Infrastructure Flexibility Research Articles

The Contribution of Conceptual Independence to IT Infrastructure Flexibility: The Case of openEHR

In the Netherlands demands on IT support in healthcare organizations are increasing. New visions on healthcare focus on patient-centered healthcare, where mutual consultation among healthcare professionals in the network becomes a standard process. Recent governmental regulations prescribe that patients must be able to access personal health records. IT flexibility is needed to allow organizations to meet new demands. In this study we focus on Conceptual Independence (CI) because CI, as a design principle, can improve the adaptability of Information Systems (IS). Software with CI operates on flexible data models that are independent of the CI based application. Therefore, it is claimed that a standalone IS becomes more flexible with CI. We extend the claim by demonstrating that CI affects the flexibility of the entire IT infrastructure. We investigate which dimensions of IT flexibility are responsible for the improvement. Multi-case study research has been performed following a mixed-methods approach in 10 mental healthcare organizations. Five have implemented openEHR, a proxy for CI, and five have not. Data has been collected with a questionnaire of IT infrastructure flexibility and semi-structured interviews. The data synthesis shows a positive effect of CI on IT flexibility, as CI increases the adaptability of IS, transparency and standardization of the IT infrastructure.

The Relationship Between Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) and Facilitators to Achieve Successful Business Outcomes in South Korean Organizations

Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) is an important process in the implementation and use of IT systems in today’s dynamic and increasingly digitalized organizations. However, SISP is not a straightforward task, it is a process that covers simultaneous multiple planning issues often in changing environmental and organizational climates. Although SISP has been widely studied, and evaluating the SISP process has matured, theory on SISP facilitators that enable successful outcomes remain sparse. The main objective of this paper is to explore such facilitators and to investigate their relationship and contribution in achieving SISP success. By postal surveying a random sample of managers with SISP experience in South Korean organizations, we modeled the relationship between facilitators of SISP and their outcomes. The study used Structural Equation Modelling to analyze and validate its findings. This study suggests that facilitators positively affect successful SISP through business and IT alignment. It also demonstrates that effective SISP has a positive effect on organizational outcomes by ensuring organizational capabilities and IT infrastructure flexibility. The findings of this study expounding the role of facilitators adds to the theory of SISP and provides a guide to planners and managers responsible for information systems.

The effects of IT infrastructure integration and flexibility on supply chain capabilities and organizational performance: An empirical study of the electronics industry in Taiwan

In recent years, rapid development of information technology (IT) has forced companies to integrate tightly with their supply chain partners, enabling efficient information sharing between supply chain members and improving supply chain efficiency, in order to make their supply chain more flexible and efficient. IT therefore plays a critical role in supply chains. How to achieve higher organizational performance through IT in a complex and uncertain supply chain environment has become an important issue. Even though many practitioners and scholars have taken multiple points of view to investigate the effects of IT infrastructure capability on firms’ performance, little research has explored cause-and-effect relationships from the perspective of supply chain capabilities. Based on a resource-based view of the firm, this study develops a research framework for investigating the mediating role of supply chain capabilities in the relationships between IT infrastructure flexibility, integration, and firms’ performance. Data for the study were collected from 270 companies in the Taiwanese electronics industry and the relationships proposed in the framework were tested using the Partial Least Squares method. The results indicate that IT infrastructure integration and flexibility indirectly and positively impact organizational performance through the mediating effect of supply chain capability, and the mediating effect is a full mediation. The findings provide empirical support to resourced-based IT studies, which propose mediating IT impacts on organizational performance. This study should be useful to practitioners who implement IT strategy.

Operations flexibility in events organization

The aim of this study was to understand the interrelation between operations flexibility and the adverse impacts associated with risks in event organization during its execution. For this, a multiple case study was carried out among six Brazilian event-organizing entities. A qualitative study was conducted through structured interviews and deductive content analysis. Data triangulation was obtained by using the post-event reports of events organized by those entities. The study identified strategies used to deal with variability related to the risks present in the execution of events and the interrelation between adverse impacts associated with the risks and the types of operations flexibility used. Furthermore, the authors propose “internal infrastructure flexibility” since operations flexibility literature does not adequately explain the changes in the internal structure found in the field research.

Refining information systems competencies: the role of big data analytics resilience in organisational learning

Information systems competencies (ISC) have been an important area of inquiry for both business managers and academicians. It is now widely believed that in order to achieve sustainable business advantages, a firm must be able to renew IS competencies. Although the literature has discussed the importance of organisational learning (OL), there is not much known about how organisational learning renews IS competencies. Less is known about big data analytics resilience in information system competencies (BDARISC) and the organisation's ability to recover from lost information. In this research, we take a step in this direction and analyse the relationship of organisational learning on IS competencies for business advantages and investigate IS infrastructure flexibility, expertise, trust relationships, business performance and big data analytics resilience.

Information technology and the supply chain integration: a business executives' context

Despite the abundance of research dealing with the impact of supply chain management on today's organisations, such research tended to emphasise discreet relationships. A cross-sectional sample of Portuguese organisations is used to test several hypotheses pertaining to organisational resources, competencies, different levels of supply chain integration and organisational performance. Based on the findings, the impact of information technology infrastructure flexibility exhibited mixed results on the constructs studied. Executive information technology competencies tended to positively influence the different types of supply chain integration. Internal integration was found to have a direct influence on organisational performance. Such internal integration is being encouraged by external entities including customers and suppliers. In this context, more integration might lead to more effective organisational performance. Therefore, it is concluded that organisations should integrate their resources, processes and in the process encourage effective utilisation of information.

Information technology and the supply chain integration: a business executives' context

Despite the abundance of research dealing with the impact of supply chain management on today's organisations, such research tended to emphasise discreet relationships. A cross-sectional sample of Portuguese organisations is used to test several hypotheses pertaining to organisational resources, competencies, different levels of supply chain integration and organisational performance. Based on the findings, the impact of information technology infrastructure flexibility exhibited mixed results on the constructs studied. Executive information technology competencies tended to positively influence the different types of supply chain integration. Internal integration was found to have a direct influence on organisational performance. Such internal integration is being encouraged by external entities including customers and suppliers. In this context, more integration might lead to more effective organisational performance. Therefore, it is concluded that organisations should integrate their resources, processes and in the process encourage effective utilisation of information.

Flexibilidade em serviços: análise das táticas utilizadas por entidades organizadoras de eventos

Apesar da relevância dos eventos para a economia brasileira, ainda são poucos os trabalhos que estudam a utilização de técnicas de gestão nestes serviços. Assim sendo, este trabalho objetivou comparar as táticas utilizadas pelos organizadores de eventos para lidar com os riscos presentes durante a entrega do serviço. Para tal fim, efetuou-se um estudo de múltiplos casos em seis entidades brasileiras organizadoras de eventos. Os dados analisados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas estruturadas e pesquisa documental. Sua análise mostrou que há inter-relação entre alguns dos riscos presentes durante a execução do evento. Também foi possível entender quais os tipos de flexibilidades são utilizados para tratá-los. Ao relacionar os riscos às flexibilidades, verificou-se que não havia na literatura pesquisada um tipo de flexibilidade ligado a alterações na infraestrutura interna para a prestação do serviço. Por conseguinte, foi proposta uma nova flexibilidade: a flexibilidade de infraestrutura interna.

Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility: A Review from Previous Studies and Implications for Research

Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility: A Review from Previous Studies and Implications for Research

New Modeling Method and Design Optimization for a Soft-Switched DC–DC Converter

High-performance cloud computing enables many key future technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), self-driving vehicle, big data analysis, and the Internet of things (IoT), using clustered CPU and GPU servers in the datacenter. To improve the power efficiency and the infrastructure flexibility, the computing industry is adopting 54 VDC to power the servers in the open compute racks. In this paper, a new modeling technique for a soft-switched dc–dc converter is presented and suitable to guide optimal design in different applications, for example, 54 V to point of load (PoL) for the new open compute rack. To improve the model accuracy and reduce the complexity, this paper proposes a reduced-order linear differential equation (LDE) based modeling technique to discover the following: 1) the tank resonance involving the output inductor; 2) the output current ripple and its impact on power efficiency; 3) the proper on-time control for soft switching; 4) the unique bleeding mode under the heavy load; 5) the output power capability of the converter; and 6) component tolerance analysis and impact on the performance of the converter. With the power loss estimation, design guidelines are provided for a reference design and design improvement based on this new modeling technique. Using the proposed method, great accuracy can be expected in the efficiency estimation. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the modeling technique in a 54–1.2 V 25 A dc–dc converter prototype.

Packet Dropping Counter Measures in a MANET Through Reliable Routing Protocol Leveraging a Trust Management Framework

The applications of a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) range from military and disaster response to commercial and civilian environments. The intrinsic characteristics like lack of infrastructure, self-organizing nature and deployment flexibility contributes to its usefulness but few other features like open media for communication and topological changes on-the-fly makes it vulnerable to security attacks. The focus of the current work is security mechanisms for a MANET against the various insider attacks targeting the data forwarding operations. It is accomplished through a trust management framework and a secure routing protocol relying upon the TMF to form the routes with most trusted nodes. The protocol computes a novel reliability metric termed as Path Allegiance metric (PAM) which acts as a selection criteria for route selection. The performance evaluation involves simulation results which prove the robustness of the proposed TMF and the effectiveness of the PAM routing protocol in reliable data delivery in the presence of packet droppers which disrupt the data transmission.

Literature review of flexibility attributes: A flexibility framework for software developing organization

AbstractSoftware developing organizations strive to achieve flexibility to maintain a competitive advantage. There is no common understanding of what characterize flexibility for a software organization beyond the scope of the software product. Without a common understanding, it is difficult to evaluate the degrees of flexibility of software development approaches. The aim of this literature review is to collect attributes that characterize flexibility. The collected attributes are consolidated into a flexibility framework with 3 main attributes: properties of change, flexibility perspectives, and flexibility enablers. The resulting flexibility framework is then used to evaluate Agile and Lean practices. The evaluation shows that Agile and Lean practices address many flexibility attributes. However, some attributes are not addressed, such as infrastructure flexibility and strategic flexibility. On the basis of our evaluation, the classifications of flexibility attributes that we present in this paper could be used to aid software organization flexibility evaluation.

An Investigation of the Moderating Effect of IT Personnel Capability on the Relationship between Intangible IT Resources and IT Infrastructure Flexibility on the Sustainable Competitive Advantages

IT personnel capabilities are regarded as the backbone of IS infrastructure and as the main top strategic issues among IT executives. The aim of this research is to explore the direct influence of Intangible IT Resources such as IT Knowledge Resources (ITKR), IT Relationship Resources (ITRR), and IT Governance (ITG) on Sustainable Competitive Advantages (SCA). The main question of this study is whether or not IT personnel capabilities are able to strengthen the relationship between VRIN resources such as (ITKR, ITRR, and ITG) and sustainable competitive advantages. Importantly, no published study has been examined this critical issue on how firms are able to generate VRIN resources that are the main driver of SCA. Thus, the objective of this research is to determine whether IT Personnel Capability has a direct and indirect effect (moderating role) in the relationship between intangible IT resources sustainable competitive advantages. This research will applies quantitative survey for collection data among IT senior managers of Algerian high-tech industry. Implications and suggestions will be discussed.

Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility on Mergers and Acquisitions

Although mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a common strategy to reduce costs and pursue growth, the variance in returns from M&A is very high. This research examines how information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility affects M&A. We use a combination of secondary as well as matched-pair survey data from 100 mid-size firms in Spain to investigate this relationship. The empirical analysis suggests that IT infrastructure flexibility affects M&A through two key pathways: (1) a flexible IT infrastructure facilitates the development of business flexibility that provides the responsiveness to seize M&A opportunities and make acquisitions, and (2) a flexible IT infrastructure facilitates the development of post-M&A IT integration capability that provides the control to integrate the IT and business resources of the acquired firm and realize the economic benefits from M&A.

Value of gas network infrastructure flexibility in supporting cost effective operation of power systems

The electricity system balancing is becoming increasingly challenging due to the integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). At the same time, the dependency of electricity network on gas supply system is expected to increase, as a result of employing flexible gas generators to support the electricity system balancing. Therefore the capability of the gas supply system to deliver gas to generators under a range of supply and demand scenarios is of a great importance. As potential solutions to improve security of gas and electricity supply, this paper investigates benefits of employing flexible multi-directional compressor stations as well as adopting a fully integrated approach to operate gas and electricity networks. A set of case studies for a GB gas and electricity networks in 2030 have been defined to quantify the value of an integrated operation paradigm versus sequential operation of gas and electricity networks. The results indicate there are significant overall system benefits (up to 65% in extreme cases) to be gained from integrated optimization of gas and electricity systems, emphasizing the important role of gas network infrastructure flexibility in efficiently accommodating the expected expansion of intermittent RES in future power systems.

A Systematic Review on the Strategic Utilization of Information Systems and IT Infrastructure Flexibility

A Systematic Review on the Strategic Utilization of Information Systems and IT Infrastructure Flexibility

Migration Energy Aware Reconfigurations of Virtual Network Function Instances in NFV Architectures

Network function virtualization (NFV) is a new network architecture framework that implements network functions in software running on a pool of shared commodity servers. NFV can provide the infrastructure flexibility and agility needed to successfully compete in today’s evolving communications landscape. Any service is represented by a service function chain (SFC) that is a set of VNFs to be executed according to a given order. The running of VNFs needs the instantiation of VNF instances (VNFIs) that are software modules executed on virtual machines. This paper deals with the migration problem of the VNFIs needed in the low traffic periods to turn OFF servers and consequently to save energy consumption. Though the consolidation allows for energy saving, it has also negative effects as the quality of service degradation or the energy consumption needed for moving the memories associated to the VNFI to be migrated. We focus on cold migration in which virtual machines are redundant and suspended before performing migration. We propose a migration policy that determines when and where to migrate VNFI in response to changes to SFC request intensity. The objective is to minimize the total energy consumption given by the sum of the consolidation and migration energies. We formulate the energy aware VNFI migration problem and after proving that it is NP-hard, we propose a heuristic based on the Viterbi algorithm able to determine the migration policy with low computational complexity. The results obtained by the proposed heuristic show how the introduced policy allows for a reduction of the migration energy and consequently lower total energy consumption with respect to the traditional policies. The energy saving can be on the order of 40% with respect to a policy in which migration is not performed.

Analysis of IT infrastructure flexibility impacts on IT-Business strategic alignment

Purpose: To explore the impacts of IT infrastructure flexibility components (connectivity, modularity, compatibility, and IT personnel flexibility) on IT-business strategic alignment using Luftman’s strategic alignment maturity model.Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was developed using 5-points Likert scale. The questionnaire was distributed to companies in Indonesia, where 48 companies filled the questionnaire completely. The data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) approach using WarpPLS version 3.0.Findings: This research found that amongst four components of IT infrastructure flexibility, only compatibility that gives a positive and significant impact to IT-business strategic alignment. This finding is remarkably in contrast to what had been found by Chung et al (2003) in which connectivity, modularity and IT personnel flexibility showed a positive impact on strategic alignment while compatibility did not. Research limitations: This research used small sample size. More respondents are required to obtain more general conclusions. Practical implications: The findings of this study can be input for IT investment initiatives by first focusing on compatibility aspect of IT infrastructure which is considered having the most significant influence on strategic alignment.Originality/value: Previous study investigated IT infrastructure flexibility as a single concept, whereas our research investigated the components of IT infrastructure flexibility and their impact on strategic alignment.

The business value of cloud computing: the partnering agility perspective

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the value creation potential of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships. It examines how cloud-based IT infrastructure capabilities in flexibility and integration contribute to partnering agility and, consequently, firm performance. This study also introduces business lifecycle and market turbulence as internal and external context variables, respectively, to investigate the different roles of cloud computing in value creation.Design/methodology/approach– A questionnaire was used to collect data from 184 client firms of the largest cloud computing services provider in China (Alibaba Cloud). The theoretical model was tested using PLS analysis.Findings– Cloud infrastructure (CI) flexibility has a positive effect on partnering agility, while the effect of CI integration on partnering agility is moderated by business lifecycle and market turbulence.Research limitations/implications– The surveyed firms are all Alibaba Cloud clients, which may limit the generalization of the findings.Practical implications– The study suggests that besides the cost benefits, the value creation aspect of cloud computing should also be emphasized in research and practice. The study provides a new perspective to understand the business value of cloud computing in inter-firm partnerships.Originality/value– The study suggests that the flexibility-related and integration-related features of cloud computing can create value for firms by facilitating inter-firm collaboration in exploiting business opportunities.

The effect of information technology on the agility of the supply chain in the Iranian power plant industry

Purpose – An agile supply chain (ASC) includes companies that are operationally linked to each other, such as supply, design, manufacturing and distribution centers that respond and react quickly and effectively to change markets. Information systems and technology have a main role in achieving this objective. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between information integration, information infrastructure flexibility and the ASC in the Iranian power plant industry (IPPI). Design/methodology/approach – The quantitative method was employed in this study. Survey questionnaires were sent to 87 managers in the IPPI to examine the relationship between information integration, information infrastructure flexibility, and the ASC. Findings – The final results indicated that information sharing and responsibility were strongly related with the ASC; accessibility and connectivity had important relations with the ASC; while the relationships between compatibility and adaptableness as IT flexibility variables and ASC were positive but not significant. Research limitations/implications – This study focussed on the impact of IT on the IPPI specifically companies that manufacture boilers, electronic control tools, turbines, turbine blades, generators and other power plant-related components. Practical implications – A new research model was developed to assess the impact of the interrelationships among IT capabilities and the ASC and results should assist managers as well as academicians. Originality/value – An investigation was carried out through this study based on the current situation in IPPI to empirically examine and evaluate the effect of IT integration and flexibility on ASC. Besides, a very limited number of studies have been done on the implementation of information technology in the IPPI.