Improving Organizational Effective- ness through Standard Application Packages and IT Services

Standard application packages are used to improve business processes and to reduce costs for information systems. Standard application packages in the form of ERP systems (Enterprise Resource Planning systems) are common among private sector organizations. Public sector organizations use standard application packages developed for specific areas of government operations. Today, the design, use and distribution of standard application packages are changing due to the emergence of service orientation. In the private sector, ERP systems are extended to include IT services. In the public sector, standard application packages are integrated with IT services which are often referred to as e-Government. E-Government can be extended with mobile technology to add mobility to public processes, so called m-Government. The problem addressed in this thesis is how to improve organizational effectiveness through the use of standard application packages and IT services. The objectives are to: ­ Develop a model for explaining the level of adoption of extended ERP among small and medium sized companies. ­ Identify implications and design patterns of business models for service oriented ERP. ­ Establish principles for the design of local government m-services. ­ Develop a method for benefits evaluation of information systems with integrated services. The thesis contributes with theory for analyzing, explaining and predicting how the use of standard application packages as well as IT services affects organizational effectiveness. To practice, it provides new concepts that can change the perceptions and mental models that IS-professionals, such as management consultants, use in their professional lives. In particular, it provides implications, design principles, a model and a method for the use of services in conjunction with standard application packages in public and private sector organizations. For future research it is suggested to investigate how service orientation affects implementation methods for standard application packages and to investigate the requirements of completely integrated e-Government on eservices, business models and back-office systems.