Ole Hanseth
University of Oslo, Department of Informatics, Faculty Member
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Abstract This paper explores the role of enterprise platforms in the context of pervasive enterprise-wide processes of digital transformation. The paper empirically illustrates and theorizes on how digital transformation processes are... more
Abstract This paper explores the role of enterprise platforms in the context of pervasive enterprise-wide processes of digital transformation. The paper empirically illustrates and theorizes on how digital transformation processes are challenged by inertia rooted in existing historical layers of technical and social arrangements. Empirically, we report from a longitudinal case study of a global oil and gas company following their various attempts at digitally transforming their document management practices and platforms. After prolonged efforts to facilitate transformation with an enterprise platform they eventually succeed with digital transformation after nearly six years. In making sense of this, we build on path theory and assemblage theory and theorize digital transformation as a path dependent process, where new paths can be created through stabilizing new assemblages and de-destabilizing others. The paper contributes by theorizing the role of inertia in digital transformation processes and the role of enterprise platforms. We conclude by giving insights on how practitioners can manage path dependency in digital transformation processes.
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This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the sociomaterial complexities of information systems. By applying Gilles Deleuze’s process ontology, called Assemblage Theory (AT), as interpreted and presented by Manuel DeLanda, we... more
This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the sociomaterial complexities of information systems. By applying Gilles Deleuze’s process ontology, called Assemblage Theory (AT), as interpreted and presented by Manuel DeLanda, we examine the case of a new high-tech medical procedure called transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Complex innovations like TAVI evolve as sociomaterial assemblages whose dynamics are seen as driven by the interaction between various stabilizing and de-stabilizing processes. We argue that AT is a very powerful (process) ontology for researching and theorizing the dynamics of increasingly complex information systems.
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In this paper we investigate the IT systems silo problem in e-health infrastructures. After three decades of user oriented systems development the health sector is characterized by system diversity and fragmentation. In response to this... more
In this paper we investigate the IT systems silo problem in e-health infrastructures. After three decades of user oriented systems development the health sector is characterized by system diversity and fragmentation. In response to this situation health authorities in the EU countries have called for a strategy of standardisation and integration; aiming to reduce complexity. It is assumed that this strategy will lead to less costly (through better co-ordination) and better health services (through more reliable data). Our research question is, how can we understand and manage the socio-technical complexity of large-scale integration in e-health? Our empirical evidence is a large e-health programme taken by the Southeast Regional Health Authorities in Norway, in order to reduce the number of systems and user environments. In particular we investigated the implementation and integration of an electronic patient journal system for 12.000 users. Considering our findings, and building on...
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The chapter contributes to the emerging understanding of expertise as social, relational, and material. The authors examine current views on expertise building in the study of an innovative medical procedure called Transcatheter Aortic... more
The chapter contributes to the emerging understanding of expertise as social, relational, and material. The authors examine current views on expertise building in the study of an innovative medical procedure called Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI). They find that expertise occurs in many locales concurrently—each with its own trajectory and history—and that expert activity feeds upon the connections established and maintained between locales. Accordingly, expertise is not so much distributed or relational as it is trans-situated. Being an expert implies not only being socialized and becoming versed in the local way of doing things, it also implies participating in, learning to navigate, and exploiting alternative potentially competing circuits of knowledge.
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This paper presents an empirical study of the design, development, and initial use of a platform for patient-health provider communication in Norway. This is a bottom up initiative started in 2005 by a small project team within the IT... more
This paper presents an empirical study of the design, development, and initial use of a platform for patient-health provider communication in Norway. This is a bottom up initiative started in 2005 by a small project team within the IT department of a large hospital in Norway. The project team has managed to stay “under the radar” in order to survive in a quite dynamic environment characterized by mergers, reorganizations and reforms as well as of large, costly and unsuccessful ICT projects in the same hospital. In this paper, we see this project as a case of infrastructural innovation and, adopting an institutional entrepreneurship approach, we investigate how the project team managed to ‘survive’ aiming to understand the strategy they implemented.
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In this chapter I address some of the complexities of ICT systems like Pan-European e-Government solutions, the challenges we are regularly confronted with when developing such solutions, the kinds of strategies that can help us cope with... more
In this chapter I address some of the complexities of ICT systems like Pan-European e-Government solutions, the challenges we are regularly confronted with when developing such solutions, the kinds of strategies that can help us cope with these challenges, and the extent to which an EU strategy with a strong focus on interoperability is an appropriate approach to dealing with them. I conclude that complex solutions like those discussed here can appropriately be seen as IIs. These IIs are not designed from scratch: they just evolve. A strategy for developing such solutions must therefore concentrate on how to make an II evolve in the desired direction. Standards are indeed crucial to infrastructures but the way standards are developed and their various properties have to address the need for an infrastructure to be flexible in order to grow and adapt to changing user requirements. The way the concept of interoperability is understood and used implies a static view of infrastructures that does not take into account the need for flexibility.
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This book explores the challenges regarding risks and risk management related to the growing complexity of ICT solutions. The main argument of the book is that the complexity of ICT solutions has continued to grow throughout the history... more
This book explores the challenges regarding risks and risk management related to the growing complexity of ICT solutions. The main argument of the book is that the complexity of ICT solutions has continued to grow throughout the history of ICT, and that it has now reached a level that goes beyond our current understanding of solutions and our methods of dealing with them. The contributors demonstrate how the complexity of ICT solutions is increased by various integration efforts. Drawing upon theories of risk society and reflexive modernization, various case studies are used to demonstrate efforts aimed at controlling and managing the complexities of various ICT solutions. Paradoxically, these control and management measures are shown to increase rather than decrease complexity and risk.
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This paper investigates the relationship between ICT architectures and project risk, in the context of the development of large inter-organizational systems. Although previous research has identified ICT architecture as a project risk,... more
This paper investigates the relationship between ICT architectures and project risk, in the context of the development of large inter-organizational systems. Although previous research has identified ICT architecture as a project risk, the focus has been on technical issues. Expanding this perspective, we investigate how technical architectures have bearings on the organization of projects, which may, to a large extent, determine the outcome of large information infrastructure initiatives. Our empirical evidence is ten cases ...
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This paper investigates the relationship between ICT architectures and project risk, in the context of the development of large inter-organizational systems. Although previous research has identified ICT architecture as a project risk,... more
This paper investigates the relationship between ICT architectures and project risk, in the context of the development of large inter-organizational systems. Although previous research has identified ICT architecture as a project risk, the focus has been on technical issues. Expanding this perspective, we investigate how technical architectures have bearings on the organization of projects, which may, to a large extent, determine the outcome of large information infrastructure initiatives.
The anabolic growth of ‘dot.com’ — with 3G network license auctions as the grand finale — implied a series of large investments in mobile technology. Without new products and services utilizing this infrastructure (m-services), however,... more
The anabolic growth of ‘dot.com’ — with 3G network license auctions as the grand finale — implied a series of large investments in mobile technology. Without new products and services utilizing this infrastructure (m-services), however, these investments may never be recollected, and today there is no sure sign of demand for these new “nomadic applications” in the market. This paper shows how actors in the m-services value network co-ordinate their efforts to bring such applications to the marketplace. It shows their risk averse and locally optimizing strategies, which theoretically is very different from the current fascination in IS with disruptive innovation. This paper illustrates the need for a theory of ‘ordinary innovation’ in nomadic and ubiquitous computing.
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The anabolic growth of dot.com—with third-generation network license auctions as the grand finale—implied a series of large investments in mobile technology. Without new products and services utilizing this infrastructure (m-services),... more
The anabolic growth of dot.com—with third-generation network license auctions as the grand finale—implied a series of large investments in mobile technology. Without new products and services utilizing this infrastructure (m-services), however, these investments may never be recouped, and today there is no sure sign of demand for these new nomadic applications in the market. This paper shows how actors in the m-services value network coordinate their efforts to bring such applications to the marketplace. It shows their risk averse and locally optimizing strategies, which theoretically are very different from the current fascination in Information Systems with disruptive innovation. This paper illustrates the need for a theory of ordinary innovation in nomadic and ubiquitous computing.
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... Author, Ole Hanseth, Publisher, R. Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH Munich, Germany, Germany. ... General Terms: Management, Theory. Collaborative Colleagues: Ole Hanseth: colleagues. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing... more
... Author, Ole Hanseth, Publisher, R. Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH Munich, Germany, Germany. ... General Terms: Management, Theory. Collaborative Colleagues: Ole Hanseth: colleagues. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. ...
... be transmitted to the other (partner) hospital, but to three additional hospital as well (expanding the project ... one technician had to enter the operating room to detect why the child-scope image was ... on the other side) had to... more
... be transmitted to the other (partner) hospital, but to three additional hospital as well (expanding the project ... one technician had to enter the operating room to detect why the child-scope image was ... on the other side) had to stop after a couple of minutes and start his lecture anew ...
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O. Hanseth. (1996). bibtex-import.
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Yesterday we built databases to support business processes. Today we seek to build business processes from existing databases. This means that business processes become closely related to IT-use, and also that use of IT can be an... more
Yesterday we built databases to support business processes. Today we seek to build business processes from existing databases. This means that business processes become closely related to IT-use, and also that use of IT can be an important part of business development. Use is, however, not entirely determined by the design of IT-artefacts, occasionally IT-artefacts are used different than planned. We call this phenomenon IT-bricolage. Essential to business development then, becomes to exploit and diffuse the innovative ways of using IT that can be the outcome of IT-bricolage. Cultivation is suggested as a suitable metaphor for this process. To cultivate IT-use requires that organisations find ways to monitor use. That is, to create organisational forms that; first, are capable of discover innovative IT-use, furthermore, are capable of realising that this use can be exploited in developing business processes, and finally, are capable of diffusing the discovered innovative use through...
BankID is an industry cloud owned by Norwegian banks. It provides electronic identity, authentication and electronic signing capabilities for banking, merchant and government services. More than 60% of the population uses BankID services.... more
BankID is an industry cloud owned by Norwegian banks. It provides electronic identity, authentication and electronic signing capabilities for banking, merchant and government services. More than 60% of the population uses BankID services. As the broader ecosystem around BankID evolved, challenges—arising from tensions between different parts of the ecosystem—had to be resolved. The four lessons learned from the BankID case will help others to build an industry cloud and establish a healthy ecosystem to service a broad user base.
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Cet article présente la globalisation ainsi que la mise au point et l'utilisation de l'infrastructure IT au sein de la division européenne des engrais chez Norsk Hydro. L'élément principal de l'infrastructure en question... more
Cet article présente la globalisation ainsi que la mise au point et l'utilisation de l'infrastructure IT au sein de la division européenne des engrais chez Norsk Hydro. L'élément principal de l'infrastructure en question est une nouvelle solution pour cette division qui est basée sur SAP. Pourtant, cette solution n'existe pas toute seule. Ses aspects importants se révèlent à mesure qu'elle devient une partie intégrante d'une plus grande infrastructure. Une installation SAP au sein d'une organisation globale devient une infrastructure grande et complexe. Non seulement cette infrastructure est conçue et contrôlée par des gestionnaires et le personnel IT, mais elle devient aussi actrice façonnant son environnement ainsi que son propre avenir. Comme tout acteur, la technologie construit des alliances avec d'autres. Cependant, les alliances peuvent changer avec le temps. Dans le cas présent ici, SAP s'est allié d'abord avec le management de ha...
This paper explores how local actors can play a role in bridging the rural broadband divide. It presents the bottom-up development of broadband infrastructure in the rural region of 'Sogn & Fjordane', Norway. To bridge the... more
This paper explores how local actors can play a role in bridging the rural broadband divide. It presents the bottom-up development of broadband infrastructure in the rural region of 'Sogn & Fjordane', Norway. To bridge the broadband divide individuals, businesses and public sector in several rural communities have joined forces and have taken an initiative to develop and operate local broadband infrastructure. Each initiative faces a different set of challenges depending on the local context. The paper open up the 'black box' of the innovative process to get a better understanding of the alternative process needed to develop broadband infrastructure in rural settings when the market forces does not apply. Two initiatives will be used to illustrate how the communities have assembled rural broadband assess using available knowledge and relational resources and infrastructure to achieve the goal, which is contrary to the traditional roll out of telecom infrastructure.
In knowledge and technology intensive industries such as the telecommunications industry, "practices" tend to be a mixture of knowledge and technology. Research however has been largely treating these two entities separately,... more
In knowledge and technology intensive industries such as the telecommunications industry, "practices" tend to be a mixture of knowledge and technology. Research however has been largely treating these two entities separately, addressing one while black boxing the other. It is however this mixture that represents reality. We examine two practices which were considered to be best practices for a telecommunications company. The practices are both knowledge and technology intensive but to varying degrees of each. The first is a brand segmentation model targeting the youth. The second is a set of guidelines for using a speech coding algorithm within the GSM standard. We use a brief review of how knowledge and technology have been conceptualized to show how the two can be considered as equals. This is a departure from particularly Knowledge Management which largely views technology only as a tool. We use the development within the Actor-network Theory literature in moving from &...
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Hanseth, O. and Scott, Susan V. and Silva, Leiser and Whitley, Edgar A.(1999) Re-evaluating power in information rich organizations: new theories and approaches. In: Ngwenyama, O. and Introna, LD and Myers, M. D and DeGross, JI,(eds.) New... more
Hanseth, O. and Scott, Susan V. and Silva, Leiser and Whitley, Edgar A.(1999) Re-evaluating power in information rich organizations: new theories and approaches. In: Ngwenyama, O. and Introna, LD and Myers, M. D and DeGross, JI,(eds.) New information technologies in organizational processes: field studies and theoretical reflections on the future of work. IFIP advances in information and communication technology (20). Kluwer Academic Publishing, Boston, pp. 297-298. ISBN 0792385780
Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a framework for governance of information infrastructures. While most research in IT governance suggests top-down governance frameworks, we argue that a more viable approach is to explore... more
Abstract. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a framework for governance of information infrastructures. While most research in IT governance suggests top-down governance frameworks, we argue that a more viable approach is to explore a broader set of more ...
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... We use these categorizations to show that a practice in the telecom industry, a youth ... in Norway and Hungary in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, Bangladesh in 2005 and Pakistan in 2006. ... djuice should not cannibalize nor adversely affect... more
... We use these categorizations to show that a practice in the telecom industry, a youth ... in Norway and Hungary in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, Bangladesh in 2005 and Pakistan in 2006. ... djuice should not cannibalize nor adversely affect the operator's other brands and positioning. ...