Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 61 - May 2020): Business Information Systems

This book examines the interplay between IT solutions and specific management methods in organizations. In particular, it assesses the impact of IT reliability on factors like employees' commitment and organizational performance. After developing the necessary theoretical foundation, the book presents a framework for aligning IT solutions with a number of specific management methods in organizations. In addition, it demonstrates the extent to which IT reliability can be an indicator for this alignment, and discusses the impact on employees' commitment and organizational performance under various management methods. Case studies from organizations in Switzerland and Poland help to illustrate the findings. In closing, the book presents roadmaps for improving IT and business alignment so as to achieve higher commitment and better results.

Structuring, or, as it is referred to in the title of this book, the art of structuring, is one of the core elements in the discipline of Information Systems. While the world is becoming increasingly complex, and a growing number of disciplines are evolving to help make it a better place, structure is what is needed in order to understand and combine the various perspectives and approaches involved. Structure is the essential component that allows us to bridge the gaps between these different worlds, and offers a medium for communication and exchange. The contributions in this book build these bridges, which are vital in order to communicate between different worlds of thought and methodology - be it between Information Systems (IS) research and practice, or between IS research and other research disciplines. They describe how structuring can be and should be done so as to foster communication and collaboration. The topics covered reflect various layers of structure that can serve as bridges: models, processes, data, organizations, and technologies. In turn, these aspects are complemented by visionary outlooks on how structure influences the field. 

This book examines how digital technologies enable collaboration as a way for individuals, teams and businesses to connect, create value, and harness new opportunities. Digital technologies have brought the world closer together but also created new barriers and divides. While it is now possible to connect almost instantly and seamlessly across the globe, collaboration comes at a cost; it requires new skills and hidden 'collaboration work', and the need to renegotiate the fair distribution of value in multi-stakeholder network arrangements. Presenting state-of-the-art research, case studies, and leading voices in the field, the book provides academics and professionals with insights into the diverse powers of collaboration in the digital age, spanning collaboration among professionals, organisations, and consumers. It brings together contributions from scholars interested in the collaboration of teams, cooperatives, projects, and new cooperative systems, covering a range of sectors from the sharing economy, health care, large project businesses to public sector collaboration.

Philipp Melzer analyses influence factors of personalised learning aiming to lay out design principles for personalised blended learning courses. Finding only weak support for a matching between learning styles and teaching methods,he defines learning tasks as the object of further investigations. Following the idea of a community of inquiry, the author develops the Personalised Learning Framework (PLF), modelling personalised learning as a process of selection as well as usage of learning tasks and learning tools by the community of inquiry. To evaluate the PLF further, a traditional university course is transformed to a personalised flipped classroom course. He shows how personalised learning can be supported in concrete learning interventions using specific learning methods and technologies.

This book presents a rich compilation of real-world cases on digitalization, the goal being to share first-hand insights from respected organizations and to make digitalization more tangible. As virtually every economic and societal sector is now being challenged by emerging technologies, the digital economy is a highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous place - and one that holds substantial challenges and opportunities for established organizations. Against this backdrop, this book reports on best practices and lessons learned from organizations that have succeeded in overcoming the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the digital economy. It illustrates how twenty-one organizations have leveraged their capabilities to create disruptive innovations, to develop digital business models, and to digitally transform themselves. These cases stem from various industries (e.g. automotive, insurance, consulting, and public services) and countries, reflecting the many facets of digitalization. As all case descriptions follow a uniform schema, they are easily accessible, and provide insightful examples for practitioners as well as interesting cases for researchers, teachers and students. Digitalization is reshaping business on a global scale, and it is evident that organizations must transform to thrive in the digital economy. Digitalization Cases provides first-hand insights into the efforts of renowned companies. The presented actions, results, and lessons learned are a great inspiration for managers, students, and academics. Anna Kopp, Head of IT Germany, Microsoft Understanding digitalization in all its facets requires knowledge about its opportunities and challenges in different contexts. Providing 21 cases from different companies all around the world, Digitalization Cases makes an important contribution toward the comprehensibility of digitalization - from a practical and a scientific point of view. Dorothy Leidner, Ferguson Professor of Information Systems, Baylor University This book is a great source of inspiration and insight on how to drive digitalization. It shows easy to understand good practice examples which illustrate opportunities, and at the same time helps to learn what needs to be done to realize them. I consider this book a must-read for every practitioner who cares about digitalization. Martin Petry, Chief Information Officer and Head of Business Excellence, Hilti 

Companies across all industries are leveraging digital technologies to transform outdated processes and build new business models to compete in the information age. For all the publicity and hype, successful digital transformation has proven to be elusive. Numerous studies have found more than half of all digital transformation efforts fail. Digitally Deaf explores the obstacles and inhibitors that derail transformation efforts and outlines the steps organizations should take to establish an environment for success.  Written by a highly experienced CIO, Digitally Deaf illustrates symptoms and underlying issues through the author's experiences at large, Fortune 250 organizations. Digitally Deaf establishes a framework for digital transformation execution beginning with the development of a common definition and language for transformation. Learn the roles of the board of directors and leadership in establishing the appropriate messaging, governance, and organizational structure to drive digital efforts. Realize how digital transformation efforts amplify common problems encountered in typical technology projects.  Discover how the IT organization must transform to enable the agility needed to fuel new digital business models. Finally, learn to spot the symptoms of issues that undermine transformation success and how to address them. "On the topic of digital transformation, Steve addresses the mind set shift that is needed to be successful, leveraging relatable examples across multiple industries.  Digitally Deaf offers a very relevant perspective on what it takes to move a traditional organization into the digital age."  Boris Sherman, CTO Tailored Brands  "Stone, as a former CIO, accurately outlines the challenges associated with new technologies and the benefits of implementing a digital-first culture. This book helps business and technology leaders understand the landscape and how to embrace digital to create new sources of value in their organizations."  Jonathan Brassington, Head, Capgemini Invent North America

This book integrates theoretical advances and empirical data on Enterprise Governance in Information Technology (EGIT) with practical applications based on numerous case examples. The third revised edition of Enterprise Governance of Information Technology provides professionals and students with the most recent research advancements as well as an in-depth discussion of the recently-introduced Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT) 2019 framework which can be used to facilitate a tailored implementation of effective EGIT. Furthermore, the book features a new chapter which provides readers with hands-on examples from practice and clear insights on how these relate to theory. At the forefront of the field, the authors of this volume draw from years of research and advising corporate clients to present a comprehensive resource on EGIT.  Featuring a variety of elements, including executive summaries and sidebars, extensive references, questions and activities and additional online materials, this book is a valuable updated resource for professionals, students and researchers alike.

This book introduces a novel type of expert finder system that can determine the knowledge that specific users within a community hold, using explicit and implicit data sources to do so. Further, it details how this is accomplished by combining granular computing, natural language processing and a set of metrics that it introduces to measure and compare candidates' suitability. The book describes profiling techniques that can be used to assess knowledge requirements on the basis of a given problem statement or question, so as to ensure that only the most suitable candidates are recommended. The book brings together findings from natural language processing, artificial intelligence and big data, which it subsequently applies to the context of expert finder systems. Accordingly, it will appeal to researchers, developers and innovators alike.

This book focuses on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on organizations and society as a whole. Specifically, it examines how such technologies improve our lives and facilitate our work. A main aspect explored is how actors understand the potential of ICTs to support organizational activities and hence, how they adopt and adapt these technologies to achieve their goals. The book collects papers on various areas of organizational strategy, e.g. new business models, competitive strategies, knowledge management and more. The main areas dealt with are new technologies for a better life, innovations for e-government, and technologies enhancing enterprise modeling. In addition, the book addresses how organizations impact society through sustainable development and social responsibility, and how ICTs employ social media networks in the process of value co-creation.