been extended to services in different industries, such as financial services, hospital, logistics, IT, or health care. Service providers apply the principle of modularity to achieve reductions in time and cost of delivering customized services. Service modularity is thus a key concept for a service-oriented perspective of the enterprise but research is still in an early stage. This paper reviews the extant literature to show commonalities and differences between different conceptualizations of service modularity. The review also shows that service modularity is associated conceptually with a wide range of effects on different performance criteria of services. Few of these effects, however, are validated empirically. Based on these findings, the paper identifies implications for future research.

Service-Systems-Engineering

ZusammenfassungService-Systems-Engineering (SSE) stellt die systematische Gestaltung und Entwicklung von Servicesystemen in den Mittelpunkt des Forschungsinteresses. Servicesysteme ermöglichen interaktive Wertschöpfung durch eine auf ein Wertversprechen ausgerichtete Konfiguration von Akteuren und Ressourcen. Weil diese Konfiguration unter anderem die Servicearchitektur, die Technologie, die Information und physische Artefakte in der Nutzung einschließt, handelt es sich um soziotechnische Systeme. Die Wirtschaftsinformatik kann mit ihrer interdisziplinären Tradition und Integrationsfähigkeit eine führende Rolle im Verständnis und der Entwicklung dieser Systeme spielen. SSE verdeutlicht das Potenzial, das die Entwicklung anwendbarer Theorien, Methoden und Ansätze der systematischen Gestaltung, Entwicklung und Pilotierung von Servicesystemen besitzt. Dies gilt umso mehr, wenn diese auf einem verbesserten Verständnis der grundlegenden Wirkprinzipien dieser Systeme beruhen. In diesem Zusammenhang stellen sich insbesondere drei zentrale Forschungsherausforderungen: 1.) die Entwicklung von Servicearchitekturen, 2.) die Entwicklung neuer Interaktionsformen mit Servicesystemen sowie 3.) die Mobilisierung von Ressourcen für Servicesysteme. Letzteres bezeichnet eine IT-gestützte Ausweitung des Zugriffs auf und der Nutzung von Ressourcen. Die Forschung in diesem Kontext ist vor allem deshalb herausfordernd, weil die Entwicklung von Modellen, Methoden und Artefakten in Servicesystemen oft die Einbettung in reale oder sogar neuartige Servicesysteme erfordert. Daher erscheinen methodisch vor allem die Pilotierung IT-basierter Innovationen, gestaltungsorientierte Forschung sowie Aktionsforschung sinnvoll. Als eine integrative Disziplin ist die Wirtschaftsinformatik besonders gut positioniert, um die Forschung zur evidenzbasierten Gestaltung der Architekturen, Interaktionen und Ressourcenzugängen von Servicesystemen zu befördern und wichtige Beiträge zu einer Konstruktionslehre für Servicesysteme zu leisten.AbstractService systems engineering (SSE) focuses on the systematic design and development of service systems. Guided by a value proposition, service systems enable value co-creation through a configuration of actors and resources (often including a service architecture, technology, information, and physical artifacts), therefore constituting complex socio-technical systems. IS research can play a leading role in understanding and developing service systems. SSE calls for research leading to actionable design theories, methods and approaches for systematically designing, developing and piloting service systems, based upon understanding the underlying principles of service systems. Three major challenges have been identified: engineering service architectures, engineering service systems interactions, and engineering resource mobilization, i.e. extending the access to and use of resources by means of IT. Researching SSE is challenging. Assessing the models, methods, or artifacts of SSE often requires embedded research within existing or even novel service systems. Consequently, approaches such as piloting IT-based innovations, design research or action research are the most promising for SSE research. As an integrative discipline, IS is in a unique position to spearhead the efforts in advancing the architecture, interaction, and resource base of service systems with evidence-based design.

Quality aspects in service ecosystems: areas for exploitation and exploration

Service Science, Management, and Engineering (SSME) is a research area with significant relevance to research and practice. Networked systems of web services are a field of service science that enjoys growing interest from researchers. The complex and dynamic environment of these service ecosystems poses new requirements on quality management that are insufficiently addressed by current approaches that focus mainly on the technical aspects of quality. This focus is a severe limitation for the development of service networks because it neglects perceived service quality from the viewpoint of service consumers. In this paper we propose a reference model for quality management in service ecosystems. This reference model is linked in particular to innovation and new service development. Towards the end we propose premises for the implementation and outline a future research agenda.