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IoT systems generate data that can improve organizations’ ability to adapt to new demands and proactively address emerging issues. However, to develop such abilities, organizations need to engage in change beyond technical implementations. In this paper, we study the development of a real estate company that, through the adoption of IoT, strives to increase operational agility and become data-driven. Seeking to understand the experiences of key actors across units within this organization, we identify different co-existing rationales regarding the strategic value of data and show how their operationalization in data-driven activities ultimately led to a fragmentation of the data-driven culture within the organization. Furthermore, we highlight the role of customers in the realization of value for data-driven services and how the implementation of IoT can enable new sensing capabilities but also foster expectations of a heightened organizational ability to respond.

With the steady increase in connectivity and the development of new dynamic, interconnected, and distributed technologies, management teams are seeing opportunities to digitally transform organizational processes. Following a case of Internet of Things (IoT) implementation, the aim of this paper is to explore the transformational potential of IoT and the mechanisms and processes that support or constrain IoT-enabled digital transformation in practice. Through a qualitative case study of an IoT implementation project over a period of two years, we show that IoT can create an opportunity for digital transformation by fundamentally changing organizational and individual perception of work identity and work practices. Furthermore, we show that successful IoT adoption requires proactive leadership that identifies and accounts for both technological capabilities and different stakeholder perspectives. To make use of IoT's capabilities and simultaneously mitigate the risk of privacy infringements one must leverage the role of the observer and the observed.

Examensarbeten utgör en komplex prestation där studenterna förväntas designa och genomföra en vetenskaplig studie, förankra den i litteratur och skriva om sitt arbete i en längre text. Processen involverar dessutom många olika lärare i rollerna som kursansvarig, handledare och examinator, vilket adderar ytterligare nivåer av komplexitet. Tidigare forskning visar att bedömningen av examensarbeten är extra utmanande utifrån aspekter såsom likvärdighet och rättvisa då det är många faktorer som ska samspela och som kan påverka både process och produkt (t.ex. Almarlind,2015; Ciolek Laerum 2009, UKÄ, 2020).

Vid institutionen för informatik har vi genom åren genomfört ett flertal pedagogiska projekt med fokus på uppsatsprocessen. Däribland kan nämnas utveckling av bedömningskriterier, kollegialt stöd för handledning, samt ökad samsyn mellan handledare och examinator. Under 2022 genomfördes två brusinventeringar i avsikt att synliggöra eventuella variationer i lärarnas bedömningar och tolkning av betygskriterier. Dessa visade att det föreligger ett visst mått av brus inom kollegiet vid bedömning av examensarbeten. Med syftet att reducera brus genomfördes under våren 2023 ettprojekt som innebar att två erfarna lärare utsågs som examinatorer för samtliga examensarbeten på kandidatnivå. I examinatorernas uppdrag ingick, förutom själva bedömningarna, att se om det gick att formulera övergripande insikter om institutionens examensarbeten.

Examinatorerna bedömde totalt 42 uppsatser. Snabbt utkristalliserade sig några generella mönster. Till exempel var studenterna generellt väldigt bra på att designa studier och kombinera datakällor. Däremot var det ett brett spann mellan de som förhöll sig extremt empirinära och de som förmådde göra empiriöverskridande resonemang och bidrag. Vidare kunde man ana stora skillnader mellan olika lärares sätt att handleda, bland annat genom uppsatsens problemformulering och förankring i tidigare forskning. Kort sagt, även när bedömningen var samstämmig så var variationen mellan uppsatser stor.

I detta projekt var syftet att minska bruset mellan examinatorer och dra lärdomar kring uppsatsersutformning och genomförande, för att sedan återföra kunskapen till kollegiet. Ambitionen att minska brus är viktig för att kunna säkerställa likvärdiga bedömningar. Det visade sig dock att det inte räcker med samstämmighet kring hur väl någon uppfyller ett betygskriterium, vi måste också vara överens om vad som utgör ett examensarbete i grunden. Det vill säga, det är inte tillräckligt att skapa likvärdiga bedömningar, vi måste också öka samsynen kring vad som förväntas vara produkten och förankra detta bland såväl studenter och handledare som examinatorer. Detta visar att förutom att utveckla processerna runt handledning och examination av examensarbeten, behöver kollegiet sätta själva uppsatsen i fokus.

The current digital transformation of society prompts the reshaping of both the private and public sectors and involves technology, organizations, and people. In this paper we explore within which application areas municipalities use IoT and how the implementation of IoT in this context triggers change and enables smarter cities. Based on an interview study of 337 municipalities in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden, our study portrays that the public sector is in its early stages of exploring IoT and reveals several application areas within the smart city sphere where new value has been created. Application of IoT was shown to trigger municipal digital transformation by increasing contextual awareness, enabling data-driven value creation, the reimagining of organizational structures, and innovation oriented financing. Such direct and indirect activities and practices were altogether shown to enable smarter cities. For the public sector to reap the benefits of potential digital transformation, it is however imperative to challenge current, and common, work practices. Otherwise, they risk getting caught up in incremental changes. Digital transformation involves radical changes, which in turn require technology to be fully integrated in processes and services and aligned with cultural expectations. Such changes require substantial support and commitment from stakeholders and a pronounced understanding of the value new and emerging technologies create.

The current digital transformation of society prompts the reshaping of both the private and public sectors and involves technology, organizations, and people. In this paper we explore within which application areas municipalities use IoT and how the implementation of IoT in this context triggers change and enables smarter cities. Based on an interview study of 337 municipalities in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden, our study portrays that the public sector is in its early stages of exploring IoT and reveals several application areas within the smart city sphere where new value has been created. Application of IoT was shown to trigger municipal digital transformation by increasing contextual awareness, enabling data-driven value creation, the reimagining of organizational structures, and innovation oriented financing. Such direct and indirect activities and practices were altogether shown to enable smarter cities. For the public sector to reap the benefits of potential digital transformation, it is however imperative to chal lenge current, and common, work practices. Otherwise, they risk getting caught up in incremental changes. Digital transformation involves radical changes, which in turn require technology to be fully integrated in processes and services and aligned with cultural expectations. Such changes require substantial support and commitment from stakeholders and a pronounced understanding of the value new and emerging technologies create.

Digital transformation is one of the key challenges facing contemporary businesses. The need to leverage digital technology to develop and implement new business models forces firms to reevaluate existing capabilities, structures, and culture in order to identify what technologies are relevant and how they will be enacted in organizational processes and business offerings. More often than not, these profound changes require firms to revisit old truths as they develop strategies that thread the needle between beneficial innovation and harmful disruption. This article uses the Internet of Things (IoT) as a backdrop to demonstrate the concerns associated with transformative technologies and offers five recommendations as to how firms can develop the strategies needed for digital transformation and become digitally conscious: (1) Start small and build on firsthand benefits; (2) team up and create competitive advantage from brand recognition; (3) engage in standardization efforts; (4) take responsibility for data ownership and ethics; and (5) own the change and ensure organization-wide commitment. As such, this article shows that digital transformation should be a top management priority and a defining trait of corporate business strategy, and that by becoming digitally conscious, firms may get a head start on their transformation journey.