Strategic Context and Patterns of IT Infrastructure Capability

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Choice of Research Strategy

The most optimal strategy of this thesis was interpreted to be one that aims to integrate and modify “best practices” of separate research disciplines and adapt them to the customer maturity context. The creation of completely new theory regarding customer maturity was considered outside the scope and restrictions of the thesis. This motivates a deductive approach. However, the analytical work will utilize inductive thinking as the theoretical construct of the CMAT will be tested in a reality that might or might not correspond to the theoretical models, which may have to be modified to receive acceptance in the case company. Nevertheless, the research approach used in this thesis is mainly based on a deductive perspective in how to handle theory. In order to evaluate the needs from the potential users of the CMAT, as well as identifying and operationalizing the different aspects of the model, rich and contextual information was deemed necessary. This favors the qualitative approach in gathering and analyzing data for the analysis.

Literature survey methodology

There are many reasons to conduct a thorough literature review prior and during research work. Some arguments that has been presented regarding heavy literature review to be included in the research process are “all qualified research build on prior knowledge” (Ghauri and Grönhaug, 2005, p.52) and “research must be fully integrated with existing literature at all stages” (Sharp and Howard 2002, p.22). It was early recognized that the main purposes of the literature review were to change during the evolution of the thesis. The literature survey work was divided into three main phases, early, mid and late thesis work. During the early period of research work, focus lay on establishing a broad understanding of maturity in the context of organizations and IT. The initial study was conducted in line with the recommendations from Ghauri & Grönhaug (2005) where they advice the usage of already published research for framing the problem, identifying relevant concepts and positioning the study.

Choice of data collection method

During the initial contact with the case study company several meetings were scheduled in order for the case company to validate the ongoing work on the CMAT as well as to be used as continuous data gathering for the background research. Additional meetings were scheduled at key progress points in order to evaluate and gather feedback on the ongoing work. These meetings evolved into semi-structured interviews which in the beginning primarily focused on establishing perspectives and assigning concepts for each perspective. One the perspectives and concepts became more stable the focus switched to establishing and evaluating measurements and maturity levels for the concepts included in the CMAT.

IT Maturity

Many enterprise business operations are performed with the help of or by IS/IT infrastructure. Companies who are planning to reengineer their business processes and who are expecting dynamic changes, often realize the importance of their IT infrastructure capabilities (Broadbent, Weill, and Neo,1999). Companies who find themselves in a competitive environment where companies within the same niche are trying achieve competitive advantages against each other IT infrastructure is increasingly seen as a fundamental differentiator (McKenny 1995). Functions supplied by IT has changed and evolved from a purely data processing tool in the mid 1900’s, to the strategic enabler of today (McFarlan & McKenney, 1983. McFarlan, 1982).With high IT maturity levels; goals for the company, functional processing capabilities, data format, database relationships and presentation formats of output can be gathered and analyzed more easily. With this type of detailed and accurate infrastructure information, implementation of IS systems can be passed through the customer organization easily, reducing gaps or misfits both from the customer perspective and as well as from the vendor perspective.

Level of infrastructure homogeneity

Standardization in working environments and the instruments are vital in large companies. According to the size of the company processes their administration can become more complex. Different software can have different types of outputs and this different type of output can need a transformation to be useful for next processes. “Quite often companies are faced with the need to exchange data in dissimilar formats or between databases” (Rob, Coronel and Crockett, 2008 , p.529). This kind of homogeneity can only be solved by using same/sibling software. Different types of software, needs different types of hardware specifications and different types software also requires some level of qualification of hardware. All these requirements can be solved by discovering a top hardware level depending on the program specifications. This top level can be the base level of the “hardware specification levels” which supports all required software.

Table of Contents :

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 Background
  • 1.2 Problem Formulation
  • 1.3 Presentation of purpose statement and research question
  • 1.4 Delimitations
  • 1.5 Interested parties
  • 1.6 Definition of key concepts
• 2 Methodology
  • 2.1 Research strategy
    • 2.1.1 Relation between theory and research
    • 2.1.2 Qualitative or quantitative stance on data
    • 2.1.3 Choice of Research Strategy
  • 2.2 Research design
    • 2.2.1 Case studies
    • 2.2.2 Choice of research design
  • 2.3 Research method
    • 2.3.1 Setting-up the case study
    • 2.3.2 Literature survey methodology
    • 2.3.3 Data collection methods
    • 2.3.4 Choice of data collection method
  • 2.4 Analysis model
    • 2.4.1 Literature perspective
    • 2.4.2 Thesis perspective
    • 2.4.3 Company perspective
  • 2.5 Evaluation of the choice of method
    • 2.5.1 Method evaluation techniques
    • 2.5.2 Reliability and validity discussion

• 3 Theoretical Framework
  • 3.1 IT Maturity
    • 3.1.1 Strategic Context and Patterns of IT Infrastructure Capability
    • 3.1.2 Information Technology Architecture Capability Maturity Model (IT ACMM)
    • 3.1.3 Level of infrastructure homogeneity
    • 3.1.4 IT Maturity model for IT Maturity based on the literature review:
  • 3.2 Process Maturity
    • 3.2.1 Process maturity discussion
    • 3.2.2 Process maturity model based on the literature review:
  • 3.3 Cultural Maturity
    • 3.3.1 Readiness for change
    • 3.3.2 Organizational attitudes
    • 3.3.3 Cultural maturity model based on the literature review:
  • 3.4 Business Governance Maturity
    • 3.4.1 Change management maturity
    • 3.4.2 Knowledge management
    • 3.4.3 Service level agreements
    • 3.4.4 Business metrics
    • 3.4.5 Strategic alignment
    • 3.4.6 Strategic planning
    • 3.4.7 Project management
    • 3.4.8 Business Governance Maturity Model based on literature reviews:
  • 3.5 Customer maturity model based on the literature review
• 4 Empirical Data
  • 4.1 General feedback from the interviews
  • 4.2 IT
  • 4.3 Process
  • 4.4 Business governance maturity
  • 4.5 Culture
• 5 Analysis
  • 5.1 IT
    • 5.1.1 IT capability:
    • 5.1.2 IT architecture
    • 5.1.3 IS/IT homogeneity
  • 5.2 Process
    • 5.2.1 Business process maturity
    • 5.2.2 Business process management maturity
  • 5.3 Culture
    • 5.3.1 Organizational attitudes
    • 5.3.2 Change readiness
    • 5.3.3 Employee background and Skills
  • 5.4 Business governance:
    • 5.4.1 Change management
    • 5.4.2 Business management
    • 5.4.3 Project management
    • 5.4.4 Knowledge management maturity
    • 5.4.5 Business strategy:
  • 5.5 Customer Maturity Analysis Model
  • 5.6 Customer maturity analysis model structure analysis
    • 5.6.1 Alternative #1: CMAT based on integrated culture
    • 5.6.2 Integrated Customer Maturity Analysis Model
    • 5.6.3 Alternative #2: CMAT based on culture as a separate perspective
• 6 Conclusion and Reflections:
  • 6.1 Conclusions
  • 6.2 Main contributions of this thesis
  • 6.3 Implications and propositions for future research
  • 6.4 Reflection on choice and quality of theory
  • 6.5 Reflection on practice and analytical work:
  • 6.6 Reflection on the CMAT and conclusion
• 7 References
• 8 Appendices
  • 8.1 Appendix
  • 8.2 Appendix 2: Interview protocols
  • 8.3 Appendix 3 CMAT

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“Customer Maturity” A case study in designing a Customer Maturity Analysis Tool