An integrated view of IT and business processes through extended IT governance allows financial institutions to innovate operations which improve business and organizational performance. However, financial institutions still face challenges with CRM systems in delivering expected results due to lack of complete business integration. Increased exchange of knowledge between customers and the amount of such data available is steadily becoming a challenge for companies, especially in extending internal systems to global information systems with the purpose to collect and update data on a global scale. In this book, Prof. Rajola analyses different aspects of CRM systems taking both an organizational and a technological perspective. He adopts a theoretical framework to unpack issues associated with the need for companies to integrate operations and business processes. The emphasis is then drawn to development of effective CRM (and CRM 2.0) initiatives by making use of illustrative case studies of successful CRM systems implementation in the financial industry. The framework adopted in this book can be used by both scholars and managers to evaluate the interdependencies between operations, business processes, and CRM systems. .

This book inclusively and systematically presents the fundamental methods, models and techniques of practical application of grey data analysis, bringing together the authors' many years of theoretical exploration, real-life application, and teaching. It also reflects the majority of recent theoretical and applied advances in the theory achieved by scholars from across the world, providing readers a vivid overall picture of this new theory and its pioneering research activities. The book includes 12 chapters, covering the introduction to grey systems, a novel framework of grey system theory, grey numbers and their operations, sequence operators and grey data mining, grey incidence analysis models, grey clustering evaluation models, series of GM models, combined grey models, techniques for grey systems forecasting, grey models for decision-making, techniques for grey control, etc. It also includes a software package that allows practitioners to conveniently and practically employ the theory and methods presented in this book. All methods and models presented here were chosen for their practical applicability and have been widely employed in various research works. I still remember 1983, when I first participated in a course on Grey System Theory. The mimeographed teaching materials had a blue cover and were presented as a book. It was like finding a treasure: This fascinating book really inspired me as a young intellectual going through a period of confusion and lack of academic direction. It shone with pearls of wisdom and offered a beacon in the mist for a man trying to find his way in academic research. This book became the guiding light in my life journey, inspiring me to forge an indissoluble bond with Grey System Theory. --Sifeng Liu

Drawing on the author's recent and ongoing research this book explores how to build the organizational capability to realise the strategic potential of information technology. It tackles the gap between theory and practice and how to gain wider adoption of successful socio-technical and benefits-driven approaches to investments in IT.

Organizational Semiotics: Evolving a Science of Information Systems covers such issues as:
-Fundamental concepts such as 'information', 'data', 'message', 'communication', 'knowledge', 'organization', 'system' and so on;
-Properties of signs vital to organizational functioning, such as their meanings, the intentions they express and the valuable social consequences they produce;
-'Architecture' of organizations when they are viewed as information systems, based on their semiotics features;
-Understanding language in organizational contexts, for example, the limitations on the language used to conduct business affairs;
-The empirical study of communications for requirements elicitation;
-Applying semiotic categories (e.g. physical, empiric, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, social) to various problems;
-Organizational knowledge representation;
-Business process re-engineering methods and the design of e-commerce systems.

This book is published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. The editors present essential methods and tools to support a holistic approach to the challenge of system upgrades and innovation in the context of high-value products and services. The approach presented here is based on three main pillars: an adaptation mechanism based on a broad understanding of system dependencies; efficient use of system knowledge through involvement of actors throughout the process; and technological solutions to enable efficient actor communication and information handling. The book provides readers with a better understanding of the factors that influence decisions, and put forward solutions to facilitate the rapid adaptation to changes in the business environment and customer needs through intelligent upgrade interventions. Further, it examines a number of sample cases from various contexts including car manufacturing, utilities, shipping and the furniture industry. The book offers a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners interested in the upgrading of capital-intensive products and services. "The work performed in the project "Use-It-Wisely (UiW)" significantly contributes towards a collaborative way of working. Moreover, it offers comprehensive system modelling to identify business opportunities and develop technical solutions within industrial value networks. The developed UiW-framework fills a void and offers a great opportunity. The naval construction sector of small passenger vessels, for instance, is one industry that can benefit." Nikitas Nikitakos, Professor at University of the Aegean, Department of Shipping, Trade, and Transport, Greece. "Long-life assets are crucial for both the future competiveness and sustainability of society. Make wrong choices now and you are locked into a wrong system for a long time. Make the right choices now and society can prosper. This book gives important information about how manufacturers can make right choices." Arnold Tukker, Scientific director, Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Leiden University, and senior scientist, TNO.

The importance and value of tracking and sharing the dispersed knowledge resources of contemporary organizations have received widespread rec- nition in recent years. It is widely believed that with the transition from the industrial to information-based economies, organizational knowledge has emerged as the single most critical resource at both macro- and mic- levels. A major challenge for most organizations during this transition and beyond is to learn to deal with the intricacies of discovering knowledge from the vast amounts of data being generated, identifying pockets of - portant knowledge in various forms, to devise strategies and techniques to formalize parts that lend themselves to codification, and to nurture tech- cal and other solutions with which useful knowledge can be shared among relevant participants. This has the potential to produce greater knowledge utilization leading to multiplier effects in organizational performance. This calls for an approach in which both the organizational and technological dimensions of the challenge are better understood and effectively integ- ted. The papers included in this volume were selected from a collection of papers presented at an invitation-only workshop entitled 'Knowledge - nagement (KM) and the Global Firm: Organizational and Technological Dimensions' held at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia in February 2003. The workshop was made possible by a generous grant from the Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Pit- burgh, USA.

Collaborating in virtual teams is a new reality in modern project management and work environments. Its emergence calls for an extensive analysis and re-alignment on the part of organizations, so as to help virtual teams maintain 'strategic momentum' - a concept that this book introduces. Strategic momentum represents perseverance with regard to pursuing a virtual team's strategy; a 'flywheel' concept that drives the team members to concentrate on the project tasks until they have reached their shared goal. The authors present a design science based model, together with an in-depth qualitative study involving eight virtual R&D project teams. In this model, strategic momentum is assessed in terms of empowerment, team task insight, and collective commitment. These three determinants can be promoted and sustained by various contextual factors and interventions on the part of the management. The authors also provide a wealth of practical tips to help practitioners and consultants generate and sustain strategic momentum in their own contexts when working with virtual teams.

The purpose of the 4th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS) was to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the advances and business applications of information systems. The research papers focused on real world applications covering four main themes: Enterprise Database Applications, Artificial Intelligence Applications and Decision Support Systems, Systems Analysis and Specification, and Internet and Electronic Commerce.
This book will be of interest to information technology professionals, especially those working on systems integration, databases, decision support systems or electronic commerce. It will also be of use to middle managers who need to work with information systems and require knowledge of current trends in development methods and applications.

This book, written by an interdisciplinary team of authors, explores the transformation of organizations in today's volatile, uncertain, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. It demonstrates the need to manage organizations in a dynamic way, and to revisit and in some cases reinvent working and leadership styles that seemed appropriate during past decades and centuries. In turn, the book puts forward a model based on three distinct pillars of organization and leadership to suit disruptive times: the concepts of 'Sustainable Purpose', 'Travelling Organization', and 'Connecting Resources'. These pillars challenge many of our traditional organizational patterns and meet the need for effective transformative approaches.

The e-commerce revolution has allowed many organizations around the world to become more effective and efficient in managing their resources. Through the use of e-commerce many businesses can now cut the cost of doing business with their customers in a speed that could only be imagined a decade ago. However, doing business on the Internet has opened up business to additional vulnerabilities and misuse. It has been estimated that the cost of misuse and criminal activities related to e-commerce now exceeds 10 billion dollars per year, and many experts predict that this number will increase in the future. IT Solutions Series: E-Commerce Security: Advice from Experts provides insight and practical knowledge obtained from industry leaders regarding the overall successful management of e-commerce practices and solutions.

Facing the challenge of the fast changing technological environment, many companies are developing an interest in the field of technology intelligence. Their aim is to support the decision-making process by taking advantage of a well-timed preparation of relevant information by means of systematic identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and application of this information. This book covers the gap in literature by showing how a technology intelligence system can be designed and implemented.

Based on papers from the 4th Business Systems Laboratory International Symposium (BSLAB) in 2016, this volume contributes to the business management, organizational and innovation literature by providing insights on the antecedents of systems thinking in the business systems domain. The Business Systems Laboratory International Symposium addresses current global economic and social challenges from a systemic perspective, drawing from the domains of management, economics, engineering and sociology. In particular, the 2016 Symposium focuses on the epistemological, theoretical, methodological, technical and practical contributions that represent advancements in the theory and practice of governing business systems to address present and future challenges in the global economy. The contributions explore the application of systems thinking to governance, involving the introduction of new administrative organizational and managerial activities aimed toward organizational innovation and control.

This book provides a framework and real case analyses concerning business architecture strategy and platform-based ecosystems. Firstly, the book introduces a framework of business architecture strategy and suggests an engineering process that employs a business architecture analysis system in which the various business best-practices information technology (IT) tools are integrated into an interface. More specifically, this architecture analysis provides the means to realize two essential features: a strategy that allows global firms to sense changing market needs, and a tool that combines mechanical engineering with electronics and software IT tools. Secondly, the book discusses platform-based ecosystems. Crucial issues for today's firms are associated with value creation through their platform and ecosystem framework. With a major emphasis on modular product architecture, US firms have focused heavily on platform development in modular industries. Their base is operation system (OS) software, so that IT firms in general focus on software capabilities-and digital control in particular. In contrast, the advantage for Japanese firms is not digital but analog control. Without any drastic changes in their industry practices, Japanese firms are likely to sustain their analog platform advantage. The book subsequently puts forward a holistic view through the connection of business architecture strategy and platform-based ecosystems. The theoretical framework and case illustrations are especially useful to firms involved in a variety of industries that must respond to the turbulent environmental changes of the digital era. Most of the cases target not only Japanese firms but also many other global firms. Readers are systematically shown how to balance technological competence and customer competence by using the framework of business architecture strategy and platform-based ecosystems.

This volume is intended to aid both those organizations considering the establishment of an institutional archives and those practicing archivists needing materials to assist them in evaluating their programs and planning for their development. The author's theme is that archival programs found in corporate, educational, cultural, and religious institutions are necessary both to the organizations themselves and their efficient functioning and to society's concern for preserving its documentary heritage. Managing Institutional Archives covers all aspects of managing an archival program. There are chapters on appraisal and acquisition; preservation and security; arrangement, description, and reference; internal and external support, fund-raising and grantsmanship; and cooperation. The impact of new information technology on organizations and the implications for their archives are discussed. A detailed examination of three case studies of archives is provided. The final chapter is a description of sources for additional assistance in managing institutional archives. Managing Institutional Archives will be useful to archival specialists, administrators, educators, and others needing guidance about the elements of managing archives. Its contents is based on a wide-reading of archival theory and practice and nearly two decades of archival experience by the author.

Since the early eighties IFIP/Sec has been an important rendezvous for Information Technology researchers and specialists involved in all aspects of IT security. The explosive growth of the Web is now faced with the formidable challenge of providing trusted information. IFIP/Sec'01 is the first of this decade (and century) and it will be devoted to "Trusted Information - the New Decade Challenge" This proceedings are divided in eleven parts related to the conference program. Session are dedicated to technologies: Security Protocols, Smart Card, Network Security and Intrusion Detection, Trusted Platforms. Others sessions are devoted to application like eSociety, TTP Management and PKI, Secure Workflow Environment, Secure Group Communications, and on the deployment of applications: Risk Management, Security Policies andTrusted System Design and Management. The year 2001 is a double anniversary. First, fifteen years ago, the first IFIP/Sec was held in France (IFIP/Sec'86, Monte-Carlo) and 2001 is also the anniversary of smart card technology. Smart cards emerged some twenty years ago as an innovation and have now become pervasive information devices used for highly distributed secure applications. These cards let millions of people carry a highly secure device that can represent them on a variety of networks. To conclude, we hope that the rich "menu" of conference papers for this IFIP/Sec conference will provide valuable insights and encourage specialists to pursue their work in trusted information.

The book presents a conceptually novel oscillations based paradigm, the Oscillation-Based Multi-Agent System (OSIMAS), aimed at the modelling of agents and their systems as coherent, stylized, neurodynamic processes. This paradigm links emerging research domains via coherent neurodynamic oscillation based representations of the individual human mind and society (as a coherent collective mind) states. Thus, this multidisciplinary paradigm delivers an empirical and simulation research framework that provides a new way of modelling the complex dynamics of individual and collective mind states. This book addresses a conceptual problem - the lack of a multidisciplinary, connecting paradigm, which could link fragmented research in the fields of neuroscience, artificial intelligence (AI), multi-agent system (MAS) and the social network domains. The need for a common multidisciplinary research framework essentially arises because these fields share a common object of investigation and simulation, i.e., individual and collective human behavior. Although the fields of research mentioned above all approach this from different perspectives, their common object of investigation unites them. By putting the various pathways of research as they are interrelated into perspective, this book provides a philosophical underpinning, experimental background and modelling tools that the author anticipates will reveal new frontiers in multidisciplinary research. Fundamental investigation of the implicit oscillatory nature of agents' mind states and social mediums in general can reveal some new ways of understanding the periodic and nonperiodic fluctuations taking place in real life. For example, via agent states-related diffusion properties, we could investigate complex economic phenomena like the spread of stock market crashes, currency crises, speculative oscillations (bubbles and crashes), social unrest, recessionary effects, sovereign defaults, etc. All these effects are closely associated with social fragility, which follows and is affected by cycles such as production, political, business and financial. Thus, the multidisciplinary OSIMAS paradigm can yield new knowledge and research perspectives, allowing for a better understanding of social agents and their social organization principles.

Information systems have become so complex and intertwined with process and politics that they now constitute an ecology in which executives must manage subtle human relationships and intricate group interactions as well as computers, networks, software, and individual experts. Hasenyager maintains that for most large corporations building better business technology linkage is a survival essential, enabling them to sustain their vital systems and simultaneously transform them to meet competitive pressures and exploit emerging technology. Written by an experienced manager, this book offers a persuasive discussion of the importance of business technology linkage and practical steps on how to build it in your company. It focuses on management essentials - deciding how much to spend and invest, choosing how to organize, and defining how to measure and reward performance. After an analysis of how to decide how much to spend and what to spend it on, Hasenyager describes how business and technology people within an organization deal with each other. He offers a way to classify relationships based on perceived common interest among people and their relative authority, then focuses on partnerships and teams as the most effective models for business technology linkage. He describes the kinds of teams needed for system development and infrastructure management in the information ecology. With special focus on how ^Iad hoc^R teams relate to an organization's traditional hierarchy, specific suggestions are given on how to establish accountability within teams and how to evaluate team performance. The book concludes with state-of-the-art information connecting organization structure, business technology linkage, and company profitability, followed by 14 principles of information technology management. Senior corporate managers will find this a unique, provocative, and constructive addition to their personal and company libraries on management skills and methods.

The first part of this book contains three case studies which illustrate the idea of knowledge networks for growth. The step-by-step methodology of the second part shows the reader how to build up and maintain these networks. The templates in the last part of the book ease the adaptation of networks for the reader's own company or his or her specific business needs.

In this volume organizational learning theory is used to analyse various practices of managing and facilitating knowledge sharing within companies. Experiences with three types of knowledge sharing, namely knowledge acquisition, knowledge reuse, and knowledge creation, at ten large companies are discussed and analyzed. This critical analysis leads to the identification of traps and obstacles when managing knowledge sharing, when supporting knowledge sharing with IT tools, and when organizations try to learn from knowledge sharing practices. The identification of these risks is followed by a discussion of how organizations can avoid them.

This work will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in organization science and business administration. Also, consultants and organizations at large will find the book useful as it will provide them with insights into how other organizations manage and facilitate knowledge sharing and how potential failures can be prevented.

The essentials of comprehensible specifications of business and of system artefacts ought to be used by, and therefore understandable to, all customers of these specifications - business subject matter experts, decision makers, analysts, IT architects and developers. These documents have to be understood in the same manner by all stakeholders. And, as C.A.R. Hoare observed, only abstraction "enables a chief programmer or manager to exert real technical control over his teams, without delving into the morass of technical detail with which his programmers are often tempted to overwhelm him."

The book brings together theoreticians and practitioners to report their experience with making semantics precise, clear, concise and explicit in business specifications, business designs, and system specifications. It includes both theoretical and very pragmatic papers based on solid and clearly specified foundations. These seemingly different papers address different aspects of a single problem - they are all about understanding of business enterprises and of information systems (computer-based or not) that these enterprises rely upon. A substantial number of papers demonstrate that good business (and IT) specifications ought to start with the stable basics of the relevant business domains, thus providing a foundation for describing and evaluating the details of apparently "always changing" requirements.

In 2007 INTEROP-VLab defined Enterprise Interoperability as the ability of an enterprise system or application to interact with others at a low cost with a flexible approach . Enterprise Interoperability VI brings together a peer reviewed selection of over 40 papers, ranging from academic research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of interoperability. It shows how, in a scenario of globalised markets, the capacity to cooperate with other firms efficiently becomes essential in order to remain in the market in an economically, socially and environmentally cost-effective manner, and that the most innovative enterprises are beginning to redesign their business model to become interoperable. This goal of interoperability is vital, not only from the perspective of the individual enterprise but also in the new business structures that are now emerging, such as supply chains, virtual enterprises, interconnected organisations or extended enterprises, as well as in mergers and acquisitions. Establishing efficient and relevant collaborative situations requires managing interoperability from a dynamic perspective: a relevant and efficient collaboration of organizations might require adaptation to remain in line with potentially changing objectives, evolving resources, and unexpected events, for example. Many of the papers contained in this, the seventh volume of Proceedings of the I-ESA Conferences have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen understanding and generate new ideas. The I-ESA 14 Conference is jointly organised by Ecole des Mines Albi-Carmaux, on behalf of PGSO, and the European Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise Interoperability (INTEROP-VLab) and supported by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). A concise reference to the state of the art in systems interoperability, Enterprise Interoperability VI will be of great value to engineers and computer scientists working in manufacturing and other process industries and to software engineers and electronic and manufacturing engineers working in the academic environment."

Includes global case studies of organizations in the cultural sector to facilitate translation of theory into practice Author team combines academic and practitioner expertise Unique combination of fundraising and creative/cultural industries

This book highlights state-of-the-art research on big data and the Internet of Things (IoT), along with related areas to ensure efficient and Internet-compatible IoT systems. It not only discusses big data security and privacy challenges, but also energy-efficient approaches to improving virtual machine placement in cloud computing environments. Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are ultimately two sides of the same coin, yet extracting, analyzing and managing IoT data poses a serious challenge. Accordingly, proper analytics infrastructures/platforms should be used to analyze IoT data. Information technology (IT) allows people to upload, retrieve, store and collect information, which ultimately forms big data. The use of big data analytics has grown tremendously in just the past few years. At the same time, the IoT has entered the public consciousness, sparking people's imaginations as to what a fully connected world can offer. Further, the book discusses the analysis of real-time big data to derive actionable intelligence in enterprise applications in several domains, such as in industry and agriculture. It explores possible automated solutions in daily life, including structures for smart cities and automated home systems based on IoT technology, as well as health care systems that manage large amounts of data (big data) to improve clinical decisions. The book addresses the security and privacy of the IoT and big data technologies, while also revealing the impact of IoT technologies on several scenarios in smart cities design. Intended as a comprehensive introduction, it offers in-depth analysis and provides scientists, engineers and professionals the latest techniques, frameworks and strategies used in IoT and big data technologies.

The revolution in information communication technologies has had a profound effect on the way firms structure and control their operations. At the same time, the ongoing integration of the global economy has greatly expanded international business opportunities. Information Technology in Multinational Enterprises analyses the implications of technological developments for the conduct of international business and the structure and activities of multinational enterprises. Using a combination of theoretical analysis and case studies, it provides a timely introduction to a topic that is of major interest to academics and practitioners in the fields of international business and information science.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th IFIP WG 5.5 Working Conference on Virtual Enterprises, PRO-VE 2014, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in October 2014. The 73 revised papers were carefully selected from 190 submissions. They provide a comprehensive overview of identified challenges and recent advances in various collaborative network (CN) domains and their applications, with a particular focus on the following areas in support of smart networked environments: behavior and coordination; product-service systems; service orientation in collaborative networks; engineering and implementation of collaborative networks; cyber-physical systems; business strategies alignment; innovation networks; sustainability and trust; reference and conceptual models; collaboration platforms; virtual reality and simulation; interoperability and integration; performance management frameworks; performance management systems; risk analysis; optimization in collaborative networks; knowledge management in networks; health and care networks; and mobility and logistics.