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services for providing end devices can be assigned
to external services providers as long as the provider
may deliver better conditions (cost, quality). On the
other hand, outsourcing strategic IT services – which
are usually characterized by a high innovation
potential – requires more attention. In this situation,
the internal IT organization has to care about issues
which assure that these services deploy their entire
innovation potential within the company, although
they are provided by an external provider. This can
include aspects such as innovation agreements
between the internal IT organization and the external
service provider.
Continuous examination and adaptation of the IT
service portfolio (F11): Our interviews revealed the
importance of an IT service portfolio which meets
the business requirements at any time. If the IT
service portfolio does not reflect these requirements
at all or just with significant delay, disadvantages or
even problems may result for the company. This is
especially pertains in the context of IT-enabled
innovations as short time-to-market is essential for
success. Hence, most of the respondents assigned
high importance to a continuous examination and
adaptation of the IT service portfolio in the context
of generating such business innovations.
Innovation-conducive design of cost charging for
IT services (F12): One further important component
of an innovation-facilitating management of IT
could be the cost charging. According to what our
interviewees said, IT cost charging could be used to
incentivize business units to apply IT services with
high innovation potential. For instance, the
respondents argued that IT services which result
from the use of new information systems could be
priced lower than similar IT services resulting from
the operation of older information systems with a
lower potential for business innovations. Besides, an
innovation-conducive design of cost charging seems
appropriate for innovative IT services which do not
base on business unit requirements but result from
IT initiatives and should be managed proactively (cf.
F09).
Continuous improvement of IT processes and
services (F13): To support business units in
generating innovations, the IT service portfolio does
not only have to contain the right IT-services. In
fact, interviewees stated that the included services
need to be improved permanently to ensure a
constant match with changing business conditions
and thereby to optimally enable business
innovations. The same applies to the IT processes.
This offers another advantage: a permanent
improvement of IT processes and services improves
efficiency. Ideally, as a result, costs for operation
and support decline so that a greater part of the IT
budget can be used for an innovative use of IT.
3.4 Factors Concerning the IT
Organization
This chapter reveals four factors which should help
to foster the generation of IT-enabled innovations
and which refer to organizational aspect of IT.
Regular exchange of information between the IT
department and business units about possibilities and
demands concerning new information technologies
(F14): Generally, IT und business units have to work
closely together in order to assure an ideal IT
support of business practices. Several respondents
stressed that this aspect is especially important in the
context of IT-enabled innovation generation as the
exchange has two benefits: for the one thing,
business units get to know to new information
technologies and their potential for innovative
applications within the company. For another thing,
the IT organization gets information about future
products, processes and business practices which
require an adequate support by IT. In order to realize
these benefits, our interviewees advised a regular
exchange of information between the IT department
and business units about possibilities and demands
concerning new information technologies. For
instance, such an exchange could be conducted with
the help of boards, committees or liaison roles.
Technology management for information
technologies should be anchored in the IT
department (F15): Due to the significance of
technology management for innovations, the
responsibility for it should be anchored adequately
within the IT organization. Interviewees revealed
several alternatives to ensure this. On the one hand,
each IT professional could conduct technology
management for all technologies within the area of
his responsibility. On the other hand, a separate
department could be established within the IT
organization which carries out technology
management for all relevant areas of IT.
Cooperation with innovative external partners
(F16): Usually, IT organizations are not able to
observe the developments of all relevant areas of
information technologies and evaluate their
innovation potential for business practices on their
own. Therefore, it seems promising to our
respondents to cooperate with innovative external
partners like vendors, customers, universities and
further organizations.
Flexible organizational structure of IT depart-
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