Demand Generation Methods and their Applicability in Business Information Systems

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Demand Generation Methods and

their Applicability in Business Information Systems

Prepared by: Shahnaz Ashrafia

10695516

MSc Thesis – Information Studies:

Business Information Systems

Faculty of Science

University of Amsterdam

Supervised by: Martin Ruivenkamp

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Final version: 12 July 2015

First Examiner : dr. Martin Ruivenkamp Signature :

Second Examiner: Prof. dr. T.M. van Engers Signature :

Demand Generation Methods and their Applicability in Business Information Systems Shahnaz Ashrafia 10695516

Thesis Master Information Studies – Business Information Systems Faculty of Science

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ABSTRACT

In this thesis, demand generation methods are investigated as a means to align business requirements to Information Technologies (IT)/Information Systems (IS) in Business Information Systems (BIS) research. A factor behind this misalignment is that business demands or requirements are continuously changing, causing the development of Information Systems to lag behind. To date, frameworks, models and approaches have been proposed, but the alignment of IT/IS to business demands is still a challenge. Therefore, the potential applicability of several demand generation methods to the field of BIS was studied by conducting a comparative analysis. The analysis is used to discover the commonalities and differences of the methods. Lessons drawn from the analysis complemented with interviews with demand generation methods experts answers the question of the applicability in this BIS research. Results show that demand generation methods can be applied in the study of BIS, however, only to few subsets of business and Information Systems alignment.

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The past years, information systems have been introduced to assist basic business processes and activities in organizations. These processes are operational tasks concerned with sales and marketing, manufacturing and logistics, and encompass a large amount of data (Armistead et al., 1997). However, raw data would be unusable without being processed; for example, employees are not able to determine the stock inventory without a sales report analysis being processed by a Transaction Processing System (―Business Information Systems, 2007‖). Information systems have facilitated the organization in processing data to produce useful information that is utilized to improve the business performance.

Furthermore, as managerial processes are also considered important to sustain business performances, the use of information systems is expanded to support the particular process of decision making and business strategy development (Bititci et al., 2011). This led to the study of Business Information Systems (BIS) which explores how information is being used in organizations to develop organizational strategies, how information technology could be developed for end users, as well as how it could be organized to satisfy the interest of all stakeholders. BIS involves the process of analysing information and designing the suitable system for people (Curtis & Cobham, 2002).

While systems are being implemented to support the business process in organizations, BIS research identifies the lack of alignment between business and information technology as one of the main issues faced by organizations (Chan et al., 1997; Maes, 2007; Luftman et al. (2006) in Chan & Reich, 2011). Issa-Salwe et al. (2010) highlighted that if information technologies can be aligned to fit business strategy, productivity of the organization will improve. Therefore, in order to reach such an alignment, it is necessary for organizations to be able to improvise and use approaches which could connect the requirements of business and IT ‗from the start‘ (Keen (1993) in Chan, 2002).

Studies reported that the gap between business and information systems are barely aligned due to the dynamics of change – changing environment, leading to changing business requirements and demands (Gmati & Nurcan, 2007; Chan & Reich, 2011; Altendorfer, 2012; Neumann et al., 2013). As the business demands keep changing over time, information systems would have to continuously evolve to satisfy the demands (Neumann et al., 2013).

When dealing with evolving demands and requirements, organizations should learn to use strategic intelligence by organizing ‗demand articulation‘ processes to acquire information about the prospective information systems (Boon, 2008). Demand articulation or demand generation is defined as a process that can facilitate the development of innovation by unravelling demands with the collaboration of users and other stakeholders (Howells, 2006). To be able to align the implementation of information systems to business demands, the field of BIS might learn from other fields where methods, which can be understood as demand generation methods, have been applied.

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1.1.Problem Statement

Demand generation is a process of articulating the demands of multiple stakeholders and aims to help them identify important characteristics of an innovation. Various methods have been developed in order to meet this purpose and understood as ‗demand generation methods‘.

The demand generation methods have been applied in different fields of research for specific purposes. This suggests that each of the methods has its own unique characteristics and ways to address particular challenges. For instance, in marketing and service science, demand generation methods has been used to develop new products and services accordingly to user requirements. In BIS research, the methods can be used as well to improve the user interface design of an application by also referring to user requirements. In other words, BIS study can learn from methods that have been used in the field of marketing and service science.

However, a translation is still needed to make these methods applicable in all aspects of BIS, especially in bridging the gap of business and information systems. A comparative study can be useful for this translation by identifying the commonalities and differences of these demand generation methods. Therefore, this research will identify the elements of demand generation methods and draw lessons from the commonalities and differences of the methods to investigate its applicability in BIS research.

1.2.Thesis Outline

This research is focused on the applicability of demand generation methods in the field of BIS. This asks for a further understanding of what demand generation is. Such an elaboration of demand generation will enable an identification of methods that articulate demand, which are ‗originally‘ not defined as being ‗demand generation methods‘. Chapter 2 will present an elaboration of demand generation and offers an overview of various methods and argues why these various approaches can be understood as demand generation methods. Chapter 3 will subsequently present the methodology used to identify commonalities and differences between those various demand generation methods. The results of this comparative analysis will be presented in Chapter 4, before discussing the lessons drawn from the analysis and the applicability of demand generation methods BIS (chapter 5). Finally, Chapter 5 also concludes the thesis by including reflection on the research, limitations and discusses future work of the research.

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2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Business Information Systems (BIS) focuses on the development and implementation of technology in business organizations. Recent trends in BIS research discuss the development of business applications such as mobile apps and recommendation systems, as well as the challenges of big data. However, discovering innovative models, frameworks and ontologies to improve business process and ensure its alignment with information systems is still an on-going discussion (BIS Conference Proceedings 2011-2014).

In order to improve the alignment between business processes and the use of information technologies, it is emphasized that researchers should not only focus on approaches from only business or IT research, but also from other studies. Different studies would intertwine – and other approaches in innovation studies and social research could be linked to the study of BIS (Patel & Irani, 1999; Orlikowski, 2000).

2.1.Business Information Systems

Organizations invest in information systems to support their business activities, through which it is aimed to enhance the organizational performance. Definitions of BIS emphasize the conversion of data into usable information products that can be used in business activities:

―a group of interrelated components that work collectively to carry out input, processing, output, storage and control actions in order to convert data into

information products that can be used to support forecasting, planning, control,

coordination, decision making and operational activities in an organization‖ (Hardcastle, 2008: p.8 Italics added by author)

While such definitions foreground the relationship of information systems and how it is applied to perform business, the involvement of stakeholders who are connected with the organization as a business user or end user are not taken up. Such socio-technical perspectives that both people and technologies are involved in business operations for organizational improvements are addressed in evolutionary BIS. Orlikowski and Iacono (2001) classified this co-involvement of human and technological actors as an ‗ensemble view of technology‘, where the Information Systems research discusses the interaction of people and technology during construction, implementation and in organization. Instead of focusing on improving business through complex systems, process modelling or optimization, the evolutionary BIS aims to facilitate a ‗socio-technical information system infrastructure‘ that would keep up with the changing business requirements dealt together with stakeholders – i.e. it aims to bridge the gap between business interests and information systems (Neumann et al. 2013).

2.2.Bridging the Gap between Business Requirements and Information Systems The alignment between business interests and information systems has been tried to be explained in different terms and definitions (Silvius, 2013). In general, business-IT alignment is defined as the alignment of business and information systems strategy or objective with

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organizational and information technology infrastructure (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993; Luftman et al., 1999; Reich & Benbasat, 2000).

In addition, business and IT alignment ―deals with the management of information as a business resource and, hence, encompasses all the processes and systems within an organization for the creation and use of information‖ (Maes, 2007: p.3 ). This implies that in order to implement systems which would fit the organization, a clear understanding on the use of information would be required. Pfenning (1962) highlighted that indeed, systems should provide information that is sufficient, appropriate and available when it is needed. However, in some cases, people often skip to the system development before defining the required information.

Modern information systems are seen as tools to enhance business performance, yet it does not guarantee in acquiring the right information and understanding the user demands. Pfenning (1962) noted that, ―we must know why the information is needed, what decisions are to be made‖ (Pfenning, 1962: p.236) Thus, in order to meet with specified requirements, the stakeholders should first identify what kind of data is required. Then, techniques, equipment or systems will be applied following the information.

Poor business-IT alignment is visible when business employees in an organization cannot understand what information systems are required to support their business operations or when employees of business or IT have limited knowledge on the opposite activities. However, aligning business and information systems is a complex process (Chan, 2002). Experts mentioned the ambiguity of achieving such an alignment, stating that it is not a state but a journey (Chan and Reich, 2007a; Luftman & Kempaiah, 2007). Changing business demands is another reason why bridging the gap between the business requirements and technology is never finished (Gmati & Nurcan, 2007; Chan & Reich, 2011; Altendorfer, 2012; Neumann et al., 2013). Businesses evolve – and thus chance continuously – hampering the alignment of information systems to business requirements.

For the purpose of this thesis, BIS will be seen from the concept of the evolutionary business systems. In order to deal with changing business demands, it should be possible to dive into user side and articulate their demands. Knowing and analyzing demands helps organization to expect potential change that could lead to a continuous business and IT alignment.

2.3.Demand Generation

In business as well as in the field of BIS, ‗demand generation‘ are explained in various ways. While these explanations overlap, two main differences in these explanations can be found. Firstly, it is focused on ‗demands‘ from the economic perspectives which is explained as the willingness of a customer to pay for a product or service (―Demand‖, n.d.).

From this perspective, demand generation is a measure to create or stimulate a particular demand. Demand generation exists in the field of marketing to generate leads and improve sales (Demand Generation Professional Handbook, 2012). The demand generation emphasized on building brand awareness through advertising, social media and other

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branding strategies (Booker, 2009). In addition, it is used in business to business as well as business to consumer transactions (Maddox, 2007). It is understood that the demand generation practice applied in marketing stresses on establishing customer relationships to increase business sales instead of customer or user involvement in development research.

A second explanation of demand generation is closely related to ‗demand articulation‘: ―an iterative, inherently creative process in which stakeholders try to unravel preferences for and address what they perceive as important characteristics of an emerging innovation‖ (Boon et al., 2008: p.645)

The stakeholders in the process are representative actors known as intermediary user

organization who acts on behalf of the users of innovation (Boon, 2008). The intermediary

user organization would develop ideas by engaging in ‗learning processes‘ to articulate the user demands regarding the emerging innovation (Boon et al., 2011).

Thus, demand generation can be interpreted as the articulation of demand or clarification of intermediary user organisation requirements, so that innovation can be aligned to the specific demands.Such an understanding of demand generation is used in various fields and disciplines, e.g. as a support in the development of agriculture (Vera-Cruz et al. 2011; Schnurr & Mujabi-Mujuzi, 2014), business (Dyker, 1987; Mele & Russo-Spena, 2015), health studies (Celik et al., 2008; Gerhards et al., 2011), governance (Smits & Kuhlman, 2004; Edler & Georghiou, 2007), science and technology (Kodama, 1992; Kobayashi & Okubo, 2004) as well as Information Systems (de Vreede et al., 1995; Skelton & Thamhain, 2005; Hsu et al., 2008). According to Kodama (1992), user demand drives the starting point of a research and development projects. Moreover, it also reforms the national system of science and technology in Japan (Kobayashi & Okubo, 2004). By applying demand generation, users are assisted in identifying their needs and aligning the demands with a certain knowledge and solution (Vera-Cruz et al., 2011), hence potentially contributing to technology innovations.

Referring to Boon et al. (2008) this thesis will continue to use the terminology ‗demand generation‘ understood as the process of communicating requirements through engagement with stakeholders in order to support innovation.

In regards to the BIS research, this definition takes ‗innovation‘ as the alignment of business and IT. The alignment is tried to be achieved by encouraging stakeholders to communicate their requirements. The word ‗communicate‘ is synonymous with articulating, sharing and transferring-needs, information and visions among stakeholders. ‗Engagement with stakeholders‘ expresses the user involvement and collaboration to bridge the gap of business and information systems.

2.4.Demand Generation Methods

Several methods have been developed to understand the requirements of innovation by involving multiple stakeholders. These methods can be interpreted as demand generation methods and have been applied in different fields of research. To be able to bridge the gap

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between business requirements and information technology developments research approaches used in various fields are taken in consideration. However, it is necessary to discuss the indicators of demand generation which enable the identification of the methods.

Demand generation as an innovation fruition process indicates the element of being ‗iterative‘. Initially, the innovation process is perceived as linear process model. However, in the research of innovation, academics recognize that a linear model was difficult to support interaction and feedback among different actors in the phases of innovation development. Over time, innovation processes evolve and tend to be non-linear; visualized as loops in an innovation process model (Boon, 2008). This ‗iterative process‘ can be understood as an indicative aspect of demand generation.

Boon et al (2008) highlighted the another positive aspects demand articulation process found in researches; for instance, the contribution of ‗user involvement‘ to successful implementation of innovations, exploration of new innovations and user decision-making on innovations. Therefore, through the interaction between users and producers of innovation, it is suggested that the producers should be able to understand user demands as well as advice possible options and implications.

Other stakeholders in demand generation may have different views and knowledge in how the user demands could be assessed to achieve innovation. Demand generationact as an intermediary to innovation process which could reduce the knowledge gap between the stakeholders. This is done by facilitating ‗collaboration.‘ Collaboration between stakeholders helps to establish understanding on mutual needs and goals for the innovation (Klerkx and Leeuwis, 2008).

Considering the abovementioned indicative aspects of demand generation, the indicators are

iterative process, user involvement and stakeholders‘ collaboration. Based on these

indicators, six research approaches were interpreted as ‗demand generation methods‘1

. The demand generation methods are action research, participatory design, responsive evaluation, constructive technology assessment, soft systems methodology and co-creation.

2.4.1. Action Research

Avison et al. (1999) mentioned that action research is a method which aims to solve the issues of practitioners by stimulating change in a community of practices. Practitioners are accustomed with their practices in the community, making them difficult to recognize the occurring issues. In order to learn the issues in the community, researchers encourage the practitioners to share information on their daily circumstances. This indicates the importance of user involvement which enables the researchers understand the views of the practitioner.

Action research enables the researcher to expand his or her scientific knowledge by going through an iterative process (Hult & Lennung, 1978). The iterative process occurs when both researchers and practitioners reflect on issues that have been discovered by the researcher. Then, the researchers suggest potential theories to practitioners and evaluate these

1

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theories to be applied into practice. Without the collaboration of the researcher and practitioners, the issues of practitioners could not be properly articulated and researchers would not be able to improve the practices and the practitioners.

2.4.2. Participatory Design

Participatory design is a design approach where the end users are involved in the processes and procedures of design. User input is highly appreciated in designing products, workplaces, organizations and tools. As a 'facilitator', researchers and designers assist the users to explore the users‘ ideas and requirements to develop the product. The users are able to reflect on their own decisions and foster their tacit knowledge in this iterative articulation process. The combined knowledge of users, researchers and designers ensures that the end products are usable and meet the actual needs of the users (Spinuzzi, 2005).

2.4.3. Responsive Evaluation

Responsive evaluation is a deliberative process where the evaluator has to explore all users‘ point of view by engaging into dialogues and conversations (Abma, 2005). Users have their own view on products, services, routines and policies. If these views are gathered and understood properly, issues and potential ideas can be discovered and useful to organizations and government in making enhancements.

In this method, the researcher acts as an evaluator with multiple roles: educator, interpreter, facilitator and guide. The evaluator is required to confirm his or her interpretations regarding the user issues by perform validation strategies. These issues are then further unravelled in the process of discussion with other partners of the research. The collaborative process helps the researchers and other stakeholders to discover ideas that can be used to improve services which respond to the views of the user.

In some cases, when the issue is still unclear to the researchers and partners, another evaluation task is conducted. Responsive evaluation is considered ‗messy‘ as the evaluation process is continuous.

2.4.4. Constructive Technology Assessment

CTA is a method which anticipates potential impacts of technology and studies the ―range of aspects such as design options, user demands, and issues of political and societal acceptability‖ (Rip and Schot, 1996: p. 257). In order to discover the potential impacts, CTA assess new and emerging technology by articulating the demands of stakeholders in a workshop session (Schot & Rip, 1996). There are 3 kinds of roles involved in CTA activities, namely, technology actors who perform technological developments, societal actors who give feedback on the development, and actors at a meta-level which facilitate the interaction between technology actors and societal actors.

Feedbacks that are being shared in the session are used to generate potential development scenarios to steer the technology development. CTA is considered as an

iterative process as the scenarios are continuously evaluated until a scenario is democratically agreed by all the actors.

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2.4.5. Soft Systems Methodology

Checkland (2000) developed soft systems methodology that combines ‗soft methods‘ – such as theories for problem structuring – with ‗hard methods‘ – i.e. methodologies used for system specification, design and development. In research studies, several models are introduced: (1) Analyses One, Two, Three; (2) rich pictures; (3) CATWOE analysis; (4) root definition and (5) the 3Es (Checkland, 2000).

Using these models, all stakeholders are required to work together in identifying the main problem and finding ways develop problem solution in a workshop session. Each user

contributes to the solution by executing tasks that is delegated in the session. Checkland

(2000) integrates the model into a learning model which is shown in Figure 1. The learning model displays the iterative flow of problem identification process which can be followed by the stakeholders.

Figure 1 LUMAS Model

2.4.6. Co-creation

Co-creation is a method in which the customers are influential in designing or redesigning a product. As a method aimed to satisfy customer requirements and value creation, co-creation method tries to ensure that the designed end product should holds the value that is shared by both customers and the organization (Ramaswamy & Gouillart, 2010).

Therefore, to develop a product with a shared value, the product design should be

discussed in collaboration with customers and representatives of the organization (Lee et al.,

2012). The product design phase is executed in an iterative manner; where customers are asked for multiple feedbacks before finalizing the end product. Applying co-creation method in organizations would increase sales and customer satisfaction (Galvagno and Dalli, 2014).

2.5.Research Question: Demand Generation Methods and the Applicability in BIS The six methodologies described above can thus all be understood as demand generation methods. As organizations are faced with the changes in business demands, aligning business and information systems to support the operations is a challenge. Therefore, approaches to

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lessen the alignment gap would be beneficial for which lessons could be drawn from demand generation methods used in other fields.2

As noted, instead of focusing on modernizing technology to fit into business, a socio-technical approach is suggested by understanding the perspective of people to balance the business and information systems. Moreover, recognizing the needs of the people let them to be more accountable with the possible outcomes and enables the development of information systems that is more responsive to ―users‘ situational needs‖ (Patel & Irani, 1999: p.35 ).

With reference to the definition of demand generation, the methods of demand generation are proposed as an approach to address the alignment between business and IT in BIS research.

Thus, this leads to the main research question of the study:

“What are the commonalities and differences of demand generation methods and its applicability in Business Information Systems?”

The research intends to answer its main question by proposing the following sub questions:

Sub Question 1: What are the demand generation methods used in research studies?

In order to answer the main research question, it is necessary to understand what actually demand generation is. Hence, this question is to define demand generation and what methods are present. This question is addressed in the chapter 2 of this thesis.

Sub Question 2: How to compare the demand generation methods?

The thesis intends to analyse the commonalities and differences of demand generation methods found in literature and discussed by experts. The purpose of this research question is to elaborate on the way to perform the analysis, which is seen as a method that is appropriate to draw the lessons for the applicability of demand generation methods in BIS research mentioned in Chapter 3.

Sub Question 3a: What are the commonalities of the demand generation methods? Sub Question 3b: What are the differences of demand generation methods?

Sub Question 3c: What is the significance (lessons learned)?

Answer to these questions would be the analysis of the shared characteristics and dissimilarities as well as lessons learned from the demand generation methods.

Sub Question 4: How can the significance (lessons learned) be applied/ linked to the research of Business Information Systems?

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This statement was discussed with Erik de Vries in the phase of the thesis design. The discussion was based on Orlikowski, W.J. (2000) Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations. Organization Science 11(4):404-428.

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This final question identifies the applicability of the demand generation methods in the BIS research. The sub question will be answered by referring to outcomes of sub questions 3, further literature research and interview results with the BIS experts.

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3. METHODOLOGY

As stated in the research question, the thesis intends to draw lessons from demand generation methodologies to facilitate alignment between business demands or requirements to information systems. This is not a simple task, for it consists of two complementary elements: 1) a comparative analysis of those demand generation methods as a means to identify commonalities and differences and 2) a critical analysis of the potential application of the identified commonalities and differences to the field of BIS.

3.1.Comparative analysis on Multiple Methods

To be able to draw lessons from various demand generation methodologies – and apply the lessons learned to the field of BIS – the variety of identified demand generation methods have to be compared (Neumann et al., 2013).

A way to perform a comparative analysis on multiple models or theories is by applying different methodologies to a single case. For instance, Baskerville and Pries-Heje (2001) examined three innovation models by implementing those models in an organizational setting. There, the models were compared based on their explanation, an understanding on innovation motivated by the models, conceptual model of the domains and research context in which the models could be applied.

On the contrary, Remus and Wiener (2010) conducted an analysis of multiple methods within two information system research projects. Methods evaluated in this study are both qualitative (e.g. literature review, expert interview) and quantitative (e.g. web survey, statistical analysis). The methods are then measured across four phases of the research projects, namely: (1) state of the art, (2) identification, (3) relevance and (4) management. Finally, results from the triangulation improve the understanding on which approach that can be used in which projects, during which research phases and reasons for these variations.

The basic rule of a comparative analysis is to have the comparison performed by someone, there are at least two elements compared, the elements are being compared in some common criteria and the comparison depicts some relation between the elements based on the criteria (Weber, 2013). Therefore, the commonalities and differences are drawn by analyzing the methods based on several criteria or comparison indicators. First three indicators for the comparative analysis are elements present in a common research study. Among the elements are: purpose of conducting a research method, how the methods are being conducted and stakeholders involved in the research. Next, challenges and limitations as well as the performance results of different methods that were evaluated in the research of Remus and Wiener (2010) are taken as additional comparison indicator. The final criteria, ‗areas of a research‘ were adopted from the study Baskerville & Pries-Heje (2001).

In sum, the indicators used to conduct the comparative analysis in this thesis are:

purpose of the method, stakeholders involved, how the methods are conducted (tasks), challenges and limitations, performance results and areas of research.

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Data Collection and Analysis

In order to discover the commonalities or differences, strengths or weakness and applicability of a method, a researcher would have to collect the relevant literature and study how the method is used and also verify the conclusion (Remus & Wiener, 2010).

Literature in which the six demand generation methods could have been described is gathered by using ‗UvA CataloguePlus‘ and ‗Google Scholar‘. The literature of each method was studied by reviewing the information based on the mentioned comparison indicators. Then, the information was extracted and categorized based on each comparison criteria to present a preliminary overview of the demand generation methods. This overview would be useful to ease the identification and analysis of the commonalities and differences in the methods.

Before finalizing the overview of demand generation methods, interviews were performed. The interviews were semi-structured interviews that were conducted in order to confirm or ‗verify‘ the information that has been included in the overview. Discussing the information also gives the researcher an opportunity to learn and seek for additional insights on the demand generation methods.

In this study, six interviews were held with interviewees from social studies for innovation research, particularly in knowledge transfer, community development as well as in the study of BIS. The interviewees, who are also called as experts, were selected based on their familiarity and experience in applying the demand generation methods in their past and recurring research. Therefore, interviewees were asked about the definition of the methods they have used, purpose of using the methods, challenges and limitations as well as other questions related to the comparison criteria of the methods3.

The interviews responses were transcribed so that important data and information discussed during the interview sessions are clear and structured. A transcription would also be useful in order to look at the full responses of the experts on particular questions. Next, the transcription of each interviews were coded to easily check answers to the questions without fully reading the whole interview transcript4. Following the basic steps in coding, the first step in performing coding is to categorize the codes, so that the responses from the interview can be generalized (Gorden, 1992). In order to identify the relevant information in each category, the information has to be classified. Classifying can be done in different ways. In this study, the relevant information is underlined and labelled according to the categories. As a result, the researcher can easily refer to the relevant responses to be used for the overview of the demand generation methods.

Based on the finalized overview of the demand generation methods, the comparative analysis is performed to analyse the commonalities and differences of all the methods. Researcher could identify the commonalities by first looking at the information which holds

3_{Refer Appendix A for interview questions} 4

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the same meanings or use similar words, based on each comparison indicator. Then, researcher would check if the information is present in most of the methods.

In contrast, the differences of the demand generation methods are identified based on the least information presented on all the methods. The differences of the method are unique information which expresses different meaning compared to other information.

3.2.Applying Lessons Learned to the field of BIS

As aforementioned, studying and comparing multiple research methods leads to a further understanding on each method. This understanding is not only about how the methods are being applied, but also describes if the methods could be potentially used in what type of research projects or in which research phases. Moreover, by comparing the different methods, a researcher can identify the commonalities and differences which helps researcher to draw conclusions about the variations in the results (Remus & Wiener, 2010). Therefore, lessons learned from the comparative analysis would consist of the correlations and variations between demand generation methods as well as insights on the applicability of the methods. Data Collection and Analysis

In the search of methods that could be applied on business-IT alignment, researchers has performed conceptual and empirical research, analysed case studies in organizations, adopt simulation tools, studied research methods as well as conducted surveys and interviews (Chan & Reich, 2007b).

Semi-structured interviews aim to understand the perspectives of the interviewees, experience and knowledge uncovered by their own words (Ritchie & Lewis, 2003). In order to identify how the lessons learned can be applied to BIS research, several perspectives from demand generation method experts were gathered through interviews.

The interviews were held with the same experts who were interviewed to support the comparative analysis of the methods. In the interview sessions, the applicability of the demand generation methods was asked as the final question. Similar to the interview approach discussed in the previous section, the response were then transcribed and coded for analysis.

To evaluate the applicability of the approaches, researchers are suggested to look upon various alignment frameworks (Chan & Reich, 2007). Literature research enables the provision of information on the business-IT alignment studies and application examples. Therefore, in order to further investigate the applicability of the lessons learned in BIS, the perspectives of the experts will be evaluated based on theories and frameworks that have been used in literature.

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4. RESULTS

With the purpose of investigating the applicability of demand generation methods to the study of Business Information Systems, a comparative analysis was performed on the demand generation methods explore the significance of the demand generation methods by identifying the commonalities and the differences of each method. Methods that were compared are action research, participatory design, responsive evaluation, Constructive Technology Assessment, Soft Systems Methodology and co-creation. This chapter presents the results of the comparative analysis performed on the demand generation methods as the answers to Sub-question 3a and 3b.

4.1.Interview Results

Results from the interview contribute significantly to the overview of demand generation methods. The interviewees keenly shared their knowledge on each method. For instance, the experts explained the purposes of applying the demand generation methods in their research and what tasks or activities they had to perform to achieve the desired outcomes. The experts also had to overcome several challenges and limitations in the research. In addition, since demand generation also comprises multiple stakeholders in the process of articulating demands, the stakeholders involved in the methods were also described.

Purpose of the Methods, Achieved Results and Potential Applicability in BIS

The demand generation methods were used to articulate needs of the stakeholders through user involvement and collaboration. From the interview with the experts, it is discovered that demands were articulated to achieve different purposes. This leads to variety of outcomes and also different possibilities of how the demand generation methods will be applied in BIS.

On one hand, it could be understood that responsive evaluation is concerned with developing idea or useful services by supporting change. As an example, responsive evaluation is applied to support the policy making of a city by sharing the thoughts of the youth with the government (Interviewee 3). Similarly, action research is used to support change and improvement to the practice of a community and organization (Interviewee 1). Based on these similar purposes, the experts suggest that, the demand generation methods could be applied in BIS on change management, knowledge transfer process and administrative processes.

On the other hand, participatory design observes the people, routines and settings to develop a product design which satisfy clients and users (Interviewee 4). This is similar to co-creation method which also evaluates inputs from stakeholders with the purpose of developing a service or product that fulfils the customer expectations (Interviewee 6). Therefore, the emphasis on satisfying user requirements is beneficial to BIS study when applied in the research of human computer interaction and business process optimization.

As for other methods, CTA is mentioned as a method which focuses on assessing the development of technology, rather than designing a particular product. By performing CTA, the study of BIS would be able to anticipate the direction of Information Systems implementation in an organization (Interviewee 6).

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Tasks/ Activities

According to the experts, the task in demand generation process starts with identifying the issue of participants by collecting information from the participants and analyzing the information. In general, information was gathered by experts by observation, conducting interviews and dialogue sessions.

Then, the tasks after problem analysis differs based on the different demand generation methods. Experts explained that responsive evaluation and action research methods tries to extract and interpret the information acquired and validate the interpretations with participants before proposing a solution (Interviewee 1; Interviewee 3).

Furthermore, based on the results of observation and interviews, participatory design and co-creation evaluate the ideas with stakeholders, generating possible solution designs which would meet the user requirements (Interviewee 4; Interviewee 6).

As Constructive Technology Assessment focuses on the development of technologies, the potential directions in which the technologies under scrutiny would develop are described in scenarios. Those scenarios would then be discussed in a workshop with stakeholders involved with the development of that technology. When a scenario is agreed on, it is followed by creating an implementation guideline for the technology. Moreover, researchers of CTA also have the option to monitor the technology application and evaluate phases of the technology development (Interviewee 6).

Challenges and Limitations

Referring to the interviews, gathering information from the research participants to understand their problems are one of the challenges. These individuals have their own routines and personal views. Moreover, there are also individuals who are having difficulties in expressing themselves due to their insecurities when approached by experts. As a result, approach strategies are required to get into their thoughts.

Another challenge is building the tolerance among all stakeholders. According to experts, after a problem is identified, list of potential solutions will be developed. Before it is being implemented, all the views of stakeholders are evaluated and discussed democratically, but the fact that there will be politics and power relations that would influence the interrelations between the stakeholders should not be ignored. According to Interviewee 6, this challenge could actually be linked to the limitations of constructive technology assessment and co-creation method – i.e. to get all stakeholders involved in the demand generation process and acknowledge the socio-political bias of their (inter)relations.

Furthermore, time is a limitation faced by the experts (Interviewee 1; Interviewee 2; Interviewee 3) in conducting demand generation methods. Action research and participatory design take a lot of time during information gathering and problem analysis, while responsive evaluation is more time consuming on the evaluation activity with stakeholders after the problem analysis.

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Stakeholders

Three of the experts (Interviewee 1; Interviewee 3; Interviewee 4) refer to the stakeholders in different names based on the use of the research methods. For instance, in action research, the participants who benefit from the results of the research are called practitioners. Additionally, in participatory design and responsive evaluation method, clients and users are considered as participants of a research. Clients or users will then be distinguished differently by experts based on the research context. Other interviewees did not mention how people in the research are being called and just refer to them as participants.

Partners involved in the research also depend on the research context. As an example, since the study of responsive evaluation is used in a community research, the partner defined would be the municipality of the community. Since the action research is performed on neighbourhood policemen, community police act as the partner.

Researcher in the demand generation methods was still referred to as researcher; According to an expert (Interviewee 6), a researcher can have multiple roles: a person who conducts the research, a facilitator, an evaluator of a research and also a communicator between stakeholders.

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4.2.Overview of the Demand Generation Methods

Results of the analysis of demand generation methods are displayed in the table below (Table 1). Information included in the table was gathered from academic papers, case studies and interview with researchers displayed in the previous section. The information resources5 were examined based on a set of established criteria, namely, stakeholders, tasks, challenges, limitations, areas of research and the purpose of the methods.

No. Criteria

Demand Generation Methods

Action Research Participatory Design Responsive

Evaluation Constructive Technology Assessment Soft Systems Methodology Co-Creation 1 Purpose of

Methods Collaboration Collaboration Collaboration

Assess the development of technology in a constructive way

Collaboration Collaboration

Change and reflection Designing a product to

meet user needs Change and reflection

Understanding problematic situation for solution

development

Value creation

Dealing with social complexity Providing service to satisfy user requirements 2 Activities/ Tasks/ Phases Gather information and problem diagnosis

Explore and define

problem Gather information

Gather information and analysis

Find out problem situation

Gather information and analysis

Action intervention Generate concept Interpret the

information Develop scenario

Formulate relevant

activity models Generate concept Reflective learning Evaluate ideas Validate

interpretation

Propose implementation guideline

Evaluate situation based on the model and generate action

Evaluate ideas

Develop design Monitor technology application

Take action in the situation for improvement Develop product/ service 5

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Evaluate phases of the implementation 3 Performance/ Achieved Results Support organizational and individual learning Produce user requirements Facilitate

improvement Give insights

Support

organizational and individual learning

Produce user requirements

Give insights Facilitate

improvement Give insights

4 Challenges

Identifying problems that are not well defined

Users understanding on specific technology

Controlling the process

Studying the changes of the technology application in detail

Identifying problems that are not well defined

Customers' ability to co-create

Understanding complex context

Dealing with users'

interest Creating dialogues

Establishing a democracy in the assessment process

Understanding complex context

Dealing with users' interest Extracting practitioner's tacit knowledge Managing stakeholder roles Deconstructing client's use of language Creating synergy between stakeholders Managing

stakeholder roles Approaching customers

Approaching clients Creating synergy

between stakeholders Developing tolerance

among stakeholders

5 Limitations Time Consuming Time Consuming Time Consuming

Facilitating involvement and participation of all stakeholders Facilitating involvement and participation of all stakeholders Facilitating involvement and participation of all stakeholders Applicability in different research settings Costly Costly Applicability in different research settings

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6 Areas of research

Computer and Information Sciences

Computer and

Information Sciences Natural Sciences

Computer and Information Sciences Computer and Information Sciences Computer and Information Sciences Social Sciences Social Sciences Social Sciences Social Sciences Social Sciences Service Science Business Studies Health Studies Health Studies Health Studies Health Studies Marketing Engineering Natural Sciences Engineering

Business Studies

7 Stakeholders Practitioner Client/ User Client/ User Practitioner Customer User/ Customer Researcher Researcher Researcher Researcher/

Facilitator

Actor Employees Partners Partners Social Designer Technology Actor Owner Partners

Facilitator Societal Actor Firm/

Organization/Service Provider

Partners Regulating Actor

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4.3.Analysis of the Demand Generation Methods

Comparative analysis was performed on the demand generation methods in order to identify the commonalities and the differences. The analysis was drawn by referring to the overview of demand generation method displayed in Table 1.

4.3.1. Commonalities of Demand Generation Methods Collaboration

As one of the indicators of demand generation methods, collaboration of stakeholders is perceived as the main purpose of the majority of the methods except constructive technology assessment.

Producing Insights

According to the analysis, the demand generation methods lead to results such as producing insights to the research which benefits the stakeholders for solution development. Moreover, it can be assumed that the process of discovering insights exist in the process of learning. Thus, this is a commonality found in methods such as action research and soft systems methodology which fosters individual and organizational learning during the demand generation process.

Information Gathering and Problem Analysis

In conducting the demand generation methods, information gathering and analyzing the problem in a research is defined as a start to the research process. According to the resources, the information could be gathered based on observation, dialogues, interviews and model analysis.

Evaluation Process

Evaluation is considered as one of the necessary activities in the demand generation methods. Participatory design, co-creation and soft systems methodology perform evaluation on ideas or specific situations after concepts which address the problems had been formulated. Then, solutions to the problem can be developed after the evaluation process.

In contrast, the evaluation activity of CTA and action research is conducted after taking action on a certain plan or scenario has been developed. For instance, CTA evaluates the phases of a scenario implementation and action research evaluates and learns changes to executed plans through the ‗reflective learning‘ activity.

Dealing with Stakeholders

A challenge for most of the demand generation methods is dealing with the stakeholders involved in the research. Strategies would be required to instil tolerance and also create the cooperation among stakeholders during the demand generation process. This challenge is apparent in methods which are composed of more than the key stakeholders (users, stakeholders and partners) such as responsive evaluation, constructive technology and co-creation methods.

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Time Limitation

Time is considered as a limitation to participatory design method, action research and responsive evaluation. In participatory design method and action research, most of the time is spent on gathering information and analyzing the problem. Additionally, for responsive evaluation, the process of validating the interpretation of user information is time consuming. Demand Generation Methods in Research Studies

Referring to the analysis of the demand generation methods in Table 1, the demand generation methods are mostly applied in the study of social sciences, computer and information studies and health studies.

4.3.2. Differences of Demand Generation Methods Demand Generation Methods for Other Purposes

Most of the demand generation methods are mainly applied to understand the issues of the users and improve the collaboration with stakeholders in developing a desirable end solution (product or service). However, CTA is only aimed to assess the development of technology together with the stakeholders.

Co-creation in Organizational Context

A difference can be seen in the context or setting of where one of the demand generation method is applied, namely, co-creation. As the other research methods could be applied in the context of social sciences research, co-creation is only to be applied in organizational context. This organizational context is shown by the stakeholders involved in the method; where employees and firms are present.

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5. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

Recent study involving 1507 business and IT executives across the globe reported that organizations are increasing the IT expenditure to more than 10% in the next few years, despite the chances of success or failure in the implementation.6 This suggests a technology push: IT being pushed without taking in consideration whether they would align to the demands/requirements of the field of business.

Organizations expect that through the use of technologies, especially through an implementation of information systems that fit their business strategies and processes, business performance will improve. However, it can be presumed that the development of Information Technologies (IT) or Information Systems (IS) is always lagging behind and depending on business needs. This hints the lack of alignment between business and IT/IS which remains as a challenge. BIS researchers argue whether an alignment between business requirements and IT can be achieved, due to the dynamics of change in the business environment and demands (Chan & Reich, 2007a).

This thesis investigated commonalities and differences of demand generation methods and its applicability to support the BIS research of the business-IT alignment. By examining the commonalities and differences it was aimed to draw lessons through which the gap of business and IT in BIS could potentially be minimized. Demand generation methods could offer an entrance point to deal with the alignment, for they focus on searching for innovative solutions.

5.1.Significance of the Demand Generation Methods

From the comparative analysis on the demand generation methods, four main lessons were drawn. Firstly, demand generation methods can be used to articulate demands for different purposes. In general, the demand generation methods were applied to improve the communication and cooperation between different stakeholders involved in the articulation process. However, the demand generation methods can also facilitate change in practices, assess and steer technology developments, create shared values, satisfy user requirements and deals with the complexity of the relationship between people. As a result, the demand generation methods can be applied in various research studies, context as well as several aspects of BIS study.

Secondly, researchers or actors of demand generation methods should always be concerned on discovering the main problem and needs in acquired information as it leads to the development of the solution. The analysis shows that collecting information and identifying the issue within a research context is the most essential task for the demand generation methods. In order to gather information from other stakeholders and interpret the meaning of information to discover the issues, researchers or actors of the demand generation methods should have strategies. The strategies that could be used are dialogue and empowerment techniques; by the use of language and approaching the users in their familiar settings. Next, evaluation activities are performed to validate the interpretations of the users‘

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information as well as after solution concepts have been generated. These tasks are perceived to extend the time of the research, slowing the overall time of the demand generation process. The importance of understanding the users‘ problem or ‗demand‘ is in line with the view of Kodama (1992) that has been mentioned in the theoretical section of the thesis.

Next, actors or researchers will always deal with the differences of stakeholders in performing the demand generation methods, especially in developing a widely accepted solution. In order to deal with this challenge, actors in the research have the role to conduct the demand generation methods in a democratic way to avoid social bias; even though, the democracy is always affected by the personal interests, knowledge and also the power of each stakeholder. An expert quoted that the essence of a demand generation process is not only about articulating the demands, but also about designing the solution together. Thus, researchers can only reduce the gap by facilitating the stakeholders‘ collaboration and user involvement in the process (Howells, 2005; Boon et al., 2008; Klerkx & Leeuwis, 2008).

Final lesson that can be drawn is innovation can be realized through the process of learning and development with the stakeholders. Result from the stakeholders‘ collaborative process in the demand generation methods are positive and lead to the formulation of new ideas. Researchers are able to acquire insights of what a user wants and anticipate what users would need. Moreover, throughout the activities of problem articulation and evaluation with stakeholders in engagement sessions, the experience contributes to the stakeholders‘ individual and organizational learning. Recognition of innovation is indeed through the process of learning and development with the involvement of multiple actors and relationships (Bessant & Rush, 1995).

5.2.Applicability in Business Information Systems

Demand generation is the process of unravelling demands of multiple stakeholders in order to support the development of innovation. Referring to Boon et al. (2008), demand generation encompass the elements of user involvement, collaboration and iterative processes. Therefore, a demand generation method would consist of all of these elements.

In this thesis, demand generation methods are proposed to be applied in BIS research, especially to bridge the gap of business requirements and Information Systems. Studying the applicability of the methods on the BIS research requires the researcher to carry out several analyses: a comparative analysis on different demand generation methods and also studying the application of the outcomes from the comparative study. Commonalities and differences have been provided in order to draw several conclusions. These conclusions are considered lessons learned and a translation for the applicability of the methods in BIS.

To make an interpretation on the applicability of the lessons learned to align business requirements and Information Systems, the researcher refers to the demand generation method experts for their perspectives. Their views are concluded as follows:

 Action research which combines theory and practice of stakeholders could be applied to improve knowledge transfer and human resources.

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 Participatory design that aims to fulfil the requirements of a user design would be useful to optimize processes.

 Similar to participatory design, co-creation is beneficial to optimize process. However it is limited to business process as it considers the business values.

 Responsive evaluation, purposed for change and improvement in services could be applied in change management.

 CTA, which assess the technology development can be used to investigate the direction of technology could be applicable in the process of Information Systems implementation.

 Soft Systems Methodology a method to understand problematic situations in the ‗soft‘ areas such as business and propose solution to the ‗hard‘ areas such as Information Systems can be used for system specification and design development. The majority of experts perceive that in general, the methods can be applied in BIS research. Moreover, the results reveal that the application of demand generation methods extend to different aspects of BIS. An explanation for this result is due to the different purposes of the demand generation methods.

For example, methods which are concerned with satisfying user inputs (participatory design and co-creation) are suggested to be applied process optimization. In order to optimize a process, the particular process has to be adjusted for the efficiency and effectiveness of the users. Considering that, user ideas are beneficial in developing process models which will improve their work process.

In another instance, CTA method aims to steer the development of new technologies to avoid negative impacts in the society. In the study of BIS, CTA is recommended in the process of Information Systems implementation as it may help to foresee the direction of system implementation in organizations. This enables organizations to anticipate the potential success or failures of the system implementation.

Based on the perspectives of experts regarding the various applications of demand generation methods in BIS, can the methods be applied to align business and information systems? The interpretation is: demand generation methods can be applied to support subset(s) of the alignment.

The researcher considers the alignment in this thesis as the strategic alignment. Strategic alignment is the fit between business strategies, business activities with IT functions and strategies. Developing a business strategy requires an organization to understand the business requirements and needs. With the changing environment, businesses evolve; hence influencing Information Systems cope with the changes. For that reason, organizations have to realize that alignment is a ―fluid process‖ which requires approaches for continuous alignment (Chan, 2002. p: 99).

According to Henderson and Venkatraman (1993), a continuous strategic alignment can be achieved by organizations by considering four management factors: strategy execution,

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technology potential, competitive potential and service level. Thus, a strategic alignment model (Figure 2) was proposed by including the factors into four domains (Henderson & Venkatraman, 1993). The four domains are business strategy, IT strategy, organizational structure and process and Information Systems structure and process. Moreover, the domains consist of three connected ‗structures‘ in which the organizations had to address7.

Figure 2 Strategic Alignment Model

The researcher proves the interpretation by applying the aspects of BIS perspectives shared by the experts to the attributes of the domains and structures in Strategic Alignment Model. As shown in Figure 3, each demand generation method can only be used to address one or two structures in the alignment model.

Furthermore, even though co-creation is only applied to one of the domain structure, it can still be considered to achieve a strategic fit. Three demand generation methods can also be considered for functional integration: (1) Soft Systems Methodology for aligning business and IT strategy, (2) Participatory design and (3) Responsive evaluation for linking organizational and Information Systems infrastructure.

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Figure 3 Applying Demand Generation Methods to Strategic Alignment Model

5.3. Limitations and Further research

Based on the results and discussion of this study, two recommendations are suggested for future research. First, the applicability of the demand generation methods in this research is only limited to the perspectives of experts and analysis of the theory of business and information systems alignment. This questions the applicability of the methods in the real settings. Thus, this limitation can be taken up by further evaluating the applicability of demand generation methods. The evaluation can be improved by conducting case studies on the application in an organization. By applying directly to the organizational settings, the researcher could justify the effectiveness of the demand generation methods in bridging the gap of business and information systems.

Finally, more demand generation methods could also be further explored in other research studies. This would leads to the discovery of additional commonalities and differences. As a result, the applicability in BIS research or other research aspects can be reinvestigated.

Demand Generation Methods and their Applicability in Business Information Systems