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Building a New Information Technology Operating Model to Support Digital Transformation: A Case Study in Oil and Gas Sector

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The Practice of Enterprise Modeling (PoEM 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 497))

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Abstract

Multinational corporations are facing increasing demands on their IT function due to digital innovation and transformation. However, a traditional IT function often lacks capabilities required for successful digital transformation. This necessitates a comprehensive change in its IT operating model (ITOM), encompassing people, processes, technology, governance, agility, outsourcing, and more. This article presents a case study of a large European oil and gas company's IT function, exploring the design and implementation process of a new ITOM. Qualitative interviews with IT executives and digital leads, along with data analysis, shed light on the involvement of external consulting firms during the design phase, while the implementation phase is driven by internal IT teams. The process is labor-intensive and spans several years, highlighting the complexity of ITOM implementation within a multimodal IT function structure. Key findings stress the need for close alignment among strategic IT leaders and strong business executive ownership. Scaling an agile approach requires an agile mindset achieved through continuous training and clearly defining the role of the product owner. The study has significant implications for IT function transformation through the adoption of a new ITOM, making it relevant for practitioners, researchers, and CIOs alike.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    IT function refers to IT department of a multinational company. IT function/IT department would mean the same thing throughout this article.

  2. 2.

    PDOs are defined as organizations born or established pre industry 4.0 revolution.

  3. 3.

    NVivo software https://lumivero.com/products/nvivo/

  4. 4.

    Multimodal IT function refers to more than 2 separate IT functions in an organization, led by separate IT managers.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Muhammad Suleman, Samuli Pekkola & Tuomas Ahola

  2. Institute of Information Service Science, University of Geneva, CUI, Carouge, Switzerland

    Muhammad Suleman & Jolita Ralyté

  3. Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Samuli Pekkola

Authors
  1. Muhammad Suleman
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  2. Jolita Ralyté
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  3. Samuli Pekkola
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  4. Tuomas Ahola
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jolita Ralyté .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil

    João Paulo A. Almeida

  2. University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Monika Kaczmarek-Heß

  3. University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany

    Agnes Koschmider

  4. TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

    Henderik A. Proper

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Suleman, M., Ralyté, J., Pekkola, S., Ahola, T. (2024). Building a New Information Technology Operating Model to Support Digital Transformation: A Case Study in Oil and Gas Sector. In: Almeida, J.P.A., Kaczmarek-Heß, M., Koschmider, A., Proper, H.A. (eds) The Practice of Enterprise Modeling. PoEM 2023. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 497. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48583-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48583-1_6

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-48582-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-48583-1

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