Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Informationstechnik FIT

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  • Publication
    Robotic Process Automation
    ( 2020)
    Hofmann, Peter
    ;
    Samp, Caroline
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    Within digital transformation, which is continuously progressing, robotic process automation (RPA) is drawing much corporate attention. While RPA is a popular topic in the corporate world, the academic research lacks a theoretical and synoptic analysis of RPA. Conducting a literature review and tool analysis, we propose in a holistic and structured way four traits that characterize RPA, providing orientation as well as a focus for further research. Software robots automate processes originally performed by human work. Thus, software robots follow a choreography of technological modules and control flow operators while operating within IT ecosystems and using established applications. Ease-of-use and adaptability allow companies to conceive and implement software robots through (agile) projects. Organizational and IT strategy, governance structures, and management systems therefore must address both the direct effects of software robots automating processes and their indirect impacts on firms.
  • Publication
    Machine Learning Approaches along the Radiology Value Chain - Rethinking Value Propositions
    ( 2019)
    Hofmann, Peter
    ;
    Oesterle, Severin
    ;
    Rust, Paul
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    Radiology is experiencing an increased interest in machine learning with its ability to use a large amount of available data. However, it remains unclear how and to what extent machine learning will affect radiology businesses. Conducting a systematic literature review and expert interviews, we compile the opportunities and challenges of machine learning along the radiology value chain to discuss their implications for the radiology business. Machine learning can improve diagnostic quality by reducing human errors, accurately analysing large amounts of data, quantifying reports, and integrating data. Hence, it strengthens radiology businesses seeking product or service leadership. Machine learning fosters efficiency by automating accompanying activities such as generating study protocols or reports, avoiding duplicate work due to low image quality, and supporting radiologists. These efficiency improvements advance the operational excellence strategy. By providing personnel and proactive medical solutions beyond the radiology silo, machine learning supports a customer intimacy strategy. However, the opportunities face challenges that are technical (i.e., lack of data, weak labelling, and generalisation), legal (i.e., regulatory approval and privacy laws), and persuasive (i.e., radiologists resistance and patients distrust). Our findings shed light on the strategic positioning of radiology businesses, contributing to academic discourse and practical decision-making.
  • Publication
    Juggling the Paradoxes - Governance Mechanisms in Bimodal IT Organizations
    ( 2019)
    Jöhnk, Jan
    ;
    Oesterle, Severin
    ;
    Winkler, Till J.
    ;
    Nørbjerg, Jacob
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    The fundamental changes associated with digitalization demand businesses and public enterprises to balance exploitative and explorative capabilities in their internal IT function. One approach to balance these paradoxical demands is the adoption of twofold organizational structures often referred to as bimodal IT. While the IS literature has made recent advances in the description and analysis of bimodal organization structures, we still lack a deeper understanding of the inner workings within bimodal IT organizations and the potential tensions between traditional and agile IT. To address this research gap, we adopt IT governance mechanisms as an analytical framework to study two bimodal IT organization cases, one at a law enforcement agency and the other at an automotive company. We analyze data collected through fourteen semi-structured interviews using grounded theory techniques. We first identify challenges associated with the implementation of and the coordination within organization's bimodal IT organizations. We then identify the structural, procedural, and relational governance mechanisms used within these organizations and elucidate how they relate to the categories of challenges. Finally, we identify and describe five novel governance paradoxes of bimodal IT organizations that emerged as core concepts from this research. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
  • Publication
    To measure is to know: Development of an instrument for measuring consulting service value
    ( 2019)
    Oesterle, Severin
    ;
    Buchwald, Arne
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    While their fundamental business model has not changed for many decades, consulting firms are currently faced with serious challenges putting the complete market at the risk of disruption. Given that situation, it is essential for consultancies to understand how value emerges in consulting projects in the eyes of their clients. Turning to the customer perspective, it is also important to understand how value emerges from the relationship with consultancies. While previous literature provides valuable but fragmented starting points to explain the joint value creation in IT consulting projects, we suggested a synthesized conceptual model drawing on the service-dominant logic in a previous article that integrates both the service provider and client perspectives. In this article, we now put forth a measurement instrument that we subjected to a preliminary empirical validation with which the important determinants in both spheres can be assessed to ultimately explain the value of the IT consulting service in a follow-up, large-scale quantitative-empirical validation.
  • Publication
    Disentangling the Concept and Role of Continuous Change for IS Research - A Systematic Literature Review
    ( 2019)
    Hinsen, Silvana
    ;
    Jöhnk, Jan
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    To ensure their business success in the digital age, organizations must continuously adapt to an increasingly hypercompetitive environment. Although the topic of continuous change has been addressed by previous research, we perceive a lack of attention on continuous change as an appropriate organizational change approach to tackle the challenges of digital business in the IS domain. Thus, our research goal is to analyze what IS research can learn from extant literature on continuous organizational change in today's business environments. By carrying out a systematic literature review and analyzing 34 relevant papers, we identify and describe five major research streams which explore continuous change from different perspectives. Furthermore, we discuss links to well-known theoretical concepts to stimulate interdisciplinary exchange and we present a research agenda to transfer the identified results into the IS domain. Finally, we provide organizations with guidance to manage the challenges of digital business.
  • Publication
    Self-Tracking and Gamification: Analyzing the Interplay of Motivations, Usage and Motivation Fulfillment
    ( 2019)
    Gimpel, Henner
    ;
    Nüske, Niclas
    ;
    Rückel, Timon
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    ;
    Entreß-Fürsteneck, Matthias von
    The usage of wearable self-tracking devices has emerged as a big trend in lifestyle and personal optimization concerning health, fitness, and well-being. In this context, gamification elements have the potential to contribute to achieving desired user behavior. However, it is not fully understood to which extent the users perceive their self-tracking motivations as being fulfilled through the usage of a wearable self-tracking device, and how gamification affects the interplay of self-tracking motivations, wearable self-tracking device usage, and motivation fulfillment. To address this research gap, we develop a conceptual model and validate it with survey research and structural equation modeling. We find that self-tracking helps users to unexpectedly fulfill motivations without previously striving for them and that significant differences exist between the gamification users and non-users with respect to their motivations by selfentertainment and self-design.
  • Publication
    Less Complex than Expected - What Really Drives IT Consulting Value
    ( 2019)
    Oesterle, Severin
    ;
    Buchwald, Arne
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    Digitalization has a broad impact and the risk of external disruption is omnipresent throughout all industries which also applies to IT consulting firms. One response to this threat is to understand better the determinants of how value is created during the joint work on an IT project. Although previous literature offers valuable starting points for explaining value co-creation, no previous research synthesizes service provider and client perspective in a comprehensive model and empirically explains the co-creation of IT consulting service value. We build on the service-dominant (S-D) logic as the fundamental meta-theory and evaluate our deductively derived structural model based on 113 collected responses from IT consulting projects using structural equation modeling. Our major finding is that IT consulting service value only seems to be determined by consultant capabilities. Our findings provide new insights for S-D logic and service science literature and potential for future research.
  • Publication
    KI - Eine Aufgabe für das ganze Unternehmen
    ( 2019)
    Urbach, Nils
    ;
    Hofmann, Peter
    ;
    Protschky, Dominik
    Ein 35-jähriger Rundenrekord auf dem Nürburgring wird dank dem Einsatz von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) um eindrucksvolle 51,58 Sekunden unterboten. Die Maschine schlägt den Menschen jetzt auch beim Pokern und beherrscht dabei sogar das Bluffen. Es vergeht kaum eine Woche, in der kein neuer Durchbruch im KI-Wettrennen verkündet wird. Eben diese technischen Durchbrüche erzeugen abermals hohe Erwartungen an das Potenzial der Technologie. Wer im KI-Wettrennen nicht abgehängt werden möchte, steht vor der Herausforderung, die Technologie und ihre Anwendungen im Gesamtunternehmenskontext zu verankern. So werden sich die CxOs schon bald wünschen, bereits früher über ihre KI-Strategie nachgedacht zu haben.
  • Publication
    KI, mein Freund und Helfer - Herausforderungen und Implikationen für die Mensch-KI-Interaktion
    (Ernst & Young, 2019)
    Alan, Yilmaz
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    ;
    Hinsen, Silvana
    ;
    Jöhnk, Jan
    ;
    Beisel, Patrick
    ;
    Weißert, Malte
    ;
    Blumenthal, Stephan
    ;
    Hofmann, Peter
    Künstliche Intelligenz durchdringt unser Privat- und Berufsleben immer stärker und ist bereits fester Bestandteil davon. Wir als Menschen sehen uns damit der Herausforderung gegenüber, in unserem Alltag immer öfter mit KI zu interagieren. Wer KI-Lösungen gestaltet, sollte sich daher nicht nur auf ihre technologische Weiterentwicklung fokussieren, es muss auch gleichermaßen um die Interaktion zwischen Mensch und KI gehen. Basierend auf einer fundierten wissenschaftlichen Recherche und ergänzenden Interviews mit KI-Experten und -Lösungsanbietern vermittelt die vorliegende Studie ein umfangreiches Verständnis der heutigen und zukünftigen Mensch-KI-Interaktion. Darüber hinaus widmet sie sich den korrespondierenden Implikationen. Im Zuge der Analyse wurden fünf unterschiedliche Interaktionstypen identifiziert, die sich anhand ihrer charakteristischen Interaktionsdimensionen und Bewertungsmerkmale abgrenzen lassen. Diese Interaktionstypen typisieren wir anhand der Begriffe ""Schutzengel"", ""Heinzelmännchen"", ""Informant"", ""Kollege"" und ""bester Freund"". Sie lassen sich drei unterschiedlichen Gruppen zuordnen: KI als Automat, KI als vielfältiger Helfer und KI als Partner. Darüber hinaus unterliegen Mensch-KI-Interaktionen einer Vielzahl von Einflussfaktoren. Hierbei hat sich gezeigt, dass die menschliche Erwartungshaltung in der Interaktion mit KI-Lösungen durch deren Transparenz, Personalisierung und Anthropomorphologie beeinflusst wird. Interaktionen, die dieser Erwartungshaltung gerecht werden, schaffen mit der Zeit Akzeptanz und Vertrauen gegenüber einer KI-Lösung. Akzeptanz und Vertrauen wirken sich wiederum auf die Erwartungshaltung und auf die Gestalt zukünftiger Interaktionen aus. Mit Blick auf die zukünftige Mensch-KI-Interaktion haben wir zehn Thesen formuliert, welche die wesentlichen Veränderungen dieser Interaktion zusammenfassen. Dabei geht es nicht nur um die erfolgreiche Gestaltung heutiger Anwendungsszenarien, ebenso kommt es auf die Vorbereitung zukünftiger Entwicklungen an. Daher müssen Unternehmen in den Bereichen Strategie, Technologie und Organisation mit Bedacht agieren. Die Studie stellt diese Bereiche den relevanten Chancen wie auch Herausforderungen gegenüber und zeigt korrespondierende Handlungsfelder auf.
  • Publication
    Insights into personal ICT use: Understanding continuance and discontinuance of wearable self-tracking devices
    ( 2018)
    Buchwald, Arne
    ;
    Letner, Albert
    ;
    Urbach, Nils
    ;
    Entreß-Fürsteneck, Matthias von
    Wearable self-tracking devices become increasingly common in our society and reflect the trend to-wards the digitized individual. However, little is known what drives the continuance and discontinuance usage of such devices. To empirically analyze factors leading to continuance and discontinuance of wearable self-tracking device usage, we develop a conceptual model based on established post-adoption concepts and the dual-factor theory. We validate it by applying structural equation modeling on collected survey data among 357 self-tracking users. Whereas previous research focuses on predicting continuance intentions, our results reveal discontinuance to be another decisive determinant of usage behavior. Additionally, we provide insights into factors driving continuance and discontinuance intentions and derive practical implications for producers. Our results advance the theoretical dis-course on IS post-adoption behavior in a personal ICT context.