Research Program 'Digital Business & Transformation IWI-HSG'

Abstract

The digitization of society is changing the way we work, live, communicate, interact, as well as how and when we consume and produce products and services.

The transformation of the information society into the digital society creates a new wave of business start-ups. Within this context, it is up to each individual to recognize and seize opportunities, namely each innovative entrepreneur founding a new business, as well as decision makers intending to restructure their companies. The research and education at IWI-HSG aims at supporting these projects.

The digital society creates multiple new challenges for companies. Catchwords such as Industry 4.0, Service-led Economy, and Co-creation are often mentioned in this context. On the user side, the ever-increasing demand for customized services exactly providing the desired value in the desired quality at the right time can be observed.

In many areas the trend is no longer to sell the products itself but their benefits and consequently to (re-)design the business, services and operating models. This inevitably leads to the creation of new digital benefits for the customer which already are or will become crucial for sustainable market success.

In addition, the well-known prior challenges remain. Business processes and their optimization will not become less important in the digital society. Rather, the old challenges will be supplemented by additional digital transformation challenges. In the digital society, it will be therefore of utmost importance for businesses to both optimize their internal processes as well as to understand the digital users in order to be successful on the market. It is important to note that users of the digital age comprise of both own employees (internal digital users) as well as any type of customer (external digital users).

The field of Business and Information Systems Engineering has always considered itself as an integrative discipline between business and IT. This integration task is becoming more and more important since IT increasingly influences people’s everyday lives and focuses on the digital users’ needs.

The research program Digital Business & Transformation IWI-HSG intends to organize the cooperation between industry and the IWI-HSG, tackle important business problems, as well as develop solutions, process them in an academic context, and implement them in pilot projects in companies.

The research program enables efficient and motivating work without extensive research bureaucracy. In cooperation projects between IWI-HSG and its industrial partners, we strive to learn from each other and to create new knowledge, which is valuable both for research at the IWI-HSG as well as our industrial partners.

Keywords: Research Program, Digital Business, Digital Transformation, Digital Business & Transformation HSG, St. Galler House of Digital Business

JEL Classification: M15, O33