Hook
As society’s reliance on digital technology increases, so does the dependence on IT services. Innovations in the sphere of information technology have determined the overall direction of organizational changes towards digital transformation. The term “digital transformation” is defined as “a process that aims to improve an entity by triggering significant changes to its properties through combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (Vial 20). However, as technologies change, the way services enabled by these technologies are managed change as well. Subsequently, digital transformation affects not only hardware behind IT services, but IT services management as well. As energy industry enterprises are also affected by digital transformation, it is important to ascertain the proper implementation of IT services in these entities.
Research Gap
Although the existing literature on the topic of digital transformation is abundant, the area of IT service management within the context of the larger digitalization of organizations is surprisingly underresearched. For instance, Wessel et al. acknowledge that there is a difference between digital transformation and IT-enabled Organizational Transformation, but fail to find evidence-based guidance to the practical implementation of organizational changes (103). Chanias et al. also point out the unclear nature of how to properly implement IT services in entities, which were not originally adapted for them (17). At the same time, the studies of how companies can better adapt to the IT environment do exist, but they explore general principles, such as agility (Nazir and Alain 1). Some researchers explore how agile methods can be used to facilitate implementation of digital technologies in businesses. (Gerster et al 5). Other studies focus on specific methodologies, such as DevOps, that has proved to be effective in aligning IT development and operations (Wiedemann et al. 458). Yet, in all cases, entities of secondary and third sectors of the economy are studied, while the energy sector is more complex. The lack of energy sector coverage in the existing literature pertaining to IT services management constitutes a substantial research gap.
Role of the Work and Description of the Approach
The purpose of this study is to ascertain possible strategies for aligning transformation of operations and development in energy industry companies, which experience difficulties with managing IT services. As the relevance of digital technologies is likely to increase, the companies of energy industry have to adapt to the digitalized environment. The specific research question is: which organizational changes performed by the identified energy enterprise can be used as an example of proper handling of IT service management issues?
The research will use case study as the basis of its design. The specific method is the retrieval of quantitative and qualitative secondary from databases, publications, and news sources. Data collection itself will be performed via the use of relevancy and time markers for sorting the existing sources (Yin 217). Data analysis will be done via theme coding within the framework of positivist case research (Paré 20). Finally, pattern matching will allow identifying common themes that will emphasize the efficiency of certain organizational changes (Gibbert and Winfried 720). Once these changes are identified, they can be extrapolated to the larger industry.
Brief Preview of the Expected Results
It is likely that the identified enterprise will use the services of other companies to help adapt to the digital transformation. For instance, IT services companies could collaborate with the enterprise helping it to adjust the Internet of Things technology. It is also likely that the company will be interested in automation of all its operations. Another expected outcome is the supplementation of human personnel with artificial intelligence and machine learning as it is the case in modern large companies (van den Broek et al. 1; Waardenburg et al. 64). It is reasonable to expect that these findings will showcase how energy companies can adapt to digital transformation and will propel further research into the implementation of artificial intelligence in IT service management.
Works Cited
Chanias, Simon, et al. “Digital Transformation Strategy Making in Pre-Digital Organizations: The Case of a Financial Services Provider.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 28, no. 1, 2019, pp. 17-33.
Gerster, Daniel, et al. “How Fujitsu and Four Fortune 500 Companies Managed Time Complexities Using Organizational Agility.” MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 20, no. 2, 2021, pp. 1-17.
Gibbert, Michael, and Winfried Ruigrok. “The ‘‘What’’and ‘‘How’’of Case Study Rigor: Three Strategies Based on Published Work.” Organizational Research Methods, vol. 13, no. 4, 2010, pp. 710-737.
Nazir, Salman, and Alain Pinsonneault. “Relating Agility and Electronic Integration: The Role of Knowledge and Process Coordination Mechanisms.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, vol. 30, no. 2, 2021, pp. 1-22.
Paré, Guy. “Investigating Information Systems with Positivist Case Research.” Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 13, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1-34.
van den Broek, Elmira, et al. “When the Machine Meets the Expert: An Ethnography of Developing AI for Hiring.” MIS Quarterly, vol. 45, no. 3, 2021, pp. 1-20.
Vial, Gregory. “Understanding Digital Transformation: A Review and a Research Agenda.” Managing Digital Transformation, 2021, pp. 13-66.
Waardenburg, Lauren, et al. “In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man Is King: Knowledge Brokerage in the Age of Learning Algorithms.” Organization Science, vol. 33, no.1, 2022, pp. 59-82.
Wessel, Lauri, et al. “Unpacking the Difference between Digital Transformation and IT-Enabled Organizational Transformation.” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 22, no. 1, 2021, pp. 102-129.
Wiedemann, Anna, et al. “Understanding how DevOps Aligns Development and Operations: a Tripartite Model of Intra-IT Alignment.” European Journal of Information Systems, vol., 29, no. 5, 2020, pp. 458-473.
Yin, Robert K.. Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. 5th ed., SAGE Publications, 2014.