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Color Texture Analysis of Moving Vocal Cords Using Approaches from Statistics and Signal Theory
(2000)
Textural features are applied for detection of morphological pathologies of vocal cords. Cooccurrence matrices as statistical features are presented as well as filter bank analysis by Gabor filters. Both methods are extended to handle color images. Their robustness against camera movement and vibration of vocal cords is evaluated. Classification results due to three in vivo sequences are in between 94.4 % and 98.9%. The classification errors decrease if color features are used instead of grayscale features for both statistical and Fourier features
A method for automated segmentation of vocal cords in stroboscopic video sequences is presented.
In contrast to earlier approaches, the inner and outer contours of the vocal cords are independently delineated. Automatic segmentation of the low contrasted images is carried out by connecting the shape constraint of a point distribution model to a multi-channel regionbased balloon model. This enables us to robustly compute a vibration profile that is used as a new diagnostic tool to visualize several vibration parameters in only one graphic. The vibration profiles are studied in two cases: one physiological vibration and one functional pathology.
Integrative Co-occurrence matrices are introduced as novel features for color texture classification. The extended Co-occurrence notation allows the comparison between integrative and parallel color texture concepts. The information profit of the new matrices is shown quantitatively using the Kolmogorov distance and by extensive classification experiments on two datasets. Applying them to the RGB and the LUV color space the combined color and intensity textures are studied and the existence of intensity independent pure color patterns is demonstrated. The results are compared with two baselines: gray-scale texture analysis and color histogram analysis. The novel features improve the classification results up to 20% and 32% for the first and second baseline, respectively.
Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung des Gesundheitswesens ebnet auch den Weg einer stärkeren Verbreitung der telemedizinischen Versorgung in Deutschland. Die Politik erleichtert diesen Weg, z.B. mit dem eHealth-Gesetz oder mit der Lockerung des "Fernbehandlungsverbots" durch den Deutschen Ärztetag. Dabei wird schon aus der Definition (siehe z.B. die unten stehende Definition der AG Telemedizin) klar, dass Telemedizin keine neue medizinische Disziplin begründet. Bei Telemedizin handelt es sich nur um ein technisches Werkzeug in Kombination mit geeigneten klinischen Prozessen, damit bestehende medizinische Expertise unter Einsatz von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien räumliche Entfernungen oder einen zeitlichen Versatz überbrücken kann. Patientinnen und Patienten können also behandelt werden, auch wenn sie vom Arzt räumlich entfernt sind.
Medical confidentiality is very important because it builds the fundament of trust between doctors and patients. In modern health services data protection is essential. But there are also other important security objectives, such as integrity and authenticity of medical data and health services, as their breach can potentially lead to life threatening conditions. State of the art security mechanisms are necessary to protect medical data and services and prevent attacks known as “hacking”. They should include in particular cryptography, as you can usually rely on mathematics, more than in software security and access control mechanisms. As patients normally cannot assess the security of a service, security audits or certifications of health services should be provided to generate trust and confidence.
In den letzten Jahren hat sich der Workshop "Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin" durch erfolgreiche Veranstaltungen etabliert. Ziel ist auch 2020 wieder die Darstellung aktueller Forschungsergebnisse und die Vertiefung der Gespräche zwischen Wissenschaftlern, Industrie und Anwendern. Die Beiträge dieses Bandes - einige davon in englischer Sprache - umfassen alle Bereiche der medizinischen Bildverarbeitung, insbesondere Bildgebung und -akquisition, Maschinelles Lernen, Bildsegmentierung und Bildanalyse, Visualisierung und Animation, Zeitreihenanalyse, Computerunterstützte Diagnose, Biomechanische Modellierung, Validierung und Qualitätssicherung, Bildverarbeitung in der Telemedizin u.v.m.
The estimation of illuminant color is mandatory for many applications in the field of color image quantification. However, it is an unresolved problem if no additional heuristics or restrictive assumptions apply. Assuming uniformly colored and roundly shaped objects, Lee has presented a theory and a method for computing the scene-illuminant chromaticity from specular highlights [H. C. Lee, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 3, 1694 (1986)]. However, Lee’s method, called image path search, is less robust to noise and is limited in the handling of microtextured surfaces. We introduce a novel approach to estimate the color of a single illuminant for noisy and microtextured images, which frequently occur in real-world scenes. Using dichromatic regions of different colored surfaces, our approach, named color line search, reverses Lee’s strategy of image path search. Reliable color lines are determined directly in the domain of the color diagrams by three steps. First, regions of interest are automatically detected around specular highlights, and local color diagrams are computed. Second, color lines are determined according to the dichromatic reflection model by Hough transform of the color diagrams. Third, a consistency check is applied by a corresponding path search in the image domain. Our method is evaluated on 40 natural images of fruit and vegetables. In comparison with those of Lee’s method, accuracy and stability are substantially improved. In addition, the color line search approach can easily be extended to scenes of objects with macrotextured surfaces.
IS offshoring
(2010)
Information systems (IS) offshoring describes the transfer of IS services to an offshoring service provider in a near or far away country. It has received growing attention in the past and there is a strong momentum in shifting IS services abroad. Markus Westner examines the IS offshoring phenomenon from the perspective of German companies. He first provides an overview of the current literature in the field of IS offshoring. Based on interviews with 47 industry experts, evaluation criteria for selecting projects for offshoring are identified. Finally, the author examines determinants of IS offshore project success in German companies based on a statistical analysis of 304 projects using structural equation modeling (PLS).
Serial 2D section images with high resolution, resulting from innovative imaging methods become even more valuable, if they are fused with in vivo volumes. Achieving this goal, the 3D context of the sections would be restored, the deformations would be corrected and the artefacts would be eliminated. However, the registration in this field faces big challenges and is not solved in general. On the other hand, several approaches have been introduced dealing at least with some of these difficulties. Here, a brief overview of the topic is given and some of the solutions are presented. It does not constitute the claim to be a complete review, but could be a starting point for those who are interested in this field.
Purpose
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common threat to vision. While classification of disease stages is critical to understanding disease risk and progression, several systems based on color fundus photographs are known. Most of these require in-depth and time-consuming analysis of fundus images. Herein, we present an automated computer-based classification algorithm.
Design Algorithm development for AMD classification based on a large collection of color fundus images. Validation is performed on a cross-sectional, population-based study.
Participants.
We included 120 656 manually graded color fundus images from 3654 Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) participants. AREDS participants were >55 years of age, and non-AMD sight-threatening diseases were excluded at recruitment. In addition, performance of our algorithm was evaluated in 5555 fundus images from the population-based Kooperative Gesundheitsforschung in der Region Augsburg (KORA; Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) study.
Methods.
We defined 13 classes (9 AREDS steps, 3 late AMD stages, and 1 for ungradable images) and trained several convolution deep learning architectures. An ensemble of network architectures improved prediction accuracy. An independent dataset was used to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in a population-based study.
Main Outcome Measures.
κ Statistics and accuracy to evaluate the concordance between predicted and expert human grader classification.
Results.
A network ensemble of 6 different neural net architectures predicted the 13 classes in the AREDS test set with a quadratic weighted κ of 92% (95% confidence interval, 89%–92%) and an overall accuracy of 63.3%. In the independent KORA dataset, images wrongly classified as AMD were mainly the result of a macular reflex observed in young individuals. By restricting the KORA analysis to individuals >55 years of age and prior exclusion of other retinopathies, the weighted and unweighted κ increased to 50% and 63%, respectively. Importantly, the algorithm detected 84.2% of all fundus images with definite signs of early or late AMD. Overall, 94.3% of healthy fundus images were classified correctly.
Conclusions
Our deep learning algoritm revealed a weighted κ outperforming human graders in the AREDS study and is suitable to classify AMD fundus images in other datasets using individuals >55 years of age.
IT-Offshoring
(2014)
Das vorliegende Paper untersucht anhand einer Fallstudie die Implementierung einer produktorientierten Leistungsverrechnung für IT-Services im Kontext eines international führenden Industriegüterunternehmens. Zunächst werden die ökonomischen und regulatorischen Anforderungen, die zur Ein-führung des Systems geführt haben, skizziert. Danach wird der Aufbau und Ablauf des Verrechnungsverfahrens geschildert: auf IT-Leistungserstellungs-seite werden die angefallenen Kosten über die Bildung sogenannter modularer „Service-Bausteine“ den organisatorisch verantwortlichen Stellen als auch IT-Services zugeordnet. Auf Basis der geplanten Nachfragemenge werden diese IT-Services bepreist und in einem IT-Servicekatalog verzeichnet. Dort können sie von den Fachbereichen nachgefragt werden. Im Sinne von Vorteilen werden u.a. eine verursachungsgerechte Kostenverteilung ermöglicht, Kostentransparenz und -vergleichbarkeit geschaffen sowie das Kostenbewusstsein bei Leistungsempfängern und -erstellern gefördert.
Als Nachteil erweist sich der administrative Aufwand zur Durchführung der Kalkulation und in der Folge eine gewisse Statik des Systems, da unterjährige Änderungen nur unter Inkaufnahme von Zusatzaufwand nachgesteuert werden können.
Lean IT
(2017)
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been gaining a lot of attention in the last years. Those courses and their videos are often professionally produced and incorporate a significant investment of time and financial resources. In many cases such courses are “flagship” productions of the associated school or university and produced with budgets lecturers in other institutions do not have available. This makes the use of videos in a regular teaching environment challenging. In addition, lecturers often act in high-teaching-load environments further tightening their capacity constraints. This raises the question whether and how lecturers can benefit from videos in their lectures for increased teaching effectiveness while not sacrificing teaching efficiency.
The paper at hand attempts to address this question by providing a critical perspective on the use of videos in a high-teaching-load environment characterized by little financial and staff resource availability. The paper thereby builds upon the three years’ experience of its author in using videos to enhance lectures in German tertiary education institutions in a multi-language, i.e., English and German, teaching environment. The presented findings are both relevant for teaching practice and research: lecturers may benefit from the presented ideas and experiences and may adopt them for their teaching. Researchers may find starting points for new research opportunities on the effectiveness and efficiency of video-enhanced lecturing and learning.
The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the context of the study from an institutional and technological perspective. Section 3 outlines the methodology applied and 4 how data was collected. Results from data analysis are presented in section 5. The paper concludes with a reflective summary and outlook in section 6.
In today’s business, collaboration in globally distributed teams becomes more and more common. This is particularly the case in professional services and information systems (IS) where the immaterial nature of services makes globally distributed service creation easily possible.
Consequently, companies expect that graduates have intercultural skills and that they are able to work in globally distributed teams, especially in professional services like consulting or in IS. However, management or IS curriculums often lack courses that teach those respective skills.
The suggested course attempts to fill this gap through an innovative course design and delivery. The course intends to replicate a professional project environment in which the students are supposed to deliver a project as a joint international team. In the beginning of the course, students learn key aspects of project management, intercultural management, distributed collaboration, and the professional services industry in a self-paced manner through video lectures. Then they form teams, plan their project, and subsequently execute their project plan jointly. Instructors from the participating institutions supervise and coach the students. The project execution is supposed to resemble a business project with a meeting schedule, agreed deliverables, regular steering committees in which the instructors play the role of the clients.
This paper outlines the concept of this international blended-teaching course. It suggests potential learning objectives, a course description, a teaching syllabus, and an assessment framework.
IT-Backsourcing
(2019)
The importance of information systems (IS) for companies has grown rapidly over the recent years. For example, companies from various industries are focusing their efforts to digitize business models, to adopt agile forms of collaboration, and to leverage automation of routine tasks. This forces companies to review their IS sourcing strategies and to potentially consider alternatives for current outsourcing contracts.
One potential option could be to backsource IS services currently performed by external vendors. Based on empirical observations, previous academics defined it as the repatriation of all assets, activities, and skills needed to perform IS services back in-house, which had been outsourced previously to one or multiple vendors. The distinctive characteristic of backsourcing is the change in ownership back to the mother organization. This distinguishes the term backsourcing from similar terms, e.g., backshoring, reshoring, or relocating, which rather focus on the change in location of the service delivery. At the initial sourcing decision, the strategy to outsource an IS service was considered most promising. However, certain developments both inside the company, but also on a broader industry level may lead to a re-evaluation of the situation and thus to an adjustment of the original sourcing strategy.
Over the last years, there has been a strong increase in cloud-based services and a shift towards the deployment of standardized, almost “industrialized” applications as services. Before, large companies leveraged their size in realizing economies of scale within their sourcing volumes. The raise of cloud computing as well as standardization of service delivery decreased those benefits and led towards a decline in large outsourcing contracts across a variety of services and a growth of multi-sourcing of individual IS services from the respective “best-in-breed” vendors for shorter time periods. Besides sourcing the best vendor for each service, companies that implement multi-sourcing strategies additionally aim for cost benefits due to an increased competition between vendors, and an increase in agility and adaptability.
At the same time, a move towards multi-sourcing strategies with shorter contract durations leads to an increase in so-called “second generation sourcing decisions”, namely whether to continue outsourcing a respective service or to bring the service back in-house. Given the developments within the IS environment, this research projects aims at understanding why IS services are backsourced and which factors influence a company’s decision to backsource an IS service.
The paper presents a research model and a measurement instrument for a research-in-progress study on the antecedents of success in IS offshoring projects. In this empirical-confirmatory study, we intend to analyse the impact of the constructs “offshoring expertise”, “trust in offshore service provider”, “project suitability”, “knowledge transfer”, and “liaison quality” on offshore project success. Constructs and indicators are derived from an extensive literature review. We plan to formulate a structural equation model and to test it using partial least squares (PLS) as an analysis technique. Our research model addresses the paucity of research that quantitatively examines offshoring success.
Shadow IT is a widespread phenomenon which includes systems, services, and processes that are not part of the "official" corporate IT. The topic is still an emerging research area and slowly gaining traction in recent years but a state of the art analysis is missing to date. We therefore conduct a structured literature review to derive a framework for causes, consequences, and governance of Shadow IT. We identify motivators, enablers, and missing barriers as causes for Shadow IT, both positive and negative consequences on an organizational and a technical level and governance approaches which focus on clearance of existing or prevention of future Shadow IT. Our review reveals that constructivist, qualitative design using a case study approach dominates existing research. There are no dominant theories yet to explain Shadow IT. We also highlight possibilities for future research to focus on the less explored governance aspect.
This paper empirically examines the current state of the IS offshoring phenomenon in Germany regarding project characteristics and success patterns. Relying on a sample of 304 projects conducted at various industry sectors and companies, results show that IS offshoring primarily occurs in sectors Telecommunications and IT at large corporations. Cost reduction is the main reason for going offshore and offshore projects are executed as part of a larger program at companies. Noticeably, most projects are delivered from India. Additionally, neither captive offshoring nor offshore outsourcing dominates as a de-livery option. Comparing different project subgroups regarding project success, the results reveal that projects delivered by an internal or partially owned service provider are more successful. Other project characteristics such as a project’s embedded-ness in a larger offshoring program, a project’s size, or a project’s offshoring degree in terms of relatively offshored labor hours show few significant differences. The paper addresses the paucity of empirical research on the current state of the IS offshoring phenomenon in Germany.
IS offshoring research regarding knowledge transfer processes, roles involved, as well as influencing factors is characterized by its diverse and heterogeneous nature. Covering the last fifteen years of IS offshoring research, this paper provides a consolidated view of the field of study. It presents a generic knowledge transfer process consisting of four stages and five milestones. These stages are characterized and evaluated according to their relevance for knowledge transfer, the types of knowledge transferred, the main activities and methods for transfer and testing, as well as the goals pursued. Furthermore, we aggregate the diverse literature findings relating to individuals who facilitate knowledge transfer processes into a general role. We label this role “offshore coordinator” and present its core tasks and necessary skills. In addition, we identify and cluster core factors that influence success or failure of knowledge transfer. In summary, our study answers calls to discontinue with empirically derived definitions in favor of theory-based conceptualization of the IS offshoring research field with respect to knowledge transfer processes, roles, and success factors. Future studies can build on these results and examine questions with respect to particular characteristics of knowledge transfer processes and their influencing success and failure factors.
Lean Management has been successfully applied by companies around the world, mainly in production/manufacturing functions. Recently, the interest to investigate a wider application of Lean Management especially in service functions increased. However, it is not clear how Lean Management can be applied to IT organizations. Therefore, this study aims to provide an overview on common characteristics and future research directions. A literature review on existing scholarly research from January 2004 to June 2014 is conducted. Using a database-driven search approach, a total of 1,206 research contributions are found of which 49 were identified as relevant. Results indicate a low theory grounding of mostly formulative and interpretative research items. This implies that research on Lean Management of IT organizations is still at its nascent state. Content-wise, five research themes emerge. The majority of research investigates IT organizations in a role to support Lean Management in production/manufacturing functions (determining “what to work on”), therefore more research on how Lean Management can be applied to IT organizations themselves (determining “how to work”) could be beneficial. Future research could also try to build on Change Management theories, as the implementation of Lean Management is of transformational character.
Lean Management has been successfully applied in production/manufacturing functions since more than four decades. Recently, the interest to investigate Lean Management also in service functions increased. Therefore, this study aims to (1) Consolidate critical success factors (CSFs) for the implementation of Lean Management of IT organizations; and (2) Describe a theoretical foundation for these CSFs. With respect to (1) a database-driven search was conducted. CSFs then were extracted and categorized. In total 13 CSF groups were assigned to three dimensions: Mindset and behavior; Organization and skills; and Process facilitation and performance management. To understand underlying mechanisms better, and with respect to (2) we related existing (IS) theory to identified groups of CSFs. Especially, five theoretical concepts are discussed: Absorptive capacity, Agency theory, Cognitive dissonance, Dynamic capabilities, and System dynamics. Future research needs to validate the results of (1) and (2) empirically in IT functions.
Ranking-type Delphi is a frequently used method in IS research. However, besides several studies investigating a rigorous application of ranking-type Delphi as a research method, a comprehensive and precise step-by-step guide on how to conduct a rigorous ranking-type Delphi study in IS research is currently missing. In addition, a common critic of Delphi studies in general is that it is unclear if there is indeed authentic consensus of the panelists, or if panelists only agree because of other reasons (e.g. acquiescence bias or tiredness to disagreement after several rounds). This also applies to ranking-type Delphi studies. Therefore, this study aims to (1) Provide a rigorous step-by-step guide to conduct ranking-type Delphi studies through synthesizing results of existing research and (2) Offer an analytical extension to the ranking-type Delphi method by introducing Best/Worst Scaling, which originated in Marketing and Consumer Behavior research. A guiding example is introduced to increase comprehensibility of the proposals. Future research needs to validate the step-by-step guide in an empirical setting as well as test the suitability of Best/Worst Scaling within described research contexts.
In a comprehensive literature review, we identified 21 different terms used for Shadow IT related concepts. This variety makes it difficult to identify related research and build upon it. To address this ambiguity, we reduce the different terms to six distinct concepts by developing a taxonomy and examining their relation¬ships. We do so by using a rigorous iterative methodology to identify common characteristics and to classify terms along them. By clustering the results, we derive and visualize the taxonomy. The identified concepts are Feral Practices, Workarounds, Shadow IT, Shadow Systems, Un-enacted Projects, and Shadow Sourcing. We elaborate on the concepts along their characteristics and clearly define and delimit them. As a result, we create a guide for their usage, increase search- and comparability, and unify existing knowledge.
An appreciation of globalisation issues by information systems (IS) graduates is a growing requirement of organisations with global reach. This paper discusses the planning of a joint course to be delivered online and face to face by two lecturers representing two tertiary institutes in Germany and New Zealand respectively. The IS offshoring content of the course is relatively unique and aspects of globalisation will be demonstrated through the dual country delivery of the course. The two lecturers involved have spent time lecturing and studying in their global partner’s country and tertiary institutes and so this joint delivery method is likely to also strengthen cultural ties between the two participating institutions including the students involved. Further research goals and issues are discussed for post-delivery of this dual country blended course. This paper provides a basis for this concept to be evaluated in further research.
Lean Management has been successfully implemented in production organizations since several decades. The study at hand investigates the implementation of Lean Management to IT organizations (Lean IT). The study offers three contributions: First, it explains on a conceptual level how Lean Management can be transferred from production to IT organizations (philosophy, principles, tools). Second, it provides a theoretical perspective on why Lean IT can be beneficial for IT organizations (IT Slack theory). Third, it provides insights to the stated research questions (three benefits and three propositions) from an initial case study of an internal IT service provider for a large international insurance company (> US$25 Billion revenue; >20,000 employees; active in >120 countries) and lays out the research methodology and potential focus areas for further studies.
Quo vadis IT infrastructure
(2017)
Many IT organizations are confronted with the question whether to modernize their IT infrastructure. While most data centers run on a virtualized environment, Cloud Computing technology emerges with new characteristics on fast provision of standardized resources in a scalable IT infrastructure. Public cloud vendors offer IT services on demand, so that IT organizations do not have to operate their own hardware. Moreover, private cloud architectures gain influence, claiming to provide flexible and elastic IT infrastructure. The paper at hand guides the strategic decision for adoption of Cloud Computing on IT infrastructure. Therefore, we first introduce a taxonomy for IT infrastructure encompassing a technological and a sourcing perspective. Second, we evaluate selective areas of the taxonomy adopting the SWOT framework to understand both opportunities and challenges of Cloud Computing for IT infrastructure from a business perspective.
There is a common understanding amongst academics that information systems (IS) research sometimes has limited relevance for practitioners. This can be explained by the fact that research lags behind the fast moving IS environment, has limited practical applicability and is hard to access. We have focused on the research area of IS backsourcing, and analyzed practitioner literature to increase our understanding of topics of interest for practitioners, to determine a potential gap between academic and practitioner literature, and to identify future research directions in this field. We observed that most publications are either news or background articles, focusing on describing backsourcing cases. Additionally, we identified four recurring themes, namely reasons for backsourcing, presentation of survey results, discussion of industry trends, and backsourcing success stories. The main reasons identified to trigger backsourcing decisions are cost savings, quality improvements, and increasing control and flexibility. By comparing our findings with academic literature on IS backsourcing, we conclude that generally both literature types cover similar topics. However, researchers have a more formulative or interpretive focus than the often descriptive practitioner literature. Academic literature also examines a broader range of topics, while practitioner literature has a narrower focus. Additionally, we observe one difference regarding applied terminology: while researchers employ the term backsourcing, practitioners mostly use back in-house or insourcing. Our paper contributes to facilitating the exchange between academics and practitioners, presents topics to consider when aiming to increase practical relevance and provides researchers with concrete directions for future research within the field of IS backsourcing.
The identification of suitable applications or projects is a main initial step in any software development or maintenance related IS offshoring arrangement. This paper examines evaluation criteria and their importance for selecting application or project candidates for offshoring. Based on a literature analysis and interviews with 47 experts from 36 different German companies describing 64 case examples, we find that in contrast to the literature, “size”, “codification”, and “language” are perceived as important selection criteria by experts. Case examples additionally show that “business specificity” seems to be a main reason for application or project failures, that “business criticality” appears to be less important than suggested by the literature, and that adequate “size” might be a necessary prerequisite, but seems not to be a sufficient criterion for an application’s or project’s suitability for offshoring. These differences in comparison to findings from the literature may be explained by cultural and language differences.
This paper empirically examines the current state of the IS offshoring phenomenon in Germany regarding project characteristics and success patterns. Relying on a sample of 304 projects conducted at various industry sectors and companies, results show that IS offshoring primarily occurs in sectors Telecommunications and IT at large corporations. Cost reduction is the main reason for going offshore and offshore projects are executed as part of a larger program at companies. Noticeably, most projects are delivered from India. Additionally, neither captive offshoring nor offshore outsourcing dominates as a de-livery option. Comparing different project subgroups regarding project success, the results reveal that projects delivered by an internal or partially owned service provider are more successful. Other project characteristics such as a project’s embedded-ness in a larger offshoring program, a project’s size, or a project’s offshoring degree in terms of relatively offshored labor hours show few significant differences. The paper addresses the paucity of empirical research on the current state of the IS offshoring phenomenon in Germany.
This paper develops a categorization of cloud security risks, elaborates how they impact information security, and discusses potential security benefits from cloud sourcing. This review integrates the literature on information systems and computer science to summarize managerial and technological mitigation measures that enhance cloud security. The analysis uncovers gaps regarding the empirical investigation of security considerations in the corporate decision-making process. Specifically, the micro level of how security comes into play in the decision-making process and whether mitigation measures proposed by scholars are practically feasible requires further investigation. Furthermore, the macro level, how stakeholders perceive cloud sourcing, is not yet well understood.
Business-managed IT and Shadow IT describe the autonomous deployment/management of IT instances by business units. For the former, this happens in alignment with the IT organization of the enterprise, for the latter, without alignment. We analyze why and how Business-managed IT and Shadow IT transform knowledge sharing with two case studies drawing on the theoretical lens of the knowledge-based view. Several motivators lead to the autonomous implementation of knowledge management systems (KMSs), for example, shortcomings of existing systems. The implemented KMSs have multiple benefits for knowledge sharing, such as a reduction of knowledge sharing barriers. However, we notice that the Shadow IT KMS leads to challenges for cross-unit knowledge sharing due to the covert nature of Shadow IT. Based on the findings of our case studies, we develop a mid-range theory to explain the transformation of knowledge sharing in enterprises supported by Business-managed IT and Shadow IT.
A quantitative analysis of culture-induced differences in pivotal IT outsourcing contract features
(2019)
More than 30 years after its first implementation, IT outsourcing (ITO) is unanimously considered a critical component of corporate strategy for private and public institutions alike. While implementations of ITO around the world share some common characteristics like typical reasons for outsourcing, key success factors, or dimensions along which they can be classified, extant research also points to regional differences. However, research on this topic, specifically regarding pivotal contract features like contract value, contract length, or pricing methods, is still in its infancy, and quantitative analyses on the subject are particularly scarce. We address this research gap by analyzing data on 14,917 ITO contracts closed between 2007 and 2017 through the lens of cultural regions and three statistical methods. The contribution of our paper is threefold. First, our descriptive analysis points to globally decreasing contract lengths and contract values, confirming previous studies and practice reports. Second, an ANOVA with independent post-hoc testing provides quantitative supportfor the degree of dissimilarity among individual regions in pivotal ITO contract features. Finally, our quantitative replication of a previous study identifies culture-induced regional differences between USA and Japan regarding the effect of influence factors on ITO contract features.
Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) is a very popular training algorithm for deep neural networks, implemented in many machine learning frameworks. To the best of the authors knowledge no complete convergence analysis exists for Adam. The contribution of this paper is a method for the local convergence analysis in batch mode for a deterministic fixed training set, which gives necessary conditions for the hyperparameters of the Adam algorithm. Due to the local nature of the arguments the objective function can be non-convex but must be at least twice continuously differentiable.
One of the most popular training algorithms for deep neural networks is the Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) introduced by Kingma and Ba. Despite its success in many applications there is no satisfactory convergence analysis: only local convergence can be shown for batch mode under some restrictions on the hyperparameters, counterexamples exist for incremental mode. Recent results show that for simple quadratic objective functions limit cycles of period 2 exist in batch mode, but only for atypical hyperparameters, and only for the algorithm without bias correction. We extend the convergence analysis to all choices of the hyperparameters for quadratic functions. This finally answers the question of convergence for Adam in batch mode to the negative. We analyze the stability of these limit cycles and relate our analysis to other results where approximate convergence was shown, but under the additional assumption of bounded gradients which does not apply to quadratic functions. The investigation heavily relies on the use of computer algebra due to the complexity of the equations.
High labor cost in western countries allows cost savings by companies engaging in IS offshoring. However, studies worldwide indicate that a large number of companies that engaged in IS offshoring are not satisfied with the outcome. Our study examined the determinants of IS offshore project success: We developed a model and empirically tested it with data collected from 304 experts who reported on projects offshored from Germany to a wide range of near and distant countries. The model posited a direct effect of offshoring expertise and trust in offshore service provider (OSP) on success, as well as an indirect effect mediated by project suitability, knowledge transfer, and liaison quality. An analysis using partial least squares (PLSs) provided significant support for almost all these relationships. However, it showed that offshoring expertise played a minor role in explaining success and the mediating constructs. Trust in OSP had a small direct effect on success and a medium to large effect on the mediating constructs. Project suitability, knowledge transfer, and liaison quality all had small direct effects on success.
In der Produktion gilt „Lean Management“ als einer der de-facto Standardmanagementansätze. Lean Management in IT-Organisationen (Lean IT) ist dahingegen in der Praxis weniger verbreitet und in der Wissenschaft kaum erforscht. Dieser Beitrag aggregiert und erweitert die Ergebnisse mehrerer Forschungsarbeiten. Dabei werden vorrangig zwei Aspekte diskutiert: (1) Ein mögliches Einführungsmodell für Lean IT. Dieses verknüpft fünf Rollen (Sponsor, Programmleiter, Navigator, Linienführungskraft und Linienexperte) mit vier Phasen (Vorbereitung, Analyse, Gestaltung und Implementierung). (2) Besondere Herausforderungen für Linienführungskräfte, die aufgrund der „bottom up“-Ausrichtung bei Lean-IT-Einführungen stark gefordert werden. Neben einer klaren Vision für die Organisationseinheit und dem Verständnis, an welcher Stelle Lean IT die Organisationseinheit konkret unterstützen kann, benötigen sie Offenheit, Veränderungswillen und die Bereitschaft Verantwortung an Mitarbeiter zu delegieren. Außerdem sollten sie über ein ausreichendes Zeitbudget für die Einführung verfügen, um ihrer gestaltenden und qualitätssichernden Funktion nachkommen zu können.
Basierend auf einer systematischen und umfangreichen Analyse von Praxisbeiträgen zum Thema Schatten-IT, die zwischen September 2015 und August 2016 erschienen sind, beschreibt der vorliegende Artikel Governance-Aspekte zu diesem Phänomen. Er ergänzt damit vorhergehende akademische Studien. Es zeigt sich, dass unter Praktikern der Eindruck vorherrscht, dass IT-Abteilungen unter zunehmendem Druck stehen, schneller auf sich ändernde Anforderungen aus den Fachbereichen reagieren zu müssen. Können IT-Abteilungen diesen Erwartungen nicht entsprechen, beschaffen sich Fachbereiche und Nutzer selbst Lösungen in Form von Schatten-IT. Als mögliche Antwort darauf kann sich die IT-Abteilung agiler organisieren und die IT-Architektur im Unternehmen modernisieren. Eine weitere Möglichkeit besteht darin, sich das innovative Potenzial von Schatten-IT zunutze zu machen und deren Umsetzung aktiv durch organisatorische und technische Maßnahmen zu unterstützen. IT-Sicherheitsmanagement und technische Schutzmechanismen können helfen, die so entstandenen Lösungen abzusichern und die Risiken zu minimieren. Nach vorherrschender Ansicht entwickelt sich die IT-Abteilung als Konsequenz aus all diesen Maßnahmen zu einem nutzerorientierten, internen Service-Provider und strategischen Partner für die Fachbereiche.
An increasing amount of IS offshoring research has been published during the last four years. This paper presents a comprehensive view of the field of study from a managerial point of view. It provides a consolidated view of the field of study between 2010 and 2013 based on a manual search comprising 69 selected journals and 9 conferences, as well as a search using 6 journal databases. The literature review ensures continuity of research by connecting to a comprehensive literature analysis covering the years 1999 to 2009. This way it consolidates and critically reflects the state of the research of the last 14 years. Overall, we compiled 95 relevant publications originating from leading IS journals and IS conference proceedings. The results indicate that IS offshoring research is largely non-theory based, using almost entirely empirical data and interpretive research methods and -to a smaller extent -positivist research designs. The ISO research of the last 14 years focuses on the implementation stages "how" and "outcome" while the pre-implementation-stages “why”, “what”, and “which” are comparatively sparsely researched. Future studies should apply a more theory-driven approach with a greater attention on pre-implementation aspects of information systems offshoring. In addition, future research should investigate the special nature of near- and onshoring, captive offshoring as well asagile (project) management techniques suitable for ISO.
Lean Management is a standard production mode that has been familiar to production organizations for several decades. To date, however, academic literature has presented surprisingly little information about the application of Lean Management in Information Technology (IT) organizations, or what is called Lean IT. Drawing upon an empirical qualitative case study of the IT departments of two multinational companies, in this paper we identify change management lessons learned for Lean IT implementations, as well as seven characteristics of a corresponding change management approach. As an extension of our work, researchers should validate and expand our initial findings, preferably in a quantitative setting.
Information systems backsourcing describes the transferof previously outsourced activities, assets, or personnel back to the originating companyto regain ownership and control. While there is much research on information systems outsourcing, the topic of backsourcing information systemsis still an emerging research area. Therefore, ourpaper aims to explore and synthesizethe existing literature on information systemsbacksourcing, since there is no exhaustiveliteraturereview of the state of the research to our knowledge available yet. In this paper, wecreate a framework to structure the existing research along the overallbacksourcing process. We identifydifferent motivators, such asexpectation gaps, orinternal and external organizational changes, leading towards a backsourcing decision, and factors positively or negatively influencing this decision. Additionally, we derive implementation success factors based on the existing literature to guide companies through the backsourcing process.We also differentiate the term backsourcing from related, sometimes synonymously used terms, by emphasizing the change of ownership back to the company of originas the main criterion.Additionally, we discuss opportunities for future research in the field of information systems backsourcing.
Shadow IT and Business-managed IT describe the autonomous deployment/procurement or management of Information Technology (IT) instances, i.e., software, hardware, or IT services, by business entities. For Shadow IT, this happens covertly, i.e., without alignment with the IT organization; for Business-managed IT this happens overtly, i.e., in alignment with the IT organization or in a split responsibility model. We conduct a systematic literature review and structure the identified research themes in a framework of causing factors, outcomes, and governance. As causing factors, we identify enablers, motivators, and missing barriers. Outcomes can be benefits as well as risks/shortcomings of Shadow IT and Business-managed IT. Concerning governance, we distinguish two subcategories: general governance for Shadow IT and Business-managed IT and instance governance for overt Business-managed IT. Thus, a specific set of governance approaches exists for Business-managed IT that cannot be applied to Shadow IT due to its covert nature. Hence, we extend the existing conceptual understanding and allocate research themes to Shadow IT, Business-managed IT, or both concepts and particularly distinguish the governance of the two concepts. Besides, we find that governance themes have been the primary research focus since 2016, whereas older publications (until 2015) focused on causing factors.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the main tasks, necessary skills, and the implementation of the offshore coordinator’s role to facilitate knowledge transfer in information systems (IS) offshoring.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical exploratory study uses the classical Delphi method that includes one qualitative and two quantitative rounds to collect data on IS experts’ perceptions to seek a consensus among them.
Findings
The participants agreed, with strong consensus, for a set of 16 tasks and 15 skills. The tasks focused primarily on relationship management and facilitating knowledge transfer on different levels. The set of skills consists of approximately 25 per cent “hard” skills, e.g. professional language skills and project management skills, and approximately 75 per cent “soft” skills, e.g. interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to deal with conflict. Two factors mainly influence implementing the offshore coordinator role: project size and the number of projects to be supported simultaneously.
Practical implications
The findings provide indications of how to define and fulfill this crucial role in practice to facilitate the knowledge transfer process in a positive way.
Originality/value
Similarities in previous research findings are aggregated to examine the intermediate role in detail from a consolidated perspective. This results in the first comprehensive set of critical tasks and skills assigned to the competency dimensions of the universal competency framework, demonstrating which and how many competency dimensions are critical.
Research on Shadow IT is facing a conceptual dilemma in cases where previously “covert” systems developed by business entities are integrated in the organizational IT management. These systems become visible, are thus not “in the shadows” anymore, and subsequently do not fit to existing definitions of Shadow IT. Practice shows that some information systems share characteristics of Shadow IT but are created openly in alignment with the IT organization. This paper proposes the term “Business-managed IT” to describe “overt” information systems developed or managed by business entities and distinguishes it from Shadow IT by illustrating case vignettes. Accordingly,our contribution is to suggest a concept and its delineation against other concepts. In this way, IS researchers interested in IT originated from or maintained by business entities can construct theories with a wider scope of application that are at the same time more specific to practical problems. In addition, the terminology allows to value potentially innovative developments by business entities more adequately.
Purpose
With the rise of digitization, IT organizations are challenged to provide efficient service delivery and offer innovative digital solutions while maintaining a constant resource capacity. To address this challenge, some IT organizations have adopted Lean Management (LM). Although LM is a standard production mode in manufacturing, it is less familiar to IT organizations. The purpose of this paper is to identify 12 lessons learned from companies who implemented LM in their IT organization (Lean IT) to free up their IT resource capacity from existing day-to-day operations so they could use it to enable their digitization strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of two major international companies from different industries. Data were collected from 25 structured interviews.
Findings
The lessons learned provide insights into how these companies implemented Lean IT, the potential outcomes they aimed for, what they did to achieve those outcomes, how they facilitated the implementation of Lean IT, and restrictions they encountered during the implementation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based on a limited range of IT organizations.
Practical implications
The lessons learned inform those implementing Lean IT because they explain how companies have implemented Lean IT to facilitate digitization and the benefits and pitfalls they encountered. A comparison of Lean IT and Lean Production shows that LM is transferable to IT organizations if domain specific requirements are respected.
Originality/value
This paper reports the unique experience of companies implementing Lean IT, which can inform other companies in a similar situation.
Incomplete conceptualization of the information technology outsourcing (ITO) literature represents a challenge for navigating extant research and engaging into purposeful academic discourse. We extend the analysis of empirical findings on determinants of ITO decisions, outcomes, and governance. We identify increasing levels of research maturity, analyze effects of 38 new independent variables, highlight contradictory findings, and observe increasing interest in emerging topics such as innovation through ITO and multisourcing.
To prepare their IT landscape for future business challenges, companies are changing their IT sourcing arrangements by using selective sourcing approaches as well as multi-sourcing with more but smaller sourcing contracts. Companies therefore have to reconsider and re-evaluate their IT sourcing setup more frequently. Collecting data from 251 global experts, we empirically tested the effect of service quality, relationship quality, and switching costs on IT sourcing decisions using partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Drawing on previously conducted expert interviews, our model extends previous studies and introduces a decision maker’s sourcing preferences as a not yet examined moderator on IT sourcing decisions. This allows us to investigate the influence of the decision maker’s beliefs on the decision process. We were able to confirm the negative effect of switching costs on a decision in favor of backsourcing, however we could not find significant support for the remaining hypotheses. We further discuss potential reasons for our findings and suggest future research opportunities based on our contribution.