PhD Defence Meikel Bode|enabling digital transformation of it consulting the ditcos approach and toolbox.
Meikel Bode is a PhD student in the department Semantics,Cybersecurity & Services. (Co)promotors are dr,ir. M.J. Sinderen and dr. M. Daneva from the faculty of Science and Technology.
Summery
The focus of the IT consulting service domain is on advising clients regarding the assessment and use of different Information Technology (IT) strategies and on actively supporting clients to align IT strategies with their business goals, and processes. However, IT Consulting (ITC) is still very much characterized by personal interaction and trust between consultant and client. The outcomes of ITC services therefore depend heavily on the knowledge, experience, availability, and location of the consultant. The COVID-19 pandemic painfully exposed some of the vulnerabilities of current ITC practices. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that ITC companies are in a difficult situation, as their type of Knowledge-Intensive Services (KISs) scale poorly due to the dependency on the consultant. Although a digital transformation of ITC is expected to reduce this dependency, there is little knowledge and experience on how ITC services can be provided digitally, in a more standardized and automated way, and with higher efficiency and reproducible quality.This paper-based PhD thesis aims to identify the state of research in the context of the digitalization of ITC and to combine this knowledge with the problems and requirements of practitioners in ITC. By providing specific design artifacts, this work responds to the identified requirements for addressing the named problems.Concretely, we first take up the state of research via a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS). In addition, several Focus Groups (FGs) with ITC practitioners are conducted to provide the practical perspective. The findings from the SMS and FG are subsequently used for developing the following artifacts based on design science research: a service ontology, a service description language, a service provisioning platform architecture, a service provisioning platform prototype, and a service model visual editor, all aiming to support digital ITC.
In addition, we provide a phased approach for the incremental digital transformation of ITC services, utilizing the provided artifacts as an integrated toolbox. The provided artifacts were experimentally validated in real-world scenarios in collaboration with ITC practitioners, and in fictitious scenarios.The artifacts developed offer numerous interesting starting points for the digitalization of ITC, both individually and in combination. The entirety of these artifacts forms an ecosystem that we refer to as the 'DITCOS Ecosystem'.To the best of our knowledge, our approach and the associated toolbox are the first comprehensive set of artifacts to enable ITC companies to digitally transform their service portfolio in a structured and incremental manner. Among other things, this ensures that the service portfolio is digitally codified and documented and can be read by both humans and computer systems. This makes it possible to digitally support or even automate service provisioning.ITC companies will find practical and tried-and-tested ways to get started using the artifacts we provide.
From a research perspective, there are many opportunities for future research projects with reference to the artifacts provided, particularly in the context of consulting research, service science and information systems research. The broader scientific validation of the artifacts in practice would be particularly relevant.
