Enterprise System Integration: Issues and Answers
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ItemContractual and Relational Governance, ICT Skills and Organization Adaptations, and Cloud Computing Benefits( 2018-01-03)Cloud Computing (CC) has high potential to offer to firms important benefits, concerning both costs reduction, and in general efficiency improvements, as well as innovation facilitation and support. However, these benefits are not straightforward and auto-matically generated; their realization as well as their magnitude will depend on a variety of factors. Nevertheless, limited empirical research has been conducted in order to identify CC benefits’ determinants. This paper contributes to filling this research gap. It empirically investigates the effects of a) the contractual and relational governance of firm’s relationships with its CC services providers, and b) the adaptations of the skills of firm’s ICT personnel, as well as its internal ICT organization, to this new CC paradigm, on the magnitude of CC bene-fits. Our study uses data collected through a questionnaire from 115 Greek firms using CC services. It has been concluded that all the above four examined factors impact positively the benefits firms obtain from CC; the effect of the adaptation of the skills of firm’s ICT personnel is the strongest, followed by the effect of the relational governance.
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ItemCloud Computing in SMEs: A Qualitative Approach to Identify and Evaluate Influential Factors( 2018-01-03)In the age of ubiquitous digitalization, there are opportunities to relocate miscellaneous activities to the cloud, e.g. data storage, computing operations or even entire services. This has a massive impact on nearly all branches of industries as well as for private individuals. However, the reasons for adoption or rejection of these technologies are still underrepresented in academic literature. During the study at hand, qualitative expert interviews are designed and conducted to elicit reasons for the adoption of cloud services in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). The study presents a list of explored influencing factors, ranked in order to their relevance. In addition to the ones abstracted from the literature, the study identifies five more factors with an influence on the adoption of cloud services in the investigated area. The result of the evaluation is that the security and handling of data have the highest significance for German SMEs. Thus, trust, privacy and security are the most relevant influencing factors.
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ItemInstantiations of an ERP Implementation Methodology: A Critical Realist Case Study( 2018-01-03)New or revised implementation methodologies are introduced by Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems vendors to improve the results of ERP systems implementations. In spite of an implementation methodology’s potential and significance for practice, little attention has been paid to this object of study in enterprise systems literature. Moreover, current studies reveal contradictory findings and provide a fragmented understanding. The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the emergence of an implementation methodology instantiations through the lens of a realist social theory underpinned by critical realism. Our qualitative study provides explanatory insights and a rich description of an implementation methodology instantiations generated over time. This study also provides guidance for practitioners, to anticipate potential implementation methodology instantiations and identify the conditions contributing to their occurrence and change, and contribute to a more coherent view on implementation methodology instantiations as an issue of organisational change.
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ItemIdentifying the Critical Success Factors for Low Customized ERP System Implementations in SMEs( 2018-01-03)So far the level of ERP system customization has not been taken into account when identifying critical success factors for ERP implementations in small to medium size enterprises (SMEs). This research empirically tests the influence of the level of system customization on success factors by surveying 216 SMEs. We find that motivation system and project team empowerment are more important in low customized ERP implementations. This study is relevant to both theory and practice as it identifies and analyzes factors contributing to a higher success rate in low customized ERP system implementations in SMEs.
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