Sebastian Köffer

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Mission statement

The goal of my stay is to continue an ongoing research cooperation with Dr Erwin Fielt from QUT Brisbane. The project deals with managerial implications of IT consumerization and its effects on the business value of IT, IT capabilities, and the IT function.

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Research results

Joint Research Description:

The term IT consumerization has been used to describe the increasing diffusion of consumer technology, such as smartphones, tablets or cloud applications, within organizations. It has been postulated as one of the most important IT trends  and gained much attention among practitioners . While IT consumerization is both a major opportunity and significant challenge for organizations, IS research has so far hardly discussed the managerial implications. In our research project we address this topic by identifying organizational themes for IT consumerization and proposing a number of direct and indirect effects on the business value of IT, IT capabilities, and the IT function.

For example, IT capabilities have traditionally focussed on the IT department and the traditional role of IT in terms of the development and maintenance of corporate systems. Nowadays, IT is a driver of digital transformation with tech-savvy employees as innovation catalysts who push the boundaries. Among other things, employees are inspired by their use of new consumer devices and services, such as smartphones or social media.

My workplace at QUT

Our research collaboration started in 2012 with a visit of Dr Ralf Plattfaut (under the supervision of Prof Jörg Becker) from the ERCIS at QUT Brisbane. Dr Erwin Fielt and Dr Ralf Plattfaut shared an interest in a new perspective on IT capabilities. This shared interest was followed-up by a visit of Dr Erwin Fielt at ERCIS where he presented his work on IT capabilities and subsequently started working together with Ralf Plattfaut and me. My involvement resulted in a deeper focus of the work on the impact of IT consumerization.

The project will result in an IT capability model for digital innovation, which is an applied theory for the IS disipine based on the more foundational organizational theories like the Resource Based View and Dynamic Capabilities. This model will specify a set of technological and innovation capabilities and its relationship with business process and/or firm level impact (performance, innovation). In addition, the project will also develop practical guidelines that target practitioners.

 

Joint Education

During my stay at QUT, I had the chance to present my current dissertation work in a IS seminar on "How IT Consumerization is changing the working world". I was very happy that some QUT researchers found the time to attend. Thank you for the fruitful discussions during the seminar.

Seminar on IT Consumerization