Information Technology Service Companies Research Articles

Why Does Algorithmic Management Undermine Employee Creativity?

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, algorithmic management is increasingly prevalent in enterprises. Despite the considerable scholarly attention given to the impact of algorithmic management, a research gap remains regarding its influence on employee creativity. To address this gap, the authors developed a theoretical model using ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) theory. This model aims to investigate the direct impacts of algorithmic management (opportunity) on employee creativity (performance) while also considering the mediating roles played by knowledge combination capability (ability) and achievement goal (motivation). Using a sample of 327 paired leader-employee data from an information technology service company, the findings reveal that algorithmic management has a negative effect on employee creativity. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that algorithmic management negatively influences employee creativity through its impact on knowledge combination capability and achievement goal.

Competing for Technology Talent: Listed Companies Versus Funded Startups in India

Information technology (IT) services industry has become a mainstay for technology talent in the last few decades. Recently, the emergence of startups in the high-tech sector has also contributed to the demand for talent in the sector. This has led to a situation, where both incumbent listed companies and venture capital-backed technology startups, compete for technology talent in the ecosystem. We probe this from the convergence in average per employee labor costs between listed IT services companies and funded entrepreneurial startups (less than 10 years old) in the sector. We work on a stylized sample of 36 companies and find that listed IT services companies have continued to remain large buyers of talent and are consistently paying higher wages than startups. Whereas the rate of growth in average salaries among technology startups is higher than listed counterparts during the study period. Such a rate of growth of average wages suggests that there is potential for startups to bridge the gap with listed companies’ salaries. The narrowing of the salary differential gap may affect the competition for talent in the ecosystem, impacting both startups and larger companies. Such competition can challenge listed companies’ profit and growth over the long term. But such a change hinges on startups ability to raise further funding to support expenses.

Quality infrastructure and innovation in the Brazilian information technology services: evidence from the National Innovation Survey

The objective of this work is to contribute to the advancement of knowledge about the innovation capacity of information technology service companies in Brazil, with emphasis on the role of the quality infrastructure functions in strengthening this capacity. We have drawn the data from the National Innovation Survey 2014 (Pintec 2014) to answer how the companies in this sector perceive the importance of quality infrastructure functions in their cycles of innovation, to highlight the benefits derived from the existence of such infrastructure in Brazil.

Impact of organisational culture and people factors on knowledge management process: case study in an IT service company

Competition from corporate, peers as well as global, small and medium enterprise (SMEs) are major challenges to retain skilled manpower and customer base in information technology (IT) based service industry. Employee attrition has reduced operational efficiency and customer dissatisfaction in SMEs. Although, SMEs adopt different process to address these issues, they found knowledge management (KM) as the best option. The implementation of KM lies within organisation culture and people factors. The study aimed to examine the relationship of organisational culture and people factors with KM process. It was conducted in an IT service provider company that has implemented KM since five years. Descriptive analysis, correlational analysis and structural equation modelling-using SmartPLS were used to analyse data. The results emphasised that organisations' have to give importance to build culture fostering shared vision and collaboration. Moreover trust is needed among employees is needed to promote the activities of KM process.

Boundary Spanners in Global Partnerships

Western companies’ outsourcing of projects to emergent markets is increasingly being replaced by strategic partnerships that require close collaboration between clients and vendors. This study focuses on interorganizational boundary-spanning activities in the context of global information technology (IT) development projects from the rare perspective of Indian vendor managers in one of the world’s largest IT service companies. It draws on a qualitative study of a collaborative partnership and focuses on the key boundary spanners who are responsible for developing trustful and sustainable client relationships and coordinating highly complex projects. We analyze vendor managers’ narratives of their collaboration with a European client in a long-term project, which is presented as a strategic partnership in an outsourcing 3.0 mode. The study offers a rich and conceptualized account of those managers’ boundary-spanning activities and a context-sensitive understanding of their boundary work. The study applies Bourdieu’s concept of capital (economic, cultural, social, and symbolic) not only in its analysis of the two powerful partners but also in its discussion of the boundary-spanning activities that are reported. The analysis demonstrates the coexistence of transactive and transformative modes of collaboration in the studied case. It reveals both the importance of partner status and the impact of that status on the forms of boundary-spanning activities in which the partners engage. Finally, this study suggests new research questions that will promote an understanding of both transactive and transformative boundary spanning and the reciprocity of boundary-spanning activities between vendor and client in a global collaborative partnership.

Antecedents of social media B2B use in industrial marketing context: customers’ view

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to clarify business-to-business (B2B) customers’ behavior regarding their social media use for B2B purposes and the antecedents of this behavior in the industrial marketing setting. It explores the influence of corporate culture, colleagues’ support and personal and psychological factors on customer behavior toward social media business use. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted an online questionnaire survey among key customer accounts of an information technology service company (N = 82). Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling was utilized to analyze the relationship between the dependent variable (social media business use) and the independent variables. Findings – Results show that private social media usage has the most significant relationship with the social media business use. Colleagues at work are also supporting B2B social media use and personal characteristics are also of importance. Surprisingly, perception of usability of social media for B2B use did not explain social media business use within our sample. Research limitations/implications – The chosen methodology, sampling frame and sample size may limit generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed hypothesis in other settings, particularly as the diffusion of B2B social media increases. Practical implications – The paper provides insights into how marketing managers can make an impact with their social media marketing. For example, when planning social media activities, companies need to consider which social media services could serve their marketing and communication targets and would reach the customers. Originality/value – Studies related to social media in B2B, especially from a customer’s perspective, are still limited, and the authors do not know how customer firms value industrial marketing activities in social media. This novel paper provides insights into managers’ reasons for using social media and gives guidelines for B2B marketers on how to conduct social media marketing in the future.

Involving the Indian Software Services Industry in the Free and Open Source Software World

FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) has taken the world by storm in the last decade. The emergence of FLOSS has been exemplified by the rapid rise of the GNU/Linux operating system, which has made inroads in computer systems ranging from supercomputers to handheld devices and mobile phones. FLOSS technologies have been embraced by almost all major computing vendors, who are putting substantial efforts and leveraging these technologies.A number of Indian Information Technology Service Companies have been providing solutions based on the certain FLOSS technologies to their customers and also using it internally, mostly on an ad-hoc basis. There is often no formal policy in place, nor a roadmap on how to go forward in this fast emerging, rule changing, arena.We propose an overarching strategy — the Foundation and Four Pillars view that will enable the Indian Software Services Companies to truly leverage FLOSS while moving forward.

Risk Factors of the Partner Relationship between Open Source ERP Editors and IT Services Companies

The open source ERP systems are beginning to take a significant market share of ERP in SMEs. They aresupported and developed by several actors: open source editors and communities. The purpose of this study is toexamine the risk factors in the relationship of open source ERP editors and their partners (i.e., the informationtechnology (IT) services companies). Three exploratory case studies on partnership relations between ERP editorsand IT services companies are carried out by relying on a qualitative method of collecting and analyzing data. Theresults show the existence of several of risks in such a relationship: the risk of fork, the risk of opportunisticbehavior, the risk of conflict, the risk of absorption, the risk of non-appropriation, and finally the risk differences ofobjectives. These results confirm the risk factors already found in the literature in strategic alliances. This researchis based on a qualitative approach, therefore reducing its generalization. In terms of managerial implications, thisresearch creates awareness among leaders of IT services companies, who wish to become a partner of ERP opensource editor, to the risks involved in such collaboration. Open source Software and particularly open sourceERP systems are a modern phenomenon. This paper examines the relationship between open source ERP editorsand their partners in terms of risk, whereas the literature on risk factors focuses only in the world of proprietarysoftware (or commercial).

Borderless Bits: Electronic Globalization and its Social Consequences

The older forces of globalization based on materials-based trade and transport are commingling with the newer forces of global electronic networks and creating the emergent phenomenon of “electronic globalization.” Examples of activities influenced by such electronic globalization include the following: • With severe economic downturn from 2008, many consumers in the U.S. became delinquent in their credit card or loan payments. Call centers in India employ sympathetic, soft spoken, but firmly insistent collection agents who listen to the sob stories of delinquent Americans – and, unlike USA-based agents, usually manage to extract at least partial payments out of the hapless debtors. • Voice files containing dictated patient notes by doctors in the USA are sent electronically to medical transcription companies in India. At some locations in India, over 1000 people trained in listening to a variety of American accents, including ethnic ones, don headphones in front of a PC and transcribe the voice files into text. Strong knowledge of medical terminology and accuracy of transcription are critically important. Editors are employed to review every transcript. Normal files are turned around in 12 hours, while urgent or “STAT” files are often transcribed and sent back to USA within two hours. • Some of the large Indian information technology services companies have entire rooms or floors dedicated to specific USA clients such as Cisco Systems or EDS. With advanced network connectivity, dedicated staff in India provides 24X7 network maintenance and remote “help desk” services to customers in the USA and other global locations. The tech support people in India are able to “take control” of malfunctioning systems thousands of miles away, run sophisticated diagnostic tests, and fix the problems. • A consulting group in Scandinavia that provides design services to precision manufacturers in Europe sends the rough drawings and specifications of the designs it is working on to a team in Chennai, India. In 2 or 3 days, using Computer-aided Design (CAD), the Indian team sends back fully-dimensionalized CAD engineering drawings and even 3-D computer simulations of the prototypes back to the Scandinavian firm. As these examples show, the range of processes that are outsourced by electronic methods to low cost but appropriately skilled foreign workers is widening. Electronic globalization is

The Evaluation of Innovation in the IT Service Sector: Methodological and Empirical Aspects

Purpose — Nowadays services are comprehended as the key factor for economic activity, growth and employment. Developed economies are service-dominated though little is known about the innovation details in the service sector and this study field has been neglected for a while. The innovation in service sector activities needs to be thoroughly evaluated because innovation is an interconnected process and cannot be defined using one or few indicators. IT services are an integral part of contemporary life, particularly for business. It can be introduced and implemented in all fields, especially when the world is becoming more multidimensional. Innovation performance in the IT sector has been under-researched, despite the fact that IT service sector plays the innovation disseminator role in other sectors by appliance of IT products. Design/methodology/approach — Based on scientific literature and methodological aspects analyses, an empirical research methodology was designed and the qualitative research on innovation in information technology service sector was accomplished. Findings — The article presents methodological aspects of innovation evaluation in service sector and empirical aspects on innovation implementation and development in the IT service companies in Lithuania. Research limitations/implications — For more comprehensive understanding of innovation in service sector, especially in IT services, the theory of service innovation is necessary. Deeper understanding and perspectives on how innovation benefits the information technology sector should be revealed in further researches and the multi-country analysis is needed. Practical implications — The finding of the paper can be used to improve the development of innovation in information technology service companies and create a model for more exhaustive multi-country empirical researches. Originality/value — The impact of innovation and its development in information technology service sector has not been analyzed thoroughly in previous researches. Article Type — research paper.

Knowledge retention in the IT service industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and evaluate an effective employee retention plan for information technology (IT) service organizations as part of a knowledge management (KM) strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe employee retention plan is evaluated at three IT multi‐national companies which are providing global IT services with successful knowledge management systems (KMS) in place. Semi‐structured telephone interviews were conducted with senior managers and team leaders of three companies. The data collected is used for studying attrition and retention and its impact on KM.FindingsThe paper provides evidence of various strategic, technological, and local issues influencing the success of retention and its benefit to KM programs in global IT service companies. Organizations adapt attrition control measures for long‐term benefit. These measures help in effective KM, serving the client at lower cost with consistent service levels.Research limitations/implicationsInterviews are limited to three large companies in the IT services sector in the Bangalore (India) region. Future in depth studies would benefit from a larger and more diverse sample. It is suggested that IT service organizations develop and practice effective employee retention plans along with effective KMS.Practical implicationsTo provide clear benchmarks for developing employee retention capabilities, an employee retention plan for IT services is proposed. The employee retention plan is discussed from a consistent delivery perspective and in view of effective KM practice.Originality/valueThe paper conducts an evaluation of the retention measures and provides a roadmap for future research endeavors.

Effective decision support systems for workforce deployment

Efficient utilization of human resources is imperative for information technology (IT) service businesses that continually manage the assignment and movement of practitioners to or between projects. These organizations constantly strive to balance the many objectives of multiple stakeholders in order to minimize idle resources while aiming to increase revenue from new project opportunities, as well as to improve the quality of practitioners assigned to each project. However, these various objectives conflict, so we can only hope to achieve an aggregated form of these disparate objectives. This emphasizes the need for a well-designed decision support system. Such a system will facilitate assignment of practitioners to projects while minimizing the overheads involved in a multiuser decision-making environment. Here, optimal refers to maximizing certain aggregated attributes of the various matches made with respect to the system. The term Buser[ refers to the decision makers who assign employees to various projects. The system comprises a text-matching module, a business logic module, an optimization module, and a user interface (UI) module. Key innovations include translating the business objectives into optimization criteria to be solved using integer programming, incorporating individual user preferences into the optimization, and encapsulating user experience into the matching logic. Additional innovations include those in text analytics to differentiate skill and nonskill terms and a UI design that helps users understand the relative global optimality of each recommendation in familiar terms while influencing decisions made independently by individual users in a way that collectively leads to organizationally outcomes. We also explain the role of decision support in implementing job-rotation and cross-training programs for practitioners. Finally, we share our experiences in the development and deployment of this system in an IT service company and describe areas where further work is needed.

Green IT framework for small and medium scale Indian IT services companies

The information technology (IT) industry has a vital role to play in abating the threat of climate change and global warming. Green IT is defined for the purpose of this paper, as a specific set of initiatives that IT companies are taking to optimise their resource-utilisation, with the aim of becoming environmentally sustainable. The literature suggests that there are many Green IT frameworks available that can help companies to develop their Green IT strategies. It was also observed that Indian IT services companies, specifically that small and medium scale companies, operate in a different environment and that existing frameworks are not suitable for them. This paper proposes a more suitable Green IT framework using a sample of IT services companies in Bhubaneswar, India. The small and medium scale IT companies were defined as those which are not listed on any stock exchange – unlisted. An extensive framework was then developed and tested with six unlisted IT services companies in Bhubaneswar.

Strategies of ICT Firms in Developing Countries: Strategic Group Analysis on Tunisia's Software and IT Service Industry

This article reports on an investigation of firm strategies in the software and information technology service industry in Tunisia. The research contributes to the ongoing discussion on competitiveness of information and communication technology businesses in developing countries. It is based on the results of a survey conducted in 2004 with software and information technology service companies in Tunisia looking at their strategy implementation, utilization of external input factors, market focus and global reach. The article presents an analytical framework for the quantification of competitive challenges through the concept of strategic groups which clusters the industry structure along patterns and barriers in the strategic space of firms. The analysis identifies six groups, and discusses their competitive positions along the different patterns of diversification, internationalization and corporate control. The article argues that the view on the heterogeneity of the industry structure is key to an enhanced understanding of competitiveness. The results show that the concept of the strategic space of the software and information technology service industry and its challenges in Tunisia may be captured to some extend by prior research. Nevertheless, the complexity of the strategy construct still conceals much of the true sources of performance and international success that are frequently discussed at both the economic and business policy level.

An exceptional development pattern

This paper investigates India's exceptional development pattern, specifically the major importance of information technology services (ITS), and compares it with China's development pattern. Both countries want to develop capabilities for carrying out the innovation of technologies that compete at the state-of-the-art in the world market. The paper posits that technological/economic success in the contemporary world market requires the ability to innovate complex technologies and complex technology-related services. The share of trade represented by complex technologies is compared with the “high-tech” share. The trading patterns of the two countries are compared using United Nations data. Two case studies of Indian ITS companies are then compared with two case studies of Chinese manufacturing companies. Historical and cultural differences appear to explain some of the differences in the development patterns of the companies located in the two countries.

Market Orientation and Firm Value

Several studies in the market orientation literature demonstrate a positive relationship between a market orientation and firm performance. However, the mechanisms of this relationship have yet to be explored in detail. This article addresses such a gap by proposing a conceptual model that links market orientation to wealth creation in firms. The model posits that a market orientation guides investment in market-based assets that may be deployed to create customer value. The realisation of customer value helps to both capture and retain customers. Quicker and more extensive market penetration, shorter sales cycles, and decreased marketing and sales costs enhance the cash flow of a market-oriented firm. This may be recognised in higher valuations, which ultimately translate into higher share prices and wealth creation for the owners of the firm. This model is used to describe the creation of value in the Major Business Division of BT, a large information technology service company. Recent success in this Division of BT is attributed to the creation of a market orientation and customer value-based strategy and processes. The experience of BT provides a clear illustration of how a market oriented firm creates value for both customers and shareholders.

Sierra Systems' CEO Grant Gisel on High Technology Alliances

Executive Overview Grant Gisel has been president and CEO of Sierra Systems Consultants Inc. since 1973, shortly after he and a partner purchased the company. In 1998, Sierra Systems ranked in the top ten of Canada's 100 information technology service companies, according to a recent Financial Post survey. The firm provides information technology consulting services for administrative and operational systems, and has partnerships with vendors of mainstream applications including PeopleSoft, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Netscape, and Sun Microsystems. Sierra works with these vendors' service staffs to implement financial, human resources, and other information systems for clients including PageNet, Cessna Aircraft, Algoma Steel, and government agencies. Sierra has offices in major cities throughout Canada and the United States. Mr. Gisel is active in the computing community as a past director of the Data Processing Management Association and past president of the Canadian Information Processing Society. He has also served as the director of the Information Technology Association of Canada, and chairman of the British Columbia Advanced Systems Institute. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba. In this interview, he discusses the importance of high technology alliances as an integral part of Sierra Systems' strategies.