Floris P.C. van Hooft and Robert A. Stegwee
A fundamental approach to setting up an e‐business initiative is needed to fully utilise the capabilities of Internet technology in a specific business setting. Such an initiative…
Abstract
A fundamental approach to setting up an e‐business initiative is needed to fully utilise the capabilities of Internet technology in a specific business setting. Such an initiative has to build on the strengths of the organisation and take full advantage of the opportunities in the market, meanwhile identifying costly unsuccessful projects and preventing unwanted market disturbances introduced by carelessly designed e‐commerce solutions. In this paper, a method is presented for the development of an e‐business, based on research in the area of strategic information systems planning. The proposed method is designed to help clarify a strategic e‐business vision and to solicit management commitment to change and take action on new business opportunities. In addition, it takes into account the unique possibilities of an organisation’s IT architecture, thus further advancing the value of past investments in IT.
Details
Keywords
Hans Voordijk, Robert Stegwee and Rogier Helmus
In recent years, large engineering consultancy firms in the Netherlands have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The purpose of this study is to shed light on…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, large engineering consultancy firms in the Netherlands have implemented enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the changing role of information technology (IT) in these firms after implementing ERP.
Design/methodology/approach
This change is analysed by focusing on the changing strategic role of IT, the level of IT maturity, and the implementation methods and related organisational changes before and after the ERP implementation. Empirical case study research was conducted by analysing ERP implementations in ten large Dutch‐based engineering consultancy firms. The implementation of ERP within these firms is expected to be typical of the way large engineering consultancy firms in the Netherlands have dealt with this technology.
Findings
The study shows different but consistent fits among the strategic role of IT, the level of IT maturity, and the implementation method in the different stages of the ERP‐implementation.
Originality/value
In the future, ERP will play a strategic role within engineering consultancy firms if they adopt tools for the inter‐organisational standardisation of primary processes in the context of large construction projects. Inter‐organisational use of IT tools in engineering consultancy, however, requires a substantial increase of the intra‐organisational IT maturity and a strategic orientation. If this occurs then it can be anticipated that ERP will be used as an agent for radical change.
Details
Keywords
Marinos Themifstocleous and Zahir Irani
One of the main motivations associated with the adoption of electronic commerce (e‐commerce) is the integration and automation of business processes. Yet, for many years the…
Abstract
One of the main motivations associated with the adoption of electronic commerce (e‐commerce) is the integration and automation of business processes. Yet, for many years the integration of systems has been a barrier to business process automation. However, a new generation of software called application integration (AI) efficiently addresses integration problems and leads to more flexible and maintainable solutions. AI incorporates functionality from disparate applications through a diversity of integration technologies. Regardless, confusion surrounding terminology in the integration area has led to a debate regarding the capabilities of AI, as each term proposes a different range of AI technologies. Therefore, there appears a clear need to clarify this confusion. In doing so, a novel taxonomy is proposed, which is based on the critical analysis and evaluation of existing case studies extrapolated from the AI literature. The proposed taxonomy separates AI into intra‐organisational AI, hybrid AI and inter‐organisational AI. The novelty of the taxonomy centres on the synthesis of a comprehensive set of systems that efficiently describe the range of AI technology in terms of application. In doing so, the taxonomy presented will allow developers and integrators to navigate better through the portfolio of integration technologies and therefore better understand the integration area. The proposed taxonomy might also be used as a tool for decision making.