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Henrik Finn Brocke
Former Member
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PublicationCustomizing IT Service Agreements as a Self Service by means of Productized Service PropositionsWhilst service providers of information technology (IT) seek to achieve cost-efficiency and optimization in request processing, customers increasingly demand flexibility and agility to align long lasting IT service relationships to changing requirements of their business processes. Customer individual adjustments of service agreements and changes in commitments of functionality and performance cause negotiation and service reengineering efforts. Amounts of service agreements and change requests impede the overview of currently valid commitments in service systems. In order to overcome these problems, this article proposes to customize service systems on demand only by selecting, parameterizing and arranging predefined and productized service propositions. A self-service reference model is introduced that allows the customer to continuously adjust service systems in their arrangements of committed IT services on demand. Its implementation as an online portal supports easy traceability of the current total of IT service commitments as well as consistency of additional service requests with the current service arrangement. Examples from its application in two major IT-projects illustrate the results.Type: conference paper
Scopus© Citations 4 -
PublicationManaging the Current Customization of Process Related IT-ServicesIT service providers are increasingly required to orientate their service portfolio towards the IT support of their consumer's business processes. This enables diversification as well as transparency in costs and services vis-a-vis the customer to be achieved. Such services however, appear too customer specific for a standardized service provision within the context of IT-industrialisation as they are subject to constantly changing customer demands. To combat this, a concept is envisaged that keeps business process orientated IT-services modifiable and configurable by concretely defining additional Associate Services in advance. In order to maintain transparency and influence in IT expenses, these services orientate themselves towards business objects in the customer's business. The concept is illustrated with the aid of examples from its application and further development together with two associate IT-providers.Type: conference paper
Scopus© Citations 5 -
PublicationAligning IT-service propositions to changing business requirements in ongoing service-systems(Association for Information Systems, 2010-08-13)In order to form value-oriented service-systems with their customer organizations, IT-providers are increasingly required to orientate their service offerings towards the ongoing support of their customers' business processes with IT. Nevertheless, predominantly resource-focused and transactional IT-service propositions are offered that lack transparency in both value added and expenses per service for the customer's business. As a first step in our research in progress that aims for a conceptual basis for the design of IT-service propositions in value-oriented service-systems, we apply service-dominant logic to IT-service propositions. Simultaneously, however, the bit for standardized and automated IT-operations processes has to be taken into account when designing such service propositions. Based on current service-system research, we propose (1) to predefine service propositions in consideration of both commitments and operational processes and (2) to introduce additional "shaping propositions' to customize and allow for the continuous adaption of the IT-service to functionality and performance changes. In order to maintain transparency in and control of the current service agreement and its expenses, these propositions orientate themselves toward business objects in the customer's field of responsibility.Type: conference paper
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PublicationMass Customizing IT Service Agreements: Towards Individualized On-Demand Services(Association for Information Systems, 2010-06-09)IT service providers shall achieve both cost reduction in their IT operations and customer individuality in service agreements. This article suggests adapting the well known principle of mass customization to balance individuality and standardization in service agreements. Dependent on the commitment modularity type, its employment may not only save time and resources at the point of customer involvement but also allow the pre-engineering of repeatable processes of provisioning and IT operations. We develop a conceptual model for positioning and classifying IT service providers as mass customizers of service agreements. This categorization is based on commitment modularity types and points of customer involvement in the IT service life cycle. We apply this typology to selected cases of service agreements at different IT service providers to explain four generic archetypes. We then introduce how to implement a specific archetype by modularizing self-contained commitments and productizing options and changes of a service agreement. That latter concept has been developed in close cooperation with four IT service providers and is currently piloted to redesign real life contractual relationships with a customer.Type: conference paper
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PublicationReuse-Mechanisms for Mass Customizing IT-Service Engagements(Association for Information Systems, 2010-08-14)Divergent requirements of customers limit the potential of information technology (IT) service providers to achieveeconomies of scale through the standardization of service engagements. Continuous change requests in ongoing IT-servicerelationships complicate matters even more. Mass customization strategies have successfully addressed similar challenges inindustrial sectors by reusing, i.e. composing and adapting standardized modules.Transforming this strategy to IT-service management, we present a three-layer approach of reuse-based IT-servicecustomization in order to increase both effectiveness and efficiency at the stages of initial service specification, customizationof offerings, and continuous adjustment of ongoing service engagements. This is proposed to be achieved by adopting wellestablishedreuse-mechanisms of reference information modeling. The approach has been developed and prototyped in closecooperation with IT-organizations.Type: conference paper
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PublicationZwischen Kundenindividualität und Standardisierung - Konzeptvorschlag und Datenstruktur eines IT-Produktmodells(Physica-Verl., 2010-03-24)
;Thomas, OliverNüttgens, MakusType: conference paper -
PublicationDesign Rules for User-Oriented IT Service Descriptions(IEEE Computer Society, 2009-01-08)
;Hau, ThorstenSprague, Ralph H.Customers of complex IT-services increasingly demand integrated value bundles that fit their individual needs. At the same time, IT service providers are facing commoditization of their products and need to standardize their portfolios to realize economies of scale. While approaches to coping with the gap between individual customer demand and the economic necessity of standardization have a long standing tradition in mature manufacturing industries, IT-service providers still struggle with translating their standardized portfolio into a form that is understandable and relevant for their customers. This paper proposes a way of describing IT-services that follows the paradigm of a service dominant logic. We therefore transfer service dominant logic to the realm of IT and propose guidelines to create customer oriented service descriptions. An excerpt of a prototype description serves as an example, how the technical, inside view on IT-services can be translated into a customer-oriented outside view.Type: conference paper -
PublicationHow to provide the desirable business outcome in international IT-projects - a cross-case analysis(AIS Electronic Library (AISeL), 2009-08-07)Rising complexity of international IT projects has compelled service providers to re-define their customer-service approach. This paper uses a case study method to identify critical success factors for customer interaction as IT service providers run projects to deliver services to intra-firm end-users. Our analysis found that process-level, social and psychological factors were decisive in promoting successful provider-customer relationships. Three major factors - knowledge of the customer's business and it's need of IT-support, a close project collaboration and trustful, clear, understandable communication - are the cornerstone of successful IT service practices when coupled with a clear customer-oriented value proposition. Therefore, we identified the bridgehead-concept as an effective method to close a lack of understanding between business and IT. Our results suggest that both the provider and customer benefit from a close and iterative calibration of needs and services, with a high level of transparency, to ensure process efficiency and customer satisfaction.Type: conference paper
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PublicationKundenorientierung in der IT-Service-Produktisierung - ein Datenmodell zur Leistungsbeschreibung(Ges. für Informatik, 2009-10-01)Abramowicz, WitoldType: conference paperJournal: LNIVolume: 154
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PublicationType: conference paper